THE EXTREMITIES OF ORYCTEROPUS CAPENSIS. 



593 



terminal aponeurosis of the gracilis, besides becoming continuous with tin 4 dense fascia 

 covering the recti's near its insertion. The sartorins is separated from the subjacent 

 muscles by fascia, in which the internal saphenous vein runs upwards towards its 

 termination. 



Cuvier gives in his plates a very distinct representation of this muscle which agrees 



with my description 



i 



According 



to Prof. 



y 



ver. Hi is muscle lias no 



with the ilium, but arises from the hindmost ribs 



The editor of the second edition of Cuvicr's' Let-on- {loc. cit. p. 518) confirms Me kcl's 

 statement (loc. cit. p. 614), that this muscle in the Ai lias % femoral insertion; but state- 

 that it comes from the ilium, and not, as the latter anatomist has said, from the aponeu- 

 rosis of the external oblique. 



Semitendinosus. — This muscle consists of two quite distinct portions, both as regards 

 their origin, course, and insertion. The first portion, which corresponds to the muscle 



of the same name in Man, is of uniform breadth, si rap-shaped, and takes ori in from the 



whole extent of the free edge of the tuberosity of the ischium, including the spine at ii< 

 most posterior boundary. It passes across the thigh to be inserted into the inner layer 

 of the aponeurotic termination of the gracilis, being covered by the lowest portion of t his 



muscle at its insertion. When it reaches the posterior border of the gastrocnemius, the 



muscle receives on its inferior cdue a contribution from the semimembranosus, which 

 becomes continuous with fascia or aponeurosis extending to the calcaneum. 



The second portion of the muscle, also uniformly broad and strap-shaped, arises imme- 

 diately below the origin of the gluteus medius, from a small portion of the tree edge of 

 the sacrum, just below its juction with the ilium, also from the dense fascia covering the 

 erector spince. It then passes over its fellow at its origin, and finally fuses with the 

 broad flat tendon of the gastrocnemius just at the junction of its two heads. 



Cuvier distinctly represents these two divisions of the muscles in his plates, and desig- 

 nates the last-described factor as the " Accessoire bicipital du demi-nerveux" 3 . 



This latter portion of the muscle does not appear to have been present in the specimen 

 described by Prof. Humphry. The editor of the second edition of Cuvicr's ' Lecons' states 

 in a footnote 4 , concerning this muscle and the semimembranosus, that they, and some- 

 times only the latter, receive an accessory coccygeal portion. This arrangement, h< 

 says, is found principally in Rodents and in the Edentata. 



Semimembranosus. — An enormously developed muscle, which arises from the whoh 

 extent of the tuberosity of the ischium, and from part of the ascending ramus of the 

 bone, also, for some distance, from the side of the strong fascia covering the caudal 

 muscles. 



It passes upwards, its most posterior fibres of origin being fused for some distance with 

 the biceps, to be inserted mainly into the deep layer of the aponeurosis common to it and 

 the gracilis and sartorius ; while a small portion, derived from the superior edge of the 

 muscle, finds insertion into the edge of the femur, a little above the inner condyle, close 

 to the origin of the inner head of the gastrocnemius. 



1 Op. cit. pi. 255, and 25$. fig. 4. 7 Loc. cit. p. 311. 



' Op. cit. pi. 255, and 256. figs. 1 and 3. * Loc. cit. p. 522. 



4x2 



• 



