l894-] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 59 



the occurrence of forty species of foraminifera, representing nine- 

 teen genera of the foraminifera of the chalk deposits of the globe. 

 These species were identified through the kindness of Anthony 

 Woodward, Ph.D., of New York City. For this purpose I pre- 

 pared two slides containing, arranged in lines, some one hundred 

 and twenty-five shells each. 



" One face of the specimen of Waco chalk is polished in such 

 manner as to exhibit the sections of the various shells and spicular 

 particles, all of which may be seen under a one-quarter-inch lens. 

 By abrading the chalk with a brush while moist, thousands of the 

 perfect crystalline shells may be isolated and studied in their 

 integrity. 



" 2. A section of limestone, polished on both sides, showing an 

 exceedingly rich aggregation of microscopic Rotaline shells of 

 one species, which in their transverse sections are concave on 

 both faces, similar to the assumed cross-section of a blood cor- 

 puscle. This limestone occurs as a stratified formation, and is 

 quarried at Austin, Texas, for the manufacture of lime, and for 

 constructive and monumental purposes. 



"3. A specimen of lignite from the shore of Mobile Bay, two 

 miles south of the city, which throws light on the genesis of the 

 coal formations of the carboniferous period. I have already 

 recorded a comprehensive study of this stratum, which will be 

 referred to in the Report on the Tertiary of Alabama. 



**The main feature of interest is that when large slabs of the 

 lignite were removed from the water they were as plastic as pot- 

 ter's clay, but they would also readily split into layers, which 

 exhibit the films of ferns and other vegetable impressions. In 

 drying, this lignite shrinks at least fifty per cent in bulk, but pre- 

 serves the vegetable impressions, which may be readily seen with 

 a low power. 



" This small specimen represents the last phase of coal plant 

 deposition, and belongs just under the superficial or pleistocene 

 strata of the tertiary of Alabama, The stratum from which the 

 specimen was derived was heavily impregnated with ferric sul- 

 phide, containing myriads of minute golden-hued spherules of 

 pyrite, isolated in quantity by gravity and solution in water. 



"4. Packets of a complex crystalline sand derived from the 

 superficial stratum largely capping the argillaceous strata of 



