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as condensers, prisms, &c. And though many, alas ! too many, 

 microscopists in this country had spent nearly all their time in trying 

 to see exactly the same things that other men had, or said that they 

 had, seen, yet within the last few years a very considerable addition 

 had been made to our knowledge of many physiological facts, as well 

 as the resolution of diatom and scale markings ; and though we might 

 not accept all Dr. Royston Piggott's conclusions, yet had he not 

 ventilated the subject through his " ronleaiix of beads " and " green 

 peas," we might have gone on plodding in the same steps as those 

 before us, and accepted one view of an object as a sufficient test of the 

 power of an objective. 



Whatever view was taken of the markings of scales, there seemed 

 no manner of doubt that the scales of insects were nothing more nor 

 less than modified hairs, of greater or less thickness, more or less 

 flattened or cylindrical, according to circumstances and their position 

 on the body, legs, or wings of the animal on which found. If then we 

 regarded all scales as only modified hairs, and considered that hairs 

 were composed of cells, we might see our way out of the difficulties 

 into which the learned amongst microscopists had led us, and we 

 might also understand an binder and upper surface, two lamina:, 

 striated surfaces, ribs, and sundry other puzzling terms which had 

 come into existence when speaking of scales. 



Those who had written or spoken about scales and their markings 

 within the last few years, were Dr. Royston Piggott, and those who 

 inclined to his beaded theories on the one hand, among whom must be 

 included Mr Slack, one of the Secretaries of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society, and on the other Colonel Woodward, Dr. Maddox, Dr. 

 Anthony, and Mr. Mclntyre. It was with the latter group he felt he 

 must ally himself, because much, if not all, of the so-called structure 

 described by Dr. Piggott he believed was purely optical and not 

 structural. 



Primarily, the sc?les of insects, and specially the lepidoptera 

 were more or less flattened hairs of a cylindrical or tube-like shape, 

 inserted by a pedicle, differing in character according to circumstances, 

 into the wing membrane, on both sides of which they were arranged 

 in symmetrical rows, like the tiles on the roof of a house. The 

 majority of those on the wing, or rather the flat part of the wing, were 



