THE MICROSCOPE. 



AUaUST, 1895. 



Number 32. 



New Series. 



Objects Seen Under the Microscope. 



By chrysanthemum. 

 XXV. — SCALES OF FISHES. 



The skins of most fishes are strengthened by plates of 

 horny, bony or cartilaginous matter, and when these are 

 so arranged as to overlap one another (fig. 3), somewhat 

 like the feathers on a bird or the slates on a roof, they 

 are called scales. These scales are beautiful and inter- 



3 





esting objects when seen with low powers of the micro- 

 scope. 



Some fishes are covered with only a thin layer of skin, 

 in which case the scales can be readily seen ; in others 

 they are so deeply imbedded in the skin that we say the 

 fish has no scales, as in the case of the eel. 



