1866.] KING AND EOWNEY " EOZOONAL KOCK." 207 



least the view we have taken as to the origin of the " definite 

 shapes ;" rather the contrary, inasmuch as if it be admitted that 

 these parts represent an essential structural element, like the 

 "canal-system" of certain existing foraminifers, it follows that 

 what are considered to be the fossilized remains of the system in 

 Ophite from the other side of the Atlantic ought to be present in 

 that occurring in other countries, provided the two rocks agree in 

 other essential respects. Kow the " definite shapes " imbedded in 

 the calcareous " septa " of the Canadian Ophite are relatively situ- 

 ated just as the crystalline aggregations are in the Irish and other 

 varieties. 



Keviewing all that has been brought forward in connexion with 

 the subject before us, what other conclusion can we come to than 

 that it is of crystalline origin* ? Lastly, the ^' very remarkable dif- 

 ferences in size and form " which the " definite shapes " display is 

 opposed to the idea of their being representatives of the " canal- 

 system," — considering that Nature generally adheres to uniformity 

 of plan in essential parts, even amongst the lowest animal organisms, 

 and, more especially, that no such ''very remarkable differences" 

 have been seen to characterize the " canal-system " of any known 

 foraminifer, fossil or recent. 



VI. ''Stolon-passages.^^ 



No one having examined specimens of the various kinds of 

 " eozoonal " Ophite can read the papers by Dawson, Carpenter, and 

 Eupert Jones, without arriving at the conclusion that certain simple 

 forms, which they have regarded as " casts of stolon-passages," are 

 only modifications of other structures associated with them. We 

 possess some remarkably fine specimens of the rock from Lisoughter, 

 in which may be frequently seen, not only a long scopiform tuft, 

 composed of divergent or subparaUel crystals, forming a union 

 between two " chamber-casts " or granules of serpentine, but occa- 

 sionally a well-defined plate holding the same office : in some in- 

 stances as many as three separated parallel plates are seen lying 

 together. The latter have frequently a granular texture, like that 

 of the ''white amorphous masses;" occasionally, however, they 

 are somewhat compact, slightly translucent, and of a greenish-white 

 colour. Thus, " stolon-passages " are formed by representatives both 

 of the " definite shapes," and the '• chamber-casts." Fig. 13, PI. XY. 

 shows a decalcified specimen from Lisoughter, magnified 2b diameters 

 times, containing a well-marked case of three adjacent granules united 

 by means of crystalline tufts ; also another (in the middle of the lower 

 part of the figure), consisting of two granules connected by three 

 slightly granular plates : this last is additionally illustrated in fig. 15, 

 PI. XY., magnified 120 diameters. One of these granules is con- 



* Canadian "eozoonal" rock, it would appear, does not always differ, in its 

 " representatives of the canal-system," from Connemara Ophite, inasmuch as 

 Dr. Dawson notices specimens in which there is a " development of certain 

 dendritic crystallizations." Are these in place of the " definite shapes " ? (See 

 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol, xxi. p. 68.) 



