Pay YO a 
SOFT BODIES OF FORAMINIFERA. 359 
stance of frequent occurrence in Ammonites, Nautili, and 
even in the foraminifera ; for the latter are often filled with 
chalk, flint, silicate of iron, crystal, &c. as in Lign. 116. In 
these instances, I conceive the shells were either empty 
when immersed in the fluid chalk or flint, or speedily became 
80 by the decomposition of the soft parts of the animal. 
But in the fossils under consideration, I believe the live 
animal was suddenly enveloped, and hermetically sealed, as 
it were, in its shell, and that putrefaction was thus prevented. 
The uniformity in colour, and the structure of the substance 
in the cells, appeared to me incompatible with its assumed 
mineral origin, and | resolved to follow up the inquiry by 
an examination of Rotaliz in chalk ; in the hope that by 
dissolving the shell in acid (as in recent foraminifera), the 
body of the animal might be detected in an unmineralized 
state. After many fruitless attempts, several examples of 
Lien. 118. THE Sort BopiEs oF FORAMINIFERA; EXTRACTED FROM CHALK: 
highly magnified. 
(Viewed by transmitted light.) 
Fig. 1.—An exquisite example of the body of a Roraxta ; the sacs 
partially collapsed. 
2.—Body of a Roraxta; the sacs distended with a dark gra- 
nular substance. 
the soft bodies of Rotalize were obtained from the grey chalk 
of Dover, in an extraordinary state of preservation. * 
* To Henry Deane, Esq. of Clapham Common, I am indebted for 
some of the most illustrative specimens hitherto obtained. 
