168 Mr. W. Clark on the recent Foraminifera. 



believe, introduced into that genus by myself ; the necks of the 

 typical Nodosari(S are strangulated, but generally so slightly as 

 scarcely to detract from their strength, and are consequently 

 usually found united. 



It has been stated that the rough sketch of Nodosaria lavis, in 

 my first paper on the Foraminifera, and which had no reference 

 to the exact outline of that species, and was merely intended to 

 illustrate the structure of this organism, has been mistaken by 

 me for a Nodosaria^ not the Icevis ; I therefore in decided terms 

 state, that the mistake is not with me, and that the fragment 

 which all authors constitute the Vermiculum lave of Montagu, 

 alias their Lagena lavis, is the true and identical object 1 have 

 seen in a stem of two, three, and four united nodules with elon- 

 gated necks. 



I exclude the family of the Miliolidce, hitherto and perhaps 

 correctly included in the Foraminifera ; I have them now under 

 investigation ; and will at present only observe, that whatever 

 their position may turn out to be, they are all inhabited by an 

 internal animal, as my observations on the buccal pouches of the 

 Dent alia sufficiently prove. 



I hasten to conclude with some remarks on the neglect in which 

 this microscopic branch of natural history has long been involved. 

 The causes that have prevented the due consideration of the ani- 

 mals of the Foraminifera, and their singularly beautiful orga- 

 nisms, are entirely owing to mistaken ideas of the difficulties at- 

 tendant on their investigation, the acquisition of the objects, and 

 the supposed injury to the sight by the use of high microscopic 

 powers. These objections I think I shall prove to be ideal, and 

 if we apply the trite aphorism " Omne ignotum pro magnihco " 

 to our case, we shall find that if we devote ourselves determi- 

 nately to careful examination and investigation, all difficulties 

 will soon disappear, and we shall be surprised at their simple 

 solutions, because in many cases they have assumed the aspect 

 of something miraculous, merely from being enveloped in the 

 meshes of ignorance. 



The acquisition of these elegant objects, adorned with sculp- 

 ture of surpassing beauty, presents no insurmountable difficul- 

 ties ; every shore coated with sands has a certain line which is 

 instantly perceived by the experienced observer, and will furnish 

 a supply of the more common species, and the liner sands of the 

 coralline zone, five or six miles from the shore, by the dredge, will 

 afford abundance of the rarer species. There are also in certain 

 districts marine deposits formed by the subsidence of the waters, 

 which, though of great antiquity, still exhibit the freshness of 

 recent origin without a trace of fossiliferous aspect. 



As to the sight being injured by a continuous examination of 



