58 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ZOOLOGY, VOL. XIV. 



plantar nerve passes entad of it near its origin and its general relations 

 are much as described by Cunningham for Dasyurus, Phascologale and 

 Thylacinus but it is a relatively larger muscle than in these, rather thin 

 and flat, and it seems not impossible that it may be an opponens minimi 

 digiti. The usual four dorsal interossei are present but have a tendency 

 to fusion with the short flexors. With the exception of the first, they 

 are entirely palmar in position and cannot be seen from the dorsal aspect 

 of the foot owing to the nearly united basal metatarsal bones. 



The abductor indicis is in two divisions. The larger has tendinous 

 origin as high up as the scaphoid near the origin of the abductor hallucis 

 and continues tendinous to the medial base of the first metacarpal 

 where it has slight attachment and becomes a well-formed fleshy belly 

 running diagonally to insertion on the side of the first joint of the index 

 digit. The second and smaller division of this abductor arises on the 

 medial side of the base of the hallux and runs close to the flexor indicis 

 slightly dorso-mediad of the first division and joins the tendon of the 

 first division on its medial side slightly before its insertion. This two- 

 headed arrangement of the abductor indicis is reported for Thylacinus, 

 a tetradactylous animal, and a somewhat similar condition is found in 

 Phalanger which is syndactylous. In Didelphis and Dasyurus the ab- 

 ductor indicis is single-headed. 



The third metacarpal has the usual two abductors inserting on each 

 side of the first joint on the sesamoids. They are dorsad of the flexors 

 at their extremities but mostly laterad in the middle where they are 

 visible without disturbance of the flexors. The outer one is rather closely 

 associated in its proximal half with the flexor brevis of the fourth meta- 

 carpal. The fourth interosseous is less dorsal in position than the 

 others and runs nearly laterad of the flexor from origin in the palmar 

 cartilage to insertion on the outer side of the end of the fourth meta- 

 carpal. The interossei insert very close to the extensor tendons but do 

 not appear to be definitely connected with them. Near the insertions of 

 the second, third and fourth interossei there is a tendinous connection 

 with the joint opposite the one on which they are directly inserted and 

 thus the ends of the metacarpals are bound together and necessarily 

 have but little freedom of movement. 



Short flexors. There are five pairs of short flexors, one for each 

 metatarsal. They are only slightly connected at their origin in the 

 palmar fascia just above the bases of the metatarsals and thence to 

 their insertions on the distal sesamoids the divisions are clearly marked. 

 Those of the hallux are weaker than the others and the lateral division is 

 partly aponeurotic and smaller than the median division. Those of the 

 second and third digits enclose a small flattened sesamoid in the fascia 



