Fig. 18.Minute Foraminiferal forms from the Laurentian of Long Lake.Highly magnified. (a.) Single cell, showing tubulated wall. (b, c.) Portions of same more highly magnified. (d.) Serpentine cast of a similar chamber, decalcified, and showing casts of tubuli.
Fig. 18.Minute Foraminiferal forms from the Laurentian of Long Lake.
Highly magnified. (a.) Single cell, showing tubulated wall. (b, c.) Portions of same more highly magnified. (d.) Serpentine cast of a similar chamber, decalcified, and showing casts of tubuli.
With respect to its size, we shall find in a subsequent chapter that this was rivalled by some succeeding animals of the same humble type in the Silurian age; and that, as a whole, foraminiferal animals have been diminishing in size in the lapse of geological time. It is indeed a fact of so frequent occurrence that it may almost be regarded as a law of the introduction of new forms of life, that they assume in their early history gigantic dimensions, and are afterwards continued by less magnificent species. The relations of this to external conditions, in the case of higher animals, are often complex and difficult to understand; but in organisms so low as Eozoon and its allies, they lie more on thesurface. Such creatures may be regarded as the simplest and most ready media for the conversion of vegetable matter into animal tissues, and their functions are almost entirely limited to those of nutrition. Hence it is likely that they will be able to appear in the most gigantic forms under such conditions as afford them the greatest amount of pabulum for the nourishment of their soft parts and for their skeletons. There is reason to believe, for example, that the occurrence, both in the chalk and the deep-sea mud, of immense quantities of the minute bodies known as Coccoliths along with Foraminifera, is not accidental. The Coccoliths appear to be grains of calcareous matter formed in minute plants adapted to a deep-sea habitat; and these, along with the vegetable and animal debris constantly being derived from the death of the living things at the surface, afford the material both of sarcode and shell. Now if the Laurentian graphite represents an exuberance of vegetable growth in those old seas proportionate to the great supplies of carbonic acid in the atmosphere and in the waters, and if the Eozoic ocean was even better supplied with carbonate of lime than those Silurian seas whose vast limestones bear testimony to their richness in such material, we can easily imagine that the conditions may have been more favourable to a creature like Eozoon than those of any other period of geological time.
Growing, as Eozoon did, on the floor of the ocean, and covering wide patches with more or less irregular masses, it must have thrown up from its whole surfaceits pseudopods to seize whatever floating particles of food the waters carried over it. There is also reason to believe, from the outline of certain specimens, that it often grew upward in cylindrical or club-shaped forms, and that the broader patches were penetrated by large pits or oscula, admitting the sea-water deeply into the substance of the masses. In this way its growth might be rapid and continuous; but it does not seem to have possessed the power of growing indefinitely by new and living layers covering those that had died, in the manner of some corals. Its life seems to have had a definite termination, and when that was reached an entirely new colony had to be commenced. In this it had more affinity with the Foraminifera, as we now know them, than with the corals, though practically it had the same power with the coral polyps of accumulating limestone in the sea bottom, a power indeed still possessed by its foraminiferal successors. In the case of coral limestones, we know that a large proportion of these consist not of continuous reefs but of fragments of coral mixed with other calcareous organisms, spread usually by waves and currents in continuous beds over the sea bottom. In like manner we find in the limestones containing Eozoon, layers of fragmental matter which shows in places the characteristic structures, and which evidently represents the debris swept from the Eozoic masses and reefs by the action of the waves. It is with this fragmental matter that the small rounded organisms already referred to most frequently occur; and while they may be distinctanimals, they may also be the fry of Eozoon, or small portions of its acervuline upper surface floated off in a living state, and possibly capable of living independently and of founding new colonies.
It is only by a somewhat wild poetical licence that Eozoon has been represented as a “kind of enormous composite animal stretching from the shores of Labrador to Lake Superior, and thence northward and southward to an unknown distance, and forming masses 1500 feet in depth.” We may discuss by-and-by the question of the composite nature of masses of Eozoon, and we see in the corals evidence of the great size to which composite animals of a higher grade can attain. In the case of Eozoon we must imagine an ocean floor more uniform and level than that now existing. On this the organism would establish itself in spots and patches. These might finally become confluent over large areas, just as massive corals do. As individual masses attained maturity and died, their pores would be filled up with limestone or silicious deposits, and thus could form a solid basis for new generations, and in this way limestone to an indefinite extent might be produced. Further, wherever such masses were high enough to be attacked by the breakers, or where portions of the sea bottom were elevated, the more fragile parts of the surface would be broken up and scattered widely in beds of fragments over the bottom of the sea, while here and there beds of mud or sand or of volcanic debris would be deposited over the living or dead organic mass, and would form the layers of gneissand other schistose rocks interstratified with the Laurentian limestone. In this way, in short, Eozoon would perform a function combining that which corals and Foraminifera perform in the modern seas; forming both reef limestones and extensive chalky beds, and probably living both in the shallow and the deeper parts of the ocean. If in connection with this we consider the rapidity with which the soft, simple, and almost structureless sarcode of these Protozoa can be built up, and the probability that they were more abundantly supplied with food, both for nourishing their soft parts and skeletons, than any similar creatures in later times, we can readily understand the great volume and extent of the Laurentian limestones which they aided in producing. I say aided in producing, because I would not desire to commit myself to the doctrine that the Laurentian limestones are wholly of this origin. There may have been other animal limestone-builders than Eozoon, and there may have been limestones formed by plants like the modern Nullipores or by merely mineral deposition.
Fig. 19.Section of a Nummulite, from Eocene Limestone of Syria.Showing chambers, tubuli, and canals. Compare this andfig. 20with figs. 10 and 11.
Fig. 19.Section of a Nummulite, from Eocene Limestone of Syria.
Showing chambers, tubuli, and canals. Compare this andfig. 20with figs. 10 and 11.
Fig. 20.Portion of shell of Calcarina.Magnified, after Carpenter. (a.) Cells. (b.) Original cell-wall with tubuli. (c.) Supplementary skeleton with canals.
Fig. 20.Portion of shell of Calcarina.
Magnified, after Carpenter. (a.) Cells. (b.) Original cell-wall with tubuli. (c.) Supplementary skeleton with canals.
Its relations to modern animals of its type have been very clearly defined by Dr. Carpenter. In the structure of its proper wall and its fine parallel perforations, it resembles theNummulitesand their allies; and the organism may therefore be regarded as an aberrant member of the Nummuline group, which affords some of the largest and most widely distributed of the fossil Foraminifera. This resemblance may be seen infig. 19. To the Nummulites it also conforms in its tendency to form a supplemental or intermediate skeleton with canals, though the canals themselves in their arrangement more nearly resemble Calcarina, which is represented infig. 20. In its superposition of many layers, and in its tendency to a heaped up or acervuline irregular growth it resemblesPolytremaandTinoporus,forms of a different group in so far as shell-structure is concerned. It may thus be regarded as a composite type, combining peculiarities now observed in two groups, or it may be regarded as a representative in the Nummuline series of Polytrema and Tinoporus in the Rotaline series. At the time when Dr. Carpenter stated these affinities, it might be objected that Foraminifera of these families are in the main found in the Modern and Tertiary periods. Dr. Carpenter has since shown that the curious oval Foraminifer calledFusulina, found in the coal formation, is in like manner allied to both Nummulites and Rotalines; and still more recently Mr. Brady has discovered a true Nummulite in the Lower Carboniferous of Belgium. This group being now fairly brought down to the Palæozoic, we may hope finally to trace it back to the Primordial, and thus to bring it still nearer to Eozoon in time.
