· 4 min read · microscopy

Amscope 50-piece prepared slides — gallery

I bought the Amscope 50-piece biology prepared-slides kit along with an Amscope B120B microscope to learn how to use a microscope properly without worrying about preparing the slides myself. This post is a consolidated record of the specimens I worked through from that kit.

Note. When I imported this blog from WordPress, the original per-slide micrograph galleries (one nextGEN gallery per specimen) didn’t come across. The descriptions below are preserved; the images from each gallery will need to be re-uploaded individually if I ever get back to it.

Slides in the kit

The full set of 50 slides covers a mix of plant cross-sections, fungi, animal tissues, and whole-mount insects:

  1. Ascarid Egg (whole mount)
  2. Aspergillus (whole mount)
  3. Cabbage (longitudinal section)
  4. Coprinus Mushroom Set (cross section)
  5. Cotton Stem (cross section)
  6. Cucurbita Stem (longitudinal section)
  7. Dandelion Fuzz (whole mount)
  8. Dense Connective Tissue (section)
  9. Dog Cardiac Muscle (longitudinal section)
  10. Dog Esophagus (cross section)
  11. Dog Skeletal Muscle (longitudinal section & cross section)
  12. Dog Small Intestine (section)
  13. Dog Smooth Muscle (longitudinal section & cross section)
  14. Dog Squamous Epithelium (whole mount)
  15. Dog Stomach (section)
  16. Earthworm (cross section)
  17. Honeybee Leg (whole mount)
  18. Honeybee Mouth Parts (whole mount)
  19. Honeybee Wings (whole mount)
  20. Housefly Mouth Parts (whole mount)
  21. Human Blood (smear)
  22. Hydra (longitudinal section)
  23. Hydrilla Verticillata Leaf (whole mount)
  24. Leaf of Winter Jasmine (cross section)
  25. Lillium Anther (cross section)
  26. Lillium Ovary (cross section)
  27. Locust Wing (whole mount)
  28. Loose Connective Tissue (section)
  29. Mantis Wing (whole mount)
  30. Nymphasa (cross section)
  31. Nymphasa of Apustio Stem (cross section)
  32. Onion Epidermis (whole mount)
  33. Penicillium (whole mount)
  34. Pig Motor Nerve (whole mount)
  35. Pine Leaf (cross section)
  36. Pine Pollen (whole mount)
  37. Pine Stem (cross section)
  38. Pumpkin Stem (cross section)
  39. Rabbit Artery and Vein (cross section)
  40. Rabbit Hyaline Cartilage (section)
  41. Rabbit Lymph Node (section)
  42. Rabbit Spinal Cord (cross section)
  43. Rabbit Testis (section)
  44. Stomata-Vicia Faba Leaf (whole mount)
  45. Sunflower Stem (cross section)
  46. Tilia Stem (cross section)
  47. Wool Sheep (whole mount)
  48. Young Root of Broad Bean (cross section)
  49. Zea Stem (cross section)
  50. Zea Stem (longitudinal section)

Specimen notes

The notes below are from the per-slide posts I wrote between 2014 and 2015. Where I had imaging difficulties (poor focus, wrong white balance) I’ve kept the original observations — they were instructive at the time.

Ascarid Egg (whole mount)

The first slide in the set. Ascarid (Ascaris) is a parasitic worm, also known as the small intestinal roundworm. There are two species: Ascaris lumbricoides — which affects humans and causes ascariasis — and Ascaris suum, which typically infects pigs. (Wikipedia) This was the first prepared slide I imaged, and the focus and white balance both show that.

Aspergillus (whole mount)

The second slide. Aspergillus is a genus of several hundred mold species found in various climates worldwide. A mold is a fungus that grows in the form of multicellular filaments called hyphae; in contrast, fungi that adopt a single-celled growth habit are called yeasts.

Cabbage (longitudinal section)

The third slide. The individual cells of the cabbage are clearly visible.

Coprinus Mushroom Set (cross section)

The fourth slide — a cross section of a Coprinus mushroom. Coprinus is a small genus of mushrooms that includes Coprinus comatus (the shaggy mane) and several close relatives.

Cotton Stem (cross section)

The fifth slide.

Cucurbita Stem (longitudinal section)

The sixth slide. Cucurbita (Latin for gourd) is popularly known as squash, pumpkin, or gourd, depending on the species, variety, and local parlance.

Dandelion Fuzz (whole mount)

The seventh slide. Dandelion is a yellow flower native to Eurasia and North America (Wikipedia). What appears to be a single dandelion flower is actually made up of a large number of small flowers called florets. Once the yellow petals are removed from all florets, what’s left is the dandelion fuzz — also known as the seed head. The micrographs from this slide show a single seed from the seed head.

Dense Connective Tissue (section)

The eighth slide. Dense connective tissue has densely packed fibres made up mainly of collagen (the white lines in the micrographs). The fibres are regularly arranged and very strong but inelastic — they can break if a strong force is applied across them. Dense connective tissue forms the ligaments (muscle to bone) and tendons (bone to bone) in the body.

Dog Cardiac Muscle (longitudinal section)

The ninth slide. Cardiac muscle is found only in the heart. These muscles are involuntary — they contract and expand automatically to keep the heart pumping. The dark blue dots in the micrographs are most likely the nuclei.

Zea Stem (cross section) — slide 49

Zea is a genus of true grasses in the family Poaceae, of which corn is a member.

Zea Stem (longitudinal section) — slide 50

Same genus, lateral section instead of cross section.

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