RHIZOPODS. Ill 



CHAPTER IV. 



KHIZOPODS. 



THE Khizopods are the lowest animals in the scale of 

 life. Scarcely more than a drop of jelly-like protoplasm, 

 the lowest of these lowly creatures live, move, eat, and 

 multiply. Some are so far down in the scale that they 

 are actually only a particle of soft and unprotected 

 protoplasm, moving, like the common Amoeba, which is 

 one of the Rhizopods, by protruding long, thread-like 

 projections of its own substance from any part of its 

 body, and withdrawing them again into its substance, 

 where they entirely disappear. These protruded parts, 

 by means of which the creatures move and capture their 

 food, are called pseudopodia, from two Greek words, 

 meaning false feet. And since they often extend to 

 long distances from the body of the animal, dividing 

 and branching somewhat after the manner of roots, 

 the group of lowly animals producing these pseudo- 

 podia is named the Rhizopods, or root-footed, a word 

 also from the Greek. 



The Amo3ba, and those Rhizopods nearest to it in 

 structure, are formed of naked protoplasm; they are 

 simply a drop of living jelly. But some higher in the 

 same group secrete or build around their soft bodies a 

 protective shell, often of exquisite form and remarkable 



