Extrinsic muscles attached to the humerus or femur, on the dorsal aspect
Extrinsic muscles attached to the humerus or femur, on the dorsal aspectIn the fore-limb there is the post-axial latissimus dorsi passing from spines of dorsal vertebrae to the humerus. On the ventral aspect, the pectoralis major extends from the sternum and ribs to the humerus.
In the hind-limb, the glutoeus maximus, so far as it arises from the sacral and coccygeal vertebrae, and is inserted into the femur, repeats the relations of the latissimus dorsi. In the absence of any thing corresponding with the sternum, or the ribs, no exact homologue of the pectoralis major can be said to exist, though the pectineus comes near it. The psoas major, passing from posterior dorsal or lumbar vertebrae - the pyriformis from sacral vertebrae - the femoro-coccygeus (when it exists) from caudal vertebrae - to the femur, are all hyposkeletal muscles, without homologues in the anterior extremity.
All the other muscles of the limbs are intrinsic, taking their origins from the pectoral or pelvic arches, or from some of the more proximal segments of the limb-skeleton, and having their insertion in the more distal segments. They are thus arranged in Man and the higher Mammalia.