10 EHIZOPODA. 



Formerly the Foraminifera were supposed, chiefly 

 from their chambered shells, to be allied to the 

 highest forms of the Mollusca, but that opinion 

 has long been abandoned. Professors Ehrenberg 

 and Williamson, however, still associate them with 

 that great Sub-kingdom, but in its very lowest 

 rank ; judging that the structure of the shell dis- 

 plays essential affinity to that of the calcareous 

 cells of Eschar a, &c, among the Polyzoa. 

 D'Orbigny places the Class between the Zoophyta 

 and the Echinodermata. But for the present I 

 prefer to adhere to the views of Dujardin, Siebold, 

 and others, who ally them to the Infusoria. The 

 Noctiluca miliaris, which sometimes occurs in 

 countless millions in our seas in summer, holds a 

 most debateable position. Formerly it was in- 

 cluded among the Medusae, with which it certainly 

 has no affinity; Mr. Huxley considers it an In- 

 fusorium, and M. Doyere suggests its analogy to 

 the simple, shell-less Rhizopoda. 



Authorities. — For the arrangement of the genera, 

 I have followed D'Orbigny (Art. Foraminiferes 

 in the Diet, des Sci. Nat.) ; but the identification 

 of recent British species was a work for which I 

 knew of no published help. It is understood that 

 Dr. Carpenter and Professor Williamson are both 

 engaged on the British Foraminifera, and the 

 latter has published a Memoir on the Lagence, 

 which I have used. For the rest, I have received 

 the kind and valuable assistance of Mr. T. Rupert 

 Jones, who has furnished me, at the cost of much 

 time and labour, with a list of British species 

 which he believes to be recent. Many of those 

 whose shells are found in our seas he believes to 

 be fossil, washed down from sea-side cliffs. 



