Prevertebral plexuses ( PVE ; Winslow, 1733 ) : A topographic division of autonomic nerves (Langley, 1898) that form an interconnected series of more or less distinguishable perivascular thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic plexuses (Galen, c192) of small communicating branches (Winslow, 1733) or anastomotic nerve fiber bundles. Their functional composition is complex with varying mixtures of postganglinic sympathetic axons (Kölliker, 1896) from paravertebral nerves, preganglionic parasympathetic axons, visceral afferent fibers, and prevertebral ganglia (Gaskell, 1886) that are mostly sympathetic-except in the inferior hypogastric plexus where there is a mixture of sympathetic and parasympathetic neurons (Waldeyer, 1891); see Durward (1951, pp. 1120, 1128, 1138) for name and Williams & Warwick (1980, pp. 1132-1137).