Observations on the anatomy of Nycticebus tardigradus / by St. George Mivart and James Murie.

  • Mivart, St. George Jackson, 1827-1900.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the anatomy of Nycticebus tardigradus / by St. George Mivart and James Murie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of an inch distant from it, as far as the first rib, into which it is in- serted. Muscles of the loxcer Extremity.—The gluteus minimus, the entogluteus of Owen1 2, is a very small fan-shaped muscle, arising from the junction of the ilium and ischium, behind the acetabulum, and is inserted into the trochanter. This appears to be the muscle described by NV. S. Church3 4 as the gemellus superior ; but in our Nycticebus there is a distinct gemellus superior between the gluteus minimus and the tendon of the obtura- tor interims. The pyriformis is very largely developed. It arises from the anterior (abdominal) surface of the sacrum, and is inserted into the great trochanter. The sciatic nerve passes out beneath its inferior border. The authors of the joint memoir, though they mention by name, give no description of this muscle; neither does Professor Owen in his monograph so often quoted. Meckel also says nothing of its existence in Loris. Burmeister3 gives a long description of appa- rently the same muscle in Tarsius, and remarks that it must have a powerful action in rotating the thigh outwards. The gracilis has indeed a very extensive origin ; but it nevertheless is quite single, and shows no trace of the division described by Mec- kel1 as existing in Loris. It is inserted by a distinct but short tendon into the inner border of the tibia, beneath the sartorius. The *pcctineus arises from the anterior surface of the pubis, and is inserted into the inner side of the femur. Professor Vrolik, in his article on the Quadrumana5, denies the existence of a pectineus in Stenops ; but Meckel asserts that in Loris it is very strong. The biceps femoris arises by a long and narrow tendon from the posterior end of the tuberosity of the ischium, beneath the semiten- dinosus. The fibres expand distally in a fan-like manner, and are inserted by an aponeurosis into the head of the fibula and the fascia of the leg. The semimembranosus arises from the ischium at its junction with the pubis, immediately beneath the origin of the semitendinosus, with which it is very closely connected. Passing downwards, it ends in a long tendon, which goes beneath the internal lateral ligament of the knee-joint, and is inserted into the inner side of the tuberosity of the tibia. The description of this muscle in Loris, as given in the French translation of Meckel, is too ambiguously worded for us to be able to decide whether it agrees with our observation. The tibialis anticus is a very large and powerful muscle, and arises from fully the upper half of the anterior surface of the tibia, and has its usual insertion (figs. 5 Sc 6, T. a). There is no trace 1 Cheiromys, p. 66. 2 Nat. Hist. Review, Jan. 1862, p. 87. 3 Op. cit. p. 69, t. 3. fig. 4, and t. 4. fig. 5, no. 7. 4 Loc. cit. p. 397. * Cyclop. Auat. and Physiol, vol. iv. p. 218. [11]