194 THE MYOLOGY OF THE RAVEN. 



taxonomic value or not, and the result would surely prove 

 of service to ornithology." 



106. The (jtmeUus^ is a strong, thick, rather chunky 

 muscle, ensconced between the posterior aspect of the 

 femoral trochanter and the pelvis. It arises from the 

 entire base of that circumscribed fossa found between the 

 acetabulum and the obturator foramen, on the outer side 

 of the pelvis (Fig. 24). Its fibres, attached by fascia to 

 the tendon of the obturator inter mis, pass directly to 

 the trochanter of the femur to be co-inserted with the 

 last-named muscle, to wdiich it plays really the part of 

 an auxiliary. Professor Owen found this muscle in 

 Apteryx as a single, small, fleshy strip, and Mivart 

 says that in some Vertebrates it may be wanting 

 altogether, as it is in the Ornithorli3aichus and Echidna 

 {Elem. Anat., p. 342). 



The two obturator muscles and the present one are 

 devoted to drawing the pelvis forward, and steadying 

 it on the head of the femur when that bone is fixed. 



107. The adductor lougus^ is a broad, fiat muscle, 



^ Watson followed Owen in regarding the present muscle as the 

 gemellus ; while others have considered it to be the ohfio-afor ex- 

 ternus. The subjoined synonymy is from Gadow {loc. cit., p. 173) : — 



" 42. Mm. accessorii m. obtueatoris. 

 L' accessoire de Viliaque interne. Vicq d'Azyr, p. 273, No. 9. 

 Ohne Namen erwahnt. Meckel, Archiv, p. 266, No. 13 ; System, p. 



350, bei No. 10. 

 Gemellus. Owen, Apteryx, p. 292. 



„ Kuhl, Beitrdge, p. 79 ; Watson, p. 108. 



Obturator externus. Quennerstedt, p. 15. 



,, „ Neander, p. 12. 



„ „ De Man, p. 127, No. 5. 



Pyramidal {\). Alix, p. 433, 

 Mm. accessorii tn. ohturatoris. Gadow, No. 20." 



2 So distinct ai-e the adductor muscles in the thigh of a Raven, 

 that I felt myself to be correct in describing them as two. Very 