Fig. 21.Foraminiferal Rock Builders.(a.) Nummulites lævigata—Eocene. (b.) The same, showing chambered interior. (c.) Milioline limestone, magnified—Eocene, Paris. (d.) Hard Chalk, section magnified—Cretaceous.
Fig. 21.Foraminiferal Rock Builders.
(a.) Nummulites lævigata—Eocene. (b.) The same, showing chambered interior. (c.) Milioline limestone, magnified—Eocene, Paris. (d.) Hard Chalk, section magnified—Cretaceous.
Though Eozoon was probably not the only animal of the Laurentian seas, yet it was in all likelihood the most conspicuous and important as a collector of calcareous matter, filling the same place afterwards occupied by the reef-building corals. Though probably less efficient than these as a constructor of solid limestones, from its less permanent and continuous growth, it formed wide floors and patches on the sea-bottom, and when these were broken up vast quantities of limestone were formed from their debris. It must also be borne in mind that Eozoon was not everywhere infiltrated with serpentine or other silicious minerals; quantities of its substance were merely filled with carbonateof lime, resembling the chamber-wall so closely that it is nearly impossible to make out the difference, and thus is likely to pass altogether unobserved by collectors, and to baffle even the microscopist. (Fig. 24.) Although therefore the layers which contain well characterized Eozoon are few and far between, there is reason to believe that in the composition of the limestones of the Laurentian it bore no small part, and as these limestones are some of them several hundreds of feet in thickness, and extend over vast areas, Eozoon may be supposed to have been as efficient a world-builder as the Stromatoporæ of the Silurian andDevonian, the Globigerinæ and their allies in the chalk, or the Nummulites and Miliolites in the Eocene. The two latter groups of rock-makers are represented in our cut,fig. 21; the first will engage our attention in chapter sixth. It is a remarkable illustration of the constancy of natural causes and of the persistence of animal types, that these humble Protozoans, which began to secrete calcareous matter in the Laurentian period, have been continuing their work in the ocean through all the geological ages, and are still busy in accumulating those chalky muds with which recent dredging operations in the deep sea have made us so familiar.
NOTES TO CHAPTER IV.
(A.)Original Description of Eozoon Canadense.
[As given by the author in theJournal of the Geological Society, February, 1865.]
"At the request of Sir W. E. Logan, I have submitted to microscopic examination slices of certain peculiar laminated forms, consisting of alternate layers of carbonate of lime and serpentine, and of carbonate of lime and white pyroxene, found in the Laurentian limestone of Canada, and regarded by Sir William as possibly fossils. I have also examined slices of a large number of limestones from the Laurentian series, not showing the forms of these supposed fossils."The specimens first mentioned are masses, often several inches in diameter, presenting to the naked eye alternate laminæ of serpentine, or of pyroxene, and carbonate of lime. Their general aspect, as remarked by Sir W. E. Logan (Geology of Canada, 1863, p. 49), reminds the observer of that of the Silurian corals of the genus Stromatopora, except thatthe laminæ diverge from and approach each other, and frequently anastomose or are connected by transverse septa."Under the microscope the resemblance to Stromatopora is seen to be in general form merely, and no trace appears of the radiating pillars characteristic of that genus. The laminæ of serpentine and pyroxene present no organic structure, and the latter mineral is highly crystalline. The laminæ of carbonate of lime, on the contrary, retain distinct traces of structures which cannot be of a crystalline or concretionary character. They constitute parallel or concentric partitions of variable thickness, enclosing flattened spaces or chambers, frequently crossed by transverse plates or septa, in some places so numerous as to give a vesicular appearance, in others occurring only at rare intervals. The laminæ themselves are excavated on their sides into rounded pits, and are in some places traversed by canals, or contain secondary rounded cells, apparently isolated. In addition to these general appearances, the substance of the laminæ, where most perfectly preserved, is seen to present a fine granular structure, and to be penetrated by numerous minute tubuli, which are arranged in bundles of great beauty and complexity, diverging in sheaf-like forms, and in their finer extensions anastomosing so as to form a network (figs. 10 and 28). In transverse sections, and under high powers, the tubuli are seen to be circular in outline, and sharply defined (fig. 29). In longitudinal sections, they sometimes present a beaded or jointed appearance. Even where the tubular structure is least perfectly preserved, traces of it can still be seen in most of the slices, though there are places in which the laminæ are perfectly compact, and perhaps were so originally."With respect to the nature and probable origin of the appearances above described, I would make the following remarks:—"1. The serpentine and pyroxene which fill the cavities of the calcareous matter have no appearance of concretionary structure. On the contrary, their aspect is that of matter introduced by infiltration, or as sediment, and filling spaces previously existing. In other words, the calcareous matterhas not been moulded on the forms of the serpentine and augite, but these have filled spaces or chambers in a hard calcareous mass. This conclusion is further confirmed by the fact, to be referred to in the sequel, that the serpentine includes multitudes of minute foreign bodies, while the calcareous matter is uniform and homogeneous. It is also to be observed that small veins of carbonate of lime occasionally traverse the specimen’s, and in their entire absence of structures other than crystalline, present a striking contrast to the supposed fossils."2. Though the calcareous laminæ have in places a crystalline cleavage, their forms and structures have no relation to this. Their cells and canals are rounded, and have smooth walls, which are occasionally lined with films apparently of carbonaceous matter. Above all, the minute tubuli are different from anything likely to occur in merely crystalline calc-spar. While in such rocks little importance might be attached to external forms simulating the appearances of corals, sponges, or other organisms, these delicate internal structures have a much higher claim to attention. Nor is there any improbability in the preservation of such minute parts in rocks so highly crystalline, since it is a circumstance of frequent occurrence in the microscopic examination of fossils that the finest structures are visible in specimens in which the general form and the arrangement of parts have been obliterated. It is also to be observed that the structure of the calcareous laminæ is the same, whether the intervening spaces are filled with serpentine or with pyroxene."3. The structures above described are not merely definite and uniform, but they are of a kind proper to animal organisms, and more especially to one particular type of animal life, as likely as any other to occur under such circumstances: I refer to that of the Rhizopods of the order Foraminifera. The most important point of difference is in the great size and compact habit of growth of the specimens in question; but there seems no good reason to maintain that Foraminifera must necessarily be of small size, more especially since forms of considerable magnitude referred to this type are known inthe Lower Silurian. Professor Hall has described specimens of Receptaculites twelve inches in diameter; and the fossils from the Potsdam formation of Labrador, referred by Mr. Billings to the genus Archæocyathus, are examples of Protozoa with calcareous skeletons scarcely inferior in their massive style of growth to the forms now under consideration."These reasons are, I think, sufficient to justify me in regarding these remarkable structures as truly organic, and in searching for their nearest allies among the Foraminifera."Supposing then that the spaces between the calcareous laminæ, as well as the canals and tubuli traversing their substance, were once filled with the sarcode body of a Rhizopod, comparisons with modern forms at once suggest themselves."From the polished specimens in the Museum of the Canadian Geological Survey, it appears certain that these bodies were sessile by a broad base, and grew by the addition of successive layers of chambers separated by calcareous laminæ, but communicating with each other by canals or septal orifices sparsely and irregularly distributed. Small specimens have thus much the aspect of the