CARNIVORA PELVIC LIMB. 267 



a^^. situated posteriorly, and for tlie most part covered by the flexor tendons. 

 All the muscles of tlie human hand are represented, excepting the interossei 

 metacarpei, of which there is in the dog only one set, the palmares y they are 

 four in number, and disposed in the same way as in the hog. The lumhricales 

 are exceedingly slender, and situated between the branches of the perforans 

 tendon, from which they arise ; they are continued by delicate tendons, whose 

 attachment is uncertain ; they may be traced sometimes to the extensor 

 tendons of the three outer digits ; their use is obscure. Connected with the 

 pollex are three comparatively rudimentary muscles — an abductor, an adduc- 

 tor, and a flexor. The abductor brevis pollicis is a very small muscle, directed 

 downwards and outwards ; arising from the posterior carpal ligament, it is 

 inserted to the metacarpal element of the pollex, which it abducts and also 

 flexes. The opponens pollicis, placed below and beneath the last, is large in 

 the human subject, but very rudimentary in the dog. It has attachments 

 similar to those of the last-named muscle, but is inserted more to the inside ; 

 it is an adductor, opposition of the thumb being impossible in the dog. The 

 flexor brevis pollicis is rather longer than the preceding muscle, but very 

 slender ; it arises also from the posterior carpal ligament, and is inserted to 

 the proximal phalanx of the pollex, of which it is the chief flexor. The 

 adductor indicis is a long prismatic muscle, situated in the depression between 

 the two interossei ; arising from the posterior carpal ligament, it is inserted to 

 the proximal phalanx of the index or first digit, at its supero-intemal part. 



Like the pollex, the outer digit has three special muscles, an abductor, an 

 adductor, and a flexor. The abductor minimi digiti is situated outside and 

 behind the outer metacarpal bone; it arises from the trapezium, and is 

 inserted by a long tendon to the supero-external part of the proximal phalanx 

 of the outer digit. As its name implies, it is an abductor. The adductor 

 {opponens) minimi digiti^ long and flat, arises close by the adductor indicis, 

 passes downwards and outwards, and its tendon is inserted as that of t"he 

 abductor muscle, but to the inside of the bone ; it adducts the digit. The 

 flexor minimi digiti is placed on the inner side of, and below the abductor of 

 the same digit. Triangular and flat in form, it arises from the inferior unci- 

 form ligament, joining the tendon of the abductor. The palmaris brevis, or 

 cutaneous palmar, is a thick and rounded semimuscular mass, situated behind 

 and below the carpus, adhering intimately to the skin, and being deeply 

 attached to the fascia of the subjacent muscles. 



In the felid(B the claw is retracted by a ligament of yellow elastic tissue. 

 " The apparatus for the retraction of the ungual phalanges is so well developed 

 that the clav/s are completely retracted within sheaths of the integument, when 

 the animal does not desire to use them. To this end the elastic ligaments are 

 very strong, and the median phalanx is excavated in order to allow of the 

 lodgment of the retracted phalanx on one side of it"— {Huxley.) 



Pelvic Limb. 



The gluteus externus is very large, the maximus comparatively small ; the 

 latter does not extend before the iliac crest, and it is inserted by a single 

 tendon. The two parts of the triceps abductor femoris are closely blended, and 



