388 



KNOWLEDGE. 



October, 1913. 



MICROSCOPY. 



By F.R.M.S. 



AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE HAND MAGNIFIER. 

 — Mr. W. G. Williams, of the Swansea Field Naturalists' 

 Society, has sent a sketch of a very simple way of using a 

 magnifier so as to have one hand free. Usually the magnifier 

 is held in one hand, and the specimen in the other, and if it is 

 desired to arrange the specimen or refer 

 to a book, the magnifier has to be set 

 down, and the observation begun again. 

 It will be seen by reference to the drawing 

 that hole A (see Figure 397) is made of 

 sufficient size for the frame of the magnifier 

 to rest on the top of the third finger of the 

 left hand, the specimen under examination 

 is held between the thumb and first finger, 

 and the right hand is free to do dissecting or for other 

 purposes (see Figure 398). The improvement costs nothing. 



TERMITES. — A short time ago a friend 

 living in the Orange Free State sent me some 

 specimens of the Termites (usually miscalled 

 White Ants) found in that district, which 

 are apparently quite as mischievous to wood- 

 work there as their relatives in India and 

 elsewhere, and in general appearance they 

 do not greatly differ. 



The Royal Cell containing the Queen was 

 dug up from about four and a half feet below 

 the surface of the ground ; it was oven-shaped 

 and measured five inches in length by two 

 and a quarter inches in width, with a height 

 in the centre of one inch. It was perforated 

 by numerous small holes giving access to 

 the workers and soldiers, but, of course, 

 useless as a means of exit for the Queen, 

 whose distended abdomen measured three 

 inches in length and was three quarters of an 

 inch in diameter at its widest part. The 

 workers measured -175 inches, were pale 

 yellow in colour and without eyes, for which 

 they had no need, since they carry on their 

 operations in darkness, their home duties 

 being mainly to feed the Queen and to remove 

 the eggs as laid. Each bore a pair of monili- 

 form antennae of fifteen joints, and in addition to the usual 

 mouth organs was armed with a pair of strong mandibles 

 eminently adapted for the destruction 

 of wood. The soldiers were consider- 

 ably larger in size, measuring • 3 inches, 

 of which the head alone was rather 

 more than one third ; they were dark 

 red in colour and in addition to 

 antennae resembling those of the 

 workers, were furnished with a pair of 

 formidable mandibles worked by 

 muscles of great power. On carefully 

 comparing these mandibles with 

 available figures, and particularly with 

 those of Termes bellicosus at the 

 Natural History Museum, I found 

 that they differed materially in shape, 



and regarding this as indicating a different species I did 

 my best to identify it. In this, however, the Museum 

 experts were unable to help me, and a reference to the learned 

 Professor who is regarded as the greatest European authority 

 on the subject only resulted in his opinion that though it 

 appeared to be a new species he would not definitely commit 

 himself on the matter from the drawings and specimens sub- 

 mitted. I therefore give drawings of the mandibles of these 

 soldiers (see Figure 399) and also of those of the nearest 

 form met with, T. bellicosus (see Figure 400), thinking 

 that the comparison may be of interest to some of our 

 readers. R. T. L. 



Figure 397. 



Figure 398 



Figure 399. 



Mandibles of a 

 Soldier Termite. 



NEW METHOD OF RADIO-MICROGRAPHY BY 

 P. GOBY. — A new and very attractive branch of science has 

 lately been opened up owing to the researches of a French 

 savant, and workers in various fields will now have a new 

 resource at their disposal, this being known as radio-micro- 

 graphy, as it is the application of the well-known principles of 

 radiography by the use of the X-rays to microscopic research. 

 While there has been a great improvement made in the 

 methods and instruments used for radio- 

 graphy of large specimens of ordinary 

 size, and remarkable results in the way of 

 radiographs are now obtained with such 

 apparatus, we are not aware that the struc- 

 ture of microscopic specimens has been as 

 yet revealed, so that the apparatus invented 

 by M. Pierre Goby, of Grasse, and the 

 radiographs which he secures by the use 

 of the rays, will be of interest to all naturalists. By observing 

 the views of the different specimens which we present in 

 Figures 401-405 on page 389, it will be 

 seen at once that the method is likely to be 

 a valuable auxiliary in all kinds of research 

 work, and the interior structure of the 

 specimens can in most cases be shown up 

 very clearly, as, for instance, in the case of 

 microscopic shells, diatoms, and the like. 

 Not only can the method be used for what 

 may be termed strictly microscopic 

 specimens, but it can also serve for en- 

 larged radiographs of very small animal 

 specimens, where an ordinary radiograph 

 would be too small to give the required 

 details. 



In the account of his new method, which 

 M. Goby has kindly given to us, he states 

 that in both these cases the results are 

 obtained by the use of a special X-ray 

 apparatus of his design, and he expects to 

 make public the details of the device at a 

 not very distant date. Meanwhile he has 

 given us some radio-micrographs, as they 

 must no doubt be called, and they speak 

 for themselves. The details which he thus 

 obtains are difficult and in a great number 

 of cases impossible to obtain with the usual 

 method of sections prepared for microscopic 

 use. From the start, he commenced to apply his researches 

 in the field of palaeontology as well as in conchology, and 

 finds that the protozoa in general, as 

 well as foraminifera of all species and 

 other analagous microscopic specimens, 

 can be observed in their most minute 

 details in the interior of their structure, 

 and to show what can be done by the 

 new method we may state that he was 

 able to detect the presence of different 

 species in cases where ordinary exam- 

 ination would lead one to suppose that 

 only one species was present. In all 

 the sands which contain microscopic 

 specimens of different kinds such as 

 have not been examined, the use of a 

 fine pinch of sand allows of discovering 

 new species and to make a very exact determination of their 

 nature. The specimens which are illustrated here (see Figures 

 401 to 405) are magnified from twenty to twenty-five diameters. 

 One of them shows a pinch of sand from the south of France 

 (see Figure 404), containing a number of different forms. 



Not less interesting is the application of the radiographic 

 method to very small animal specimens, and this allows us to 

 observe the gradual formation of the bones from the birth of 

 the animal to its full age. Not only can the details of the 

 bone structure be followed very clearly, but the method allows 

 of noticing the special features of the skin in many cases and 

 different anomalies — this with great precision in the details. 



Figure 400. 



Mandibles of 

 Termes bellicosus. 



