-3 





THE JOURNAL : V 



OF THE 



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THE FORAMINIFERA IN THEIR ROLE AS WORLD- 

 BUILDERS: A REVIEW OF THE FORAMINIFEROUS 

 LIMESTONES AND OTHER ROCKS OF THE 

 EASTERN AND WESTERN HEMISPHERES. 



By Edward Heron-Allen, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., axd 

 Arthur Earland, F.R.M.S. 



{Read October 22nd, 1912.) 



Plates 1-3. 



" Life , as we call it, is nothing but the edge of the boundless Ocean of 

 Existence where it comes on Soundings." 0. W. Holmes, The Pro- 

 fessor, V. 



Our late President, Prof. E. A. Minchin, F.R.S., in his last 

 Presidential Address * dealt with certain organisms which he 

 regarded as the simplest existing living structures, and speculated 

 on the Origin of Life in this planet. Subsequently at the British 

 Association Meeting at Dundee he led a most interesting dis- 

 cussion on the same subject, a discussion which left those who 

 had the privilege of listening to it convinced of one fact at least, 

 viz. that no two of the eminent men who took part in the debate 

 were agreed on any single point. But as the earliest forms 

 of life were necessarily of such a simple nature that they could 

 oy no possibility have been preserved as fossils, the interest 

 of geologists may almost be said to commence with the stage 

 in which life had become endowed with a sufficiently complex 

 structure to leave recognisable remains in the geological record. 



The Foraminifera would seem to constitute such a group. Of 

 extremely simple structure, mere protoplasm without differenti- 

 ation other than the nucleus, they yet possess the power either 

 of secreting a solid shell from the mineral salts absorbed from 



* Journ. Q.M.C., Ser. 2, Vol. XI. p. 339. 

 Jourx. Q. M. C, Series II. No. 72. 1 



