Two cases of anomaly of the branches of aortic arch are here reported.According to William's classification,the first case belongs to type G,and the second case to type H which has not yet been reported in Chinese literature.In the first case,however,there is also an anomaly of the right vertebral artery.It springs from the right common carotid artery and enters through the foramen of the transverse process of the upper four vertebrates.Such a case has not yet been reported on Chinese people. In addition to the above mentioned anomalies,anomaly of the thoracic duct also occurs in both cases.This anomaly seems to be related with the anomaly of the right subclavian artery. In both cases of the senile males reported here,there is a noticeable dilatation at the beginning part of the anomalistic right subclavian artery.The cause of such dilata- tion is probably due to the long time resistance to the blood flow of the anomalistic sub- clavain artery.

The length of the muscular branches of the nerves in the upper limb from a fixed point along the nerve and its branches in 40 cadavours was measured.The muscular branches of the median and the radial nerve were measured by Sunderland's method, while for the muscular branches of the musculo-cutaneous nerve,we selected the middle point of the clavicle as a fixed point.The shortest and the longest distances and the numbers of muscular branches to the individual muscles supplied by the nerves were re- corded. The point of origin of the muscular branches of individual muscles in each muscle group followed a definite order,for instance,the shortest of the muscular branches of the median nerve was those to the pronator teres,then next by order were those to the flexor digitorum sublimis,the palmaris longus,the flexor pollicis longus and the pro- nator quadratus.The serial order of branches from the radial nerve was that to the long head of the triceps brachii,the medial head of the same muscle,the brachialis, the extensor carpi radialis longus,and the extensor carpi radialis brevis.Among the muscular branches of the musculo-cutaneous nerve,those to the coracobrachialis came out first,then followed by those to the biceps brachii and the brachialis. The number of the branches to the individual muscles in each muscle group seemed to be proportional to the size of the muscle and to the role played by that muscle in the specific movement.The pronator and supinator muscles,though small in size,received quite a number of branches.It is suggested that the more muscular branches a muscle receives,the greater the importance it has in moving a joint.

Measurement of the length of the muscular branches of the nerves in the lower extremity was made on 40 dissection-room specimens.The muscular branches of sciatic nerve and of its two major divisions were measured according to Sunderland's method. For the femoral nerve,we chose the interspinous line as the fixed point.The results were as follows: A muscle may be innervated by a single or several branches.In most cases,the popliteus was supplied by a single branch,the extensors of the thigh were usually sup- plied by many branches.In each muscle group,the number of the muscular branches to one or two muscles was always larger than that to the others.The largest and most powerful muscle (or muscles) received most nerve supply. The order of origin of the muscular branches to a muscle in each muscle group was usually fixed.The muscle of high origin received earlier branch from the trunk.The muscle of superficial position seemed to enjoy the similar previlege as that of higher origin.Thus in the anterior muscle group of the thigh,the branch to the sartorius came out first,branch to the rectus femoris the next,then followed by that of the vastus inter- medius the vastus lateralis and the vastus medialis;This order corresponds to the se- quence generation of the peripheral nerves after injury.

The atrio-ventricular valves of the normal heart of 100 Chinese adult cadavers were studied. The right atrio-ventricular (tricuspid) valve was found to be composed of four main cusps in 80% of the cases,three main cusps in 19%,and two main cusps in 1%.In certain cases,small additional intermediate cusps had been found.They were derived from the main cusps and situated in the angles between the medial and anterior wall, or between the medial and posterior wall of the right ventricle.These may be called “cuspi accessoria”.The anterior accessory cusp was present in 31% and the posterior accessory cusp in 27% of our preparations.If the total number of the main and acces- sory cusps of the right a—v valve was considered,four cusps occurred in 42%,five in 36%,three in 13%,six in 8% and two in 1%. The left atrio-ventricular (mitral) valve consisted of two main cusps.But frequent- ly there were conspicuous ruptures on the posterior cusp in our specimens,with the ex- ception of twelve cases (12%).Thus,the posterior cusp may be consisted of one greater leaflet and one to four smaller leaflets.Based on this character,the posterior cusp of the left a—v valve may be grouped into three types:(1)the middle portion of the posterior cusp was well developed in 48%;(2)the antero-lateral portion was well developed in 35%;and (3) the postero-medial portion was well developed in 17%. The anterior cusp of the left a—v valve separated into two equal parts had been found in one case (1%). The height of the cusps and of the commissural margins,where the neighboring cusps were joined,had been measured.Discussions have been made on the principles of the differentiation between the main cusp and the accessory cusp.