ioo COMPARATIVE ANATOMY 



dyes it may be shown that these spaces are occupied by 

 branching cells, the so-called connective tissue corpuscles. 

 There are three kinds of these cells, the flattened or lamellar, 

 the granular, and the vacuolated or plasma cells. The first- 

 named have a Targe oval nucleus and a finely granular 

 protoplasm ; their cell-bodies are produced into numerous 

 branching processes, and the processes of adjacent cells may 



Fig. 19. 



Subcutaneous Areolar connective tissue from the rabbit, highly magnified, 

 showing numerous wavy bundles of parallel white fibres, crossing 

 one another in all directions ; el, branched fibres of elastic tissue, some 

 broken ends of which are curled up on the left of the figure ; &/>, branched 

 connective tissue corpuscles ; g, granular corpuscles ; f, a fibrous cor- 

 puscle. 



often be observed to unite with one another. They lie either 

 imbedded in the matrix, where they occupy the spaces above 

 referred to, or they may frequently lie on the surfaces of the 

 bundles of white fibres, or between bundles which cross one 

 another. 



The granular cells are generally subspherical in shape, with 

 an oval nucleus and a relatively small cell-body, in which are 

 numerous coarse granules of a proteid nature. The granules 

 stain deeply w r ith certain acid dyes, such as eosin, and hence 

 these cells are sometimes called eosinophilcus. The plasma 

 cells are distinguished by the fact that their cytoplasm is filled 

 with minute vacuoles, so that it has a bubbly or frothy 

 appearance. That the corpuscles are concerned in the 



