lOO 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



the largest, most infinite of all sciences, 

 and the study of amoebae, the lowest 

 forms of animal life, too tiny to be seen 

 by the naked eye, though thousands be 

 in a drop of water. 



"Microscopes have an interest second 



(SlAOlli*) 



only to a telescope, and each glance 

 brings a new surprise. And so, with 

 a different specimen occasionally, but 

 almost invariably the amoeba shown 

 on Plate I, I spent a few afternoons 

 watching their movements and record- 



AnotiA) 



ing them each minute or each half- 

 minute. 



"The amoeba shown on Plate 1 

 changed rapidly and was very active 

 whenever I observed it ; it appears, 

 however, that amoebae have their per- 

 iods of activity and of rest, according 

 to a pamphlet written by Dr. Gibbs and 

 other gentlemen who made a special 

 study of one specimen. I have never 

 seen it take any food excepting algae. 

 But as the second plate shows, I had an 

 opportunity to watch the discharge of 

 a food vacuole. 



"Plate III shows the Amoeba diffliiens 

 which is continually thrusting out little 

 projections of its protoplasm, and again 

 contracting. 



"By far the most interesting and pret- 

 tiest of the amoebae which I could find 

 changed even more rapidly than the 

 others. This was the Amoeba radiosa, 

 beautiful for its symmetry, for the 

 glass-like appearance of its projections, 

 sharp and pointed like the rays of a 

 star. 



"A queer and constantly varying spe- 

 cimen is that on Plate V. I have not 

 been able to find its name Further than 

 these, the slipper-animalcule and a 

 large, interesting Entomostracus, with 

 an extraordinary amount of activity, 

 and my observations were suddenly in- 

 terrupted But the study of amoebae 

 proved so interesting as far as I went, 

 that I shall some day try to make a spe- 

 cial study of them." 



This Chapter has always kept a high 

 standard of work. It has a special 

 place of work known as The Agassiz 

 Room. Two delegates were sent by 

 the Chapter to visit ArcAdiA. We do 

 not know what they reported back to 

 the Chapter but we do know that they 

 gave some very interesting reports of 



