112 DROPS OF WATER. 



of the body do not seem to be always the same, 

 but to arise from any part at the will of this sin- 

 gular creature. A. verrucosa is smaller, and with 

 shorter and more blunt processes. A. diffluens 

 has no colour, and A. radiosa expands its pro- 

 cesses in the form of a star, though when at rest 

 it looks like a lump of jelly. 



The family Arcellina differs from the last in 

 having a lorica of a pitcher- or dish-shape, and 

 moves by the soft processes protruded beyond it. 

 The first genus is Diffiugia, which has the pro- 

 cesses cleft into several parts, and the body 

 enclosed in an opake lorica. D. proteiformis 

 (Drop II. fig. 13) is of a globular or oval form, the 

 lorica encrusted with minute grains of sand : the 

 transparent processes are often as many as ten in 



