I made my camera box out of thin tjuarter-inch wliitewood boards and 

 pasted black pa])er over the joints to keep out the light. Into one end of this 

 box I set the front board with the objective screwed into it. Sr|uaring off the 

 other end of the Ijox, I carefully fitted to it a 5 x 7-inch ground glass holder, 

 exactly the size of an ordinary .j x 7 \Aate holder. I framed this in with jjieces 

 of wood so that I could slip out the ground glass holder and put a plate holder 

 in its place. For jjurposes which will lie explained later, the ground gLass was 

 not fastened into its holder, l)ut a narrow slit through one end of the frame 

 was made just large enough so that it could be slid in or out without taking 

 out the frame itself. 



The object to be taken, having liccn mounted on a little block of wood and 

 fastened there with candle wax, is j)laced in front of the long focus lens Ijy an 

 assistant, who stands ready to mo^•e it back and forth, or sideways, or up and 

 down, according to directions. 



Getting to the far end of tli<' camera under the focusing cloth, I begin to 

 hunt for the dim image on the ground glass, and, by directing the assistant 

 to move the object in various ways, am quickly al)le to bring it into view, but 

 not into sliarj) focus. In order to do this, I slip the ground glass itself half 

 way out, take u|) the focusing glass, holding it against the edge of the ground 

 glass in order to .steady it. I am thus able to see every detail distinctly with- 

 out looking through the ground glass at all and can make sure that they are 

 in focus. With the focusing lens, one is able to .see the image in the air very 

 ])lainly, even when the dia])liragm is nearly closed and when only the faintest 

 shadow could be .seen on the ground glass. 



Having made sure that the innvge covers the plate well and is in good focus, 

 I put in my plate holder, my assistant i)laces the cap o\er the objective, I 

 draw- the slide and walk down to the front of the long camera. Wills, my 

 assistant, then prc])arcs a charge in the I'rosch flash lam|) and ])uts the 

 tube of black |)a|)('r in front of the lens to protect it from the glare of the Bash. 

 With one hand I hold u]) a pane of glass on which thin white jiaper has been 

 fastened to protect the insect from the direct sunlight; with the other hand 

 I remove the cap of the camera and ex])ose the ])late for from oO to 80 .seconds, 

 depending upon the lightness of the object, the brilliancy of the sunlight and 

 the stop employed, !(!, 3'i or 04. In the meantime. Wills blows otf a full 

 charge of magnesium powder in the flash lamp, so holding the lami) that the 

 rays from it will light up the shadows which are underneath the creature's 

 body. The cap is then put on agai}i and the plate holder closed in the ordi- 

 nary wa.\-. Only the freshest obtainable orthochromatic double-coated plates 

 are used. 



The friends who visited us on holidays helped nuike the long camera, and 

 it was made at three separate times, an eight-foot length at a time. When 

 the creature is very small I use the twenty-four-foot length, but when it is 

 large the twelve or eight-foot one. Each length fits into the one in front of 

 it and is covered with black cloth to make it tight . 



