ELASTIC LIGAMENTS. [ 222 ] 



ELASTIC TISSUE. 



warty or hairy rind, not bursting sponta- 

 neously, but divided into little chambers 

 internally by intersecting plates of sporife- 

 rous tissue. The spores are formed in sacs 

 (asci) (fig. 188), from four to eight in each, 

 arising from branched, anastomosing fila- 

 ments (capillitium). Two species are de- 

 scribed in the British Flora, E. granulatus, 

 growing in heathy ground, and E. muricatus, 

 Fr. (E. variegatus, Vitt., Tulasne), attached 

 to the rootlets of beeches. L. and C. Tulasne 

 have carefully analysed this genus. 



BIBL. Berk, in Brit. Flora, ii. pt. 2. p. 

 306 ; Ann. Nat. Hist. vi. p. 430. pi. 1 1. fig. 10; 

 L. R. and C. Tulasne, Ann. des Sc, nat. 

 2 ser. xvi. p. 5. pi. 1-4 ; Mon. Hypog. Fungi, 

 Paris, 1850; Vittadini, Monog. Tuber. App. 

 p. 66, &c. pi. 3 & 4. 



ELASTIC LIGAMENTS. These are 

 Fig. 189. 



Transverse section of the ligamentum nuchse of an ox, 

 after treatment with solution of caustic soda : a, areolar 

 tissue, appearing transparent ; b, section of elastic fibres. 

 Magnified 350 diameters. 



Fig. 190. 



Elastic fibres : a, from a human ligamentum subflavum, 

 with intervening areolar tissue, b. Magnified 450 diams. 



yellowish, strong bands, consisting of elastic 

 or yellow fibrous tissue, with a small quan- 

 tity of areolar tissue. They are met with as 

 conuecting the arches of the vertebrae (liga- 

 menta subflava) in the stylo-hyoid and in- 

 ternal lateral ligaments of the jaw, and the 

 ligamentum nuchae, or ' paxy-waxy of ani- 

 mals.' They contain but few vessels, and 

 no nerves. The elastic fibres (fig. 190) are 

 from 1-7500 to 1-3500" in breadth, slightly 

 flattened (fig. 189), mixed with still finer and 

 some coarser elastic fibres, forming a dense 

 network, taking a general direction parallel 

 to the long axis of the spine. Between these 

 fibres are loose undulating bundles of areolar 

 tissue, running parallel to the elastic fibres. 



BIBL. Kolliker, Mikrosk. Anat. ii. 306, 

 and Gewebel. d. Mensch. p. 215. 



ELASTIC TISSUE, of animals, or yellow 

 fibrous tissue, occurs in the ligamenta sub- 

 flava of the vertebrae ; the thyro-hyoid and 

 cricoid membranes ; the vocal chords ; the 

 trachea, forming the longitudinal elastic 

 bands of that tube and its branches; the 

 internal lateral ligament of the jaw; the 

 stylo-hyoid ligament; the transversalis fascia 

 of the abdomen ; the blood-vessels, and 

 almost everywhere mixed with the fibres of 

 areolar tissue. 



It differs from white fibrous tissue in its 

 elasticity and its yellow colour. 



Its elementary form is that of round or 

 flattened fibres, varying in size from an 



Fig. 191. 



Fig. 192. 



Fig. 191. Network of elastic tissue, from the middle 

 coat of the pulmonary artery of the horse. Magnified 

 350 diameters. 



Fig. 192. Network of fine elastic fibres from the perito- 

 neum of a child. Magnified 350 diameters , 



almost immeasurable breadth to that of 



