80 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
of 
forming the isles which surge up under our eyes from the bosom 
the ocean in the warmer regions of the globe. Thus shells, sea Kw 
appreciable to the sight, suffice by their accumulations to fill ^ 
seas, while performing a very considerable part in the great operati 0lJ|J 
of Nature, although it may not be apparent to us. 
Our exact knowledge of the Foraminifera is of very recent d&^' 
Great numbers of minute particles, of regular and symmetrical for 1 * 5 ’ 
were long distinguished on the sands of the sea shore. These eorp flS ’ 
cular atoms early attracted the attention of observers. But with the ^ 
covery of the microscope, these small elegant shells, which were am^ 
the curiosities revealed by the instrument, assumed immense importing 
We have stated that these corpuscles are nothing hut the shell or sc>l ,<J 
framework of a crowd of marine animalculae : we may then consider th^f 
as living species analogous to the Ammonites and Nautilus of geologi (-i ’ 
times. Linnaeus has placed them in this last genus, which wom® 
include, according to that author, all the multilocular shells. 
1804, Lamarck classed them among the molluscous cephalopoda. 
Alcide d : Orbigny, who has devoted long years study and obseHl 
tion, and may be considered the great historian of the ForaminA® 1 * 
makes it appear that this mode of classification was inexact. Dujar^ 
separated them altogether from the class of mollusks, and sho^ 8 
that they ought to bo consigned to an inferior class of anim 
These minute creatures, in short, are deficient in the true append^' 
analogous to feet, which exist in the higher mollusks. They siwF 
possess filamentous expansions, very variable in their form. 
We have stated that the Foraminifera are of microscopic dim®^ 
sions. With some trifling exceptions, this is generally true ; but the* 6 
exist a number of species which are visible to the naked eye. 
are the Nummulites, spoken of abovo as entering into the compositi 0 * 1 
of the stony masses of the Pyramids of Egypt. The Nurnnd $ 
pyramidas is circular in form, and about an inch in diameter. ^ 
Foraminifera found in the nummulite formation of Tremsted, ^ 
Bavaria, between Munich and Saltzberg, are still larger, being 
double the size of the nummulite of the Pyramids ; in short, they aI ‘ 
the giants of this tribe of animals. 
After these remarks, we may venture to give some idea of ^ 
structure and classification of these beings, whose part in the W 01 
of creation have, in former times, been so considerable. 
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