The alligator and its alliesReese, A. M. (Albert Moore)
Science
The alligator and its allies
Reese, A. M. (Albert Moore)
Alligators
_The Lumbar Vertebræ._ The five lumbar vertebræ are essentially like
the thoracic except that the transverse processes, which, of course,
bear no ribs, are both shorter and narrower. The postero-lateral border
of the centrum of the last of these five vertebræ has a small surface
for articulation with the antero-medial border of the transverse
process of the first sacral vertebra.
_The Sacral Vertebræ_ (Fig. 18, B). These are two in number. The
centrum of the first is concave in front and flat behind, instead of
being convex behind, and the second is flat (instead of concave) in
front, and convex behind. The neural spine and zygapophyses are as in
the lumbar region. Projecting laterally from each sacral vertebra,
forming a close, sutural joint with both centrum and neural arch, is a
heavy bone shaped like a truncated pyramid (4); the base of the pyramid
is ankylosed with the ilium. These bones seem to be much thickened
transverse processes, but since they are not completely fused with
their respective vertebræ and are said to ossify separately they should
probably be called sacral ribs. The two sacral vertebræ do not seem to
be any more closely united than are any other two vertebræ.
_The Caudal Vertebræ_ (Fig. 16, _C_). These are characterized by the
entire absence of ribs, and by the presence on all but the first
and the last four or five of V-shaped chevron bones. The first
ten or twelve of these chevron bones articulate chiefly with the
postero-ventral ends of the centra, but they also articulate with the
antero-ventral ends of the vertebra behind themselves; and as they are
followed caudad they seem to lie directly below the intervertebral
regions and to articulate equally with the vertebræ before and behind.
The chevron bones gradually diminish in size from before back. The
neural processes of the first four or five caudals are broad, like
those of the more anterior regions, but caudad to this point they
become narrower and more pointed, though they retain the same height
until about the last ten or twelve vertebræ. Towards the tip of the
tail the dorsal spines diminish in height and finally disappear. The
transverse processes of the first five or six of the caudals are long
and narrow. They gradually diminish in length until the eighteenth
caudal, back of which they are no longer to be seen. The zygapophyses
are mostly about the same as in the more anterior vertebræ, but towards
the posterior end of the tail the postzygapophyses come to lie between
rather than above the prezygapophyses. The neural canal diminishes,
of course, in size towards the tip of the tail until it is no longer
present, the last five or six vertebræ consisting only of the centra.
_II. The Skull._
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