The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle [vol. 1 of 5] : $b Fossil mammaliaOwen, Richard
Science
The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle [vol. 1 of 5] : $b Fossil mammalia
Owen, Richard
Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Mammals, Fossil; Paleontology -- South America; Zoology
The last phalanx, does not resemble the neatly defined ungulate
phalanges of the Ruminantia, and Solipedia, but has the irregular form
characteristic of those of the Pachydermata. It is wedge-shaped, broader
than it is long, with a rugged surface, except where it plays upon the
distal end of the second phalanx, where it is slightly concave in one
direction, and convex in the other, (figs. 7 and 9, Pl. XI.) A portion
of this phalanx extends backwards behind the articular surface, as in
the corresponding bone of the Palæothere and Rhinoceros.
The femur of the Macrauchenia (fig. 1, Pl. XII.) is full two feet in
length, and consequently longer than in any known Camel or Rhinoceros;
as compared with its transverse diameter it is much longer than the
femur of the latter animal: in the proportion of its breadth to its
length, and the expansion of its extremities as compared with the
diameter of the shaft, it more resembles that of the Camel. The femur of
the Giraffe deviates from that of the Macrauchenia in the excessive
expansion of its distal extremity. But the most striking evidence
deducible from this bone, of the affinity of the Macrauchenia to the
true Pachydermatous type is afforded by the evident traces of a third
trochanter, the outline of which is conjecturally restored in the
figure. Of the Pachyderms which have this characteristic structure, the
extinct Palæothere offers the nearest resemblance to the Macrauchene in
the general form and structure of the femur.
The head of the femur in the Macrauchene (fig. 2, Pl. XII.) presents the
form of a pretty regular hemisphere; it is less flattened above, and is
directed more obliquely inwards than in the Palæothere: the neck
supporting it does not project so far from the shaft as in the
Palæothere or Tapir, but farther than in the Camel. The great trochanter
rises above the level of the head; in which structure and in the
depression between the head and trochanter, the femur of the Macrauchene
offers a character intermediate between the Tapir or Palæothere, and the
Camel. The lesser trochanter is a slight projection from a ridge of bone
which is continued from the under part of the head of the femur to the
inner surface of the shaft. In the Palæothere the lesser trochanter is
situated more towards the posterior surface of the femur; so that, in
this particular, the Macrauchene approaches nearer to the Camel. Cuvier
makes no mention of the condition of the depression for the _ligamentum
teres_ in the Palæothere. Among existing ordinary Pachyderms the
Hippopotamus presents no trace of the insertion of a _ligamentum teres_
in the head of the femur; in the Camel the place of its insertion is
indicated by a well-marked circumscribed pit; in the Tapir a similar
circular depression is situated close to the inferior margin of the
articular convexity. The ligament was undoubtedly present in
Macrauchenia, but the place of its insertion is a broad and deep notch
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