216 TEXTILE FIBRES. 



been considered by naturalists as a distinct species from the alpaca ; yet 

 some are of opinion that the alpaca is perhaps only a variety of the 

 llama sheep. If this view is a correct one, it implies that all alpaca 

 fibres ought to have received the name Llama fibres, but the name 

 of alpaca would die hard nevertheless. 



Mohair Fibres. These are obtained from the hairy covering of the 

 Angora goat (Capra hircus, Linn.), a native of the interior of Asia 

 Minor. This hairy covering starts just behind the ears of the Angora 

 goat, forming a kind of main, which is continued down the back and 

 hangs down on each side of the animal in numerous curls of silky pliant 

 fibres. 



In the Bradford trade the yarn spun from mohair fibres has been 



Fig. 139. Mohair yarn fibres (magn.). 



used as weft, in combination with 2/80s. twist from Brown Egyptian 

 cotton, in the production of fancy lustrous dresses, and in the production 

 of Utrecht velvet, etc. 



The characteristic features of mohair fibres are their length, fineness, 

 cohesiveness, soft and silky lustre. The fibres are the woolly covering 

 of the Angora goat. 



The soft and pliable character of the mohair yarn fibres is well 

 shown under a 3-inch objective in fig. 139. In this specimen the warp 

 threads are absent, but the sharp and nearly uniform undulations are 

 the result of the leno character of the woven cloth, which is exactly 

 similar to the structure of the alpaca, but with a greater amount of 

 suppleness and lustre. 



