o6 AMCEBA. PHYLUM PROTOZOA 



this creature is a survivor from among the earUest living beings. 

 Indeed it is more probable that if we could trace back the descent 

 of the amoeba we should come to ancestors not unhke the 

 organisms which will be described in the next chapter. But 

 Amceha does contrive to carry on its life with less apparatus 

 than almost any other creature, possessing as it does no obvious 

 permanent organs except the cytoplasm, nucleus, and contractile 

 vacuole, and besides these only the temporary organs known as 

 plasmalemma, plasmasol, plasmagel, and pseudopodia. 



