MR. J. C. GALTON ON DASYPUS SEXCINCTUS. 525 



Momboidei.— -These muscles appear to have heen fused together into one, and are, 

 moreover, scarcely to be differentiated from the upper portion at origin of the Utimkm* 

 dorsi. They take origin from the spines of the six upper dorsal rrrtrhno . thnt part 

 which arises from the two uppermost being fleshy from the beginning, while the rest of 

 the muscle takes origin from an aponeurosis continuous with that from which the la/U~ 

 simus dorsi arises. They are inserted into the whole length of the b;ise of the scapula. 



This fusion of the rhomboidei into one muscle occurs, according to Church 1 , in animals 

 as high in the scale as the Orang and Chimpanzee. Meckel 2 , however, describes tlu-sc 

 muscles as distinct in the Armadillo, the anterior passing to the occiput, the posterior 

 being fused with the latissimus dorsi. 



Henle states 3 that Albinus has seen the rhomboideus major fused with the upper edge 



of the latissimus dorsi in Man. 



Occipito-scapular. — This muscle, which is slightly, but not very clearly, in di rated by 

 Cuvier 4 as the "rhomboide de la tete," is enormously developed. It arises from the 

 whole extent of the occipital crest, being covered by that portion of the trapezius which 

 takes origin here, and is inserted, partly into the fascia cover ing the snpras]>'ntatns, partly 

 into the upper angle of the base of the scapula. Each muscle meets with its fellow in 



the middle line. 



This muscle, I think, answers to one which Mr. Wood has described 5 under the same 

 title as having occurred as an "abnormality" in Man. The same author found a lib 

 muscle in the Rabbit, which resembles that described by Krause, in his monograph upon 

 the same animal 6 , as the "levator scapulae minor," except that the latter is inserted aa 

 low down as the inferior angle of the scapula. A similar muscle has been found by Mr 

 Mivart and Dr. Murie in the Hare and Guinea-pig, as well as in the Babbit, and is 



termed by them " rhomboideus capitis " 7 . 



Levator scapula .-This appears to be a muscle distinct from the preceding. It is 

 very fleshy, and takes origin from certain of the lower cervical vertebras; it is in- 

 serted into the inner face of the superior angle of the scapula, and also along the pos- 

 terior half of the superior costa of the bone. Cuvier notices this latter mode of insertion , 

 and remarks that in mammals the muscle is rarely distinct from the serratu* magnns. 

 of which it is, properly speaking, but an anterior offset. Meckel describes his muscle 

 as entirely distinct from the serratus magnus, of which, however, it appears at nrst r-** 

 to be a factor. 



irht 



Turner, London, 18G3, p. 91. Herbert Spencer, ■ 

 London, 18(37. 



Biology/ vol. i. p. 387, London 



i 



Natural History Review, no. iv. Oct. 1861, p. 511. 



Anat 



3 Muskellehre, p. 27 : Braunschweig, 1858. 

 * Op. tit. pi. 259. fig. 2. 



5 Proc. Eoy. Soc. May, 1867, p. 520. 



6 Anatomie des Kaninehens (Leipzig, 1865), p. 104. 



June 



Paris 



Op. tit. p. 478. 



4d 2 



