FOR AM IN IFERA

an order of animals of low type belonging to the cla Rhizopod a, phylum Protozoa, furnished with a shell or test, simple or complex, usually perforated by pores (foramina), whence the name. The shell may be composed of horny matter, or of carbonate of lime, secreted from the water in which they live. Owing to the resemblance of their convoluted chambered shells to these of the nautilus, they were at first reckoned among the most highly organized molluses. In reality they are among the simplest of the protozoa. The body of the animal is composed of slimy protoplasm, which not only fills the shell, but pa es through the perforations to the exterior, there giving off long thread-like proce es 514 FORBES called gpseudopodia interlacing with one another so as to form a net like a spider’s web. Internally the protoplasmic body exhibits no structure or definite organs of any kind, but several nuclei are present. Foraminifera appear very early in the geological formations. The great formation known as white chalk is Jargely composed of foraminiferous shells, while another remarkable formation known as Nummulitic Limestone receives its name from the presence of coin-shaped foraminifers, generally about as large as a shilling.