THE OSTEOLOGY OF VULPES MACROTIS. 413 



apart, Below, and to the outer side of one of these foramina, the surface of the 

 ischium is broad, flat and quite extensive, with its outer angle thickened and 

 prominent. This last is the "tuberosity of the ischium," and it is far more con- 

 spicuous than it is in Homo and the apes. Laterally, an ischium is concaved on 

 its border, while inferiorly it is convexed and rimmed. The inlet of this pelvis has 

 a median longitudinal diameter of 2.5 centimetres, and a transverse diameter of 

 2.3 cms. at its widest part — in other words the inlet is nearly circular in outline. 



Passing to the skeleton of the thigh, leg and pes, we find the femur of the first- 

 named division of this limb to be a very interesting bone, with well-pronounced 

 characters. Viewing it upon its anterior aspect its more or less slender subcylin- 

 drical shaft appears to be nearly straight from one extremity to the other, but seen 

 on lateral view, there is a gentle curvature backward to be recognized, especially at 

 the distal half, and this is here enhanced by the remarkable manner in which the 

 large condylar end is produced posteriorly. This part is massive and profoundlj- 

 channeled by the intercondyloid notch behind, to a lesser degree below, and rather 

 faintly in front. The condyles are nearly equal in size, the external one being 

 rather the larger, while both are situated on the same level distally. Their 

 external surfaces are more or less smooth, the tuberosities above the external 

 condyle alone being in evidence to break the general smoothness of the surface of 

 this distal end of the femur. 



Proximally, the bone presents for examination the head, neck and the greater 

 and lesser trochanters. Head and neck are almost exact miniatures of those we 

 find on the femur in a man, the former being quite hemispherical in form, and the 

 latter constricted and proportionately a little shorter. A distinct depression for the 

 ligamentum teres is present, and the axis of the neck makes an obtuse angle of some 

 135° with the longitudial axis of the shaft, Rising no higher above the summit of 

 the bone than the head, the trochanter major is strongly developed, and has a deep 

 excavation on its postero-internal aspect. Standing between this and the neck, and 

 two or three millimetres below both, we meet with the trochanter minor, here very 

 distinctly developed as a small but conspicuous tuberosity. Passing just to the 

 inner side of this, and running down the shaft obliquel}* to the junction of upper 

 and middle thirds, and from thence straight down to the smooth and flat "popliteal 

 space," is a "muscular line" or ridge, best marked in the upper third of its course. 

 A similar line (linea aspera) passes from the base of the trochanter major, its outer 

 aspect, to run down in nearly a straight line to the tuberosity above the external 

 condyle, where it stops. These two muscular lines are parallel and quite close 

 together for the whole middle third of the femoral shaft. Nutrient foramina occur 

 on the anterior aspect of the trochanter major, in the intercondyloid notch, and on 

 the side of the internal condyle, a fact that inclines me to think that there is no 

 regular site for these openings. 



Fabellce are also present at the back of the knee-joint of this fox, a small 

 ossicle or fabella being found in the ligament posterior to either condyle ; but the 

 sesamoid spoken of by Flower as " a wedge-shaped bone within the joint, lying on 



