Oil OSSKOrs SYSTEM. 117 



of most of the American quadrumana the coccygeal verte- 

 brae are en creased in number and mobility, and in the 

 strength of their articulations ; they are generally more 

 lengthened and cylindrical in the long- tailed quadrumana 

 of the old continent. The scapulae are still lengthened and 

 narrow, but with an elevated spine, the clavicles are strong, 

 and curved like the human, the coracoid and acromion 

 processes are of considerable size, and the glenoid cavity 

 comparatively deep. The humerus is more curved than 

 the human, and the radius and ulna are more lengthened and 

 slender, and admit of very free pronation and supination. 

 There are often nine bones in the carpus by the division of 

 one in the second row, to give greater mobility and prehen- 

 sile power to the whole hand, and for the same object all 

 the bones of the meta-carpus, and the phalanges of the 

 fingers, which have the same number of bones as in the 

 human hand, are much lengthened. The thumb is shorter 

 and less opposeable to the other fingers than in man. The pos- 

 terior members have the same long, slender, and prehensile 

 character as the anterior. The sacrum generally consists 

 of three anchylosed vertebree, the iliac bones are long and 

 narrow, and directed longitudinally, and the tuberosity of 

 the ischium expands, outwards, covered with the callosities 

 on which these animals generally rest. The femur is much 

 curved, its neck short, and the trochanter major much ele- 

 vated. The long, slender, and separate tibia and fibula admit of 

 free motion in the foot, as a prehensile organ, and which is in- 

 creased by the shortness of the tuberosity of the calcaneum.The 

 astragalus is twisted obliquely outwards, and this inclination, 

 increased by the form of the calcaneum, is communicated 

 through the scaphoid and cuboid, and the three cuneiform 

 bones to the meta-tarsus and the whole foot, which is thus 

 made to rest obliquely on its outer margin, and the inner 

 toes are raised from the ground, and left free for prehension. 

 The inner toe of the foot is here attached in a very oblique 

 manner to the internal cuneiform bone, which is placed 

 much below the others, and it is thus opposed slightly to 

 the other more lengthened toes of the foot, and that organ 

 is converted into a prehensile hand. In the highest of the 

 quadrumana, the chimpanze of Africa, the nasal bones are 

 more raised from the face, the incisors more vertical, and 



