GENUS TEXTULARIA. 189 



Pontes covered with the cones of Carpenteria, nor on that of the valves of the Pcctrn and 

 Cardita on which isolated specimens of Catymteria occur, is there the least trace of spongy 

 structure : — 2nd. That, notwithstanding this marked difference in their hahilafs, all the speci- 

 mens of Carpenteria yet examined have their cavities occupied by the same spongy substance : 

 — 3rd. That a firm brownish-yellow substance of far greater consistence than the sarcode of 

 other Foraminifera is found to occupy even the smallest and earliest chambers of Carpenteria 

 (figs. 1 — 4, a), filling them so completely that it can scarcely be supposed to be anything but 

 the animal body properly belonging to them ; and that although the substance in question is 

 there destitute of spicules (the chambers being too small to accommodate them, as will be seen 

 by the comparison of figs. 4 and 1 7, allowing for the difference of magnifying power), yet it is 

 obviously the same with that in which spicules are copiously imbedded in the larger and later 

 chambers : — and 4th. That notwithstanding the multitudes of sections of various Forami- 

 niferous shells which I have made during the last ten or twelve years, I have never found 

 their chambers to be occupied by a parasitic Sponge of any description, even where they 

 have been completely overgrown by Sponge externally. 



314. Affinities. — Although, from the account I have given of the structure of this poly- 

 thalamous shell and its contained body, it will be seen that I can only partially admit the 

 correctness of Dr. Gray's original comparison of the organism to the papilla of a sponge 

 enveloped in a shelly case with a single terminal oscule, yet we seem fully justified in regarding 

 it as a very interesting link of connection between Foraminifera and Sponges. Its nearest 

 relationships are (as just now stated) to the genera Globigerina and Botalia ; and the peculiar 

 modification of their plan of growth which its shell presents, although by no means removing 

 it from the category of ordinary Foraminifera, certainly gives it an analogical resemblance to 

 the Poriferous type, and thus renders it additionally probable that the spongeous body which 

 is found in its interior is really its own. If this body be not parasitic, its presence obviously 

 establishes a near and direct relationship between Carpenteria and the Spongiad^. 



315. Geographical and Geological Distrihdion. — All the recent specimens of Carpenteria 

 hitherto known have been obtained from the Indian Ocean. The wide departure which some 

 of them present from the typical form makes it not unlikely that we are to refer to this genus 

 certain minute fossils, such as the Chrysaora {Neuropora, Bronn) damcecornis of Lamouroux 

 from the Oolite, the Thnlamopora vesic/dosa of Michelin from the Greensand, and the 

 Ceriopora {Thcdamopora, Roemer) cribrosa of Goldfuss from the Chalk, all of which present 

 characters that differentiate them from the Corals and Sponges with which they have been 

 usually associated, and suggest their relationship to Carpenteria. 



SUB-FAMILY TEXTULARIN^E. 



Genus VIII.— Textularia (Plate XII, figs. 14, 15, and Williamson, Figs. 158—168). 



5516. History. — Under the comprehensive name Po/ywor/j/^///'?« various examples of what 

 is now known as the Textularian type were described and figured by Soldani (ci) ; but they 



