174 PREPARATION AND MOUNTING 
place it in a vessel of water. Hold it down firmly with a 
pair of tweezers, and with the back of a dissecting knife 
‘draw the head steadily from the body. The head brings 
with it the stomach, gizzard, and chief portion of the digestive 
tubes. Place all these under a dissecting microscope, when 
the gizzard, being just below the stomach and darker in- 
colour, is easily distinguished, and may_be separated by two 
cuts with the knife. It then forms a short tube, the teeth 
being inside. The opening-out of this tube, especially if. it 
be small, requires delicate handling: if the point of a fine 
knife can be fairly inserted, then one firm cut downward 
upon the glass will lay open the gizzard. Here great care 
is needed; and sometimes it is well to put a fine needle up 
the tube, and cut down upon the needle. Among the 
small weevils the membrane is delicate, so that great care 
is necessary. 
We have now considered most of those objects which 
require any peculiar treatment in section-cutting, &.; but 
in no branch of microscopic manipulation is experience more 
necessary than in this. 
