CHALK MAKERS, OR FORAMINIFERA. 29 



Amoeba, but to the allied forms to which our 

 remarks will shortly be confined. Suffice it to say 

 that Dr. Carpenter recognises the Amoeban form 

 of simple animal as that of the Foraminifera which 

 secrete a calcareous skeleton or shell. By com- 

 mencing with a reference to this well-known 

 organism (fig. i), although it may in some points 

 differ from the shell-making species, an acquaint- 



FIG. i. PROTEUS, or AMCEBA. 



ance with the latter may be facilitated, and through 

 the Amoeba we may obtain an introduction to 

 the Foraminifera and Polycystina, which are of 

 the same kindred. It is of little consequence to 

 us that some have regarded the Amoeba as lower 

 in the scale of creation than the shell-bearers, 

 whilst others consider it superior on account of 

 " something akin to organisation having reached 

 its highest limit." 1 It is admitted, on all hands 



1 Dr. Wallich, in Monthly Microscopical Journal, vol. 

 (1869), p. 231. 



