FORAMINIFEROUS DEPOSIT AT CHARING. 363 
what Dr. Mantell’s observations had led me to expect, the 
actual remains of the animals, of exquisite beauty in form 
and symmetrical development. The minute kinds in the 
_Porebunder stone do not average more than 54, of an inch 
in diameter ; and the composite forms are held together by 
thread-like attachments, which indicate the tubular commu- 
nications that existed between them when living.” * 
_ Foraminirerovs Deposit at Cuarine. Lign. 109.—The 
little town of Charing, in Kent, has acquired a celebrity 
among those naturalists who are interested in the present 
inquiry, by the researches of William Harris, Esq. F.G.S. 
who some years since made known the existence of a remar k- 
able deposit of chalk detritus, about one foot in thickness, 
which extends over the outcrop or exposed surface of the 
firestone in that locality. 
, This bed consists of a soft, whitish, tenacious clay, which, 
when immersed in water, is found to be largely composed of 
“minute grains, that prove to be foraminifera. These shells 
belong to many species and genera ; and are associated with 
| the cases of entomostraceous crustaceans, spicula of sponges, 
: 
: 
&e. The organisms readily separate from the amorphous 
- particles by washing, and specimens may be easily obtained 
_as distinct and pediect as ifrecent. See Lign. 109, ante, p.342. 
Intermingled with the cretaceous forms, are minute fresh- 
; water shells, apparently derived from a modern source. 
_ The Charing deposit appears to have originated from the 
action of water on the unconsolidated chalk of the neigh- 
_ bouring Downs, before the surface of the hills was protected 
_by a covering of vegetable soil. 
Through the liberality of Mr. Harris, I have been able to 
_ examine an extensive series of the Charing Foraminifera ; 
and Prof. Williamson has figured and described the pean 
ee eR Sy. 
ia 
* “On the Existence of Beds of Foraminifera, Recent and Fossil, 
e on the South-East coast of Arabia,” by H. J. Carter, Esq. ; Proceedings 
of the Bombay Royal Asiatic Society, 1848, 
