662 A MANUAL OF ANATOMY 



and to the integument of the scrotum, or labium majus, according 

 to the sex. The nerve in its course suppHes branches to the 

 internal oblique and transversalis muscles. 



Deep Arteries of the Abdominal Wall. — ^The deep epigastric 

 artery arises from the inner side of the external iliac, about 

 J inch above Poupart's ligament. For a very short distance 

 at first it passes inwards between Poupart's ligament and the 

 lower border of the internal abdominal ring. It then changes 

 its course, and passes upwards and inwards, lying close to 

 the inner side of the internal abdominal ring, only the external 

 vena comes intervening. On arriving at the outer border of 

 the rectus abdominis, at a point about midway between the 

 upper border of the symphysis pubis and the umbilicus, the artery 

 passes beneath the muscle and enters the sheath over the semi- 

 lunar fold of Douglas. It then changes its course, and ascends 

 vertically between the muscle and the posterior wall of the sheath, 

 as high as the umbilicus. Thereafter it enters the muscle, and, about 

 2 inches above the umbilicus, it ends in its terminal branches, which 

 anastomose with branches of the superior epigastric artery. The 

 deep epigastric lies at first in the subperitoneal areolar tissue, 

 having the. parietal peritoneum on its deep surface, and the fascia 

 transversalis superficial to it. Shortly after passing the internal 

 abdominal ring the vessel pierces the fascia transversalis, and in 

 its course to the outer border of the rectus it forms the outer 

 boundary of Hesselbach's triangle. As the vessel turns from 

 the lower border to the inner side of the internal abdominal ring 

 it has the spermatic cord in front of it, and the vas deferens 

 here hooks round its outer side. The course of the vessel in its 

 first or oblique part is indicated by a line drawn from the inner 

 border of the internal abdominal ring to the outer border of the 

 .rectus abdominis at a point about midway between the umbilicus 

 and the upper border of the symphysis pubis. The course of the 

 second or vertical part of the vessel is represented by a vertical 

 line corresponding with the centre of the rectus, and distant from 

 the linea alba about i^ inches. 



Branches. — ^These are as follows : cremasteric, pubic, muscular, 

 cutaneous, peritoneal, and terminal or anastomotic. 



The cremasteric artery enters the spermatic cord and supplies 

 the cremaster muscle and the other coverings of the cord. It 

 anastomoses with the spermatic artery, the superior and inferior 

 external pudic arteries, and the superficial perineal artery. The 

 cremasteric artery is replaced in the female by the artery of the 

 round ligament of the uterus. 



The pubic artery passes inwards behind the inner half of 

 Poupart's ligament to the back of the body of the os pubis, 

 where it anastomoses with the pubic branch of the obturator artery 

 and its fellow of the opposite side. 



The muscular branches arise chiefly from the outer side of the 

 deep epigastric, and supply the two oblique, transversalis, and 



