FOSSIL FORAMINIFERA FROM THE BURDWOOD BANK 5 



In view of the records of Radiolaria from Cretaceous strata of this region, noted 

 below, it is of interest and importance to record finding in the residue from the grey 

 shale four specimens of a radiolarian species. In shape it suggests a slightly spinose 

 form of the foraminifer Orbulina. 



2. A dredging at St. 719 in lat. 54° 00' S, long. 60° 00' W, dated 13. xi. 1931, came 

 from a depth of 108 m. It consisted of greenish grey sand with recent shell frag- 

 ments, Foraminifera, etc. ; many fragments of greenish argillaceous limestone up to 

 9x6x5 cm., and bored by organisms; some smaller fragments of green-grey shale, 

 brownish when dry; and many well-rounded pebbles^ up to 6x5x3 cm., and to 

 which recent organisms were adherent. 



The shale was separated and washed, but yielded very few fossil Foraminifera, and 

 five specimens of Radiolaria. The loose sand, however, yielded many fossil Foraminifera, 

 some 125 of which were mounted: the most frequent forms included species of 

 Cyclammina, particularly C. elegans, up to 3-1 mm. in diameter, Ammodtscus, and 

 Bathysiphon fragments. 



3. A dredging at St. 720 in lat. 53° 58' S, long. 61° io\' W, dated 13. xi. 1931, came 

 from a depth of 140 m. It consisted of greenish grey sand with many recent shell 

 fragments, amongst which those of brachiopods were common, echinoid spines, 

 Foraminifera, etc. ; a few small fragments of bored greenish argillaceous limestone up 

 to 2-5 X 2 X I cm. ; some greenish shale, in part very glauconitic; and a small quantity 

 of well-rounded pebbles up to 2 x 2 x 1-5 cm. 



The shale, separated and washed, yielded hardly any fossil Foraminifera. Four 

 specimens of Radiolaria were picked out. The loose sand likewise yielded only a very 

 few rather small fossil Foraminifera. 



From the abundance of the smaller fragments of shale in all three samples, and of 

 limestone, particularly at St. 719, it seems clear that the beds must outcrop on the sea- 

 bottom at or close to the stations, and that no adventitious origin will explain the 

 occurrence. The well-rounded igneous pebbles appear to have been washed out of 

 a pebble bed, since such rounding of this material is not to be explained by movement 

 on the sea-bottom, but is perhaps the result of beach conditions. No trace of macro- 

 scopic fossils was found in any of the three samples. 



PREVIOUS RECORDS OF FOSSIL FORAMINIFERA FROM 

 THE PATAGONIA-GRAHAM LAND REGION 



Hyades, writing in 1887,'^ records (p. 124) numerous Foraminifera without further 

 identification in sections of a "schiste argileux" from the coast of Cape Webley, 

 Ponsonby Bay (between Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn).^ On p. 130 he records from 

 Button Island, Ponsonby Bay, "schistes bleuatres feuilletes, semblables a des schistes 

 ardoisiers ". He continues : " Mais ce qui rend cette roche interessante, c'est I'abondance 



1 See note on p. 16 below. 



2 1887, Miss. Set. du Cap Horn, 1882-3, iv, Geologie. Paris. 

 ^ See Fig. 2 below (p. 13). 



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