FROM THE NORTH SEA. 125 



To return to the microscopical investigation of the " Huxley " 

 material : as already stated, this was originally undertaken solely 

 with the view of extending our study of the distribution of two 

 species, viz. Psammosphaera fusca (Schulze) and Saccammhut 

 sphaerica (M. Sars), and the results, so far as they affect those 

 species, have already been published in our paper dealing with 

 these forms.* But in the course of an examination of the 

 material we found so many other forms that we determined to 

 make a systematic list of the species recorded. This list, which 

 we now publish, contains no less than 133 species or varieties, 

 many of which have not been recorded previously from the areas 

 in question. 



It must not be concluded, from the occurrence of so extended 

 a list, that the material was rich in foraminifera. So far from 

 this being the case, the majority of the dredgings, previous to 

 manipulation, gave little or no striking indication of organic 

 remains beyond the presence of a few shell- fragments, spines of 

 Echinoderms, annelid tubes, and an occasional rhizopod. The 

 dredgings quite justified in superficial appearance the opinion 

 which Mr. Borley and other zoologists familiar with the North 

 Sea had formed, viz. that it was practically devoid of foraminifera. 

 But careful and repeated elutriations of the dredgings resulted 

 in the separation of small quantities of light material at each 

 station, and, as is often the case, these minute samples yielded 

 a more diverse fauna than .is often found in richer gatherings. 

 Except in the case of a few dominant species, however, the 

 number of actual specimens observed was very small. Even in 

 the case of the dominant species the proportion of individuals 

 observed to the total bulk of the dredging was too insignificant 

 to be estimated. The relative abundance of the species in the 



1807, p. 47, and Phillips, Q. J. Geol. Soc, vol. xxxvii., p. 21). But the 

 dynamics of the troubled waters of the North Sea are probably quite 

 different from the controlled action of a revolving cylinder in a laboratory 

 experiment ! 



* Journ. R. Micr. Soc, 1913, p. 25. 



