686 



THE VASCULAR SYSTEMS 



The anterior wall of the sheath is a thickened band of fascia continuous above 

 Poupart's ligament with the transversalis fascia, called the deep crural arch. From 

 it stretch two septa, one between the femoral artery and the vein, the other lying 

 just internal to the vein, and cutting off a small space between the vein and 

 the inner wall of the sheath. The septa are stretched between the anterior and 

 posterior walls of the sheath, so that each vessel is enclosed in a separate compart- 

 ment. The interval left between the vein and the inner wall of the sheath is not 



SUPERFICIAL 

 EPIGASTRIC 



SUPERFICIAL CIR- 

 CUMFLEX ILIAC 



COMMON 

 FEMORAL 



EXTERNAL 

 CIRCUMFLEX 



DESCENDING 

 RAMUS OF 

 EXTERNAL 



CIRCUMFLEX 



SUPERIOR EXTER- 

 NAL ARTICULAR 

 BRANCH OF 

 POPLITEAL 



SUPERFICIAL 



EXTERNAL 



PUDIC 



DEEP 



EXTERNAL 



PUDIC 



INTERNAL 



CIRCUMFLEX 



ANASTOMOTICA 

 MAGNA 



SUPERIOR INTERNAL 

 ARTICULAR 

 BRANCH OF 

 POPLITEAL 



FIG. 481. Scheme of the femoral artery. (Poirier and Charpy.) 



filled up by any structure, excepting a little loose areolar tissue, a few lymphatic 

 vessels, and occasionally by a small lymph node; this is the femoral or crural 

 canal through which the intestine descends in femoral hernia. 



The femoral or crural canal (canalis femoralis) (Figs. 479 and 480) is the 

 narrow interval between the femoral vein and the inner wall of the .femoral sheath. 

 It exists as a distinct canal only when the sheath has been separated from the vein 

 by dissection or by the pressure of a hernia or tumor. Its length is from a quarter 



