1897] NOTES AND COMMENTS 149 



The Photography of Microscopic Organisms in Motion 



According to the Scientific American, the principles of the kineto- 

 scope have been applied to the microscope with some interesting- 

 results by Dr Eobert L. Watkins of New York. The instrument 

 employed, termed a micromotoscope, has been very difficult to devise, 

 owing to the manipulation of the light and lens. When the light 

 is concentrated sufficiently for photography, it very quickly kills or 

 seriously injures almost any kind of life in the microscopic field. 

 The greater the magnification, the more intense and the nearer the 

 lens the light must be. Difficulties are also multiplied by the 

 length of time sometimes taken in arranging the focus on the sensi- 

 tive film. After repeated efforts, however, Dr Watkins has obtained 

 some measure of success, and motions that are not too rapid have 

 been very satisfactorily recorded. He has been able to produce 

 about 2500 pictures per minute. This is not a sufficiently rapid 

 process to photograph the motion of the blood circulating in the 

 web of a frog's foot ; but it has served admirably in the case of at 

 least one rotifer, which exhibits the most interesting form of cell 

 motion yet reproduced. 



The Great Auk in Ireland 



Remains of the extinct Great Auk (Alca impennis) have already 

 been recorded from the north of Ireland, but the known range of 

 this interesting bird has just been considerably extended by the 

 discovery of a few bones in a Kitchen Midden on the coast of 

 Waterford, nearly as far south as 52° N. latitude (E. J. Ussher, 

 Irish Nat., vol. vi., p. 208). A humerus, tibia and metatarsus 

 have been identified by Dr Hans Gadow and Professor Alfred 

 Newton. They were associated with bones of common domestic 

 animals and the red deer, and thus probably do not date back to 

 an earlier period than the remains already found in the refuse- 

 heaps of Caithness and Durham. 



Extinct Birds of Madagascar 



During his stay in Madagascar Dr Forsyth Major spent several 

 months in the Sirabe district searching for remains of Aepyornis. 

 What success attended his efforts has already been noticed in these 

 columns, but besides Acpyomis, Dr Major discovered remains 

 of numerous other birds associated with it. Mr C. W. Andrews, to 

 whom we are indebted for the careful description of these Aepyornis 



