276 MUSCLES OF THE LOWER LIMB. 



c, d. The vastus internus and crureus consist of different sets of fibres, 

 which are very closely united. The vastus internus arises from a line which 

 descends upon the femur at some distance in front of the small trochanter, 

 and which unites the anterior intertrochanteric line to the inner line 

 diverging from the linea aspera ; from the lower half of that inner line, and 

 from the inner lip of the linea aspera ; as well as from the fibrous partition 

 attached to the line extended between the linea aspera and the inner con- 

 dyle in connection with the tendon of the adductor magnus. From this 

 extensive origin, and likewise from the inner surface of the bone, the fibres 

 proceed downwards and forwards, and terminate on the inner surface of the 

 patella and knee-joint in a manner similar to those of the vastus externus. 

 The crureus arises on the anterior and outer surfaces of the femur, reaching 

 from the line between the trochanters to within a few inches of the patella, 

 and outwards to the vastus externus. Its fibres are vertical, and are over- 

 laid inferiorly by an aponeurosis ; and the muscle is inserted by tendon and 

 fleshy fibres into the upper border and sides of the patella, being in- 

 separably blended with the insertions of the other parts of the quadriceps 

 extensor. 



The subcrureus is a small band of muscular fibres, which extends from the 

 lower part of the anterior surface of the femur to the upper part of the 

 synovial membrane of the knee-joint, on which it ends in scattered fibres. 



This little muscle is placed beneath the crureus muscle, and in some cases it is 

 united with that muscular mass. It is not unfrequently double, or consists of two 

 separate bundles. 



INTERNAL FEMORAL REGION. 



(Adductor Muscles.} 



The gracilis or adductor gracilis muscle, long and slender, arises by a 

 thin aponeurosis from the inner margin of the pubic bone, along the lower 

 half of the symphysis and the upper part of the pubic arch. The lower 

 tendon, which is at first round, is inserted by a flattened and expanded 

 portion into the inner side of the tibia, on the same plane with, but 

 higher than the semitendinosus, and under the expanded tendon of the 

 sartorius. 



This slender muscle is covered by the fascia lata, except in a small part inferiorly, 

 where it is overlapped by the sartorius ; the deep surface rests against the adductor 

 brevis, adductor magnus, semimembranosus, and the knee-joint with the internal 

 lateral ligament. A bursa separates it from that ligament. 



The pectineus muscle, flat and nearly quadrangular, arises from the pec- 

 tineal line, and from the surface of bone in front of it, between the ilio- 

 pectiueal eminence and the pubic spine. Inclining outwards and backwards 

 as it descends, it is inserted by a flat tendon into the femur behind the 

 small trochanter, and into the upper part of the line which connects the 

 linea aspera of the femur with that prominence. 



The pectineus is in contact, by its anterior surface, with the fascia lata and the 

 femoral vessels ; by the posterior surface, with the obturator vessels and nerve, and 

 the external obturator and adductor brevis muscles. By the outer border it touches 

 the psoas magnus ; by the inner border, the adductor longus. 



The adductor longus, a flat triangular muscle, internal to the pectinetie, 

 and lying in the same plane, arises by a short tendon from the body of the 

 pubes below the crest and near the angle, and is inserted into the inner 



