Remarks on the Foraminifera. By Prof. T. Rupert Jones. 65 



general kinship pervading the whole Foraminiferal family. Nor 

 does relationship end here ; for there are among these Ehizopods 

 structures and habits analogous to, if not identical with, those of 

 other Protozoa. Thus the spicular contents of Carpenteria, Poh/- 

 trema, and Siromatocerium (if not accidental), and the internal 

 structure of some old fossil Patellinse [Orhitolinx) and Dactylo- 

 poridfe, point towards Sponges ; whilst the radial shells of Calcarina 

 and Tinoporus, and the basket-like or pierced shells of others not 

 so well known,* remind us of Pohjcystina, though the material be 

 diflferent. Nor should we forget that the PorceUana, protruding 

 their sarcode from one part only of the body, are, in so much, 

 more closely allied with their shell-less representatives, than with the 

 Hyalina and those Ehizopods which have sarcodic processes from 

 the general surface. At the same time we know that it is difficult 

 to define the relative value of pseudopodial characters, which do 

 not coincide with the absence or the development of those more 

 important organs, the " Nucleus " and " Contracting Vesicle," on 

 which Dr. Wallich has based a natural system of classification.! 

 No evidence of either organ having been found in Foraminifera 

 and Pohjcystina, they stand (as Herpnemata) low in the scale of 

 Ehizopods. A definite nucleus is present in the Protodermata, 

 comprising the Plagiacantliidm, Aeanthometrina, Thcdassicollina, 

 and Dactyochidw, leading towards Spongidse. Both nucleus and 

 contracting vesicle characterize the Proteina, as defined by Wallich, 

 comprising the Actinophryna {Actinophrys, Gromia, Lagynis, &c.), 

 and Amoehina {Amceba, Diffi-ugia, Arcella, &c.), and leading to 

 Infusoria. 



A new link between the Foraminifera and the Pohjcystina 

 appears to be indicated in the following extract from one of Dr. 

 Wyville Thomson's Eeports on the ' Challenger ' Expedition. | Oif 

 Japan, geing eastward [long, 167° E., lat. 35° N.], and before 

 turning south towards Honolulu, " on the 26th of June, we sounded 

 in 2800 fathoms. Several forms were met with [in the towing nets 

 below the surface] which apparently do not occur on the surface, 

 particularly a number of species of a group which is, so far as we 

 know, entirely undescribed. It seems to be intermediate between 

 the Eadiolarians and the Foraminifera, resembling the former in 

 the condition and appearance of the sarcode and in the siliceous com- 

 position of the test, and the latter in external form." The broken 

 tests were extremely abundant in the red clay of the bottom. § 



* Such as a fenestrated, lageniform, porcellanous Foraminifer, discovered by 

 M. Vanden Broeck, of Brussels, and the pierced Rotalines noticed by Ehrenberg 

 and Joseph Writjht. See ' Proci ed. Belfast Nat. Field Cluli,' ser. 2, vol. i., p. S7. 



t ' Aunals Nat. Hist.,' June 18G3, p. 439; 'Monthly IMicroscopical Journal,' 

 1865, &c. 



X 'Nature,' November 25, 1875, vol. xiii., p. 70. 



§ See also ' Prooctd. Roy. Soc.,' vol. xxiv., p. 35. 



