a new Carhoniferous Foraminijer. 183 



assigned to it ; but I have since had the opportunity of seeing 

 a number of ty]:)e slides of deep Atlantic Foraminifera sent by 

 Prof. Sars of Christiania to Dr. Carpenter, and amongst them 

 specimens of his Saccammina sinlioirica^ a species named in his 

 paper on the deep-sea fauna*, but, so far as I know, not yet 

 described. I am further indebted to Dr. Carpenter for a sup- 

 ply of specimens of this form, which appears to be common at 

 great depths ; and careful examination has convinced me of its 

 very close relationship to the Carboniferous fossil, altliough 

 sufficient difference appears to exist in minor particulars to 

 justify specific separation. The following morphological cha- 

 racters will serve for diagnosis : — 



Genus Saccammina, Sars. 

 Saccammina Carter i, n. sp. 



Test free, consisting either of a single chamber or of several 

 joined end to end in a single series ; chambers subspherical, 

 fusiform or pyriform ; texture arenaceous, compact ; ex- 

 terior surface nearly smooth, interior smooth or slightly 

 labyrinthic. Long diameter of the chambers (average) 

 about g inch. 



Hah. Carboniferous Limestone, north of England. 



The distinction between the fossil species and Prof. Sars's 

 type is based, first, on the form of the chambers, Avhich in 

 the latter are always subspherical and liave but one aperture, 

 whilst in the former they are, as a rule, fu.sifurm and have two 

 ajjcrtures ; secondly, on the fact that the recent species always 

 occurs in single segments, and there is no reason to believe 

 that it is ever polythalamous ; S. Carteri^ on the other hand, 

 is frequently many-chambered — how frequently so when 

 living it is impossible to say ; thirdly, the test of *S'. sphwrica 

 is somewhat thinner, and nearly smooth both inside and out, 

 whilst that of S. Carteri often shows a tendency to produce 

 loose cancellated structure on its inner surface. It is an in- 

 teresting fact, however, that this palaeozoic fossil should have 

 its nearest known ally in a species living abundantly on the 

 coast of Norway at a depth of 450 fathoms. 



The Saccammina-heAs have not yielded any great variety 

 of Foraminifera, though subjected to very careful search. 

 Small specimens of Trochammina gordialis^ P. & J., are not 

 uncommon ; and a few examples of a somewhat peculiar mo- 

 dification of Textularia, which has attracted the attention of 

 observers elsewhere, have been found. There still remain, how- 



* See ' Vidensk.-Selsk. Forliandlinger ' for 1868, p. 248. 



