170 OBSERVATIONS ON A FEW CASES OF FORRIGO. 
commonly little or no exudation, the want of an overlying 
crust or scab is a marked characteristic of this variety of 
Porrigo. The spots, generally very distinct, seem quite 
. denuded of hair, and are mostly of a light greyish-white 
colour. They may appear on any part of the body, but are 
most common about the head and neck. 
In the hare above mentioned the disease manifested itself 
in two very well-defined spots on the abdomen, near the um¬ 
bilicus ; these spots were quite bare, light in colour, slightly 
moist, and to the naked eye perceptibly scaly. On bringing 
them under the object glass they presented a most beautiful 
appearance. Over the whole diseased surface there were 
still to be seen many remaining stumps of hair; and where 
these emerged from the epidermis I could plainly discover 
small spherical, nearly transparent bodies, apparently in con¬ 
nection with or attached to the hair, and often penetrating 
into the epidermis along with the hair radicle. These 
spherical bodies were very minute, but yet quite easily dis¬ 
tinguished; in some cases there were two of them to one 
hair, and more rarely, some appeared to have a cylindrical 
body or radicle attached to them, which also seemed to 
descend along with the hair into the epidermis. From the 
openings of the hair follicles, where the hair had disappeared, 
there seemed to be a slight exudation of a glairy description, 
but of this I could not make myself certain. The scales, 
although scarcely perceptible to the eye, were under the glass 
quite distinct, and had assumed a delicately pinkish-yellow 
tinge. I should say, however, that the scaly appearance was 
owing to simple exfoliation of the epidermic layers, and that 
the seemingly yellowish tinge was due to the almost im¬ 
perceptible exudation from the empty hair follicles. 
The opinion which I formed from what is related above 
was, that the spherical and pyriform bodies visible at the 
entrance of the hair into the epidermis were neither more nor 
less than the usual Cryptogamic fungi, or parts thereof, to 
which the various forms of this disease owe their origin, 
namely, the Achorion Schonleinii, &c., mentioned by Mr. 
Fleming in the paper above referred to. Further, that the 
exudation from the vacant hair follicles probably contained 
innumerable sporules or germinal matter ready to produce 
the disease in any proper nidus—I mean that the pinkish- 
yellow desquamated scaly epitlielia of the disease-laden 
epidermis would unquestionably be the medium of conveying 
the affection, under favorable circumstances, to other 
animals. I was disappointed in making a microscopic ex¬ 
amination of either the exuded or scaly matter. 
