816 AUSTRALIAN FORAMINIFERA, I., 



by imperceptible gradations. Indeed there seems to be no reason 

 why they should not be considered merely as large varieties of 

 L. sulcata, which, according to Messrs. Parker and Jones, is the 

 type-species of the genus. The species acuticostata, exsculptay 

 and striata also merge into L. sulcata. 



The genus Lagena being such a large genus, it is desirable to 

 maintain for convenience the present species, although many may 

 possibly be merely varieties, variation in the lower orders of life 

 being exceedingly frequent and well-marked. The creation of 

 new species, on any but very extraordinary points of difference, 

 seems to me to be undesirable, particularly in the genus Lagena, 

 which is already almost overcrowded with species, and in which 

 species could be almost indefinitely multiplied if minor variations 

 from type are made to constitute specific differences. 



Many of the Lagena-like forms are possibly young specimens 

 of Nodosaria. In its early stages Kodosaria scalaris is a Lagena 

 sulcata, provided Mdth an apical spine and a neck like L. hispida. 

 The specimens of L. sulcata answering to the above description 

 are indistinguishable from N. scalaris except for containing only 

 one chamber instead of two. 



Nodosaria scalaris (Pl.xxiii., fig. 1) is very abundant, but differs 

 very remarkably from the type, as figured in the Challenger 

 Report. The ribs are fewer and more strongly marked. The 

 chambers are seldom more than two in number, and the size of 

 the organism is diminutive. Many specimens have dentate pro- 

 cesses or spines at the initial (apical) end like the apiculate 

 varieties of L. sulcata and L. striata; sometimes these are very 

 strongly marked as in N. ahyssorum, Brady (C.R., pl.lxiii. f.9), 

 or L. striata, d'Orb. (C.R., pl.lvii. f. 29-30). 



Perhaps on account of the remarkable micromorphism and 

 variability of this organism, and its relation to some forms of L. 

 sulcata, it would have been permissible to make a new species 

 of it. 



Specimens of Lagena Icevis (pl.xxvi. f.2) differ slightly from the 

 type. Some are provided with apical spines. 



