28 TOILERS IN THE SEA. 



thing in the world to proceed step by step, up or 

 down, the orthodox ladder. It is in deference to 

 this feeling that we commence with the simplest 

 or lowest, if that term be preferable, of animals that 

 construct for themselves " homes in the sea." 



Those who have made acquaintance with the 

 simple forms of animal life to be found in fresh 

 waters, are cognizant of the existence of a strange 

 little organism to which the name of Amceba or 

 Proteus has been given. They are common enough 

 in all water containing decaying vegetable matter, 

 and are generally regarded as one of the simplest 

 forms of animal life to be found in our " ponds 

 and ditches." The general appearance is that of 

 a microscopical particle of jelly, transparent amor- 

 phous jelly, or, as Dr. Carpenter has described it, 

 " a little particle of homogeneous jelly arranging 

 itself into a greater variety of forms than the 

 fabled Proteus, laying hold of its food without 

 members, swallowing it without a mouth, digesting 

 it without a stomach, appropriating its nutritious 

 material without absorbent vessels or a circulating 

 system, moving from place to place without muscles 

 feeling (if it has any power to do so) without nerves 

 propagating itself without genital apparatus, and not 

 only this, but in many instances forming shelly cover- 

 ings of a symmetry and complexity not surpassed 

 by those of any testaceous animal." The latter 

 part of this paragraph does not refer to the true 



