1744 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



and outward to the side of the rectum and the pelvic wall. The peritoneal fold 

 investing the uterus extends laterally on either side as the broad ligament (ligamen- 

 tum latum) to blend with the parietal peritoneum covering the sides of the pelvis. 

 Below, the broad ligament is attached to the pelvic floor, its superior margin being 

 the free edge of the fold. On either side of the rectum, between the gut and the 

 wall of the pelvis, lies the pararectal fossa, the size of which varies with the disten- 

 tion of the intestine. The special features of the peritoneum are described with the 

 rectum (page 1679) and with the uro-genital system (page 1905). 



The arrangement over the anterior half of the lateral wall of the true pelvis is 

 different according to sex, since in the female there is the line of attachment of the 

 broad ligament of the uterus and the fossa for the ovary. Otherwise the features 

 are about the same, the vas deferens of the male and the round ligament of the 

 female causing similar folds. These structures run backward frqfn the internal ring 

 along the wall of the pelvis, turn down to the side of the bladder, and bound 

 externally and posteriorly the paravesical fossa between the pelvic wall and the 



Fig 146Q. 



Bladdet 



Urachus 



Internal 

 abdominal ring 



Transverse 

 vesical fold 



External iliac 

 vessels 



Left urete 



Sigmoid flexure 



— Vas deferens 



Spermatic vessels 



— Sup. vesical artery 



— Ext. iliac artery 

 — I'reter 



—Vas deferens 



Recto-vesical 



•^ fold 



. Ureter 



Peritoneum 



(cut) 



-Internal iliac 

 artery 



~"^Rectum 



Left common iliac artery 



Pelvic peritoneum from above and behind, showing folds and fossae. 



bladder when the latter is not distended. A transverse fold of peritoneum, //zVa 

 vesicalis transversa^ passes laterally from the upper surface of the empty bladder 

 and subdivides the paravesical fossa into an anterior and a posterior compartment. 

 The vas deferens, or round ligament, forms (the body being upright) the lower side 

 of the obturator triangle, which is completed in front by the external iliac vein and 

 behind by the ureter, which crosses the external iliac vein at the apex. The obtu- 

 rator vessels and nerve lie in the floor of this triangle. In the female it is crossed 

 by the lateral attachment of the broad ligament of the uterus, behind which is the 

 fossa for the ovary (fossa ovarica). 



The Anterior Mesentery. — This originally extended from the anterior abdom- 

 inal wall to the lesser curvature of the stomach and to the beginning of the duo- 

 denum. It is subdivided into two portions by the liver, which develops within it. 

 The anterior part is the falciform ligament, between the abdominal wall and the 

 liver ; the posterior part is the gastro-hepatic omentum, between the liver and the 

 stomach. 



' Waldeyer : Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. xxxii., 1898. 



