CHAPTER XXVI 



CORALS, WORMS, ETC. 



IN this our penultimate chapter we reach the low water- 

 mark of animal ingenuity. One does not expect much 

 intelligence in an earthworm or a sea-cucumber or 

 a star-fish. However, it is our aim to review the 

 animal kingdom as a whole, therefore we cannot omit 

 any animals which, however humdrum their lives, judged 

 from our own standards, are of the greatest interest to 

 scientists. 



Let us begin at the lowest step in the ladder of life. 

 In the mud at the bottom of our ponds there is often, in 

 fact usually, to be found a very minute little animal 

 called an amoeba, so small that it can only just be seen 

 with the naked eye. It is impossible to imagine a living 

 creature more simple in structure than this. To all intents 

 the amceba is little more than a small blob of jelly-like 

 substance called protoplasm, the basis of all animal life. 

 When the amoeba wishes to feed it simply flows round 

 the substance destined to form its meal ; having digested 

 all it can, it merely flows away from the undigested 

 portions. The life of such a simple creature one might 

 surmise would be free from all cares, yet the amceba, like 

 the rest of us, has its troubles. Ponds are liable to dry up 

 in summer-time and the amceba, being essentially a water 

 animal, must make provision for such an emergency, and 

 it does so in this manner. The outer edge of its jelly-like 

 body simply hardens and forms a thin shell, so that 

 periods of drought cannot dry up the main body of the 

 animal. In this state it either awaits the rain and the re- 

 formation of the pond or is carried by the wind to another 

 more hospitable pond. In either event, as soon as it 



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