60 Dr. W. B. Carpenter on the Rhizopodal [June 17, 



the indefinite protoplasmic expansion which he names Bathybius, and which 

 seems to extend itself over the ocean-bottom under great varieties of depth 

 and temperature, as among the most important of the results obtained by 

 the Sounding-apparatus. 



By the recent extension of Dredging-operations, however, to depths 

 previously considered beyond their reach, very important additions have 

 been made to the Foraminiferal Fauna of the Deep Sea. Several new 

 generic types have been discovered, and new and remarkable varieties 

 of types previously known have presented themselves. It is not a little 

 curious that all the new types belong to the Family Lituolida, — con- 

 sisting of Foraminifera which do not form a calcareous shell, but construct 

 a " test" by the agglutination of sand-grains, — which was first constituted 

 as a distinct group in the author's ' Introduction to the Study of the Fora- 

 minifera' (1862). The first set of specimens described seems referable to 

 the Genus Proteonina of Prof. Williamson ; but the test, instead of being 

 composed (as in his specimens) of sand-grains, is constructed of sponge- 

 spicules, cemented together with great regularity, so as to form tubes, 

 which are either fusiform or cylindrical, being in the former case usually 

 more or less curved, and in the latter generally straight. Of the genus 

 Trochammina (Parker and Jones), many examples were found of consider- 

 able size, resembling Nodosarians in their free moniliform growth, but 

 having their tests constructed of sand-grains very firmly cemented to- 

 gether, with an intermxure of fragments of sponge-spicules, which give a 

 hispid character to the surface. — The Genus Rhabdammina of Prof. Sars 

 is based on a species (the R. abyssorum) first obtained in his Son's dredg- 

 ings, of which the test is very regularly triradiate, sometimes quadrira- 

 diate, and is composed of sand-graius very regularly arranged, and firmly 

 united by a ferruginous cement. Not only was this type represented, by 

 numerous specimens in the ' Lightning' dredgings, but another yet more 

 considerable collection was formed of irregularly radiating and branching 

 tubes, which are composed of an admixture of sand-grains and sponge- 

 spicules, united by ferruginous cement. These seem to originate in a 

 "primordial chamber" of the same material, which extends itself into a 

 tube that afterwards branches indefinitely. This type may be designated 

 R. irregularis. — Of the protean Genus Lituola (Lamarck), a large form 

 was met with, which bears a strong resemblance to the L. Soldani of the 

 Sienna Tertiaries. Its nearly cylindrical test is composed of sand-grains 

 very loosely aggregated together, forming a thick wall ; and its cavity is 

 divided by septa of the same material into a succession of chambers, 

 arranged in rectilineal series, each having a central orifice prolonged into 

 a short tube. — The Genus Astrorhiza, instituted a few years ago by Dr. 

 O. Sandahl, was represented by a wide range of forms, referable to two prin- 

 cipal types, — the one an oblate spheroid, with irregular radiating prolonga- 

 tions, the other more resembling a stag's horn, with numerous digitations, — 

 passing into one another by insensible gradations. The composition of 



