406 HENRY B. BRADY. 



parasitic types of Foraminifera in connection with my work 

 upon the Rhizopod fauna of the Carboniferous rocks, and I 

 had arrived at the conclusion that adherent growth, at one 

 period of life or another, was a much more common and 

 more significant character in this group of organisms than 

 has hitherto been supposed. It was therefore of interest to 

 ascertain not on]j what species of Foraminifera were present, 

 but how many of them, if any, were really parasitic, and not 

 simply entangled in the meshes of the weed amongst which 

 they had lived, or adherent by the mucilaginous matter 

 coating the surface. The piece of the alga which had been 

 separated, consisting chiefly of the root and the commence- 

 ment of the larger branches, was therefore put into warm 

 water and allowed to macerate for twenty-four hours, by 

 which time it had swollen to its original size. Repeated 

 sharp agitation during the maceration served to liberate 

 most of the Foraminifera. It was then cut into little pieces, 

 and the filaments of a conferva with which it had been asso- 

 ciated in growth were carefully removed, the pieces were put 

 into a sieve and washed under a strong stream of warm 

 water from a tap, using every means even to the extent of 

 some violence to dislodge anything that had not some con- 

 nection with the surface of the plant beyond mere chance 

 adhesion. The specimens that remained were comparatively 

 few in number, and pertained to a limited range of species, 

 but for the most part they had evidently lived in the para- 

 sitic condition in which they were found. They were chiefly 

 the young of Orbitolites complanata and Cymbalopora Poeyi, 

 M'ith small examples of Planorbulina Mediterranensis. The 

 last-named needs no comment, as it is an essentially para- 

 sitic species, but I am not aware that either Orbitolites or 

 Cymbalopora has ever before been noticed in this condition. 

 The little specimen of Cymbalopora might have passed for 

 the fry of one of the other Rotalian genera, but for the 

 presence of larger specimens of the same species. 



