Coronal section through the posterior lobe (pars nervosa) of the pituitary gland of a monkey. The posterior lobe is seen here to be a direct extension from the hypothalamus in the floor of the third ventricle. Investing the posterior lobe is a thin stratum of darkly-staining tissue, the pars tuberalis, which is really an upward extension along the pituitary stalk of the anterior lobe of the gland. Notice the vascularity of the posterior lobe. Notice also the cavity of the third ventricle (V), lined by ependymal cells from which fine processes extend out into the adjacent brain substance. The photograph is at a magnification of X 67.

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