ON A NEW GENUS OF FOKAMINIFERA. 501 



Slierbornina : A new Genus of the Foraminifera from Table Cape, Tasmania. 

 By Frederick Chapman, A.L.S., F.R.M.S., Palaeontologist to the 

 National Museum, Melbourne ; Hon. Pal. Geol. Surv. Vict. 



(Plate 32.) 



[Read 17th March, 1921.] 



History of the Specimens. — Early in 1912 I received from the late 

 Mr. Pi. N. Atkinson *, of Sulphur Creek, N.W. Tasmania, some foraminifera 

 obtained from the Tertiary beds at Table Cape, WynyarcL, Tasmania. 

 Recognising their novel character, I put them aside for further investigation, 

 and their description has been still further delayed owing to their requiring 

 to be sliced, a work which had to be postponed on account of the lack of 

 specimens. Mr. Atkinson's father, Mr. E. D. Atkinson, has lately obtained 

 additional specimens, and to him I express my indebtedness. 



Geological Horizon of the Foraminifera. — The tests of this type, of 

 which a fair number have been found, have all occurred in the lower zone 

 of the Table Cape fossil deposits — the Crassatellites Bed. The presence of 

 Crassatellites oblonga, T. Woods, sp., and the various volutes determine the 

 age of this bed as Janjukian, which is equivalent to the Middle Tertiary 

 stage of the southern Australian Tertiaries and to the Miocene elsewhere. 

 It lies below the Turritella Bed containing Turritella warlmrtonensis, Tate, 

 and the interesting marsupial Wynyardia bassiana, Spencer f- That upper 

 bed may be regarded as of Upper Miocene age, since it appears to represent 

 the upper beds at Torquay. 



Description : — 



Fam. ROTALIID^. 



Subfam. Rotaliini. 



Genus Sherbornina t, gen. nov. 



Generic Characters. — Test discoidal, moderately thin ; median arch con- 

 cave. Shell built up of a median annular series of chamberlets with a 

 discorbine commencement ; the loculi of the annuli widely spaced. External 



* Mr. R. N. Atkinson, after whom 1 have named the species here described, was a keen 

 and observant collector of the Tertiary fossils of Tahle Cape. He unfortunately met with 

 an untimely death in 1015, whilst cleaning a military rifle. 



t Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1902, pp. 776-794, pis. xlix. & 1. 



t Named in honour of my friend Charles Davies Sherborn, Hon.F.Z.S., A.L.S., who has 

 contributed so much to the literature of this group. 



