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CARBONIFEROUS AND PERMIAN FORAMINIFERA. 



The genus Lagena has already been traced back by the researches of Reuss, Terquem, 

 Blake, Wright, and others to the Cretaceous, Jurassic, and even to the Liassic age, but 

 the examples now under consideration carry its history into a much more remote 

 geological epoch. It is not needful in this place to enter into minute details concerning 

 the nomenclature of the genus or its distribution ; the reader, interested in such matters, 

 may refer to the 'Monograph of the Crag Eoraminifera ' (pp. 28 — 31), where they are 

 entered upon with some exactness, the particulars furnished representing the state and 

 knowledge up to the date of their publication. The Carboniferous representatives of the 

 type differ from the more recent species chiefly in their thicker and somewhat granular 

 shells, and it is not by any means certain that they may not bear as close a relationship 

 to the subarenaceous genus Nodosinella as the later species do to the hyaline type 

 Nodosaria. 



Lagena Parkeriana, nov. PI. VIII, figs. 1 — 5. 



Characters. — Shell globular, ovate, or pyriform ; neck rarely much produced, aperture 

 ectosolenian. Surface variable, more or less granular or even studded with minute 

 irregular tubercles. Length ^ inch (0-4 mm.). 



In general contour Lagena Parkeriana presents a range of variation from that of 

 Lagena globosa, Montagu, in its short globular modifications, to L. Icevis, Montagu, in 

 its pyriform or flask-shaped varieties ; but it is not entosolenian like the former and 

 seldom shows the regular tapering neck of the latter species. Its essential difference 

 from both consists in its thick shell and granular, roughish, or even irregularly tuberculate 

 surface. 



I obtained one or two specimens of this form some years ago from the Saccammina bed 

 at Elfhills, but it was not until the Rev. W. Howchin's fortunate discovery of Lagena in 

 the Fourstones Quarry that their relationship could be stated with any degree of 

 certainty. 



The naming of a Eoraminifer after my friend W. K. Parker, F.R.S., is an act that 

 needs neither apology nor explanation. 



Distribution. — In the Eour-fathom Limestone (Elfhills) and in the shale overlaying 

 the Great Limestone (Fourstones) — Northumberland. Its presence in the Scotch beds 

 has not yet been satisfactorily established, except in a single locality, where it is associated 

 with L. Hoivchiniana. 



