DISCOVERY REPORTS 



A PROVISIONAL NOTE ON FOSSIL FORAMINIFERA 

 DREDGED FROM THE WEDDELL SEA 



By W. A. MACFADYEN, M.C., Ph.D. 



Eight specimens were kindly sent to me for study, by Mr Arthur Earland. Nos. I, II and III (the 

 last two mounted in a transparent medium), were dredged at " Scotia " St. 406, 72° 18' S, 17° 59' W, 

 in 1 131 fathoms; nos. IV-VIII at St. 416, 71° 22' S, 18° 15' W, in 2370 fathoms. 



So far as can be seen all are of essentially the same form, though there is some not inconsiderable 

 variation amongst them, which may be in part due to the different amounts of rolling. No. I has the 

 earlier part of the test missing. No. VII appears to have been partially crushed during fossilization. 

 Nos. I, II, III, VI and VII seem to be rolled and worn. 



Description 



The test consists of a simple, rather stout, rectilinear series of from 6 to 1 1 short chambers. In 

 cross section it is more or less circular, though the smallest specimen. No. V particularly, shows 

 appreciable flattening that appears to be original and not accidental. The chambers increase rapidly 

 in diameter from the rounded proloculus, but the final one or two are sometimes of lesser diameter than 

 the preceding chamber, i.e. in Nos. II, VI and VII. 



The wall of the test is smoothly finished, though it is composed of small, angular quartz grains 

 set in little cement. This was most clearly shown in one specimen. No. VIII, that was accidentally 

 crushed. The wall does not react visibly with dilute hydrochloric acid, so that the cement is 

 presumably not calcareous. 



The two best preserved specimens, Nos. IV and V, show the sutures depressed, and the chambers 

 somewhat inflated between them, particularly in No. V. The chambers are completely covered with 

 an ornament of vertical striations. The initial and final chambers of even these two, however, appear 

 to be broken. 



No definite aperture is visible on any shell. Mounted in a transparent medium, no internal struc- 

 ture can be made out, though the tests are fairly transparent. 



The specimens vary from 0-25 to 0-45 mm. in length and from o- 1 1 to o- 19 mm. in greatest breadth. 



Affinities 



The form appears most to resemble the genus Monogenerina, Spandel (1901). Unfortunately this 

 genus is not adequately known, particularly as regards the material of which the test is composed. 

 M. texana, Cushman and Waters (1928, Journ. Palaeont., ii, p. 363, pi. xlviii, figs, i, 2), may be 

 compared, though it has no ornamentation of striae, is much more compressed, and the wall is said 

 to be perforate. 



Other genera that may also be compared are Nodosinella, Brady, and Cribrogenerina, Schubert. 

 As regards the external form it may be compared with such fossils as Nodosaria irwinensis, Howchin 

 (1895, Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Australia, xix, p. 196, pi. x, figs. 7, 8), Nodosaria striato-clavata, Spandel 

 (1898), Verlagdes Verlags-Instituts " General-Anzeiger", Nurnberg, p. 9, text-fig. 6), which has been 

 referred to the subgenus Spandelinoides by Cushman and Waters, 1928; and Spandelina {Spandeli- 

 noides) striatella, Cushman and Waters {loc. at., p. 368, pi. xlviii, figs. 12a, b). These three forms, 

 however, appear to possess calcareous tests. 



RJiapidionifia, Stache, is another genus externally similar, but this is a calcareous form with a 

 characteristic internal structure ; I am practically familiar with this genus, from the Lower Eocene of 

 British Somaliland, and it is clearly distinct. 



Owing to the lack of essential literature in Baghdad, and my practical unfamiliarity with several 

 of the above genera, of which examples are not at the moment available for direct comparison, it is 

 difficult to carry the investigation farther at present. 



