620 THE BLOOD-VASCULAR SYSTEM 



to the dorsal artery, with which, and with the corresponding artery of the opposite 

 side, it anastomoses at the corona. In the female, this branch terminates in the 

 preputium clitoridis, anastomosing with the dorsal artery of the clitoris. 



Other branches run medially beneath the deep fascia, across the pectineus and adductor 

 longus muscles, and, perforating the fascia close to the ramus of the pubis, supply the skin of the 

 scrotum or the labium majus, in the female [aa. scrotales or labiales anteriores] anastomosing 

 with the posterior scrotal or labial branches of the perineal artery. The external pudendal 

 supplies small twigs to the pectineus and adductor muscles. Its companion veins terminate as a 

 single trunk in the great saphenous. 



(4) The inguinal branches [rami inguinales], a series of five or six small 

 branches arise a short distance below the inguinal ligament. They supply the 

 submguinal lymph-nodes, and the skin and muscles in this region. 



(5) The profunda artery [a. profunda femoris] (figs. 496, 497), is the chief 

 nutrient vessel of the thigh. It is usually given off from the back and lateral 

 part of the common femoral, about 4 cm. (1^ in.) below the inguinal fPoupart's) 

 ligament. At first it is a little lateral to the femoral, but as it runs downward and 

 backward it gets behind that artery and closer to the bone. On reaching the upper 

 border of the adductor longus muscle, it leaves the femoral, and, passing beneath 

 the muscle, pierces the adductor magnus. Finally, much reduced in size, it ends 

 in the hamstraing muscles, anastomosing with the third perforating and muscular 

 and articular branches of the popliteal. 



Relations. — Behind, the artery lies successively upon the iliacus, the pectineus, the adduc- 

 tor brevis, and adductor magnus muscles. In front, at first it is superficial, being merely covered 

 by the skin, superficial and deep fasciae, and branches of the femoral (anterior crural) nerve; but 

 as it sinks behind the femoral artery, it has in front of it both the femoral and the profunda veins 

 and lower down the adductor longus muscle. Laterally is the femur at the angle of union of the 

 adductors longus and brevis. Medially is the pectineus at the upper part of its course. 



Branches of the profunda. — The profunda gives off the following branches: — 

 (a) The lateral circumflex; (h) the medial circumflex; and (c) the three per- 

 forating. The termination of the artery is sometimes called the fourth perforating 

 branch. 



(a) The lateral circumflex [a circumflexa femoris lateralis] a short trunk, but the largest in 

 diameter of the branches of the artery, arises from the lateral side of the profunda as it Mes on the 

 iliacus muscle, about 2 cm. (f in.) below the origin of that vessel from the femoral. It passes 

 in a transversely lateral direction over the iliacus, under the sartorius and rectus, and between the 

 branches of the femoral (anterior crural) nerve. In this course it gives off branches to the rectus 

 and vastus intermedius (crureus), and then divides into two chief sets of branches — ascending 

 and descending. 



The ascending branch [ramus ascendeus] either breaks up at once into numerous branches 

 or it may arise as several vessels some of which are apt to come from the profunda itself or even 

 from the femoral. These run upward under the sartorius and tensor facite latse or laterally 

 under the rectus femoris. The highest branches reach the gluteus medius and minimus and 

 anastomose with the gluteal and deep circumflex iliac arteries; one branch runs beneath the 

 rectus femoris to the hip-joint, and the others cross the vastus intermedius and pierce the vastus 

 lateralis to anastomose with the first perfora:ting and the medial circumflex. 



The descending branches [rami descendentes] run directly downward along with the nerve 

 to the vastus lateralis muscle. They lie beneath the rectus muscle and on the vastus intermedius 

 (crureus) or vastus lateralis, some of them being just under cover of the anterior edge of the latter 

 muscle. They are distributed to the vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, and rectus, one branch 

 usually running along the anterior border of the vastus lateralis as far as the knee-joint, where it 

 anastomoses with the superior lateral articular branch of the popliteal (fig. 499); another, enter- 

 ing the vastus intermedius, anastomoses with the termination of the profunda and with the genu 

 suprema (anastomotica magna). 



(fa) The medial circumflex artery [a. circumflexa femoris mediahs] comes off from the back 

 and medial aspect of the profunda artery on about the same level as the lateral circumflex; 

 sometimes as a common trunk with that vessel. As it winds around the medial side of the femur 

 to reach the region of the trochanters, it lies successively, first, between the psoas and pectineus, 

 then between the obturator externus and adductor brevis; finally, between the adductor mag- 

 nus and quadratus femoris, where it anastomoses with the lateral circumflex, with the inferior 

 gluteal (sciatic), and with the superior perforating, forming the so-called crucial anastomosis. 

 While still in the femoral trgione it gives off a superficial branch [r. supcrficialis] which runs in a 

 transversely medial direction to supply the pectineus adductor longus and brevis, and the 

 gracilis. The remainder of the artery is designated as the deep branch [r. profundus]. An 

 acetabular branch (r. acetabuli] courses upward beneath the tendon of the psoas, and enters the 

 hip-joint beneath the transverse ligament, and, together with the articular l)ranch of the obtura- 

 tor, supplies tlie fatty tissue in the acctal)ulum, and sends branches to the synovial membrane. 

 The medial circumflex veins join the profunda vein. 



(c) Tlic perforating arteries of the profunda arc so called because they perforate, in a more or 

 less regular manner from above downward, certain of the adductor muscles. They form a series 



