42 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



Gironde, of Austria, and of Italy, &c. The chalk of 

 our own country, throughout its vast thickness, con- 

 tains myriads ; and thus have these shells, which are 

 from their minute size hardly perceptible to the naked 

 eye, not only altered the depths of the actual ocean 

 as it now exists, but also, previously to our epoch, 

 formed mountains and filled up basins of great extent. 

 We must ascribe the obscurity in which the Fora- 

 minifera have remained to the difficulty of observing 

 them ; and yet there are few branches of study more 

 accessible to every one, and which afford more im- 

 portant consequences. Should an observer be resi- 

 dent on any coast whatever, in any quarter of the 

 globe, or on any tertiary, chalk, or oolitic formation, 

 he will find everywhere under his feet a multitude of 

 Foraminifera, for whose examination a simple lens is 

 sufficient, and w r hose study possesses equal interest 

 both for the geologist and the zoological student. 



