I. The class Rhizopoda includes all the sarcodous animals whose only external organs are pseudopodia, and is the lowest class in the animal kingdom. Immediately above it are the classes of the Sponges and of the flagellate and ciliate Infusoria, which rise from it like two diverging branches.
II. The group of Rhizopods, as thus defined, includes three leading orders, which, in descending grade, are as follows:—
(a) Lobosa, or Amœboid Rhizopods, including those with distinct nucleus and pulsating vesicle, and thick lobulate pseudopodia—naked, or in membranous coverings.
(b) Radiolaria, or Polycistius and their allies, including those with thread-like pseudopodia, with or without a nucleus, and with the skeleton, when present, silicious.
(c) Reticularia, or Foraminifera and their allies, including those with thread-like and reticulating pseudopodia, with granular matter instead of a nucleus, and with calcareous, membranous, or arenaceous skeletons.
The place of Eozoon will be in the lowest order, Reticularia.
III. The order Reticularia may be farther divided into two sub-orders, as follows:—
(a) Perforata—having calcareous skeletons penetrated with pores.
(b) Imperforata—having calcareous, membranous, or arenaceous skeletons, without pores.
The place of Eozoon will be in the higher sub-order, Perforata.
IV. The sub-order Perforata includes three families—the Nummulinidæ, Globigerinidæ, and Lagemdæ. Of these Carpenter regards the Nummulinidæ as the highest in rank.
The place of Eozoon will be in the family Nummulinidæ, or between this and the next family. This oldest known Protozoon would thus belong to the highest family in the highest sub-order of the lowest class of animals.
THE LATE SIR WILLIAM E. LOGAN.
When writing the dedication of this work, I little thought that the eminent geologist and valued friend to whom it gave me so much pleasure to tender this tribute of respect, would have passed away before its publication. But so it is, and we have now to mourn, not only Lyell, who so frankly accepted the evidence in favour of Eozoon, but Logan, who so boldly from the first maintained its true nature as a fossil. This boldness on his part is the more remarkable and impressive, from the extreme caution by which he was characterized, and which induced him to take the most scrupulous pains to verify every new fact before committing himself to it. Though Sir William’s early work in the Welsh coal-fields, his organization and management of the Survey of Canada, and his reducing to order for the first time all the widely extended Palæozoic formations of that great country, must always constitute leading elements in his reputation, I think that in nothing does he deserve greater credit than in the skill and genius with which he attacked the difficult problem of the Laurentian rocks, unravelled their intricacies, and ascertained their true nature as sediments, and the leading facts of their arrangement and distribution. The discovery of Eozoon was one of the results of this great work; and it was the firm conviction to which Sir William had attained of the sedimentary character of the rocks, which rendered his mind open to the evidence of these contained fossils, and induced him even to expect the discovery of them.
This would not be the proper place to dwell on the general character and work of Sir William Logan, but I cannot close without referring to his untiring industry, his enthusiasm in the investigation of nature, his cheerful and single-hearted disposition, his earnest public spirit and patriotism—qualities which won for him the regard even of those who could little appreciate the details of his work, and which did much to enable him to attain to the success which he achieved.
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Butler & Tanner. The Selwood Printing Works. Frome, and London.
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Transcriber Notes
The label Plate II was added to the illustration’s page. The “NOTES” sections were standardized to say “NOTES TO CHAPTER …” and the sections labeled as (A.), (B.), etc. The small-caps formatting of the first word of the first paragraph for the CHAPTER VII, NOTE C, was removed to match the other sections.
The cover image was adapted from an image provided by The Internet Archive and is placed in the Public Domain.