Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-05-27
THE SKIN OF ANIMALS.
In Some It Is n Defensive Armor Made of
 Horn and Bone.

Horn and Bone.
 OsteoloSist Lucas of tho National museum Is preparing now exhibit, which is designed to show the various notifications of tho skin of animals.
 To begin with, thero will be queer sort of alligator from South America, called tho "jacari." It is quito different from any alligator from North America, belonging tu a peculiar genus that has bony plates on the under side as we'll as on tho upper si,lo of the body. This is distinguishing mark of the trihe. such alligatuTS as arc known elsewhere i'll tho wwll being thus armOrcd only on their backs. The urmur plates of tho nlliga- turS aro Vf tru0 buuG-thC samo sort of bono aS that of thr animals skeleton.
 If you will examine the skin on the back of your hand, you will find that it is corrugated and broken up with fine lines in such n way that you can easily imagine its texture transformed by eX agSoration into scales. New. you have only to gaEe upon an arnadille in order to see such e modification of the skin. In Africa is found yet moro curious animal, called the "Manis macrura, |" which is the most scaly of all scaly beasts. From the tip of its nose to tho end of q very long tail it is clad in big horny scales that overlap one another. When alarmed, it curls itself up into . tight ball, and the scales being quito sharp it Is pretty safe against attack. In this caso also the scales are only modified skin. It is worth mentioning, by the way, that the ManiS macrura possesses greater number of Vertebro than any other mammal.
 Mir. Lucas will show, in tho same case with tho jnCari and the armadillo, a "scheltopusic This is a lizard from Sicily. Tho casual observer would take it for a snake, its legs being rudimen- tary and concealed beneath its skin. The entire body of tho reptile is covered with little plstes of bone, As in tho ease 1 of tho alligator, above described, the bony plates of tho lizard are merely modified skin. Tho same is true of the very remarkable "bOXtish" of tho West Indies, which is clad in complete armUr of six sided plates of bone, which are fastened to the skull and to the bases of tho dorsal and anal fins. An | odd point about this fish is that it can i not bend its body at all, the vertehrm, save only three or four near the tail. be ing fused together. Thus the backbone is a solid rod.
 1 The scales of the armadillo are oi bone. covered with horn. the bone anC tho horn corresponding respectively tC the true skin and the epidsrmis of { human being or other animal. Bon, plates and spiDes arc notifications of thu true skin. while horn is modified epider mis. Human beings sometimes devslol horns, but they arc abnormal growthS Another queer fish that will bo show in connection with this exhibit iS tb'
 "globcfish, which is found in water of tho coast of South Carolina. It olad in an armor of interlooked spines which are made to stand ersct at tn
 will of tho animal. thus rendering tn
 latter an unattraotive morSsl to swal
 low. In a world like this. whsre evar.
 living creature is the prey and food Q
 others, animals arc often obliged to pu
 on coats of mail If they would survive
 Mir. Lucas will make fur and feath
 CTS a part of the exhibit. Feathers an
 hair are the same thing, differentl
 modified. of course. \ stuffed and fret
 full poroupine will illustrate the fac
 that mammals as we'll as birds hay
 Quills. This is true of several species (
 mammals, notably the European hedge
 hog, which is n disagreeable creature } handle without gloves. Awhile ag there were couple of porcupines in tt geological collection in the rear of tl , Smithsonian institution. One of thel assailed an attendant and stuck aboI 30 of its quills into his legs. Hs (the a 1 eendant, rot the porcupinel told writ . for The Star that the quills came ont s the porcupine much moro easily thg they came out of his leg. g.-WsShingtG
 Star