A long, flat, narrow muscle, passing obliquely up the neck from beneath the scapula or blade-bone to the space between the branches of the lower jaw.

It separates the jugular vein from the carotid artery in the upper half of the neck.

Origin. - By a thin, flat tendon from the fascia on the under surface of the scapula.

Insertion. - Into the body of the hyoid bone (bone of the tongue).

Action. - To draw the hyoid bone downwards.