PROTOZOA : FORAMINIFERA. 



6 7 



of any organs or specialised parts of any kind. Recent re- 

 searches, by Hertvvig and F. E. Schultze, have, however, shown 



Fig. 10 Foraminifera. a The animal of Nonionina, after the shell has been removed 

 by a weak acid ; b Gromia (after Schultze), showing the shell surrounded by a net- 

 work of filaments derived from the body-substance. 



the presence of a nucleus and of contractile vesicles in, at any 

 rate, some of the Foraminifera ; and these structures are, there- 

 fore, probably present in all. Even in the polythalamous forms 

 there seems to be, as a rule, only one nucleus, so that the or- 

 ganism morphologically may be regarded as a single cytode. 



The pseudopodia in all the Foraminifera (fig. u, b, c} are 

 filamentous and protrusible to a great length and they possess 

 the singular property of uniting together in various directions 

 so as to form a kind of network, like an " animated spider's 

 web." (Hence the name Reticulosa applied to the order by 

 Dr Carpenter.) This property, however, is not peculiar to 

 members of this order, but is seen also in Actinophrys and in 



