1873.] 



CERTAIN MUSCLES OF BIRDS. 



627 



account of their condition and relations in it, from which a correct 

 idea may be easily formed of their situation in other birds with the 

 help of the accompanying details. 



In commencing the dissection of the leg of a Fowl in order most 

 easily to observe the arrangement of the muscles about to be de- 

 scribed, the body, from which most of the feathers have been re- 

 moved, should be laid on its side, and a section made in the skin, in 

 a hne parallel to and just over the femur, along its whole length • 

 from the extremities of this line the sections should be continued at 

 right angles to it, extending upwards and downwards from the end 

 over the head of the femur, and along the outer side of the leg from 

 that at the knee. The skin must be then dissected downwards as a 

 flap off the muscular adductor mass below, and some way upwards 

 above the level of the femur. After this has been done the fol- 

 lowing muscles will be found without difficulty :— 



Outer view of right thigh of Gallus bankiva, partially dissected. 



s, sartonus; ve, vastus externus; bo and bi, biceps, origin and insertion; tf, 

 tensor fascia; ; fc, femoro-caudal ; a fc, accessory femoro-caudal ; s^.semi- 

 tendinosus ; ast, accessory semitendinosus ; s m, semimembranosus ; Ad 

 adductor ; P, pubis ; E, rectrices. 



40* 



