724 
DR. W. B. CARPENTER AND ME. H. B. BEADY ON 
had come under my examination, or if my sections even of the non-infiltrated examples 
had not happened to display the unquestionably Foraminiferal characters of their 
central “ nucleus,” I should have hesitated in referring them to that type on any other 
ground than the impossibility of finding a place for them elsewhere, — so anomalous is 
the structure of the concentric layers by which the “ nucleus ” is surrounded. It may 
be anticipated, however, that when the attention of Palaeontologists shall have been 
drawn to these fossils, a much larger variety of Arenaceous Foraminifera will be 
brought to light, some of which may connect the anomalous Parker ia and Loftusia 
with types already known. And looking to the remarkable results recently obtained 
by Deep-Sea Dredging, especially in regard to the persistence, in the deeper parts of 
the Atlantic Ocean, of Cretaceous types supposed to have long since become extinct*, 
it scarcely seems too much to anticipate that the more extended prosecution of this 
inquiry may make known to us living examples of the same group, by the study of 
which the relationships of Parkeria and Loftusia may be completely elucidated. — For 
the present, therefore, I deem it better to abstain from any attempt to assign to them a 
Systematic rank, which can at best be only provisional. 
Parkeria. 
1. More than twenty years ago, there were found by Professor Morris, in the Upper 
Greensand near Cambridge, a number of solid globular Calcareous bodies, about an inch 
in diameter ; the superficial markings on which suggested both to himself and to Pro- 
fessor T. Rupert Jones the idea that they represent a peculiar type of the Sponges so 
common in that Formation. And although the appearances presented by sections of 
these fossils did not correspond with the structure of any known Sponge, either recent 
or fossil, yet they did not suggest any other interpretation ; and the question of their 
nature remained unsolved, until the discovery, between two and three years since, of 
two specimens which retain their original Arenaceous condition without any material 
change. The partial display of the peculiar internal structure of one of these by a 
superficial fracture, having led Professor Morris to suspect that they might constitute 
a new and remarkable type of Foraminiferal organization, he kindly placed both the 
specimens in my hands for examination, together with a number of previously collected 
specimens solidified by infiltration ; giving me full permission to treat them in any way 
I might think most desirable for the complete elucidation of their characters. And on 
his surmise proving well founded, he gladly accorded with me in giving to this type a 
Generic designation which should connect with it the name of our valued friend and 
coadjutor Mr. W. K. PARKERf. 
* See my “ Preliminary Report ” of tlie Lightning Expedition, in the Proceedings of the Royal Society for 
December 17, 1868, p. 192. 
t Since the above was written, I have learned that Mr. Harry Seeley, the Curator of the Woodwardian 
Museum at Cambridge, had been for several years acquainted with the fossil type I am describing, and had 
paid considerable attention not only to its internal structure, but also to what he believes to be its specific 
