Charles R. Bardeen 
In the adult the superior nerve te the soleus enters the superficial sur- 
face near the superior border and divides into two main branches, one 
for the tibial and one for the fibular side. The inferior nerve to the 
soleus divides, usually before it enters the muscle, into two branches, one 
for the distal portion of the fibular, the other for the distal portion of 
the tibial side of the muscle. From both nerves branches may usually 
be followed both to the main body of the muscle and to the specialized 
bi-pennate portion visible on its deep surface. . 
M. plantaris—According to Schomburg, oo, the anlage of this muscle 
arises proximal to the soleus and on the tibial side of the gastrocnemius. 
In embryo CXLIV, length 14 mm., the muscle mass is not clearly differ- 
entiated from the anlages of the soleus and gastrocnemius but what I 
TABLE XXVII. 
Amphibia. Lacertilia. Opossum. Higher Mammals. 
Plantaris sup. med. Gastrocnemius med. | Gastrocnemius med. 
{Gastrocnemius, cap. 
int., Gadow.] 
Plantaris sup. med. 
[Ischio-flexorius, 
Hotffmann.] 
Plantaris sup. lat. 
[Gastrocnemius, cap. 
ext., Gadow.] 
Gastrocnemius lat. | Gastrocnemius lat. 
Plantaris sup. lat. Plantaris sup. access. 
{Femoral head sup. [Flex. long. dig., cap. | Plantaris. Plantaris. 
flexor.] fem., Gadow. | 
Plantaris sup. tenuis. Popliteus. 
{[Flex. long. dig., cap. (Sup. portion) 
access., Gadow.] 
Plantaris prof. ITI. 
[Flex. subl. dig., 
Hoffmann. ] 
Gastrocnemius lat. Soleus. 
Plantaris prof. IT. 
[Fem. fib. metatars. 
Plantaris profundus 
III-II 
[Flex. long. dig., cap. 
int., Gadow.] 
(Soleus portion.) 
Flexor fibularis. 
Flexor fibularis. 
I-III. Hoffmann.] 
take to be the anlage of the plantaris is a small mass of tissue situated 
anterior to the main soleus mass and partly covered by the gastrocnemius 
(Plate IX, Fig. 4). Even in embryo XXII, length 20 mm., the muscle 
cannot be made out distinctly. I have represented in Plate LX, Fig. 6, 
what I take here to be the anlage of the plantaris muscle. It is closely 
associated with the lateral head of the gastrocnemius. No traces of the 
tendon were found in the early embryos I have studied, nor did Schom- 
burg find any in the leg reconstructed by him. 
Comparative anatomy of the gastrocnemius-soleus growp.—MecMurrich in 
this journal has recently (04) given an important account of the compara- 
tive anatomy of the crural flexors from the standpoint of muscle layers as 
seen in cross-section. He tabulates the relationships of the gastrocnemius- 
soleus group as shown in Table XXVII. 
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