The Coat of Sheep

Abstract

THE letter under this title, by Prof. J. Cossar Ewart, in NATURE of Mar. 19, contains some observations so divergent from those we have made here that it seems desirable to contrast the two. He remarks: “From an investigation which has been in hand for some time on the structure of the fibre forming the coat of sheep, it has been ascertained that in sheep, as in man, the first coat consists entirely of simple pithless fine-wool fibres.” In the course of investigations on South African sheep and wool, I have procured a fairly complete series of foetuses of the Merino, blackhead Persian, Afrikander, and Karakul, as well as of the Angora goat; and in each case microscopic sections have been made of the different stages in the development of the hair and wool. In view of the statement that “the first coat consists entirely of simple pithless fine-wool fibres,” a re-examination has been made of all this material.