550 Transactions of the Society. 



Workman" (given to it by Canon Norman) implies,* not only 

 exhibits the selective tendency to a very significant degree, but it 

 also supplies us with one of the most remarkable illustrations of 

 purpose and intelligence hitherto encountered in the Foraminifera. 

 The most familiar species of the genus Technitella legumcn Norman, 

 constructing its test only of sponge-spicules selected from the mass 

 of mud, sand, molluscan and foraminiferal debris in which it lives, 

 l)ii ilds its shell-wall in two layers, the outer one set parallel to the 

 long axis of the shell, the inner one at right angles to it. As we 

 observed when we first discovered this feature,! " we thus get as 

 close an approximation to ' woof and warp ' as is possible in a 

 rigid non-flexile material, and it is obvious that the strength of the 

 test must be enormously increased by the crossing of the two 

 layers, as resistance to tensile strain is given in two directions 

 instead of one." J In the papers to which I have already referred 

 and in others tabulated at the end of this paper, we have called 

 attention to the phenomena upon which I have postulated the 

 exhibition of obvious " Purpose and Intelligence " by certain other 

 species of Foraminifera, and the student is referred to them for 

 minuter details from which it is shown " that there is as wide a 

 ran<re of skill displayed by the Foraminifera both in choice of 

 material and in actual construction as by builders in the higher 

 scales of life, not even excepting man."§ 



We see sponge-spicules in particular used in great variety of 

 specialized and ingenious ways. 1. As building material pure and 

 simple, the whole spicules, or fragments of spicules, being in most 

 cases selected of exactly the length to suit the position they are to 

 occupy in the test, e.g. Technitella melo Norman. 2. As " joists " 

 to strengthen the construction of a test, e.g. Sorosphiera confusa 

 Brady. 3. As " laths " in a plaster wall to retain the mud and 

 sand-grains in position, e.g. Haplophramium spp. 4. As a pro- 

 tection against parasitic worms and prowling mollusca, e.g. Hali- 

 /)/i//scma tumanowiczii Bowerbank, Crithionina pisum var. hispida 

 Brady, and many others. 5. As catamaran spars to support the 

 animal upon the surface of soft oozes, e.g. Psammosphsera parva 



* See A. M. Norman, " On Two New Genera perhaps allied to Haliphysema," 

 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 5, vol. i. 1878, p. 279 ; and " On the Architectural 

 Achievements of Little Masons, Annelidan (?) and Rhizopodan, in the Abyss of 

 the Atlantic," ibid. p. 284. 



t Bibliography 3, p. 383 ; and 8, p. 267. 



j As Professor J. Arthur Thomson has admirably described this organism in the 

 review quoted (supra): — "We, speaking for ourselves, would still say (following 

 Claparede and Lachmann, 1858), ' The animal cannot be just a mass of sarcode.' 

 It is that, no doubt, but there is another side to the little fraction of reality which 

 we call Technitella. It is a psycho-physical individuality whose experiments in 

 self-expression include a masterly treatment of sponge-spicules, and illustrate that 

 organic skill which came before the dawn of Art." 



§ Bibliography 2, p. 408. 



