70 SKETCHES OF CREATION. 



princeps, preserving the same gravity at the christening 

 as if she had been naming a gorilla or a human animal, so 

 impartial is science. We continue to gaze at our Amoeba, 

 and presently a little filament is extended like an arm, 

 and perhaps immediately withdrawn. Soon a similar arm 

 stretches forth in another position, and then another. Per- 

 haps half a dozen arms extend themselves at once from dif- 



Fig. 18. Amoeba Princeps, in different forms. 



ferent sides, some long, some short, some thick, some thin. 

 They shorten themselves, or entirely disappear, according 

 to some inexplicable caprice. Now we discover the object 

 of their movements. They are feeling for food ; the Amoe- 

 ba is in search of his breakfast. As soon as a nutritive 

 particle is touched, it is seized by one of these arms and 

 introduced into the — mouth, do you say? No, indeed; 

 the animal has no mouth. The food, however, gets inside 

 by some means, and you may behold it there. It lies im- 

 bedded in the midst of the little lump of jelly. There is 



