HAIKS, FEATHEES, AND SCALES. 



11 



nAlB OF MOUSE. 



scales, which are excessively thin, and lie close. The 



pith consists of large flattened cells, aiianged thus 



one row passes up through the ceu 



tre, and other similar ones are set in 



a circle around it, so that a longitu- 

 dinal section would show three pai 



allel rows. These cells are translu 



cent, and some of them are eithei 



wholly or partially lined with a cleai 



yellow pigment. 



The smaller hairs from the j 

 same little animal are scarcely] 

 aguishable from those of 

 the Oat, already described, ex- 

 cept that the imbrications are proportionally 

 larger. In all, the extremity is drawn out to 

 a lengthened fine point, and is occupied with 

 clear yellow cells, except the very tip, which 

 4 is colourless, and imbricated with sinuous 

 whorls, each consisting of a single scale. 



But it is in the Bats that the imbricated, 

 character attains its greatest development. 

 On this slide is a number of hairs from the 

 fur of one of our English Bats, in which it is 

 far more conspicuous than in any example we 

 have yet seen. In the middle portion of each 

 hair the scales lie close, embracing their suc- 

 cessors to the very edges, or nearly ; but the 

 lower part, which is more slender, resembles 

 a multitude of trumpet-shaped flowers formed' 

 into a chain, each being inserted into the 

 "°'"'^ throat of another. The lip of the "flower" is 



generally oblique, and here and there we can perceive 



TIP OF 



SMALL 



HAIR OF 



HAIR OP 

 BAT. 



