Book proof editing and microscopic life in the marine tank

The cloudy day was less of a distraction on the return to work. It is said that it is the last five percent of any task that are the most time consuming and this is certainly the case with Mr McArthur's book, which required minor edits and re-generation of a cover design for renewed checking and approval.  Also had to go through the digital text to identify page numbers for text amendments required, to be passed on to the printer. Since this book has numerous colour photographs, there was also an ongoing discussion on colour reproduction and the quality of the printing. Todays task ended with a trip to the post office to post the 5 pounds weight of printed material back to the printers. By this time it was early afternoon and time for a late lunch.

The marine aquarium was still engendering interest in the evening.  Whilst the Idotea linearis and Gammarus had not been in evidence for several days now, the minute bivalves were visibly increased in size and the barnacles could be seen actively feeding. The latter having single arms that emerged with a net like "hand", grasping in rapid sweeps through the water. No matter how vigorously the water was stirred, once the coarse sediment settled out, the fine turbidity was rapidly cleared by the filter feeders, leaving the water glass transparent within  the hour.

Shining a torch beam through the tank at night showed a myriad of small motile spots spiralling towards the light in the tank. So tonight, I took some sediment and placed it under the microscope for a quick glance. It was brimming with life when viewed at 40x magnification, with a few larger crustaceans, nematodes and many smaller animalcules. An attempt to use higher magnification was initially unsuccessful, primarily because the creatures were all moving so fast. It will be interesting to see what emerges from this soup of organisms over the coming months.

The microscope out, I also looked at a collection of pollen samples from the Postal Microscopical Society box that was due to be passed on to the next member in the circuit. The pollen had been prepared in glycerine jelly on slides and the slides had not all been sealed. In the intervening twenty years, the slides were slowly drying out. Whilst his was frustrating from a biological point of view, because the pollen was now obscured by air bubbles, the fine filigree patterns of encroaching air in the glycerol and minor interference effects created stunning patterns when viewed using phase contrast illumination. The camera was put to good use!