Vol. 56.] EAKLIEST-KNOWN FORAMINIFERA. 261 



Next in order of age are the remains of foraminifera figured by 

 Ehrenberg 2 from the so-called ' Silurian clay' near St. Petersburg. 

 The blue clay of the Baltic Provinces is now known to belong to 

 the Lower Cambrian, since it underlies the Olenellus-heds. The 

 foraminiferal remains are in the form of glauconite-casts, and 

 seem referable to the genera Verneuilina, Bolivina, Nodosaria, 

 Pulvinulina, and Rotalia. 



The same author had also previously described 2 many glauconitic 

 casts of foraminifera, etc., from various formations, including some 

 which he had found in the glauconitic sandstone near St. Petersburg, 

 but of these the only definite forms appear to be two specimens of a 

 Textularia near to T. globidosa, Ehrenb. and a Rotalia ? (figs. 1 a, 

 1 b, & 1 c on pi. vi, op. cit.). 



[The occurrence of foraminifera in the Cambrian of Siberia has 

 been recorded by A. de Lapparent. 3 The limestone containing these 

 organisms is found on the plateau traversed by the Olenek, after 

 its confluence with the Argasala. Dikellocephalus is found in these 

 beds, where the limestones become oolitic on account of the numerous 

 foraminifera included in them, and recalling those of the glauconite- 

 beds of the Baltic. On the Tonguska similar limestones contain 

 glauconite.— March 15th, 1900.] 



The remains of foraminifera have also been detected by Messrs. 

 W. D. & G. E. Matthew in the Cambrian rocks of Southern New 

 Brunswick. They were first found by Mr. W. D. Matthew in 

 phosphatic nodules from the Acadian or lowest division of the 

 St. John Series. 4 The specimens have since been described by 

 Mr. G. E. Matthew, together with many other fossils forming * the 

 Protolenus-fdiUna,.'' 5 The foraminifera are referred to the two genera 

 Orbulina and Globigerina, and seven new species are described. 



In the Ordovician system the shales above the Bala Limestone at 

 Guildfield, near Welshpool, contain foraminifera according to the 

 late Walter Keeping, 6 who also gave further information on the 

 foraminifera of the Llandovery beds. 



Eoraminifera were first noticed in the slates of Cwm Symlog 

 (Llandovery) by Prof. J. E. Blake, 7 who compared the hollow casts 

 with Dentalina communis, and referred to other uncertain forms. 

 Subsequently Walter Keeping 8 further investigated these slates and 

 recorded from them Dentalina, Rotalia (?), and Textularia. 



1 ' Ueber andere massenhafte mikroskopisehe Lebensformen der altesten 

 silurischen Grauwacken-Thone bei Petersburg' Monatsber. k. Preuss. Akad. 

 Wissensch. Berlin, 1858, pp. 324-37 & pi. i. 



2 ' Ueber den Grunsand u. seine Erlauterung des organischen Lebens ' 

 Abhandl. k. preuss. Akad. Wissenseh. Berlin, 1855, pp. 85-176 & pis. i-vii. 



3 ' Traite de Geologie ' 4th ed. Paris, 1900, p. 790. [I am indebted to Prof. 

 S'ollas for kindly calling ray attention to this notice.] 



4 ' On Phosphate-nodules from the Cambrian of Southern New Brunswick ' 

 Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci. vol. xii (1893) pp. 108-20 & pis. i-iv (in text; forami- 

 nifera in sections of nodules). 



5 Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci. vol. xiv (1895) pp. 109-11 & pi. i. 



6 G-eol. Mag. 1882, p. 490. 



7 Ibid. 1876, p. 134. 



e Ibid. 1882, p. 490 & pi. xi, figs. 13-15. 



