168 ANATOMY OF THE RABBIT. 
anterodorsal margin of the bone, the latter forming the projecting 
end of the wing, which is distinguished as the iliac crest (crista 
iliaca). This portion is considerably thicker than the related 
dorsal and ventral margins, and also bears on its medial side a 
somewhat hook-shaped process Its anteroventral angle is the 
superior anterior spine (spina anterior superior) or tuber coxae. 
The ventral margin is slightly longer than the dorsal margin, and 
is also concave. It is associated with the pubic border of the body 
of the ilium; and is not connected with the inferior anterior spine. 
The ischium (os ischii) extends backward from the acetabulum, 
its axis continuing that of the ilium. It consists of a basal portion, 
or body (corpus oss. ischii), a Superior ramus, and an inferior 
ramus. The body of the ischium is for the most part cylindrical. 
It forms the posterior part of the acetabulum, and presents in 
connection with the latter a deep acetabular notch (incisura 
acetabuli), which tends to interrupt the articular surface. The 
acetabular notch leads forward into a depression of the centre of the 
articular basin, the acetabular fossa (fossa acetabuli). In the 
natural condition the combined depressions serve for the attach- 
ment of the round ligament of the head of the femur. The dorsal 
margin of the bone, belonging in part to the body and in part to the 
superior ramus, bears a short hook-like projection, the ischial 
spine (spina ischiadica). The spine divides this margin into two 
parts, one of which forms the posterior half of the greater sciatic 
notch, already described, while the other forms a similar, and, in 
the rabbit, scarcely less extensive, posterior depression, the lesser 
sciatic notch (incisura ischiadica minor). 
The superior or acetabular ramus of the ischium is the con- 
tinuation backward of the body of the bone. It is a somewhat 
flattened plate of bone, the thicker dorsal portion of which ter- 
minates in two blunt projections. One of these, the ischial 
tuberosity (tuber ischiadicum), forms the posterior end of the 
bone, while the other extends in a lateral direction and is described 
as the lateral process (processus lateralis). The inferior or 
symphseal ramus is that part of the ischium which extends from 
the superior ramus downward and forward between the obturator 
foramen and the symphysis to meet the corresponding ramus of the 
pubis. 
