﻿FELIS SPELtEA. 91 



slight, the attachments being only the knife-like edges of these parts of the vertebras. 

 The " spinalis dorsi," taking its origin on the neural spines of the last two dorsals and 

 the first three lumbars, is inserted in the same part of the last two cervicals and the first 

 eight dorsals. This muscle belongs to the same order as the " splenius," which we have 

 described in our account of the head, and with it and the " transversalis colli " and 

 " interspinalis " constitutes the principal "extensors," or lifters of the neck. 



The rotation of the neck is performed by the " multifidi spinas," which, originating in 

 the prezygapophyses of the five last cervicals, are inserted in the neural spines of the 

 vertebras preceding those from which they arise ; their arrangement is somewhat 

 complicated. 



The "serrati" muscles do not appear to be connected directly with the neural spines, 

 but with aponeurosis common to these and to other muscles. The " serratus major " is 

 thus connected with the last five cervicals, and its heads are inserted on the spine of the 

 scapula, which it retracts. In the same way the " acromio-circularis " of Straus- 

 Durckheiin, answering to the posterior portion of the trapezius in man, is connected by 

 the cervical ligament with the spine of the axis, it being inserted on the spine of the 

 scapula about the middle of its length. Passing backwards, this is followed by the 

 " rhomboid," which is in the same way indirectly connected with the spines of the other 

 cervicals; the two with the " transverso-scapularis," or " levator anguli scapulas," described 

 in our account of the " atlas," act together as elevators of the scapula. 



$ 5. Dorsal Vertebra (Pis. XV, XVI, figs. 1, 2.) — The dorsal vertebras of the 

 carnivora may be divided into four distinct forms — the first or cervical form, the second 

 or dorsal proper, that to which the dorsal and lumbar neural spines converge, and those 

 which resemble the lumbar vertebras, and are often called rib-bearing lumbars. In some 

 carnivora, such as the hyasna, these last three classes merge one into the other ; in Felis 

 the differences are very marked. 



In Felis the first dorsal closely resembles the last cervical ; but it is distinguished 

 at sight from it by the much, shorter diapophyses terminated by the pleurapophysial 

 articulation, as also by the articulation for the necks of the first and second ribs on the 

 centrum, and by the longer neural spine. The centrum is also wider, as it affords space 

 in the width for the rib articulations above mentioned. From the corresponding vertebra 

 of the bear it is easily separated by the much greater inclination of the epiphysial articu- 

 lation to the axis of the spine, and by the greater comparative length of the centrum ; the 

 prezygapophysial interval is also much narrower, and the mass formed by the union of 

 the prezygapophysis and the diapophysis is much smaller. The slight metapophyses of 

 the ursine vertebra are also absent. The neural spine is also less upright, and the pleura- 

 pophysial articulation on the post-epiphyses are larger, flatter, and more on the same 

 level with the rest of the articulation than in the case of the bear. 



Two specimens of this vertebra have occurred to us, which we refer to Felis spelcea ; 