modern genera Carpenteria and Polytrema. Like the first of these genera, there would also seem to have been a tendency to leave in the midst of the structure a large central canal, or deep funnel-shaped or cylindrical opening, for communication with the sea-water. Where the laminæ coalesce, and the structure becomes more vesicular, it assumes the ‘acervuline’ character seen in such modern forms as Nubecularia."Still the magnitude of these fossils is enormous when compared with the species of the genera above named; and from the specimens in the larger slabs from Grenville, in the museum of the Canadian Survey, it would seem that these organisms grew in groups, which ultimately coalesced, and formed large masses penetrated by deep irregular canals; and that they continued to grow at the surface, while the lower parts became dead and were filled up with infiltrated matter or sediment. In short, we have to imagine an organism having the habit of growth of Carpenteria, but attainingto an enormous size, and by the aggregation of individuals assuming the aspect of a coral reef."The complicated systems of tubuli in the Laurentian fossil indicate, however, a more complex structure than that of any of the forms mentioned above. I have carefully compared these with the similar structures in the ‘supplementary skeleton’ (or the shell-substance that carries the vascular system) of Calcarina and other forms, and can detect no difference except in the somewhat coarser texture of the tubuli in the Laurentian specimens. It accords well with the great dimensions of these, that they should thus thicken their walls with an extensive deposit of tubulated calcareous matter; and from the frequency of the bundles of tubuli, as well as from the thickness of the partitions, I have no doubt that all the successive walls, as they were formed, were thickened in this manner, just as in so many of the higher genera of more modern Foraminifera."It is proper to add that no spicules, or other structures indicating affinity to the Sponges, have been detected in any of the specimens.“As it is convenient to have a name to designate these forms, I would propose that of Eozoon, which will be specially appropriate to what seems to be the characteristic fossil of a group of rocks which must now be named Eozoic rather than Azoic. For the species above described, the specific name of Canadense has been proposed. It may be distinguished by the following characters:—“Eozoon Canadense;gen. et spec. nov.“General form.—Massive, in large sessile patches or irregular cylinders, growing at the surface by the addition of successive laminæ.“Internal structure.—Chambers large, flattened, irregular, with numerous rounded extensions, and separated by walls of variable thickness, which are penetrated by septal orifices irregularly disposed. Thicker parts of the walls with bundles of fine branching tubuli.“These characters refer specially to the specimens from Grenville and the Calumet. There are others from Perth,C. W., which show more regular laminæ, and in which the tubuli have not yet been observed; and a specimen from Burgess, C. W., contains some fragments of laminæ which exhibit, on one side, a series of fine parallel tubuli like those of Nummulina. These specimens may indicate distinct species; but on the other hand, their peculiarities may depend on different states of preservation.“With respect to this last point, it may be remarked that some of the specimens from Grenville and the Calumet show the structure of the laminæ with nearly equal distinctness, whether the chambers are filled with serpentine or pyroxene, and that even the minute tubuli are penetrated and filled with these minerals. On the other hand, there are large specimens in the collection of the Canadian Survey in which the lower and still parts of the organism are imperfectly preserved in pyroxene, while the upper parts are more perfectly mineralized with serpentine.”[The following note was added in a reprint of the paper in theCanadian Naturalist, April, 1865.]“Since the above was written, thick slices of Eozoon from Grenville have been prepared, and submitted to the action of hydrochloric acid until the carbonate of lime was removed. The serpentine then remains as a cast of the interior of the chambers, showing the form of their original sarcode-contents. The minute tubuli are found also to have been filled with a substance insoluble in the acid, so that casts of these also remain in great perfection, and allow their general distribution to be much better seen than in the transparent slices previously prepared. These interesting preparations establish the following additional structural points:—“1. That the whole mass of sarcode throughout the organism was continuous; the apparently detached secondary chambers being, as I had previously suspected, connected with the larger chambers by canals filled with sarcode.“2. That some of the irregular portions without lamination are not fragmentary, but due to the acervuline growth of the animal; and that this irregularity has been produced in partby the formation of projecting patches of supplementary skeleton, penetrated by beautiful systems of tubuli. These groups of tubuli are in some places very regular, and have in their axes cylinders of compact calcareous matter. Some parts of the specimens present arrangements of this kind as symmetrical as in any modern Foraminiferal shell.“3. That all except the very thinnest portions of the walls of the chambers present traces, more or less distinct, of a tubular structure.“4. These facts place in more strong contrast the structure of the regularly laminated species from Burgess, which do not show tubuli, and that of the Grenville specimens, less regularly laminated and tubulous throughout. I hesitated however to regard these two as distinct species, in consequence of the intermediate characters presented by specimens from the Calumet, which are regularly laminated like those of Burgess, and tubulous like those of Grenville. It is possible that in the Burgess specimens, tubuli, originally present, have been obliterated, and in organisms of this grade, more or less altered by the processes of fossilisation, large series of specimens should be compared before attempting to establish specific distinctions.”
"At the request of Sir W. E. Logan, I have submitted to microscopic examination slices of certain peculiar laminated forms, consisting of alternate layers of carbonate of lime and serpentine, and of carbonate of lime and white pyroxene, found in the Laurentian limestone of Canada, and regarded by Sir William as possibly fossils. I have also examined slices of a large number of limestones from the Laurentian series, not showing the forms of these supposed fossils.
"The specimens first mentioned are masses, often several inches in diameter, presenting to the naked eye alternate laminæ of serpentine, or of pyroxene, and carbonate of lime. Their general aspect, as remarked by Sir W. E. Logan (Geology of Canada, 1863, p. 49), reminds the observer of that of the Silurian corals of the genus Stromatopora, except thatthe laminæ diverge from and approach each other, and frequently anastomose or are connected by transverse septa.
"Under the microscope the resemblance to Stromatopora is seen to be in general form merely, and no trace appears of the radiating pillars characteristic of that genus. The laminæ of serpentine and pyroxene present no organic structure, and the latter mineral is highly crystalline. The laminæ of carbonate of lime, on the contrary, retain distinct traces of structures which cannot be of a crystalline or concretionary character. They constitute parallel or concentric partitions of variable thickness, enclosing flattened spaces or chambers, frequently crossed by transverse plates or septa, in some places so numerous as to give a vesicular appearance, in others occurring only at rare intervals. The laminæ themselves are excavated on their sides into rounded pits, and are in some places traversed by canals, or contain secondary rounded cells, apparently isolated. In addition to these general appearances, the substance of the laminæ, where most perfectly preserved, is seen to present a fine granular structure, and to be penetrated by numerous minute tubuli, which are arranged in bundles of great beauty and complexity, diverging in sheaf-like forms, and in their finer extensions anastomosing so as to form a network (figs. 10 and 28). In transverse sections, and under high powers, the tubuli are seen to be circular in outline, and sharply defined (fig. 29). In longitudinal sections, they sometimes present a beaded or jointed appearance. Even where the tubular structure is least perfectly preserved, traces of it can still be seen in most of the slices, though there are places in which the laminæ are perfectly compact, and perhaps were so originally.
