POLYSTOMELLINAE 44i 



Widely distributed, and often large and common. The best at WS 86, excellent speci- 

 mens also at 48 and WS 83, 248. The Type was not to be found in Paris. 



P. lessonii is usually regarded as a synonym of P. macella, but it is fairly distinctive, 

 and is certainly a very localized form. It cannot be confused with the P. macella of 

 European seas. D'Orbigny's records are from the coast of Patagonia and the Falkland 

 Islands, and the species is apparently confined to this area. 



418. Elphidium (Polystomella) macellum (Fichtel and Moll). 



Nautilus niacellus (var. a), Fichtel and Moll, 1798, TM, p. 66, pi. x, figs. e-g. 

 Polystomella macella, Brady, 1884, FC, p. 737, pi. ex, figs. 8, 11 (only). 

 Elpliidium macellum, Cushman, 1925, etc., LFR, v, 1929, p. 18, pi. iv, figs, i, 2. 



Six stations : 53 ; WS 84, 88, 91, 93, 215. 



Very rare, but excellent specimens, in no way distinguishable from the P. macella of 

 European waters, were obtained at 53 and almost equally good at WS 88. At WS 93, a 

 young specimen with a minutely spinous periphery occurred. P. macella may be 

 distinguished from P. lessonii by the sharp peripheral edge. Both species are com- 

 pressed, but in P. lessonii the periphery is rounded. 



419. Elphidium (Polystomella) owenianum (d'Orbigny) (Plate XVI, figs. 31, 32). 



Polystomella ozveniana, d'Orbigny, 1839, FAM, p. 30, pi. iii, figs. 3, 4. 



Elphidium owenianum, Cushman, 1918, etc., FAO, 1930, p. 21, pi. viii, figs. 10-12. 



Fifteen stations: 48; WS 71, 72, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91, 93, 95, 210, 225, 248. 



Widely distributed and often very common, the best at WS 71, 86, 88, 91 and 93, 

 particularly WS 71. 



We record our specimens under this name merely in deference to the fact that 

 d'Orbigny recorded his species from the adjacent coast of Patagonia, where he describes 

 it as " rare". He does not mention its occurrence in the Falkland Islands. P. ozveniana 

 has usually been regarded as a synonym of P. crispa and, as a matter of fact, at least 

 75 per cent of the Falkland specimens would pass without hesitation for the British 

 form, which since 1848 at least has been universally known as P. crispa. The most 

 recent school of taxonomy inclines to the separation under separate specific names of 

 what the old school regarded merely as local varieties, and hence in the recently 

 published monograph of the Atlantic Foraminifera (Cushman, FAO, 1918 etc., 1930) we 

 find that P. crispa hardly figures at all, the author preferring to reserve his opinion of the 

 identity of the numerous records of that species for a more intensive study of the genus. 

 For ourselves, we take the view that P. crispa (or Elphidium crispwn) (Linn.) is a poly- 

 morphic species, and we should prefer to retain this long established name, whether 

 dealing with the larger Mediterranean form with the clear prominent and central umbo 

 such as, no doubt, Plancus had before him when he drew the miserable figure upon 

 which the species is based {De conchis minus notis, Venice, 1739, p. 10, pi. i, fig. 2), or 

 whether dealing with the more flattened form which Williamson figured so admirably 

 in 1858 (W. 1858, RFGB, p. 40, pi. iii, figs. 78, 79), and upon which so many hundreds 



