ORGANIZATION OF FORAMINIFERA. 39 



Examined still more attentively, these elegant shells 

 are found (especially if examined in a dry state) to be 

 perforated all over with minute holes, and that to such 

 an extent, that the term FORAMINIFERA, by which 

 animals of this description are generally designated, 

 is perhaps as distinctive as any other that has been 

 proposed for them. 



Few creatures are more simple in their structure 

 than these Foraminifera. Examined in a living state, 

 such as they present themselves while adherent to the 

 sides of the aquarium, their substance seems entirely 

 composed of most translucent jelly, filling up the 

 chambers of the camerated shell, jelly so soft and 

 semi-fluid, that it issues forth through ah 1 the aper- 

 tures that crowd the superficies like subtle threads 

 of molten glass spreading upon the surface of the 

 tank, and evidently all endowed with life and motion. 

 A sight more wonderful than these transparent beings, 

 creeping with their root-like legs, can scarcely be 

 imagined. 



Simple as is their structure, the Foraminifera are 

 moreover eminently voracious, and devour in great 

 numbers the humbler organisms with which they 

 share the drops of water around them. On dissolving 

 the shell of one of these remarkable animals by im- 

 mersing it in a little diluted acid, completely denuded 

 of its outer covering (PL I. fig. 2, a), its soft trans- 

 parent body is then seen to consist of several seg- 

 ments, corresponding with the compartments of the 

 shell, in each of which the remains of Bacillarise, 

 Desmidise, and similar beings, are r'eadily distin- 

 guishable, proving at once both its destructive appe- 



D &Q/YYV- 



