The Microscope. 327 



as the? aphis have laid their eggs upon, and thus keep them out of 

 the reach of the young aphides, which otherwise would destroy 

 them in the egg state. The young aphides, on issuing fi'om the 

 eggs, commence feeding upon the juices of the leaf, and under 

 the microscope, present the appearance of a flock of sheep in a 

 field ; while they are thus luxuriating, the plant-louse lions, also 

 issuing from the egg, crawl up the slender props on which they 

 were suspended, and like wolves commence devouring the aphi- 

 des, plunging into their delicate bodies a pair of powerful fangs, 

 and sucking the juices. The wings of these insects are beautiful 

 microscopic objects.' 



The underside of the leaves of vegetables displays the wonder- 

 ful organization of their parts. 



If a small portion, of any leaf is placed between two slips of 

 glass, by wetting the inside of each with a little water, and sliding 

 the one slip over the other, backwards and forwards, the water 

 produces a clearness, and detaches the outside covering from the 

 other part. 



To examine the stem of any flowers, or particularly the mu- 

 cilaginous matter, which adheres to the stalk of a stock gilly flower 

 place it, as above described, between two slips of glass with a 

 small portion of water, and after washing away the turbid water, 

 and putting some fresh, a most beautiful object is furnished in the 

 spiral or hehcal sap vessels. 



A small portion of straw, steeped in a solution of pearlash, and 

 then washed in water and dried, on being placed between two 

 pieces of glass, (which must be one over the other,) will be found 

 to separate under the microscope, and display its structure, com- 

 posed of long slender filaments with rings round them. 



I am favored by T. Carpenter, Esq. with the following curious 

 and accurate description of the eyes of insects, and of the dissec- 

 tion of the eye of the dragon fly, by that gentleman, under one of 

 his most powerful microscopes: — 



' In dissecting the eyes of a variety of land and water insects, 

 I find their construction differs materially from the human eye, 

 and that nearly the whole of the insect tribe, have compound or 

 clusters of eyes, varying in numbers according to the species. I 

 have found in some forty, in others a thousand, and so on in 

 progression, until I have met with upwards of thirty thousand dis- 

 tinct eyes in some species. I shall endeavor to explain to you 

 the result of my investigation, by confining myself to the dissec- 

 tion of the large dragon fly, whose eyes, speaking in round num- 

 bers, exceed twenty thousand. The cornea I found composed 

 of several thin plates; each plate was studded with minute lenses 



