258 THE MUSCLES. 



10. Long Muscle of the Neck (Longus Colli). 



Synonyms. — Flexor longus colli — Bourgelat. Subilorso-atloideua — Girard. (Longus colli 

 — Percivail. Dorso-atloideus — Leyh.) 



Situation — Composition. — A single and considerable muscle, immediately 

 covering the inferior aspect of all the cervical and the first six dorsal vertebrae, 

 and composed of two lateral portions which are united on the median line, and 

 constitute, in certain animals, two distinct muscles. 



Structure — Attachments. — Each lateral portion of the longus colli is composed 

 of a succession of veiy tendinous fasciculi. The most posterior of these is 

 attached to the inferior face of the bodies of the first six doi-sal vertebrae, and 

 proceeds directly foi-ward to reach the inferior tubercle of the sixth cervical 

 vertebra, into which it is inserted by a strong tendon. The other fasciculi, less 

 considerable, and confounded outwardly with the intertransversales of the neck, 

 are carried from one cervical vertebra to another, and are directed forwards, 

 upwards, and inwards, converging towards those of the opposite side. They are 

 attached successively : outwardly, to the transverse processes of the last six 

 cervical vertebrae ; inwardly, to the inferior ridge on the bodies of the first six. 

 The most anterior fasciculus passes to the inferior tubercle of the atlas, into 

 which it is inserted by a tendon common to it and the fasciculus of the opposite 

 side, and which receives the most superficial fi))res of the three or four preceding 

 fasciculi. 



Relations. — Above and behind, with the vertebrae which it covers, as well as 

 their intervertebral discs ; below and in front, with the trachea and oesophagus, 

 and the vessels and nerves accompanying these two tubes ; on the sides, with the 

 great anterior straight and the scalenus muscles in its cervical portion ; and in 

 its intra-thoracic portion, with the pleurae, and important vessels and nerves. 



Action. — It flexes the whole neck, and the cervical vertebrae on one another. 



Differential Characters in the Muscles of the Inferior Cervical Region in the 



OTHER Animals. 



A. Ruminants. —In the Ox and Sheep, the arrangement of the cervical panniculus offers 

 a very considerable difference from that observed in Sulipeds. The fleshy portion is absent, 

 or appears to be absent, in the cervical region; tlie anterior niiiacles of the neck are only 

 covered by a thin fascia developed on the sides of the neck. When this fascia retwshes the 

 face, it becomes continuous with the fleshy fibres ; a fasciculus of these fibres comports itself 

 as in the Horse, and joins the buccinator: another is intercrossed in the maxillary space by 

 the analogous fasciculus of the opposite side. 



The cervical panniculus in the Ox is also distinguislied by an extremely remarkable 

 peculiarity, which it is necessary to allude to here: — The fleshy cervical band, altogether 

 absent in the Sheep, is not so in the Qx ; wo have found it forming, benenth the above- 

 mentioned aponeurotic fascia, the long, thick strip which lias been described by veterinary 

 anatomists as the analogue of the sterno-maxillaris in the Horse. Tliis strip is atlached, like 

 the muscular band which represents it in Solipeds, to the anterior point of the sternum. But 

 tts fibres, instead of being spread outwards over the mastoido-humeralis, ascend, perfectly 

 isolated from that muscle, to the posterior border of the inferior maxilla. There it terminates 

 (Fig. 172, 18) by a flattened tendon, which, after reaching tlie anterior border of the masseter, 

 is confounded with the aponeurosis of that muscle, and sends some fibrous bands over the 

 muscles of the face. 



The two portions of the mastoido-humeralis of Ruminants are better defined, and more 

 oblique on one another, than in the Horse. The superficial portion receives, on its inner face, 

 a small, bright- red, funicular fasciculus, wiiich proceeds from the cartilage of the first rib, and 

 whicli Meckel is inclined to consider as the vestige of the subclavius. It is divided, superiorly, 

 into two branches : one, the clavicular portion of the trapezius, very wide, passes to the mastoid 



