281 TEE MUSCLES. 



1. Muscle of the Fascia Lata. (Fig. 129, 3.) 



%non2/ms.— nio-aponeurotious— Girorc/. {Tensor vaginse—Peroivall. Ischio rotu- 

 leus externus — Leyh.) 



Form Situation. — A flat and triangular muscle, situated in front of the 



superficial gluteus, and outside the external vastus. 



Structure — Attachments. — It comprises: 1, A flabelliform muscular 

 portion covered on its faces by tendinous fibres, and attached, superiorly, to 

 the external angle of the ilium ; 2, An aponeurosis named the fascia lata, 

 continuous with the inferior border of the muscular portion, and soon divided 

 into two superposed layers, one superficial, the other deep. The latter is 

 insinuated between the long vastus and the external vastus, joins the terminal 

 tendon of the superficial gluteus, and is inserted into the external border of 

 the femur. The first, which also appears to divide into two layers, is spread 

 outwardly over the long vastus, where it is confounded with the gluteal 

 aponeurosis ; and inwardly, over the internal crural muscles, to become 

 united to the femoral aponeurosis. Below, it is prolonged to the patella, 

 into which it is fixed ; it is even continued below that bone, to join the terminal 

 aponeurosis of the posterior branch of the long vastus. 

 . Belations.- — Outwards, with the skin ; inwards, with the external vastus, 

 the anterior rectus, and the iliacus ; behind, with the superficial and middle 

 glutei. In fi-ont, it responds to a cluster of lymphatic glands, and receives 

 on its aponeurosis the insertion of the panniculus camosus. 



Action. — It flexes the femur by raising the entire limb, and renders tense 

 its own terminal aponeurosis. 



(In speaking of the uses of this muscle, Leyh states that, in addition to 

 its being a flexor of the thigh and an extensor of the leg through its action 

 on its aponeurosis, it maintains the position of the limb while the animal is 

 standing, and allows the other muscles to become relaxed.) 



2. Crural Triceps.^ 



An enormous muscle lying against the anterior and lateral aspects of the 

 femur, composed of three portions which are not very distinct from each 

 other for the greater part of their extent, and which are separately described 

 as the anterior rectus oi straight muscle, and the vastus externus and internus. 



A. Anteeioe Straight Muscle or the Thigh, oe Middle Poetion op 

 THE Triceps. 



The ilio-rotuleus of Girard. {Bectiis — Percivall. Anterior ilio-rotuleus — Leyh.) 

 (Fig. 137, 16.) 



This muscle is imbedded between the two lateral portions of the triceps, 

 and extends from the cotyloid angle of the ilium to the patella, in a direction 

 slightly oblique forwards and downwards. 



Form — Structure. — Elongated, thick, and fusiform, the anterior rectus 

 offers, at its superior extremity, two short and flattened tendinous branches ; 

 its middle portion is formed of pale-red muscular fibres lying close to each 

 other, and marked by tendinous intersections; its inferior extremity is 

 enveloped by a vast aponeurotic cone. 



Attachments. -srl-t originates, by its two superior branches, from the 

 imprints which surmount, forwards and outwards, the lip of the cotyloSi 



^ Following tho example of M. Oruveilhier, we will describe by this name the triceps 

 cruris of the older anatomists, and the anterior rectus of the thigh. 



