352 
On the Sesamoids of the Knee- Joint 
again Young* found the external fahella only in Viverra civettaf ; and Macalister 
found none in the Laughing Otter (Ao)tya;)%. 
Lack of material has hindered our undertaking a considerable number of inde- 
pendent dissections on the carnivores ; we have been largely compelled to examine 
prepared skeletons, and these can never prove a negative. They may, however, 
give positive evidence, and often confirm or refute earlier statements. The chief 
difficulty is one we have already referred to — the articulator preserves the fabellae, 
but far more rarely, when it exists, the cyamella. 
We have found both fabellae and cyawella in : Proteles cristatus (Aard-Wolf ), 
Canis vulpes (fox), Canis domesticus (not invariably) and Felis domestical (in- 
variably: see Plate XX, Fig. 44). 
We have found both fabellae, no cyamella in Felis catus (wild cat), the two- 
spotted Paradoxure, the Hyaena crociita (spotted Hyaena), Otocyon lalandii (long- 
haired fox), the Java otter, C ryptoprocta ferox (fossa) where the external was much 
larger than the internal, Felis nebulosa (clouded leopard), Canis melitiis (American 
wolf), Oyon sumatrensis (Malayan wild dog). 
We have found the external fabella only in Lutra canadensis (Canadian otter), 
Aeluriis falgens (Panda), Lutra vulgaris (otter), Enhydra, marina (sea otter), where 
the external fahella was markedly large and there was a much emphasised excava- 
tion corresponding to it above the external condyle on the shaft of the femur itself 
(see Plate XIX, Fig. 40), Felis tigris (2 cases) — Eupleres goudoti (a Madagascar 
' * Journal of Anatomy and Physiolofiy, 1879, p. 174. 
t Macalister {Proc. Royal Irish Acad. Vol. i. 2nd series, p. 512), states that there is a hemisesamoidal 
cyamella. 
X Proc. Royal Irish Acad. Vol. i. Science, 2nd Series, p. 545. 
§ The cat is a very good example of the complete system in the carnivores (see accompanying draw- 
ing after Plate XXV, Fig. 6 of Pfitzner's memoir). lu it we see the intimate relation of the cyamella to 
both head of fibula and head of tibia, with the latter of which it articulates. The close association of 
external fahella with the cyamella when the limb is flexed is evident and also the dominance of the 
former over the mesisiX fabella. 
