404 Harris Hawthorne Wilder, 



from the crescentic ligament that binds the latter to the carpalia 

 and partly from the fascia distal to this and proximal to the point 

 at which it splits into the slips for the separate digits. The sub- 

 divisions and their insertions are not quite the same in all the 

 digits, but the fundamental plan seems to be that of one median and 

 two lateral slips, the lateral being once more subdivided. The median 

 slip is the most distal in origin, and, consequently, the most superficial; 

 it inserts into the base of the proximal phalanx (in the case of 

 digit IV. into the base of the second phalanx). The lateral slips insert 

 into the margin of the digit, one part into the distal end of the 

 metacarpal, the other into the proximal end of the proximal phalanx. 

 These two parts are separated by the metacarpo-phalangeal articu- 

 lation. Allowing for some individual Variation, the way in which 

 this plan is carried out in the different digits is as follows: 



Digit II: radial bündle equal in bulk to half that of the entire 

 muscle; ulnar bündle very small. 



Digit III: corresponds closely to the type. 



Digit IV: a Variation is here introduced because of the extra 

 phalanx. The median bündle inserts into the base, not of the 

 proximal, but of the middle phalanx, leaving the form er to be 

 supplied by the flexor brevis profundus only. The median bündle, 

 in order to accomplish this, is supplied with a tendon of some 

 length, while in the other digits this bündle, as in the case of the 

 rest, makes a fleshy insertion. 



Digit V: This is, in a way, the reverse of the condition in 

 digit II, as here the ulnar, there the radial, bündle is the largest; 

 in each case the marginal, or outer one with reference to the entire 

 hand. The ulnar bündle is distinctly double, each part being well 

 developed; the radial bündle is moderate. 



Mm. flexor es breves profundi (fbp). These consist of 

 four small slips, barely in contact with one another at their origin 

 and supplying the four digits. The System is entirely covered bj 7 

 the preceding, and thus constitutes a second layer of short muscles 

 in the carpo-metacarpal region, in regard to its muscles the most 

 complicated portion of the free limb. These muscles arise from the 

 distal aspect of the crescentic ligament that holds down the palmar 

 fascia, and the four slips are just broad enough at their bases to 

 be in contact with one another at their corners. They may thus 

 be considered as a Single muscular sheet, divided into slips to its 

 very base. 



