28 MICROSCOPICAL OBJECTS FOUND 



Hancock, in the work now publishing by the 

 Ray Society.* 



Foraminifera. — The most abundant as well as 

 the most striking organisms belonging to the 

 Levant deposit are the Foraminifera, or Polytha- 

 lamia; — interesting from their individual peculiari- 

 ties, and important from their geological relations. 



Zoologists have long been acquainted with the 

 existence of recent and fossil forms of microscopic 

 chambered shells from almost every European 

 country. Stobseus had arranged the Nummulites 

 amongst the corals,f thus anticipating later disco- 

 veries. In 1732 Breyn pointed out the resem- 

 blance between many of the forms and the 

 recent Nautilus, which view was also adopted 

 by Gesner. In the same century Soldani had 

 minutely investigated those of the Mediterranean, 

 treading in the steps of Plancus and others who had 

 led the way ;| and between the years 1789 and 

 1799 he published his large work on the subject. 



* See Goniodoris nodosa — Table 18, fig. 11, and Polycera 

 ocellata — Table 23, fig. 8. Monograph on the British 

 Nudibranchiate Mollusca. 



f In Opusculis. 



X Annales des Sciences Naturelles. 1826. Vol. vii., p. 102. 



