PIIOCEEDINGS or SOClliTlKS. 141 



he mentioned that at one time they had been included in the 

 Mollusca, but had now, in consequence of the discovery of their 

 true character, been reduced to a much lower class ; their animal 

 structure consisting of a simple mass of " sarcode," or animated 

 slime, exhibiting no trace of digestive apparatus or reproductive 

 organs ; and their position, according to the latest authorities on 

 the animal kingdom, being that of lihizopods closely allied to 

 sponges. The calcareous skeletons common to these animals 

 having been noticed, the various systems of classifying them were 

 referred to, and the orders into which they are divided by 

 D'Orbigny, dependent on the forms of the shells, detailed, and a 

 minute description of the animals taken from his works given, at- 

 tention being directed to the modes of growi;h of the shells in 

 segments, their being pierced for filaments or tentacles, and 

 their material being sometimes opaque and sometimes transparent. 

 The paper concluded with an account of the various localities in 

 which these organisms are found in the recent or fossil state ; the 

 sea-sands and bed being covered with the former, and large tracts 

 of the latter existing in Italy, America, and other places. The 

 author also recommended sponge-sand, as containing enormous 

 numbers of Foraminifera. Mr. Legg subsequently gave an oral de- 

 scription of a great number of diagrams and specimens, and ex- 

 plained his method of separating the shells from sand by sifting 

 through wire gauze of different degrees of fineness. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, Manchester, 



Microscopical Section. 



December I7tk, 1860. — Letters were read from Sir Leojxjld Mc. 

 Clintock, Mr. J. W. Eead, of the Admiralty, and Dr. Wallich, who 

 accompanied the former in the £^dl Dog, in the late expedition to 

 the North Seas. Dr. "Wallich kindly presented to the section a few 

 copies of his pamphlet on "Life in the Deep Sea," now circulating 

 amongst the members. 



A letter was also read from Captain M. F. Maury, of the U.S. 

 Navv, promising to supply envelopes for soundings amongst the 

 sperm whalers and other vessels trading to the Pacific Ocean, &c. 



Specimens of incrustations from the boilers of the steamer Edin- 

 hurcjli, trading from Glasgow and Liverpool to New York ; from the 

 steamer Rlione, from Liverpool to Venice, Trieste, &c.; and from the 

 steamer MinJio, from Liverpool to Lisbon and Oporto, were received 

 from Mr. W. A. Hayman, of Liverpool. The incrustations are as 

 hard as marble, breaking with a crystalline fracture, and showing, by 

 different-coloured strata, the crust obtained from harbours and from 

 the open sea. Mr. Dale stated that the component parts of the in- 

 crustations are sulphates of limej magnesia, &c.;he recommended 



