CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



WORLD-BUILDERS. 



THE LEAST THE GREATEST. 



There is an animal called amosba which is with- 

 out doubt the strangest creature known. It looks 

 hke a speck or tiny drop of jelly ; even when seen 

 through a powerful microscope it still appears noth- 

 ing more than a lifeless bit of slime ; and yet it is a 

 living, moving animal that pursues and captures and 

 devours its prey, and seems to have a mind and will 

 of its own, and to enjoy life as much as many crea- 

 tures fully provided with parts and members. When, 

 for instance, the amoeba wants to take a walk, its 

 lack of legs does not trouble it, for it simply pushes 

 them out of its body, as many as it requires, makes 

 them as long or as short as it chooses, and sets out 

 merrily on its way. Do not think for a moment, 

 however, that the Amoeba uses its legs to walk on. 

 No, this creature is unlike other animals in every- 

 thing it does. Instead of crawling like a worm or 

 snail, it flows, for you must not forget it is a sort of 

 ]i(|uid animal, and is different from other living things 

 in this, as in all else ; the substance of its body runs 

 into the parts it has thrown out, as water or ink iiows 

 and fills splashes down the lid of a desk or other 

 slanting surface. How it can flow itself in this way 

 along a level, or even up an inclined plane, as it does, 

 is more than any one has yet been able to find out. 



