44 THE FORAMINIFERA OF THE RIVER DEE. 
Nos, 2, 4, and 9 (from the aperture) were furnished with cilia, 
distinctly apparent with a power of 400 diameters, and swam 
freely about in the chambers; on the contents of the other 
chambers no cilia were visible, and the form assumed by the 
contracted sarcode was not so definite. Colour of sarcode 
brownish yellow ; moving bodies rather more dense, and there- 
fore very slightly darker in colour.” The cilia were very plain; 
and the writer was corroborated in his observation by the Rey. 
J. L. Beprorp, ¥.L.8., who was present at the time. 
This formation of ciliated spheroids of sarcode within the 
chambers of the parent shell, no doubt represented the earliest 
stages of one kind of reproduction of the species, and the 
probability is, that on the breaking up of the shell the spheroids 
would be liberated, and live for some time in the free swimming 
condition ; then absorb their cilia, settle down, and secrete a shell, 
and become the primordial chamber of a form like the parent. 
The old river ‘‘silt” has also been examined superficially from 
Sealand, from the Roodee near the Dee Stands and City Walls, 
the Groves near the Suspension Bridge, and Deva Terrace. 
This “ silt’ was collected from depths of three to six feet below 
the surface during the recent drainage operations. It was in 
most places distinctly laminated, and had every appearance of 
having been deposited by the river before it was confined to the 
present channel. That from the Roodee was obtained from 
below the thin peaty band upon which Roman remains were 
found so plentifully, and, in common with all the other gather- 
ings, was found to contain large quantities of Foraminifera, 
which, taken as a whole, appeared to differ very slightly from 
freshly gathered specimens from the lower parts of the river. 
A list of these sub-recent Foraminifera would be very interesting 
for comparison with that appended below, and for this reason :— 
it is well known that the degree of salinity of the water has a 
marked effect upon them; larger and better grown shells are 
now obtained from Holywell and Hilbre than Chester or 
Saltney. Before Sealand and the Roodee were reclaimed, a 
much larger quantity of tidal water must have reached Chester, 
