OBSERVATIONS ON THE INHABITANTS OF A 

 FEW DROPS OF WATER BY MR. J. FULLAGAR. 



This water was obtained from the bottom of a small glass 

 aquarium, in which three gold-fish had lived for over four years. 

 On placing some of it under the microscope, in a shallow glass 

 cell, I found it to be full of living organisms, among them being 

 a large number of amoebas. For two months I was much 

 interested in observing their many changes and strange move- 

 ments. For the better understanding of my paper upon them, 

 I have prepared sketches of some of the forms and changes they 

 pass through. 



The amoeba presents the simplest form of organic life, and is 

 typically represented by a microscopical particle of sarcode, or 

 micogelatinous, organic matter, possessing within itself the 

 power of growth, of assimilation of extraneous substances, of 

 movement by means of irregular and ever-changing offshoots 

 from itself, termed "variable processes," and capable of multi- 

 plication by the severance of portions of itself. Thus I have 

 seen under the microscope a mass of amoeban matter divide 

 itself into seventeen separate animals, and pass out of the field 

 of the microscope in different directions. They present no 

 definite or constant figure, although it is possible to distinguish 

 different amoebas by the more frequent outline they exhibit, or 

 figure of their pseudopoda. The sarcode of which they consist 

 is naked and homogeneous ; a movement of granules is percepti- 

 ble, and vacuoles are almost always distinguishable ; and one, 

 two, or even more contractile vesicles are seen in some speci- 

 mens. The variable processes, which are the only means of 

 locomotion, have frequently been called false feet, and, as they 

 are characteristic of the class, have given origin to the term 

 pseudopoda, that is "false feet." The amoeba is considered 

 the lowest in the scale of animal life, and indeed it has nothing 

 in common with other animals ; yet it performs many of the 

 vital functions of life, for which the higher orders of animals 

 have recourse to an elaborate system of nerves, muscles, &c. 

 They can move from place to place, can imbibe foreign matter 

 as food, and digest it, have a certain degree of sensibility and 

 feeling, and can seize and retain living animals as prey ; they 

 are ever slowly moving and changing their forms, so that at no 

 time are there two exactly alike ; nor indeed does any one of 

 them retain the same form for any length of time, yet there is a 

 similarity running through the whole of them ; and, as one 



