142 Lectures on the Results of the 



associated with them. These specimens were exhibited by Mr 

 Joseph Cawwood. 



Messrs Fauntleroy and Sons exhibited an instructive collection 

 of elephants' tusks in No. 135. The largest of these was also 

 from the African elephant, and weighed 139 pounds. Varieties 

 of tusks were exhibited from the Gold Coast, the Gaboon River, 

 Zanzebar, the Cape of Good Hope, Angola, Alexandria, Ceylon, 

 and the East Indies. Of the tusks which possess a dense texture, 

 but have not the engine-turn markings of true ivory, Messrs Faun- 

 tleroy exhibit those of the narwhal, the walrus, and the hippo- 

 potamus; and the Jury regarded this instructive collection as 

 deserving Honourable Mention. 



Fine tusks of the Ceylon variety of elephants were shewn in 

 the collection from that island ; and several examples of the con- 

 tinental Asiatic kinds were exhibited in the Indian departments. 

 Amongst the tusks of the Siamese elephants was one which 

 weighed 100 pounds, and shewed a fine white compact kind of ivory. 



4. Feathers and Down. — The most beautiful, the most complex, 

 and the most highly elaborated of all the coverings of animals, 

 due to developments of the epidermal system, is the plumage of 

 birds. Well might the eloquent Paley say — " Every feather is a 

 mechanical wonder. Their disposition — all inclined backward ; 

 the down about the stem ; the overlapping of their tips ; their 

 different configuration in different parts ; not to mention the va- 

 riety of their colours — constitute a vestment for the body so beau- 

 tiful, and so appropriate to the life which the animal has to lead, 

 as that, I think, we should have had no conception of anything 

 equally perfect, if we had never seen it, or can now imagine any- 

 thing more so." 



A feather consists of the " quill,'' the " shaft," and the " vane." 

 The vane consists of " barbs" and "barbules." 



The quill is pierced by a lower and an upper orifice, and con- 

 tains a series of light, dry, conical capsules, fitted one upon an- 

 other, and united together by a central pedicle. 



The shaft is slightly bent ; the concave side is divided into two 

 surfaces by a middle longitudinal line continued from the upper 

 orifice of the quill ; the convex side is smooth. Both sides are 

 covered with a horny material, similar to that of the quill ; and 

 they enclose a peculiar white, soft, elastic substance, called the 

 "pith." 



The barbs are attached to the sides of the shaft, and consist of 

 plates, arranged with their flat sides towards each other, and their 

 margins in the direction of the convex and concave sides of the 

 feather ; consequently they present considerable resistance to being 

 bent out of their plane, although readily yielding to any force 

 acting upon them in the direction of the line of the stem. 



