268 ELEMENTS OF HISTOLOGY. [Chap, xxxn, 



situated in the muscular coat. There the veins are 

 very numerous, and arranged in dense plexuses, those of 

 the outer and inner stratum being smaller than those 

 of the middle stratum, where they correspond to huge 

 irregular sinuses, the bundles of muscular tissue of 

 the muscular coat giving special support to these 

 sinuses. Hence the plexus of venous sinuses of the 

 middle stratum represents a sort of cavernous tissue. 



360. The lymphatics are very numerous ; in 

 the intermuscular connective tissue of the muscular 

 coat are lymph sinuses and lymph clefts forming an 

 intercommunicating system ; they take up the lymph 

 sinuses of the mucous membrane above mentioned, 

 and on the other hand lead into a plexus of lymphatic 

 vessels with valves, situated in the subserous connec- 

 tive tissue. 



The nerves entering the mucous membrane are 

 connected with ganglia. According to Lindgren, there 

 is in the mucous membrane a plexus of non-medu Hated 

 nerve-fibres, which, near the epithelium, break up 

 into their constituent primitive fibrillae. 



361. (4) The vagina The epithelium lining 

 the mucous membrane is a thick, stratified, pavement 

 epithelium. The superficial part of the mucous mem- 

 brane i.e., the mucosa is a dense, fibrous, connective 

 tissue with numerous networks of elastic fibres ; it 

 projects into the epithelium in the shape of numerous 

 long, single or divided papillae, each with a simple or 

 complex loop of capillary blood-vessels. The mucosa 

 with the covering epithelium projects above the gene- 

 ral surface in the shape of longer or shorter, conical 

 or irregular, pointed or blunt, permanent folds the 

 rugae. These contain a plexus of large veins, between 

 which are bundles of non-striped muscular tissue j 

 hence they resemble a sort of cavernous tissue. 



Outside of the mucosa is the loose submucosa 

 containing a second venous plexus ; its meshes are 



