ABDOMINAL WALL 405 



from it by transversalis fascia ; (3) as the ductus deferens passes 

 from the inguinal canal into the abdominal cavity it hooks 

 round the lateral side of the artery. 



The branches which spring from the deep epigastric are 



1. External spermatic. 



2. Pubic. 



3. Cutaneous. 



4. Muscular. 



The external spermatic is a small twig which supplies the 

 cremaster muscle and anastomoses with the internal spermatic 

 artery. Theflufric, also insignificant in size, runs medially, along 

 the pubes, and sends downwards an obturator branch which 

 anastomoses with a small branch from the obturator. 

 The importance of this branch arises from the fact that the 

 anastomosis which it establishes sometimes becomes so large 

 as to take the place of the obturator artery. The muscular 

 branches are given to the substance of the rectus, and the 

 cutaneous offsets pierce the abdominal muscles and anastomose 

 with the superficial epigastric artery. 



Arteria Circumflexa Ilii Profunda (Deep Circumflex Iliac). 

 This vessel springs from the lateral side of the external iliac 

 artery, about the same level as the deep epigastric, and runs 

 laterally, behind the inguinal ligament, to the anterior superior 

 spine of the ilium. From this point onwards it takes the 

 crest of the ilium as its guide, and ends by anastomosing 

 with the ilio-lumbar artery. At first it is placed in the extra- 

 peritoneal fat, and consequently it lies between the fascia trans- 

 versalis and the peritoneum. Its course behind the inguinal 

 ligament is indicated by a whitish line, which marks the union 

 of the fascia transversalis and fascia iliaca ; and if the former 

 fascia be now divided along this line the deep circumflex iliac 

 will be exposed. At the crest of the ilium the vessel pierces 

 the fascia transversalis, and lies between this and the trans- 

 versalis muscle ; and lastly, about the middle point of the 

 iliac crest, it pierces the transversalis muscle and its terminal 

 twigs ramify between it and the internal oblique. In this 

 manner, then, the artery gradually approaches the surface as 

 it passes from its origin to its termination. 



The dissector has already seen the ascending branch which 

 it sends upwards between the internal oblique and transverse 

 muscles. 



Art. Epigastrica Superior and Art. Musculo-phrenica. 



