Front matter (continued 2)

Remove the wings of one side and examine in a drop of water with one and one half inch power. The wings consist of a shining transparent membrane strengthened by numerous horny veins running through it. Examine with one half inch power. The membrane is seen to be covered with minute hairs and little dots. On the front edge of the hind wing a short distance from the outer end is a row of hooks. At a corresponding place on the hind edge of the fore wing there is a thickening or ridge. When flying, the hooks catch onto the ridge and thus the wings are held together and act as one large wing.

Examine this grappling apparatus with one fourth inch power and with the needles hook the wings together and pull them apart. If you look through the magnifier while you do this you will get a good idea of the form of the ridge and of how the hooks catch onto it. Remove one of the forelegs, being sure that none remains attached to the body. Examine with one and one half inch power. The extremity is armed with two claws; then come four short joints followed by one about as long as the others together. All these make up the foot. The next joint above is the shank, then comes the thigh and then quite a small joint, the lower hip, and lastly attached to the body is the upper hip.

Remove the last five joints of the foot (the claw part, and the other four joints) examine with one third inch power. The claws have each a branch projecting from the inner edge. Between the claws is a little velvety pad. Each of the small joints is covered with short closely appressed hairs and from the lower end of each joint project several spines. Now examine the remaining long joint of the foot attached to the shank. At the upper end of the inner side is a deep semicircular notch, the upper portion of which is light colored. Beside the notch is a peculiarly shaped movable spine which projects from the lower end of the shank. This queer arrangement is what the bee uses to clean his feelers. The reader has probably seen the operation performed by a bee or a wasp. The leg is thrown over the feeler, the latter is grasped at that particular bend of the leg where the cleansing apparatus is situated and then drawn through from base to tip; and this is repeated several times with each feeler.

Examine with one and one half inch power a leg from each of the other pairs and compare the corresponding parts. They differ chiefly in size and in the absence of the cleansing apparatus. You cannot fail to admire the many beautiful forms of the different portions. On the outer side of the hind shank is a smooth flattish surface destitute of hairs, excepting a fringe of long ones at the margin. At this place may sometimes be found a sticky mass of pollen intended for bee-bread. Examine the abdomen with one and one half inch power. It is composed of several wings. If some of the hairs are scraped off this will be shown more clearly. From the hind extremity projects the sting.

We have far from exhausted all the beautiful and interesting points in the make-up of a Bumble Bee, not even those that may be seen with the limited powers of a simple microscope; but probably enough has been said to show the reader that such things are well worthy of study and it is hoped that enough directions have been given to render future use of the instruments comparatively free from difficulty.

XV.—SOME LITTLE THINGS TO SEE.

There is no end to the beautiful and wonderful things one can see with the simple microscope. Only a few of the more attractive and easily obtained of these are now to be mentioned.

To begin with, there are ever so many pretty flowers to look at. The asterworts, that is, such flowers as the daisy, aster, golden rod, dandelion and thistle, are particularly full of beauty. The blossoms are all made up of a number of little flowers as in the dandelion; but the shapes and colors and so forth, of the different kinds are exceedingly various. Some, such as the asters and daisies, have two kinds of flowers in the same blossom—flowers with strap-shaped corollas (like the dandelion's) are arranged along the margin of the blossom, while in the centre are little flowers with star-shaped corollas presenting a much different appearance. Flowers of many of the Parsley Family, for example wild carrot, wild parsnip and caraway, are quite odd. Very pretty flowers are found among the grasses, sedges and common weeds. The different trees as they bloom in spring—the maples, elms, willows, poplars, sassafras and hosts of others—all have flowers that are perfectly lovely. Most of these flowers need to be picked to pieces under the magnifier to show up their full beauty. The parts of flowers, both small and large ones, deserve attention. Frequently one meets with remarkable forms.

Seeds are highly interesting. They are often handsomely marked with series of pits or projections, grooves or ridges. One meets with many curious appendages by means of which the seeds are carried off and sown at a distance from the plant. Some, like the dandelion, have a parachute attachment; others have wings to catch the wind, and others still are covered with hooked spines whereby they become attached to the fur of animals, there to remain until brushed off onto the ground.

Leaves and stems sometimes have on them beautiful hairs and oil-glands. The wooly covering of common mullein, for example, is made up of innumerable slender-branched hairs. These show best when a piece of the leaf broken off is looked at edgewise.

