a new Species of Fo ram in if era. 317 



Absolutely circular it seldom is, from the presence of a slight 

 indentation at one part, which seems to correspond to that 

 seen on the' circumferential line of nautiloid Foraminifera, 

 with which we shall presently endeavour to identify it. 



Then the columnar part may be erect, sloping, or bent down 

 to one side (fig. 2 a), or more or less irregular in form ; but all 

 these differences are so slight, that, whether young or old, 

 straight or crooked, deformed or symmetrical, there is no diffi- 

 culty in recognizing the animal as the same, when once the 

 nature and general form of SquamuUna scopula has been 

 ascertained. In some cases, too, this may be modified by the 

 injury to which this delicate little organism must be exposed 

 when hurled upon the shore ; for the head in some specimens 

 is much larger than in others, owing frequently, although not 

 always, to the extent to which the fragile spicules have been 

 broken ofli" by the Avaves. Indeed it has often seemed to me 

 wonderful that any of these delicate little objects of the Lami- 

 marian zone should ever reach the shore in safety. Certainly 

 myriads of them must be ground to powder, and thus dis- 

 appear amidst the sand and pebbles with which they are tossed 

 about in the land-wash, long before any of them are thrown 

 up beyond the reach of the sea. Yet, but for heavy gales of 

 wind, combined wuth head-growth and frequent decay of the 

 roots of the fuci, we should never know what much of this 

 zone contains in the way of either animal or vegetative life, 

 since the dredge cannot be used among the rocks, and the 

 constant waving to and fro of the fronds of the fuci, even in 

 an almost motionless sea, defies all attempts to recognize any 

 thing minute much below the surface, and renders every effort 

 to oljtain it direct from this zone almost useless. 



Food. — I have stated that the spicular head might strain 

 the water passing through it, and thus collect much soft ma- 

 terial of a nutritive nature, either living or dead, so that the 

 animal would only have to extend its pseudopodia up the spi- 

 cules to seize and draw it into its body. But, in addition to 

 this, there is hardly an instance in which remnants of Diato- 

 maceje are not present in the interior, consisting (for the 

 most part certainly, as before stated) of the disks and fila- 

 ments of Mehsira^ together with portions of the decaying 

 fucus, thus indicating a power of obtaining food beyond that 

 which may be provided by the straining arrangement of the 

 spicules. Indeed, prior to the formation of the head of spi- 

 cules at all must be the formation of the pedestal and lower 

 part of the column, which distinctly points out that the ani- 

 mal, from the very commencement, has the means of catching 

 those particles which, floating by it, are found best subservient 



