Hunt — On JEozoon Canadense. 
123 
ful,^* I may safely say that the figure at length given by Messrs. Row- 
ney and King of their vaunted specimen does not seem to me to present 
the characters of Eozoon, but, on the contrary, shows granules of ser- 
pentine hispid with acicular crystals, which may be, and probably are, 
altogether inorganic. 
The last point which I shall mention is the taunt that so little further 
progress has been made in the investigation of Eozoon. With reference 
to this, I beg leave to doubt whether a process of confounding the actual 
structure of Eozoon with all manner of dendritic and crystalline forms, 
in the way followed by the authors, would constitute progress. But 
in so far as careful comparison with all specimens which have been 
recently found is concerned, some progress has been made ; and I trust 
that it will soon be possible to bring forward not merely additional 
specimens illustrative of the structure of Eozoon, but fresh evidence of 
its wide geographical range, and also links of connexion with fossils of 
the Palaeozoic rocks. The discovery recently made in Massachusetts, 
and alluded to by Messrs. Rowney and King, is itself not without im- 
portance. In the meantime I am content to accept the investigations 
of Messrs. King and Rowney as nearly exhaustive of the natural history 
of thoseimitativeforms which may be confounded with Eozoon, and there- 
fore as in a certain way useful in the further prosecution of the subject. 
As already stated, I am at this moment engaged in following out, as 
opportunity offers, two lines of investigation bearing on the following 
points : — (1) the study of the Lower Silurian and Primordial successors 
of Eozoon, and (2) that of the tubulation and other structures similar 
to those of Eozoon preserved in the Palaeozoic rocks. 
XX. — Messes. King an"d Rowket Eozoon" Can"adejtse. 
By T. Steeet Hu^tt, LL. D., F. E. S. 
[Read February 27, 1870.] 
In the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy," for July 12, 1869, 
Messrs. King and Rowney have given us at length their latest cor- 
rected views on various questions connected with Eowon Canadense. 
Leaving to my friend. Dr. Dawson, the discussion of the Zoological 
aspects of the question, I cannot forbear making a few criticisms on 
the chemical and mineralogical views of the authors. The problem 
which they had before them was to explain the occurrence of certain 
forms which, to skilled observers, like Carpenter, Dawson, and 
Rupert Jones, appear to possess all the structural character of the 
calcareous skeleton of a foraminiferal organism, and moreover to show 
how it happens that these forms of crystalline carbonate of lime are 
associated with serpentine in such a way as to lead these observers to 
* See Dr. Hunt's note on the rocks of Skye, "Am. Jour. Science," for March, 1870, 
p. 186. 
