Don't let the bed-bugs bite!

Microscopes and the microscopic world have always fascinated me. These three microscope preparations all date from the late 1800s.

At the bottom is a glass slide similar to the ones that we still use. Today, glass slides are cheap and readily available and are of high quality, but that wasn't the case back in the 1800s. The glass one, which would have been expensive to buy, and difficult to make, is distinctly warped in shape.

In order to reduce costs, slides at that time were often made from card with a hole cut in the centre where the specimen was mounted between two small glass discs. The card slide at the top of the photograph was commercially made. An amateur enthusiast made the middle one, from re-cycled card describing the timetable of a shipping company!

The beast at the top, labelled Cimex lecticularis, is better known as our friend and sleeping companion the bed-bug. Bed-bugs are blood-sucking hemipterous insects found in bedsteads and other furniture. Bed-bugs are flattened in form enabling them to hide in furnishings and making them very difficult to remove, hence the saying 'safe as a bug in a rug'. When touched bedbugs defend themselves by emitting an offensive smell that is said to be reminiscent of the herb Coriander.

If you want to learn more about these charming creatures then take a look at this site.