The Vertebrate SkeletonReynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Science
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Reynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Skeleton
In the _PERISSODACTYLA_ the pes like the manus is symmetrical about a
line drawn through the third digit; this line when continued passes
through the external cuneiform, navicular and astragalus. The
astragalus has its distal portion abruptly truncated, and the facet by
which it articulates with the cuboid is much smaller than that by
which it articulates with the navicular. The calcaneum does not
articulate with the fibula. The tarsus in _Macrauchenia_ like the
carpus differs from that of other Perissodactyles and resembles that
of Subungulates in having the bones arranged in lines with little or
no interlocking. The calcaneum resembles that of Artiodactyles in
having a small facet for articulation with the fibula. _Tapirus_ (fig.
110, A), _Rhinoceros_ (fig. 110, B) and _Titanotherium_ have a short
and broad foot with the usual tarsal bones and three well-developed
digits,--a number never exceeded by any Perissodactyle. From this
tridactylate limb a series of stages is exhibited by various extinct
forms leading gradually to the condition met with in the Horse (fig.
110, D) in which the third toe is greatly developed, while the second
and fourth are reduced to slender metatarsals attached to the proximal
half of the third metatarsal.
In _Chalicotherium_ and _Agriochoerus_ the pes has the same abnormal
characters as the manus, the digits being clawed and the ungual
phalanges in _Chalicotherium_ deeply cleft.
In the SUBUNGULATA the pes is sometimes plantigrade and
pentedactylate, the cuboid sometimes does not articulate with the
astragalus, and the tarsal bones sometimes do not interlock.
In _Typotherium_ (_TOXODONTIA_) the hallux is absent and the other
four digits are well developed; in _Toxodon_ and _Nesodon_ the pes is
tridactylate. The tarsal bones have the regular Subungulate
arrangement, the cuboid not articulating with the astragalus. The
calcaneum articulates with the fibula as in Artiodactyles. The
astragalus in most forms, but not in _Astrapotherium_, resembles that
of the Ungulata vera in having a grooved proximal surface.
In _Phenacodus_ (_CONDYLARTHRA_) the tarsus is very little modified,
five digits are present, the first and fifth being small and not
reaching the ground.
In _Procavia_ only the three middle digits are present with a vestige
of the fifth metacarpal.
In the _AMBLYPODA_ the pes (fig. 108) is very short and broad, all
five digits are functional, and at any rate in _Coryphodon_
plantigrade, the hallux being the smallest. The astragalus is very
flat, and the tarsals interlock to a slight extent, the cuboid
articulating with both calcaneum and astragalus.
The pes in the _PROBOSCIDEA_ much resembles that in the Amblypoda, but
differs in that the astragalus does not articulate with the cuboid,
the tarsals not interlocking at all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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