"With respect to the nature and probable origin of the appearances above described, I would make the following remarks:—
"1. The serpentine and pyroxene which fill the cavities of the calcareous matter have no appearance of concretionary structure. On the contrary, their aspect is that of matter introduced by infiltration, or as sediment, and filling spaces previously existing. In other words, the calcareous matterhas not been moulded on the forms of the serpentine and augite, but these have filled spaces or chambers in a hard calcareous mass. This conclusion is further confirmed by the fact, to be referred to in the sequel, that the serpentine includes multitudes of minute foreign bodies, while the calcareous matter is uniform and homogeneous. It is also to be observed that small veins of carbonate of lime occasionally traverse the specimen’s, and in their entire absence of structures other than crystalline, present a striking contrast to the supposed fossils.
"2. Though the calcareous laminæ have in places a crystalline cleavage, their forms and structures have no relation to this. Their cells and canals are rounded, and have smooth walls, which are occasionally lined with films apparently of carbonaceous matter. Above all, the minute tubuli are different from anything likely to occur in merely crystalline calc-spar. While in such rocks little importance might be attached to external forms simulating the appearances of corals, sponges, or other organisms, these delicate internal structures have a much higher claim to attention. Nor is there any improbability in the preservation of such minute parts in rocks so highly crystalline, since it is a circumstance of frequent occurrence in the microscopic examination of fossils that the finest structures are visible in specimens in which the general form and the arrangement of parts have been obliterated. It is also to be observed that the structure of the calcareous laminæ is the same, whether the intervening spaces are filled with serpentine or with pyroxene.
"3. The structures above described are not merely definite and uniform, but they are of a kind proper to animal organisms, and more especially to one particular type of animal life, as likely as any other to occur under such circumstances: I refer to that of the Rhizopods of the order Foraminifera. The most important point of difference is in the great size and compact habit of growth of the specimens in question; but there seems no good reason to maintain that Foraminifera must necessarily be of small size, more especially since forms of considerable magnitude referred to this type are known inthe Lower Silurian. Professor Hall has described specimens of Receptaculites twelve inches in diameter; and the fossils from the Potsdam formation of Labrador, referred by Mr. Billings to the genus Archæocyathus, are examples of Protozoa with calcareous skeletons scarcely inferior in their massive style of growth to the forms now under consideration.
"These reasons are, I think, sufficient to justify me in regarding these remarkable structures as truly organic, and in searching for their nearest allies among the Foraminifera.
"Supposing then that the spaces between the calcareous laminæ, as well as the canals and tubuli traversing their substance, were once filled with the sarcode body of a Rhizopod, comparisons with modern forms at once suggest themselves.
"From the polished specimens in the Museum of the Canadian Geological Survey, it appears certain that these bodies were sessile by a broad base, and grew by the addition of successive layers of chambers separated by calcareous laminæ, but communicating with each other by canals or septal orifices sparsely and irregularly distributed. Small specimens have thus much the aspect of the modern genera Carpenteria and Polytrema. Like the first of these genera, there would also seem to have been a tendency to leave in the midst of the structure a large central canal, or deep funnel-shaped or cylindrical opening, for communication with the sea-water. Where the laminæ coalesce, and the structure becomes more vesicular, it assumes the ‘acervuline’ character seen in such modern forms as Nubecularia.
"Still the magnitude of these fossils is enormous when compared with the species of the genera above named; and from the specimens in the larger slabs from Grenville, in the museum of the Canadian Survey, it would seem that these organisms grew in groups, which ultimately coalesced, and formed large masses penetrated by deep irregular canals; and that they continued to grow at the surface, while the lower parts became dead and were filled up with infiltrated matter or sediment. In short, we have to imagine an organism having the habit of growth of Carpenteria, but attainingto an enormous size, and by the aggregation of individuals assuming the aspect of a coral reef.
"The complicated systems of tubuli in the Laurentian fossil indicate, however, a more complex structure than that of any of the forms mentioned above. I have carefully compared these with the similar structures in the ‘supplementary skeleton’ (or the shell-substance that carries the vascular system) of Calcarina and other forms, and can detect no difference except in the somewhat coarser texture of the tubuli in the Laurentian specimens. It accords well with the great dimensions of these, that they should thus thicken their walls with an extensive deposit of tubulated calcareous matter; and from the frequency of the bundles of tubuli, as well as from the thickness of the partitions, I have no doubt that all the successive walls, as they were formed, were thickened in this manner, just as in so many of the higher genera of more modern Foraminifera.
"It is proper to add that no spicules, or other structures indicating affinity to the Sponges, have been detected in any of the specimens.
“As it is convenient to have a name to designate these forms, I would propose that of Eozoon, which will be specially appropriate to what seems to be the characteristic fossil of a group of rocks which must now be named Eozoic rather than Azoic. For the species above described, the specific name of Canadense has been proposed. It may be distinguished by the following characters:—
“Eozoon Canadense;gen. et spec. nov.
“General form.—Massive, in large sessile patches or irregular cylinders, growing at the surface by the addition of successive laminæ.
“Internal structure.—Chambers large, flattened, irregular, with numerous rounded extensions, and separated by walls of variable thickness, which are penetrated by septal orifices irregularly disposed. Thicker parts of the walls with bundles of fine branching tubuli.
“These characters refer specially to the specimens from Grenville and the Calumet. There are others from Perth,C. W., which show more regular laminæ, and in which the tubuli have not yet been observed; and a specimen from Burgess, C. W., contains some fragments of laminæ which exhibit, on one side, a series of fine parallel tubuli like those of Nummulina. These specimens may indicate distinct species; but on the other hand, their peculiarities may depend on different states of preservation.
“With respect to this last point, it may be remarked that some of the specimens from Grenville and the Calumet show the structure of the laminæ with nearly equal distinctness, whether the chambers are filled with serpentine or pyroxene, and that even the minute tubuli are penetrated and filled with these minerals. On the other hand, there are large specimens in the collection of the Canadian Survey in which the lower and still parts of the organism are imperfectly preserved in pyroxene, while the upper parts are more perfectly mineralized with serpentine.”
[The following note was added in a reprint of the paper in theCanadian Naturalist, April, 1865.]
“Since the above was written, thick slices of Eozoon from Grenville have been prepared, and submitted to the action of hydrochloric acid until the carbonate of lime was removed. The serpentine then remains as a cast of the interior of the chambers, showing the form of their original sarcode-contents. The minute tubuli are found also to have been filled with a substance insoluble in the acid, so that casts of these also remain in great perfection, and allow their general distribution to be much better seen than in the transparent slices previously prepared. These interesting preparations establish the following additional structural points:—
“1. That the whole mass of sarcode throughout the organism was continuous; the apparently detached secondary chambers being, as I had previously suspected, connected with the larger chambers by canals filled with sarcode.
“2. That some of the irregular portions without lamination are not fragmentary, but due to the acervuline growth of the animal; and that this irregularity has been produced in partby the formation of projecting patches of supplementary skeleton, penetrated by beautiful systems of tubuli. These groups of tubuli are in some places very regular, and have in their axes cylinders of compact calcareous matter. Some parts of the specimens present arrangements of this kind as symmetrical as in any modern Foraminiferal shell.
“3. That all except the very thinnest portions of the walls of the chambers present traces, more or less distinct, of a tubular structure.
“4. These facts place in more strong contrast the structure of the regularly laminated species from Burgess, which do not show tubuli, and that of the Grenville specimens, less regularly laminated and tubulous throughout. I hesitated however to regard these two as distinct species, in consequence of the intermediate characters presented by specimens from the Calumet, which are regularly laminated like those of Burgess, and tubulous like those of Grenville. It is possible that in the Burgess specimens, tubuli, originally present, have been obliterated, and in organisms of this grade, more or less altered by the processes of fossilisation, large series of specimens should be compared before attempting to establish specific distinctions.”
