94 



omithorynchus. In it the lower part of the hair consists of a trans- 

 parent, colourless, cellular pillar — near the free extremity, this con- 

 tracts to one-sixth of its original diameter. It shortly afterwards 

 again dilates, and assumes a new character. It has now a dense brown 

 out«r coat, so thickly studded with pigment granules, that its colour is 

 conspicuous to the naked eye. It has also a row of central cells about 

 one quarter the size of those in the colourless portion of the hair. 



I have found that each of the animals possessed of this peculiar hair 

 is burrowing in its habits — which readily proves that the direction of 

 their fur can be made to vary according to the way it is stroked, 

 whether from the head or tail. When the creature advances in its 

 hole, the fur lies backwards — when it retreats, the direction of the fur 

 is forwards. The whole of the hair is too bulky to move ; the heads or 

 tips of the hair alone are moved. They move on the contracted por- 

 tions, as on a joint. The CDutracted portions act as so many hinges. 

 In this instance the hairs afford an insight into the characters and habits 

 of the animal. Rabbits have not this peculiarity, — and if we examine 

 why, we shall find that though the rabbit burrows, it always enters and 

 leaves its hole head first. 



The most complicated forms of animal hair I have yet met with, are 

 those of the elephant and two-toed sloth. 



In the former, a number of small hairs of an ordinary size and struc- 

 ture seem to lie side by side, cemented together by a tissue similar to 

 that of which the fibrous outer coat is usually composed. This, as I have 

 before noticed, gives its transverse section a similarity to that of horn. 



In the two-toed sloth, whose hair is fluted like a Corinthian pillar, each 

 is composed of a number of rods of comparatively small size, bound 

 together by a granular tissue ; one rod occupies each projection of the 

 pillar, and one or two may occasionally be seen in the central portion. 

 They are from nine to twelve in number, may be readily isolated, and 

 are then found to resemble any other common hair. The actual diame- 

 ter of this compound structure, is materially less than that of the musk 

 deer; the one being about l-200th of an inch in diameter, aud the 

 other 1-5 0th. 



Having thus, as it were, carried one form of hair up to its highest point, 

 we must return again, to speak of another class, of which as yet we 

 have taken no notice, but which is of great commercial interest — namely, 

 wool, or woolly hairs. These have the power of felting, in which they 

 differ materially from straight hairs and bristles. 



If we examine microscopically into the difference between hair and 

 wool, we shall be unable to trace any decided distinction in appearance 



