ii MAX AND APES: HAND AND FOOT. 123 



cause them to pull down the bones of the fingers 

 towards the palm. 



Not only are the principal flexors of the fingers 

 and of the thumb long muscles, but they remain 

 quite distinct from one another throughout their 

 whole length. 



In the foot, there are also three principal flexor 

 muscles of the digits or toes, and three principal 

 extensors; but one extensor and one flexor are 

 short muscles; that is to say, their fleshy parts are 

 not situated in the leg (which corresponds With 

 the arm), but in the back and in the sole of the foot 

 — regions which correspond with the back and the 

 palm of the hand. 



Again, the tendons of the long flexor of the 

 toes, and of the long flexor of the great toe, when 

 they reach the sole of the foot, do not remain dis- 

 tinct from one another, as the flexors in the palm 

 of the hand do, but they become united and com- 

 mingled in a very curious manner — while their 

 united tendons receive an accessory muscle con- 

 nected with the heel-bone. 



But perhaps the most absolutely distinctive 

 character about the muscles of the foot is the 

 existence of what is termed the peronceus longus, 

 a long muscle fixed to the outer bone of the 

 leg, and sending its tendon to the outer ankle, be- 

 hind and below which it passes, and then crosses 

 the foot obliquely to be attached to the base of 

 the great toe. No muscle in the hand exactly 



