rOKAMINlFERA OF TASMANIA. 347 



observers, and it is difficult to say with exactness the respective 

 geological range of the tvpo genera. The oldest record for 

 Spirallina is in the Lower Tertiary (or Eocene), and is limited at 

 this horizon to the rocks of South Australia and Victoria, whilst 

 fossils attributed to Cornuspira have been noted by several 

 observers in the Liassic rocks of England and the Continent. In 

 Eocene strata, and later, Cornuspira is an extremely common form 

 in both hemispheres. Cornuspira involvens is the simplest and 

 commonest member of the genus, and, in the absence of any clear 

 evidence of perforation, we think it better to classify the objects 

 under consideration as above.* 



XODOSARIA (?) RADICULA (Linne). 



It is evident from the sections that some Nodosarian form is not 

 uncommon in the rock. They have been cut at various angles. 

 When taken in transverse section they exhibit a perfectly circular 

 outline; others are inclined to the plane of the section, and show a 

 limited number of chambers cut obliquely; and in two instances 

 the longitudinal axis of the object and the plane of section have 

 been nearly coincident. As far as can be judged, the test is 

 straight, or nearly so. The best example is shown on Plate X., 

 near the top, where it will be seen that eight rectilineal segments 

 have been included, with a slight indication of a ninth chamber. 

 The segments are sub-globular, tapering, and with slight septal 

 constrictions. These features point to ^Y. radicula, to which the 

 species may be provisionally assigned. This species has been 

 already recorded from the Permian of Durham and Germany. The 

 section figured of this form by Mr. Brady ("Carboniferous and 

 Permian-ForHminifera," PI. X., Fig. 9) from the magnesian lime- 

 stone (Upper Permian) of Durham agrees very closely with the one 

 reproduced from the Permo-Carboniferous of Tasmania, the line 

 of section through the object in the last-named not being quite so 

 central as in the case of Mr. Brady's figure. Another member of 

 the genus, N. Jarcimen, also joossesses a very high antiquity in the 

 geological series, occurring not only in the magnesian limestone of 

 Durham, but was discovered by the authorj- in the " D. Lime- 

 stone " (Lower Carboniferous) of Xorthumberland, in which it was 

 very rare. This is the oldest record for the genus. 



Scanty as is the material at our disposal for determining the 

 foraminiferal fauna of the Permo-Carboniferous rocks of Australia, 

 it is of special interest, so far as it goes, as being the first instance 

 in Avhich there has been any record of Palaeozoic foraminifera in 



* In a letter to me, Mr. Stephens says: — " When breaking up a large block of the rock 

 ■when I first came across it, a quite perfect forarainifer dropped out, shaped something like 

 a small £uomphalus, and about the size of a small pin's head. This, unfortunately, got 

 lost, and I never found another specimen like it." This descripti(m applies with great 

 appropriateness to Cornuspira invnlvetis. 



t "Additions to the Knowledge of Carboniferous Foraminifera," by W. Howchin, F.G.S., 

 Jour. Koy. Micro. Soe., August, J888. PI. IX., Fig. 21. 



