Chap, v.] FIBROUS CONNECTIVE TISSUES. 43 



The same modes of formation of connective tissue 

 may be also observed in the adult under normal and 

 pathological conditions. 



50. Fibrous connective tissue is in most places 

 associated with elastic fibres or yellow elastic tissue. 

 These are of bright aspect, of variable thickness and 

 length, branching 



and anastomos- / if I \^r 



ing so as to form \ 



networks (Fig. 

 29). They are 

 sometimes 

 straight, but 

 more often twist- 

 ed and coiled. 

 The latter condi- 

 tion may be ob- 

 served when the 

 tissue is shrunk, 

 the former when 

 it is stretched. 

 They do not swell 



up in acids Or al- F . g 29> _ From a p r e par ation of the Mesentery. 

 . .' , ., a, Bundles of fibrous tissue; 6, networks of elastic 



gelatin on boil- flares. lAtiaso 



ing, but contain 



a chemically different substance, viz., elastin. When 



broken their ends generally curl up. 



51. Elastic fibres occur in great numbers as net- 

 works extending between the bundles of fibrous tissue, 

 in the skin and mucous membranes, in the serous and 

 synovial membranes, and in the loose interstitial con- 

 nective tissues. They are not very commonly met 

 with in tendons and fasciae ; in the former they are 

 seen as single fibres often twisting round the tendon 

 bundles. 



Elastic fibres forming bundles, but branched and 



