330 
In those cases however in which the 5'* lumbar segment extends 
farther in the direction of the vertebral column, and even crosses the 
region of the trochanter, the length of the dorsal axile line is thereby 
considerably shortened. As we saw already above, the 5‘ and the 
6 lumbar segment at the innerside of the leg extend less far than 
is the case with dogs. Consequently the ventral axile-line is here 
longer with cats. The distinctness of the determination of the der- 
matones at the innerside of the upperleg according to the strych- 
nine-method leaves here however something to be desired. A greater 
extension of the tops of the 5t and the 6 lumbar segment would 
of course here shorten the axile-line. 
In connection with this discussion of the axile-lines I want to 
fix here the attention to another fact that, in my opinion, is con- 
nected with the origin of the axile-lines. 
The top of the 5 lumbar segment namely penetrates with a 
rather wide margin into the sensitive field of sacralis 1. Now it 
seems to me, that originally this overlap did not exist there, because 
2 dermatomes that are separated by two others, do not show 
such an overlap in the dorsal region. Therefore it seems to me, 
that during the development of the extremities this overlap has come 
into existence secondarily; the anterior rim of the field of sacralis 1 
has thereupon approached the field of lumbalis IV, and in this 
way a fringe of the top of the 5 lumbar dermatome has likewise 
been overlapped. 
Shifting of the design of the hindleg. 
In my material of experiments I have three times observed a 
postfixed design of the hindleg. In one of these cases I supposed 
that I found indications that would make a widening of the design 
of the extremities admissible. 
In Fig. 3 a representation is given of the arrangement of the 
dermatomes of the hindleg from the dorsal side, in Fig. 4 from the 
ventral side (cat 32). At the boundaries of the dermatomes the 
order-figure of the dermatomes is given (at the lumbar segments 
by thick figures and at the sacral segments by thin figures). From 
these pictures it appears distinctly, that the 5’ lumbar skin-segment 
takes here the place of the 4" of the average cases, the 6" that 
of the 5 ete. On the hindleg every dermatome has consequently 
shifted about the width of a segment in a frontal direction. From 
the investigation of the plexus Ischio-lumbalis it appeared, that 
here the N. Ischiadicus had originated in the 7°" lumbar and the 
1st sacral root, and received moreover bundles from lumbalis 6 and 
