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Show 186 MR. F. J. BELL ON MOSCHUS MOSCHIFERUS. [Feb. 1, manque rarement chez les Mammiferes ; mais en general, au lieu de contribuer a la formation du tendon d'Achille, il se terminerait par un tendon propre, qui chez les Ruminants, le Cochon, et le Chien, se diviserait pour se rendre aux orteils, de sorte que ce muscle jouerait le role d'un court flechisseur des orteils, outre celui qui lui est ordinaire. " Dans VHyoemoschus, cependant, pas plus que dans le Cervus mexicanus, une pareille duplicite de fonction ne saurait etre attribute au soleaire, car le flechisseur des orteils qui glisse sur la face posterieure du calcaneum, comme sur une poulie de renvoi, en est bien distinct. Cuvier n'indique, d'ailleurs, nullement ce mode de terminaison du soleaire se prolongeant jusqu'aux orteils pour en former le flechisseur superficiel." It may, then, I think, be fairly concluded that the tendon which is perforated in the hind limb of Ungulates, is that which arises from the plantaris; and this is the view taken by Prof. Huxley * and by Mr. Mivart f. A. Muscles inserted into the tarsus. a. Anterior face. None. /3. Posterior face. (1) Gastrocnemius. (2) Soleus. These two muscles ordinarily unite their tendons before being inserted into the calcaneum, and therefore have been described, chiefly by French anatomists, as in the above quotation from the French edition of Meckel, as one muscle, under the name of the triceps of the leg; for the gastrocnemius has two heads. But in Moschus, as in Tragulus, the tendons of the two muscles are easily separable for their whole extent, but a muscular branch unites their fleshy bodies. The soleus is present in Hyomoschus, but absent in the Pig. B. Muscles inserted into the metatarsus. a. Anterior face. (1) Extensor metatarsi internus. (2) „ „ anterior sive medius. (3) ,, ,, externus. The median and internal flexors pass, with the common extensor of the digits and the extensor of the fourth digit, through a highly fibrous tarsal ring. The flexor internus is larger at its origin than in the Sheep ; but in both animals, as also in C. virginianus, it arises both from the head of the tibia and from the strong ridge on the anterior face of the same bone. Chatin makes the vague observation concerning this muscle, that it is " assez dissemblable chez le Cervus mexicanus compare a 1'Hyoemoschus.," I observed no variation in its arrangement in Moschus from that which obtains in C. virginianus ; and the only point in which it differs from the arrangement in the * Anat. of Yertebrata, p. 56. t Elementary Anatomy, p. 354. |