534 Mr. J. Murray on some Surface Organisms examined 



associated with the pelagic Foraminifera ; and when these are absent from 

 the bottom so also are the Coccoliths and Rhabdoliths. 



Pelagic Foraminifera. — All the observations which have been or may 

 yet be made upon these animals will be collected at the end of our cruise, 

 and published with those which have been made by Professor Wyville 

 Thomson. It is here proposed to record shortly those results which it 

 is believed have already been attained. 



Calcareous Foraminifera have been found in the surface-waters of all 

 the oceans and seas we have visited, excepting the Arafura and Japan 

 inland seas. 



In the tropics they are most abundant, both as to species and numbers, 

 and are more numerous in the open ocean than near land. 



Our tow-nets have perhaps in no single instance been dragged down 

 to 200 fathoms without yielding some forms. At times they occur in 

 vast numbers on the surface, and with a bottle can be picked up from a 

 boat. In one specimen thus procured the sarcode of the animal was 

 found thrown out into babble-like extensions between the spines of the 

 shell, and over these expansions of the sarcode and along the spines the 

 pseudopodia moved freely and rapidly. Mr. Wild has figured this 

 specimen in Plates 22 and 23, and Professor Wyville Thomson proposes 

 to describe it under the generic name of Hastigerina. 



This is the only instance in which we have seen one of these creatures 

 fully expanded ; however, those taken in the net can, when the ship is 

 steady, be got to expand partially. Almost always when they come up 

 in the net the sarcode is found to adhere to and surround closely the 

 outside of the shell, so much so that the pigment-cells and oil-globules 

 obscure the shell, especially in the Pulvinulinas. 



Those species without spines apparently throw out bubble-like ex- 

 pansions of the sarcode in the same manner as Hastigerina. They have, 

 however, been seen only partially extended. 



The sarcode matter of these organisms includes very many orange - 

 coloured pigment-cells and oil-globules, the shape and size of these 

 varying with the species. The sarcode has also many small bioplasts 

 scattered through it, which quickly colour with carmine. These are 

 generally found congregated in the smaller chambers of the shell when 

 the animal is at rest. 



About a dozen species of these organisms have been found on the 

 surface ; some are more or less tropical, others extend into the region of 

 the westerly winds north and south, and one species is found in the Ant- 

 arctic Ocean. 



The shell of the species represented in the Plate has been observed 

 only once from the bottom, and then only in a broken state. This is to 

 be accounted for by the fact that the shell is exceedingly thin, delicate, 

 and fragile. 



The specimens of these Foraminifera taken in the surface-net are of 



