[336] Proceedings of the Polytechnic Society of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1845.
Dr. Dale Owen is said to have obtained "well characterized polythalamia from the oolitic portion of the carboniferous (Pentremitic, ante, [p. 298].,) limestone of Indiana."[337] And M. de Verneuil discovered a species of Fusulina, in the Millstone-grit of the coal formation of the Ohio.
[337] American Journal of Science, vol. xlvi. note to p. 311.
But the most remarkable deposits of foraminifera in the palæozoic rocks, are those of Russia, described by Sir Roderick Murchison.[338] The upper beds of the Mountain limestone in the Lower Volga, consist of laminated calcareous shales, composed of an aggregation of shells of Fusulinæ. Bands of limestone, through a vertical extent of two hundred feet, are loaded with Fusulinæ; layers from five inches to five feet in thickness, consist of a pure white Fusulina limestone; the foraminifera are all of one species, the Fusulina cylindrica.
[338] Geology of Russia in Europe, vol. i. p. 86. pl. i. fig. 1.
Foraminiferous Limestone of New Zealand.—"On the eastern coast of the Middle Island of New Zealand, to the north of Otago, strata of yellow and fawn-coloured limestone appear on the surface at Ototara, and continue to Kakaunui. This rock is generally friable and porous; it contains terebratulæ, spines and cases of echinoderms, pseudo-belemnites, teeth of sharks, &c. A microscopical examination shows it to be in a great part composed of an aggregation of very small polythalamia."[339] The specimens of the Ototara limestone received from my son, are very rich in minute corals and shells, and foraminifera of the European cretaceous type: species of Rotalia, Cristellaria, Globigerina, Textularia, Rosalina, Nodosaria, Dentalina, &c. Among them are two forms which occur at Charing: namely, Rosalina Lorneiana, [Lign. 109, fig. 5], and Textularia elongata: of the latter a specimen in flint is figured, [Lign. 119, fig. 3]. The soft parts of Rotaliæ are preserved in the Ototara limestone, as in our chalk.
[339] Notes on the Geological Structure of the Middle Island of New Zealand, by Walter Mantell, Esq. of Wellington. 1848.
There are likewise, as at Charing, cases of Entomostracæ of the genera Basidia and Cythereis.[340]
[340] See Geol. Journal, vol. vi. p. 339. pl. xxix.
The assemblage of fossil remains in the Ototara rock has decidedly a cretaceous aspect, but till the geological position of the strata in relation to the other formations of the Island is determined, it would be premature to regard these limestones as the equivalents in time of the Chalk formations of Europe.[341]