III. The Ribs and Sternum.

The Cervical Ribs.

As noted above, all of the cervical vertebræ possess ribs. The first rib, attached to the atlas, consists of a single, long blade projecting backward at an acute angle ([Fig. 17], 8) as far as the middle of the fourth vertebra. As described above it articulates with the atlas at but one place. All of the other cervical ribs have two articular surfaces, a tuberculum and a capitulum, with a well-marked vertebrarterial canal between them. The ventral surface or capitulum articulates with a short process on the centrum; the dorsal surface or tuberculum (7) articulates with the transverse process. The third to seventh ribs are somewhat T-shaped, the stem of the T being the tubercle and head, while the cross arm of the T extends parallel to the axis of the neck ([Fig. 17], 7). In the eighth rib the posterior arm of the T is elongated and projects out at a wide angle from the body; and in the ninth or last cervical rib this arm extends laterally as far as the vertebral portion of the thoracic ribs and has a cartilaginous tip.

The Thoracic Ribs

([Figs. 16] and [26]). These are ten in number, the first eight pairs being connected with the sternum. The fourth may be taken as typical. It consists of a bony vertebral portion and partially ossified intermediate and sternal portions. The vertebral portion articulates with its corresponding transverse process by two surfaces, as described in connection with the thoracic vertebræ. In the first and second ribs only the tuberculum articulates with the transverse process, the head having a separate articular surface on the side of the centrum, as in the typical cervical rib. In the last thoracic rib the head and tubercle are not distinguishable from each other. Near the distal end of all the vertebral portions except the first and the last two ribs is a caudally projecting, partially ossified, uncinate process. The intermediate portion is present in all but the tenth rib, and wherever present, except in the ninth rib, it articulates distally with the sternal portion. The sternal portions extend medio-cephalad in a direction at right angles to the intermediate portion; the first two articulate with the sternum, the next six with the xiphisternal horns, and the ninth and tenth are missing.

Fig. 26. Sternum and Associated Membrane Bones of a Crocodile (C. palustris). ×¹⁄₃. (Brit. Mus.) (After Reynolds.)

The last pair of abdominal ribs which are united with the epipubes by a plate of cartilage have been omitted.