MYOLOGY 213 



carnivora only, and especially on account of its anterior or 

 patellar fasciculus. 



It is an adductor of the leg and a flexor of the thigh. 



Muscles of the Internal Region 



The iHo-psoas pectineus and the adductors which we study 

 in man, in connection with the internal aspect of the thigh, 

 offer little of interest from the point of view of external form 

 in quadrupeds ; it is for this reason that we will disregard 

 them. 



The gracilis alone merits description. 



Gracilis (Fig. ^y, 9 ; Fig. ^S, 6). — Designated in veterinary 

 anatomy under the name of the short adductor of the leg, 

 this muscle, expanded in width, occupies the greater part 

 of the internal surface of the thigh, or flat of the thigh, as 

 this region is also called. Let us imagine, in man, the 

 internal surface of the thigh broader, and the internal 

 rectus more expanded, and we shall have an idea of the 

 same muscle as it exists in quadrupeds. 



The gracilis arises from the ischio-pubic symphysis 

 and from the neighbouring regions ; thence it is directed 

 towards the leg to be inserted into the superior part of the 

 internal surface of the tibia, after being united to the tendons 

 of the sartorius and semi-tendinosus. We find, accordingly, 

 at this level, an arrangement which recalls the general ap- 

 pearance of what in man receives the name of the goose's 

 foot {pes anserinus). 



It is between this muscle and the sartorius, at the superior 

 part of the internal surface of the thigh, in the region which 

 recalls the triangle of Scarpa, that we are able, especially in 

 the cat and the dog, to see the adductor muscles of the 

 thigh. We also partly see there, in these animals, the 

 vastus intemus and the rectus of the triceps (see Fig. 87). 

 The gracilis is an adductor of the thigh. 



Muscles of the Leg 



We will divide the leg into three regions : anterior, 

 externa.1, and posterior. With regard to the internal region, 



