MICROSCOPIC LIFE AT CAPE ROYDS 19 



The photographs were all made by acetylene light. This light was quite 

 unsuitable for ordinary work with the microscope, at any rate with the lenses we 

 used. We could never get good definition with it. Oil lamps were used, and 

 though they were of a very poor quality for such purposes, being ordinary stable 

 lamps with very inferior glass, they sufficed for the work. Photographs were tried 

 by the light of the oil lamps and also by daylight, but the acetylene proved better 

 than either for photography. The little daylight which filtered through the frost- 

 encrusted window was insufficient for microphotography, though it sufficed for 

 ordinary photography. 



In addition to difficulties with regard to light we had to contend against 

 dust. In our small hut, with its large stove requiring frequent stirring up, its 

 crowded sleeping accommodation and infinite paraphernalia of fifteen men, cleaning 

 could be of but a perfunctory character, and there was always a great deal of dust 

 settling. 



The exposure varied, according to light, subject, and especially the degree of 

 magnification, from two seconds to half an hour. With higher magnifications we got 

 no satisfactory results, and we ordinarily used a magnification of about 100 diameters, 

 at the eye, which would give about 200 at the full length of the camera. The eye- 

 piece was sometimes removed, but the results were not so good. Two plates 

 were exposed on each occasion and immediately afterwards developed, in order to 

 check the time of exposure. This varied so much with different subjects that we 

 could have no general rule. We wished to shorten the time to the utmost, as nearly 

 all the animals to be photographed were alive, and liable to change their positions. 

 They were under the influence of a mild narcotic which quietened them down a 

 little, but which had to be so weak as to permit them to feed in a natural way. 

 Exposures of five, and even of two seconds were used, but they were too short, and 

 the average was about half a minute. As the whole of a subject could never be in 

 focus at one time it was customary when using long exposures to gradually alter 

 the focus, with the view of giving every depth a chance. This was done too much 

 by guess to be a conspicuous success, but in some instances it gave a clearer 

 outline for the whole body of a thick animal than would have been possible 

 otherwise. 



The photographs, as such, are very poor, but since they have an interest as 

 pictures from life of subjects which cannot be seen anywhere else but in the 

 Antarctic Region, their shortcomings will perhaps be overlooked. Unfortunately, 

 through some mischance the best negatives have been mislaid, and are not available 

 for reproduction. 



Crustacea. In ice from Blue Lake, shortly after we landed, there were found 

 immature examples of a Calanid of small size. It was "hot in condition to be iden- 

 tified, and we hoped to find the same species alive and mature when the lake melted, 

 so the specimen was not mounted. As it happened the lake never melted and we 



