54 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 5 



President F. L. Washburn: I note that the time asked for the 

 members who have papers in no case exceeds fifteen minutes. I_ 

 will, therefore, hold each member to the time which he requested, and 

 which is stated on the programme. 



The first paper is by W. C. O'Kane, on ''Methods in Photographing 

 Insects." 



METHODS IN INSECT PHOTOGRAPHY 



By W. C. O'Kane 



The writer of this paper wishes to disavow at the outset any claim 

 to expert knowledge of photography. The matter here presented is 

 not offered in that light. 



It is suggested, however, that as a group of workers in a specialized 

 field, we have not brought photography to its highest point of possible 

 service to our particular needs. Insect photography, whether to aid 

 scientific study or for purposes of preparing illustrations, is not the 

 same as pictorial or portrait photography. The questions of posing, 

 lighting and details of process are capable of being answered in a 

 particular way for our special purposes. 



The writer believes that we may and should acquire a common fund 

 of individual experiences in photographing insects, and that from these 

 will naturally crystallize out a method of procedure that is the best 

 and that will ultimately be of great value to all of us. This paper 

 is offered, therefore, simply as the writer's individual experience, as 

 a contribution toward the above. 



Cameras. In our laboratory three cameras are in general use. 



In photographing insects or their work at same size, or at enlarge- 

 ments of two or three diameters, or at similar reductions, an apparatus 

 is used ordinarily cataloged as a "Copying and Enlarging Camera." 

 This is a horizontal stand. The bed is eight feet long. At the front 

 of the camera is a platform which is made to rise and fall by means of 

 a long, continuous thread screw, operated by a hand wheel located at 

 the rear of the stand convenient to the operator when focusing. The 

 lens mounting is provided with a large prism which bends the light 

 rays at a right angle. Thus an object is posed on a horizontal platform, 

 but the operator works always at a convenient level, no matter what 

 the bellows extension may be. 



The second camera is used for photomicrographic work at enlarge- 

 ments of five to eighteen diameters, especially of small, opaque objects, 

 such as flea beetles, and the like. The stand is home made. The 

 bellows and plateholder were once part of a device for making lantern 



