The Feathers also that covered a part of
his Body, and were interspersed among the brush of his Wings, I found, in
the bigger Magnifying Glass, of the shape A, consisting of a stalk or stem
in the middle, and a seeming tuftedness or brushy part on each side. The
Feathers that cover'd most part of his Body and the stalk of his wings,
were, in the same _Microscope_, much of the figure B, appearing of the
shape of a small Feather, and seemed tufted: those which covered the Horns
and small parts of the Leggs, through the same _Microscope_, appear'd of
the shape C. Whether the tufts of any or all of these small Feathers,
consisted of such component particles as the Feathers of Birds, I much
doubt, because I find that Nature does not alwaies keep, or operate after
the same method, in smaller and bigger creatures. And of this, we have
particular Instances in the Wings of several creatures. For whereas, in
Birds of all kinds, it composes each of the Feathers of which its Wing
consists, of such an exceeding curious and most admirable and stupendious
texture, as I else where shew, in the Observations on a Feather; we find it
to alter its method quite, in the fabrick of the Wings of these minute
creatures, composing some of thin extended membranes or skins, such as the
Wings of Dragon-flys; in others, those skins are all over-grown, or pretty
thick bestuck, with short brisles, as in Flesh-flies; in others, those
filmes are covered, both on the upper and under side, with small Feathers,
plac'd almost like the tyles on a House, and are curiously rang'd and
adorn'd with most lively colours, as is observable in Butter-flies, and
several kinds of Moths; In others, instead of their films, Nature has
provided nothing, but a matter of half a score stalks (if I well remember
the number; for I have not lately met with any of these flys, and did not,
when I first observ'd them, take sufficient notice of divers particulars)
and each of these stalks, with a few single branchings on each side,
resembling much the branched back-bone of a Herring or the like Fish, or a
thin hair'd Peacocks feather, the top or the eye being broken off.
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