[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 no á priori reason 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 yet known 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.]
"Specimens from Long Lake, in the collection of the Geological Survey of Canada, exhibit white crystalline limestone with light green compact or septariiform[W] serpentine, and much resemble some of the serpentine limestones of Grenville. Under the microscope the calcareous matter presents a delicate areolated appearance, without lamination; but it is not an example of acervuline Eozoon, but rather of fragments of such a structure, confusedly aggregated together, and having the interstices and cell-cavities filled with serpentine. I have not found in any of these fragments a canal system similar to that of Eozoon Canadense, though there are casts of large stolons, and, under a high power, the calcareous matter shows in many places the peculiar granular or cellular appearance which is one of the characters of the supplemental skeleton of that species. In a few places a tubulated cell-wall is preserved, with structure similar to that of Eozoon Canadense.
[W] I use the term “septariiform” to denote the curdled appearance so often presented by the Laurentian serpentine.