Chapter I: THE SKIN-MUSCLES (pp. 93-96, and Fig. 62)

These will perhaps not usually be dissected. If they are to be dissected, proceed as follows: Make a ventral median longitudinal incision of the skin from the cranial end of the manubrium to a point opposite the crest of the ilium. Connect the cranial end of this incision with the middle of the lambdoidal ridge by a similar incision through the skin. Make another incision from the manubrium to the spinous process of the thirteenth thoracic vertebra. Connect the caudal end of the first incision by an oblique cut with the root of the tail. Make another incision from the convexity of the knee-joint along the fold of skin which connects the hind limb and body, as far as the incision which leads to the root of the tail. Make an incision surrounding the base of the forelimb. Now reflect these flaps one at a time, working in general from the ventral side toward the dorsal middle line. Take great pains not to take up the thin skin-muscle with the skin. In this way all of one side of the body will be uncovered. The cutaneus maximus (Fig. 62, _b_) and a part of the platysma (Fig. 62, _a_) will be thus exposed. Read and verify the descriptions of these muscles (pp. 93-96). The cranial portion of the platysma cannot be seen at this stage, but should be dissected in connection with the muscles of the face.