Bilateral Differentiation in the Cuticle of Merino Wool Fibers

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Abstract
An examination by transmission electron microscopy of longitudinal sections of merino wool fibers drawn from 64s top and sectioned in the plane of the crimp and the equatorial plane of the fiber has revealed two significant differences between the cuticular cells on the intrados and extrados of the crimp. (i) The cells on the intrados (paracortical side) overlap each other by lengths that are from 2 to 6 times as great as on the extrados (orthocortical side). (ii) The cells on the intrados are longer, by from 5 to 82% on different fibers, than those on the extrados. Variation between fibers was found to be sig nificant on both sides for overlap, but only on the paracortical side for cell length. No significant difference was found between the sides in either the proportion of "false" scale edges or the scale-edge spacings, except for an indication, based on a small subsample, that a difference in the latter might be developed by chemical treatment. Some other features of the cuticular cells are also described.

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