Type Species of Foraminiferal Genera

Abstract

IN the course of economic palæseontological research we have found it necessary to consult some early nineteenth-century collections of Foraminifera, giving particular attention to those specimens which are the types of type-species of genera. We have examined original material in the A. d'Orbigny, Terquem, Berthelin, Michelin and Munier-Chalmas collections in Paris and, contrary to popular belief, have found that many of the original syntypic specimens are still extant in the authors' collections. The state of preservation as fossils and the state of curation as museum specimens of almost all the material found and listed here is such as to warrant their retention, with due selection of typical specimens, as the authentic types of the nominal species and, consequently, of the genera based on them.