[Illustration: FIG. 116.—Diagram to illustrate the grouping of vertebral elements to form vertebrae, A, in an Elasmobranch, B, in _Amia_, and C, in _Lepidosteus_. _B.D_, Basi-dorsals; _B.V_, basi-ventrals; _I.D_, inter-dorsals; _I.V_, inter-ventrals; _in.v.c_, inter-vertebral cartilage divided by a concavo-convex cleft; _p.c_, precentrum; _pt.c_, postcentrum. The square blocks represent individual vertebrae, and the oblique lines, the attachments of the myocommata.] In the existing Crossopterygii, Holostei, and Teleostei, popularly known as the "bony Fishes," the vertebral column assumes a more familiar character, and at the same time we meet with interesting illustrations of the different methods by which the separate component vertebral elements of the more primitive types of "backbone" are concentrated together in groups, and fused to form that complex physiological product, the complete bony vertebra.[183] In most of these Fishes each vertebra is formed by the aggregation and fusion of a pair of basi-dorsals and a pair of basi-ventrals, and includes, in addition, a pair of inter-dorsals, which may either be the pair in front of the basi-dorsals or the pair behind, and also a pair of inter-ventrals, which, similarly, may be the {202}pair in front or behind the basi-ventrals (Fig. 116). The product of this fusion is a series of bony vertebrae, each consisting of a biconcave arch-centrum, which includes the fused basal portions of a pair of basi-dorsals and a pair of basi-ventrals. The distal portions of the basi-dorsals form the neural arch, while the rib-bearing parapophyses are lateral outgrowths from the basi-ventrals which otherwise have become merged in the centrum. Finally, the centrum is completed by its fusion with a pair of inter-dorsals and a pair of inter-ventrals. Supra-dorsal elements may also be included as minor contributory factors. The supra-basi-dorsals co-ossify with their basi-dorsals and then unite to form the ordinary unpaired neural spine of most bony Fishes, or, as in _Amia_, they remain distinct from each other, and are obvious as a double spine. In _Lepidosteus_ these elements co-ossify with the neural arches and form the post-zygapophyses. Supra-inter-dorsals have been identified in the embryo as distinct elements, but their eventual fate is not always known. In _Lepidosteus_ they persist as distinct cartilages in the adult (Fig. 118, A). Well-developed bony ribs are usually present. The haemal arches of the tail are formed by the downgrowth of the parapophyses and their ribs, or by the latter alone, and by their ventral union to form haemal spines; consequently, each arch always includes a pair of costal elements. With such general features in common there are certain notable variations in some of these Fishes, to which brief reference may be made.