12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92 



palaeolithic times. It is more reasonable to suppose it as a vestige of what was 

 once a generic character — even as the lateral protrusion of the anterior face 

 in modern man is a vestige of a lemuroid generic character — than to suggest 

 its independent development in two or even more simio-human lines proceeding 

 from a gibbon-like origin. 



As to the relation of the fossa, and the third trochanter, with the 

 gluteus muscle, Pearson and Bell speak as follows (p. 68) : 



It is hard to understand how, if they were due to the development of the 

 gluteus maxhmis in man, they should remain anomalous in his case, and the 

 rule in numerous lower types, while their frequent appearance in infants, in 

 women, and in bones of small muscular development at least precludes the 

 theory that their appearance is solely due to use development. 



Since Pearson and Bell's contribution to the subject there has ap- 

 peared but one noteworthy study of the fossa, that of A. B. Appleton, 

 " On the Hypotrochanteric Fossa and Accessory Adductor Groove 

 of the Primate Femur "." 



Basing his findings on dissections made by himself, Appleton points 

 out the presence of certain fossae in primate femora that cannot be 

 identified with the fossa hypotrochanterica of man, since they are 

 of a totally different nature. In particular, he says, " a fossa is 

 present on the femur of the gorilla, chimpanzee and orang-outan, 

 named in this paper the ' accessory adductor groove ', which super- 

 ficially resembles the fossa hypotrochanterica of man. The homologue 

 of the latter, however, is found in these apes in another situation, 

 viz. on the outer aspect of the shaft well below the level of the lesser 

 trochanter." In addition he has noted another hollow, located near 

 the middle of the posterior surface of the subtrochanteric region of 

 the shaft, which he calls the " pectineal groove ". Pearson and Bell, 

 he points out, have confused the hypotrochanteric fossa and the 

 accessory adductor groove in the chimpanzee and orang (footnote 2 

 on p. 66 of their memoir). 



Appleton assumes that " the identity of the fossa hypotrochanterica 

 is defined for us by Houze as the site of insertion of M. gluteus 

 ma.vimus and in this sense later writers have dealt with it (Von 

 Torok, Costa and Pearson) ", and adds the following in this con- 

 nection (pp. 296-297) : 



ATTACHMENT OF M. GLUTEUS MAXIMUS TO FEMUR 



Man: gluteal ridge, 3rd trochanter or jossa hypotrochanterica. 



Gorilla, Chimpanzee and Orang-outan: a spiral fossa on the lateral aspect of 

 the femoral shaft; this is the jossa hypotrochanterica of these animals. It 

 is the largest and most distally placed in the Gorilla . . . 



^Appleton, A. B., Journ. Anat., vol. 56, pp. 296-306, 1922. 



