INTRODUCTION. 



29 



ball. There were, therefore, three portions of proto- 

 plasm of different sizes representing the original 

 organism. Whilst under the microscope they went 

 through the successive phases represented, until, 

 finally, the larger sphere burst, as the smaller one had 

 done before it, and its granular contents were dispersed. 

 There was no indication of life in any of the dispersed 

 granules, and all that remained of each spherule was a 

 ring of hardened ectoplasm. That this was a case of 

 spore-dispersion is beyond the region of possibility. 



Fig. 15. Stages in the dissolution of Amceba proteus. a, Con- 

 dition of the living individual as first seen ; b, c, fragments of 

 protoplasm which became detached from the main body ; d, the 

 larger of the two fragments burst and the contents dispersing ; 

 e, f, g, stages in the dissolution of the main body ; at g the 

 body has finally dissolved, leaving only a ring of hardened 

 ectoplasm, x 150. 



The death of a Protozoan being so speedily followed 

 by disintegration, it is not surprising that but few 

 opportunities should occur of witnessing it. 



DISTRIBUTION, HABITATS, ETC. 



The Rhizopoda are cosmopolitan. There is no quarter 

 of the globe destitute of them, and whilst climate may 

 favour an exuberance of certain forms, it is a curious 

 fact that many which are familiar to us, in these islands, 

 are quite as plentiful, varying hardly at all in struc- 

 ture, in such widely separated regions as America and 



