Abstract A new and useful enclosure or cage for insects, such as fruit flies (Drosophila), which is especially constructed and adapted to accommodate a colony of such insects, and to provide for such colony, an environment in which the insects may reside and multiply, and in which the insects may be subjected to experimental controls in various manners as may be desired. The enclosure or cage has at least one transparent wall, whereby the insects may be viewed, studied, counted, photographed, and otherwise observed and recorded. The enclosure or cage has a portion into which the insects may be herded, by movement of a pistonlike wall or walls, and which has a dimension in one direction which provides accommodation for only one layer of insects in that direction, whereby all of the insects in the enclosure or cage are disposed substantially in a common plane and are thus located immediately adjacent to a transparent wall, and, more specifically, between such wall and a source of light, which may be daylight or photoflash, in such manner as to permit photographic images or shadowgraphs of the mass of insects, so disposed, to be readily made for subsequent examination and counting.
An enclosure of the type described comprising a receptacle having an opening at one end and a pistonlike member slideably mounted in said open end to provide a closed chamber for housing insects or the like, an extension of said receptacle extending in a different direction from one end thereof and comprising two closely spaced flat walls and other wall means constituting with said two flat walls a counting and photographing chamber in open communication at one of its ends with said first-named chamber, and a second pistonlike member constituting a moving wall adapted to pass between the pistonlike member and closing wall of said first chamber for herding insects therein.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
111 words
An enclosure of the type described comprising a receptacle having an opening at one end and a pistonlike member slideably mounted in said open end to provide a closed chamber for housing insects or the like, an extension of said receptacle extending in a different direction from one end thereof and comprising two closely spaced flat walls and other wall means constituting with said two flat walls a counting and photographing chamber in open communication at one of its ends with said first-named chamber, and a second pistonlike member constituting a moving wall adapted to pass between the pistonlike member and closing wall of said first chamber for herding insects therein.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
107 words
An enclosure or cage for insects having at least a first portion and a second portion into which the insects may be herded, said first portion having a dimension in one direction which provides accommodation for only a single layer of insects, a movable pistonlike wall member adapted to move through said second portion of said enclosure or cage for herding insects therein into said first portion, said first portion having a transparent wall against which a single layer of insects are closely disposed when so herded, whereby the insects may be readily viewed and photographed through said transparent wall while so disposed in said first portion.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
107 words
An enclosure or cage for insects having at least a first portion and a second portion into which the insects may be herded, said first portion having a dimension in one direction which provides accommodation for only a single layer of insects, a movable pistonlike wall member adapted to move through said second portion of said enclosure or cage for herding insects therein into said first portion, said first portion having a transparent wall against which a single layer of insects are closely disposed when so herded, whereby the insects may be readily viewed and photographed through said transparent wall while so disposed in said first portion.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
42 words
An enclosure or cage of the type defined in claim 2 further characterized in that said first portion also having a wall opposite said transparent wall adapted to transmit light for producing photographic images of said insects disposed in said first portion.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
44 words
An enclosure or cage of the type defined in claim 2 further characterized in that said enclosure or cage is provided with a second movable pistonlike wall member adapted, upon movement, to herd insects in said enclosure or cage into said second portion thereof.