Another particularity is still more admirable. Whoever examines a feather cannot help noticing that the laminæ of which we have been speaking, in their natural state seem to be fastened together. Their adhesion to each other is manifestly something more than mere apposition; they are not to be separated without a certain degree of force, and, as there is evidently no glutinous cohesion between them, it is plain that by some mechanical means or other they catch or clasp among themselves, thereby giving to the web its closeness and compactness of texture. Nor is this all. When two laminæ which have been separated by accident or design are brought together again, they immediately reclasp; the connection, whatever it was, is perfectly restored, and the web of the feather becomes as smooth and firm as if nothing had happened to it. Draw your finger down the feather, which is, so to speak, against the grain, and you will probably destroy the junction between some of the contiguous laminæ; draw your finger up the feather in the opposite direction, and you restore all to their former state of coherence. This is no common contrivance. Let us now inquire concerning the mechanism whereby it is effected. The laminæ above mentioned, examined individually, are found to be provided with vast numbers of long fibres, or teeth, which project from their edges in such a manner that, when placed in contact, those of contiguous laminæ hook and grapple together. The fibres are extremely minute; indeed, fifty of them have been counted by means of the microscope in the space of the 1/20th of an inch. Every fibre is crooked, but bent after a definite manner; those that proceed from one edge of a lamina are long, flexible, and bent downwards, whereas those that proceed from the opposite edge are shorter, firmer, and turned upwards. The manner in which they are united is, therefore, as follows: When two contiguous laminæ are pressed together, so that the long fibres are forced far enough over the short ones, their crooked parts fall into the angles formed by the crooked parts of the others, just as the latch of a door falls into the cavity of the catch fixed to the door-post, and there hooking itself, fastens the door. This admirable structure, which may be readily seen with a very ordinary microscope, ensures not only the union of the laminæ, but renders it possible that when any two of them have been separated by violence they will become re-connected with facility and expedition. In the ostrich, this apparatus of crotchets and fibres, of hooks and eyes, is wanting; the filamentary laminæ hang loose and separate, forming a kind of down; but such a plan of construction, however it may fit the plumes for the flowing honours of a lady's head-dress, must be considered as detrimental to the bird, inasmuch as wings composed of such feathers, although they may assist in running, will not serve for flight. [Illustration: Fig. 3.--NASCENT FEATHER OF A CHICKEN.