100 Mr. H. J. Carter on Ramulina parasitica. 



appear to be elements of reproduction in a state of germina- 

 tion, only one of which, however, has so far advanced as to 

 produce a test which is recognizable, and this is a Nautiloid 

 form consisting of the primary cell and two following cham- 

 bers, altogether measuring about 1 -360th inch in its longest 

 diameter ; so that if the surface of the section presents one of 

 these the whole cavity may contain many more ; nor does it 

 appear likely tliat this one had come from the exterior, for 

 besides the apparently closed and unfractured state of the 

 chamber it is not likely that the reproductive body would 

 return for germination to that or any other chamber of the 

 Nummulite in which it was produced. 



By what course the reproductive bodies of the Foramini- 

 fera are eliminated also remains to be discovered, or whether 

 the test becomes effete like that of the Mycetozoa and fresh- 

 water Rhizopoda. That the latter appears to be the case is 

 indicated by the great number of empty tests and the few 

 filled with the living animal that I found in the bed of Oper- 

 cidina arahica on the south-east coast of Arabia (' Annals,' 

 1852, vol. X. p. 168), and especially by the beds of Numrau- 

 lites whose enormous thicknesses have given rise to the term 

 " Nummulitic Series." 



Tlius UamuUna parasitica in an evolutionary point of 

 view seems to be an initiatory form of the Foraminifera, 

 and in organization ranks with the Mycetozoa and the fresh- 

 water Rhizopoda. 



N.B. — The t^'pe specimens referred to in the above paper, 

 consisting of a slide and a small thin fragment about K^-12th3 

 by 7-12ths inch square, polished on both sides, have been 

 deposited in the Geological Department of the British Mu- 

 seum, and the two large " hand-specimens '^ fi-om which they 

 were taken, marked " H. 47. 83 " and " H. 47. 84 " respec- 

 tively, have been returned to the museum of the Geological 

 Survey of India at Calcutta. Also the type specimens to 

 which I have referred in each of my last six papers in 

 the ' Annals ' have been deposited in the same department 

 of the British Museum. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE VIH. 



I^.B. — All the illustrations are necessarily more or less diagrammatifi, 

 from the minutene-s of the objects, but with as little deviation from the 

 natural characters as possible. 



Fig. 1. RaviuHna parasitica, n. sp., lobes vaiying under l-360th inch in 



