AXILLARY, AND ITS BRANCHES. 213 



branch. The former reaches the clavicle, and is partly distri- 

 buted superficially along it, partly to the contiguous muscles, 

 and to the shoulder articulation. The other branch follows tfje 

 cephalic vein along the interstice between the deltoides and 

 pectoralis major, and is, finally, distributed to these muscles and 

 to the integuments. 



d. The Thoracica Axillaris is irregular, both in regard to the 

 number of its branches and to their origin. Instead of a distinct 

 origin by one or more trunks from the axillary artery, the 

 branches belonging to the name of thoracica axillaris, are some- 

 times derived from the other thoracic arteries. They are ge- 

 nerally distributed only to the fat and the lymphatic glands in 

 the axilla. They occasionally exist primitively as a large trunk, 

 which runs on the scapular face of the serratus major the whole 

 length of the scapula, and is distributed to the adjacent mus- 

 cles, and to the fat and glands of the axilla. 



3. The Scapular Artery (Arteria Scapularis communis, Sub- 

 scapularis) arises from the axillary below the shoulder joint, at 

 or near the anterior margin of the subscapularis muscle. Giving 

 off some inconsiderable branches to the lymphatic glands of the 

 arm-pit, it descends along the anterior margin of the subscapu- 

 laris, and is distributed to it, to the latissimus dorsi, and to the 

 teres major and minor muscles. 



A little below the neck of the scapula, it detaches a large 

 trunk, the Dorsalis Inferior Scapulas, which, winding around the 

 inferior cosla of the bone over the anterior margin of the sub- 

 scapularis and the teres minor, reaohes the fossa infra-spinata. 

 This trunk then divides into two branches: one of which is dis- 

 tributed superficially between the aponeurosis and the infra-spi- 

 natus, and the other more deeply near the dorsum of the bone: 

 one of the ramuscles of the latter ascends beneath the neck of 

 the acromion to anastomose with the Dorsalis Superior Sca- 

 pulas. 



4. The Anterior Circumflex Artery (Art. Circumflexa Ante- 

 rior, Articularis Anterior) is about the size of a crow quill, and 

 arises from the axillary just above the tendon of the teres ma- 

 jor and of the latissimus dorsi. It adheres closely to, and sur- 

 rounds the front of the neck of the os humeri, passing between 



