In the anterior dorsals the costal surfaces are developed almost entirely upon the pedicles, and are two in number. These are very large in about the sixth and seventh, and meet. They decrease in size as they recede. In the middle region the posterior costal surfaces are small, lozenge-shaped facets, and are developed upon thin lateral projections of the centra.
The centrum of the last dorsal is heavy, resembling the centra of the lumbar, from which it is distinguished by a single pair of small costal surfaces, developed, half on the pedicles and half on the centrum.
The neural spines are markedly smaller than those of the Proboscidea and Rhinoceros; in the anterior part of the dorsal region the spines have the same angle as the corresponding ones in Mastodon. The spines of the twelfth and thirteenth (approximately) are much expanded at the ends and bifid; in the last dorsals they are wide, straight, and very thin; in the lumbar region they are short, stout, tuberous, and stand almost at right angles to the axis of the vertebræ. The laminæ in the anterior part of the series are long and thin, decreasing in length but increasing in thickness from before backwards. The zygapophyses in the fore part of the dorsals are mere flat facets on the laminæ; they increase in size and become characteristic in the posterior part of the dorsal region. The pre-zygapophyses of the last lumbar vertebra are very large, deeply concave, and parallel with the axis of the column. The metapophyses appear in the middle of the series, and regularly increase in size to the last lumbar. From their appearance the pre-zygapophyses are developed upon them.
The transverse processes present the most unique feature of the vertebral column. In the anterior region they are long, wide, and rugose, and in the same plane with the laminæ; they send directly out wide, downward-curving projections. In the middle dorsal region the transverse processes lose these thin projections, and become heavy and subtrihedral, with a smooth facet on their lower face for articulation with the tubercle of the rib; their upper face is here a little twisted from the plane of the laminæ. In the posterior dorsal region the transverse processes lose the facet for the articulation with the tubercle of the rib, and become short and very thin, pointing slightly backwards.
The lumbar transverse differ from those of the last dorsal in having a median transverse ridge on their posterior face, and are directed more vertically out.
The pedicles throughout most of the dorsal series are short, heavy, and deeply notched behind. In the posterior dorsal region they become longer and more slender, resembling almost exactly the pedicles of the lumbar region.
Sacral region.—The sacrum is composed of four vertebræ, three true and one pseudo-sacral. The centra are extremely depressed, and rapidly decrease in width and thickness from before backwards. The first is shorter than the last lumbar, but much longer than the other sacrals, which are subequal.
The face of the first is elliptical, and is nearly three times the diameter of the fourth, longitudinally. The metapophyses are exceedingly large and tuberous on the first; with wide, deeply concave pre-zygapophyses developed upon them; in the other three the metapophyses are rudimentary.
The transverse processes are long and wide in the first three; widest in the first but thickest in the second; long and thin in the fourth. The pleuropophysial segments of the true sacrals are very heavy.
The foramina enclosed by the transverse processes are large; and have, on the internal side, their long diameter obliquely transverse to the axis of the sacrum.