OF THE RHIZOPODA IN GENERAL :—RADIOLARIA. 19 



pellucid ; and its central portion is occupied by an aggregation of granular particles, less 

 defined at its margin, and less regular in shape. It may be brought into view either by 

 crushing the body of the animalcule, or by the addition of dilute acetic acid. Its diameter 

 bears a considerable proportion to that of the entire body, being (according to Stein,) 

 in A. oculafa almost one-third. 



14. The AcHnopliryu seems to have little or no power of moving spontaneously from 

 place to place; in that respect corresponding with the Foraminifera, but differing (as we shall 

 see) from Amoeba ; and it obtains its food entirely through the instrumentality of its pseudo- 

 podia, which, by their peculiar adhesive property, attach themselves to bodies that come into 

 contact with them. Not only motionless particles of Vegetable matter, but actively-moving 

 Infusoria, Hotifera, and even small Entoiiiostraca are thus entrapped. When the prey is large 

 and vigorous enough to struggle to escape from its entanglement, it may usually be observed 

 that the neighbouring pseudopodia bend over and apply themselves to the captive body, so as 

 to assist in retaining it, and tliat it is slowly drawn by their joint retraction towards the body 

 of the Adiiwphrys. In other cases, however, the captive seems as if it were paralysed by the 

 contact of the pseudopodium, remaining motionless for some seconds, and then, without any 

 visible movement of its captor, gliding either slowly or rapidly in a centripetal direction 

 along the margin of the pseudopodium to which it adheres, until it becomes jammed, as it 

 were, between the base of this and of a neighbouring one. It is usually, in fact, by thus 

 gliding along the margin of the pseudopodium, as if propelled by an invisible peristaltic con- 

 traction of its sarcode, rather than by a visible retraction of the pseudopodium, that any 

 small body not capable of offering active resistance is conveyed to its base. Now and then 

 it seems as if the appetite of the Aciinnplmjs were sated, or the prey not approved of; for 

 after a few seconds the movements of the latter feebly recommence, and it glides off the 

 pseudopodium without any effort on the part of the Adinophrys to retain it. When, on the 

 other hand, the captive is to be used as food, it becomes invested by an expansion of the pro- 

 toplasmic substance which the body of the Adinophrys sends forth on either side of that of the 

 captive, so as to meet and inclose it ; and thus a marked prominence is formed (fig. 2), which 

 gradually subsides as the food is drawn more completely into the interior. There can be no 

 doubt whatever that aliment may bo thus ingested at any part of the surface, a new mouth, 

 so to speak, being extemporized whenever and wherever there is occasion for it. The 

 struggles of the larger animals, and the ciliary action of Hotifera and Infusoria, may some- 

 times be observed to continue even after they have been thus received into the body; but 

 these movements at last cease, and the process of digestion then begins. The body taken-in 

 as food is received into one of the "vacuoles" of the endosarc, where it lies in the first 

 instance surrounded by liquid ; and its alimentary portion is gradually converted into an 

 undistinguishable gelatinous mass, which becomes incorporated with the parenchyma, as 

 may be seen by the general diffusion of any colouring particles it may contain. Several 

 vacuoles may be occupied at one time by alimentary morsels ; frequently from four to eight 

 are seen thus filled, and occasionally ten or twelve. Ehrenberg in one instance counted as 



denied by Claparecle in liis earlier memoir upon Adinophrys (xxiv) ; but he has since admitted its 

 presence, at least in A. Eichornii (xxv, p. 419). 



