INTRODUCTION 



The revelations of the microscope are. perhaps not exceeded in impor- 

 tance by those of the telescope. While exciting our curiosity, our wonder 

 and admiration, they have proved of infinite service in advancing our 

 knowledge of things around us. The present work, founded on such 

 revelations, I have attempted to prepare in a manner to render it easy of 

 comprehension, with the view of promoting and encouraging a taste for 

 microscopic investigation. 



Dr. Carpenter, the eminent English physiologist and naturalist, in his 

 treatise 'The Microscope and its Revelations', remarks that " it is a ten- 

 dency common to all observers, and not by any means peculiar to micro- 

 scopists, to describe what they believe and infer, rather than what the}' 

 actually witness." 



There are certainly peculiar difficulties in arriving at a faithful inter- 

 pretation of microscopic observations, arising from many causes, of which 

 a common one is the difficulty of handling minute objects, especially active 

 living animals, so as to examine them from every point of view. While I 

 have endeavored to describe things as they appeared to be, I am conscious 

 of having been unable to avoid the usual proportion of errors, for which I 

 beg indulgence, and which I leave for others who shall pursue the same 

 path of investigation to correct. 



What are Rhizopods? is a question that will be asked by perhaps most 

 persons whose attention may be directed to the present work. They are 

 the simplest or lowest forms of animal life, constituting the first class of the 

 Protozoa (Greek, protos, primitive ; soon, animal). 



The Rhizopoda (Gr. rhiza, root; pous, foot: — root-footed animals) are 

 mostly microscopic beings, rarely just visible to the naked eye ; though 

 some are sufficiently large to appear as conspicuous objects. Their minute- 

 ness is amply compensated by their multitude and world-wide distribution; 

 1 rhiz ' 



