Charles R. Bardeen 285 
toe. Although in several instances students failed to trace the nerve 
further than the knee, I do not feel that their work is sufficiently accurate 
to give figures as to the frequency of extremely limited distribution of 
the saphenous nerve. I have seen no instances of the passing of the 
saphenous nerve to the back of the thigh through the adductor magnus 
muscle as described by Hyrtl (Henle, Nervenlehre, s. 573). As a rule 
the main trunk of the saphenous nerve passes skinwards between the 
tendons of the sartorius and gracilis muscles. The patellar branch of the 
saphenous usually passes through the substance of the sartorius muscle 
but may pass over the anterior margin of the tendon. Below the knee 
the saphenous nerve may be continued in one or two main trunks toward 
the ankle. 
III. CUTANEOUS BRANCHES OF THE OBTURATOR NERVE. 
The superficial branch of the obturator nerve may terminate in a 
cutaneous branch of variable size. In the embryos studied I have been 
unable satisfactorily to trace the development of this nerve. In the adult 
it usually passes distally between the gracilis and adductor longus and 
becomes superficial between the gracilis and sartorius muscles in the 
middle third of the thigh. It commonly anastomoses with branches either 
from the medial cutaneous nerves of the thigh or from the saphenous 
nerve or both, and helps to form the subsartorial plexus. The fibres of 
the cutaneous branch of the obturator may join the medial cutaneous or 
the saphenous nerve beneath the sartorius and be distributed in the 
branches of these nerves without giving rise to any independent branches. 
How constant the cutaneous branch of the obturator may be I have been 
unable satisfactorily to determine. Students dissecting frequently 
fail to find it. Owing to the fact that this may often be due to 
its small size the negative records cannot safely be used in making up 
statistics. 
Out of 80 instances in which the nerves of the thigh were carefully 
charted, in 12 a large cutaneous branch passed from the obturator to the 
region of the knee and in 10 other instances one passed to or beyond the 
middle third of the crus. A well developed obturator branch to the skin 
is found more frequently associated with “ normal” and “ anterior” 
than with posterior types of lumbo-sacral plexus and relatively more 
frequently in white than in negro subjects. 
IV. ACCESSORY OBTURATOR NERVE. 
This nerve was not found in the embryos studied. Out of 250 plexuses 
in the adult it was found in 21 (8.4%). It seems to be especially fre- 
quently associated with the anteriorly situated types of plexuses. It was 
