1.20 



ESCHRICHT AND REINHARDT 



We shall now return to the vertebral column. 



The lumbar vertebrae are, as usual, easily distinguished on the one hand from the dorsal ver- 

 tebræ by the want of articular excavations for the ribs in the outer extremities of the transverse 

 processes, on the other hand from the caudal vertebrae by the want of articular facets for the 

 chevron bones (hæmapophyses) on the four inferior corners of the vertebral bodies. The first 

 lumbar vertebra may, however, so far be said to make an exception, as an articular surface, or 

 at least a trace of the attachment of a rib, was still found on the outer margin of its transverse 

 processes (at any rate in both our two large skeletons) ; this may arise from a fourteenth rib 

 having really been attached here, or what seems to us to be a more likely supposition, from the 

 thirteenth rib having here, as so often in the Cetaceans, had an additional attachment to the ex- 

 ternal margin of the transverse process of the first lumbar vertebra. On the other hand, the cha- 

 racteristic given by us of the lumbar in opposition to the caudal vertebræ is only half true, as far 

 as that lumbar vertebra is concerned, which, according to the division of the vertebræ which we 

 have adopted, must be called the last ; for this vertebra has on it the marks of the attachment of 

 the first chevron bone, at least posteriorly. 



In the adjoining woodcut the three foremost lumbar vertebræ of our forty-four and a half 

 feet long skeleton are represented twelve times diminished. 



In the outer margin of the transverse processes of the first lumbar vertebra we recognise the 

 traces of an attachment of ribs just mentioned ; it will, at the same time, be perceived that these 

 traces are to be found anteriorly on the outer margin of the transverse processes, whereas in the 

 hindmost dorsal vertebra they are to be found posteriorly. 



Compared with the tenth and eleventh dorsal vertebræ represented at page 114, the lumbar 

 vertebræ have a very difierent appearance, even when we lose sight of the chief distinguishing 

 mark iu the outer extremity of the transverse processes ; for not only their transverse, but also 

 their spinous processes, have much greater dimensions. Their bodies, too, are large, though by 

 no means in the same proportion. 



After a minute examination, we shall here give the following statements. 



The vertebral bodies, which in the hindmost part of the dorsal region are six inches and 

 three quarters long, eight inches high, and ten inches and a half broad, increase in size in the 



