44 THE MICROSCOPE. [March, 



QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 



Note. — Dr. S. G. Shanks, of Albany, N. Y., kindly consents to receive all sorts of ques- 

 tions relating to ftiicroscopy, whether asked by professionals or amateurs. Persons of all 

 grades of experience, from the beginner upward, are welcome to the benefits of this depart- 

 ment. The questions are numbered for future reference. 



ijj. — Are the beautiful eggs of insects marked as we see 

 them, when laid? How are they -prepared? — Insecta. 



Insect eggs are naturally marked as we see them. The writer 

 has stripped a female Ephemera Vulg. and received the eggs in a 

 microscopical tank of water. The eggs were beautifully marked 

 from the beginning, and remained so until hatched, 26 to 30 days 

 later. Insect eggs may be mounted dry or in balsam in a cell. 



136. — Jf a bud taken from a fruit-tree in midwinter be sec- 

 tioned, how much of the future fruit or embryo may be seen? 

 —E. C. H. 



In the case of trees that produce blossoms before the leaves are 

 fully developed, the flower-buds would show the rudimentary 

 ovaries. The leaf-buds and flower-buds of some fruit-trees, as 

 the peach, are on different parts of the stemlets, and the flowers 

 develop before the leaves. 



137. — How may 1 imbed small insects and make sections of 

 material containing chitine? — IV. IV. TV. 



Insects may be imbedded in celloidin. Openings should be 

 made in the side of small insects, and the large ones divided into 

 lengths so as to open the body cavity and allow the celloidin to 

 penetrate and support the internal structures. A strong 

 chisel-like knife should be used, and rather thick sections ex- 

 pected. Chitine cannot be softened except in strong acids, which 

 would destroy the softer parts of the insect. 



138. — The Washington Micro. Society has a slide contain- 

 ing the Lord 's Prayer, written with a diamond, in a space of 

 the one twenty-eight-thousandth part of a square inch. How 

 was it done? — L. M. 



The instrument used by Mr. Webb for producing these objects 

 was practically a small pantagraph. A stylus, attached to an 

 arm, was traced over a " copy," and this motion, reduced by 

 levers, was followed exactly by the diamond splinter and thus 

 traced on the glass. It is said that Mr. Webb was accustomed 

 to write the Lord's Prayer in spaces of the 1 -500th to the 1-1 ,000th 

 part of a square inch, and occasionally to the 1-405 ,000th part of a 

 square inch. These numbers mean surfaces. The Washington 

 object is written in a space of about 1-167 inch square. The 

 finer writing occupies a space of about 1-636 inch square. 



The Am. Mo. Mic. Journal, vol. vii, page 115, contains some 

 information regarding minute writing by Mr. Webb. 



