106 REMINISCENCES OF 



numerous large and conspicuous examples of the 

 Foramina, to which the group owes its name of 

 " Foraminifera." I had already obtained a transla- 

 tion of Ehrenberg's original memoirs on the forma- 

 tion of chalk, in which work similar specimens were 

 figured ; but this was the first real one that I had 

 seen. I at once put myself in communication with 

 Mr. Reckitt, of Boston, from whom Mr. Sidebotham 

 had received the above specimen. That gentleman 

 forwarded to me a small supply of the Levant mud, 

 every grain of which I carefully preserved in a series 

 of microscopic slides, and at once began to make 

 drawings of the characteristic objects which these 

 slides contained. I soon found myself on the 

 threshold of an important investigation, and promptly 

 threw my old "Culpepper" overboard, and mustered 

 courage to purchase one of Dancer's best micro- 

 scopes. Whether for good or for evil, I was obvi- 

 ously drawn into a current of microscopic investiga- 

 tion, which brought along with it a large circle of 

 scientific correspondents, who, knowing the work on 

 which I was engaged, supplied me with materials for 

 examination from various quarters of the globe. I 

 was especially thus aided by Professor Bailey, of the 

 Military College of West Point, U.S. ; by Charles 

 Darwin, who had just returned from his South 

 American investigations ; Mr. Ralfs, the micro- 

 botanist ; Mr. Edward Charles Worth ; Drs. Car- 

 penter and Mantell, and Mr. Harris, of Charing, in 

 Kent. The result was the production of a memoir 



