62 Mr. H. J . Carter on the close Relationship of 



have been so nearly allied to Parheria that, if one can be 

 shown to have been allied to Hydractinia^ the other must 

 follow, there can be no doubt that the general structure of 

 Loftusia is spiral and not concentric ; but then, as Mr. Brady- 

 states, and as I have verified by my own observation in the 

 transverse and longitudinal sections of this fossil respectively, 

 there is no "primordial" cell or embryonic chamber in the 

 centre {I.e. p. 744), but, in its place, a minute "network" 

 (p. 745). This, as I have also just stated, has not in my ex- 

 perience any parallel in recent or fossilized Foraminifera. The 

 latter always begin from an embryonic cell or chamber. As 

 regards the "imperforate nature" of the lamina (" spiral "), 

 which is synonymous ^with "primary wall," as stated in para- 

 graph 37, p. 746, this appears to me to be contraindicated at 

 the commencement of par. 42, p. 747, wherein we may read, 

 that " the layer immediately within the primary wall adds 

 greatly to its strength, not only from the additional thickness 

 it imparts, but also from the connexion its septal [? tubular] 

 prolongations establish hetween the successive whorls " (the 

 italics are mine). That the tubulation, or "radial tubes," did 

 respectively communicate with the outer or " parallel tubular 

 columns " of the accessory structures of the preceding and fol- 

 lowing whorls, especially towards the "end of the central axis" 

 in the long section, is made evident by figs. 1 and 3, pi. 79 {I. c.) ; 

 for Mr. Brady's descriptions and illustrations of Loftusia, like 

 those of Dr. Carpenter of Parkeria, are equally faithful ; and 

 hence I cannot help thinking that, if Mr. Brady had had the 

 advantage of an w?Hnfiltrated specimen of Loftusia, wherein he 

 might have looked down upon the surface of the spiral lamina 

 instead of against a vertical section of it only, the two layers of 

 which the lamina is composed, and between which are situated 

 the " openings " as in Parheria, would have been found to be 

 equally 'perforated, although, as I have before stated, in 

 Hydractinia they appear respectively, in the vertical section, 

 to be the edges of a continuous membrane or layer (see p. 49). 

 Indeed I have now (thanks to the kindness of Mr. Brady in 

 sending me a specimen) been able to demonstrate this satis- 

 factorily, by having ground down and polished the round 

 external surface of a Loftusia in such a way as to cause the 

 convexity to present the fine cribriform structure of the spiral 

 lamina, while the latter is surrounded on all sides by the 

 coarser one below or, rather, within it, just, in fact, what Mr. 

 Brady himself has represented in his pi. 71. fig. 1, c. The 

 existence of this cribriform structure is further confirmed by 

 the weathered surface of the specimen of Loftusia in the Mu- 

 seum of the Geological Society of London (which, through the 