(B.)Original Description of the Specimens added by Dr. Carpenter to the above—in a Letter to Sir W. E. Logan.
[Journal of Geological Society, February, 1865.]
"The careful examination which I have made, in accordance with the request you were good enough to convey to me from Dr. Dawson and to second on your own part, with the structure of the very extraordinary fossil which you have brought from the Laurentian rocks of Canada,[Q]enables me mostunhesitatingly to confirm the sagacious determination of Dr. Dawson as to its Rhizopod characters and Foraminiferal affinities, and at the same time furnishes new evidence of no small value in support of that determination. In this examination I have had the advantage of a series of sections of the fossil much superior to those submitted to Dr. Dawson; and also of a large series of decalcified specimens, of which Dr. Dawson had only the opportunity of seeing a few examples after his memoir had been written. These last are peculiarly instructive; since in consequence of the complete infiltration of the chambers and canals, originally occupied by the sarcode-body of the animal, by mineral matter insoluble in dilute nitric acid, the removal of the calcareous shell brings into view, not only the internal casts of the chambers, but also casts of the interior of the ‘canal system’ of the ‘intermediate’ or ‘supplemental skeleton,’ and even casts of the interior of the very fine parallel tubuli which traverse the proper walls of the chambers. And, as I have remarked elsewhere,[R]‘such casts place before us far more exact representations of the configuration of the animal body, and of the connections of its different parts, than we could obtain even from living specimens by dissolving away their shells with acid; its several portions being disposed to heap themselves together in a mass when they lose the support of the calcareous skeleton.’
"The careful examination which I have made, in accordance with the request you were good enough to convey to me from Dr. Dawson and to second on your own part, with the structure of the very extraordinary fossil which you have brought from the Laurentian rocks of Canada,[Q]enables me mostunhesitatingly to confirm the sagacious determination of Dr. Dawson as to its Rhizopod characters and Foraminiferal affinities, and at the same time furnishes new evidence of no small value in support of that determination. In this examination I have had the advantage of a series of sections of the fossil much superior to those submitted to Dr. Dawson; and also of a large series of decalcified specimens, of which Dr. Dawson had only the opportunity of seeing a few examples after his memoir had been written. These last are peculiarly instructive; since in consequence of the complete infiltration of the chambers and canals, originally occupied by the sarcode-body of the animal, by mineral matter insoluble in dilute nitric acid, the removal of the calcareous shell brings into view, not only the internal casts of the chambers, but also casts of the interior of the ‘canal system’ of the ‘intermediate’ or ‘supplemental skeleton,’ and even casts of the interior of the very fine parallel tubuli which traverse the proper walls of the chambers. And, as I have remarked elsewhere,[R]‘such casts place before us far more exact representations of the configuration of the animal body, and of the connections of its different parts, than we could obtain even from living specimens by dissolving away their shells with acid; its several portions being disposed to heap themselves together in a mass when they lose the support of the calcareous skeleton.’
[Q]The specimens submitted to Dr. Carpenter were taken from a block of Eozoon rock, obtained in the Petite Nation seigniory, too late to afford Dr. Dawson an opportunity of examination. They are from the same horizon as the Grenville specimens.—W. E. L.
[Q]The specimens submitted to Dr. Carpenter were taken from a block of Eozoon rock, obtained in the Petite Nation seigniory, too late to afford Dr. Dawson an opportunity of examination. They are from the same horizon as the Grenville specimens.—W. E. L.
[R]Introduction to the Study of the Foraminifera, p. 10.
[R]Introduction to the Study of the Foraminifera, p. 10.
"The additional opportunities I have thus enjoyed will be found, I believe, to account satisfactorily for the differences to be observed between Dr. Dawson’s account of the Eozoon and my own. Had I been obliged to form my conclusions respecting its structure only from the specimens submitted to Dr. Dawson, I should very probably have seen no reason for any but the most complete accordance with his description: while if Dr. Dawson had enjoyed the advantage of examining the entire series of preparations which have come under my own observation, I feel confident that he would have anticipated the corrections and additions which I now offer."Although the general plan of growth described by Dr. Dawson, and exhibited in his photographs of vertical sections of the fossil, is undoubtedly that which is typical of Eozoon, yet I find that the acervuline mode of growth, also mentioned by Dr. Dawson, very frequently takes its place in the more superficial parts, where the chambers, which are arranged in regular tiers in the laminated portions, are heaped one upon another without any regularity, as is particularly well shown in some decalcified specimens which I have myself prepared from the slices last put into my hands. I see no indication that this departure from the normal type of structure has resulted from an injury; the transition from the regular to the irregular mode of increase not being abrupt but gradual. Nor shall I be disposed to regard it as a monstrosity; since there are many other Foraminifera in which an originally definite plan of growth gives place, in a later stage, to a like acervuline piling-up of chambers."In regard to the form and relations of the chambers, I have little to add to Dr. Dawson’s description. The evidence afforded by their internal casts concurs with that of sections, in showing that the segments of the sarcode-body, by whose aggregation each layer was constituted, were but very incompletely divided by shelly partitions; this incomplete separation (as Dr. Dawson has pointed out) having its parallel in that of the secondary chambers in Carpenteria. But I have occasionally met with instances in which the separation of the chambers has been as complete as it is in Foraminifera generally; and the communication between them is then established by several narrow passages exactly corresponding with those which I have described and figured in Cycloclypeus.[S]
"The additional opportunities I have thus enjoyed will be found, I believe, to account satisfactorily for the differences to be observed between Dr. Dawson’s account of the Eozoon and my own. Had I been obliged to form my conclusions respecting its structure only from the specimens submitted to Dr. Dawson, I should very probably have seen no reason for any but the most complete accordance with his description: while if Dr. Dawson had enjoyed the advantage of examining the entire series of preparations which have come under my own observation, I feel confident that he would have anticipated the corrections and additions which I now offer.
"Although the general plan of growth described by Dr. Dawson, and exhibited in his photographs of vertical sections of the fossil, is undoubtedly that which is typical of Eozoon, yet I find that the acervuline mode of growth, also mentioned by Dr. Dawson, very frequently takes its place in the more superficial parts, where the chambers, which are arranged in regular tiers in the laminated portions, are heaped one upon another without any regularity, as is particularly well shown in some decalcified specimens which I have myself prepared from the slices last put into my hands. I see no indication that this departure from the normal type of structure has resulted from an injury; the transition from the regular to the irregular mode of increase not being abrupt but gradual. Nor shall I be disposed to regard it as a monstrosity; since there are many other Foraminifera in which an originally definite plan of growth gives place, in a later stage, to a like acervuline piling-up of chambers.
"In regard to the form and relations of the chambers, I have little to add to Dr. Dawson’s description. The evidence afforded by their internal casts concurs with that of sections, in showing that the segments of the sarcode-body, by whose aggregation each layer was constituted, were but very incompletely divided by shelly partitions; this incomplete separation (as Dr. Dawson has pointed out) having its parallel in that of the secondary chambers in Carpenteria. But I have occasionally met with instances in which the separation of the chambers has been as complete as it is in Foraminifera generally; and the communication between them is then established by several narrow passages exactly corresponding with those which I have described and figured in Cycloclypeus.[S]
[S]Op. cit., p. 294.
