h cervical was furnished with ribs, there were only
six pairs of true dorsal ribs; the sixth pair in this case did not have
processes, and thus resembled the seventh pair in other skeletons; in
this game-cock, as far as could be judged from the appearance of the
lumbar vertebrae, a whole dorsal vertebra with its ribs was missing. We
thus see that the ribs (whether or not the little pair attached to the
fourteenth cervical vertebra be counted) vary from six to eight pair.
The sixth pair is frequently not furnished with processes. The sternal
portion of the seventh pair is extremely broad in Cochins, and is
completely ossified. As previously stated, it is scarcely possible to
count the lumbo-sacral vertebrae; but they certainly do not correspond
in shape or number in the several skeletons. The caudal vertebrae are
closely similar in all the skeletons, the only difference being,
whether or not the basal one is anchylosed to the pelvis; they hardly
vary even in length, not being shorter in Cochins, with their short
tail-feathers, than in other breeds; in a Spanish cock, however, the
caudal vertebrae were a little elongated. In three rumpless fowls the
caudal vertebrae were few in number, and anchylosed together into a
misformed mass.

[Illustration: Fig. 37.--Sixth Cervical Vertebra, of natural size,
viewed laterally. A. Wild _Gallus bankiva_. B. Cochin Cock.]

In the individual vertebrae the differences in structure are very
slight. In the atlas the cavity for the occipital condyle is either
ossified into a ring, or is, as in Bankiva, open on its upper margin.
The upper arc of the spinal canal is a little more arched in Cochins,
in conformity with the shape of occipital foramen, than in _G.
bankiva_. In several skeletons a difference, but not of much
importance, may be observed, which commences a the fourth cervical
vertebra, and is greatest at about the sixth, seventh, or eighth
vertebra; this consists in the haemal descending processes being united
to the body of the vertebra by a sort of buttress. This structure may
be observed in Cochins, Polish, some Hamburgh, and probably other
breeds; but is absent, or barely developed, in Game, Dorking, Spanish,
Bantam, and {268} several other breeds examined by me. On the dorsal
surface of the sixth cervical vertebra in Cochins three prominent