STRUCTURE OF THE OVARY MUSCULATURE. 169 



of which exhibit no special arrangement, but run in every 

 direction, and are continuous internally with the stroma, which 

 is rich in cells, and encloses the greater number of the follicles. 

 All the connective-tissue fibres present in these peripheric 

 layers appear dark on transverse section, like elastic fibres, 

 whilst they are lustrous in longitudinal section. They clear up, 

 though with difficulty, on the addition of acetic acid ; but if 

 it be desired to bring the scattered follicles rapidly into view, 

 it is best to employ caustic soda. 



The stroma of the ovary around the more deeply situated 

 and younger follicles contains a large number of fusiform cells, 

 with, in many instances, very long processes. Wherever the 

 larger vascular trunks traverse this cellular layer, to reach the 

 surface of the ovary, they are accompanied by strong fasciculi of 

 connective tissue, which expand like an umbrella peripherically, 

 and form trabeculae supporting the delicate cell-containing 

 tissue * In animals, and especially in those whose ovulation 

 frequently occurs, granular cells are very numerous, an indica- 

 tion that in this layer, in which the development and degene- 

 ration of the follicles chiefly occurs, the stroma also undergoes 

 manifold changes. M. His (52) has demonstrated the presence in 

 the ovary of a second kind of cell, which he has named "granule 

 cell," and which in all points resembles the ordinary colourless 

 blood cell. His view, however, that the follicular epithelium 

 originates from them, as will be subsequently shown, must be 

 regarded as erroneous. 



In the mammalian ovary smooth muscular fibres are limited 

 to the vascular zone that is in immediate contact with the 

 above-described highly cellular parenchymatous zone. They 

 lie here in detached longitudinal fasciculi, surrounding the 

 larger and medium-sized arteries, which they sometimes invest 

 like a sheath. See Aeby (1) and Grohe (49). They may be 

 followed as far as to the cortical layer, but in Man at least, and 

 our ordinary domestic animals, do not enter it ; in no case does 

 it extend to the follicular walls. The relations are somewhat 

 different in the Amphibia and in the Osseous Fishes, fasciculi 

 of smooth muscular tissue being here generally discoverable in 



* See upon this point Henle (50), p. 481. 



