PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 633 



probable that the coast of Cornwall would receive occasionally some of 

 the typically pelagic species from the Atlantic. 



Mr. Maurice Blood asked whether there was any possibility of the 

 inland forms being washed down by the streams and rivers to the sea, 

 and thus drifting on to the coast. 



He also inquired what Mr. Earland considered was the relation 

 between OrbuUna and Globigerina. Was the latter the immature form ? 



Mr. Earland replied that, as regards drifting of rock specimens, the 

 late Mr. William Hill, F.G.S., a great chalk specialist, told him he had 

 received specimens of chalk (from zones which, as far as he knew, were 

 only exposed along the Sussex coast) from dredgings made right down 

 the Channel to beyond Land's End. These had probably come down 

 Channel with a westerly drift. But specimens of chalk had been 

 dredged by himself betweeu the Shetlands and the Faroe Islauds, many 

 hundreds of miles from localities where any exposure was known to exist. 

 He w 7 as of opinion that these Faroe specimeus had been deposited there 

 during the glacial period, as there were great submerged moraines in 

 the Shetland-Faroe Channel. Chalk fragments and fossils had also 

 been dredged in deep water off the south of Ireland. He had little 

 doubt, however, that the Cornish fossils had come westwards from 

 higher up the Channel. 



Regarding the next point, the occurrence of such an extremely local 

 fossil as Faujasina carinata d'Orbigny many miles away from its only 

 locus of origin was very puzzling, but there were many possible explana- 

 tions for its presence, though none were satisfactory. The theory of its 

 transportation by wading birds was possible, but he thought rather far- 

 fetched. It was one of those things which could not be readily explained. 



The next point was as to the occurrence of pelagic forms other than 

 OrbuUna. There were a few Globigerina records, but not many. As 

 regards the life-history of OrbuUna, this was still open to doubt, but the 

 theory of Rhurnbler, a great German authority was, that the spinous 

 pelagic Globigerinse secreted the spherical OrbuUna shell as a protection 

 for their delicate spines and shell, which thus became internal and 

 superfluous and were gradually absorbed. The living pelagic Globigerina 

 is covered by a radiating mass of long and extremely delicate spines, 

 whose function was to increase the resistance to gravity, and so help to 

 support the organism in the water. 



Rhumbler's theory was quite sound, and in the opinion of the 

 authors highly probable, but it was merely a theory and would require 

 much experimental work to confirm it. 



A hearty vote of thanks to the authors for their paper and demon- 

 stration was then proposed, and carried with acclamation by all present. 



Dec. loth, 1915 2 x 



