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THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF DIPTEEA. 



By Dk. W. M. Graham, 



Directoi' of the Medical Research Institute, Lagos. 



In the following article I have endeavoured to write as simply as possible a 

 detailed account of the methods for photographing insects which I have myself 

 found to be most successful, and no attempt has been made to discuss alternative 

 methods. 



Appakatus. 



I make use of the following apparatus (fig. 1) : — 



1. A loouden base-board, 36 inches long, 8^ inches broad, and 1 inch thick. 

 Along this board travel two wooden platforms which can be clamped at any 

 point. The upper half of each platform can be moved backwards and forwards 

 upon the lower half by means of a rack and pinion, while the lower half is clamped 

 to the base-board. The size of the platforms will depend upon the size of the 



Fig. 1. — Photography of Diptera ; apparatus in position. 



camera used. The back of the camera is placed upon one platform, the front of 

 the camera upon the other, each part being securely fastened to the upper 

 surface of its platform by bolt and thumbscrew, or otherwise. Thus the back 

 or front of the camera attached to its platform can be moved independently 

 to any point on the base-board and there clamped ; then by means of the racks 

 and pinions each portion can be more accurately adjusted or focussed. At 

 the front end of the base-board is erected perpendicularly a small loooden easel 

 with a median opening of the size of a quarter-plate, at the top and bottom of 



