THE VASCULAR SYSTEM 243 



assumed by the femoral vein. In Cryptobranchus, judging from 

 Osawa's account, the V. femoralis lateraHs (=femoral vein) and the V. 

 femoralis medialis (=sciatic vein) are approximately equal in size and 

 importance. Hence there seems to be a twofold departure from the 

 Cryptobranchid type, one where the posl-axia/ vein becomes the im- 

 portant vessel — e.g. Salamandra — and the other in which the pre-axia/ 

 path carries most of the blood — e.g. the Frog and the Amniota in 

 general. 



The F. pudenda (v. pud.) enters the proximal end of the V. ischia- 

 dica at the point where it merges into the common iliac vein. It 

 arises in the female from the lateral wall of the cloaca, and in the male 

 from the lateral portion of the cloacal gland, and runs antero-dorsally 

 between the MM. ischio-caudalis and caudali-pubo-ischio-tibialis, 

 receiving factors from both these muscles. At the dorsal border of 

 the former muscle it receives an anastomosis from the median cloacal 

 vein, while just before its entry into the ischiadico-iliac junction it 

 receives several small cutaneous factors from the skin at the root of 

 the tail, and sometimes a rather large anastomosis from the caudal 

 section of the lateral vein, which probably represents a portion of the 

 inferior lateral cutaneous vein of Selachian fishes. ^ 



The F. iliaca transversa (Rusconi) (v.il.tr.). Leaving the junction 

 of the sciatic and iliac veins from the point where the V. pudenda 

 enters, and passing round the dorsal side of the hip-joint to the 

 region of the groin immediately beneath the skin, is a large vein 

 which has been called V. iliaca transversa. It corresponds with the 

 similarly named vein in the Frog, but it is a very much larger and 

 more important vessel in the Salamander than in that animal. At the 

 anterior edge of the ilium it enters the pelvic vein — in fact the major 

 portion of the blood flowing through the ventral section of the pelvic 

 veins into the abdominal vein arrives there through the V. iliaca 

 transversa, since, in almost all cases, it is decidedly larger than the 

 dorsal portion of the pelvic vein (cf. below). 



Factors of the F. iliaca transversa. 



(i) The anastomosis above described as sometimes entering the 

 pudendal vein may enter the V. iliaca transversa direct. 



(ii) The F, cutanea femoris posterior lateralis (Gaupp) from the skin 

 covering the dorso-lateral aspect of the proximal portion of the thigh. 



(iii) A twig from the M. extensor ilio-tibialis. 



(iv) A cutaneous factor from the lateral parietes immediately an- 

 terior to the limb. This factor not infrequently anastomoses with the 



' Cf. Daniell and Stoker 1927, and Daniell's Elasmobranch Fishes, California 1928. 



