REPORT OR THE FORAMINIFERA. 499 
in the “ Tableau Methodique ” as an illustration of Nodosaria (Dentalina) communis ; but 
subsequently, when that species was described by d’Orbigny in his memoir on the 
Cretaceous Foraminifera of the vicinity of Paris, the name was applied to a somewhat 
different modification of the same type, having obliquely-set chambers. That both forms 
belong to the same specific series admits of no doubt ; but in the classification of the 
varieties of smooth Nodosarice into subordinate groups, the direction of the septa, 
whether straight or oblique, affords distinctive characters of some service ; and under 
these circumstances the term Nodosaria communis may properly be employed in a 
restricted sense for the variety with oblique sutures. 
It has been the custom to ignore the names under which Soldani described his 
specimens, on the ground that his nomenclature is seldom in accordance with the Linnean 
method ; and further, because he not unfrequently comprehends under one general name 
a miscellaneous assortment of organisms having little 
or no relationship with each other from a modern 
point of view. In the present instance no such objec- 
tion arises. The term Orthocercis farcimen is coupled 
with a single specimen, and is accompanied by a 
description which, taken with the figure, is sufficient 
for the identification of the form. Peuss, in his memoir 
on the Foraminifera of the Crag of Antwerp, adopts 
Soldani’s name, illustrating the characters of the 
species by a somewhat shorter specimen than that 
portrayed in the original figure. There is some 
degree of doubt as to the particular variety for which 
Lamarck’s term Nodosaria dentalina was intended, 
and in the absence of any other early appellation for 
the present form, it appears most convenient to follow 
Keuss in adopting the Soldanian name. 
The woodcuts (fig. 13, a.b.c.) sufficiently illustrate 
the morphological characters of the organism in ques- 
tion. The drawings (PI. LXII. figs. 17, 18) represent specimens which cannot be separated, 
even varietally, from these, but they are by no means typical, the segments being shorter 
and the general form of the shell more rapidly tapering. 
Nodosaria farcimen is a true cosmopolite, being found in every sea and at almost 
every depth from the littoral zone down to 2000 or 3000 fathoms. 
In the fossil condition it makes its appearance at least as far back as the Magnesian 
Limestones of the Permian system, and it occurs in microzoic rocks of almost every 
subsequent age. 
Fig. 13. — Nodutsaria farcimen, Soldani, sp. 
a. Copied from Soldani. 
b. Copied from Reuss (Crag of Antwerp). 
c. Cretaceous specimen. 
