854 Microscopical Society of London. 



the greater; all the angles are acute. The caudal setae are very 

 short and incurved ; their joints are fourteen in number. The an- 

 tennae, head, and every part of the body, are intense black ; the legs 

 are black, excepting a yellow space which occupies nearly the basal 

 half of each tibia, but not exactly so, the base itself being black : 

 the wings are semi-opaque, suffused with black. Expansion of the 

 wings, 1 inch. 



Inhabits New Zealand. In the cabinet of Mr. Saunders. 



Edward Newman. 



Microscopical Society of London. 



January 15, 1845. — Professor Bell, F.R.S., &c, President, in 

 the chair. 



A paper, by John Quekett, Esq., Assistant Conservator of the 

 Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, on Certain Peculiarities 

 in the Structure of the Feathers of the Owl Tribe, was read. After 

 some preliminary observations, Mr. Quekett described the ordinary 

 structure of the wing-feathers of birds, as consisting of three parts, 

 viz., the quill or barrel, the shaft, and the vane. The latter of these 

 is composed of horny filaments, termed barbs, from the edges of 

 which a number of other very minute filaments are given off, which 

 are called barbules, which latter have also, in some cases, other bar- 

 bules arising from them, to which he gave the name of barbutelles. 

 The office of the barbules is to hook the barbs together (for which 

 purpose they are admirably adapted, both by their structure and 

 position), and thus to afford that degree of adhesion between the 

 parts of the wing, necessary to enable it to support the bird in the 

 act of flying. In the feathers of birds which do not fly, these bar- 

 bules do not exist, and they are consequently loose and flowing. In 

 the feathers of the owl tribe, another peculiarity obtains. In these, 

 on the upper surface of the wing and other feathers, besides the 

 usual apparatus of barbs and barbules, an additional series of fila- 

 ments is developed, which not only serves to keep the adjacent barbs 

 together, but also rising above the outer surface of the vane, forms a 

 kind of down or nap upon it, the inner surface being as in other birds. 

 This peculiarity causes the flight of the owl to be without that noise 

 which attends the progress of birds whose feathers have the usual 

 structure, and thus enables it to secure its prey, which otherwise 



