dhamána or Mahávíra after 470 years. The same statement is made in several Jain works of the Swetámbara sect which are in our possession. Colonel Wilford and his Pundits (the latter probably on purpose) confounded Víra with Vikramaditya, who is also called Víra Vikrama,Víra, signifying valorous and further, by ignoring the first three and a half or four years, they have at one stroke thrown into their calculations a mistake of 470 years. The 477 years after Vikrama, i. e. a. D. 420, is the date when, according to the S'átrunjaya Mahátmya, S'iláditya, king of Valabhí, expelled the Buddhists from Saurashtra, recovered S'atrunjaya and other places of pilgrimage from them, and erected many Jain temples.* Few Orientalists now a days rely upon the speculations of Colonel Wilford; but some of his errors are still supported and perpetuated by distinguished writers on Indian Antiquities. Professor H. H. Wilson meets with difficulties in reconciling the statements of the Rája Tarangini or History of Cashmir, on the assumption of Vikramá's existence at Ujjayiní in the 5th century (Asiatic Researches, vol. xv., p. 39); but he observes (p. 87): "It seems likely that the VIKRAMADITYA, who put the Brahman MATRIGUPTA on the throne of Cashmir, was the prince of that name who lived in the 5th century, or in 441." "The VIKRAMADITYA of the 5th century reigned, it is said, 100 years, dying in a. D. 541, but according to the Satrunjaya Mahatmya, Siláditya was king in 447." Here, besides admitting Colonel Wilford's erroneous data in regard to Vikrama, a second incorrect assumption is made of the identity of the Siláditya of the Satrunjaya Mahatmya, with Siláditya, the son and successor of Harsha Vikramáditya. The Siládityas have become as great a source of confusion in Indian chronology as the various Vikramádityas and Chandraguptas; and, to prevent repetition, we shall here remark that the oldest Siláditya we read of in the Jain records is the son of Subhagá, daughter of Deváditya Bráhmaṇa, of the village of Khatá in Gurjardesá. *Weber, ibid p. 109, verse 286: सप्तसप्ततिमब्दांतामतिक्रम्यचतुःशतीम् विक्रमार्काच्छिलादित्योभविताधर्मवृद्धिकृत् ॥ सर्ग १४ श्लोक २८६ [To be continued.] ART. IV. Further Observations on the Structure of Foraminifera and on the Larger Fossilized Forms of Sind, &c., including a new Genus and Species. By H. J. CARTER, Esq., F.R.S. Presented 11th April 1861. SINCE my observations on the structure of Operculina Arabica, and my description of some of the larger forms of Fossilized Foraminifera in Sind were published, in 1852* and 1853† respectively, many valuable contributions have been made to the structure and species of the Foraminifera, amongst which, and those that I shall have to refer to most here, are MM. le Vicomte d'Archiac and J Haime's "Monograph on the Nummulites," and Dr. Carpenter's "Memoirs " respectively, on the structure of Orbitolites, Orbiculina, Cycloclypeus, Heterostegina,§ and Operculina,|| because they have enabled me most to correct, add to, and explain what I have already stated respecting the Foraminifera ; it being easily conceived that, in a branch of knowledge like this, which is still in its infancy, every contribution that is worth anything will probably more or less revolutionize that which has preceded it, at the same time that it will claim for its author that consideration for his errors and omissions which such progressive knowledge demands. It might be asked, why I do not write complete editions of my "Papers" instead of giving simply corrections, additions, &c.? My reply is, that "I have not time to do this now, and therefore record * Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. x. p. 161. ↑ Id. vol. xi. p. 425. These were also published in the IVth and Vth vols. of the Society's Journal, pp. 430 and 124 respectively, where they may be consulted as well as in the "Annals." 1853. 66 Description des Animaux Foss. du Groupe Nummulitique de l'Inde.—Paris, § Phil. Trans. part 1, p. 181, and pt. 2, p. 549.-1856. Id. p. 1.-1859. N.B. As I shall have to refer to these "works" frequently, I shall only use Ann." for the first; "D'Arch. et Haime" for the second; and "Dr. Carp." for the third; with the number of the page, plate, or figure that may be necessary. what I have to offer for the use of others for this purpose, or for my own use on some future occasion, as the case may be." Needing no other introduction than this then, I will only further premise, (as much of what I have already stated has been denied), that, in my "Paper" of 1852, on the structure of Operculina Arabica, to which was added an illustration of an infiltrated Nummulite (N. acuta), showing that the canal-system was the same in both, I observed, that the former would "elucidate all that has hitherto been stated of, and leave little to be added to, the general structure of foraminiferous shells both recent and fossil," and I am glad to be able to add now, viz. ten years since this observation and my description of the structure of Operculina were written, that I have not stated in either anything which I wish to recall. Since then, however, Ehrenberg has confirmed what I have described and illustrated respectively, of the canal-system in Operculina and Nummulites, viz. in Nummulites striata, in 1855;* and lately, I have been able to repeat this myself most satisfactorily in another of the "Striate," viz. in N. Ramondi (mihi), as I shall show hereafter. I would also mention here my regret, that in my "Paper" on the structure of Operculina Arabica, I did not observe that Professor Williamson had previously pointed out the existence of the canal-system in part, viz. in the marginal cord of Nonionina.