TEE rOSTERIOR LIMBS. 



127 



often absent : however, its presence in a certain number of instances allows it to 

 be affinned that Solipeds materially and virtually belong to the pentadactylous 

 type. This conclusion applies ii fortiori to all the domestic animals. 



According to statistics drawn up by Cornevin, the return to the pentadacty- 

 lous type is much more frequently manifested, in Solipeds, in the anterior than 

 the posterior limbs. 



Article VI.— Posterior or Pelvic Limbs. 



Each of these is divided, as already noted, into four secondary regions : th« 

 pelvis, thigh, leg, and foot. 



Pelvis (Figs. 83, 84, 85). 



The pelvis is a kind of bony cavity formed by the union of the sacrum with 

 two lateral pieces — the ossa innominata, or coxae — which are consohdated with each 



Fig. 83. 



THE OSSA INNOMINATA (SEEN FROM BELOW). 



1, Iliac surface ; 2, auricular facet ; 3, angle or crest of the ilium ; 4, angle of the haunch ; 5, 

 cotyloid cavity ; 6, bottom of ditto ; 7, one of the imprints for the insertion of the rectus 

 femoris ; 8, ilio-pectineal line ; 9, channel on the external face of the pubes ; 10, oval (or obtu- 

 rator) foramen ; 11, sciatic spine; 12, 12, ischiatic arch. 



other in the inferior median line. The description of the sacrum having been 

 already given, it now remains to speak of the as innominatum of each side. 



A. Coxa, or Os Innominatum. 



The OS innominatum — also designated os coxa, os iliacum, os innominatum — is 

 a very irregularly shaped flat bone, double (with its fellow on the opposite side), 

 and directed obliquely downwards and backwards. It is contracted in its middle 

 part, which presents externally a deep cavity — the cotyloitl ; anteriorly, where 



