MUSCLES OF THE THIGH. 445 



A bursa exists between the lower part of their tendon and 

 the fascia femoris, higher up than the patella; occasionally, one 

 is found still lower down, on the patella.* 



The Gracilis, 



Is a beautiful muscle at the inner margin of the thigh, and 

 lies immediately under the fascia; it extends from the pelvis to 

 the leg. 



It arises, by a broad thin tendon, from the front of the os 

 pubis, just at the lower part of its symphysis, and from its de- 

 scending ramus; the muscle tapers to a point below, and, a lit- 

 tle above the knee, terminates in a round tendon, which passes 

 behind the internal condyle of the os femoris and the head of 

 the tibia. It then makes a 'curve forwards and downwards at 

 the internal side of the latter, and is inserted at the lateral and 

 inferior part of its tubercle. 



The tendon at the knee is beneath the tendon of the sarto- 

 rius. This muscle is a flexor of the leg. 



The Pectinalis. or Pecti?ieus, 



Is a short, fleshy muscle, at the inner edge of the psoas mag- 

 nus. It arises, fleshy, from the concavity on the upper face of 

 the pubes, between the linea innominata, and the ridge above 

 the obturator foramen, and is inserted, tendinous, into the linea 

 aspera, immediately below the trochanter minor. 



It draws the thigh inwards and forwards/]* 



Adductors, 



1. The Adductor Longus comes, by a rounded, short tendon, 

 from the upper front part of the pubes near its symphysis; it 

 forms a triangular belly which increases in breadth in its de- 



* Some unimportant varieties have been observed in these extensor muscles. 



Varieties. Sometimes this muscle is split into two by a fissure, in which 

 case the lower portion is the smaller, and has its tendon below connected or 

 joined to the tendon of the other, and its other extremity attached to the upper 

 internal margin of the thyroid foramen. 



VOL. I. 38 



