62 TOILERS IN THE SEA. 



this it may, at least, be inferred that one-half of the 

 surface of the globe is still inhabited by the members 

 of this cosmopolitan family. When it can be written 

 of one genus that " it is an inhabitant of all seas, 

 through a great range of depths," and again, that " it 

 has been found in abundance in every maritime 

 region," l we may fairly conclude in favour of the 

 presence of Foraminifera in all seas. And when we 

 find it recorded that another genus constituted 97 

 per cent, of soundings brought up from a depth of 

 2,000 fathoms in the mid- Atlantic, and a like pro- 

 portion at depths of 1,260 and 1,607 fathoms, not far 

 from Greenland, it may be inferred that some forms 

 of the Foraminifera are exceedingly abundant, to use 

 no stronger terms, on the deep-sea bottom. Hence 

 we consider ourselves justified, without multiplying 

 details, in declaring that living Foraminifera are 

 plentiful, all over the sea bottom, at all depths, and in 

 all latitudes. 



In the next place, we may endeavour to obtain 

 some idea of the immense number of shells and casts 

 of Foraminifera that have existed in the past. The 

 largest forms are those of the Nummulites, which, 

 with some intermixture of other types, constitute a 

 stratum of limestone, "not unfrequently attaining 

 a thickness of 1,500 feet, which extends in an east 



1 Dr. Carpenter's " Introduction to the Foraminifera," p. 178 



