The bony thorax is shorter than in the horse. The inlet is higher. The
roof is short, and the floor wider and relatively longer. The transverse
diameter is wider in the posterior part. The summits of the spinous
processes are almost in a straight line from the second thoracic to the
middle of the lumbar region.
BONES OF THE SKULL
BONES OF THE CRANIUM
The =occipital bone= is situated in the lower part only of the posterior
surface of the skull, and is separated from the highest part (the
frontal eminence) by the parietal and interparietal bones. The
supraoccipital, interparietals, and parietals fuse before birth or soon
after, and the mass so formed is separated from the lateral parts of the
occipital bone by a transverse suture in the skull of the calf. Above
this suture is a central tuberosity, to which the ligamentum nuchæ is
attached, and the surface on either side is depressed and rough for
muscular attachment. Below the suture the bone is much wider than that
of the horse. The foramen magnum is wide, so that the condyles are
further apart except below. The paramastoid processes are short and wide
and are bent inward. Two constant foramina are found in the condyloid
fossa; the anterior one is the hypoglossal, the other (sometimes double)
conducts a vein from the =condyloid canal=. The latter passes upward
from a foramen on the inner side of the condyle and opens into the
parieto-temporal canal. The cranial surface of the supraoccipital
presents a central depression, and above this is a variable but never
very pronounced eminence, which corresponds to the tentorium osseum of
the horse. On either side is a groove leading to the parieto-temporal
canal. The basilar process is short and wide; its cranial surface is
deeply concave, and the internal spheno-occipital crest is prominent.
Two large tubercles below mark the junction with the sphenoid. The
foramen lacerum is short and very narrow. In the adult animal the bone
is excavated to contain an air-cavity which is regarded as a part of the
frontal sinus.
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