4900. ] SHUFELDT—OsTEOLOGY OF THE STRIGES. EL 
langes allotted to them, respectively. The first phalanx of the hind 
toe is more compressed from side to side than in the other toes, 
possessing more of the characteristics of the second joint. Its pos- 
terior facet, that articulates with the accessory metatarsal, fits 
accurately into the cleft surface seen on that little bone. Anteri- 
orly the facet has a median groove, forming two vertical convexi- 
ties for the double concave facet on the claw, with its dividing 
ridge. The claws are all a good deal alike, varying in size, the 
rear one being the most compressed laterally. They are pointed, 
arched and nearly conical, the horny thecz that cover them during 
life only being grooved on the under side. Their proximal ends 
have an articulating facet for the next phalanx behind them; this 
is so arranged that they can be more smartly flexed than any of the 
other joints of the foot, due to the convex articulating surface 
extending well beneath on the phalanx they meet. On the under 
side of their proximal extremities is a tuberosity for the attachment 
of the flexor tendons; it has on either side, below, an oval foramen 
to allow vessels and a nervelet to pass to the extremities of 
these ungual phalanges. ‘The first joint of the second toe, and 
the first and second of the third, are thickest and short, articulat- 
ing internally with the tarso-metatarsus, and having their facets so 
arranged as to allowof motion only in the one plane. These bones 
may almost be said to interlock with each other, with their superior 
projecting processes behind fitting closely into the deep groove in- 
tended to receive them on the anterior faces of the joints to their 
immediate rear. The remaining phalanges of these two toes resem- 
ble the proximal segment of hallux. The fourth or outside toe 
possesses five phalanges, but the three innermost segments are very 
short, and are really nothing more than one of the middle type of 
phalangeal bones, such as the third on the mid-toe, divided into 
three nearly equal parts, the proximal and distal pieces retaining all 
the characteristics of that bone, while the middle segment is simply 
a mid-section of the shaft. This arrangement, however, together 
with the manner in which the proximal phalanx articulates with the 
long and elevated trochlea on the tarso-metatarsus, gives this toe a 
versatility and a power to be thrown outward and, to a limited ex- 
tent, to the rear that is not enjoyed by any of the other toes, consti- 
tuting as it does one of the interesting anatomical features that we 
find in the family S¢rzgzde. 
So much then for the osteology of Speotyfo. The account of it 
