44 



242. A scorched fragment of the body of a dorsal vertebra*. 



243. The neural arch and spine of the fourth dorsal vertebra. 



244. The neural arch and spine of the fifth dorsal vertebra. 



245. The neural arch and spine of the sixth dorsal vertebra ; the third median 

 articular process is first developed between the two ordinary articular or 

 oblique processes in this vertebra. 



246. The seventh dorsal vertebra. 

 247- The eighth dorsal vertebra. 



248. The ninth dorsal vertebra. 



249. The tenth dorsal vertebra. 



250. The neural arch and spine of the eleventh dorsal vertebra. 



251. The twelfth dorsal vertebra. 



252. The thirteenth dorsal vertebra. In this and the preceding vertebrae there 



may be observed, besides the characteristic median articular surface be- 

 tween the oblique processes, three distinct articulations for the ribs on 

 each side of the vertebra : one on the posterior superior angle of the body, 

 the second on the neural arch, and a third on the extremity of the short 

 and thick transverse process. 



253. The neural arch and spine of a posterior dorsal vertebra. 



254. The neural arch and spine of the fifteenth dorsa^ vertebra ; the posterior 



articular processes, in this vertebra, are double, and are divided by a wide 

 and deep notch. 



255. The neural arch and spine of the sixteenth dorsal vertebra. The ante- 



* The Peons, or labouring Spanish colonists, who first discovered the above-described fossil 

 bones of the Megatherium, made use of the bodies of the vertebrae, in the absence of stones in the 

 flat alluvial plains intersected by the Rio Plata and its tributaries, to support their camp-kettles : and 

 only the neural arches and spinous processes of many of these vertebras could be collected, when, by 

 the intervention of Sir Woodbine Parish, the remains of this Megatherium were secured for the 

 Royal College of Surgeons. 



