386 DEVONIAN FORAMINIFKRA. TAMWORTH DISTRICT, 



are, I feel convinced, of a radiolarian nature, and here and there 

 one can detect a central sphere. There is a fair amount of iron- 

 staining in the rock-structure, which seems to be entirely 

 secondary, as the stain is developed more strongly along incipient 

 fracture-lines than in the grains themselves. 



From Dr. Benson's work on the rocks of the Tamworth Dis- 

 trict,* it is seen that the Nemingha horizon can be correlated 

 with the lower part of the Middle Devonian. 



Previous Records of Devonian Foraminifera. 

 Tn turning to consider the occurrence of foraminifera in other 

 parts of the world, we find only one authentic record of these 

 minute fossils, viz., that of Terquem's, who figured and described 

 a few forms from the Middle Devonian of Paff'rath in the Eifel.f 

 On p. 41 7 of Terquem's note, he states that the foraminifera were 

 found in some sand contained in a Megalodon-^heW. They were 

 in the condition of casts. The material was probably referable 

 to foraminifera and ostracoda, but generally indeterminable. 

 Some spheres covered with thick and sharply pointed spines he 

 referred to Orhnlina. These were very common, and measured 

 0-48 mm. in diameter. A pyriform cast was referred to Lagemi- 

 lina (a subgenus of Lagena). A cristellarian w^as also noticed 

 by Terquem, presenting the arrangement of chambers seen in 

 CristeUaria vetusta from the Lias. A fusiform cast was com- 

 pared to Fusulina; and numerous globular casts, consisting of 

 two or three chambers, were identified as Glohigerina. Judging 

 from my own observations of radiolarian structures in the 

 Devonian of Silesia and Bavaria, I am inclined to think that 

 Terquem's prickly Orbulinse may have more than a fancied re- 

 lationship to the orbicular radiolarians. In connection with the 

 present work, I have recently examined some disintegrated lime- 

 stone from Paffrath, from shells in the National Museum, and 



* " The Geology and Petrology of the Great Serpentine Belt of New 

 South Wales. Part v. The Geology of the Tamworth District."' Proe. 

 Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1915, Vol. xl., Pt.3, pp. 540-624, Pis. xhx.-lviii. 



t Terquem, O. — "Observation sur quelques fossiles des epoques pri- 

 maires." Bull. Soc. Geol. France, .ser.3, Vol. viii., 1880, pp. 414-418, 

 PI. xi. 



