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The thermal properties of reindeer fur are legendary: it has a thick felty layer of underwool and long thick guard hairs that appear to be hollow, but on inspection under a microscope each hair turns out to have a core of vacuolated, keratinised cells.

Its hair is more like that of a goat than a sheep, of a brownish gray colour, and with a dense coat of underwool.

The largest of rodents, it possesses a close underwool of bluish-brown hue, nearly an inch in depth, with coarse, bright, black or reddish-brown top hair, 3 in. long.

The Mongolian goat has a very soft silk underwool, and after the long top hair is removed it is dressed and imported and erroneously named mouflon.

It has, however, of later years been “unhaired,” the underwool clipped very even and then dyed seal colour, in which way very useful and attractive garments are supplied at less than half the cost of the cheaper sealskins.