107 



the older rocks of the hill country to the south of Quorn. The 

 discovery of Radiolaria in the cherty nodules of the Crystal 

 Brook limestones, as well as in the siliceous limestones of 

 Brighton, has opened a new chapter in the palaeontology of the 

 older rocks of the colony. At the instant when Professor David 

 and myself thought that in this discovery we had secured organic 

 remains in rocks of Archaean age, the find of Cambrian fossils 

 shortly afterwards in the associated beds has rendered this con- 

 clusion exceedingly doubtful. 



Our review of the present position of the Society is over- 

 shadowed with two regrets. First, that the number of those who 

 either actively or by Fellowship with the Society show practical 

 sympathy with scientific research is so small — a roll of 75 con- 

 tributing Fellows cannot be regarded as satisfactory in this 

 respect ; and second, scientific investigators have reason to be 

 discouraged that the financial resources of our Society — the only 

 Society in the colony devoted to the cause of original research — 

 are inadequate for the effective illustration of scientific discoveries 

 which may have occupied years of patient labor. The scientific 

 investigator takes upon himself honorary and onerous duties, and 

 is content to find his reward in the pleasures of his work and the 

 privilege of adding to the sum of human knowledge. All he 

 asks in return for his voluntary labors is the means of communi- 

 cating his special knowledge by a suitable channel to others. 

 During recent years original observations of great scientific value 

 have been held back from publication through this lack of mone- 

 tary means, and unless in the near future the burden is shared 

 by a larger circle in the community, we shall witness the 

 humiliating consequences that discoveries of great national 

 interest will have to go to foreign societies to obtain a voice in 

 the scientific world. 



I would now crave your indulgence for a short time whilst 

 reviewing in a brief manner some 



RECENT RESEARCHES BEARING ON THE FORAMINIFERA. 



Much interest attaches to the occurrence of the Rhizopoda in 

 the older stratified rocks. We may, therefore, in the first place, 

 draw attention to our present knowledge of 



The Early Geological History of the Foraminifera. 

 The lowly organisation of these protean forms of life is sugges- 

 tive of a remote ancestry that may possibly take us back link by 

 link in an unbroken chain of vitality to the pregnant moment that 

 witnessed the dawn of life on this planet. On evolutional grounds 

 we may plausibly infer that there was a time when the Protozoa 

 formed the characteristic — perhaps the only type of animal life on 

 the earth — a protozoan age that antedated the age of the higher 



