:224 Till-: AMERICAN MONTHLY | AiiK-, 



Larcoiiloa, yi-l 1(» of the 27 faiiiilics of this le)^i(»n art> represented, 

 and these U» faniilies inelude no h'ss than 'J'J() of the 'iV>7 genera 

 belonging to this legion. Again, in the U«gion Nasskllauia. all 

 of the 4 families «if Stephoidea are represented. 8 of the 4 fami- 

 lies of Spyroitiea, all of the .'> families of Hotryodea, and all of 

 the 9 faniilies ofCyrtoidca. Of the 20 families of this legion, 

 therefore, no less than 10 are represented and these 10 families 

 inelude 2.')(> of the 274 genera of Nasskllahia. One-third of all 

 the genera and 3') of the 47 families, of hoth legions, under 

 which are included 476 of the 571 genera. What more could 

 any stutlent ask than that? Is there another deposit in the 

 world of any kind so rich as that ? Instead of iiaving to secure 

 material from a score of locsilities, all one needs to do is to get 

 some of this Barhadoes. earth in order to gain a very compre- 

 hensive idea t)f the fossil forms of this magnificent class, ''the 

 very nicest of all the Protozoa," as Haeckel iiimsclf wrote not 

 long since. Add to this the ease of manipulation, for that earth 

 is just the nicest sort of material to clean — and, finally, consider 

 that the classification of these forms has been worked out and 

 the whole subject brought well up to date (1887), and I think 

 all will agree with me that there could hardly be a more satis- 

 factory study for an amateur to settle upon. It seems almost 

 too bad that the discovery, description, and classification of 

 these forms of Barhadoes, which belong to the New World, 

 should have been left to naturalists of the Old World. Not 

 that we grudge them one iota of the honor but that we ought 

 not to have left it to them to tell us about our own treasures. 

 But now that they have brought them to our notice, it will be 

 little less than a crying shame if we neglect them in the future, 

 as they have been neglected in the past in this country'. Nearly 

 half a century ago, Robert Schomburg discovered this " richest 

 of all the imjiortant Radiolarian deposits." As far back as 1847, 

 Ehrenbcrg described no less than 282 species from it, and, in 

 1854 published figures of some 33 species. In 1860 and 1861, 

 Mrs. Bury discovered no less than 141 si)ecies more, which had 

 been entirely overlooked by Ehrenberg, and took the pains to 

 draw them herself; and, in 1862 these forms were photographed 

 from the original drawings by Messrs. Negretti and Zambra, 

 and the atlas given to the world. In 1873, Ehrenberg published 

 descriptions of 265 species, and in 1875, he put forth a work 



