OF CREATION. 



237 



this way the means of conveying to distant spots 

 the invisible stony frame- work and the eggs of these 

 little bodies ? and yet it is impossible to doubt the 

 importance of such a means of communication in the 

 animal economy. 



But the animalcules, singular and interesting as 

 they are, form but one of several groups of ani- 

 mals of low organization that inhabited the sea 

 during the deposit of the chalk. The sea bottom 

 abounded with sponges of all kinds, as we have 

 already seen; and floating about near the surface, 

 there must also have existed a vast number of mi- 

 nute animals enclosed in shells formed of a number 

 of chambers or compartments, belonging to a group 

 now common in many seas and known by the name 

 Foraminifera. 



89 90 91 92 93 



FORAMINIFERA.* 



The animals thus named occupy all the various 

 chambers of their habitation, and not merely, as in 

 the nautilus, the outermost one. They appear to 

 possess a more perfect organization than the polyps, 

 but are less complicated than the encrinites. Their 

 body is simple and gelatinous, no distinct organs being 

 recognisable in it. In size they vary from dimen- 



* Fig. 89, Guttulina. Fig. 90, Rosalina. Fig. 91, Siderolina. 

 Fig. 92, Cristellaria. Fig. 93, Nodosaria. 



