490 



THE ARTERIES OF THE LOWER LIMB. 



as far as the knee, and communicate with the upper external articular of the 

 popliteal. 



B. The internal circumflex artery (iv), arising generally opposite the 

 external from the inner and posterior part of the deep femoral artery, passes back- 

 Fig. 390. POSTERIOR VIEW OF THE ARTERIES 



OF THE PELVIS, THIGH, AND POPLITEAL 



SPACE. (Tiederaann.) 



a, iliac crest ; I, attachment of the great 

 sacro-sciatic ligament to the tuberosity of the 

 ischium ; c, great trochanter ; d, integument 

 around the anus ; e, great sciatic nerve ; /, 

 semi tend inosus and semimembranosus muscles ; 

 fj, head of fibula ; 1, gluteal artery ; 2, pudic ; 

 3, sciatic ; 4, first perforating artery ; 4', its 

 branch to the hamstring muscles ; 5, 6, branches 

 of the lower perforating arteries ; 7, 7, popliteal 

 artery, near the upper figure the origin of the 

 superior muscular branches ; 8, on the tendon 

 of the adductor magnus, near the origin of the 

 superior articular branches ; 9, the anastomosis 

 of the external superior articular with other 

 branches ; 10, 10, sural branches ; 11, anterior 

 tibial recurrent artery. 



wards between the psoas and pectineus 

 muscles, and over the upper border of 

 the adductor brevis, towards the small 

 trochanter of the femur, close to which 

 it divides into two terminal branches, 

 ascending and transverse. It furnishes muscular 

 branches, which supply the obturator externus 

 and adductor muscles and anastomose with the 

 obturator artery, and an articular branch (deve- 

 loped in inverse proportion to the articular 

 branch of the obturator artery), which enters the 

 hip-joint through the cotyloid notch and supplies 

 the fat and synovial membrane in the interior. 



(a) The ascending branch follows the tendon 

 of the obturator externus muscle to the hollow- 

 on the inner side of the great trochanter, where 

 it supplies the external rotator muscles, and 

 anastomoses with offsets of the gluteal, sciatic, 

 and first perforating arteries. 



(&) The transverse branch, larger than the 

 foregoing, passes backwards between the quad- 

 ratus femoris and adductor magnus muscles, and 

 is distributed to the upper parts of the hamstring 

 muscles, anastomosing with the sciatic and first 

 perforating arteries. 



C. The perforating arteries are subject 

 to considerable variation in their arrangement, 



but they are generally four in number, including the terminal branch of the 

 parent vessel. They pass backwards close to the femur, through small tendinous 

 arches in the insertion of the adductor magnus muscle, and give considerable 

 branches to the hamstring muscles, as well as small twigs to the great sciatic nerve, 

 and a series of cutaneous branches, which issue along the back of the external inter- 



