202 Dr. II. F. E. Jungersen on the Structure 



curved a little inward (radially), and besides at its base feebly 

 convex towards the back of the hand ; that is to say, it is not 

 unlike the corresponding bone in Bana, except in its long 

 and slender form. A similar form is possessed by the outer 

 metacarpal, Mc. V, only it is curved towards the ulnar side ; 

 on the contrary, raetacarpale III and metac. IV, although at 

 their bases a little concave on the underside, are rather 

 strongly curved, with the convexity towards the 'palmar side ; 

 so that the whole hand seems to have the back concave and 

 the palm convex. As the bases of metacarpale II and 

 metac. V project over the level of the two middle metacarpals, 

 tlie two outer fingers can be turned inwards over the middle 

 fingers ; and such being tiie case, the hand seems still nar- 

 rower and its back looks still more concave. All the meta- 

 carpals are long and slender ; the two middle ones are about 

 equal in length, but are somewhat longer than the outer, 

 which are also nearly of equal lengtli. Of the fingers the 

 innermost (II) is shortest, the penultimate (IV) longest ; next 

 comes the third (III), and last the outer (V) ; the number of 

 the phalanges is 2, 2, 3, 3 (counting from the radial side), as 

 typical in Anurans. 



That the earlier authors gave wrong descriptions of the 

 fingers was due to the mistakes above mentioned. Thus 

 Schneider says [l. c. p. 262): — ^^ Externi digiti articulos 2, 

 ante penultimi itidem 2 ut tertii, intimi 3 numeravi, quibus 

 adhairet pars extrema aculeata. Sed pedum anteriorum 

 articulos extremos agnoscere accurate non licuit, prasfractis 

 plerisque mucronibus." The figure shows the tingers incor- 

 rectly and does not agree with the text. Breyer only refers to 

 his figures, of which that on tab. i. represents three phalanges 

 in all the fingers and the sliortest finger towards the outer 

 side ; that on tab. ii. gives the correct number, but the hand, 

 as stated above, is turned so that the inner finger comes to 

 lie on the outer side. Meckel {I. c. p. 466) says concerning the 

 Anurans : — " Der zweite und dritte Finger haben im allge- 

 meinen zwei, die beiden aiisseren drei Glieder. Doch hat 

 Film an den drei inneren drei, am dussersten nur zwei.''^ And 

 later on : " Im allgemeinen ist der zweite voUkommene Finger 

 (eigentlich also der dritte) der bei weitem kiirzeste, der darauf 

 nach aussen folgende der langste : bei Pipa dagegen ist der 

 zweite der langste." Mayer makes no remarks about the 

 fingers ; but in the work of Dumeril and Bibron * (who do 

 not go into the osteology of the hand) we read : — " Lc second 



* ' Erpetulog'ie geueialo,' t. viii. ji. 77o. 



