162 



CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 



externum); this tissue, especially in its juvenile condition, is 

 freely supplied with large and branching plastids. 



Delicate fibrous connective tissue is often largely intermixed 

 with other varieties of connective tissue in the form of either 

 scattered fibrillae or interlacing bundles of fibrillae. It blends 

 with the true myxomatous tissue, as well as with the dense 

 fibrous varieties. Bundles of the latter, in the tendon and the 

 interarticular ligaments, are surrounded and inclosed by loose 



FIG. 57. INTERARTICULAR LIGAMENT FROM THE KNEE-JOINT OF A 

 GROWN DOG. 



L, bundles cut in a longitudinal direction : C, bundles cut in a transverse direction ; P, 

 the nucleated, finely granular plastids forming a continuous layer around the bundles. Mag- 

 nified 500 diameters. 



connective tissue, which is the exclusive carrier of blood-vessels. 

 (See Fig. 56.) 



fbj Dense Connective Tissue composed of Coarse Interlacing 

 Bundles. The essential feature of this variety is the presence 

 of comparatively coarse bundles, which, interlacing either 

 at right angles or in an oblique direction, produce a very 



