More than 10 years ago, I tried, unsuccessfully, to follow the wanderings of the microfilariae of Onchocerca volvulus through the superficial skin of infested persons,1for these organisms are numerous just below the epidermis in intensive early infections. This pursuit was done with a corneal microscope, available for the study of the serious ocular manifestations of onchocerciasis, and also by means of a capillary microscope. What was more interesting was the striking picture of the surface of the skin as revealed by these microscopes. An investigative study on cutaneous microscopy was then begun and has continued to the present time. In 1922, Jeffrey Michael2examined the skin, as Saphier2in 1917 and Kumer2had done before him, with a slit-lamp microscope or dermatoscope. Kumer stated that actually since the time of Hebra surface microscopy was used in the examination of lupus. In spite