920 C. MOOKE ON THE PALEONTOLOGY 



Indies, &c. Its complete structural history we have been a long time 

 in learning. It was first noticed by Dr. Gray in the ' Annals of 

 Natural History ' in 1858. A fuller description was given by Dr. 

 Carpenter in his ; Introduction to the Foraminifera ' in 1862, and sub- 

 sequently it has been the subject of several papers in the ' Annals of 

 Natural History ' by Mr. Carter. It has usually been found as a 

 conical body attached to the surface of corals and shells by a broad 

 base, having at the apex a central rounded aperture. In the above 

 work for July 1877 Mr. Carter has figured a more perfect example, in 

 which it is seen that the apex had a tubular spinose extension, which 

 bifurcating occasionally, passed into brush-like processes. Owing to 

 their extreme delicacy they had hitherto been broken off. Though 

 the shell itself has not yet been found, four of these tubular con- 

 tinuations come from the well. They are less than the fiftieth of an 

 inch in diameter, but are sufficient to show the presence of Carpm- 

 teria in Neocomian times. They have been examined by Mr. Carter, 

 who remarks that they differ from any he had yet seen in the scat- 

 tered foramina being also prolonged into smooth, straight, conical 

 elongated points, which was probably one of the characteristics of 

 the species. A single cell appears to indicate the presence of Sac- 

 cammina in this deposit*. 



In the early stages of my examination I had noticed the terres- 

 trial or freshwater indications presented by some of the shells, and 

 forwarded a series of minute univalves to Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, who 

 expressed the opinion that (though he could not recognize any land 

 shells) many of the others were such as would be the inhabitants 

 of fresh water or swampy deposits, and that amongst them were 

 probably the genera Hydrobia, Valvata, and Cerithidea. 



Being aware of the intimate acquaintance possessed by Mr. C. J. 

 A. Meyer with the fauna of the Cretaceous beds, he kindly allowed me 

 to send him a few of the most unrecognizable specimens, some of 

 which he confessed, from their condition, were beyond his powers. 

 He was impressed with the evident mixture of species, and thought 

 that some of them bore a closer resemblance to freshwater Wealden 

 than to truly marine genera ; that the Cerithidea were verj' like the 

 young of the Punfield Potamidcs, whilst some other very young uni- 

 valves resembled the brackish-water Vicaria ; and that amongst the 

 worn bivalves he recognized cither Corbida or Potamomya. Regard- 

 ing Cerithium it is interesting that Mr. Meyer should have remarked, 

 in his paper in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. xxviii. p. 248, 1872, when 

 writing of a passage-bed from the Wealden into the Neocomian, 

 that "the mode of its occurrence is peculiar: the shells are fre- 

 quently eroded or waterworn as to their surface ; they are often 

 broken, and exhibit the appearance of having been washed or drifted 

 into their present position," — a description, as I have shown, equally 

 applicable to the smaller Cerithiidao from the Meux well. 



In the whole, the cores examined have yielded me 160 species of 



* As my friend Mr. Brady is preparing a monograph on the Cretaceous 

 Foraminifera for the Palaeontographical Society, he has kindly promised his 

 critical supervision to the lists now given. 



