Canal-system in Foraminifera. 67 



Minute Structure of a Species of Faiijasina" the form now- 

 known as Rotalia Schrceteriana, in which he gave a complete 

 and accurate account, with admirable figures, of the remarkable 

 canal-system of wdiat may be regarded as the most highly 

 organized form of the Rotalian type. 



Tims before Mr. Carter's paper of 1852 the " nummuline 

 tubulation " and the " canal-system " of the Operculine and 

 Rotalian types and an important part of that of Nummulina, 

 as well as all that concerned the general structure of these, had 

 been thoroughly worked out. It is no part of our present 

 purpose to examine critically what Mr. Carter's paper really 

 added to the facts established by previous observers ; we have 

 followed his researches in no unappreciative spirit : nor do we 

 wish it to be inferred that living in India, as he was at that 

 time, the papers published only a year or two previous to his 

 own had prompted or guided his investigations : in a word, we 

 do not desire in any way to detract from the originality of his 

 work, except so far as in the memoir itself he acknowledges 

 previous investigations ; but whatever might be the case then, 

 it cannot be right now, with the opportunity at hand of 

 ascertaining how far his published results really had priority, 

 to ignore the main facts of the papers we have quoted. 



The value of Mr. Carter's labours seems to us to have been 

 justly stated in Carpenter's ' Introduction;' and the researches 

 of the three observers we have named are placed in honourable 

 companionship by D'Archiac and Haime, in their classical 

 work on Nummulites (published a year after Mr. Carter's 

 paper) , in the following terms : — 



" L'e'tude de la structure intime des Nummulites a fait de 

 veritables progres par suite des recherches de M. W. C. William- 

 son, de M. W. B. Carpenter et de M. Carter." 



We may just add that the appeal to Max Schultze's work 

 in confirmation of priority is not very fortunate ; for the same 

 three observers are all mentioned in the same paragraph, the 

 opening sentence of which is " Eine Erwahnung verclient 

 hier das eigenthumliche System von Canalen welches Carter 

 in der Schale von Operculina arabica und Williamson an 

 einer Fanjasina beschrieben haben ; " and as the dates 1852 and 

 1851 respectively are given in the footnote, it cannot be said 

 that the learned German professor assigns priority in dis- 

 covery specially to Mr. Carter. 



We are, Gentlemen, 



Yours faithfully, 



W. K. Parker, 

 T. Rupert Jones, 

 Henry B. Brady. 

 5* 



