4 THE OCEAN WOKLD. 



and gradually melt into its substance in such a manner that the indi- 

 vidual seems to absorb and devour itself. If, in exceptional cases, 

 some of the superior animals, as the wolf, devour each other, the rhizo- 

 pods go much farther : they devour themselves, so to speak ! 



The rhizopods are found both in fresh and salt water. They live, 

 as parasites, on the body of worms and other articulated animals. The 

 class is divided into many orders. We shall speak here only of three, 

 namely, the Amoebss, Foraminifera, and Noctiluca. 



In nearly all ancient animal and vegetable infusions, not quite 

 putrid upon all oozy beds covering bodies which have remained for 

 some time in fresh or sea water we find the singular beings which 

 belong to this order. They are the simplest organisms in creation, 

 being reduced to a mere drop of living matter. Their bodies are 

 formed of a gelatinous substance, without appreciable organization. 

 The quantity of matter which forms them is so infinitesimal, that it 

 becomes incredibly diaphanous, and so transparent that the eye, armed 

 with the microscope, traverses it in all directions, so that it is necessary 

 to modify the nature of the liquid in which it is held in suspension, 

 and introduce the phenomenon of refraction in order to observe them. 



It would be difficult to say exactly what is the form these creatures 

 assume. They frequently have the appearance of small rounded 

 masses, like drops of water ; but, whatever their form may be, it is 

 always so unstable, that it changes, so to speak, every moment, so 

 that it is found impossible to make a drawing from the model under 

 the microscope the design must be finished by an appeal to memory. 

 This instability is the characteristic manifestation of life in the Amoebte, 

 which are naked beings, without apparent organization ; in fact, they 

 occupy the first step in the scale of creation. 



The transparent immovable drop under consideration emits an ex- 

 pansion, and a lobe of a vitreous appearance upon its circumference, 

 which, gliding like a drop of oil upon the object-glass of the microscope, 

 begins by fixing itself to it as a supporting point, afterwards slowly 

 attracting to itself the whole mass, and thus gradually increasing its 

 bulk under the observer's eye. 



The Amoebte, according to their dimensions and degree of develop- 



