206 SUMMARY OF CUKRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



that described by the Me F. W. Millett in reference to a collection from 

 the Malay Arcliipela^^o. The authors found abundant representation 

 of D'Orbigny's Pavonina flahelliformis, which Brady re-discovered and 

 described, and after ninety years they have re-discovered D'Orbigny's 

 Rotalia dnhia, whose position among Rhizopods is no longer doubtful. 



The leading zoological feature of the Kerimba gatherings is perhaps 

 the great abundanceof the Miliolida3. The authors make notes on 

 122 species in this family, seventy-seven in the genus MiUolina, of which 

 six are new. A revision is given of the lituiform species of Penewplis. 

 The short stout spirilline forms must be included under P. arietinus 

 Batsch, the long narrow forms must be P. rylindraceus Lamarck, and 

 the specific name Utuus must lapse altogether, its place being taken 

 by Chapman's genus and species Monalysiduum polita. 



In regard to the previously described abnormal specimens of the 

 genus Iridia, in which the arenaceous investment is limited to an 

 encircling wall, the two faces of the shell being formed by transparent 

 chitinous pellicles, a similar appearance is figured by Rhumbler in 

 Vanhu'ffenella (jaussii from a depth of 400 metres in the Antarctic. 

 Rhumbler suggested that the transparent pellicle might serve as a 

 window Ijy which the animal may obtain some benefit from the lost 

 rays of sunlight penetrating to the depth indicated. It is not at present 

 possible to decide whether VdnhrfmeUa f/ntissii is identical with the 

 abnormal form of Iridia, and Rhumbler does not seem to have known 

 other forms of the organism. The window theory would not apply 

 well in the case of forms living in the glare of tropical sunlight in the 

 shallow waters of the Kerimba reef, and the authors think that the 

 forms they described are simply abnormal forms which have grown 

 between two large sand-grains and have subsequently become detached. 

 The chitinous pellicle is the ordinary chitinous lining exposed. 



The Kerimba material has furnished a fine series of double shells of 

 Discorhina, which Heron-Allen regards as supporting his interpretation 

 of " plastogamy " as really a process of budding. The peculiar dual 

 nature of the terminal balloon-chamber, which Earland first noticed in 

 Cymbalopora buUoides D'Orbigny is discussed at length, and its develop- 

 ment is described. 



Very remarkable is the discovery of specimens of C. tahellseformis 

 filling little pits in mollusc shells.' Each Foraminifer seems to have 

 been able to enlarge its crypt to accommodate the growth of its shell, 

 and also to excavate tunnels, exceeding in length many times its own 

 diameter, in the host-shell. These are for the pseudopodia. It is 

 curious that living matter which secretes lime should also dissolve it, 

 and it is possible that a part is played by carbon dioxide given off by 

 the symbiotic Algfe usually associated with this Foraminifer. The 

 Kerimba material has yielded 470 species and varieties, of which 32 are 

 new to science. 



