CHAPTER VI 



AMOEBA OF CLASS SABCODINA 



It is likely that no microscopic organism has attracted so much 

 attention and popular interest as Amoeba. Amoeba is recognized 

 by the public generally as a simple and low form of life. Even the 

 writers of fiction speak of the range of the span of complexity of 

 animal life as extending "from Amoeba to Man." The pedigree of 

 Amoeba is probably as long as that of any of the animals we know 

 and involves hundreds of times as many generations as many of 

 the common animals ; yet Amoeba remains in a relatively primitive 

 and simple state. Little or nothing is known about the real an- 

 cestry of Amoeba. There are many kinds or species of Amoeba, 

 some simpler and some more complex than Amoeha proteus. Chaos 

 diffluens is a very desirable species for study. Recently Chaos chaos 

 Schaeffer has been rediscovered. It is enormous in size and can be 

 seen with the unaided eye. 



Characteristics and Habitat 



The many kinds of Amoeba live in fresh water, marine water, 

 soil, or as parasites in the fluids of the visceral organs of higher 

 types of animals. Amoeda proteus may be collected in a variety of 

 places where conditions of water, temperature, and organic food 

 are favorable, such as debris from watering troughs, bottoms of 

 ponds, spring pools, drain ditches, abandoned tajining pits, in 

 streams where the water runs over rocky ledges, and wherever 

 there is abundant aquatic vegetation. It is often found on the sur- 

 face of submerged lily pads. A mass of pond weed may be brought 

 into the laboratory in some of the pond water and allowed to stand 

 in the container a few days. If amoebae are present, they will 

 likely be in the brown scum which forms, or in the sediment at the 

 bottom. 



The general appearance of this animal is that of a slate-colored, 

 lustrous, irregular mass of gelatinlike substance with slowly-mov- 

 ing, fine particles within. When it is active, the outline is con- 

 stantly changing. 



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