PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 379 



the genus in oolitic rocks of both Carboniferous and Jurassic ages, 

 and he also described several new forms. Another paper by Wethered {Jc) 

 dealt with the Inferior Oolite of the Cotteswolds, and Girvanella was 

 recorded generally throughout the beds, but especially in the pea-grit 

 series. In the Devonian limestones of England Girvanella appears to 

 be exceedingly rare, so far as Wethered's observations extended ; (I) 

 however, he has recorded and figured {loc. cit. pi. IX., fig. 3) a fasciculate 

 tubular organism, which he considered suggestive of an alga, from the 

 limestone of Hopes Nose, Devonshire. The diameter of the tubes in 

 this form are comparable with some of those found in the Victoiian 

 limestones, and the fossil is no doubt referable to Girvanella. Wethered 

 described other occurrences of Girvanella in the Wenlock limestone 

 of May Hill, West Malvern, and Ledbury, {m) and showed it to be 

 of considerable importance as a rock-forming organism in that 

 formation. In the Wenlock limestone Girvanella generally encrusts 

 detrital organic fragments, and two kinds of tubules, large and small, 

 are often associated in the same aggregate. (n) 



In Australia the remains of Girvanella have been previously 

 described from South Australian rocks of Cambrian age by R. 

 Etheridge, jun..(o) from the Carboniferous oolite of Lion Creek, 

 Stanweil, near Rockhampton, Queensland, and in oolitic rock from 

 County Murchison, New South Wales, bv Messrs. R. Etheridge, jun., 

 and G. W. Card.(p) 



PUBLISHED VIEWS OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF 

 GIRVANELLA. 



Rhizopoda. — The original authors of the genus, Messrs. Nicholson 

 and Etheridge, jun., were of the opinion that Girvanella found its 

 nearest alliance with the Rhizopoda, and especially with the genus 

 Hyperanimina, Brady. (g') This view was also taken by Dr. H. B. Brady, 

 who supported it by making a critical comparison with the recent 

 H. vagans ; (r) and, in again referring to Girvanella in his Report on 

 the Challenger Foraminitera, he says {s) — "' It is more than probable 

 that the Silurian organism to which the provisional name Girvanella has 

 been given by Nicholson and Etheridge may be a somewhat minute 

 variety of the type closely allied to Hyperammina vagans; and similar 

 forms more distinctly characterised have been found by Dr. Haeusler 

 in the Jurassic rocks of Switzerland." Brady further expresses the 

 opinion {loc. cit., p. 261) that Nicholson and Etheridge's '" description 

 applies in every particular to such specimens of Hyperammina vagans 

 as are represented in figures 7 and 8 [Rep. Chall.'] ; and the specific 



{k) Wethered ('91), p. 550. (I) Wethered ('92), p. 378. 



(m) Wethered ('93), p. 23G. 

 (n) The present writer has found, however, a j^ellet-forming Girvanella in 

 the Wenlock limestone of Dudley — see postea, p. 384. 



(o) Etheridge, jun. ('90), pp. 19, 20. 

 (p) Etheridge, jun., and Card ('00), pp. 26, 27, 32. 

 (q) Nich. and Eth., jun. ('80), p. 24. 

 (r) Nich and Eth. jun. ('80), p. 23. (s) Brady ('84), p. 257. 



