518 A. B. DAWSON 
as a counter stain. This method left the elastic tissue black or 
purple and the connective tissue red. (The elastic fibers are 
shown as black lines in figure 6.) 
The elastic fibers are most numerous in the subcutaneous tissue, 
where they cross each other in all directions, forming an irregular 
network. From this region fibers extend down to the skeletal 
muscles and up through the inner compact layer in company with 
the perpendicular bundles of connective tissue already described. 
In fact, all through the dermis the elastic fibers parallel the con- 
nective-tissue bundles in their arrangement. Besides the fibers 
which accompany the upright bundles, numerous fibers are 
present in the horizontal layers of the inner stratum. In per- 
pendicular sections of the skin, they are seen in longitudinal 
view and in cross-section, running in the same general direction 
as the connective-tissue fibers which make up the successive 
layers of this region. Frequently fibers may be seen to pass 
from one layer to the other. Sometimes they turn up into the 
middle region or down toward the subcutaneous tissue. Hori- 
zontal elastic fibers have never been found in the compact layer 
of the dermis of the Anura, but they have been described in 
Proteus and Salamandra by Schuberg (’07 ¢, ’08). 
In the intermediate spongy layer the fibers can be easily traced. 
They branch frequently, vary considerably in size, and all run 
in the same general direction, namely, from the inner dermis 
toward the epidermis. In the region of the glands, especially 
those of the granular type, they are more highly developed and 
are easily followed in sections which pass through the glands 
tangentially. They do not end beneath the gland, as stated by 
Schuberg (03) for axolotl, but pass up around it, forming an 
open meshwork on its outer surface (Esterly, ’04). 
The elastic fibers grow gradually finer as they approach the 
outer dermal layer, and usually end before it is reached, a con- 
dition noted by several other workers (Tonkoff, 00; Schuberg, « 
03; Esterly, 04). In Proteus, however, Schuberg found that 
the elastic fibers extended completely to the epidermis. In 
Necturus I was seldom able to trace any beyond the outer layer 
of dermal pigment. Still occasionally along perpendicular 
