350 NOTES AND COMMENTS [mat 



Foraminifera of Borneo. 



An interesting and important paper on the orbitoid and nummuline 

 Foraminifera of Borneo has been published by Messrs. E. B. Newton and 

 Richard Holland in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 

 March. The paper should be of especial value to those who are at 

 present unravelling the age of the rocks of various coral islands, the 

 bulk of which have to be studied as thin sections. The authors have 

 shown a wise discretion in not instituting numerous new species, so 

 easy from the deceptive nature of sectional material. The one form 

 described as new is Orbitoides {Lepidocyclina) verbeehi, whose distinct- 

 ness was only established after careful comparison. It is interesting 

 to see another identification of Schlumberger's genus Linderina, first 

 described from the Upper Eocene of Bruges (Gironde). The material 

 dealt with was provided by the late Mr. A. H. Everett and by Professor 

 Molengraaff, now of Pretoria. The type of 0. verbeehi is founded on 

 Brady's 0. papyracca (1875), and the specimens are partly at Cam- 

 bridge and partly in the British Museum. 



On Ciliary Movement. 



In the northern city in which the editorial and publishing offices are 

 now placed, the inhabitants not infrequently complain of the excess of 

 water which pours down from our too liberal skies, but it does not often 

 happen that we are absolutely drowned out of house and home. This 

 sad calamity has now overtaken us, and, dripping and disconsolate, we 

 are left to survey the ruins of what was lately a snug sanctum. But 

 the impatient reader may ask what the editorial woes have to do with 

 ciliary movement. The answer necessitates a short explanation. 

 Professor Herrera has recently sent us an apparatus to illustrate a 

 paper (" Explication du mouvement vibratile/' Mem. Soc. Alzate, x. 

 p. 322) which he has just published on the causation of ciliary move- 

 ment. In the apparatus a stream of water is employed as a substitute 

 for the osmotic currents which the author believes to be the prime 

 cause of the movements of living things, and the Professor urged us 

 strongly to attempt the experiment for ourselves. The apparatus, it 

 may be well to explain, consists of a large artificial cell furnished with 

 numerous short rubber tubes representing cilia, and a large tube by 

 means of which the stream of water may be introduced into the cell. 

 The directions informed us that when the large tube was fixed to a 

 tap, and the tap turned on, the small tubes would vibrate rapidly. 

 Pull of faith and enthusiasm we made the experiment, the office boy 

 assisting with a devotion which his legitimate work often fails to 

 inspire. We regret that we are unable to give a clear account of the 



