CHAPTER VIII 

 Radiolaria 



PASSING from the fossil forms of microscopic 

 shells of flinty structure, known as poly- 

 cystina, we come to their living representatives; for 

 we are often asked, when describing fossils, whether 

 there are any creatures now having shells at all 

 like them. If the fossil shells embedded in the Bar- 

 badian and other rocks be so beautiful, we shall 

 naturally expect to see much greater attractiveness 

 in those forms that are endowed with life. 



Like the polycystina of the remote past ages, 

 those that live at the present time are all marine 

 and microscopic. They are found on the surfaces 

 of oceans, protruding their tiny feelers through 

 multitudes of openings in their flinty shells, and 

 drawing in nutriment for their subsistence. They 

 are marvellously beautiful, and highly sensitive. 



To examine them satisfactorily, we should have 

 to go to certain parts of the Atlantic or Pacific, 

 and in calm weather enter a boat and skim a few 

 square feet of the surface, return at once to the 



