186 ON THE FOSSIL BONES OF PACHYDERMATOUS QUADRUPEDS. 



particularly of the first two. In all, the canal of the anterior edge 

 descends lower. The hippopotamus has them straighter and less flat, 

 particularly towards the sternum. 



The cervical vertcbrce are characterized, independently of their size, 

 hy their extreme thinness in the direction of their axis, whence results 

 the extreme shortness of the neck. The atlas has its annular part 

 thicker, in proportion than it is in man, and pierced by two foramina ; 

 but its tranverse processes have no canal : they are in the form of tu- 

 bercles, and not of alee, which prevents this vertebra from being con- 

 founded with the atlas of any other large quadruped. 



The axis also has many points of resemblance with that in man. 

 Its spinous process is larger, and ascends more towards the head. 

 Its superior articular surfaces unite more with its tooth-like process. 



The third and fourth cervical vertebrse have no perceptible spinous 

 process. The others have them small, pointed, increasing a little to- 

 wards the seventh. 



The dorsal spinous processes are on the contrary very long, and ter- 

 minate in large tubercles to receive the cervical ligament. The third 

 is the longest. It is Om,35 (more than a foot.) They then go on di- 

 minishing to the sacrum, which has them very small. 



The dorsal vertebrse. have also many points of resemblance with 

 those of man, in respect of their small length compared with their 

 size. This resemblance with man is greater in the elephant than 

 in any other great quadruped ; the same may be said of tlieir form, 

 which is more cylindrical, and less careened downwards. Tiieir trans- 

 verse processes however are shorter and more enlarged upwards. 



The transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae are small and de- 

 pressed without any convexity ; their spinous processes are slanting 

 backwards like all those of the dorsal vertebrse, with which they form 

 a regularly decreasing series. 



The three sacral vertebrae, to which the ossa ilium are attached, are 

 broad and flattened below. 



The caudal vertebrae, as far as the seventh, have an annular portion 

 with spinous and transverse processes ; the spinous processes being 

 very much slanted. There remain some transverse processes as far 

 as the twelfth, and vestiges of articular j^rocesses as far as the fifteenth. 

 The caudal vertebrae that follow are in the form of simple quadrangu- 

 lar prisms. 



4. — Great Bones of the Anterior EoCtremity. 

 The scapula {pi. 14:, fig. 6), independently of its size, might be dis- 

 tinguished from that of every other living animal: 1st, because its 

 posterior edge a b, wdiich is a re-entrant curve, is the shortest of the 

 three, and the anterior c d and the spinal a c are nearly equal ,- 2nd, 

 because from this it is evident that this bone, broader in proportion to its 

 dorso-humeral length than the scapula of any other large quadruped, 

 has its posterior angle a nearly opposite the middle of this length, and 

 this angle is nearly right, whilst the anterior c would be acute, if it 

 were not blunted by the rounding of the edge ; 3rd, because the spine, 

 besides its acromial prominence e has towards the middle of its length 

 a sort of hook/, which is directed backwards, curving a little down- 

 wards. Its coracoid prominence d projects but little, and is obtuse •, 



