70 Dr. Mantell on Fossil Foraminifera. 
Art. X.—On the Fossil Remains of the soft parts of Forami- 
nifera, discovered in the Chalk and Flint of the Southeast of 
England; by Gweron Atcernon Mantexs, Esq., LbL.D., 
PAK.S., Ge" 
‘Ina microscopical examination of chalk and flint, undertaken 
for the purpose of testing the accuracy of the statement of M. 
Ehrenberg, that a considerable portion of the cretaceous strata is 
composed of minute organisms, I observed that the chambers of 
the shells of many Rotulie were filled with a substance, varyin 
in appearance from a dark opaque brown, to a light transparent 
amber ; and resembling in form, the soft bodies of existing spe- 
cies of Polythalamia.t I was particularly struck with the simil- 
itude between some of the fossils, and the recent Nonionina 
when deprived of its shell by immersion in diluted hydrochloric 
acid; and having, by the courtesy of Mr. Williamson of Man- 
chester, procured Rotaliz from mud dredged up in the Levant, I 
found among them several that contained the body of the animal 
partially collapsed, and of a dark brown color, which presented 
an analogous appearance. I was therefore led to infer, that the 
substance filling the cells of the flint Rotalia was the remains. of 
the soft parts of the original animalcules, in the. state of 
luskite.t 
[n a paper read before the Geological cei of, ra res 
published in the Annals of Natural History for August, lon, and I 
ventured to suggest this explanation of the origin of the fossils 
* From the Trans. Roy. Soc., 1846. Part iv, p. 465. Only a sition of the 
cuts Mustrating the memoir are "here copied. 
tal int specimen that came under my notice was discoyered by my 
Supiiend. the Rev. J. B. R a . er Ss. 
S 
saa bodies of testaceous mollusks that ‘shes: in various fivcadead 
a ee Examination of the Chalk be Flint of the South- 
with remarks on the Animalculites of certain Tertiary and 
e shells were probably either empty when — in ais 
int, sor speedily became so by the the decomposition ¢ of the soft 
ete 
- 
Lie ithe | Pega Sas 
SNe a Sunes Ghai e ee ela Sc oe oe eae ae abo ailiat 
