THE DORSAL RAMI
As a rule, the dorsal rami are considerably smaller than the ventral and have simpler distributions. Each divides into a medial branch that supplies the local part of the epaxial musculature of the neck, trunk, or tail and a lateral branch that is distributed to the dorsal part of the skin segment (dermatome) served by the particular spinal nerve.
These areas extend from the dorsal midline for a variable distance over the side of the animal. The territories of the first few cervical nerves extend onto the poll region in addition to supplying skin over the neck, those of the nerves to each side of the cervicotho- racic junction supply skin over the upper part of the shoulder, and those of the middle and caudal thoracic and lumbar regions serve increasingly larger areas of the skin of the chest wall and flank; however, those of the sacral nerves are again restricted. Inconspicuous connections between neighboring nerves form a continuous plexus through which exchange of fibers blurs the boundaries between the areas supplied by individual nerves; indeed, it is probable that every part of the skin receives sensory fibers from two, if not three, spinal nerves.
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