RUiZOPODA. 23 



(pseudopodia) from various parts of the body, as if it 

 were falling apart ; then it retracts these transparent feet 

 and becomes perfectly smooth and rounded, resembling a 

 drop of slimy, mucous mat- 

 ter. The body-mass is di- 

 vided into a clear cortical and 

 a medullary, granular mass ; 

 the outer highly contractile, 

 the inner granular portion 

 acting virtually as a stock of 



t A rr\\^ !-, vi , Fig. 10. Amoeba diffluent* Ehr. A, the 



lOOd. Ihese granules, like ]eft-hanrt figure, the moat usmal form ; the 



4-Vin rrvmi-no f\f Vl/-kvrn-ViTrll i-n right, shows the hroad, Hat pseudopodia ; 



the grams OI CnlOlOpliyll in g anrnw indicate the direction of clreula- 



Vegetable Cells and in dia- tionof the granules.-After Clark. 



toms and desmids, circulate in regular, fixed currents, the 

 arrows in the figure indicating the course of the circulating 

 food. The act of circulation is probably assisted by a con- 

 tractile vesicle (or 

 vacuole) usually 

 present. There is 

 besides a distinct 

 organ always pres- 

 ent, the nucleus (see 

 Fig. 11), so that the 

 Amoeba earns the 

 right to be called 

 an organism. Its 

 food consists of one- 

 celled algae, diatoms, 

 desmids, zoospores, 

 and portions of fila- 

 mentous algae, and it 

 possesses the power 

 of discrimination in 



Fig. 11. Amoeba spharococcus. A, before division. 



7?, the same in its resting stage; a, cyst or cell-wall; taking ItS IOOQ. lllC 

 d. body-mass; c. nucleus; b, nucleolus. C, Amoeba 



TH'nrly divided. Z>, two young Amoebae, the result of AlllO3ba lias the DOW- 

 ilivision. After Haeckcl. , 



er of moving m par- 

 ticular directions, stretching a millimetre in length ; it 

 selects appropriate food, and can engulf or swallow, digest 

 and distribute the food thus absorbed to various portions of 



