Microscopes

I am delving back into microscope work again and (again) I find myself very frustrated with my microscope. I am wondering what other people out there use or would like to use if given the chance. I sometimes feel like there is a missing microscope category between compound microscopes and dissecting microscopes that would be perfect for ant identifications.

Update: I have a very nice Wild M5 microscope -- the kind with the cool bullet travel case. And I use 20x Wild eyepieces. So it's a nice microscope but it isn't really good enough to see details on the smaller ants. For instance, I am looking at Octostruma and Eurhopalothrix right now and I'm a little iffy on the number of antennal segments, which is apparently key.

Photo: Charles Darwin's microscope, made by James Smith in 1846. Image © the Whipple Museum (Wh.3788).