﻿98 



DR. J. MURIE ON THE THREE-BANDED ARMADILLO 



the middle of the inner edge of the tibial shaft, by a broad, thin, but nevertheless strong 

 anoneurosis common to it, the semimembranosus, and gracilis. The semimembranosus 

 is broader but equaUy thin at its ischial origin, which is before and beneath that of the 

 semitendinosus, but behind those of the adductor magnus and quadratus femoris. Its 

 fibres narrow and thicken towards the insertion, which is by a very strong round tendon 

 upon the inner side of the neck of the tibia. This tendon is hidden by the fibrous sheath 

 of insertion of the gracilis muscle. ^ _ :, . ' 



These two muscles, semitendinosus and semimembranosus, act m producing flexion of 

 the lower leg ; and they, along with the biceps, also cause a withdrawal of the leg into the 

 abdominal chlmher, by the direction of their forces being altered through the partially 

 fixed aponeurosis of the latter muscle at the popUteal space. 



The gracilis arises from the junction of the ischium with the pubis, also along the 

 symphysis and nearly the whole length of the pubic brim of the pelvis. It is broad 

 above, with thin fleshy fibres ; below, its aponeurotic insertion into the tibia is extensive, 

 mmgling, as aforesaid, with that of the semitendinosus. 



The letters r,8,uin the illustrations in the ' Recueil,' and Galton*s description, show 

 absolute identity of the three last-mentioned muscles in Dasypus. 



The rectus femoris is tolerably well developed. It £as a very strong tendon of origin 

 from the superior [inferior] spinous process of the ilium ; and there is a second head, faintly 

 indicated by a diminutive slip of fleshy fibres, situate towards the acetabulum. Its 

 patellar insertion is separate, and in front of those of the vasti muscles. Of the vastus 

 extemus and internus, the former is much the larger and stronger. Its muscular fibres 

 fill the mtcrspace between the base of the great and the anterior free edge of the third 

 trochanter. The fleshy fasciculi of the vastus internus interweave with those of the vastus 

 extemus m front. Crureus absent, or is not to be differentiated from the vasti. In 

 D. Q-cinciu8f according to Galton, the rectus division of the quadriceps extensor has but 

 a single point of origin, the vasti agree with those of Tolypeutes, and there is no distinct 

 crureus, as is the case in Chlamydophorus. 



Hyrtl, in his myology of the last-mentioned animal, the * Pichiciago * of the Chilian 



Indians, alludes to the sartorius muscle in these terms :— " Sartorius insoHta plane 



cxcolUt origine, dum non ab ossis ilei spina, sed a tendine psoico enascitur. Proceram et 



macilcntam sistit fasciolam, quae cum adductorum insertione femorali decussatur, et ad 



intomam articulationis genu regionem delabitur, ubi cum adductorum tendine robusto, 



ad tihiara pcrgente, coalescit " {L c. p. 39). The editors of the posthumous ' Planches de 



Myologie ' have, in the right groin of the animal, figured in pi. 260 and lettered a muscle 



*W, couturier, ileo-pretibien",(= sartorius), which appears to come from about the 



middle^ of Poupart's Hgament, descending towards the inner aspect of the knee. In 



Galtou's dissection of the same species of Dasypm, a description of a delicate sartorius is 



^cn (;. c. r. 553). This arises from the outer edge of the psoas parvus tendon, diagonally 



traverses the thigh to the fascia on the inner face of the knee and leg. He regards its 



acboa as equivalent to a kind of « tensor fascia femoris internus," the origin being 



^quc. Notice is taken by him of the diversity of opinion between Meckel ' and the editors 



Anat. Coron. vnl tA r^ ^qq /t? x. ^j \ 





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