MUSCLES OF THE POSTERIOR LIMBS. 311 



It is an elongated penniforra muscle, fixed above to the oblique line and middle third of 

 the posterior face of the tibia. Its tendon is inflected beneath the external malleolus, 

 passes in front below the astragalus, receives the accessory of the long flexor, and then 

 divides into four branches for the four lesser toes. 



3. The posterior tibial, represented by a portion of the perforans of animals ; its 

 tendon is reflected beneath the internal malleolus of the tibia, and is attached to the 

 scaphoid process. 



4. The proper long flexor of the great toe, also represented by a portion of the perforans. 

 This muscle is voluminous and prismatic, and is attached above to the lower two-thirds 

 of the posterior face of the fibula. Its tendon is reflected inwards on the astragalus and 

 the groove in the os calcis, crosses the tendon of the common long flexor, and terminates 

 on the posterior extremity of the third phalanx of the great toe. 



MUSCLES OF THE POSTERIOR FOOT. 



SOLIPEDS. Tn these animals are found: 1, Two lumbrici and two 

 interosseous muscles, corresponding to those of the anterior limb ; 2, A pedal 

 muscle. 



Pedal muscle. The tarso-prephalangeus of Girard. (The flexor meta- 

 tarsi parvus. Not mentioned by Percivall.) This is a small riband-shaped 

 fasciculus, situated in front of the principal metatarsal bone, beneath the 

 extensors of the phalanges. It is attached, by its inferior extremity, to 

 the internal surface of the tendon common to these two muscles, and by its 

 upper extremity to the lower end of the os calcis (and astragalus). It aids 

 in extending the digit (flexing the hock, and probably keeping the tendons 

 tense.) 



RUMINANTS. The pedal is the only muscle in the region of the foot met with in 

 Ruminants. It is attached, inferiorly, to the tendon of the common extensor and that of 

 the proper extensor of the internal digit. 



PIG. This animal possesses : 1, A pedal muscle attached, below, to the two branches 

 of the common extensor of the large digits : 2, Four interosseous metatarsal muscles, which 

 do not appear to differ in their general arrangement from the metacarpal interosseous 

 muscles. 



CARNIVORA. In the Lfyg and Cat there exist in the region of the posterior foot ; 



1. A pedal muscle, composed of three fasciculi which have their origin either from the 

 inferior extremity of the os calcis, or from the tendinous sheaths in the bend of the hock ; 

 they terminate on the second, third, and fourth digits by small tendons joined to the 

 branches of the common extensor. 



2. The muscular digitations annexed to the tendon of the perforatus, traces of the 

 fleshy portion of the flexor brevis digitorum of Man. 



3. A flexor pedis accessorius, or perforans, a small undeveloped muscle commencing 

 outside the tarsus, and terminating by a very delicate aponeurosis on the posterior face of 

 the perforans tendon. 



4. Two or three pale and rudimentary bands, situated inside the tarsus and near the 

 internal digit. These are the vestiges of the muscles proper to the great toe in Man. 



5. An adductor of the little toe (abductor minimi digit) is a thin, elongated muscle, 

 carried obliquely from the posterior tarso-metatarsal ligament to the internal side of the 

 first phalanx of that digit. 



6. Four interosseous metatarsal muscles, resembling the analogous muscles of the 

 metacarpal region. 



7. Lumbrici, similar to those of the anterior limb. 



COMPARISON OP THE MUSCLES OF THE FOOT IN MAN WITH THOSE OP ANIMALS. 



In Man, there are distinguished the muscles of the dorsal region, the plantar region, 

 and the interosseous muscles. 



A. Dorsal Region. 



This only contains one muscle, the pedal (extensor brevis digitorum). It is attached, 

 behind, to the antero-external part of the upper face of the os calcis by several aporieurotic 

 laminse ; its fleshy fasciculi, four in number, are prolonged by as many tendons destined 

 to the first four toes; three of them pass along with the tendons of the common extensor. , 



