April, 1910. THE VICTOKIAN NATURALIST. 191 



for workers which may eventually prove to be of much scientific 

 value. Both phases of the study of Foraminifera — viz., the 

 systematic and the biological — will equally repay the earnest 

 worker. Systematic (geological and geographical) work on the 

 Foraminifera will throw more light upon the numerous questions 

 concerning their distribution, and also their behaviour under 

 varying conditions of life. This will link up to biological 

 investigation, involving their fascinating life-histories, of which I 

 spoke at a former meeting, and so gain a clearer and deeper 

 knowledge, not only of this group, but, indirectly, of all other 

 related protozoans. The biological side appears to be left 

 severely alone by amateur observers, perhaps on account of the 

 initial difficulties of starting a marine micro-aquarium ; but 

 those that reside near the coast will have no trouble in that 

 direction. All that is necessary is a wide-mouth pickle, or bell, 

 jar, partly filled with sea-water, and supplied with the material 

 to be observed. This is obtained from the red and green sea- 

 weeds found in low tide pools. A few bunches of the weed may 

 be shaken and washed in the jar, leaving therein a few fronds to 

 keep up the balance of conditions. The sandy material coming 

 from the surface of the fronds often largely consist of foraminiferal 

 shells in the living state. In the day time the living Foramini- 

 fera can be seen attached to the " Ught " side of the jar, with 

 their pseudopods extended. Although rather " fickle fish " to 

 catch and keep, it is remarkable how much a healthy Fora- 

 minifer will stand. As an instance, I may mention that, when 

 living at Putney, near London, I received some exceptionally 

 large examples of the shallow-water Foraminifer, Polystomella 

 crispa, from Hornell's famous marine laboratory at Jersey. 

 They survived the railway journey to London, enclosed in a 

 corked tube, and alter arrival through the post-office, exhibited 

 their rare beauty in a way that was hardly expected. The 

 leisurely manner in which they threw out and retracted their 

 streaming, granular, and inosculating threads of protoplasm, 

 afforded a charming sight under a black ground illumination, 

 sufficient to turn any microscopist who saw them into an ardent 

 and life-long student of that group of animals. 



Amongst the biological problems ready to the hand of our 

 Victorian naturalists may be mentioned the determination of the 

 actual pelagic or floating foraminiferal fauna found along our 

 coasts, and the recording of the phenomena connected with their 

 reproduction ; the occurrence of dimorphism in the recent and 

 fossil Victorian species, the noting of generic forms which show 

 the phenomenon of plastogamy, and the explanation of the proble- 

 matic cause of fistulose outgrowths in the nodosarines and the 

 polymorphines. 



The systematist will also find his hands very full investigating 

 the faunas of the shore sands, estuarine muds, or deeper 



