THE LOWER FORMS OF LIFE. 



61 



Some of them represent globular groups of pearls, with a brilliant 

 central gem of more solid consistency, the whole emitting bright 

 rays (pseudopodia) in every direction ; and, on examining the consti- 

 tuent globules, each one is found to be more or less highly organised 

 (Fig. 75). Others are still more beautiful and interesting. One, 

 for example, resembles a conical Japanese hat of honeycombed silex, 

 bristling all round the rim and on the apex with spikes and harbour- 

 ing in the crown of the silicious fabric the multicellular animalcule, 

 from which numerous rays are projected (Fig. 74). Another is 

 a perfect hollow silicious sphere of filagree, also honeycombed, and 

 in the centre floats a beautiful sun, whose rays penetrate the 



Fig. !. Heliosphcera inermis (magnified 300 diam.). The whole animal alive. The central 

 capsule is seen to contain a vesicle one-third its size, through the "honeycomb" of the 

 shell The fine pseudopodia emanate from the sarcode of the central capsule. 



open framework of the globular case (Fig. 76) ; and a fourth more 

 exquisite, perhaps, than any of the preceding might serve as 

 one of the insignia of some noble order, for it presents the appear- 

 ance of a jewelled star. The central portion is the hyaline animal- 

 cule resembling a globular pearl in appearance, from which project 

 silicious rays, some lance-shaped, some straight, and all meeting 

 within the central globe (Fig. 77, p. 62). There are many more such 

 forms, varying in the shape of the central soft portions, or in that of 

 the radiating silicious skeleton, or of the surrounding casework ; but 

 all are more or less graceful and elegant, and the delineations of 

 them in the present work have only to be seen to render them eager 

 objects of search and favourite subjects for investigation." 



