101 



CHAPTER XIV. 



MICROSCOPICAL PROTOZOA. 



Ehizopods and Foraminifera Their Geological Importance Luminousness of the 

 Sea The Noctiluca miliaris Polycystina Infusoria Vorticellse Ophrydinse 

 Eapid Multiplications of the Infusoria. 



THE first traces of animal life, such as they dawn forth in the 

 Protozoa, are scarcely less interesting to the reflecting mind than 

 the study of its highest and most developed forms. They are 

 generally of a size so minute that the naked eye is either inca- 

 pable of discerning them, or unable to distinguish their several 

 parts; and one of the most splendid inventions of human inge- 

 nuity was necessary to make us acquainted with their existence. 

 As the astronomer at every improvement of the telescope 

 sees new worlds beam forth from yet more distant abysses of 

 space, thus, as the microscope increases in power, new forms of 

 hitherto invisible life reveal themselves to the zoologist in a 

 drop of water, in the sand of the sea, or in the dust wafted 

 together by the wind. 



Armed with this marvel- 

 lous instrument, he has as it 

 were called forth an entirely 

 new creation out of nothing, 

 and discovered a little world 

 of animated beings, where to 

 his predecessors all seemed 

 blank and void. 



As far as science has hither- 

 to ascertained, the Rhizo- 

 pods occupy the lowest grade Amceba. 



in the scale of these primitive beings. They are partly naked, 

 partly enclosed in a shell, and owe their name to the filaments, 



