THE SHORE-SAND AT BOGNOR, SUSSEX. 189 



Both in the total number of species recorded, and in the 

 number of rare and previously unrecorded species observed, 

 Bognor will now take precedence over all other British collecting- 

 grounds. For about forty years this position has been held by 

 Dog's Bay, Connemara, whose shore-sands have been familiar 

 to most microscopists. A list of the species observed at Dog's 

 Bay, Connemara, containing 124 forms, was published in the 

 Irish Naturalist (vol. ix., No. 3, March, 1900) by my friend 

 Mr. Joseph Wright, F.G.S., of Belfast. 



The question arises why Bognor should form such a rich 

 collecting-ground. At Littlehampton, only a few miles to the 

 east, Foraminifera are almost non-existent. In 1902 I en- 

 deavoured to make a gathering there, for comparison with 

 the Bognor fauna, but was unable to find any trace of shore 

 deposits, although I examined the coast-line for a distance of 

 two miles in each direction. 



The south-east coast is, speaking generally, a very poor 



collecting-ground for Foraminifera, although careful search will 



give some results in most localities. This is, doubtless, due to 



the scour of the Channel tides and the absence of suitable areas 



for the growth of the animals. The majority of the Foraminifera 



found in shore gatherings are dead shells which have gradually 



drifted with the currents and tides to the beach. Off Bognor 



there lies an extensive reef, known as the Barn Rocks, which 



are a noted fishing-ground, and which are doubtless covered 



with Algae, and form a suitable home for swarms of the lower 



animals. The bulk of the specimens have probably come from 



this source, but there are certain species abundant in the 



gathering which may have travelled still farther. Both MUiolina 



fusca, Brady, and Trochammina inflata, Montagu, are usually 



considered to be distinctively brackish-water organisms ; but the 



mud-flats of Bosham and Chichester Harbours, nearly thirty 



miles away, are the nearest localities from which brackish- water 



organisms could have been derived, and as both those species 



are of a delicate and friable nature, one would hardly expect 



them to make such a journey undamaged. Moreover, I have 



noticed many specimens in which the sarcode was still visible, 



and this would seem to prove that some of the specimens, at 



any rate, are of local marine origin, and that we must no 



longer regard them as essentially brackish-water types. Perhaps 



