NEUROGLIA 



143 



processes. Two varieties of these cells are recognized: the spider cell 

 or long-rayed astrocyte, with a small cell body and very many exception- 

 ally long and slender processes; and the mossy cells or short-rayed 



astrocytes, whose processes are shorter and somewhat thicker but de- 

 cidedly more varicose than those of the long-rayed type. 



Recent investigations by means of the staining methods of Weigert, 

 Mallory, and Benda, have demonstrated that the astrocytes. as seen in 



