S4 



jy.4 R D W] CKE • S S CIENCE- G OSS IP. 



silvery leaf and a for more '" glossy purple" than the 

 common roadside sort. The use of this as an 

 emblem of the unexpected reward of dutj- honestly 

 performed, is one of the most telling selections in 

 English poetTT. 



The way in which the commonest flower depends 

 for its existence on laws the mcst profound and far- 

 reaching is brought before us by the last quotation we 

 most make. 



Flower in the crannied wall, 



I pluck you Oct of the crannies : 



Hold TOLi her«, root and all, in my hand. 



Little flower ; but if I could understand 



What yo-- are, root and all, and all in all, 



I should know what God and man is. 



^\*. K. Gill. 

 £versley. Pooh. 



R05SEXDALE RKIZOPODS. 



No. 2. 



\S premised in mv last communication, which 

 was introductory to the series, I now have to 

 describe several forms of the naked lobose Protoplasts 

 which have come under my own observation. Fiist 

 and foremost of these is the well-known and often- 

 described Anuzba protius. This animal is familiar 

 enough to the merest microscopical tyro, as it is 

 found in the sediment of almost every pond and ditch. 

 It presents itself under the ' magic tube,' as a shape- 

 less mass of jelly ; round the outer edge is a clear 

 portion, the ectosarc, free from granules ; while the 

 interior endosarc is apparently more fluid, and con- 

 tains a variable quantity of granules and food particles 

 in different stages of digestion. If carefully watched, 

 it will be seen to push out, at one or more points, 

 rounded lobes of the clear ectosarc, as if, to use a 

 simile of Professor Leidy, it had exnded or sweated 

 numerous drops of liquid. These " lobes quickly 

 elongate and assume theforms of digitate pseudopods," 

 and as they lengthen the more fluid endosarc flows 

 in. While these new processes are being pushed out, 

 others are being retracted, and these Protean-like 

 changes of form go on in such a way as to result in 

 a slow, onward movement of the animal. The 

 smaller forms have generally little colour, and these 

 are of most frequent occurrence in this district. 

 Others, however, found in waters having much or- 

 ganic matter in a state of decay, or where Algous 

 food is plentiful, have considerable colour. This is 

 found to be due to a varietj" of materials, which if 

 carefully examined, resolve themselves into the 

 foUowing elements. Fine and coarse granules ; 

 rounded bodies of the nature of starch granules ; 

 yellow and brown oil-like drops ; coloured water- 

 drops ; sand-grains ; minute crystals ; yellow, brown 

 or green food-b^lls, often surrounded by a clear space 

 fiUed with liquid ; and more recently ingested food, 

 such as Desmids, Diatoms, Zoospores, fragments ot 

 Oscillatoria and ether Algae. In addition there are 



generally a discoid somewhat granular Nucleus, and 

 near it, the contracting vesicle, or pulsating organ, 

 often of a delicate pink hue. Amoeba can take food 

 at any part of its surface, and the discharge of effete 

 matter is likewise ejected from any part, but accord- 

 ing to several authorities, more frequently from that 

 which at the moment happens to be posterior. On 

 coming in contact with suitable food material, 

 Amceba puts forth a portion of the clear ectosarc, and 

 surrotmds the object, which subsequently appears to 

 sink into the endosarc, becoming enclosed in a 

 vacuole, in which by a process of digestion it becomes 

 indistinguishable from other food-balls, previously 

 ingested. They vary greatly in size, from Jj or larger 

 to gjij of an inch. There are many points in the 

 economy of Amceba which I must pass over, owing to 

 limitations of space ; sufficient has been written, 

 however, to enable us to judge of the correctness of 

 some remarks of Professor Carpenter, in his " Intro- 

 duction to the Study of the Foraminifero." He says, 

 " A little particle, of apparently homogeneous jelly. 



Fig. 53- — P. lalcsa. 



Fig. CO. — P. '.:lcsa. 



Fig. 6i. — P. lobosa. 



Fig. 62. — A. z-illcsa. 



changing itself into a greater variety of form than the 

 fabled Proteus, laying hold of its food without 

 members, swallowing it without a mouth, digesting 

 it without a stomach, appropriating its nutritious 

 material without muscles, feehng (if it has any power 

 to do so) without nerves, propagating itself without 

 genital apparatus, and not only this, but in many 

 instances forming shelly coverings of a symmetry and 

 complexity not surpassed by those of any testaceous 

 animals."' Fig. 59 shows a very common form 

 here, from clear ponds ;' it is small, with the pseudo- 

 podia somewhat radiately arranged, and shows the 

 Cont vesicle. Fig. 60 a larger form, also com- 

 mon, with Diatoms, .kc, recently ingested, no 



