286 ANATOMY OF THE RABBIT 



5. Muscles arising from the foot and inserted on the individual 

 digits. 



(a) The lumbricales. Origin: Tendon of the flexor digitorum 

 longus. Insertion: Medial surfaces of the first phalanges 

 of the three lateral digits. 



(b) The adductor indicis and the adductor minimi digiti. Two 

 extremely slender slips of muscle. Origin : Near the middle 

 of the dorsal wall of the tendon-sheath of the flexor digi- 

 torum longus. Insertion : By long, thin tendons respective- 

 ly to the lateral side of the first phalanx of digit two and 

 the medial side of that of digit five. 



(c) The interossei (metatarsi). Origin: From the dorsal por- 

 tion of the tendon-sheath of the flexor digitorum longus, 

 external and distal to the origin of the adductors. Insertion : 

 Heads of the four metatarsals. 



Vessels and Nerves of the Leg and Foot 



The great saphenous artery passes distad on the medial sur- 

 face of the leg, and is continued as the posterior tibial artery 

 (a. tibialis posterior) around the medial malleolus to the plantar 

 surface of the foot. Above the ankle-joint it gives off the malleolar 

 artery (a. malleolaris) to the posterior surface of the distal end of 

 the tibiofibula. 



The popliteal artery, the continuation of the femoral, passes 

 between the medial head of the gastrocnemius on the one hand and 

 the lateral head and the plantaris on the other, reaching the an- 

 terior surface of the popliteus, and afterwards the anterior surfaces 

 of the tibia and fibula by passing between their proximal ends. It 

 distributes branches to the muscles about the knee-joint, including 

 a branch to the distal portion of the vastus lateralis, which is given 

 off near the same point as the small saphenous artery. It then 

 continues as the anterior tibial artery. The vessel appears in front 

 of the interosseous ligament of the leg and of the peronaeus brevis, 

 and continues to the dorsum of the foot after passing beneath the 

 crural ligament. A large branch, the peroneal artery, given off in 

 the upper part of the leg also reaches the dorsum of the foot from 

 a more lateral position. 



