1328 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



bb. The internal cutaneous nerve (rr. cutanei mediales) leaves the anterior crural in the 

 neighborhood of Poupart's ligament and descends in Scarpa's triangle, at the apex of which it 

 crosses obliquely the femoral vessels to attain their mesial side. It passes superficial to or 

 through the sartorius muscle and divides, either anterior or internal to the superficial femoral 

 artery, into its terminal branches, the anterior and the posterior ( Fig. mo). 



Two or three branches are given off by the main trunk. One of these pierces the fascia 

 lata immediately below the saphenous opening and accompanies the internal saphenous vein 

 down to the middle" of the thigh, supplying the integument in its immediate vicinity. Another 



branch pierces the fascia lata 



Fig. iiio. 



From ext. cuta- 

 neous nerve 



Middle cuta- 

 neous nerve 



Ilio-iuguinal 

 nerve 

 (emerging 

 through ext. 

 abd. ring). 



Upper br. of int. cutaneous 

 nerve (or twigs from 

 posterior branclij 



riial saphenous 



Anterior br. of int. 

 cutaneous nerve 



From lower f posterior) 

 cutaneous nerve 



Lower (posterior) br. 

 int. cutaneous nerve 



Cutaneous patellar br. 

 int. .saphenous nerve 



Int. saphenous nerve 



at about the middle of the thigh 

 and supplies the skin of the 

 antero-median aspect as far 

 down as the knee. These 

 branches sometimes arise di- 

 rectly from the anterior crural, 

 and not infreqtiently the nerve 

 to the pectineus gives off a 

 branch which forms a loop at 

 the linner side of the femoral 

 artery with a nerve which passes 

 anterior to that vessel. ^ 



The ant erior branch 

 pierces the fascia lata in the 

 lower third of the thigh, de- 

 scends in the neighborhood of 

 the tendon of the adductor 

 magnus and eventually passes 

 across the patella to reach the 

 lateral region of the knee. It 

 supplies the skin in the vicinity 

 of the adductor magnus tendon 

 and inosculates at the knee 

 with a branch of the internal 

 saphenous nerve. 



T\\Q posterior bra?ich con- 

 tinues down beneath the pos- 

 terior edge of the sartorius 

 and becomes superficial by 

 perforating the fascia lata at 

 the mesial aspect of the knee. 

 Its ultimate filaments supply 

 the integument of the lower 

 part of the inner side of the 

 thigh and the upper portion of 

 the leg. Before becoming su- 

 perficial it inosculates below 

 the middle of the thigh with 

 the obturator and internal 

 saphenous nerves to form the 

 subsartorial or obturator plexus 

 (Fig. 1 1 09). At the knee and 

 in the upper part of the leg 

 it again forms connections 

 with 



Superficial dissection of right thigh, showing cutaneous nerves of inner 

 anterior aspect ; long saphenous vein is seen disappearing through saphe- 

 nous opening. 



Int. saphenous vein 



the internal saphenous 

 nerve. 



c. The posterior or deep 

 division of the anterior crural 

 nerve consists of a fasces of 

 nerve-bundles which furnishes 

 innervation to those muscles which comprise the cjuadriceps extensor femoris and terminates 

 as the internal saphenous nerve. 



Branches of this division are : (aa) the muscular, {bb) the articular and {cc) the 

 internal saphenous. 



aa. The muscular branches frr. musculares) supply the rectus femoris, the vastus e.xternus, 

 the crureus, the subcrureus and the vastus internus. 



