SMALL SOLID OBJECTS 251 



adopted to support the specimen and display it to the 

 best advantage. The apparatus of Fig. 41 is specially 

 made by Leitz for the photography of small insects. The 

 specimen is carried on a needle attached to a special 

 stage and is illuminated by light reflected from two lamps, 

 one of the best posible arrangements for the class of ob- 

 jects under discussion. The simple home-made device 

 of Fig. 40 is equally efficient, and the specimen can be 

 supported on a special holder or by plasticine. Shadows 

 cast on the background, and an appearance of granularity 

 due to its rough surface, are prevented by supporting 

 the specimen some distance in front of it. When a 

 vertical camera is employed the object is placed on a piece 

 of clear glass about 2 or 3 inches above the velvet or paper 

 against which it is displayed. Small specimens such as 

 the Leg of the Honey Bee and the Group of Shells (Plates 

 26. A and 4.A) are mounted on a slide and laid on the 

 microscope stage, with the piece of black paper or velvet 

 on the substage ring and quite out of focus. 



Parts of an object illuminated by lamp and condenser 

 are liable to be in deeper shadow than is desirable, and 

 a great improvement is produced in the photomicrograph 

 by placing one or more reflectors of white card in suitable 

 positions above or at the sides to relieve this. 



Insects Transparent Preparations (Plates 13, 14 and 

 20). Entire insects are largely photographed by the 

 methods mentioned in the last section, but they are also 

 very often mounted as transparent preparations, and 

 considerable difficulty is sometimes encountered in their 

 photography owing to the very great contrast between 

 the body and wings. Either the wings are obliterated 

 by over-exposure before any detail is given in the body, 

 or the body appears as a black mass when the wings are 

 correctly exposed. The same difficulty occurs with other 

 objects, but perhaps most frequently with insects, and 

 was referred to on page 163, where the use of a screen 



