Clumps of hairs which are grossly visible in cases of dermatitis papillaris capillitii are familiar to all dermatologists; they represent the crowding together of more or less adjacent hair follicles by cicatricial masses or active lesions. While the hairs sometimes emerge in tufts from a common aperture, they can be shown to have preserved their individual follicular structures. A less common abnormality is the presence of a quantity of unattached lanugo, in the same follicle. Under the title trichostasis spinulosa Nobl1 described the latter anomaly in follicular lesions scattered over the thorax and the abdomen. When looking for the condition he found instances rather frequently, 6 cases coming to his attention in a few months. The patients had seborrheic eczema of the scalp and the thorax. A plate accompanying his article was nearly identical with figure 1. The favorite sites in the aforementioned 6 cases were the scapular, the