618 A MANUAL OF ANATOMY. 



outer border of the foot and little toe, where it terminates. 

 The nerve communicates with the musculocutaneous on the 

 dorsum of the foot, supplies the integument along its course, 

 and is accompanied by the external saphenous vein. 



The External or Short Saphenous Vein. 



For its formation, see page 586. 



The vein follows upward along the outer part, then the 

 back of the leg to the middle of the popliteal space, where 

 it pierces the deep fascia and empties into the popliteal 

 vein. Its tributaries are numerous cutaneous veins from 

 the outer and back parts of the foot and leg, and a large 

 descending one from the back of the thigh. It communi- 

 cates with the deep veins through the deep fascia, and with 

 the internal saphenous near its termination. 



The Deep Fascia. See page 584. 

 DISSECTION. 



After cutting through the fascia in the middle line remove it together with 

 the external saphenous vein, but leave the nerve behind. 

 Clean out the popliteal space. 



The External Popliteal Nerve. Fig. 128. 



This is the outer branch of bifurcation of the great 

 sciatic nerve, and runs from the upper part of the popliteal 

 space along the inner border of the tendon of the biceps 

 muscle to the neck of the fibula, around which it turns, lying 

 close to the bone and covered by the peroneus longus 

 muscle. Here it divides into its two terminal branches, 

 musculocutaneous and the anterior tibial, for which see 

 pages 588 and 598. 



Branches of the External Popliteal. 



(i) Articular, to the knee joint, which they reach by fol- 

 lowing the superior and inferior external articular branches. 



