1901) MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 255 
ment, which is an extraordinary development of a part 
of the insects’s mouth, which is usually quite inconspicu- 
ous. Besides these piercing implements, the gnat is pro- 
vided with a soft, flexible sheath which represents the 
labium. This takes the shape of a tube split along its 
foreside, which surrounds and protects the delicate parts 
within. The extremity is divided into lwo lobes.”—J. J. 
Wilkinson. | 
Quotations from Proffessor Miall need no further ex- 
planation. The gnat (Culex pipiens) would make an ex- 
cellent study for microscopical beginners, perhaps even 
more so than the common cockroach. We may call at- 
tention in addition to the beautiful antenne of the male 
gnat, and to the scales upon the wings and body, which 
latter can be readily removed by means of a camel-hair 
brush, and so transferred to a slide. The larva in par- 
ticular makes a most interesting microscopical object, ow- 
ing to, its transparency, which enables the tracheal tubes, 
the digestive tube, and contractile vessel that performs 
the duty of the heart to be readily made out. The gnat 
C. pipiens must not be confused with the allied genus 
Chironomus, or Midges.—NScience-Gossip. 
Notes on Microscopy. 
M. I. CROSS. 
DRAWING WITH THE CAMERA LucIDA.— Photo-micro- 
graphy has largly displaced the use of the camera lucida 
for reproducing structure as seen through the microscope, 
- but in numerous cases photo-micrography does not do 
justice nor reveal details in such a manner as to permit 
of a proper judgment being formed of the appearance of 
the subject; photo-micrography will only show one plane 
sharply at a time, and all sense of solidity, depth, etc., is 
lacking. When a drawing of an object is made, the per- 
spective can be reproduced and a far better and truer 
idea given of the object generally, subject of course to 
