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THE BRITISH NATURE BOOK 



The Foraminifera are found to possess minute calcareous shells of most 

 beautiful form. Many exquisitely shaped species have been dredged up from 

 the ooze of the ocean bed ; some may be found in the sand from a new-bought 

 sponge; others are obtained by taking up the whitest-looking sand left in 

 the ripples by the outgoing tide. 



Side by side with these are the Radiolaria, the flinty skeletons of which, 



4. 



I. 



INFUSORIA. i. Swan-necked Animalcule. z. Coleps hirtus, or Barrel 

 Animalcule. 3. Paramecium. 4. Choetonotus lams. 5. Stylmychia mytilus. 



like beautiful carved and fretted ivory, make some of the most wonderful 

 exhibits under the microscope. But the merest mention must suffice. All 

 that can be added is that these almost invisible things, whether in a drop of 

 water or a pinch of sand, fill the thinking mind with a sense of wonder, which 

 is but an instinctive and unconscious act of praise to that Great Creator whom 

 we call God. 