† This arose from ignorance of the fact, for I never could, and never have been able even up to this day, to obtain the volume of the Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London, (1st Ser. vol. iii.), in which it was published. While that on Faujasina by the same author, which points out the "intra-septal canals" of this system, although read in 1851, was not published by that Society until 1853 (2nd Ser. vol. i.), that is a year after my "Paper" on Operculina Arabica appeared in the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History," and hence the reasons for Professor Williamson's discovery having been omitted. Further Observations on the Structure of Foraminifera. In Dr. Carpenter's elaborate and valuable "Paper" on the structure of this genus, taken from specimens of Operculina Arabica originally obtained from the Philippine Islands, he has made an important addition to what I have stated on the subject in one respect, and anything *Ap. Dr. Carp. Phil. Trans.-1859, p. 28. † Id. id. but one in another; inasmuch as he has denied the spicular structure of the marginal cord, which is one of the most palpable objects in the test. The important fact that he has added, is the discovery in the canalsystem, of a main spiral trunk, which commences with the spire in duplicate (that is, one in each horizontal half of the test), and follows it to its termination. These two large trunks, to which Dr. Carpenter has applied the name of "spiral canals," he states, "though only running along the angles of the marginal cord, pretty obviously communicate with the plexus of passages which it contains; and thus the interseptal system of one whorl is brought into direct connexion with that of the preceding." To complete this description, I would add that, in the first two or three turns, the interseptal canals form a direct bond of union between the spiral canals; and afterwards only by some of their branches; as the interseptal canals go to the inner side of the marginal cord where they divide into branches, and the great spiral canals remain continuous outside, at the point of junction of the spiral lamina and the cord. I had observed these canals, as may be seen by my illustration (fig. 5, loc. cit.), where the interseptal canals of the outer whorl are represented as springing from one of them, but had not specially recognised them as they deserved, and as has now been very fortunately done by Dr. Carpenter. But MM. d'Archiac and Haime had recognised ́and figured them without knowing what they were even before this, in Nummulites planulata, (pl. ix. fig. 7, and p. 63,) where they state, with reference to "the grooves" in the marginal cord, "Une seule espèce (N. planulata) offre de chaque côté de bourrelet un sillon environ cinq fois plus large que tous les autres. Les canaux moyens s'ouvrent presque toujours dans ses sillons." No doubt, therefore, exists in my own mind, from having also seen them in a closely allied nummulite, viz. N. Ramondi, that the "sillons" represented in the figure mentioned, are the "spiral cauals" described by Dr. Carpenter in Operculina. On the other hand, the more important fact which Dr. Carpenter has failed to recognise after my description of it, is the spicular struc ture of what he terms the "marginal cord," which had been previously named by myself the "spicular cord," to denote its peculiar composition, and under which appellation, although I like the former name much, I must still continue to allude to it. * Phil. Trans.--1859, p. 28. : I need hardly quote all that Dr. Carpenter has stated respecting the structure of this part of the test of Operculina. Suffice it to notice that, he considers its structure homogeneous and not spicular. Thus, he observes "the supposed spicular composition of this marginal cord; (as it may be appropriately termed) is due to the peculiar manner in which the homogeneous substance of which it is composed is traversed by the set of canals that are correctly described by Mr. Carter as forming the marginal plexus.'"* Now I would rather not have had to repeat what I stated respecting the structure of this cord ten years since, and I feel certain that had Dr. Carpenter taken a favourable specimen of Operculina, and with a small sharp scalpel had cut off tangentially portions of this cord, there would have been no occasion for it. However, these subjects seldom lose by a second investigation, and the result of mine in this instance is, that I am not only more convinced of the spicular structure of the cord than ever, but am now able to describe its composition much more definedly than has hitherto been done. Thus, this cord which is almost semi-circular, with the arch or convex part outwards and the chord or base within, is composed of1st, spicules, 2nd, an inter-spicular substance, and, 3rd, a plexus of anastomosing canals. The spicules are semi-transparent, homogeneous, crystalline, calcareous bodies, more or less fusiform in shape, and arranged one above another irregularly and interdigitatingly, in horizontally inclined planes, which, like the leaves of a book when open, radiate partly from the centre of the "chord" and partly along this chord on either side; that is to say, they do not all radiate from a common point; while there are also a certain number of semi-planes at the circumference, which fill up the intervals formed by the radiating of the whole-ones. The inter-spicular substance is an areolar, calcareous, membranous structure, which unites the spicules together and the planes to each other respectively. It resembles, and is analogous to, the albuminous tissue which surrounds and unites the spicules together in the spiculiferous Sponges. Lastly, the plexus of anastomosing canals consists of reticulated planes of these canals which lie between the planes of the spicules; the canals of which anastomose with each other through the spicular * Phil. Trans.-1859, p. 25. |