THE CONNECTIVE TISSUES. 



85 



thick layers of areolar tissue (Fig. G9). These sheaths of areolar 

 tissue support the vessels and nerves supplied to the denser forms 

 of the fibrous tissue making up the ligaments or tendons. The 

 thicker aponeuroses of the body may be regarded as broad and flat 



Portion of a large tendon in transverse section. (Sehafer.) a, sheath of areolar tissue sur- 

 rounding the tendon ; 6, longitudinal fasciculus of fibres within that sheath ; I, lymphatic 

 space ; c, section of a broad extension of the ensheathing areolar tissue, dividing the 

 tendon into larger bundles ; d, e, more delicate layers of areolar tissue subdividing the 

 larger bundles of fibres. Between these areolar septa are the bundles of fibres constitut- 

 ing the tendon. The cells which lie between the smallest fasciculi of fibres appear in 

 stellate form ; the cross-sections of the individual fibres, among which these cells lie, 

 are not represented. They would appear as minute dots. 



ligaments, in which the bundles of fibres run in various directions. 

 They present a structural transition between the fibrous arrange- 

 ment in ligaments and tendons and that in the more open varieties 

 of areolar tissue. The fibres of these tissues are mostly of the 

 white variety, but in some situations, notably in the ligamentum 

 nucha?, they are chiefly of the elastic variety. 



Reticular tissue may be regarded as a special modification of 

 areolar tissue, in which the main bulk of the tissue consists of a 

 series of freely intercommunicating lymph-spaces. These are often 

 densely crowded with lymphoid cells, among which the lymph 

 slowly circulates, thereby being subjected to the modifying influ- 

 ences of their activities. 



