22 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
varied sources of material, giving species not met with at all in any of 
the survey dredgings. 
As a general rule the Foraminifera of the region are most common 
on bottoms that consist of a mixture of sand and mud, though they 
are to be found wherever sufficient bottom samples are taken. Speci- 
mens are more abundant also in the deeper water of the Sound than 
elsewhere and in general it may be said that their numbers increase 
with the depth of the water. While the number of species is not great, 
representatives of seven of the ten orders of Foraminifera are included. 
The region in which the material was obtained was in the more pro- 
tected portion of the area, except the few dredgings which were made 
at the western end of Vineyard Somid. As a result most of the species 
are those which are common also in the littoral zone of the European 
coast of the North Atlantic. Certain others are more interesting as 
being unlooked for in this region, and extending somewhat the known 
distribution of the species. 
It was fountl that in a living or fresh condition many of the species 
have a delicate coloring due to the protoplasmic contents of the shell. 
This was particularly noticeable in the IVIiliolinidae, which when dry 
are usually dead white. 
While the majority of the species are free, there are several of those 
foimd which in their normal condition are attached. Certain of 
these, Webbina for example, and one species of Polymorphina, are 
attached id the coarser sand grains of the bottom. Others, such as 
Discorbina were met with on all sorts of foreign bodies. Hydroid 
stems and sponges are frequently covered with them, algae and eel 
grass are more or less encrusted with them, and even such foreign 
bodies as parts of an old lobster pot, pieces of coal, and a portion of a 
shoe dredged off Vineyard Haven had a number of specimens on them. 
In all, twenty-eight species re])resenting sixteen genera were found. 
Further work, will, Avithout doubt, add more species to those recorded 
here. Especially should this be true of the dredgings as they extend 
out into the more exposed and deeper waters outside of Gay Head. 
The following are the species met with during the summer. 
ASTKORHIZIDAE. 
Astrorhiza limicola Sandahl. 
AstrorUza limicola Sandahl, '58, \). 299, pi. 3, figs. 5, 6; Brady, '84, p. 231, pi. 
19, fig. 1-4. 
This species when found, appeared in great numbers but it is appar- 
