THE FORAMINIFERA. 67 
he calls d/onozoa, and those which form associations, floating 
colonies which are carried on the breast of the currents; these 
latter are termed Polyzoa. The monozoa are very numerous, and 
form twenty-nine species. The polyzoa only comprehend four 
species. 
The researches of D’Orbigny, relative to these microscopic 
organisations, tend to prove that the débris of the foraminifera 
constitutes, with that of the polypiers a great part of the submarine 
banks, whose accumulations obstruct the navigation in gulfs and 
straits, fill up ports, and give rise to those reefs and islands which 
rise up in the warm regions of the Pacific. These creatures, appa- 
rently without any stamina, and of such low organisation, are found 
in all latitudes, and in all depths. ° 
What in comparison to the necropolis of the foraminifera are 
the cemeteries of the elephants and whales? Does it not seem that 
the smaller the animal the more enormous the accumulation of its 
remains? The shells of the foraminifera are often found—far 
more than we at all imagine—in a fossil state. They form whole 
ranges of hills, and immense deposits of building stone. The 
chalk so abundant in the Paris basin is full of them; a cubic 
inch from the quarries of Chantilly was found to contain about 
20,000; that is, a block rather more than a yard each way, would 
be the mausoleum of the enormous number of 20,000,000,000 
creatures. When passing by a house which is being pulled down, or 
one which is in course of construction, we are enveloped in a cloud 
of dust; and when we draw in our breath, we swallow hundreds of 
these little creatures. As the chalk from these quarries has served to 
build Paris, as well as the towns and villages of the neighbouring 
departments, it may be said that Paris and other great centres of 
population which surround it, are built with the shells of micro- 
scopic animals. The pyramids of Egypt are made of the same 
stone, based upon rocks of the same kind. The foraminifera are the 
ereat agents in forming the very ground we tread on, the houses we 
build, and the edifices we hand down to posterity. Each animalcule 
has furnished its solid grain, each race has deposited an all but im- 
perceptible bed, and God, who rules over the work, has gathered 
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