498 DR. J. MURIE ON SAIGA TARTARICA. {June 9, 
ously the case, the fleece annually is pushed off en masse, or in great 
patches, by a more or less uniform fresh growth beneath, and at such 
times the alteration of appearance is very marked. The Ovine fashion 
is that which S. tartarica follows. 
Secondly, the hair of the Saiga has the inherent quality of felt- 
ing. This property, opposed to its comparative absence in Anti- 
lopidee and Cervidee, is conspicuously prominent in the whole of the 
Ovide. The tenuous underwool (fig. 13, B, C) which works out 
in flat masses, weaving and binding together the coarser fibres 
(the process of felt), is not so fine and delicate as in some rumi- 
nants, e.g. the Prongbuck; but its cohesive wool-properties are 
undoubted. 

aN SS re or ee 
—_—s 
x125 x 850 
xs 
Microscopical structure of the Hair and Wool of the Saiga. 
A. Portion of a hair-shaft, showing the large cellular medulla and thin cortical 
layer. 
B. Magnified view of wool; and 
C. Portion of the same under a higher power, displaying the central cavity and 
pith-cells. 
Thirdly, very critical evidence of the consanguinity of Saiga to 
Ovis is shown in the microscopic constitution of the hair. Indeed 
in this respect it would appear to have affinities or leanings more 
towards the Cervine than the Antelope type. The finer filaments, 
or wool sui generis, need no further mention ; but the thicker brittle 
fibres, or true hair, have relatively and absolutely a very thin cortex, 
whilst the medulla is composed of unusually large cells, somewhat 
hexagonal in contour, though with evident tendency to a transverse 
wide ellipse (fig. 13 A). These characters cling to the hair of all 
Sheep, and gradate towards the rather smaller-sized, many-sided, 
cellular structure of the Deer’shair. In the Antelope group, A. cer- 
vicapra, for example, the cortex is much thicker, the cells extremely 
small and so compressed that under low powers they seem as if but 
transverse strie. The hair of the mountain-loving Chamois, how- 
ever, is well nigh identical with that of Saga. The Goats have hair 
which may be said to stand midway between the Antelope’s and 
Deer’s, inasmuch as the cells are of diminished size, oval, but consi- 
derably compressed in the long direction of the hair; the cortical 
layer, moreover, is dense. 
Amongst habits peculiar to the Saiga, and which in some senses 
