DEEP URETHRAL MUSCLES. 403 



forwards on each side of the vagina, to be inserted into the body of the 

 clitoris, and front of the triangular ligament. 



Action. Like the other orbicular muscles the sphincter diminishes 

 that part of the vagina which it encircles ; and it assists in fixing the cen- 

 tral point of the perinoeum. 



The ERECTOR CLITORIDIS resembles the erector of the penis in the 

 male, though it is much smaller (p. 394). 



The TRANSVERSALIS is similar to the muscle of the same name in the 

 male. The one description will suffice for those muscles in both sexes 

 (p. 395). 



Dissection. To see the triangular ligament of the urethra, the erector 

 and the crus clitoridis are to be detached from the bone, and the outer 

 fibres of the sphincter vaginae are to be removed. 



The triangular ligament transmits the urethra, but is not quite so 

 strongly marked as in the male (p. 396) ; its extent is partly interrupted 

 behind by the large aperture of the vagina. 



Dissection. By cutting through the superficial layer of the ligament in 

 the same way as in the male (p. 397), the deep muscles, with the pudic 

 vessels and nerve and their branches, will be arrived at. 



The DEEP TRANSVERSE MUSCLE (depressor urethra, Santorini) has the 

 same origin externally as in the male (p. 397) ; and it meets its fellow at 

 the middle line, like the muscle answering to it in the other sex. Santo- 

 rini described the muscle as passing over, instead of below the urethra ; 

 hence the name given to it by its discoverer. 



The CONSTRICTOR MUSCLE of the urethra resembles that of the male in 

 its origin from the pubes, and its disposition around the urethra (p. 397). 

 Within it is a circular layer of involuntary fibres, as in the other sex. 



The description of the pudic artery (p. 398) will serve for both sexes, 

 except that the branch in the female, which is the representative of the 

 artery of the bulb in the male, is furnished to the vagina. The terminal 

 branches are much smaller in the female. 



The pudic nerve has the same peculiarity as the artery with respect to 

 the branch to the vagina, and the smaller size of the terminal part of the 

 nerve on the clitoris. 



