30 SMELL, TASTE, ALLIED SENSES 



Schultze on this subject has been unquestionably and 

 abundantly confirmed. 



The sustentacular cells are the chief supporting ele- 

 ments of the olfactory epithelium. Each of these cells 

 has a distal cylindrical portion that contains the yellowish 

 or light brownish pigment so characteristic of the olf ac- 



Fia. 6. Olfactory epithelium of a young mouse showing the olfactory cells and, to the right, 

 two sustentacular cells. Golgi preparation. After Retzius, 1892a, Plate 10, Fig. 2. 



tory region. The nuclei of these cells are oval and con- 

 stitute the outermost zone of nuclei in the epithelium. 

 Their proximal portions are more or less irregularly 

 compressed and branched, hence the outlines of these 

 parts are commonly jagged. 



The basal cells form a single row of block-like elements 

 on the proximal face of the olfactory epithelium. Their 

 short branching processes extend distally among the other 

 cells of the epithelium. 



The olfactory cells are the most numerous of the three 

 classes of cells in the epithelium. Their nuclei are roundish 

 with well marked nucleoli and form the extensive nucle- 

 ated band between the distal zone of sustentacular nuclei 



