Metatarsus

“ A bony ridge over the eye conduces to the fierce aspect, especially in the larger species. The feet are robust and well-fitted for grasping, and are enormously developed in Thrasaëtus; the metatarsus is much flattened, and may be scutellated or reticulated, though the scales are usually smaller behind; the tibia generally exceeds it in measurement, but in Accipitrine forms is nearly equal, giving them a long-legged appearance. Elongated bare metatarsi are characteristic of Circus, Polyboroïdes, and the Polyborinae. The claws are sharp and curved, especially in Rostrhamus ”

“ It seems to me that these three bones were all that were in the metatarsus, and that the creature was tridactyle; but of course there may be reason not to trust too much to one case for proof of a negative. Still that seems to me the probable inference. As we have plenty of information about the femur, tibia (fibula?) , metatarsals, and claw-bone, the reconstruction of the animal seems now practicable. ”

“ The Proper Adductor of the great Toe, or the Thenar, taking its rise inwardly on the side of the Talus, the Ossa Schaphoidea and Innominata, extends it self over the outward-part of the Bone of the Metatarsus, which stayeth the great Toe, and adheres to the top of the second Bone of the great Toe, which it draws inward.
The proper Abductor of the great Toe, or the Antithenar, draws it toward the other Toes. It derives its Origine from the Bone of the Metatarsus, which supports the little Toe, slides obliquely over the other Bones, and cleaves to the first Bone of the great Toe on the inside. ”

“ The distal extremity of the tibio-tarsus is not inflected. A hallux is present in some species. The tibio-tarsus and tarso-metatarsus are long and slender, the length of the latter equalling and more often exceeding the length of the femur, and also exceeding half the length of the tibio-tarsus. ”

“ The short strong beak is greatly arched, and is not toothed, the neck is elongated, the body comparatively small, and the metatarsus boldly scutellated all round, the short straight toes with their blunt claws being joined anteriorly by small membranes. ”

“ The fibula and tibia did not coalesce, the latter exceeding the metatarsus in length; the toes were four {25}in number, with two, three, four, and five phalanges respectively, ending in claws, the hallux being directed backwards. The manus had three free digits, and apparently three free metacarpals; the pollex consisted of two joints, the index of three and the third finger of four, while each had a strong hooked claw at the tip. ”

“ The metatarsus is usually strong; the wings are long and pointed in Crows and Choughs, shorter in Jays and Magpies, and decidedly rounded in Corcorax, Callaeas, and Struthidea. The variable tail is very long and much graduated in Pica, Cyanopica, Urocissa, Cryptorhina, Dendrocitta, Crypsirhina, Cissa, and Calocitta, the two median rectrices often exceeding the others ”

“ The tibia is often partly bare, and the metatarsus is extremely variable; the legs are longer in Himantopus than in any other bird of its size, and long also in Recurvirostra, Cursorius, Dromas, the Parridae, and so forth, while Haematopus, Aegialitis, Scolopax, Glareola, Chionis, Tringa, and the Thinocorythidae are instances of the contrary. ”

“ Of small size, slightly higher at the croup than at the shoulders; short tail; large pits in hind feet; no groin-pits; no tuft on the metatarsus. This genus is specially characterised, according to Sir Victor Brooke, by the absence of the lateral digital phalanges on all four feet; the proximal ends of the metacarpals are however present; horns situated on high pedicles of bone, covered with hair, continued down the face in two longitudinal ridges, between which the skin is ridged or puckered; horns small, composed of a single beam with a basal snag ”

“ Both mandibles may be serrated, and the maxilla is hooked in Androdon and Rhamphodon; but for details of the variable beak, remiges and rectrices, reference must be made to the species described below. The metatarsus, feathered in such genera as Eriocnemis and Loddigesia, is short; the toes being usually diminutive, but sometimes stronger, and the claws either small and rounded, or elongated, curved, and sharp. The ten primaries, of which the outermost is the longest, except in Aithurus–where it is shorter than the next–are frequently rigid ”

“ The bones most frequently attacked are the humerus, radius and ulna, tibia and femur, but the clavicle, ribs, sternum, and bones of the metatarsus and metacarpus are also often involved, and much more rarely the frontal and parietal. ”

