ON A NEW SPECIES OF TECHNITELLA FROM THE NORTH SEA. 405 



this Station differs considerably from Station 8, Moray Firth, 

 being a tenacious grey mud, but the specimen agreed exactly in 

 construction with the one first found, except that it was a little 

 larger. The plates of which it was constructed were also different 

 from those of the Moray Firth specimen, due no doubt to a 

 difference in the local Ophiuricl fauna. 



This specimen was mounted in balsam, and gave unmistak- 

 able proof of the rhizopodal nature of the organism, the interior 

 being more than half filled with protoplasm of a brownish orange 

 colour in which were a number of darker particles, probably 

 •digestion products. As the specimen had been a long time dry, 

 the protoplasm could not be subjected to any reagents. 



A careful drawing from the balsam mount was made by 

 Mr. S. C. Akehurst, a copy of which has been reproduced in 

 Plate 31, and is the more valuable to the discoverer of the species 

 as the specimen has since, unfortunately for him, been lost. 

 Prior to this regrettable incident, however, many members of the 

 Club had an opportunity of examining the object, as it was 

 exhibited at two meetings, at the conclusion of the second of 

 which it had disappeared. The Moray Firth specimen, from which 

 the excellent drawing reproduced in Plate 32, was made by 

 Mr. Akehurst, will be placed in the Museum of the University 

 at Dundee. 



No further specimens have as yet been found, which is not 

 surprising in view of the rarity of all Technitellae ; but no doubt, 

 sooner or later, they will be met with. 



Technitella thompsoni differs from all the other species of the 

 genus in the absence of a definite oral aperture, but, owing to 

 the material used in the construction of the test, such a feature 

 would be superfluous, as the pseudopodia find a means of exit 

 already provided by the perforations normally present in the 

 calcareous plates of the Echinoderms. So far as access to the 

 surrounding medium is concerned, the animal is as well situated 

 as if it were one of the perforate forams. 



The nearest ally of our specimens, so far as shape is concerned, 

 would appear to be Technitella raphanus (Brady), which is 

 known from two specimens only, dredged by the " Challenger " at 

 Station 174, off Kandavu, Fiji, 210 fathoms; but Brady's figures 

 do not show any of that neatness of construction which is typical 

 of the genus, and which is admirably expressed in its generic 

 name ( = little loorkman). 



Of all the arenaceous foraminifera, Technitella is the neatest 



