THE EYE. 455 



2. The muscles of the eyeball. 



Open the orbit by removing its dorsal wall tuith strong 

 scissors, taking care not to damage the nictitating mem- 

 brane. 



a. The muscles moving the eyeball are essentially the 



same as those of the dog-fish or rabbit. 



Bemove the eyeball completely, cutting through the mti,scles 

 and the optic nerve as far as possible from the eyeball. 



b. The muscles of the nictitating membrane are two 



in number, and lie close to the inner or orbital 

 surface of the eyeball. 



Snip away luith scissors the recti and obliqui muscles. 



i. The quadratus, or bursalis muscle, is an oblong 

 sheet of muscle, lying in close contact with the 

 inner surface of the eyeball. Its fibres arise 

 along the dorsal edge of the eyeball and run 

 downwards, ending just above the optic nerve 

 in a free border, which forms a tubular ten- 

 dinous sheath for the tendon of the pyramidalis 

 muscle. 



ii. The pyramidalis is a small muscle, somewhat 

 triangular in shape. It arises from the inner 

 surface of the ventral part of the eyeball, 

 below, and a little anterior to, the entrance of 

 the optic nerve. From this origin its fibres 

 run upwards and backwards, converging to 

 form a long thread-like tendon, which, passing 

 through the tubular sheath of the quadratus, 

 runs down on the inner surface of the eye- 

 ball, and then under it, to be inserted into 

 the ventral border of the nictitating mem- 

 brane. 



By the combined action of these two 

 muscles the rapid movement of the nictitating 

 membrane is effected. 



