338 ANATOMY OF THE RABBIT 



The following may be made out on the posterior surface: 



(a) The cut margins of the falciform, coronary, and left tri- 

 angular ligaments, which were severed in the removal of 

 the liver. 



(b) The hiatus aorticus, an aperture enclosed by the dorsal parts 

 of the two crura and serving for the transmission of the 

 aorta. 



{c) The hiatus oesophageus, more ventral than the foregoing, 

 and serving for the passage of the oesophagus. The muscle 

 fibres of the right crus of the lumbar portion diverge at the 

 dorsal side of this opening, a few passing to the right of it 

 but the great majority ending in the central tendon to the 

 left of it. 



(d) The foramen venae cavae, situated slightly to the right 

 and slightly ventral to the hiatus oesophageus. It serves 



'for the transmission of the vena cava inferior and is sur- 

 rounded by the coronary ligament. 



(e) The superior phrenic arteries (aa. phrenicae superiores) 

 arise from the aorta at about the point of origin of the 

 eleventh intercostals or from one of the latter, and enter 

 the crura. 



The inferior phrenic arteries are minute branches arising at the base 

 of the coeliac. 



(/) The inferior phrenic veins (vv. phrenicae inferiores), one 

 on either side of the foramen venae cavae, at which point 

 they enter the inferior cava. 



The small superior phrenic veins run close to the phrenic nerves, 

 pass forward from the centrum tendineum of the diaphragm along the 

 mediastinum, ventral to the roots of the lungs, and open into the 

 superior caval veins. 



XII. THE VERTEBRAL AND OCCIPITAL MUSCULATURE 



Dissect on the dorsal surface of the body from the occiput 

 backward; also on the lateral and ventral surfaces of the neck. 



The serratus posterior muscle lies on the dorsolateral surface 

 of the thorax. It arises from the dorsal spinous ligament of the 

 neck (ligamentum nuchae) and from the lumbodorsal fascia back 



