AND OTHEK ENGLISH NUMMULITES. 



135 



It may also be remarked that the labelled card, No. 44008 (1), 

 with Nummulites variolarius (Lamarck), contains the specimens 

 figs. 12th, 14th, and 17th (part of " fig. 3 ") of pi. 538. No. 44008 

 (2) is N. variolarius. No. 44008 (3), N. variolarius, contains the 

 13th, 15th, and 16th figures (part of " fig. 3 ") of pi. 538. No. 44008 

 (4), N. variolarius, without a locality, is a calcareous lump of these 

 little fossils, certainly from France, like the coarser of the two 

 specimens from Betz, Dep. Oise, " P. 969," in the British Museum ; 

 ' Catal. Foss. Foram. B. M.' 1882, p. 38. 



1826. The description of iV T . elegans by James De Carle Sowerby, 

 in the ' Mineral Conchology,' vol. vi. p. 76, is as follows : — 



" Nummulakia elegans, Tab. dxxxviii. fig. 2. 



" Spec. Char. Compressed, smooth ; whorls about six ; septa 

 gently curved from the axis, numerous [alar prolongations of the 

 chambers] ; aperture rather prominent. 



" This differs from the last [N. Icevigatus'] in being smaller, in 

 having fewer whorls, which increase more rapidly, and in the 

 regular curvature of the septa. When young, it is very smooth and 

 regularly lenticular. The large figure [iV. planulatus] shows several 

 series of diminishing chambers, as mentioned in the observations 

 upon the genus [pp. 73-74]. 



"A siliceous stone occurs at Emsworth, near Chichester, that 

 contains among other shells an abundance of these Nummulites 

 [iV. planulatus~] filled also with silex, the other shells are too 

 imperfect to ascertain in our specimens. 



" It is an intermediate species between Lenticulina and Nummu- 

 lites of Lamarck." 



In this description some features of N. planulatus are confused 

 with those of elegans itself. 



The Emsworth stone referred to consists of siliceous internal 

 casts of Mollusks (Bivalves and Gasteropods) and Nummulites, with 

 siliceous cement. This last was sandy, and contains some glauco- 

 nitic grains. 



Inquiring of Prof. Prestwich in 1882, about this " Emsworth " 

 stone, I was favoured with a letter in which he informs me that he 

 has " searched in vain for the section with Nummulites at Emsworth, 

 and that it may have been in a small temporary pit in a lane. The 

 place itself is on the [lower] London Clay." (' Catal. Foss. Foram. 

 Brit. Mus.' 1882, p. 24.) 



" The village stands in greater part on Chalk and Gravel ; but on 

 the outskirts southward it passes on to the Lower Tertiaries, and 

 possibly to the Bognor Beds " (Prof. Prestwich, November 10, 1886). 

 A well, therefore, may reach some Lower Tertiary beds ; but no 

 siliceous fossils are known in them. 



Prof. Prestwich, however, has suggested to the author that, as 

 very little is known of the " Bognor Rock," and nothing of its 

 lower portion, it is just possible it may possess some peculiar stratum 

 holding N. planulatus; and that this would be such as on the 

 Continent occupies the horizon equivalent to that of the London 

 Clay, including the Bognor Rock. 



