phalanx, gen. phalan'gis, pi. phalan'ges

(fal'anks) [G. a line of soldiers.] I. One of the long bones of the fingers or toes, 14 in number for each hand or foot, 2 for the thumb or great toe, and 3 each for the other four digits; they are numbered from I-III, beginning from the metacarpus. The 3d (2d in the thumb or great toe), or terminal, phalanx is called the ungual phalanx because of a fiattened surface, ungual tuberosity, at its termination which supports the nail. 2. One of a number of cuticular plates, arranged in several rows, on the surface of the organ of Corti; they are the heads of the outer row of Corti's rods and of Deiter's cells, and between them are the free ends of the hair cells.