62 THE FOEAMINIFERA 



classifying the Foraminifera by the selection of 

 central types, Brady says : ' The study of the 

 Foraminifera as assemblages of forms grouped round 

 a comparatively small number of central or typical 

 species, as advocated by Carpenter and his colleagues, 

 is, I am convinced, the only means of arriving at a 

 correct understanding of the biological relations of 

 the group ; but this mode of treatment, whilst 

 determining the general lines of classification, 

 furnishes no direct basis for the construction of a 

 synopsis suited to the requirements of the systematic 

 zoologist. The scheme which I now venture to 

 propose differs in many respects somewhat widely 

 from that foreshadowed by the authors referred to, 

 but in its essential elements there is little or nothing 

 that is incompatible with the conclusions the}'' have 

 so ably expounded; and I have the satisfaction of 

 knowing that it has their general approval. Every 

 attempt to arrange in single series a class of 

 organisms of which the constituent groups are apt to 

 run in parallel lines, or even sometimes to form, 

 morphologically speaking, independent circlets, is of 

 necessity open to objection at one point or other; 

 and the aim of the systematist is well attained if the 

 anomalies and inconsistencies are slight, and are 

 confined to matters of small zoological importance.'^ 



Sub-kingdom— PKOTOZOA. 



Class — EfflzopoDA. 



Order — Foraminifera (Keticularia). 



' See Report Challenger, vol. ix. ' Zoology,' 1884, p. 58. 



