/ii/>!ii>i/rajJiic(il Entice. 3().> 



bizarre Cristollariaiis siucocd the varioiiB Noilosariaiis of the fuir- 

 iroinp plate ; aud. bosiilo a ven- iloulittul Foraniinifer (ti{r. 1(>) uaiued 

 JioS'iliiut f>oh/i/ai)it, tliiTo are several specimens of Webbina (tigs, lo, 

 17, 1>^, lit) in their characteristic variable forms of growth; also 

 what seems to be a small rough J'buopsilina (Hg. 10, named Wtbhimi 

 scorpionis, D'Orb.); the Invohdin<r above mentioned; and, lastly, a 

 curious sjiiral organism, referred to Crlstillarla, but having much 

 tlie look of a Sertularian germ-sac. 



Without further criticism on these most aoccjitable results of M. 

 I'eniuem's enthusiastic industrj-, whose motto " in tenui labor" well 

 indicates his precision and i)erseveraiice, we proceed to the next of 

 his valualilc memoirs that we have at hand, trusting to enhance the 

 value of his work by pointing out what seems to be a discrepancy 

 here and there with the notions of other rhizopodists, and thus pro- 

 ducing a uniformity whereby the whole may be worked together 

 for the good of pahcontology. 



The first Memoir on the Foraminifera of the Middle Lias of the 

 Department of the Moselle was published in the Mem. Acad. Imp. 

 Metz. annee lS57-o8. The series reached to the Sixth Memoir; but 

 I hey have not come to hand. 



II. Deiur'thnie Serie. Premier Memoire srir les Foraminifires du 

 Systitne oolithique. Etude dn Fuller s-Earthe de la Moselle. Par 

 M. 0. Terqcem, &c. Metz, 1807. 



In 1807, M. Ter(|uem treated of the Foraminifera of the Oolitic 

 rocks, particularly the " FuUer's-Earthe '' of the Moselle ; and of these 

 he first described a host of very similar and indubitably related forms 

 under the general term " MarginnUnay This generic name he 

 adopted with caution, and gave reasons for his plan of arrangement 

 in his " Critical Review of some Genera,'' at pages 40-oS, wherein 

 he shows why he considers it best to merge the broad flat Vaginu- 

 linij; (CitJiarince) with the long Planularice under Margimdina. 

 Eight ]ilates, of thirty figures each, besides edge and end views of 

 these Vaginulinc MarginuUno', do not fail to give us an insight into 

 the enormous proliticness of the Foraminifera and their endless ver- 

 satility of growth (modified in every individual by every passing 

 condition of life), into the richness of the Oolitic fauna in varieties 

 of the great Nodosarina genus, and into the extent and energy of 

 MM. Terquem and Piette's labours in both field and cabinet. How 

 individually diff'erent, and yet strikingly alike, these 240 specimens 

 really are, with continuous passage-forms among them, can be seen 

 at a glance ; and their division by M. Ter(|uem into two sections, 

 five divisions, two subdivisions, and thirt5"-two " species '' (one 

 of which has a whole plate in its illustration) has required his 

 greatest patience and acumen. It "would certainly appear easy, to 

 English rhizopodists at least, to group the majority under half a 

 dozen well-knowTi accepted names, beginning with Vagimdina harpa 

 and ending with Dentalina communis ; but, as an example of the 

 dif&cultv of arranging a large and well-preserved series of I'orami- 



27* 