If you examine the fruit-dots on the backs of the different kinds of ferns you will be surprised to find how pretty they are and of how many different shapes. Sometimes the fruit is not borne on the back of the leaf but forms little clusters by themselves, which are sometimes at the end of the fern, sometimes in the middle, sometimes on a separate stalk.

Mosses, lichens and sea-weeds are well worth looking at.

Early in the summer an exquisite little fungus called "Cluster cups" may be found on the underside of barberry leaves. Hawthorn and other plants have handsome fungi on them later in the season.

By observing closely while out in the fields or woods, one sees hovering about in swarms, myriads of tiny insects. Under the lens some of them are very odd, others very beautiful. The easiest way to catch these little midgets, is to wet the palm of the hand and then sweep it among them, or in the same way use a piece of sticky paper.

The study of the different parts of insects is one of the most fascinating of the many uses of the Simple microscope. Although all insects are made up on the same general plan and corresponding organs occur in most of them, there is an endless variety in the forms under which we see the different organs and the uses to which they are put.

Take for example the antennæ. In the grasshopper it is long and threadlike; in the butterflies always ending in a knob; in moths always tapering to a point, although sometimes threadlike and sometimes much branched, forming a beautiful plume; in the beetles, sometimes fan-like, sometimes like a comb; and in other insects assuming still other forms. Insects' eyes are often colored beautifully. A horse-fly's eyes are striped. Butterflies' eyes have usually a soft liquid coloring, and moths' eyes in the dark shine like little fiery beads.

The mouths of insects, such as beetles, grasshoppers and dragon flies, have strong jaws for biting; flies, bugs, moths and butterflies, have the mouth-parts transformed into sucking organs, while bees, wasps and the like have both sucking organs for honey, and biting organs for leaf-cutting, wood-tearing etc. as we saw was the case in the Bumble Bee.

Butterflies' wings and moths' wings are covered with little scales of a variety of shapes. These should be examined attached to the wing to show their arrangement which is like that of shingles on a roof; but to show their form they should be looked at when brushed from the wing onto a piece of glass. Many other peculiarities may be noticed in the wings of other kinds of insects.

Legs, the same as the other organs, have various forms, markings and appendages, and so it is with the abdomen and its stings or its egg-laying apparatus.

The hairs of "Wooly Bears" and caterpillars of that kind are peculiarly branched.

The four hind pairs of feet in caterpillars are armed each with a row of little hooks which are used in walking to get a firm hold. The larger caterpillars show the hooks best.

Sometimes you will find pretty insect eggs on the underside of leaves or on stems, and also little silken cocoons in similar places. If you are near a pond-hole, or an old hogshead that collects rain water, you can find a good many little animals, some of them very frisky—young mosquitoes or "polywogs," water-fleas, cyclops, little worms, young dragon-flies and lots of others. When you go to collect them take a small wide-mouth bottle and, having found a place where there is what you want, lower your bottle, mouth down, in the midst of them and when it is well under water turn the mouth upwards. A good many of the animals will run in with the water. If the first time you do not get what you want, the second time you may. When you want to examine them at home you can fish them out with a glass tube and put them in a watch crystal or on the glass stage of the microscope. In using the tube take it between the thumb and middle and third fingers, and close the top with your first finger; then put the lower end of the tube in the water close to the thing you want to catch; now lift your first finger quickly and the water will run in the lower end of the tube carrying with it your little squirmer, unless he has been too quick for you. Close the top of your tube again and the water will not run out when you remove the tube, until you lift your finger. Sometimes it takes a good deal of patience and skill to catch the more agile of the little water animals. Glass tubes are sold in drug stores for five or ten cents.

If you begin by examining the objects already spoken of, you will while looking for these be continually discovering for yourselves new objects possessing new beauties and will soon see that not half the interesting things you can find have been ever hinted at.

The way to find out about all these things is to go out into the fields and woods, and form the habit of observing closely what is around you. Carry your magnifier along and look at this flower, that fern, this insect, that moss, with different powers of the magnifier; and when you come across any objects worthy of a more careful examination carry them home and examine them systematically with Simple microscope, needles, knife, and so forth. Insects may be kept well in alcohol until winter, and then careful studies may be made of them.

