of Edinburgh, Session 1885-86. 
671 
of fibre characteristic of the original stock from which these varieties 
were obtained in the remote past. Several of these more important 
variations are given in Plate XXIV. figs. 28, 29, and 30. These fibres 
are all sketched from pure Australian merino fibres. In fig. 28 the 
arrangement of the epidermal scales in the upper and lower part of 
the fibre closely resembles that exhibited in the Cheviot fibres given 
in Plate XXIV. fig. 13, while the central portion is covered with scales 
which are similar to those on the Pacpathian fibre, given in Plate 
XXIV. fig. 13. The fibre given in fig. 29 closely resembles Plate 
XXIV. fig. 22, taken from a Lincoln sheep in which the same ring- 
like scales appear at intervals. Pig. 30 shows a kempy development, 
which, however, in the finest merino wool, is very rare, with short 
intervals in which the true wool appears. As a rule, when kemps 
occur in the merinos, the whole fibre partakes of this character, and 
the fibres are flat ovals in section, with a clear transparent structure. 
In some of these kempy fibres the usual curled or waved character 
of the true wool is replaced by a twisting of the whole fibre round 
its axis, so as to give the fibre the appearance of a corkscrew, with 
a comparatively wide pitch, or like the twist in a fibre of cotton. 
These variations from the normal structure of wool and other 
allied fibres might be very much increased if we include those 
which are evidently the result of malformations arising from the 
various diseases to which sheep are subject, or to the existence of 
more than one fibre within the same follicle, which frequently pro- 
duces fibres of singular configuration ; but those which have already 
been named and figured show the principal variations which are 
presented in the fibres under ordinary conditions. 
It is singular that most of these variations, indeed all of them, are 
formed in the fibres from the same sheep in the various races which 
inhabit Central Asia ; while in most of the sheep inhabiting other 
parts of the world, the usual variations from the normal types are 
less distinctive in their character, and confined within narrower 
limits. This seems to point to the mountainous regions of Central 
Asia as the district from which the present domestic sheep has 
spread over the other countries of the world. If the study of these 
variations will throw any light on the cause which produces them, 
and thus enable those who are engaged in the culture of the sheep 
to secure still greater uniformity in the character of the fleece, it 
