118 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 
accumulating in many places at the bottom of the Atlantic—the 
same conditions apparently existing as in the Cretaceous age. 
The Globigerina Mud, submitted to the late Dr. Carpenter for 
microscopical examination, was found to be composed of the minute 
remains in enormous numbers. The substance itself is a grayish 
white, not very unlike chalk, or the Eocene Matrix in which we find 
the small Taliost Clupea Numiles (Dzflomistis) embedded. 
When Carpenter remarked the existence of living Foraminifers that 
were supposed to have become extinct before the Tertiary period, 
and sponges, sea urchins, etc., of same age, some one expressed a 
belief that we are living still in the Cretaceous one. The opinion 
of Dr. Carpenter respecting Receptaculites, ought to have consid- 
erable influence in determining the nature of the fossil. No man 
devoted more time to the structure of the Rhizopods He was 
universally admitted to be unrivalled in his knowledge of the 
Protozoa. When Salter, the late palzeontologist to the Geological 
Survey of the United Kingdom, placed the fossil in the family 
group, Orbitolitidz, no doubt he was considerably influenced by the 
figures and description of the large species from Australia and the 
South Seas by Dr. Carpenter. ‘‘I was,” he remarked, ‘“ possessed 
of the greatest satisfaction on the above view of the affinity, because 
on explaining the specimens to Dr. Carpenter, I found that he 
entirely agreed in it. After pointing out several objections that 
might be made, he showed me that there was in nearly every point 
a close coincidence in essential structure between Receptaculites 
and Orbitolites, the difference only being in the size of the 
cells in this, the most ancient of the Formanifera.” T. R. Jones, 
another well-known and able naturalist, is also a man whose views 
must have considerable weight, because he is also looked upon in 
Europe as a leading expert in minute organic matters. I infer he is 
quite in accord with Salter respecting the position of the much 
debated and still unsettled. Receptaculites. We may regret the 
prevailing ignorance in church circles generally regarding geology. 
It is more difficult to understand why so little is known in the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of the important 
discoveries of late years made on this continent by officers of the 
United Surveys, and the Dominion Government of Canada. 
Insular pride and prejudice (as suggested in explanation) may 
be very dense, but such a charge as this can scarcely be entertained 
