Transmitted Light
Definition/Function:
This hair belongs to the group Felis catus, or domestic cat.
Significance in the Environment:
Characteristic Features:
Cat hair tends to have a relatively wide medulla at mid-shaft but begins in the
classic "wine goblet" form near the root and is uniserial
in the fleece but becomes more complex in the guard hairs. The pigment bodies are in
the cortex. The cuticle tends to be imbricate, toothlike
and prominent over the main part of the shaft for both fleece and guard hairs. The
root of the hair is elongated with little change in
diameter and is often frayed at the base.
Associated Particles:
References:
References with Photographs and/or Drawings
Hausman, Leon Augustus, "Structural charactreistics of the hair of mammals", THE
AMERICAN NATURALIST, vol. 54, no. 635, pp.496-523,
Hausman, Leon Augustus, "Recent studies of hair structure relationships", THE SCIENTIFIC
MONTHLY, pp. 258-277,
Glaister, John, A STUDY OF HAIRS AND WOOLS, Misr Press, Cairo, 1931.
FBI site for Animal Hair Identification:
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2004/research/2004_03_research02.htm
Keys Only
Mayer, William V., "The hair of California mammals with keys to the dorsal guard hairs
of California mammals", THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST,
vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 480-512, 1952.
Stains, Howard J., "Field key to guard hair of middle western furbearers", JOURNAL OF
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT, vol. 22, no.1, pp. 95-97, January, 1958.
Mathiak, Harold A., "A key to hairs of the mammals of southern Michigan", JOURNAL OF
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 251-268, October, 1938.
