Compound Microscopes. Can be used for disease recognition and to see if bee semen contains live sperm. Pollen recognition is another important branch that sometimes requires the highest magnifications.

Binocular Microscopes. Have uses in dissection and instrumental insemination.

Microscopes with Micrometer Stages. In conjunction with graticule eyepieces are able to do many of the measuring jobs associated with morphometric analysis.

There are also uses for magnifying hand lenses and loupes.

Thin sections can be prepared with relatively crude home made microtomes. Although there are plenty of microtomes constantly coming up for auction on eBay and they are not expensive.

I describe a hotplate that I made from the remains of an old steam iron. This can be used to keep jugs of molten wax in the liquid state for candle making and has uses in slide preparation. Various small ovens can be made crudely from tin cans and light bulbs and can be used for preparing slides or melting embedding wax.

LED illumination is suitable for microscopy and instrumental insemination.

Microscopy examinations will help those who wish to study microscopy further.

D.A. Cushman.