140 DIN'OCEHATA. 



ligament, as is seen in Plate XLIV, figure 3 a. The great trochanter 

 scarcely rises above the base of the head. It is flattened, and posteriorly 

 is excavated below. 



The upper end of the shaft is broad, flattened in a fore and aft 

 direction, and is excavated behind, especially below the great trochanter. 

 It contracts in transverse diameter gradually to a minimum, near the 

 middle of the shaft, and just below the trochanter minor, where it is 

 flattened behind, but strongly rounded in front. Below this point, it 

 becomes flat behind, and, lower still, is excavated, while the anterior 

 surface is rounded throughout. The anterior and ])osterior surfaces of the 

 bone, .(long the inner side, pass into eacli other by gradual curvature, 

 except in the region of tlie trochanter minor. The latter process is less 

 than one-thii'd of tlie wav down the shaft, and somewhat stronger than in 

 the elephant. There is no third trochanter. 



The curved front surface of the femur is separated from the flattened 

 posterior face b\' a i-ounded ridge, extending along the outer and posterior 

 sides nearly the entire length of the shaft. This ridge sharply separates 

 the two faces, but nowhere rises conspicuously above the general surface 

 of the bone, and disapjiears near the proximal end. Near the distal end, 

 the surface is roughened, but is destitute of the conspicuous fossa above tlie 

 outer condyle, seen in the horse and the hippopotamus. 



The condyles resend)le those of the elej)hant, and, as in that animal, 

 are so placed itpon the end of the shaft as to permit the knee-joint to be 

 straightened when standing at rest, and in walking. The characteristic 

 elephantine gait must, therefore, have been assumed by the Diuocrraia. 



The inner condyle is a little greater than the outer in transverse 

 diameter, but much less in antero-posterior dimensions. The two are 

 separated from eacli other by a deep narrow sulcus, but both are 

 completely confluent above with the shallow and short groove for the 

 patella. This groove is broadly rounded from side to side, and less 

 distinctly pulley-shaped, than in the elephant. It is near the middle of 

 the anterior surface of the bone, and does not rise above the general 

 surface, except to a very small extent along- its lateral margins, Avhich are 

 acute, and sub-ecjua) in height 



