16 
The author said that though shore sand did not generally 
yield specimens in sufficient abundance or perfection to be 
worth examination, yet here and there very rich shore deposits 
are met with, and these ought to be specially noted when 
observed, both because of the exhaustless supply of specimens 
they afford for investigation, and the peculiarity of circum- 
stances which must exist at these places to cause their accu- 
mulation. One such spot is at Dogs Bay, Koundstone, on 
the coast of Galway, where a great part of the shore is 
entirely composed of the remains of various microscopic 
creatures, by far the largest proportion consisting of shells of 
Foraminifera? Among other samples of sand from this place 
a very interesting one had been supplied by Mr. Parry, who 
had skimmed the material from the surface of pools left by 
the tide ; it consisted entirely of fine and perfect specimens 
of the lighter kinds of Foraminifera, broken shells and the 
heavier sorts having sunk to the bottom. This naturally 
selected sample had furnished some very interesting results 
by supplying abundance of certain varieties comparatively 
rare in the rough sand, and examinations of some of these 
had led to the suggestions which he would now offer as 
to the formation of the shell in some kinds of Monothala- 
mous Foraminifera. He considered in the first place that 
the soft body of the Foraminifer must act as a mould upon 
which the shell is formed, and that it must remain still and 
without change of shape while the process goes on ; therefore 
that this, so far as the foundation layer of shell is con- 
cerned, will be a single act, and probably one requiring 
no great length of time. But if the shell be moulded on the 
surface of the animal, it will from the first be only just large 
enough to hold it, and consequently whatever growth after- 
wards takes place must he continued outside the shell, and 
must constantly increase the quantity of external sarcode 
which has been observed coating the shells of living Fora- 
minifera, and which according to this view must be looked 
