At 11:16 AM 11/29/95 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi All!
>  I wonder if anyone on this list could recommend a microscope for studing
>bees and looking for trahceal mites.  I am getting ready to buy one and have
>never used a microscope before. Thanks in advaance.
>
>                 Mary Sellhorn
>
Microscopic examination for tracheal mites is most commonly done under a
dissecting scope.  Special media preperation is involved, a good description
of which appears in the new "Hive and the Honey Bee".  If you have any
number of colonies to observe I recomend homogenizing bee thoraces in a
blender and floating off the trachea prior to pottasium hydroxide treatment
and staining.  Good luck.
 
John Mason
Leatherstocking Apiaries
4 N. Fifth Street
Oneonta, NY 13820