Marvels of the Universe 



427 



Photo &!/] 



A GROUP OF FORAMIN'IFERA. 



[J. /;'. l^mith. 



This group of minute shells under the microscope shows a few of the numerous forms of Foraminifera. They a'e 

 magnified about twenty-five times. The entire group would thus go comforlably into a space no larger than the uncut end of a 



drawing-pe 



ncil. 



the Beadlet is liver-coloured, or dark red, but it is one of the most variable of species, so far as colour 

 is concerned. The specimens that are found on the rocks when the tide has receded are not full 

 grown ; in later life the Beadlet prefers to migrate below tide-marks, where it may always 

 be submerged. The tentacles are hollow, and so it is easy by withdrawing water from them to pack 

 them into a small compass ; the same, indeed, may be said of the entire animal. Children know 

 this fact in their natural history well, for they like to amuse themselves by touching these 

 exposed Anemones in a way that irritates them and causes them to squirt out water that 

 they may shrink into a smaller space. In some of the lighter-coloured species, such as the 

 Gem Pimplet and the Dahlia Anemone, this hollowness of the tentacles may easily be seen, for 

 they often keep their young in them until they are sufficiently developed to be cast out into the 

 waters. 