[S]Op. cit., p. 294.
"The mode in which each successive layer originates from the one which had preceded it, is a question to which my attention has been a good deal directed; but I do not as yet feel confident that I have been able to elucidate it completely. There is certainly no regular system of apertures for the passage of stolons giving origin to new segments, such as are found in all ordinary Polythalamous Foraminifera, whether their type of growth be rectilinear, spiral, or cyclical; and I am disposed to believe that where one layer is separated fromanother by nothing else than the proper walls of the chambers,—which, as I shall presently show, are traversed by multitudes of minute tubuli giving passage to pseudopodia,—the coalescence of these pseudopodia on the external surface would suffice to lay the foundation of a new layer of sarcodic segments. But where an intermediate or supplemental skeleton, consisting of a thick layer of solid calcareous shell, has been deposited between two successive layers, it is obvious that the animal body contained in the lower layer of chambers must be completely cut off from that which occupies the upper, unless some special provision exist for their mutual communication. Such a provision I believe to have been made by the extension of bands of sarcode, through canals left in the intermediate skeleton, from the lower to the upper tier of chambers. For in such sections as happen to have traversed thick deposits of the intermediate skeleton, there are generally found passages distinguished from those of the ordinary canal-system by their broad flat form, their great transverse diameter, and their non-ramification. One of these passages I have distinctly traced to a chamber, with the cavity of which it communicated through two or three apertures in its proper wall; and I think it likely that I should have been able to trace it at its other extremity into a chamber of the superjacent tier, had not the plane of the section passed out of its course. Riband-like casts of these passages are often to be seen in decalcified specimens, traversing the void spaces left by the removal of the thickest layers of the intermediate skeleton."But the organization of a new layer seems to have not unfrequently taken place in a much more considerable extension of the sarcode-body of the pre-formed layer; which either folded back its margin over the surface already consolidated, in a manner somewhat like that in which the mantle of a Cyprœa doubles back to deposit the final surface-layer of its shell, or sent upwards wall-like lamellæ, sometimes of very limited extent, but not unfrequently of considerable length, which, after traversing the substance of the shell, like trap-dykes in a bed of sandstone, spread themselves out over itssurface. Such, at least, are the only interpretations I can put upon the appearances presented by decalcified specimens. For on the one hand, it is frequently to be observed that two bands of serpentine (or other infiltrated mineral), which represent two layers of the original sarcode-body of the animal, approximate to each other in some part of their course, and come into complete continuity; so that the upper layer would seem at that part to have had its origin in the lower. Again, even where these bands are most widely separated, we find that they are commonly held together by vertical lamellæ of the same material, sometimes forming mere tongues, but often running to a considerable length. That these lamellæ have not been formed by mineral infiltration into accidental fissures in the shell, but represent corresponding extensions of the sarcode-body, seems to me to be indicated not merely by the characters of their surface, but also by the fact that portions of the canal-system may be occasionally traced into connection with them."Although Dr. Dawson has noticed that some parts of the sections which he examined present the fine tubulation characteristic of the shells of the Nummuline Foraminifera, he does not seem to have recognised the fact, which the sections placed in my hands have enabled me most satisfactorily to determine,—that the proper walls of the chambers everywhere present the fine tubulation of the Nummuline shell; a point of the highest importance in the determination of the affinities of Eozoon. This tubulation, although not seen with the clearness with which it is to be discerned in recent examples of the Nummuline type, is here far better displayed than it is in the majority of fossil Nummulites, in which the tubuli have been filled up by the infiltration of calcareous matter, rendering the shell-substance nearly homogeneous. In Eozoon these tubuli have been filled up by the infiltration of a mineral different from that of which the shell is composed, and therefore not coalescing with it; and the tubular structure is consequently much more satisfactorily distinguishable. In decalcified specimens, the free margins of the casts of the chambers are often seen to be bordered with a delicate whiteglistening fringe; and when this fringe is examined with a sufficient magnifying power, it is seen to be made up of a multitude of extremely delicate aciculi, standing side by side like the fibres of asbestos. These, it is obvious, are the internal casts of the fine tubuli which perforated the proper wall of the chambers, passing directly from its inner to its outer surface; and their presence in this situation affords the most satisfactory confirmation of the evidence of that tubulation afforded by thin sections of the shell-wall."The successive layers, each having its own proper wall, are often superposed one upon another without the intervention of any supplemental or intermediate skeleton such as presents itself in all the more massive forms of the Nummuline series; but a deposit of this form of shell-substance, readily distinguishable by its homogeneousness from the finely tubular shell immediately investing the segments of the sarcode-body, is the source of the great thickening which the calcareous zones often present in vertical sections of Eozoon. The presence of this intermediate skeleton has been correctly indicated by Dr. Dawson; but he does not seem to have clearly differentiated it from the proper wall of the chambers. All the tubuli which he has described belong to that canal system which, as I have shown,[T]is limited in its distribution to the intermediate skeleton, and is expressly designed to supply a channel for its nutrition and augmentation. Of this canal system, which presents most remarkable varieties in dimensions and distribution, we learn more from the casts presented by decalcified specimens, than from sections, which only exhibit such parts of it as their plane may happen to traverse. Illustrations from both sources, giving a more complete representation of it than Dr. Dawson’s figures afford, have been prepared from the additional specimens placed in my hands.
"The mode in which each successive layer originates from the one which had preceded it, is a question to which my attention has been a good deal directed; but I do not as yet feel confident that I have been able to elucidate it completely. There is certainly no regular system of apertures for the passage of stolons giving origin to new segments, such as are found in all ordinary Polythalamous Foraminifera, whether their type of growth be rectilinear, spiral, or cyclical; and I am disposed to believe that where one layer is separated fromanother by nothing else than the proper walls of the chambers,—which, as I shall presently show, are traversed by multitudes of minute tubuli giving passage to pseudopodia,—the coalescence of these pseudopodia on the external surface would suffice to lay the foundation of a new layer of sarcodic segments. But where an intermediate or supplemental skeleton, consisting of a thick layer of solid calcareous shell, has been deposited between two successive layers, it is obvious that the animal body contained in the lower layer of chambers must be completely cut off from that which occupies the upper, unless some special provision exist for their mutual communication. Such a provision I believe to have been made by the extension of bands of sarcode, through canals left in the intermediate skeleton, from the lower to the upper tier of chambers. For in such sections as happen to have traversed thick deposits of the intermediate skeleton, there are generally found passages distinguished from those of the ordinary canal-system by their broad flat form, their great transverse diameter, and their non-ramification. One of these passages I have distinctly traced to a chamber, with the cavity of which it communicated through two or three apertures in its proper wall; and I think it likely that I should have been able to trace it at its other extremity into a chamber of the superjacent tier, had not the plane of the section passed out of its course. Riband-like casts of these passages are often to be seen in decalcified specimens, traversing the void spaces left by the removal of the thickest layers of the intermediate skeleton.
