172 On the Myology of the Wombat and Tasmanian Devil. 



external lateral ligament and from tlie head of the fibula, and 

 passes down to the internal side of the calcanemn and into the 

 plantar fascia. 



The peronei in SarcojjMlus are complex : the peroneus 

 longus arises from the upper and anterior parts of the fibula, 

 winds round the outer side of the calcaneum and the cuboid 

 bone to be inserted into the first metatarsal. The peroneus 

 brevis lies anterior to the long muscle, and arises nearly as 

 high up ; its insertion is into the metatarsal bone of the little 

 toe. Arising in common with it is the peroneus quinti digiti, 

 which is inserted into the last phalanx of the outer toe. Still 

 further forward are two other peroneal muscles, which arise 

 from the lower four-sevenths of the fibula by a common fleshy 

 belly, and, winding round the back of the outer malleolus, 

 pass forward to be inserted, one into the extensor aponeurosis 

 of the fourth, and one into the third toe. There are thus five 

 peronei present in this animal. In the Giant Kangaroo four 

 peronei are present — a peroneus longus, a peroneus brevis, 

 quinti, and quarti digiti. The same series exists in the Wal- 

 laby, Phalanger, and Opossum. In the Wombat the only 

 muscles of this group present are the long and short peronei, 

 "wath an accessory quinti tendon detached from the last for 

 the first phalanx of the outer toe. 



The Monotremes Ornithorhynchus and Echidna possess 

 three peronei also. 



Tlie tibialis posticus arises in the Wombat from the back of 

 the tibia, below the outer side of the head of the bone, and is 

 inserted into the inner side of the scaphoid bone. In Sar- 

 cophilus it arises from the back of the fibula and tibia, and is 

 similarly attached in the Wallaby and J\facroj)us major. In 

 the Opossum and Phalanger it is inserted into the base of the 

 metatarsal bone of the hallux. 



The flexor digitorum longus in the Wombat passes from the 

 back of the tibia and fibula, and is in reality a compound of 

 two parts, the flexor digitorum and the flexor hallucis ; from 

 the one belly five tendons pass, one to each of the toes. In 

 Macrojyus giganteus^ M. Bennettiij Sarcojyhihis, the Opossum, 

 and Phalanger these muscles are similarly fused. In the Vir- 

 ginian Opossum a small slip, separate from this muscle and 

 interposed between it and the tibialis posticus, passes to the 

 metatarsal bone of the hallux, which may be a degraded flexor 

 hallucis. 



Professor Owen describes in Dasyurus macrurus a muscle 

 which arises from the upper half of the back of the fibula, and, 

 passing round the inner malleolus, is inserted into the plantar 

 fascia ; this muscle he regards as a degraded plantaris. There 



