204 THE ARTISTIC ANATOMY OF ANIMALS 



Now that we have a knowledge of the disposition of the 

 great gluteal muscle, the moment has come to inquire what is 

 the signification of its posterior portion. The action of the 

 anterior part being clearly comparable to the human great 

 gluteal, there can be no doubt as regards the homology of 

 this portion, so we will not insist on it further. 



Of the posterior portion it is wholly different, for it is the 

 homologue of a fleshy bundle annexed to the great gluteal of 

 man, but which is not developed except as an abnormality- 



Indeed, we sometimes find, placed along the inferior 

 border of the great gluteal, a fleshy fasciculus, separated from 

 this muscle by a slight interspace. This fasciculus, long and 

 narrow, takes origin from the summit of the sacrum, or 

 the coccyx, and goes to partake of the femoral insertions 

 of the muscle which it accompanies. We further note a 

 muscle of the same kind, and presenting the same aspect, 

 w^hich comes from the tuberosity of the ischium. Notwith- 

 standing the difference which exists, it is this abnormal 

 fasciculus of man which in the quadrupeds here studied is 

 considered as constituting the posterior portion of the great 

 gluteal. 



Bourgelat, considering this posterior portion as belonging 

 to the biceps cruris, to which, it is true, it adheres, forms 

 of them a muscle which he designates under the name of 

 the long vastus. The anterior fasciculus of this long vastus 

 is none other than the posterior portion of the great gluteal 

 which we have just been studying. 



Muscles of the Thigh 



These muscles are divided into three regions : posterior, 

 anterior, and internal. 



In a corresponding manner to that which we described 

 in connection with the arm, the thigh is applied to the side 

 of the trunk, and is free, more or less, only at the level of 

 the inferior part. 



Further, by reason of this shortening of the femur, the 

 great gluteal muscle, which is elongated in the ox and the 

 horse, for example, occupies in part the region corresponding 



