6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92 



of all ages, I divided them into three groups, considering in the first the skeletons 

 of fetuses, in the second infants, in the third adolescents. I encountered it [the 

 fossa] only exceptionally in the first two groups, while in the third group, com- 

 prising 18 femurs with epiphyses not attached, but well formed, I found it 12 

 times perfectly clear, deep, well defined, and 4 times less well marked. In two 

 femora there were only traces of the fossa. I cannot state here the percentages, 

 as the number of femora examined is too small, but this frequency is very sig- 

 nificant and permits the consideration of this fossa as best developed about the 

 ages of 18 to 20 years. 



Evangeli-Tramond made further interesting original observations 

 on the fossa, which also remained unknown to, or have been forgotten 

 by, subsequent authors. He described its different forms at differ- 

 ent ages. A mere finely grained although quite distinct impression in 

 infancy, it deepens and assumes elliptical form as age advances. In 

 adolescence, when fully developed, it may reach 4 to 5 centimeters 

 in length, i centimeter in breadth, and several millimeters in depth. 

 Later on, after the epiphyses have become attached, in some of the 

 femora he saw developed within the fossa bony tubercles, which 

 eventually would occupy the internal half of the depression; but some- 

 times the fossa disappeared entirely as a result of invasion by these 

 rugosities. 



Curious as to how the fossa was formed, Evangeli-Tramond dis- 

 sected six subjects. In three of these (the remainder were without 

 the fossa) he was able to ascertain that the gluteus maximus inserted 

 only in the gluteal ridge, and that the external border of the fossa 

 with the adjoining smooth part of the bone gave insertion to fleshy 

 fibers of the vastus externus — the fossa being found between the 

 two. Where the gluteus is not voluminous the fossa remains well 

 defined ; when the gluteus is large, however, its insertion will encroach 

 on the fossa and may even invade this entirely, so that between the 

 tendon of this muscle and the fibers of the vastus there will no longer 

 be any space or any depression.'" 



""Comment se forme cette fossette? J'ai disseque six sujets afin de voir 

 quels rapports avaient entre elles les parties charnues et les surfaces osseuses. 

 Trois de ces sujets ne m'ont rien revele, car aucun d'eux ne presentait trace de 

 goutticre. Sur les trois autres cependant j'ai constate que sur la ligne des 

 rugosites, et seulement sur elle, s'inserait le gros tendon du muscle grand fessier, 

 que sur la, partie moyenne lisse, et la levre qui constitue le bord externe de la 

 fosse, s'inseraient des fibres charnues allant au vaste externe. 



" C'est entre ces deux chefs d'insertion tendineux et charnus que se trouve la 

 fossette hypotrochanterienne. Si le tendon du muscle grand fessier est peu volu- 

 mineux, et si la levre externe est tres saillante, la depression restera tres 

 nette. Si le muscle grand fessier est surmene, son insertion empietera sur le 

 lerritoire de la fossette et pourra meme I'envahir tout entier, si bien qu'entre 



