Note 309 — Chapter V · THE FORMS OF CELLS (continued 2)

Certain palaeontologists (e.g. Haeusler and Spandel) have maintained that in each family or genus the plain smooth-shelled forms are the primitive and ancient ones, and that the ribbed and otherwise ornamented shells make their appearance at later dates in the course of a definite evolution (cf. Rhumbler, Foraminiferen der Plankton-Expedition, 1911, i, p. 21). If this were true it would be of fundamental importance: but this book of mine would not deserve to be written.