380 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
excite our wonder by their complicated structure, but the amacba 
raises our astonishment by the excessive simplicity of its or- 
ganisation. The amceba is nothing more than a living globule of 
mucus, a transparent, colourless, contractile substance, or plastic 
mass, the individual life of which shows itself in manifold changes 
of form, bearing the character of voluntary motion. When an 
amoeba approaches another minute animal or plant unable to 
move out of its reach, it sends out extemporaneous feet, which 
soon clasp the prey on all sides, and the prisoner lies embedded 
in the living mucus until all his soluble parts have been absorbed. 
There is absolutely no trace of particular organs in the amceba ; 
all its constituent particles muy be used for any purpose, all 
equally move and digest, and each can at any time perform the 
organic functions pertaining to the whole. 
A Compound Foraminiferous Protozoon, magnified. 
‘The shell is perforated with holes, through which the different lobes of the animal 
communicate, and thread-like portions are protruded externally. 
In their internal simplicity the Foraminifera are on a par 
with the amcebe, and differ from them only in respect of their 
outward form. The amcebe are naked, while the Foraminifera 
are covered with a shell, out of which, through oue or numerous 
openings, the animal protrudes the processes which it requires 
for creeping or seizing its prey. ‘These processes or filaments 
of mucus frequently ramify, closing as they spread, and some- 
times covering an area of several lines in diameter, in the centre 
of which the animal inclosed in its shell waits for its prey, like 
a spider in its net. 
The extended filaments appear to have something venomous 
about them; for Dr. Schultze, to whom we owe an interesting 
monograph on the Foraminifera, frequently saw small and 
sprightly parameciz, cclpodes, and other infusoria drop down 
paralysed as soon as they touched the net. 
