Correspondence — R. L. SJierlock. 239 



a recent paper by Dr. Rufiis M. Bagg ^ is rather a shock. Dr. Bagg 

 has examined thin slices of chert from the Bonaventiire conglomerate 

 and gives a list of forty-four species and one variety of foraminifera 

 which he haT determined ; and he concludes that the cherts are of 

 either Cambrian or earl}- Ordovician age and probably the latter. 

 Yet, of the forty- five kinds, no less than thirty-seven are recorded by 

 Brady ^ as still living ! One other is rei^orted as recent by 

 d'Orbigny.^ Of the thirty-eight one only, according to Brady, 

 may go back to the Silurian and that is doubtfully the same, for it is 

 the simplest type of hyaline foraminifer known {Lagena globosa), 

 a sinaple spheroid. Of the thirty-eight living forms two go back 

 to the Permian and Carboniferous, and these are also simple and 

 doubtful species {Nodosaria communis and N. radicula) ; eighteen 

 are known first in the Trias ; three others are knoAvn first in the 

 Jurassic ; and four others first from the Cretaceous. The whole 

 thirty-eight living forms are also recorded from Tertiary strata. 



Why, then, is this collection of foraminifera described as early 

 Palceozoic ? There are no fossils other than foraminifera recognisable 

 specifically. The author apparently relies mainly on some 

 foraminifera found in Cambrian rocks of New Brunswick, and 

 described by G. F. Matthew.'' Of these Dr. Bagg finds at Gaspe, 

 Glohigcrina camhrica Matthew, G. didijma Matthew, and Orhulina 

 ovalis Matthew. The author's figure of G. camhrica does not agree 

 with Matthew's, while that of G. didynia might belong to many 

 kinds of foraminifera. Dr. Bagg himself throws doubt on the 

 separate existence of such subspecies as Glohigerina cretacea or 

 Orhulina ovalia (p. 38, reprint), and none of the determinations is 

 free from doubt. His figure of Orhulina ovalis would do for a simple 

 Lagena. Of the other four forms not now living, two are Tertiary 

 and one of these has also been recorded by Brady as Permian and 

 Carboniferous ; the other two are Cretaceous sj^ecies, but one has 

 been described by Ehrenberg as earl\ Palaeozoic also. 



It is interesting to note that, although Dr. Bagg gives a list of 

 forty-four species and one variety, without any name being queried 

 (three have wrong authors assigned), yet in no less than thirty-five 

 cases, more or less doubt is expressed in the paper as to the correct 

 determination. Thus, BoUvina reticulata Hantken, listed on p. 47 

 (reprint) as definitely identified, is described on p. 22 as follows : — 

 " BoUvina sp. . . . perhaps B. reticulata Hantken 

 Plate 3, figures 5-7. 



On slide (see figure 5), near the northeast corner, is a cross 

 section of Bolivina which has five widely inflated segments in each 



^ "The Foraminifera of the Bonaventure Cherts of Gaspe": N.Y. State 

 Museum Bull, No. 219, 220. Fifteenth Report of the Director, 1918, 1921. 



2 Reports of the Scientilic Results uf the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger, vol. ix 

 (Zoology), 4to, London, 1884. 



* Foraminiferc-s fossiles du Bassin tertiaire de Vienne, 4to., Paris, 1846. 



* " The Protolenus Fauna" : Trans. N.Y. Acad. Sciences, vol. xiv, 1895,, 

 pp. 101-53. 



