The costume of the Tosks differs from that of the Ghegs; its distinctive feature is the white plaited linen fustanella or petticoat, which has been adopted by the Greeks; the Ghegs wear trews of white or crimson native cloth adorned with black braid, and a short, close-fitting jacket, which in the case of wealthy persons is embellished with gold lace.
This consists typically of close-fitting layers of cells with completely suberized walls, intended to replace the epidermis as the external protective layer of the plant when the latter, incapable as it is of further growth after its original formation, is broken and cast off by the increase in thickness of the stem through the activity of the cambium.
In accordance with these more sedentary habits during the first phases of life, the characteristic pilidium larva, which is so eminently adapted for a pelagic existence, appears to have been reduced to a close-fitting exterior layer of cells, which is stripped off after the definite body-wall of the Nemertine has similarly originated out of four ingrowths from the primary epiblast.
While the common Semite wore a short skirt, often with tassels and sometimes with an upper tunic, the more important had an elaborate scarf (extending from waist to knee) wound over the long tunic, or a longer and close-fitting variety coloured blue and red and generally adorned with rich embroidery.
Probably the oldest head-dress is the circular close-fitting cap (plain or braided), which, according to Meyer, is of Sumerian (non-Semitic) origin.