“ It is a remarkable feature in these animals that the middle bones of the foot, termed instep bones or metatarsals, are usually close together, so that the toes diverge from a narrow breadth, as in P. longirostris, P. Kochi, and other forms; but there also appear to be splay-footed groups of Pterodactyles like the species which have been named P. elegans and P. micronyx, in which the metatarsus widens out so that the bones of the toes do not diverge, and that condition characterises the Ptenodracon (Pterodactylus brevirostris) , to which genus these species may possibly be referred. ”

“ In the first and last of the Sub-families the metatarsus is strong and often long; in the remainder it is comparatively weak; Centrites has an extremely elongated hallux, correlated with Lark-like habits. The wing is usually short, but is often long in the Taeniopterinae and Tyranninae; the outer of the ten primaries are at times acuminate in Tyrannus, Hapalocercus, Cnipolegus, and Taenioptera, whereas in Colopterus and Alectrurus these quills are unusually reduced. The secondaries are nine. ”

“ No foramen between third and fourth trochleae of tarso-metatarsus. Spines of dorsal vertebrae tall. The power of flight was absent. The chief differences from Cereopsis were the presence of extra pre-sacral vertebrae, so that two only instead of three ribs articulate with the sacrum; and an elevated pent-roof arrangement of the ossa innominata, which indicate more decided cursorial habits.
CNEMIORNIS CALCITRANS OWEN.
Cnemiornis calcitrans Owen, Trans. ”

“ The third metatarsal, usually the largest and the most robust throughout, here diminishes in size upward, and takes a subordinate, posterior position, as in birds. The correspondence between the metatarsals of the bird and reptile are here as strongly marked as in the tibial and their accompanying elements, above described. ”

“ In medial view, metatarsal III has a smooth triangular surface for the articulation of metatarsal II. The medial margin of the proximal articular surface of metatarsal III has a distinct medial projection (Figure 11E, 12) . ”

“ The metatarsals and digits, on the other hand, are proportionally longer and more slender, while the great toe is not only proportionally shorter and weaker, but its metatarsal bone is united by a more moveable joint with the tarsus. At the same time, the foot is set more obliquely upon the leg than in man. ”

“ In form and size the metatarsals of any given mammal are usually so like the metacarpals, that it requires some experience to distinguish them, but when either manus or pes is especially adapted to some particular kind of work, there may be very decided differences between metatarsals and metacarpals. ”

“ The proximal tarsal bones are always ankylosed to the tibia, and the distal tarsals to the metatarsals, so that the ankle joint is intertarsal. The first [297] metatarsal is nearly always free. The pes never has more than four digits in the adult. ”

“ For example, the burrowing forefoot of the moles is very different from the hind foot, which has undergone but little modification, and even more striking is the difference between the wing of a bat and its foot. Many other instances of a less extreme divergence might be enumerated, but when manus and pes are used only for locomotion, as in nearly all hoofed animals and many other mammals, the metacarpals and metatarsals are very similar. When there is a difference in number, it is the general rule that there are fewer metatarsals ”

“ Fracture of the metatarsal bones is liable to be followed by traumatic flat foot, on account of the sinking of the arch, or painful large calluses forming on the sole of the foot may interfere with walking.
Treatment. The treatment in such fractures is by immobilization in a posterior metal or plaster splint, for four weeks. If there is continual pain upon walking after the injury, a steel insole will often give relief. The treatment of compound fractures of the metatarsal bones does not differ from that of other bones. ”

“ The metasternum also possesses a bony style, but it remains cartilaginous in the Indian genera Oxyglossus, Nannophrys, Nannobatrachus and Phyllodromus, in the last two genera rather reduced and slender, while in the Ecuadorian and Colombian genera Hylixalus, Prostherapis and Colosthetus, it is reduced to a membranous piece. In quite a number of genera the normal number of phalanges is increased by one owing to the intercalation of an extra phalanx between the terminal and the otherwise penultimate phalanx. ”

“ This attachment of the distal tarsals to the metatarsals reminds us of the Lacertilian condition, the result in either case being a still more marked intertarsal joint in addition to the cruro-tarsal.
Most well-footed reptiles retain all the five toes; only the crocodiles and a few tortoises have lost all the phalanges of the fifth toe. ”