26 -TERRA NOVA" EXPEDITION. 



1. INTRODUCTION. 



(i) MATERIAL. 



Seven years have passed siuce we received from the preseut Dh-ector of the 

 Natural History Museum fifty-four tubes and forty-three jars of varying sizes 

 containing material for examination and report. The work has necessarily been 

 retarded by the War, but has resulted in the recording of more than 650 species 

 and varieties of Foraminifera, forty-six of which are new to Science. 



Before the Expedition started we were consulted as to the best methods of 

 collecting, and gladly gave the results of many years' experience, but circumstances 

 appear to have rendered impossible any serious attempt at the collection of 

 foraminiferous material. Apart from the tubes containing the '" cores " of 

 soundings (which are of little value from a faunistic point of view), and a few 

 sands from the New Zealand coastal area, the material received consisted 

 principally of sandy debris, evidently the residuum from gatherings of assorted 

 Benthos, and usually " preserved " m formalm, than which no more unsatisfactory 

 medium for the "preservation" of Foraminifera can be imagined. 



Now such debris is of course forammiferous, often rich, but as compared with 

 specially collected material it is extremely difficult to clean, and the results are 

 often fragmentary. Neither tune nor trouble was spared in the tedious processes 

 mvolved, but from the point of view of specialists we can only view the results 

 as a tantalising sketch of the possibilities which would have attended upon an 

 ample supply of properly collected Antarctic material. 



The method of preparation employed was to wash the material on graded 

 sieves rangmg down to sUk gauze of 160 meshes to the linear inch. The material 

 thus retained is referred to in the subsequent report as '"' Sieves,'" while the finest 

 mud, passing through the sUk gauze, and subsequently separated by means of 

 a filter-paper, is described as " Residues." 



It may be noted here that we received no material whatever from five of 

 the " Antarctic Benthos " Stations in the Official List, but we have received facilities 

 for examming some of the Sponges collected at these Stations for sessile species. 

 Also that three jars of material were entirely unlocated and some others bore 

 no Station numbers. These were successfully placed by a comparison of the 

 faima contained. 



Our researches have confronted us with several notable lacunae. Conspicuous 

 by their absence, for example, are Miliolina hicornis, Keramosphaera miirrayi, Hyper- 

 ammina friabilis, Candeina nitida, Anomalina ammonoides, and Pulvinulina 

 menardii, all of which have been recorded from similar localities by Chapman 

 or by Pearcey. 



A striking feature o[ our records is the occurrence of arenaceous isomorphs 

 of various forms hitherto known only as porcellanous or hyalme. These have 