"But the organization of a new layer seems to have not unfrequently taken place in a much more considerable extension of the sarcode-body of the pre-formed layer; which either folded back its margin over the surface already consolidated, in a manner somewhat like that in which the mantle of a Cyprœa doubles back to deposit the final surface-layer of its shell, or sent upwards wall-like lamellæ, sometimes of very limited extent, but not unfrequently of considerable length, which, after traversing the substance of the shell, like trap-dykes in a bed of sandstone, spread themselves out over itssurface. Such, at least, are the only interpretations I can put upon the appearances presented by decalcified specimens. For on the one hand, it is frequently to be observed that two bands of serpentine (or other infiltrated mineral), which represent two layers of the original sarcode-body of the animal, approximate to each other in some part of their course, and come into complete continuity; so that the upper layer would seem at that part to have had its origin in the lower. Again, even where these bands are most widely separated, we find that they are commonly held together by vertical lamellæ of the same material, sometimes forming mere tongues, but often running to a considerable length. That these lamellæ have not been formed by mineral infiltration into accidental fissures in the shell, but represent corresponding extensions of the sarcode-body, seems to me to be indicated not merely by the characters of their surface, but also by the fact that portions of the canal-system may be occasionally traced into connection with them.
"Although Dr. Dawson has noticed that some parts of the sections which he examined present the fine tubulation characteristic of the shells of the Nummuline Foraminifera, he does not seem to have recognised the fact, which the sections placed in my hands have enabled me most satisfactorily to determine,—that the proper walls of the chambers everywhere present the fine tubulation of the Nummuline shell; a point of the highest importance in the determination of the affinities of Eozoon. This tubulation, although not seen with the clearness with which it is to be discerned in recent examples of the Nummuline type, is here far better displayed than it is in the majority of fossil Nummulites, in which the tubuli have been filled up by the infiltration of calcareous matter, rendering the shell-substance nearly homogeneous. In Eozoon these tubuli have been filled up by the infiltration of a mineral different from that of which the shell is composed, and therefore not coalescing with it; and the tubular structure is consequently much more satisfactorily distinguishable. In decalcified specimens, the free margins of the casts of the chambers are often seen to be bordered with a delicate whiteglistening fringe; and when this fringe is examined with a sufficient magnifying power, it is seen to be made up of a multitude of extremely delicate aciculi, standing side by side like the fibres of asbestos. These, it is obvious, are the internal casts of the fine tubuli which perforated the proper wall of the chambers, passing directly from its inner to its outer surface; and their presence in this situation affords the most satisfactory confirmation of the evidence of that tubulation afforded by thin sections of the shell-wall.
"The successive layers, each having its own proper wall, are often superposed one upon another without the intervention of any supplemental or intermediate skeleton such as presents itself in all the more massive forms of the Nummuline series; but a deposit of this form of shell-substance, readily distinguishable by its homogeneousness from the finely tubular shell immediately investing the segments of the sarcode-body, is the source of the great thickening which the calcareous zones often present in vertical sections of Eozoon. The presence of this intermediate skeleton has been correctly indicated by Dr. Dawson; but he does not seem to have clearly differentiated it from the proper wall of the chambers. All the tubuli which he has described belong to that canal system which, as I have shown,[T]is limited in its distribution to the intermediate skeleton, and is expressly designed to supply a channel for its nutrition and augmentation. Of this canal system, which presents most remarkable varieties in dimensions and distribution, we learn more from the casts presented by decalcified specimens, than from sections, which only exhibit such parts of it as their plane may happen to traverse. Illustrations from both sources, giving a more complete representation of it than Dr. Dawson’s figures afford, have been prepared from the additional specimens placed in my hands.
[T]Op. cit.,pp. 50, 51.
[T]Op. cit.,pp. 50, 51.
"It does not appear to me that the canal system takes its origin directly from the cavity of the chambers. On the contrary, I believe that, as in Calcarina (which Dr. Dawson has correctly referred to as presenting the nearest parallel to it among recent Foraminifera), they originate in lacunar spaces on the outside of the proper walls of the chambers, into which the tubuli of those walls open externally; and that the extensions of the sarcode-body which occupied them were formed by the coalescence of the pseudopodia issuing from those tubuli.[U]
"It does not appear to me that the canal system takes its origin directly from the cavity of the chambers. On the contrary, I believe that, as in Calcarina (which Dr. Dawson has correctly referred to as presenting the nearest parallel to it among recent Foraminifera), they originate in lacunar spaces on the outside of the proper walls of the chambers, into which the tubuli of those walls open externally; and that the extensions of the sarcode-body which occupied them were formed by the coalescence of the pseudopodia issuing from those tubuli.[U]
[U]Op. cit.,p. 221.
[U]Op. cit.,p. 221.
"It seems to me worthy of special notice, that the canal system, wherever displayed in transparent sections, is distinguished by a yellowish brown coloration, so exactly resembling that which I have observed in the canal system of recent Foraminifera (as Polystomella and Calcarina) in which there were remains of the sarcode-body, that I cannot but believe the infiltrating mineral to have been dyed by the remains of sarcode still existing in the canals of Eozoon at the time of its consolidation. If this be the case, the preservation of this colour seems to indicate that no considerable metamorphic action has been exerted upon the rock in which this fossil occurs. And I should draw the same inference from the fact that the organic structure of the shell is in many instances even more completely preserved than it usually is in the Nummulites and other Foraminifera of the Nummulitic limestone of the early Tertiaries."To sum up,—That theEozoonfinds its proper place in the Foraminiferal series, I conceive to be conclusively proved by its accordance with the great types of that series, in all the essential characters of organization;—namely, the structure of the shell forming the proper wall of the chambers, in which it agrees precisely with Nummulina and its allies; the presence of an intermediate skeleton and an elaborate canal system, the disposition of which reminds us most of Calcarina; a mode of communication of the chambers when they are most completely separated, which has its exact parallel in Cycloclypeus; and an ordinary want of completeness of separation between the chambers, corresponding with that which is characteristic of Carpenteria."There is no other group of the animal kingdom to which Eozoon presents the slightest structural resemblance; and tothe suggestion that it may have been of kin to Nullipore, I can offer the most distinct negative reply, having many years ago carefully studied the structure of that stony Alga, with which that of Eozoon has nothing whatever in common."The objections which not unnaturally occur to those familiar with only the ordinary forms of Foraminifera, as to the admission of Eozoon into the series, do not appear to me of any force. These have reference in the first place to the greatsizeof the organism; and in the second, to its exceptional mode of growth."1. It must be borne in mind that all the Foraminifera normally increase by the continuous gemmation of new segments from those previously formed; and that we have, in the existing types, the greatest diversities in the extent to which this gemmation may proceed. Thus in the Globigerinæ, whose shells cover to an unknown thickness the sea bottom of all that portion of the Atlantic Ocean which is traversed by the Gulf Stream, only eight or ten segments are ordinarily produced by continuous gemmation; and if new segments are developed from the last of these, they detach themselves so as to lay the foundation of independent Globigerinæ. On the other hand in Cycloclypeus, which is a discoidal structure attaining two and a quarter inches in diameter, the number of segments formed by continuous gemmation must be many thousand. Again, the Receptaculites of the Canadian Silurian rocks, shown by Mr. Salter’s drawings[V]to be a gigantic Orbitolite, attains a diameter of twelve inches; and if this were to increase by vertical as well as by horizontal gemmation (after the manner of Tinoporus or Orbitoides) so that one discoidal layer would be piled on another, it would form a mass equalling Eozoon in its ordinary dimensions. To say, therefore, that Eozoon cannot belong to the Foraminifera on account of its gigantic size, is much as if a botanist who had only studied plants and shrubs were to refuse to admit a tree into the same category. The very same continuous gemmation which has produced an Eozoon would produce an equal mass of independent Globigerinæ, if after eight or ten repetitions of the process, the new segments were to detach themselves.
