192 Mr. H. B. Brady on Orbitolites italica. 



bable that the species will be found again in the same or 

 similar deposits. Should the view which I have taken 

 prove correct, the specific name 'italica ' will of course take 

 precedence of ' tenuissima.^ Costa himself appears to have 

 been in great doubt about the Foraminiferal nature of the 

 organism, and suggests that it may even belong to the vege- 

 table kingdom." 



Before the publication of the Cliallenger Keport I had 

 been in correspondence with my friend Prof. Seguenza, of 

 Messina, the recognized authority on all matters connected 

 Avith the paljeontology of Southern Italy and Sicily, not less 

 on Microzoa than on the larger fossils, but he was unable at 

 the time to furnish any information on the subject of Costa's 

 figures. Early in the present year, however, I chanced to be 

 myself at Messina, when I again brought the question under 

 his notice ; and subsequently, on looking over a collection of 

 Tertiary rock-specimens, he discovered on the fractured sur- 

 face of one a discoidal fossil bearing a strong resemblance to 

 the drawings referred to. He was kind enough to give me 

 the specimen, and its examination since my return leaves no 

 kind of doubt that it belongs to the species described in the 

 ' Paleontologia,' and, further, that it is identical with the 

 Orbitolites tenuissima of Carpenter. The rock is a friable 

 limestone largely composed of Microzoa, and by splitting it 

 carefully fragments of two or three other examples of the 

 same form have been obtained. The fact that the species 

 has not been observed more frequently in Tertiary deposits 

 is no doubt due to the extreme fragility of the shell, and to 

 the process of disintegration, by washing and otherwise, to 

 which fossil material is generally subjected as a preliminary 

 to microscopical examination. 



We have now two localities for Orhitolites italica as a 

 fossil : — Seguenza's specimens are from the Upper Miocene of 

 Castanea, near Messina ; Costa's were from the Tertiary marls 

 of the mainland opposite, namely Heggio, in Calabria. It is 

 interesting to note that the species is still living at many 

 points in the Mediterranean, and that it has been dredged in 

 comparatively shallow water, 100 to 200 fathoms, near the 

 coast of Sicily. 



I may add that I have placed the specimens given to me by 

 Professor Seguenza with the collection of Foraminifera exhibi- 

 ted in the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. 



Savile Club, Piccadilly, 



Aug. 1886. 



