174 Mr. H. J. Carter on 



the lozenge-shaped projections and tlius destroy their con- 

 tinuity (fig. 1, d). In composition the segments consist of 

 clouded, striated, granular calcspar of a grey colour ; but there 

 is a small fragment of polygonal cell-tissue near the centre (of 

 which the divisions are l-900th in. in diameter), which not 

 only leads to the inference that the granulated condition of the 

 calcspar composing the segments generally might have origin- 

 ated in this way, but points out that this can only be decided 

 by a specimen where the structure generally is better pre- 

 served than in the present instance. On the other hand, the 

 brown foreign material which intervenes between the projec- 

 tions and is composed of foraminiferal detritus also presents, 

 where weathered, a granular character on the surface. So 

 that, in fact, the form of the calcareous development may be 

 said to be struggling to make its appearance through the fora- 

 miniferal detritus. 



Turning to the base of the cone or half-specimen (fig. 2), v/e 

 find that it presents an indistinct radial structure of the " seg- 

 ments,''the axis of which is also eccentric and rather towards one 

 end of the ellipse (fig. 2, a), on the surface of which the obliquely 

 cut ends of the segments in juxtaposition here and there, of a 

 lozenge-shape (fig. 2, h), indicate that the general structure of 

 the fossil is foretold by that on the surface ; while the whole 

 is more or less cut up and thus obscured by the presence of 

 the foraminiferal detritus, which not only separates the seg- 

 ments longitudinally in the form of straggling, unequal, 

 thread-like accumulations, but traverses them in all direc- 

 tions in more or less delicate ones, swelling out here and there 

 into larger masses as on the surface (fig. 2, ccc). 



Thanks to the fine polish which the lapidary has given 

 this basal plain, one can see by strong light, when well con- 

 densed and reflected, under microscopic power the minute ele- 

 ments of which it is composed, and these consist of the above- 

 mentioned clouded grey calcspar and the brown foraminiferal 

 detritus j the former pervaded by the faint remnants of what 

 appears to have been a reticulated membrano-tubular structure, 

 and the latter (as seen under tlie microscope) consisting of a 

 yellowish substance of a taiigled thready nature, infinitely 

 divided dendritically and reticulatingly, like veined marble or 

 frothy, filiferous protoplasm (fig. 4), densely charged with 

 more or less broken-down tests of minute Foraminifera and a 

 great number of opaque scarlet spherules (fig. 4, h) , following 

 the grooves between the " segments " and those circum- 

 scribing the lozenge-shaped projections on the surface, con- 

 trasting strongly in colour with the whitish-grey clouded calc- 

 spar. This appears to be identical with Brady's " accessory 



