The Microscope, 187 



await those who have the ability and the will to work with hand and 

 brain. It is certainly desirable that the dentist should have a clear 

 conception, from his own observation under the microscope, of the 

 minute form-elements of the tissue upon which he is daily operating. 

 The satisfaction of being in possession of this knowledge will fully 

 repay the time and labor given in this direction. If you are giving 

 time to the criticism of brother practitioners, to speaking of the won- 

 derful operations you are performing; to wire-pulling and politics, 

 drop these, and give the time thus spent to the microscope. It will 

 rest you when weary from too much labor; it will cultivate your 

 mind and give it more breadth. 



Ants and Ultra- Violet Rays. — While Sir 3. Lubbock con- 

 siders that ants perceive the ultra-violet rays by means of their eyes? 

 {Arch. Set. Phys. et Nat, XV., 1886,) Graber finds, by removing 

 these organs from tritons, etc., that it is by the skin that these rays 

 are perceived. Prof. A. Forel has made experiments in order to 

 answer the question whether ants perceive the rays by the means of 

 their eyes, or by the skin ; and he finds that it is mainly by the 

 former organs, but admits that " photodermatic " perception may 

 accompany the optic sense. Camponotus ligni perdus and Formica 

 fusca served for his experiments, and a " Solution d'esculine " was 

 used for absorbing the ultra-violet rays. — Jr. R. M. Society. 



New Foeaminifer, — Prof, H. Blanc, {Arch. Sci. Phys. et Nat. 

 XVI., 1886,) describes a new Foraminifer, dredged in the Lake of 

 Geneva, fi-om a depth of 120.200 metres. He names it provisionally 

 Gromia Brunneri, but thinks that it will probably deserve to form a 

 new type of this genus. It is of large size, from 0'3 mm., to I'O 

 mm : it varies from flask-shaped to globular, and has a single open- 

 ing. The shell, slightly lemon-yellow in color, is formed of fine 

 particles, probably silicious, glued together. The protoplasm con- 

 tains a single nucleiis, and several vacuoles ; it covers the shell and 

 forms a network similar to that of other species of Gromia. — Jr. R. 

 M. Society. 



NEWS AND NOTES. 



Professor Tyndall has been obliged to resign his position at 

 the Royal institute on account of failing health. 



Professor William Ashburne, the well-known mining engineer 

 of the Pacific coast, is dead, aged 56 years. 



