OR, A TREATISE ON PILE. 43 
dark-brown, nearly black,—then wax-yellow, and finally, black at the apex; the whole 
ornamented with minute ochreous-colored dots and lines; the shade of darkness of the 
filament depending upon the number of these dots and lines. Transverse stri#, minute 
and irregular. Intermediate fibres, white and transparent, but marked with dots and 
lines like the cortex. The centre, solid and white; no canal. A disk or tranverse section 
shows an oval, dark-yellow figure, with a small, solid, white centre. Apex, abrupt, and 
often furcated. 
The characteristics of this hair are :—Ist, the variety of color upon the same filament ; 
2d, its peculiar formation, by the coloring matter being in the cortex and fibrous mnterme- 
diate substance, and being disposed in dots and dines ; 3d, the absence of a central canal, 
and central coloring matter. (See fig. 50 @ and 50 0.) 
EXAMPLE oF THE CotorinG Matrer OF THE PILE or THE Bat.—Exzamination and De- 
scription of the Hair of the Bat: Vespertilio Noveborensis ; order, Chiroptera; family, Vesper- 
tilionide ; tribe, Bat. Specimen sent from Massachusetts, by Dr. H. Wheatland, of Salem. 
Length, ;', to j; of an inch; diameter, 1 of an inch; button, a slight swelling of the 
lower extremity of the shaft only, with a pointed termination; sheath, none discovered ; 
follicle, none perceptible, after a rigid search. For the purpose of detecting it the dermis 
was separated from the epidermis. The texture of the dermis is lined, that of the epider- 
mis plain. Sheath, cortex, squamose; scales, of that peculiar shape, that the shaft 
appears like a succession or series of minute crucibles, nestled one in another; coloring 
matter, indistinct black; bands at the superior surface of each crucible-shaped figure. 
(See fie. 50 ¢c.) Sometimes the coloring matter is interrupted, and at others it is entirely 
wanting. This last variety occurs near the superior termination of the stalk, which is the 
cause that the fur there is, to the naked eye, of a lighter color than at the root of the 
filament. Apex, generally very pointed, when in its natural state, but often appears to 
have been broken. 
N. B. We have a specimen of hair from Paris, marked “ Poil de Chauve-sourie,” which 
does not materially differ from the above described. . 
There is also a specimen of a bat in the Academy of Natural Science, of Philadelphia, 
called the African Bat, in which the scales of the cortex are shaped more like those of a 
fish. The coloring matter is represented in figure 50 d. 
The characteristics of the hair of the Bat, (except the African,) so far as the above limit- 
ed examinations and descriptions show, are, lst, a variety of color in the same filament ; 
2d, the peculiar arrangement of the coloring matter in the cortex and fibrous matter 
being disposed of in borders to the crucible-shaped scales or rings; 3d, the absence of 
a central canal and central coloring matter. 
The disposition of the coloring matter of some of the lower animals in dots, lines, rings, 
&c., is often the cause of optical deception; the hair, to the natural eye, appears of one 
uniform color, whereas, when placed under the microscope, it appears distinctly to be 
two. For instance, the hair of a grey rabbit, when so examined, is found td be composed 
of black rings with white interstices; but they are of so small a diameter that they blend 
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