Anatomy, Artistic; Animals in art; Zoological illustration
In the cat, the curve of the tibia is less pronounced; this is due to
the fact that the crest, instead of being concave in its middle portion,
is slightly convex anteriorly. The fibula, less flattened than that of
the dog, is united to the tibia by its extremities only, and is separate
in the rest of its extent.
The bones of the tarsus are seven in number, and arranged as in man,
with this difference (which is easily comprehended), that their general
relations are changed on account of the vertical direction of the
tarsus. For example, the astragalus, instead of being above the
calcaneum, is situated in front of it; the cuneiform bones, instead of
being situated in front of the scaphoid, are found below it, etc.
These animals have but four well-developed metatarsals; that which
corresponds to the great-toe is represented merely by a small
style-shaped bone, situate at the internal part of the region.
Nevertheless, we find this toe fully developed in some dogs.
Notwithstanding this, the bones which form it are, however, but
rudimentary, and much smaller than those of the innermost digit of the
fore-limb.
Sometimes it is double; this condition is demonstrable in individuals
belonging to breeds of large size. The median metatarsals are more fully
developed than the other bones of the same region which are next them.
Viewed as a whole, the metatarsal bones are a little longer than the
metacarpals; the result is that the distance which separates the tarsus
from the ground is a little greater than that which separates the carpus
from the plane on which the anterior limbs rest. The length of the
calcaneum still further exaggerates this difference, and, as in the
animals with which we shall occupy ourselves later on, the projection
which this bone forms is distinctly higher than that which is produced
by the pisiform.
The metatarsus, as a whole, is a little narrower than the metacarpus;
not only on account of the presence of a thumb in the anterior limb,
but, further, because the bones of this latter region are wider than
those of the corresponding part of the posterior limb.
The phalanges closely resemble those of the anterior limbs.
=Unguligrades=: =Pig= (Fig. 38, p. 58).--The pelvis in this animal
presents a few of the characters which we shall again meet with in the
ruminants and the solipeds; however, the posterior (or internal) iliac
spines are relatively more widely separated from one another than in the
latter. This arrangement reminds us of that found in the carnivora.
The femur presents nothing very special. The knee-cap is thick, and
ovoid in outline.
The fibula is completely developed, as in the carnivora; and is
connected with the tibia at both its extremities.
The tarsus consists of seven bones. The astragalus and the calcaneum
differ slightly from those of ruminants.
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