The most interesting phenomena of diffraction are those presented by _gratings_, as are technically denominated the systems of linear and very narrow openings situated parallel to one another and at very small intervals. A system of this kind may be realized by tracing with a diamond, for instance, on a pane of glass equidistant lines very close together. As the light would be able to pass in the interstices between the strokes, whereas it would be stopped in the points corresponding to those where the glass was not smooth, there is, in reality, an effect produced as if there were a series of openings very near to each other. A hundred strokes, about 1/25th of an inch in length, may thus be drawn without difficulty. The light is then decomposed in spectra, each overlapping the other. It is a phenomenon of this kind which is seen when we look into the light with the eye half closed; the eyelashes in this case, acting as a net-work or grating. These net-works may also be produced by reflection, and it is to this circumstance that are due the brilliant colors observed when a pencil of luminous rays is reflected on a metallic surface regularly striated. To the phenomena of gratings must be attributed, too, the colors, often so brilliant, to be seen in mother-of-pearl. This substance is of a laminated structure; so much so, that in carving it the different folds are often cut in such a way as to form a regular net-work upon the surface. It is, again, to a phenomenon of this sort that are due the rainbow hues seen in the feathers of certain birds, and sometimes in spiders' webs. The latter, although very fine, are not simple, for they are composed of a large number of pieces joined together by a viscous substance, and thus constitute a kind of net-work. If the sun is near the horizon, and the shadow of the observer falls upon the grass, upon a field of corn, or other surface covered with dew, there is visible an aureola, the light of which is especially bright about the head, but which diminishes from below the middle of the body. This light is due to the reflection of light by the moist stubble and the drops of dew. It is brighter about the head, because the blades that are near where the shadow of the head falls expose to it all that part of them which is lighted up, whereas those farther off expose not only the part which is lighted up, but other parts which are not, and this diminishes the brightness in proportion as their distance from the head increases. The phenomenon is seen whenever there is simultaneously mist and sun. This fact is easily verified upon a mountain. As soon as the shadow of a mountaineer is projected upon a mist, his head gives rise to a shadow surrounded by a luminous aureola. [Illustration: FOG-BOW SEEN FROM THE MATTERHORN.]