HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



183 



state ; and it was interesting to spend a few hours 

 in search of lobsters only a short distance from the 

 land. These lobsters are said to be found, among 

 other places, in the remains of the church of ancient 

 Cromer, now completely submerged. Upon the 

 present church, part of which is in ruins, the Rue- 

 fern seemed very happy. 



In going from Cromer to Overstrand by the cliffs 

 there is study for the young geologist ; and along 

 the beach there are what are known as " sinking " 

 or " slip " sands, which iu some cases have proved 

 fatal. About the time we wrote, an unfortunate 

 young lady sank in the sand, and was extricated 

 only at the cost of life ; the old lighthouse was 

 entirely swallowed by the same agency. Upon the 

 church and ruins at Overstrand abundance of 

 Polypodium vulgare and Scolopendrium vulgare were 

 found; at Northrepps the same two, and two or 

 three plants of Asplenium Irichomanes, as well as 

 the Rue-fern; at Antingham the Harts -tongue 

 only appeared ; and farther on, at North Walsham, 

 the favourite Rue-fern was plentiful enough on the 

 church. This, with the exception of a short stay 

 at Holt, finished our rambles. Not a single speci- 

 men of the common Ceterach ox Asplenium marinum 

 was found, and only about three specimens of 

 Asplenium trichomanes. But in all the instances 

 named above was that charming little Rue-fern, 

 usually growing on the side of the church towards 

 the north or east. 



And after observing the habitats of this fern it 

 might be suggested that in growing it— which often 

 puzzles fern collectors— old mortar-rubbish and 

 broken bricks might be advantageously used. 



J. T. R. 



MICROSCOPY. 



The Nicaragtian Ants and their Food.— At 

 a recent meeting of the Linnean Society, Mr. 

 Francis Darwin read an account of some researches 

 of his on glandular bodies on Acacia sphcerocephala 

 and Cecropia peltata, serving as food for ants. The 

 structures in question were discovered by Mr. Belt 

 (Nicaragua), and mentioned by him in his " Natu- 

 ralist in Nicaragua," and subsequently further 

 observations made by Fritz Miiller (Brazil), while 

 Mr. Darwin has more particularly entered into their 

 minute composition. In Acacia, they are of two 

 kinds: (a) nectar-secreting glands situate at the 

 base of the petiole ; (b) small, somewhat flattened, 

 pear-shaped bodies, which tip six or seven of the 

 lowermost leaflets of the bipinnate leaves. In 

 Cecropia cylindrical bodies are developed in flat 

 cushions at the base of the leaf-stalk. Mr. Darwin 

 shows the microscopical structure of all of these to 

 be homologous in kind, — cellular protoplasm, and 



containing oil-globules. He infers, moreover, they 

 bear a relation to the serration-glands of Reinke, in 

 certain cases afterwards being converted into stores 

 of nutriment, which undoubtedly the ants live on, 

 and in their turn protect the trees from the ravages 

 of the leaf- cutting ants. 



The Quekett Microscopical Club have just 

 issued their thirty-first number, containing valuable 

 papers by Mr. James Fullagar, "On Aclinophrys 

 Sol," a continuation of the article contributed to 

 Science-Gossip in May, 1875 ; " On a Larval 

 Cirripede," by Mr. H. Davis ; " On the Metamor- 

 phosis of the Crane-fly and Blow-fly," by Mr. A. 

 Hammond, whose papers and illustrations of these 

 and collateral subjects will be well remembered by 

 readers of our own journal, as having frequently 

 appeared in it; "On a New Aulacodiscus," by 

 A. Cottam; "On a New Method of cutting 

 fresh-frozen Tissues," by R. P. Williams; "On 

 a new Stage Arrangement," by N. E. Green ; and 

 last, but not by any means least in point of import- 

 ance, a paper by Mr. M. H. Johnson " On Silicified 

 Structure in Pyritized Wood." 



The Royal Microscopical SociETy.— This 

 well-known society have done themselves credit, in 

 conferring an honorary fellowship upon Mr. 

 Frederick Kitton, whose able articles on the 

 " History of the Microscope " are now appearing 

 in Science-Gossip. Mr. Kitton is known among 

 microscopists all the world over as an authority on 

 the Diatomacece and unicellular algse generally. 



The Lowest Forms oe Plant-life. — The 

 formation of cheese has lately engaged the attention 

 of Prof. Ferd. Cohn in connection with his re- 

 searches on the lowest forms of plant-life ; and he 

 has made personal observations on the manufacture, 

 as carried on in Switzerland. The phenomena 

 accompanying the process are thus described : — The 

 rennet contains a liquid ferment which causes 

 coagulation of the milk; also ferment-organisms 

 {Bacillus), which probably bring on butyric-acid 

 fermentation, and cause the slow maturing of the 

 cheese. It is their resting-spores that, enclosed by 

 the dry cheese substance, resist boiling heat for 

 a long time, and, in a suitable nutritive liquid, 

 may afterwards develop to bacillus rods. One of 

 Dr. Bastian's results is in this way explained. 



The Origin op Life. — In an important paper 

 recently read before the Royal Society by Dr. 

 Bastian, giving an account of some further re- 

 searches "illustrative of the Physico-chemical 

 Theory of Fermentation and the Condition favouring 

 Archebiosis in previously-boiled Liquids," the 

 author sums up as follows :— " The experiments in 

 which liquor potassa? is added to urine in definite 

 proportions before and after it has been boiled with 



