Some suppliers of fine forceps (tweezers) and other microtechnology instruments: Fisher Scientific (service centers in Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, and St. Louis.) Headquarters: 711 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15219-4785 Phone: (412)449-5050 Scientific Products (service centers in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Ocala, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Puerto Rico, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.) Headquarters: Baxter Diagnostics, Inc., Scientific Products Division, 1430 Waukegan Road, McGaw Park, Illinois 60085-6787 Phone: (708)689-8410 Polysciences, Inc. 400 Valley Road Warrington, PA 18976 Phone: (215)343-6484 All of the above carry microforceps and other instruments suitable for working with the tiniest objects - you can easily pick up a grain of salt with these. But such precision instruments are not cheap. They are made of Swiss surgical stainless steel, and usually run anywhere from $11.00 to $25.00 a pair, with most in the $15.00-$20.00 range. The above companies also have European affiliates. The following company does not carry precision surgical quality instruments, but offers a variety of student-grade instruments, cheap! (most small forceps $2.00 to $3.00). Even with their sharpest forceps, you won't pick up a grain of salt, but you can pick up a 2 mm shell easily enough. They also sell large forceps, up to 12" (30.5 cm) in length, that are great for fishing shells out of cleaning solutions, and also can be handy in the field, for getting a snail out of a deep fissure between two boulders, for example. They also have dissecting needles and needle holders, plus the insect pins Aydin Orstan mentioned, in several sizes. Connecticut Valley Biological Supply Company 82 Valley Road P.O. Box 326 Southampton, MA 01073 Phone: (413)527-4030 If anyone would like to see the relevant pages from these catalogs, e-mail me privately, and I'll send you xerox copies by snail mail. Paul Monfils