Researches on the Foraminifera / by William B. Carpenter. Pt. I., Containing general introduction, and monograph of the genus Orbitolites.

  • Carpenter, William Benjamin, 1813-1885.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Researches on the Foraminifera / by William B. Carpenter. Pt. I., Containing general introduction, and monograph of the genus Orbitolites. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    1/68
    By William B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. fyc. Received May 21,—Read June 14, 1855. PART I. CONTAINING GENERAL INTRODUCTION, AND MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS ORBITOLITES. page General Introduction 181 Monograph of the Genus Orbitolites. Section I. History 187 II. General Plan of Organization 193 III. Physiology 206 IV. Variations 213 V. Essential Characters, &c 223 VI. Species 224 VII. Concluding Remarks 226 General Introduction. The tribe of Animals in regard to certain members of which I propose to offer to the Royal Society the results of my detailed investigations, is almost unknown, save by name, to many well-informed Naturalists; and has only of late received even a small measure of that attention, which its zoological and its geological importance, and its physiological interest, may fairly claim for it. Of the bodies which are now, on account of their general conformity to a certain plan of organization, grouped together under the designation Foraminifera, the greater proportion, being spiral multilocular shells, were long associated with Nautili and Ammonites, and were thus ranked as Cephalopodous Mollusks in the classifications of Lamarck and Cuvier ; whilst a few others, bearing more resemblance to certain kinds of corals, seemed naturally to take their places among Zoophytes. Down to a comparatively recent period, scarcely anything has been known beyond the external characters presented by these testaceous or coral-like bodies; their internal organization has been very imperfectly examined ; of their intimate structure, no attempt at elucidation has been made ; and as to the nature of the animals of which they are the skeletons, the grossest misapprehensions and errors have prevailed. And though many important steps have been recently made in this direction, it is obvious that the methods which have been proposed for the classification of the large number of forms (apparently distinct from each other) that have been collected, described, MDCCCLVI. 2 B V