y 



X .X 



THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



Vol.111. 



Portland, Oregon, July, 1896. 



No. 7 



A BIRTH AND A TRAGEDY. 



The water flowed in fitful currents back 

 and forth across the microscope slide, 

 flakes of dirt rose like black islands in 

 the stream, the light reflected from the 

 concave mirror gave the liquid an amber 

 tinge, and the animal which rocked 

 listlessly iu the channel seemed basking 

 in direct sunlight. 



It was one of the Foraminifera, 

 creatures low in the scale and scarcely 

 distinguishable from plants, but strong 

 through numbers, found in all waters, 

 except those of the frigid zones, and play- 

 ing an important part in the economy of 

 nature. 



They are found in endless variety and 

 with incredible diversity of shapes. The 

 specimen 1 was watching, known as the 

 monothalamous Lagena was shaped much 

 like a wine bottle except near the larger 

 end there was a compressed ring dividing 

 the animal into two unequal parts. The 

 testaceous Foraminifera have no shells, 

 but surround themselves with tests built 

 up of particles of sand and similar sub- 

 stances from the bottom where they live, 

 taking, on a small scale, the appearance of 

 the Caddice worm in its portable hut. 

 Not so the Lagena, it had a true shell 

 formed of carbonate of lime drawn by its 

 tissues from the water, and it was mar- 

 velous to fmd that so lowly an animal 

 should have its shell marked with such an 

 array of delicate longitudinal bars and 



flutings. 



As I watched the living speck of jelly 

 in its half tranparent shell of intricate 

 lacework its organization appeared so 

 simple that it seemed wonderful that it 

 could perform any of the functions of life. 

 Yet it was doing more than that, it was 

 providing for the continuation of its 

 species. 



The constriction near the end grew 

 deeper and deeper until the mass divided 

 at the compressed line and there were two 

 animals where th?re had been but one, 

 eacli pursuing a separate existence and 

 capable of mullipiying itself indefinitely. 



As the water on the slide evaporated 

 I would pour on a fresh drop and allow it 

 to flow down beneath the cover glass. 

 While watching the two Foraminifera, 

 parent and offspring, rocking in this 

 microscopic tide a new actor appeared up- 

 on the scene. From the outer darkness a 

 writhing transparent arm was thrust into 

 the lighted circle. A yellowish current 

 seemed pouring into this, it grew larger 

 and drew itself forward until the whole 

 amorphous animal had flowed into sight, 

 an Amcpba. Again a slender portion of 

 the body mass was advanced like an arm 

 and again the creature flowed into the arm. 

 Reaching forward once more it touched 

 some obstruction, the "arm,"' pse«(yopoQ'/a, 

 w.HS at once withdrawn, another was put 

 out on a different side and the Amieba 

 changed its course. 



It was a bundle of paradoxes. A tiny 



