10 Transactions of the Society. 



and the substance of the fibre appearing clear and jelly-hke and of 

 a faint yellow colour. Some of these transparent yellow masses 

 are evidently undergoing disintegration and are pervaded by minute 

 granules. Actual bacteria, which are active agents in destruction, 

 are also often present in great numbers. In the muds of different 

 banks it is not difficult to find examples of muscular fibre which 

 illustrate every stage of disintegration up to the final conversion of 

 the substance of the fibre into adipocere. Some of the fibres are 

 probably softened at the time they leave the body. These are soon 

 further disintegrated, silicious and other particles adhering to them ; 

 and the compound masses thus formed are gradually and at length 

 completely disintegrated. Fragments of muscular fibres in various 

 stages of disintegration are represented in plate I. fig. 1 a ; plate II. 

 figs. 4La,Q a,7 ; plate III. figs. 9, 12 a, 13 a* ; plate IV. figs. 12 a, 

 16 a*, 17 a. 



Yellow Elastic Tissue. 



Many fragments of different kinds of yellow elastic tissue are 

 found in the mud-banks of the Thames. This substance long 

 resists decomposition, and it is probable that many months or 

 even years may elapse before some of the firmest particles are 

 completely disintegrated. The characters of elastic tissue vary 

 according to the texture from which it has been derived. The 

 fibres dijBfer so much in structural peculiarities that it is often 

 possible by microscopical examination to say whence they had 

 been derived. I have identified fibres from the ligament of the 

 neck, probably of the sheep, yellow elastic tissue arranged as a 

 network from the coats of a large artery from the same animal, 

 fibres from the lung and from the areolar tissue of the body. Not 

 only so but some of the yellow elastic fibres in my specimens 

 exhibit those peculiar transverse markings which show the fibres 

 to be old and also indicate that they have been well cooked. 

 (Plate IV. figs. 13/, 16/.) Yellow elastic tissue, it seems, passes 

 through the alimentary canal without being acted upon by the 

 digestive fluids and is therefore always found in the faeces when it 

 has been taken with the food. Portions of yellow elastic tissue 

 are represented in plate I. fig. 1 /; plate II. figs. 4 / 6 /; 

 plate III. fig. 14/; plate IV. figs. 11, 13/ 16/ 



Yellow Fsecal Masses. 



Among the most striking constituents of Thames mud are 

 yellow granular masses varying much in size. The smallest of 

 them are mere granules or small collections of very minute 

 granules, and less than 1/100,000 of an inch in diameter, the 

 largest as much as the 1/50 of an inch in diameter or even more. 



