4,94 DR. c. I. FOEsrrH major on 



PiFTH Carpal Ray. 



The Pisiform. 



Krause descrilies the pisiform of the domestic E-abbit as aiiiculating with the ulnare 

 on its A^ohir side * ; in the description of the ulna t, it is stated that the distal 

 termination of tbis bone has a condyle for tlie facet of the ulnare. These two 

 statements imply that the pisiform of the domestic Rabbit articulates — as in Man — 

 with the ulnare only. If tliey are correct, the German domestic Rabbits are 

 different from those of this country ; for in the English domestic and wild Rabbits 

 I find the bone called pisiform articulating with the ulna as well as with the ulnare ; 

 this is the case moreover in all Leporidte (PL 38. fig. 2, text-figures XXXI, XXXIV, 

 XXXVIII), in all Lagomyidte (PI. 38. fig. 4), and in the great majority of Mammalia. 

 In the Leporidse the pisiform, the proximal part of which extends considerably iu 

 a transverse direction on the volar side of the carpus, shows even two facets for the 

 volar side of tlie ulna. 



Prom the following statements it appears tliat the so-called pisiform of Mammalia is a 

 compound bone. 



Daubenton mentions three accessory bones in the carpus of Hylohatcs and Iiiuus 

 ecaudatus ; one of them is, in Sijlobates, situated as follows : " il se trouve place sur 

 le joint qui est entre le troisieme et le quatrieme os du premier rang ; " situated, therefore, 

 on the articulation between the ulnare and pisiforme %. The carpal bones of Itiuus are 

 said to have the same position as in Ilylohates, only differing in their form §. In Papio 

 the accessory bone in question is said to be wanting ||. 



Cuvier's description is almost identical. Speaking of the " ossified nodules in the 

 muscle tendons " of the carjius, he says : — ■" II y en a deux par exemple, dans le 

 gibbon et le magot : I'un dans Je tendon du cubital externe, sur le joint du pisiforme avec 

 le cuneiforme .... manque dans les Sitpajous " ^. 



Leboucq describes and figures ** a case in the Gibbon : — " Chez un Gibbon {Hylobates 

 leuciscns) de la collection de I'Universite de Gand, il existe entre le cubitus et le cul)ital 

 du carpe un nodule osseux articule lateralement avec le pisiforme [p'. fig. 28). Ce nodule 

 me semble representer le cartilage qui disparait chez I'homme." (Reference is here 

 made to the previous description of a cartilaginous nodule which is constantly met with 

 in liuman enil)ryos of the third and fourth month.) " En meme temps que le crochet 

 terminal du cubitus s'accuse netteuient, il se develojipe dans le menisque embryonnaire 

 un nodule cartilagineux elliptique, faisant suite d'une part a la pointe du crochet et de 

 I'autre se dirigeant vers I'extremite proximale de Tintermediaire." It disappears 



* W. Krause, ' Die Anatomie des Kaninchens iu topogr. und operativer Riicksicbt,' 2te Auflage, p. 120 (1884). 

 t L. c. p. 119. 



+ Buftbn et Daubenton, Hist. nat. geu. et partio. siv. p. 10.5 (1706). 

 § L. :■. p. 127. li L. c. p. 151. 



IT Lerons d'Anat. Comp. 2' ed. i. p. 42-5 (18.3.5). 



** H. Leboucq, " llech. sur la Morphologie du Carpe chcz les Mammifcres," Arcb. de Biologic, publ. par Van 

 Beneden et Van Bambeke, v. p. 83, pi. iv. fig. 28 (1884). 



