STRIATED MUSCLE TISSUE 65 



nerve trunks are found in the loose connective tissue which sur- 

 rounds the muscle, and in the epimysium and perimysium. From 

 these trunks fine branches enter between the muscle fibres and 

 break up into a plexus of delicate fibrils. The terminations of the 

 nerve fibres are found within the sarcolemma of the muscle cell 

 as the motor end plates and, in striated muscle, as the terminal 

 filaments of special sensory endings, the muscle spindles* 



The blood vessels also distribute their larger trunks within the 

 connective tissue of the epimysium. The smaller branches pene- 

 trate the endomysium and supply a rich capillary plexus with long 

 rectangular meshes. This network of capillaries surrounds the 



c 



FlG. T2. POBTION OF A TRANSECTION OF A LARGE TENDON. 



a, fibrous capsule with circular, and at &, longitudinal bundles of connective tissue ; 

 c, d, and e, fibrous septa between the fasciculi of the tendon ; Z, lymphatic cleft. Moder- 

 ately magnified. (After Schafer.) 



muscle cells so completely that each cell is placed in relation with 

 four or five capillary vessels which run parallel with the long axis 

 of the cell. 



Numerous lymphatics occur in the perivascular connective tis- 

 sue. These lymphatic vessels are especially abundant in the car- 

 diac muscle. 



The distribution of the blood and nerve supply of cardiac and 

 smooth muscle closely resembles that of the striated variety. The 

 larger trunks are found only in the thicker connective tissue 

 membranes, but the smaller nerve trunks and capillary vessels 



* See chapter on the Peripheral Nerve Terminations. 

 6 



