CHAPTER VI. 



THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF INSECTS. 



SLIGHT consideration will suffice to 

 show that fortunately, or perhaps unfor- 

 tunately, for the photographer, there are 

 no insects of any considerable size. 

 The stag-beetle among the coleop- 

 tera, and the death's-head moth 

 among the lepidoptera, are the 

 largest he is likely to encounter in 

 this country. The very minute 

 varieties are almost innumerable, 

 and, without the aid of a microscope 

 and expensive plant, photographi- 

 cally impossible. The butterflies, 

 moths, bees, dragonflies, and larger beetles are, 

 however, excellent objects, both from a decorative 

 and natural history standpoint, and will supply the 

 hobby of a lifetime to anyone who cares to devote 

 himself to their artistic and correct representation. 



Of all creeping things the beetle, not the cock- 

 roach, is perhaps the easiest to photograph, provided 

 he is of a reasonable size. He is also ubiquitous, 

 though he sometimes requires looking for. Those who 



