TEGUMENTAL SYSTEM. 413 



black hairs in a square inch of skin, more chestnut, and most 

 light coloured. This assertion, our own observation appears to 

 confirm : since it is comparatively rare to meet with a black tho- 

 rough-bred horse, though it is a very prevalent colour among 

 cart-horses ; and the glossy silken coat for which the former is so 

 much admired is in none more conspicuous than in those that 

 are light-coloured. 



Shedding. — Most animals, I believe, at certain seasons of the 

 year, lose one pilous covering, to have it renewed, or replaced by 

 another. The pulpy substance at the root of the hair shrinks 

 and dries up, the stem, consequently no longer supplied with 

 nourishment, losing its support, decays and falls off; at the same 

 time, a new pulp appears by the side of the old one, which, dur- 

 ing the absorption of the latter, grows and gives root to a new 

 hair : so that the pulp and stem only, and not the bulb, un- 

 dergo the process of regeneration. The coat of the horse is shed 

 twice during the year — in spring and autumn : a phenomenon 

 exhibited with great regularity so long as the animal remains in 

 his native fields ; but as soon as he is domesticated, this process 

 is influenced by many circumstances connected with his stable 

 management; though by none more, perhaps, than the tempera- 

 ture of the stable. That which comes under the denomination 

 of horse-hair — the main and tail, and the long hairs about the 

 fetlocks, muzzle, eyelids, &c,, is never shed ; hence it grows to 

 an extreme length. One of the most striking phenomena in 

 the natural history of quadrupeds, is, that in deer, not only the 

 hair but the horns are deciduous. In the spring, the antlers of 

 the stag, but lately so strong and formidable, become soft, and 

 are cast off altogether, leaving him in a comparatively defenceless 

 state ; in the course of the ensuing summer, however, new horns 

 spring up in their places, which, before the commencement of 

 autumn, crown the animal again with his noble weapons, and 

 give him his wonted majestic mien, preparatory to the season 

 of copulation, which is now at hand. And now, his horns beino* 

 fully regenerate and fit for the purposes of combat, with un- 

 governable sensuality he wanders forth in search of the female, 

 whose possession, should another dispute with him, he will by 

 terrible conflicts strive to obtain and secure. 



Reproduction. — The hair is speedily reproduced upon any de- 

 nuded part, so that we are not afraid of the skin remaining 

 bald so long as the cuti<i (and consequently the bulbs of the hair) 

 remain uninjured: indeed, hair will be regenerated even after it 

 has been plucked out by the roots. In the case of broken knee, 

 when it happens that the contusion is attended with destruction 

 or disorganization of the cutis, a scar or bald place must result: 



