748 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 
general appearance, but sometimes rather larger or smaller, and 
differing from them slightly in their structure. Sometimes they 
are quite circular. 
In specimens of Severn mud (obtained in excavating the tunnel), 
and also in mud obtained from borings in the bed of the Liffey, 
we have found examples exactly resembling recent coccoliths. 
Another peculiar locality, in which we discovered coccoliths, was 
the muds used to bind together the Papyrus mss. in making 
the mummy-cases which were found by Mr. Flinders Petrie at 
Fayyum. 
With the coccoliths we obtained a large number of minute 
organisms. One of the most abundant was the Difflugia-like 
organism on which our first coccolith was found. Although so 
abundant, we have not yet succeeded in identifying it with any 
previously described protozoan. It resembles the genus Difflugia 
in having lobose pseudopodia, and being enclosed in an urceolate 
test indurated with particles of sand. But the marine habitat and 
the very definite annular collar have not before been observed in 
this genus, so far as we are aware. It is true that Pritchard’ 
says that Bailey obtained a specimen from a depth of 2750 fathoms, 
which he called Difflugia marina. But its marine habitat led the 
discoverer to doubt its being a Difflugia. In any case, it is de- 
scribed as having a chitinous test divided into quadrilateral areas. 
The empty test almost exactly resembies that figured by Claparéde 
and Lachmann’ as belonging to Tintinnus ventricosus; but of 
course the structure of its inmate makes it impossible to classify 
it with the ciliate Infusoria. We would provisionally suggest the 
name Diffiugia thalassia. We may add, as further connecting it 
with the genus Difflugia, that we have found several specimens 
united in pairs by the foramina in conjugation exactly as Leidy* 
figures this process in Difflugia (fig. 9). 
Fig. 5 represents an organism of which we found two or three: 
specimens. With a low objective it resembled the antenna of an 
insect in general appearance, being jointed, the joints of which it was. 
composed diminishing uniformly from the greatest to the smallest. 
On closer examination it was found that the larger joints resembled 
1 [Tnfusoria, p: 554. 
2 Etudes sur les Rhizopodes et les Infusoires. 
