SECT. II. 



ACTINOPHRYS SOL. 



the genus, is a sphere of from T ^-o to -$ %-$ of an inch 

 in diameter, with slender contractile filaments the length 

 of its diameter extending from its surface as rays from 

 the sun. It can draw them in and flatten its body so as 

 to be easily mistaken for an Amoeba. This creature, 

 which is common in fresh-water pools where aquatic 

 plants are growing and even in the sea, has little power 

 of moving about like the Amoeba; it depends almost 

 entirely on its pseudopodia for food. They have an 

 adhesive property, for when any animalcule or diatom 



Fig. 87. Actinophrys sol. A, ordinary form ; B, act of division or conjugation ; c, pro 

 cess of feeding ; D, discharge of faecal matter, a and b ; o o, contractile vesicles. 



comes in contact with one of them, they adhere to it ; 

 the filament then begins to retract, and as it shortens 

 the adjacent filaments apply their points to the captive, 

 enclose it, coalesce round it, the whole is drawn within 

 the surface of the Actinophrys, the captive is imbedded 

 in the sarcode mass, and passes into a vacuole where it 

 is digested, and then the pseudopodia thrust out the 

 undigested matter by a process exactly the reverse of 

 that by which the food was taken in (D fig. 87). The 

 pseudopodia are believed by Professor Rupert Jones to 

 VOL. n. c 



