Journal 



OF THE 



NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. II. MAY, 1886. No. 5. 



FUR FIBRES. 



BY H. L. BREVOORT. 



(Presented April 2d, 1886.) 



Plate III. 



The structure of fur fibres differs from that of the hair fibre 

 except in the interior portion. The fur fibre of the common 

 rabbit is shown in plate III. Fig. i shows the exterior scales of 

 the fibre. The interior appears somewhat as shown in Fig. II. 

 The portion at A is an air cell. At -5 is a mass of pigment cells, 

 which is the only material in these isolated portions, and gives 

 color to the fur fibres. These pigment cells are almost all of a 

 light brownish yellow color. In the darker furs they occur more 

 frequently and the masses are larger and more compact. By 

 treatment with glycerine they can be separated and then they 

 drop into the air spaces. This formation is continued almost 

 from the point of the fibre, which is of the shape shown in the 

 upper part of Fig. III., to near the base. The air spaces inter- 

 spersed with pigment cells are found from G to / (Fig. III.), 

 but nothing can be seen, even with the most powerful objectives 

 I have used, in the portion of the fibre below the point marked 

 G ; and so in the skin itself the root of the fibre is perfectly 

 transparent. 



I have found by long observation that the pigment cells 

 gradually come out under the scales upon the exterior of the 

 fibre, and then, when they meet the oxygen of the air, they 

 appear to break up and supply to the fibre the water-repellent 

 material on the outside. I have seen them pass to the surface, 

 though the walls of the passage through which they moved 

 were invisible ; and I would suggest that that is probably the way 

 in which all fibres with a scaly structure, such as human hair, are 



