320 



THE SPINAL NERVES. 



to the skin on the inner side of the thigh, and the upper part of the leg ; but the 

 extent to which it reaches varies with the presence or absence of the " occasional 

 cutaneous " branch of the obturator nerve. 



Lying beneath the fascia lata, this nerve descends obliquely over the upper part 

 of the femoral artery. It divides either in front of that vessel, or at the inner side, 

 into two branches (one anterior, the other posterior), which pierce the fascia 

 separately. Before dividing, this nerve gives off two or three cutaneous twigs, 

 which accompany the upper part of the long saphenous vein. The highest of these 

 perforates the fascia near the saphenous opening, and reaches down to the middle of 



Fig. 208. CCTANKOUS NERVES OP TIIK ANTERIOR AND INNER 

 PART OF THE THIGH. (From Sappey, after Hirschfekl and 

 Leveilld.) i 



1, external cutaneous nerve ; 2, 3. middle cutaneous, the 

 outer one passing through the sartorius muscle ; 4, filament to the 

 sartorius : 5, internal cutaneous nerve ; 6, its anterior division ; 

 7. one of its upper branches ; 8, a cutaneous twig from the 

 nerve to the pectineus ; 9, pateilar branch of the internal 

 saphenous nerve ; 10, continuation of the saphenous to the leg. 



the thigh. Another, larger than the rest, passes 

 through the fascia about the middle of the thigh, and 

 extends to the knee. In some instances, these small 

 branches spring directly from the anterior crural 

 nerve; and one branch is frequently given off from 

 the nerve to the pectineus, joining in a loop on the 

 inner side of the femoral artery with a branch passing 

 in front of that vessel (fig. 208, 8 ; 209, 7). 



The anterior branch, descending in a straight line 

 to ihe knee, perforates the fascia lata in the lower 

 part of the thigh ; it afterwards runs down near the 

 tendon of the adductor magnus, giving off filaments 

 on each side to the skin, and is finally directed over 

 the patella to the outer side of the knee. It com- 

 municates above the joint with a branch of the long 

 saphenous nerve ; and sometimes it takes the place of 

 the branch usually given by the latter to the integu- 

 ment over the patella. 



The posterior or inner branch of the internal 

 cutaneous nerve, descending along the posterior 

 border of the sartorius muscle, perforates the fascia 

 lata at the inner side of the knee, and communicates 

 by a small branch with the internal saphenous 



nerve, which here descends in front of it. It gives some cutaneous filaments to the 

 lower part of the thigh on the inner side, and is distributed to the skin upon the 

 inner side of the calf. While beneath the fascia, this branch of the internal 

 cutaneous nerve joins in an interlacement with offsets of the obturator and internal 

 saphenous nerves below the middle of the thigh ; and in the leg it communicates 

 again with branches of the saphenous nerve. 



(c) The branch to the pectineus (2, 3 /) is usually associated at its origin with the 

 internal cutaneous nerve. It crosses inwards behind the femoral vessels, and enters 

 the muscle on its anterior aspect : this branch is occasionally double. 



(d) The sartorius muscle receives two or three twigs (2, 3 /) which arise in 

 common with the middle cutaneous nerve, and enter the upper part of the muscle. 



