ME. H. B. BEADY ON THE FOEA.JIINIFEEA. 5 1 



Eeport on the Foraminifera, by Henry B. Brady, F.L.S. 



Portions of the sand and mud from many of the localities at 

 which the dredging was prosecuted, were brought home for 

 examination with respect to the microzoa, chiefly Foraminifera, 

 which they might contain. The material thus preserved varied 

 both in quantity and character with the nature of the area dredged, 

 and in 1863 was insufficient to yield very satisfactory results, 

 besides being rough and gravelly, and unfavourable to the exist- 

 ence of minute and delicate structures. This will account for 

 the smaller number of species recorded for that year. 



Of the 112 specific and varietal forms of Foraminifera known 

 to inhabit the British seas 70 will be found in the annexed list. 

 Two of these, a thin- walled, large-pored Uvigerina, which Las 

 been named U. irregularis, and a delicate Textularia, with the 

 earlier chambers assuming a spiral mode of growth, named in the 

 list T. complexa, are hitherto undescribed. Detailed descriptions 

 and figures of them are given in the " Catalogue of the Recent 

 Foraminifera of Northumberland and Durham," which appears 

 in the present volume. Three species, viz. : Truncatulina reful- 

 gens, Montfort ; Spiroloculina excavata, D'Orb. ; and Nonionina 

 seapha, F. & M., are now for the first time recorded as British, 

 though there is little doubt that the first two are widely dis- 

 tributed on our coast. 



There are four other forms which are not noticed by Professor 

 Williamson in his work on the British Recent Foraminifera, but 

 which have since been added to our fauna on the strength of 

 specimens taken off the Shetland Islands. These are, Idtuola 

 scorpiurus, Montfort (small and rare) ; Lagena distoma, P. & J. 

 (frequent) ; Bigenerina cligitata, D'Orb. (one or two broken 

 specimens only) ; and Bolivina punctata, D'Orb. (a few feeble 

 specimens). 



The even distribution of nearly all the British forms of Lagena 

 on both the Northumberland and Durham coasts is a striking fact 

 established by the results of these dredgings, and not less remark- 

 able is the great abundance in certain limited areas of some pecu- 

 liar species. We may instance the extraordinary number of 

 specimens of Vaginalina linearis, Mont., found in Berwick Bay, 



