80 



XORM. I L IflSTOL OG Y. 



this tissue are flattened and closely applied to the surfaces of the 

 bundles of fibres, which arc SO fine that they simulate delicate 

 branching processes emanating from the cells. The cement- or 

 ground-suhstancc is reduced to a minimum, only a small amount 

 lyine between the fibres and the cells of the reticulum. The tissue is 

 bounded by denser forms of fibrous tissue, with the fibrous bundles 

 of which the reticulum is continuous. It is possible that reticular 

 tissue contains stellate cells of the third variety mentioned as occur- 



Fig. G4. 



Reticular tissue. Section through a lymph-sinus in a lymph-node of the rabbit. (Ribbert.) 

 a, nuclei of stellate cells of the reticulum; b, endothelial cells which are closely applied 

 to the reticulum. The lymphoid cells, or leucocytes, have been removed from the 

 meshes of the reticulum. 



ring in fibrous tissues, as well as the thin cells already described, 

 which belong to the first variety. Where this is the case it is 

 probable that the branching processes of those cells take part in the 

 formation of the reticulum. 



Where the meshes of the reticulum are crowded with lymphoid 

 cells — i. c, cells identical with some of the white corpuscles of the 

 blood — the tissue has received the name " lymphadenoid tissue." 

 This tissue is the chief constituent of lymph-glands and follicles, 

 and i- also found in a more diffuse arrangement in many of the 

 mucous membranes (Fig. 114, L). 



:'.. Areolar Tissue. — This is the most widely distributed variety 

 of fibrous tissue. It contains all three kinds of cells mentioned at 

 the beginning of this section, though not always in the same relative 

 abundance. The intercellular substance consists chiefly of bundles 

 and laminae of fibres, which interlace in all directions. The white 

 fibres predominate over the elastic, but there are always some of the 



