36 MR. E. T. BENNETT ON A REMARKABLE 
continuous central stem, to which they are attached by their lower extremity: they 
rather resemble the free extremities of sheaths surrounding the stem of the hair, and 
slightly lengthened out in an oblique direction, which detach themselves at their tips 
and there recede, in a greater or less degree, from the common axis. The general eftect 
thus produced is by no means unlike that which occurs on the lower part of the stem 
of some monocotyledonous plants, where the sheaths of many abortive leaves follow 
each other in rapid succession. Such is the appearance observed on the hairs of the 
body of this Pteropus generally, as well as on those which form the tufts on the sides 
of the neck. It is, however, variously modified on the hairs of different parts of the 
body, and even on different parts of the same hair; the seeming sheaths being much 
more closely set in the middle and towards the base of the hair than near the tip, and 
the serration in the immediate vicinity of the base being almost entirely obliterated, so 
as to produce the appearance of annulation rather than of imbedded obliquely truncated 
cups. ‘The tips of the hairs offer consequently the most favourable opportunity for ex- 
amining their structure, in as much as the lateral processes which form the serrations 
become gradually more remote from each other, and eventually assume in many cases 
an appearance by no means unlike that which characterizes the articulations of some 
species of Sertularia. 
In so minute and difficult a subject, seen only by transmitted light, (for the high 
magnifying power necessarily employed precludes the possibility of observing the hairs 
as opake objects,) the risk of optical delusion is so great, that it would be unsafe to 
affirm that they are really jointed. Such, however, is the appearance assumed by the 
tips of the hairs, and more especially of those which form the fasciculated tufts so often 
referred to. Each joint seems under these circumstances to be terminated by a process 
inclined away from the general axis of the hair, the succeeding joint (by which the hair 
is lengthened out) being attached to its side prior to the divergence of its point. The 
terminal joint when present has usually the shape of a pointed stylet ; but it is fre- 
quently wanting in consequence of the injuries to which the fur of the animal is ex- 
posed: and the mode in which it, as well as the other joints, separates from the remain- 
ing portions of the axis at its apparent articulations might be regarded as an argument 
in favour of the actual composition of the hair. This hypothesis is still further sup- 
ported by the appearances presented by some of the more woolly hairs of the under 
surface of the body, the tips of which are apparently composed of obconical joints, the 
narrow part of each joint being attached to the centre of the truncated extremity of that 
next preceding it. 
The microscopic characters here described, although common to all the Bats which I 
have examined, are considerably modified in the different species, and even (as has been 
seen above) on different parts of the body of the same individual ; in this respect re- 
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