Since the report by Fischer, a number of varying and often conflicting descriptions have appeared on periodontal ligament formation. These reports tend to be fragmentary and do not record the detailed morphological changes in various stages of the developmental sequence. Some investigators suggest that the principal fiber bundles develop from the dental fol l ic le 2 , 9 , 1 0 while others disagree. Some reports describe the "intermediate p lexus" 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 while others deny its existence. Faced with both incomplete evidence and controversy, a rather general view of the development of the periodontal ligament has been postulated. Ten Cate states: "There is general agreement that the fiber bundles of the periodontal ligament develop in relation to alveolar bone and cementum. Ultimately these fiber bundles meet in the forming ligament and it is in part this union of separate fiber bundles which has generated the concept of an 'intermediate plexus' " . 1 7