6 



ANIMAL LIFE 



drawing in. The single protoplasmic cell which makes up 

 the body of the Amoeba has no fixed outline ; it is a cell 

 without a wall. The substance of the cell or body is proto- 

 plasm, semiliquid and colorless. The changes in form of 

 the body are the moving of the Amoeba. By close watching 

 it may be seen that the Amoeba changes its position on the 

 glass slip. Although provided with no legs or wings or 



FIG. 2. An Amoeba, showing different shapes assumed by it when crawling. 

 After VEBWOBN. 



scales or hooks that is, with no special organs of locomo- 

 tion the Amoeba moves. There are no muscles in this tiny 

 body; muscles are composed of many contractile cells 

 massed together, and the Amoeba is but one cell. But it is 

 a contractile cell ; it can do what the muscles of the com- 

 plex animals do. 



If one of the finger-like projections of the Amoeba^ or, 

 indeed, if any part of its body comes in contact with some 

 other microscopic animal or plant or some small fragment 

 of a larger form, the soft body of the Amoeba will be seen 



