THE GONIUM. 



125 



shield, at others of a closed box or a pitcher, ap- 

 proaching the shell of the oyster or mussel. 



The breast-plate Gonium is, in fact, a cluster of 

 animalcules, consisting of sixteen spherical bodies, 

 enclosed within a transparent shell, and dispersed 

 regularly in a quadrangular form, like the jewels 

 in the breastplate of the Jewish high priest. Some- 

 times the cluster appears irregular ; this happens 

 when the larger animalcules have arrived at ma- 

 turity, and some of them are separated from the 

 cluster. They are of a beautiful transparent green 

 colour. 



All the polygastric animalcules have been divided 



PROTEUS. AMOEBA. 



into two primary groups : the loricated, or shell- 

 covered, and the soft, or shell-less class. Some 

 animalcules, as the Proteus (amoeba), belonging to 

 the shell-less group, form for themselves locomotive 



