In Urodela the posterior limb (fig. 31, B) closely resembles the anterior limb, but is even less removed from the primitive condition of the higher vertebrates in the fact that all five digits are commonly present. The tibia and fibula are short bones approximately equal in size. In some cases the number of digits is reduced. Thus in Menobranchus the pes has four digits, in Proteus it has two, and in Amphiuma two or three, while in Siren the posterior limbs have atrophied.
In correlation with their habits of jumping, the posterior limbs in Anura are much lengthened and considerably modified. The tibia and fibula are completely fused. The intermedium is absent, while the tibiale and fibulare are greatly elongated. Tarsalia 4 and 5 are absent. Five digits are always present, and there is a prehallux formed of two or more segments.
In general the posterior limbs in Labyrinthodontia bear the closest resemblance to the anterior limbs; in some cases three centralia are found.
In Ichthyoidea, and in most Labyrinthodontia, the cartilages of the carpus and tarsus remain unossified; in Salamandrina and in Anura they are generally ossified.
CHAPTER XIII.
SAUROPSIDA.
This great group includes the Reptiles and Birds and forms the second of the three into which the Gnathostomata may be divided. There is nearly always a strongly-developed epiblastic exoskeleton which has the form of scales or feathers, and in some cases a dermal exoskeleton is also well developed. In living forms the notochord never persists, being replaced by vertebrae, but in some extinct forms the centra are notochordal. The vertebral centra are ossified, and only in exceptionally rare cases have terminal epiphyses. The skull is well ossified and has membrane bones incorporated in its walls.
The occipital segment is completely ossified, and an interorbital septum or bony partition separating the two orbits is usually developed to a greater or less extent. The skull generally articulates with the vertebral column by a single occipital condyle into the composition of which the exoccipitals and basi-occipital enter in varying proportions. The pro-otic ossifies, and either remains distinct from the epi-otic[65] and opisthotic throughout life, or unites with them only after they have fused with the adjacent bones. The hyoid and branchial arches are much reduced; and the representative of the hyomandibular is connected with the auditory apparatus, forming the auditory ossicles[66]. Each ramus of the mandible always consists of a cartilage bone, the articular, and several membrane bones. The mandible articulates with the cranium by means of a quadrate. The ribs in Birds and some Reptiles bear uncinate processes, i.e. small, flat, bony or cartilaginous plates projecting backwards from their posterior borders. The sternum is not transversely segmented as in mammals, and there are commonly distinct cervical ribs. The ankle joint is intertarsal, or situated between the proximal and distal row of tarsal bones, not cruro-tarsal as in Mammalia.
Class I. Reptilia[67].