Anatomy, Artistic; Animals in art; Zoological illustration
The long and broad fleshy band which they form arises in a manner
corresponding to that which we have just indicated in connection with
the horse, except that it has no attachment to the femur. The fascia
lata adheres strongly to its anterior border for a considerable length.
The form of the superior border of the great gluteal muscle of this
animal differs from that of the analogous portion in the horse. This
difference results from the peculiar aspect which the corresponding
region of the pelvis presents, and from the fact that, in the ox, as the
semi-tendinosus does not cover the portion of the great gluteal which
arises from the tuberosity of the ischium, the attachments of this
muscle to the sacro-sciatic ligament are uncovered.
Its descending portion, as a whole, has a rectilinear form, and does not
form a curve such as we indicated in the case of the horse.
The anterior portion of the great gluteal flexes the thigh. As regards
the posterior portion, it extends the thigh, and abducts it.
The action of this latter portion is particularly interesting as regards
the horse, because of the great development of the muscular mass which
this region presents in this animal. If the muscle takes its fixed point
above, it acts, in the extension of the thigh during walking, by
projecting the trunk forward during the whole time that the hind-limb to
which it belongs is in contact with the ground. If, on the contrary, it
takes its fixed point below, it makes the pelvis describe a see-saw
movement, upwards and backwards, on the coxo-femoral articulation, and
so contributes to the action of rearing.
Now that we have a knowledge of the disposition of the great gluteal
muscle, the moment has come to inquire what is the signification of its
posterior portion. The action of the anterior part being clearly
comparable to the human great gluteal, there can be no doubt as regards
the homology of this portion, so we will not insist on it further.
Of the posterior portion it is wholly different, for it is the homologue
of a fleshy bundle annexed to the great gluteal of man, but which is not
developed except as an abnormality.
Indeed, we sometimes find, placed along the inferior border of the great
gluteal, a fleshy fasciculus, separated from this muscle by a slight
interspace. This fasciculus, long and narrow, takes origin from the
summit of the sacrum, or the coccyx, and goes to partake of the femoral
insertions of the muscle which it accompanies. We further note a muscle
of the same kind, and presenting the same aspect, which comes from the
tuberosity of the ischium. Notwithstanding the difference which exists,
it is this abnormal fasciculus of man which in the quadrupeds here
studied is considered as constituting the posterior portion of the great
gluteal.
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