"It seems to me worthy of special notice, that the canal system, wherever displayed in transparent sections, is distinguished by a yellowish brown coloration, so exactly resembling that which I have observed in the canal system of recent Foraminifera (as Polystomella and Calcarina) in which there were remains of the sarcode-body, that I cannot but believe the infiltrating mineral to have been dyed by the remains of sarcode still existing in the canals of Eozoon at the time of its consolidation. If this be the case, the preservation of this colour seems to indicate that no considerable metamorphic action has been exerted upon the rock in which this fossil occurs. And I should draw the same inference from the fact that the organic structure of the shell is in many instances even more completely preserved than it usually is in the Nummulites and other Foraminifera of the Nummulitic limestone of the early Tertiaries.
"To sum up,—That theEozoonfinds its proper place in the Foraminiferal series, I conceive to be conclusively proved by its accordance with the great types of that series, in all the essential characters of organization;—namely, the structure of the shell forming the proper wall of the chambers, in which it agrees precisely with Nummulina and its allies; the presence of an intermediate skeleton and an elaborate canal system, the disposition of which reminds us most of Calcarina; a mode of communication of the chambers when they are most completely separated, which has its exact parallel in Cycloclypeus; and an ordinary want of completeness of separation between the chambers, corresponding with that which is characteristic of Carpenteria.
"There is no other group of the animal kingdom to which Eozoon presents the slightest structural resemblance; and tothe suggestion that it may have been of kin to Nullipore, I can offer the most distinct negative reply, having many years ago carefully studied the structure of that stony Alga, with which that of Eozoon has nothing whatever in common.
"The objections which not unnaturally occur to those familiar with only the ordinary forms of Foraminifera, as to the admission of Eozoon into the series, do not appear to me of any force. These have reference in the first place to the greatsizeof the organism; and in the second, to its exceptional mode of growth.
"1. It must be borne in mind that all the Foraminifera normally increase by the continuous gemmation of new segments from those previously formed; and that we have, in the existing types, the greatest diversities in the extent to which this gemmation may proceed. Thus in the Globigerinæ, whose shells cover to an unknown thickness the sea bottom of all that portion of the Atlantic Ocean which is traversed by the Gulf Stream, only eight or ten segments are ordinarily produced by continuous gemmation; and if new segments are developed from the last of these, they detach themselves so as to lay the foundation of independent Globigerinæ. On the other hand in Cycloclypeus, which is a discoidal structure attaining two and a quarter inches in diameter, the number of segments formed by continuous gemmation must be many thousand. Again, the Receptaculites of the Canadian Silurian rocks, shown by Mr. Salter’s drawings[V]to be a gigantic Orbitolite, attains a diameter of twelve inches; and if this were to increase by vertical as well as by horizontal gemmation (after the manner of Tinoporus or Orbitoides) so that one discoidal layer would be piled on another, it would form a mass equalling Eozoon in its ordinary dimensions. To say, therefore, that Eozoon cannot belong to the Foraminifera on account of its gigantic size, is much as if a botanist who had only studied plants and shrubs were to refuse to admit a tree into the same category. The very same continuous gemmation which has produced an Eozoon would produce an equal mass of independent Globigerinæ, if after eight or ten repetitions of the process, the new segments were to detach themselves.
[V]First Decade of Canadian Fossils, pl. x.
[V]First Decade of Canadian Fossils, pl. x.
"It is to be remembered, moreover, that the largest masses of sponges are formed by continuous gemmation from an original Rhizopod segment; and that there is noá priorireason why a Foraminiferal organism should not attain the same dimensions as a Poriferal one,—the intimate relationship of the two groups, notwithstanding the difference between their skeletons, being unquestionable."2. The difficulty arising from the zoophytic plan of growth of Eozoon is at once disposed of by the fact that we have in the recent Polytrema (as I have shown,op. cit.,p. 235) an organism nearly allied in all essential points of structure to Rotalia, yet no less aberrant in its plan of growth, having been ranked by Lamarck among the Millepores. And it appears to me that Eozoon takes its place quite as naturally in the Nummuline series as Polytrema in the Rotaline. As we are led from the typical Rotalia, through the less regular Planorbulina, to Tinoporus, in which the chambers are piled up vertically, as well as multiplied horizontally, and thence pass by an easy gradation to Polytrema, in which all regularity of external form is lost; so may we pass from the typical Operculina or Nummulina, through Heterostegina and Cycloclypeus to Orbitoides, in which, as in Tinoporus, the chambers multiply both by horizontal and by vertical gemmation; and from Orbitoides to Eozoon the transition is scarcely more abrupt than from Tinoporus to Polytrema."The general acceptance, by the most competent judges, of my views respecting the primary value of the characters furnished by the intimate structure of the shell, and the very subordinate value of plan of growth, in the determination of the affinities of Foraminifera, renders it unnecessary that I should dwell further on my reasons for unhesitatingly affirming the Nummuline affinities of Eozoon from the microscopic appearances presented by the proper wall of its chambers, notwithstanding its very aberrant peculiarities; and I cannot but feel it to be a feature of peculiar interest in geological inquiry, that the true relations of by far the earliest fossil yetknown should be determinable by the comparison of a portion which the smallest pin’s head would cover, with organisms at present existing."
"It is to be remembered, moreover, that the largest masses of sponges are formed by continuous gemmation from an original Rhizopod segment; and that there is noá priorireason why a Foraminiferal organism should not attain the same dimensions as a Poriferal one,—the intimate relationship of the two groups, notwithstanding the difference between their skeletons, being unquestionable.
"2. The difficulty arising from the zoophytic plan of growth of Eozoon is at once disposed of by the fact that we have in the recent Polytrema (as I have shown,op. cit.,p. 235) an organism nearly allied in all essential points of structure to Rotalia, yet no less aberrant in its plan of growth, having been ranked by Lamarck among the Millepores. And it appears to me that Eozoon takes its place quite as naturally in the Nummuline series as Polytrema in the Rotaline. As we are led from the typical Rotalia, through the less regular Planorbulina, to Tinoporus, in which the chambers are piled up vertically, as well as multiplied horizontally, and thence pass by an easy gradation to Polytrema, in which all regularity of external form is lost; so may we pass from the typical Operculina or Nummulina, through Heterostegina and Cycloclypeus to Orbitoides, in which, as in Tinoporus, the chambers multiply both by horizontal and by vertical gemmation; and from Orbitoides to Eozoon the transition is scarcely more abrupt than from Tinoporus to Polytrema.
"The general acceptance, by the most competent judges, of my views respecting the primary value of the characters furnished by the intimate structure of the shell, and the very subordinate value of plan of growth, in the determination of the affinities of Foraminifera, renders it unnecessary that I should dwell further on my reasons for unhesitatingly affirming the Nummuline affinities of Eozoon from the microscopic appearances presented by the proper wall of its chambers, notwithstanding its very aberrant peculiarities; and I cannot but feel it to be a feature of peculiar interest in geological inquiry, that the true relations of by far the earliest fossil yetknown should be determinable by the comparison of a portion which the smallest pin’s head would cover, with organisms at present existing."
(C.)Note on Specimens From Long Lake and Wentworth.
[Journal of Geological Society, August, 1867.]