6 Herr Max Weber on the Origin of Hair 
The response to this question must be connected with my 
observation already mentioned, that the hairs appear behind 
the scales, never upon them. In consequence of this I came 
to the conclusion that the hairs are dependent upon the scales 
in their arrangement. If the scales are imbricated, which 
was probably the primitive condition, the hairs must conse- 
quently form alternating rows and groups. Now what will 
happen when the scales disappear? Will the hairs preserve 
their arrangement, as though they still stood behind scales, 
or will they lose this regular formation? In the event of the 
first-mentioned case, we might conversely find in it the proof 
of the former presence of scales. The question to be 
answered would therefore be, whether in scaleless Mammals, or 
upon regions of the skin without scales, the hairs are so 
arranged as though they stood behind scales. 
The abundant literature upon the subject of hair supplied 
no answer upon this point, since beyond incidental observa- 
tions, with which there was really nothing to be done, it 
contains nothing that touches the question. Now this problem 
has been made by Heer J. C. H. de Meijere * the object of an 
exhaustive investigation, which was conducted in my labora- 
tory, and will shortly also be made accessible in a German 
form to a wider circle of interested students. De Meijere 
examined two hundred and twenty species of Mammals, and 
arrived at various surprising results, of which the following 
is the only one that here concerns us. In the great majority 
of cases the hairs are arranged in alternating groups, which 
are formed in very different ways. As a primitive and very 
simple condition must rank a group which consists of three 
similar hairs +. Usually, however, the hairs in a group are 
more numerous. At the same time the hairs may issue from 
isolated follicles or form bundles. De Meijere distinguishes 
false bundles, which have arisen through fusion of follicles, 
and genuine bundles. ‘The latter probably arose through 
the formation upon a follicle of several secondary ones b 
means of budding. It is an important fact that bundles of 
this kind also appear in alternating groups. Now if we 
further consider that upon the scale-bearing portions of the 
integument the hairs represent alternating groups, and that 
upon the scaleless portions they frequently form exactly such 
groups, or that their arrangement is usually traceable thereto, 
* De Meijere, ‘Over de haren der Zoogdieren in ’t byzonder over hunne 
wijze van rangschikking,’ Dissert. Amsterdam, 1893, 
+ The important occurrence of three hairs behind scales in mice has 
already been pointed out by Jentink in the memoir previously quoted 
(Zoolog. Ergebnisse, iii. p. 81). 
