304 THE MYOLOGY OF THE RAVEN. 



as an aponeurosis from the distal extremity of tlie 

 post-pubic element of the pelvis, and from that 

 semitendinous ligament which stretches from one 

 post-pubic ti]3 to the other, as far as the linea alba ; 

 the rectus of the opposite side arising from the re- 

 maining half of this ligament. 



For half its distance, as the rectus ahdominis proceeds 

 towards the sternum, the muscle is purely tendinous ; 

 this tendon then terminates in nearly a straight 

 transverse line, from which the muscular fibres abruptly 

 commence. These latter then go, longitudinally, 

 directly to the xiphoidal margin of the sternum where 

 they are attached ; but beyond the lateral processes 

 of the sternum, though still in line with its sternal 

 attachment, the outer fibres of the rectus terminate 

 in a strong, aponeurotic membrane, which, as it passes 

 forwards is gradually lost over the outer surface of the 

 thoracic walls, beneath the external oblique and pectoralis 

 major muscles. The carneous portion of the 7'ectus 

 ahdominis in this bird fails to exhibit the slis^htest 



Gadow we have the rectus cMominis thus compiled for us {loc. cit., 

 p. 130 :— 



" 23. M. RECTUS ABDOMINIS. 



Par secundum inusculorura abdominis. Aldrovandi. 

 M. rectus (abdominis). Steno ; Mei-rem, p. 151, No. 1. 



Wiedemann, p. 80. 



Tiedemann, § 232. 



Owen, Apteryx, p. 286. 



Magnus, p. 232. 



Selenka, p. 103, No. 27. 



Gadow, No. 3. 



Watson, p. 74. 

 Gerader Bauchmuskel. Meckel, System, p. 304, No. 4 ; Archiv, 



p. 249, No. 23. 

 Le grand droit de I' abdomen. Gervais et Alix, p. 17. 

 „ „ „ „ „ Alix, p. 383." 



