168 ON THE ANATOMY OF LIMICOLINE BIRDS. [May 16, 



side for digits 2 and 4 respectively, except in Glareola and 

 ThhiocGrus, where it is a fan- shaped slip of fasciae common to 

 the three digits, with the slightest trace of specialisation into 

 tendons on the edges of the fan. 



Peroneus superjicialis (with slip to perforated tendon of digit 3), 

 Peroneiis profimdus. — These muscles are present, with one 

 exception, in the normal or archecentric condition in all the birds 

 on the list. The exception is the peroneus profundus in 

 CEdicnemics, in which bird it is practically absent, the absence 

 being another point in which (EcUcnemus differs from the 

 Limicolfe and recalls many of the Giaiiformes, such as Otis. 



Flexores per/oinntes ef perforati. — These muscles and tendons, 

 including the slip connecting the tendon of digit 3 with the 

 corresponding tendon of the perforated flexor, all present a 

 practically identical condition, which does not differ in any 

 important respect from the condition in the majority of the 

 Gruiformes. 



Flexores perforati. — These muscles in all the bii-ds on my list 

 have the usual inter-relations and divide into tendons for the 

 three digits in customary fashion. The muscular mass has three 

 heads : of these I have already described the ambiens head, which 

 is similar throughout, except that there is no accessory ligament 

 from the head of the fibula in Chionis. The external head is 

 fleshy in Himantopus ; it is small and tendinous in Chionis, 

 Glareola, Tliinocorus, Hydropliasianus, Charadrius, RhyncJivea, 

 and Gallinago. It is absent in CEdicnem,us and Scolopax. 



Flexor profuiidus and Flexor longtis hallucis. — In my communi- 

 cation on the Gruiform birds I described various ways in which 

 the tendons of these two muscles (which are similar in their 

 origin in all the birds on my list) are united with one another 

 ix.nd distributed to the toes. I suggested that probably the 

 most primitive condition was such as is to be found in Eurypyga 

 (7, text-fig. 85, VII), where the longus hallucis sends a slip to the 

 hallux, and distad of this blends so completely with the profundus 

 tendon that each tendon supplies each of the three digits. The 

 condition in Chionis resembles this closely, except that, as in 

 lihinochetus, the hallucis tendon, after giving off its slip to the 

 toe, is not so markedly spread out for the other toes. (Edicnemus 

 shows a state practically identical with that of Otis ; there is no 

 great toe, and therefore no slip to it ; the spreading out of the 

 junction of the hallucis tendon wdth the profundus tendon has 

 become obliterated. 



In Hydrophasianus the condition is exactly as in Furypyga, 

 except that, although there is a long great toe, there is no slip to 

 it. In Rhynchcea the condition is also the primitive one, except 

 that the slip to the great toe comes off a considerable distance 

 above the bi-anching of the conjoined main tendons for the three 

 other digits. In Scolopax the condition is similar to that in 

 Rhynchcea, but although there is a small great toe there is no 

 slip to it, and the long junction of the two tendons is ossified. 



