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DR. J. MURIE ON THE THREE-BANDED ARMADILLO. 



4 References to muscular anat. of several Armadilloes, in Macalister's paper 



A n and Mag Nat. Hist. vol. iv. 1869. 



nuro coml," Denksch. d. k. Aiad. d. Wissensch. m ^ leu. 185o, vol. ,x. pis. i. to v. 



1. Muscles of the Hind Quarters. 



In Tolvpentes the musculo-aponeurotic strip of the tensor vaginae femoris answers 

 tolerahly weU to the clear description given of it by Mr. Galton in msypus, save the sixth 

 dorsal hand It assists in drawing the femur forwards, upwards, and sHghtly inwards, 

 the main fixed points heing the anterior iUac spine and front of third trochanter. In 

 the attitude of walking it is partially hidden by the gluteus maximus. 



The muscular fibres of the gluteus maximus are thin, the strongest being situate 

 superiorly and posteriorly, whilst the interspace between great and third trochanter 

 comprises only transparent fascia. By tendinous fasciculi it stretches from the anterior 

 crest or spine of iUum along the dorsum of the sacrum to where the pelvic shield 

 the ischial tuberosity {i. e. the osseous arch), and with an attachment to that bone 

 tendinous sheet of insertion upon the third trochanter encloses that process as a semilune. 

 The anterior fascia unites with that of the tensor vaginae femoris, the aponeurosis of the 

 two passing on to the surface of the vastus externus as low even as the outer condyles and 

 the patella, whUe the posterior part of its tendinous fascia runs well into the anterior edge 



of the biceps femoris muscle. 



Its actions are chiefly an anterior and posterior movement, together with a semi- 

 rotatory motion and abduction of the limb from the side of the body. 



Similar to the above in other Armadilloes— though, in the Pichiciago, Hyrtl ' speaks of 



as if composed of three, portions. 



The gluteus medius and minimus are inseparably united, and of a somewhat rhom- 

 boidal form. They have origin from the superior scooped surface of the prismatic-shaped 

 ilium, and are inserted into the whole of the upper border of the great trochanter. They 

 together arc much stronger and fleshy than the gluteus maximus ; and the anterior edge 

 and upper surface of theu* origin is tendinous superficially. From the direction of their 

 fibres a power of drawing the head of the limb forwards and inwards is indicated. 



Galton ' seems to thmk the gluteus minimus is absent in the 6-banded species, though 

 other writers » aver confluence with the gluteus medius. 



Beneath the precedmg, as in Dasypus, there is a narrower elongate triangular muscle, 

 which, I agree with Galton, represents a pyriformis. It springs from the side of the 

 sacrum, at the large ovoid ilio-sacral space (= great sciatic foramen), and trending 

 rearwards is inserted by a stout tendon into the posterior upper border of the great 

 trochanter. The thick cord of the sciatic nerve runs beneath it. 

 Behmd the last a pair of feeble gemeUi obtain. The anterior comes from the surface 



^ L. c. p. 39. "Portio tertia, omnium maxima, non solium «^ <1,Vf„^ +r..-hc.T,f.raTn 



•|?»n«, ab hoc trochantere ad 

 • I. e. p, 650 



teminatiir, sed per omnem 



yrt 



