Sheep Ked Fly

gpmatthews · Post by **gpmatthews** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 4:36 pm

Wild M8 microscope. 7 image stack in Zerene.

Slide is 19th Century fluid mount by A Cole, recently acquired on eBay. Image adjusted for colour balance to compensate for yellow mounting fluid. Background cleaned up.

The slide is labelled "Sheep Tick", but in fact this is a wingless fly and a common sheep parasite.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 7:04 am

Nice clean shot. It looks as though the ked was cleared and then mounted with pressure. After that, transferred to a fluid mount. Do you think my guess is correct? This is a rather unusual mount and a good addition to your collection. What label is on the slide?

gpmatthews · Post by **gpmatthews** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 7:28 am

My image makes the specimen look a lot flatter than it really is. Unfortunately I have yet to take enough images for a stack that will render a pair of stereo images, but the specimen is in fact noticeably 3D and not flattened. The fluid cell is quite deep. Thankfully the bubble does not get in the way

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 7:54 am

Your epigram "Though we lean upon the same balustrade, the colours of the mountain are different" is an apt one. I have been fooled by the stack!