THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZLNE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[SIXTH SERIES.] 



" per litora spargite museum, 



Naiadea, et circiim vitreos considite fontes: 

 Pollice virgineo teneros hie carpite flores: 

 Floribus et pictum, divse, replete caiiistrum. 

 At vos, o Nymphse Craterides, ite sub uadas ; 

 Ite, reourvato variata eorallia trunco 

 Vellite muaoosis e rupibus, et mihi conchas 

 Ferte, Deae pelagi, et pingui conchylia succo." 



N.PartheniiGiannettasii V.r\. I. 



No. 1. JANUARY 1888. 



I. — On the Structure and Affinities of the Oenus Parkeria, 

 Carp. By H. Alleyne Nicholson, M.D., D.Sc, Regius 

 Professor of Natural History in the University of Aber- 

 deen. 



[Plate III.] 



The genus Parkeria was originally described by Dr. W. B. 

 Carpenter (Pliil. Trans, vol. clix. p. 721, 1870), and was 

 regarded by this eminent authority as belonging to the arena- 

 ceous Foraminifera. At a later date the structure of the 

 genus was investigated by Mr. Carter (Ann. & Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. ser. 4, vol, xvii. p. 208, 1876, and vol. xix. p. 55, 1877), 

 who came to the conclusion that the skeleton was not arena- 

 ceous in its composition, and that the genus was properly 

 referable to the Hydractiniidee. Mr. Carter's views have, in 

 the main, been accepted by subsequent writers, such as 

 Steinmann (' Palseontographica,' 1878, p. 118) and Zittel 

 (' Haudbuch der Palajontologie,' Bd. i. p. 283, 1879). 



The purpose of the present communication is not so much 

 that of entering into a critical examination of the views of 

 previous observers as of recording the results of an entirely 

 independent investigation into the structure of Parkeria. 

 The observations and conclusions of both Dr. Carpenter and 



Ann. (& Mag. N, Hist. Ser. 6. Vol. i. 1 



