214 



EVOLUTION AND ANIMAL LIFE 



of each of the bodies of the four grr.nclchildren. The process 

 of assimilation, growth, and subsequent division takes place 

 again and again and again. Each time there is given to the 

 new Amoeba an eA^er-lessening part of the actual body substance 

 of the original ancestor. Thus an Amoeba never dies a natural 



Fig. 120. — A multiplication of Amoeba by simple fission. 



death, or, as has been said, "no Amoeba ever lost an ancestor 

 by death.'' It may be killed outright, but in that case it leaves 

 no descendants. If it is not killed before it produces new 

 Amoebce it never dies, although it ceases to exist as a single 

 individual. The Amoebce and other simple animals which 

 multiply by direct binary fission may be said to be immortal, 

 and the " immortality of the Protozoa " is a phrase w^hich will 



