•24 



I'srcuE. 



(March— April iSSf. 



SCALES OF VALGUS S()l'AMIGER. 



Nearly e\ei-v part of I', sqitamigcr is 

 covered witli scales which are of two 

 colors, an opake dark brown and a semi- 

 opake white. The scales are somewhat 

 rolled and arc very brittle, so that when 

 they are pressed beneath a cover-glass 

 npon the microscope slide they usuall}- 

 split at the edges. The unbroken scales 

 are nearly round, about 0.14 mm. long 

 by 0.08 to o. 1 2 mm. wide, and until they 

 arc deprived of air but little structure is 

 visible. When they are deprived of air 

 tiiev are seen to be covered with dense, 

 ratlier long hairs, — to be in fact almost 



Ki^. 4. Scillc of Valgus sqiiamiger. Knliir^cd lOO 

 (li:ini. 



shaggy. Fig. 4 represents an nnhrokon 

 scale tliat has been treated witli alcohol 

 to remove the air. The hairs, as will 

 be seen by tiie figure, are arranged, 

 somewhat rougiily, in transverse or ob- 

 lique lines; but what is more curious, 

 the basal ends of these hairs seem to lie 

 connected, in each line, with one anotii- 

 er, and finally eacii of these bands of 

 hairs, whicli ma)' contain from two to 

 twenty hairs, seems to connect by its 

 basal line with a branch going to the 

 Ijasal end, or stem, of the scale. These 

 brandies unite as thev approacli the 

 Ijasal end of the scale imtil the\ form 

 one trinik. These ramifications are del- 

 icate brown and are beautiful on a ]5re]i- 



aration of the .scales in Canada balsam. 

 In fig. 4, which was made too small to^ 

 show them correctly, they are propor- 

 tionally far too coarse, and are not tap- 

 ered as regularly as they should be from 

 base to tip. 



I have not found this ramified structure 

 in any scales except those of Valgus, 

 and in them 1 have not .studied it to any 

 extent. It appears as if the cavity of 

 the scale, once open and probably open- 

 ing into the large hairs, had closed grad- 

 ually, leaving channel-like folds betw-een 

 the hairs and from them to the stem of 

 the scale. These channels are appar- 

 ently entirely closed now, altho I made 

 no section^ of these scales to absolutely 

 prove this point. 



IIAIKS ()!• I'SII.OPTEKA. 



The under si^le of the abilomen and 

 other parts of Ps. drummo/idi i\rc cloth^-d 

 with brownish-yellow hairs, which are 

 set upon a smooth, nearly black surface, 

 and consequently the hairs appear of a 

 lisrht bronze color. 



I'"i|;. ^. Hair yii Psito/>tfra drtiiiinioniii, Ki'.larjicil 

 100 (liatn. 



Seen under the microscope these hairs 

 or scales — for they seem to be as much 



