AMOEBA 



THE PROTEUS ANIMALCULE. 



AMCEB.E are among the simplest of living things, they 

 look like tiny drops of clear jelly usually somewhat 

 granular within. The amoeba will be almost constantly 

 moving and changing its shape, whence it gets the name of 

 "proteus" animalcule. This habit of changing the shape 

 is one of the surest methods of identifying the animal. 



Mount on a slide some of the sediment from the dish sup- 

 posed to contain amoebae, cover with a cover glass and search 

 for an amoeba with the low power. If one is not found 

 wait several minutes and examine again; in this time the 

 amoeba may have crawled out from the sediment. When 

 an amoeba is found examine with the high power. Be 

 careful not to move the slide enough to lose the animal. 



I. Morphology. 



1. Form. Note the changing shape, and the root-like 

 prolongations of the body called pseudopodia. Are these 

 pseudopodia alike? How many are there? Is the number 

 constant? Can you discover their function? Make a series 

 of 10 outline drawings (each about an inch long) at intervals 

 of two or three minutes. By means of arrows indicate the 

 direction of movement of the protoplasm. 



2. Structure. The protoplasm which makes up the sub- 

 stance of the animal is composed of an inner part called the 

 entoplasm, and an outer ectoplasm. How are they dis- 

 tinguished? May these distinctions be traced into the 



