In G. bankiva there are fourteen cervical, seven dorsal with ribs,
apparently fifteen lumbar and sacral, and six caudal vertebrae (7/71. It
appears that I have not correctly designated the several groups of
vertebrae, for a great authority, Mr. W.K. Parker ('Transact. Zoolog. Soc.'
volume 5 page 198) specifies 16 cervical, 4 dorsal, 15 lumbar, and 6 caudal
vertebrae in this genus. But I have used the same terms in all the
following descriptions.); but the lumbar and sacral are so much anchylosed
that I am not sure of their number, and this makes the comparison of the
total number of vertebrae in the several breeds difficult. I have spoken of
six caudal vertebrae, because the basal one is almost completely anchylosed
with the pelvis; but if we consider the number as seven, the caudal
vertebrae agree in all the skeletons. The cervical vertebrae are, as just
stated, in appearance fourteen; but out of twenty-three skeletons in a fit
state for examination, in five of them, namely, in two Games, in two
pencilled Hamburghs, and in a Polish, the fourteenth vertebra bore ribs,
which, though small, were perfectly developed with a double articulation.
The presence of these little ribs cannot be considered as a fact of much
importance, for all the cervical vertebrae bear representatives of ribs;
but their development in the fourteenth vertebra reduces the size of the
passages in the transverse processes, and makes this vertebra exactly like
the first dorsal vertebra. The addition of these little ribs does not
affect the fourteenth cervical alone, for properly the ribs of the first
true dorsal vertebra are destitute of processes; but in some of the
skeletons in which the fourteenth cervical bore little ribs the first pair
of true ribs had well-developed processes. When we know that the sparrow
has only nine, and the swan twenty-three cervical vertebrae (7/72.
Macgillivray 'British Birds' volume 1 page 25.), we need feel no surprise
at the number of the cervical vertebrae in the fowl being, as it appears,
variable.
There are seven dorsal vertebrae bearing ribs; the first dorsal is never
anchylosed with the succeeding four, which are generally anchylosed
together. In one Sultan fowl, however, the two first dorsal vertebrae were
free. In two skeletons, the fifth dorsal was free; generally the sixth is
free (as in G. bankiva), but sometimes only at its posterior end, where in
contact with the seventh. The seventh dorsal vertebra, in every case
excepting in one Spanish cock, was anchylosed with the lumbar vertebrae. So
that the degree to which these middle dorsal vertebrae are anchylosed is
variable.
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