METHODS IN BOLL-WEEVIL INVESTIGATIONS. 117 



It may be needless to sa}' that insect photography stands in a class 

 quite apart from any other branch of the art. The methods of either 

 the ordinary " kodaker " or the professional portrait maker ^vill not 

 produce good illustrations of insects. Eight here allow me to express 

 my appreciation of the valuable address given by Prof. M. V. Sling- 

 erland at the meeting of this association in St. Louis in 11)03. I shall 

 not presume to add much of value to the advice and suggestions of 

 one who has done much more work than I have in this field, but even 

 the novice may be allowed to mention some of the things he has found 

 helpful in his work. 



Owing to the small amount of room which could be set aside for 

 photographic work and the constant necessity of working where others 

 were more or less continually moving around the room, I have been 

 forced to devise a camera stand that would accommodate at the sanie 

 time both the copying and enlarging camera and the 5 by 7 hand cam- 

 era, with wdiich most of our views have been taken. This stand (PI. 

 Ill, fig. 5) consists essentially of a horizontal baseboard 18 inches 

 wide, 1 inch thick, and 6 feet long, strongly braced so as to prevent 

 warping. To one end of this board is hinged another, 3 feet long, 

 of equal width and thickness, so that it can be dropped and fastened 

 in a vertical position, or at right angles to the baseboard. In order 

 to prevent the bad effects of floor vibration, the stand is suspended in 

 a horizontal position from the ceiling by four ropes hooking into 

 screw eyes at the four corners. On each side of the dro)3 front, 1 inch 

 in from the outer edge, is cut a half-inch wide slit, along which may 

 pass the thumbscrew holding an adjustable right-angular bracket. 

 Along the middle line of the drop front is cut another slit for the 

 screw holding the hand camera when that is to be used. Both cam- 

 era and object table are thus adjustable independently of each other, 

 and either camera may be used as desired. If it is desired to use the 

 copying camera with the object in a vertical position, the drop front 

 may be raised to the plane of the base board and firmly secured in 

 that position. This brings the brackets into such a position that they 

 s:erve w^ell as a vertical background, the distance of which from the 

 front of the camera can easily be varied from a few inches to several 

 feet. If the nature of the subject is such that it' may be better taken 

 in a horizontal position, the front is dropped and a right-angular 

 prism is used, allowing the camera to remain also in a horizontal 

 position. (See PI. Ill, fig. 6.) The distance from the center of the 

 lens to the plane of the object is still as easily adjustable by the sliding 

 side brackets supporting the object table. 



If an enlargement of less than four diameters is desired, I gener- 

 ally use the hand camera, owing to its easier manipulation and more 

 accurate adjustments. This is adjustably placed upon the middle 



