NERVE ENDINGS IN CONNECTIVE TISSUE 



169 



is permeated by densely felted spiral fibers (Sala) and is divided into 

 ten to fifty concentric lamellae by lines of flattened connective tissue 

 cells and fibers. According to Schwalbe, however, these cells form an 

 endothelioid coat on either surface of each lamella. Lamellar corpuscles 

 are occasionally compound, two or more adjacent corpuscles being sup- 

 plied by branches of the same nerve fiber. 



Lamellar corpuscles are found in large numbers in the subcutaneous 

 tissue of the finger tips and of the penis, as well as in the skin of other 

 parts, in the mesentery and the connective 

 tissue of neighboring organs, e.g., the 

 pancreas, in the pre vertebral connective 

 tissue of the abdomen and mediastinum 

 near the walls of the large blood-vessels, 

 in the serous membranes, pleura, peri- 

 cardium, peritoneum in the periarticular 

 connective tissue and periosteum, in the 

 sheaths of the larger nerve trunks, and in 

 the connective tissue of the thyroid gland 

 and of the skeletal muscles. 



5. The Corpuscles of Herbst (Key- 

 Retzius Corpuscles). The corpuscles of 

 Herbst are similar in structure to the 

 lamellar corpuscles except that the core 

 which surrounds the axial nerve fiber con- 

 tains cuboidal tactile cells. They occur 

 only in the cere of aquatic birds. 



6. The Corpuscles of Grandry 

 (Merkel's Corpuscles}. The corpuscles 

 of Grandry, also found only in aquatic 

 birds, contain several tactile cells of ecto- 

 blastic origin similar to those found in 



the epidermis. Each cell is in relation with a ring or meniscus formed 

 by the expanded end of a nerve fiber. The whole is included within a 

 thin connective tissue capsule and may be regarded as a compound tactile 

 cell occurring in connective tissue. 



7. The Golgi-Mazzoni Corpuscles. The Golgi-Mazzoni corpuscles 

 described by Ruffini (Arch. ital. de biol., 1894) somewhat resemble the 

 Pacinian corpuscles in that they possess a lamellar, though relatively 

 very thin, connective tissue sheath and a central granular core. The core, 

 however, is relatively excessive in size, and the entering nerve fiber 



FIG. 188. A PAPILLA OP THE 

 DUCK'S TONGUE, CONTAINING 

 A CORPUSCLE OF GRANDRY. 



The corpuscle contains four 

 large cells, between which are the 

 tactile menisci of the nerve end- 

 ing, n, nerve. Highly magnified. 

 (After Merkel, from Kolliker.) 



