j RHIZOPODA., 23 
{pseudopodia) from various parts of the body, as if it 
were falling apart ; then it retracts these transparent feet 
and becomes perfectly smooth and rounded, resembling a 
drop of slimy, mucous mat- 
ter. The body-mass is di- 
vided into a clear cortical and | 
a medullary, granular mass ; § 
the outer highly contractile, 
the inner granular portion 
acting virtually as a stock of ; 
food. ‘These granules, like yei'fo!?-amane dius Bh, the 
the grains of chlorophyll in FEM sows te broad, fat peeudopoiie 
vegetable cells and in dig. tion of the granules.—After Clark. 
toms and desmids, circulate in regular, fixed currents, the 
arrows in the figure indicating the course of the circulating 
food. The act of circulation is probably assisted by a con- 
tractile vesicle (or: 
vacuole) usually’ 
present. There is’ 
besides a distinct 
organ always pres- 
ent, the nucleus (see 
Fig. 11), so that the 
Ameba earns the 
right to be called 
an organism. Its 
food consists of one- 
celled alge, diatoms, 
desmids, zoospores, 
and portions of fila- 
mentous alge, and it 
possesses the power 
ne: 11.—Ameda spherococcus. A, before division. a ncn 
a bey aums nga peauceons, Coamen ee 
nearly divided. D, two young Ameba, the result of Amoeba has the pow- 
division.—After Haeckel. * ‘ 
er of moving in par- 
ticular directions, stretching a millimetre in length ; it 
selects appropriate food, and can engulf or swallow, digest 
and distribute the food thus absorbed to various portions of 
