464 MR. H. B. BRADY ON THE RHIZOPODAL FAUNA OF THE SHETLANDS. 
of 1861 and 1863 by Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys and Mr. E. Waller, and very kindly placed 
at my disposal by them. 
Those who are in the habit of referring to Professor Williamson’s Monograph, before 
alluded to, must have remarked how large a proportion of the rarer British species of 
Foraminifera have been collected on this ground. Of the species therein described, the 
occurrence of seventy-six is considered of sufficient interest to have a list of localities 
appended, and in fifty-seven of these cases Shetland appears, either alone or in company 
with other places. The researches of the late Mr. Barlee in past years and of Mr. Jeffreys 
are the basis upon which this record is founded ; but, notwithstanding their labours, the 
same ground amply repays further study. 
© It has been remarked that, in many departments of natural history the fauna of the 
north and north-east shores of Great Britain is of a boreal character, and presents 
stronger affinities to that of the coast of Norway than of the south coast of England. 
The results of the recent dredging-operations off Northumberland and Durham sug- 
gested the observation; and, as might be expected, the facts now brought forward yield 
additional evidence of its correctness. The occurrence of Anomalina coronata, Lagena 
distoma, and Glandulina levigata, all of them prominent forms on the Norwegian coast, 
is exceedingly interesting viewed in this light, and there remain but two or three of the 
species described in Messrs. Parker and Jones's memoir on Norwegian Foraminifera (Ann. 
& Mag. Nat. Hist. 2nd ser. vol. xix. p. 273, &c.) which have not been found in the Shetland 
Seas. The supposed occurrence of certain tropical or subtropical forms, to which I shall 
presently refer, has been accounted for on the supposition that chance specimens had been 
carried into these regions by the Gulf-stream. I have sought in vain for any evidence 
of the influence of the great ocean-current in the Rhizopodal fauna of our northernmost 
shores; indeed it seems pretty well established that on the eastern side of the Shetlands, 
at any rate, the distribution of animal life is not affected by it. The Foraminifera 
obtained fully confirm the views expressed by Mr. Jeffreys in the introduction to his 
* British Conchology,’ that whatever matter of foreign origin is washed upon these shores 
is derived from the opposite Norwegian coast. | 
Most of the parcels of sand placed in my hands were carefully labelled as to the depth 
from which they were obtained, and the appended Table will give a general view of the 
results of their examination. The arrangement of the Table and its classification are 
based upon the views advocated in Dr. Carpenter’s work; and the easy way in which the 
various members of the group fall into their places when treated with reference to this 
system suggests the applicability of the term “natural” to it, in contradistinction to the 
“ artificial” methods of d'Orbigny, Schultze, and others, founded on the mere number 
of chambers making up the shell, or their degree of development. The nomenclature has 
been adopted to a great extent from the Appendix to the same book, with a few trifling 
corrections, and some alteration in the use of specific and varietal terms. It would be 
out of place here to enter upon the much-vexed question of what constitutes à species, 
osten as all allow that in the Protozoa a much larger range of variation must be 
T ome specific limits than it is usual to grant in more highly organized beings. 
y the species of a genus (sometimes of several so-called genera) are assignable 0 
