161 



As most naturalists are now aware, Ehrenberg considers the Fora- 

 minifera to be Bryozoa, closely allied to the polypiferous Eschara 

 and Flustrce. An improvement upon preceding classifications, but 

 one that may perhaps even yet be amended. 



No other authors that I am acquainted with, have published any- 

 thing founded upon personal examination of the soft animals of re- 

 cent Foraminifera, except what is contained in my two memoirs 

 already referred to. 



Whilst carrying on my investigations, the considei'ate kindness of 

 my friend J. Gwynn Jeffreys, Esq., of Swansea, afforded me a 

 valuable opportunity of examining the well-known British Polysto- 

 mella crispa {Nautilus crispus auctorum), in a recent state. Cruis- 

 ing off Falmouth, Mr. Jeffreys observed a large Laminaria floating 

 past him with a stone attached to its roots. This stone was covered 

 with mipute corallines. His quick and experienced eye soon per- 

 ceived that amidst the branches of these small corallines, glistened 

 multitudes of living microscopic atoms, and suspecting that it would 

 prove a rich haul, he hurried the whole off to me, moistened with sea- 

 water, and I had the delight of obtaining the animalcules in a fresh 

 state. I found multitudes of Polystomella crispa, Rosalina globula- 

 ris, Lagena marginata, and other forms, amongst the mass of resi- 

 duum. Especially anxious to ascertain how far M. Ehrenberg's most 

 interesting observations on his Geoponus slella-borealis (obviously 

 a Polystomella of D'Orbigny) from the Cuxhaven sea, were applicable 

 to our British species, I hastened to examine my treasures, and " after 

 frequently-repeated observations and sections, fractions, sawings, and 

 grindings, 1 ' to use the expressive phraseology of Messrs. Jolie and 

 Leymerie ("Observations on the Nummulites ;" * Comptes Rendus,'Oct. 

 25, 1847), who evidently understand the vast labour required to ascer- 

 tain with certainty a few apparently simple points on these matters, 

 I have succeeded in coming to several conclusions, showing that 

 Polystomella crispa presents a soft animal of a type that differs from 

 any that has yet been described. 



Speaking of the above-named Geoponus stella-borealis (Ehr.), M. 

 Ehrenberg says, " All the animalcules, even the most developed, of 

 the two genera Geoponus and Nonionina, are like those of Planulina 

 and Textilaria, without any prehensile apparatus at the head and 

 without any circle of feelers around the mouth. Each body is sur- 

 rounded by the hard shell, has an ordinary simple aperture, and the 

 numerous adhering bodies of Geoponus, whose social form (polypidora) 

 resembles surprisingly the individual animals of Nonionina, have just 



