380 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



excite our wonder by their complicated structure, but the amoeba 

 raises our astonishment by the excessive simplicity of its or- 

 ganisation. The amoeba is nothing more than a living globule of 

 mucus, a transparent, colourless, contractile substance, or plastic 

 mass, the individual life of which shows itself in manifold changes 

 of form, bearing the character of voluntary motion. "When an 

 amoeba approaches another minute animal or plant unable to 

 move out of its reach, it sends out extemporaneous feet* which 

 soon clasp the prey on all sides, and the prisoner lies embedded 

 in the living mucus until all his soluble parts have been absorbed. 

 There is absolutely no trace of particular organs in the amoeba ; 

 all its constituent particles may be used for any purpose, all 

 equally move and digest, and each can at any time perform the 

 organic functions pertaining to the whole. 



A Compound Foramirdferous Protozoon, magnified. 



The shell is perforated with holes, through which the different lobes of the animal 

 communicate, and thread-like portions are protruded externally. 



In their internal simplicity the Foraminifera are on a pai 

 with the amoebae, and differ from them only in respect of their 

 outward form. The amoebae are naked, while the Foraminiferd 

 are covered with a shell, out of which, through one or numerous 

 openings, the animal protrudes the processes which it requires 

 for creeping or seizing its prey. These processes or filaments 

 of mucus frequently ramify, closing as they spread, and some- 

 times covering an area of several lines in diameter, in the centre 

 of which the animal inclosed in its shell waits for its prey, like 

 a spider in its net. 



The extended filaments appear to have something venomous 

 about them ; for Dr. Schultze, to whom we owe an interesting 

 monograph on the Foraminifera, frequently saw small and 

 sprightly. parameciae, colpodes, and other infusoria drop down 

 paralysed as soon as they touched the net. 



