A good account of the anatomy of the muscles and fat depots of the carcasses of meet animals is given in Gerrard (1980). An extremely detailed description of the muscles of the ox is that of Butterfield and May (1966). Muscles are given Latin names which describe their characteristics or position; hence musculuslongissimusdorsi. Often the musculus is abbreviated to ‘m.’ or omitted altogether. The m. longissimusdorsi (LD), sometimes referred to as the m. longissimusthoracis et lumborum, runs the whole length of the back and is the main muscle seen when ‘chops’ or ‘rib-steaks’ are cut from the posterior rib region and the loin. It lies dorsal to the transverse process of the vertebrae (Fig. 3.4). Perhaps rather confusingly, it is sometimes referred to as the ‘eye’ muscle. On beef carcasses it is possible to access it if each side of the carcass is ‘quartered’ by cutting between, for example, the last and last-but-one ribs so dividing the side into fore and hindquarters. It forms the ‘striploin’ joint.