An introduction to the osteology of the Mammalia : being the substance of the course of lectures delivered at the Royal college of surgeons of England in 1870 / By William Henry Flower.

Flower, William Henry, 1831-1899.

Date:: 1870

Credit: An introduction to the osteology of the Mammalia : being the substance of the course of lectures delivered at the Royal college of surgeons of England in 1870 / By William Henry Flower. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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$generally rudimentary, sometimes completely absent. Some- times not even the hoofs remain, as in the Giraffe and Prongbuck {Antilocapra) \ sometimes the hoofs alone, as in the Sheep and Ox, supported, it may be, by irregular nodules of bone, rudiments of the ungual phalanges. In the Deer (Fig. 97), the three phalanges are complete, sometimes with the lower end of the metacarpal, tapering above, and not directly attached to other parts of the skeleton of the foot. Rudiments of the proximal ends of the meta- carpals are also often present. In the Tragulina 2\qx\q. these metacarpals are completely developed, and articulate with the carpus. In Ifyomoschus, belonging to this section, the third and fourth metacarpals commonly remain distinct through life, so that the manus of this animal scarcely differs from that of one of the Suiria. The Tylopoda, or Camels, differ considerably from the true Ruminants in the structure of the fore-foot (see Fig. 98). In the carpus the trapezoid and magnum are distinct, as in the Suina and Perissodaciyla, whereas these bones are confluent in the Pecora and Tragulina. There are no traces of any metacarpals or digits, except the third and fourth. The metacarpals of these are very long and, as in the Pecora, confluent throughout the greater part of their length, though separated for a considerable distance at the lower end. The distal articular surfaces, instead of being pulley-like, with deep ridges and grooves, are simple, rounded, and smooth. The proximal phalanges are expanded at their distal ends, and the wide and depressed middle phalanges are imbedded in a broad cutaneous pad, forming the sole of the foot, on which the animal rests in walking, instead of on the hoofs, as in other Ruminants. The ungual phalanges are very small and nodular, not flattened on their inner or apposed surfaces, and not completely encased in hoofs. These$