34 



BOYS AND GIRLS IN BIOLOGY. 



partition-wall right through the middle of the old house 

 (Fig. 23), and, when this wall is quite finished, the two 

 halves move away from each other, and the carpenter 



Fig. 23. Fig. 24. 



—.Second Partition. 



"Fission 11 of the Cell. One Cell divided into Four. 



rounds off the sides and thus makes two new houses out 

 of the old one. Sometimes they build two partitions 

 (Fig. 24), and instead of two houses there are four. 

 What ingenious workers they are, thus to make four 

 new houses out of one old one ! They work so fast, 

 too ! The Chicago builders worked at the rate of one 

 house an hour after the " great fire," but the peoto- 

 coccus-builders can even outdo Chicago, for they have 

 been known to build one hundred thousand houses per 

 minute, and that, too, in the winter-time when the 

 ground was all covered with snow! The red peoto- 

 coccus, sometimes called " red snow," which is found in 

 the arctic regions and among the Alps, will cover hun- 

 dreds of acres of ground with its little red roofs in 

 almost "no time." There are many curious stories told 

 about this red snow. Ancient ignorance thought it was 



