Vol. 56.] FORAMINIFERA FROM THE MALVERNS. 257 



14. Foraminifera from an Upper Cambrian Horizon in the 

 Malverns ; together with a Note on some of the Earliest- 

 known Foraminifera. By Frederick Chapman, Esq., A.L.S., 

 F.R.M.S. (Communicated by Prof. T. T. Groom, M.A., D.Sc, 

 F.G.S. Read February 7th,"l900.) 



[Plate XV.] 



Occurrence. 



The foraminifera here described were found in a shaly limestone 

 which Prof. Groom obtained ' from the debris of a small ridge 

 composed of black shales, with intercalated basalts, which forms 

 a spur on the north-west side of Chase End Hill. The locality 

 is a short distance south of the village of Whiteleaved Oak. In 

 the same specimens of limestone were found traces of Oboloid 

 brachiopoda, and of what appear to be minute gasteropoda, bivalved 

 Crustacea or mollusca, and other fossils. The rock belongs to the 

 well-known and widely-spread zone of Sphcerophthalmus, Peltura y 

 and Ctenopyge, which in Britain forms the upper half of the 

 Dolgelly Beds or Upper Li?igula-Fl&gs.' 1 



So far Prof. Groom has been unable to find the rock in place, 

 although there can be no doubt, he informs me, that it occurs not 

 many yards away from the spot where it is now found. 



On examining the limestone with a pocket-lens, Prof. Groom 

 noticed a number of small bodies, some of which, when looked at 

 under a high power, had the appearance of foraminifera. Thereupon 

 a thin slice of the rock was prepared, which revealed to him the 

 presence of undoubted foraminifera. 



The specimens, courteously placed in my hands by Prof. Groom 

 for description, have been sliced ; and they have yielded a few forms 

 other than Spirillina, which was the first one seen. Some pieces of 

 the limestone are dark or nearly black, while others are whitish and 

 speckled over with minute dark-blue spots. When thin sections 

 of either variety of limestone are examined, they are seen to be 

 remarkably full of organic remains, chiefly Spirillina (see PI. XV, 

 fig. 1), together with sections of echinoderm-spines, ostracod-tests, 

 and occasionally sponge-spicules (?). The black limestone appears 

 to show the foraminifera in the best state of preservation. 2 



Besides the Spirillince other foraminiferal remains occur in the 

 limestone, but these are very rare ; and it was only by examining a 

 considerable number of thin slices of the rock that the few forms 

 here gathered together could be discovered. In nearly all cases 

 traces of the finely tubulated and hyaline structure of the test can 

 be seen. 



1 For these notes of the occurrence of the rock I am indebted to Prof. Groom. 



2 See Prof. Groom's map, pi. xiii, in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. lv (1899). 