When using the magnifier in the field, hold it in such a way that the smallest lens will be nearest the object when the lenses are combined and be careful not to shade the object with the hand or the hat brim. Just enough light should fall on the object to make its examination comfortable for the eyes. If you rest the hand holding the magnifier on the hand that holds the object, both lens and object can be held much steadier. When commencing to examine an object it is best to have the three lenses spread apart, for in this way you can use first the lowest power then those higher and finally, if you wish to, the three lenses combined. The dissecting forceps are very handy to have in the field, both for picking up anything too small for the fingers and for holding an object to be examined.

A collection of some of these little things preserved and ready for examination adds greatly to the pleasures of studying them. Of course all the different kinds of objects cannot be preserved so as to show their full beauty, but many can be and the following directions will tell how to make a very good collection:

Seeds, fern-fruit, insects and other opaque objects like these may be mounted on pasteboard slides. One of these slides consists simply of a stout piece of pasteboard, having a hole cut in the centre and a piece of thick paper or cardboard glued on the under side. The object is attached to the cardboard at the bottom of the hole.

It is best to make a number of these slides at a time. Having procured some quite thick pasteboard, from old paper boxes, rule lines on the surface dividing it up into spaces three inches long by one inch wide. In the centre of each space cut out a hole about half an inch in diameter. A sharp knife will make a neat square hole or a good round one may be made with a gun-wad punch. This done, the spaces may be cut apart with a sharp knife and ruler, along the lines already drawn. Pieces of cardboard for the backs should be cut a trifle larger than the pasteboard portion of the slide; after they are glued onto the latter they may be trimmed down neatly with a pair of scissors. Glue or mucilage containing glycerine (in the proportion of one or two teaspoonfuls to an ordinary bottle of mucilage) is the best thing to use for sticking on the backs. While the slides are drying they should be either under a weight or in a clamp screwed up tightly, so as to prevent their twisting out of shape. The mucilage may be prevented from being squeezed in round the edges of the hole, by taking care when putting it on not to have it come too near the hole. One or two coats of India Ink may be painted on the middle of some of the pieces of cardboard, either before or after they are put onto the slides; and thus a black background may be obtained for the lighter-colored opaque objects. Many of the objects will however show best on a white background.

When you have the slides all made, nothing more is needed to mount an object, than simply to attach it to the bottom of the hole with a little mucilage and glycerine, or something of that sort, and finally to write the name of the object on the front part of the slide, and on the back any desirable notes. A good way to mount such objects as fine seeds is to put them in the hole loosely and then cover them with a piece of mica such as will be spoken of presently.

Objects which are to be examined by the light shining through them, for example a bee's wing or a butterfly's scales, must be mounted on glass slides.

A glass slide three inches by one is taken, on the centre is placed the object; over this is laid a thin piece of clear mica three fourths of an inch square, and this is attached to the glass by pasting narrow strips of tissue paper around the edges of the cover, partly on the cover and partly on the slide. Finally the slide is covered with some pretty colored paper and labeled.

Two pieces of paper are needed to cover each slide. One for the under part is cut about one and one half by three and one half inches, with a hole in the centre (round or square). This piece is first pasted on, the corners being cut and the edges brought over onto the front. The upper piece, which has a hole in the centre similar to that in the lower piece, and is cut a trifle larger than the three by one inch slide, is next pasted on so that the hole will correspond with the one below. The upper piece of paper is now trimmed down to the slide and the label attached. Window glass will answer for the slides and you can get any glazier to cut up a piece for you into the right-sized slips. Mica can be bought at a stove store, in sheets which may be cut up into three fourths of an inch squares with a pair of scissors. The mica should be as clear as you can get it. You will find it handy to have some tissue paper all mucilaged like postage stamps and cut up in strips the right size ready to use. The same may be said of the colored paper covers and the labels.

The dust may be excluded from the uncovered opaque objects by keeping the mounted slides in small groups, held together by elastic bands. This will also serve to classify them so that all the insects will be together, all the seeds, and so on; and the transparent slides may also be treated in the same way. When an elastic band wears out, it is no great trouble to replace it.

In working with the Simple microscope there is a fine chance to display ingenuity, not only in making the instruments and mounting the objects but in discovering new things to look at and in seeing how much can be found out about those things which are the most common.

FOOTNOTE:

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been retained from the original.

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows:

Page 8: hundreth changed to hundredth Page 11: iustrument changed to instrument Page 15: diferent changed to different Page 17: he changed to the Page 20: wil changed to will Page 44: or changed to of Page 72: staightened changed to straightened Page 86: DIFFRENT changed to DIFFERENT Page 125: fouths changed to fourths