20 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



The stringing of bird's eggs wherewith to festoon 

 a room, which I have to my sorrow seen done, and 

 the gathering of brightly coloured Lepidoptera to 

 make devices in cases is cruel, thoughtless, and 

 ever to be condemned. A young person starting 

 from this point will never be any better than the 

 individual who prides himself on the possession of 

 thousands of old stamps, and he will stand in the 

 Same relation to the true naturalist, as does the 

 Dumerical stamp collector to the scientific one. 



I have a schoolboy friend or two just commencing 

 a practical study of Entomology ; your paper will 

 serve their purpose admirably and will save me 

 inany a letter. Upon them I have sought to im- 

 press a regard for life — be it in ever so humble a 

 fprm. 



When life is taken it should be only under con- 

 ditions of scientific requirements or of social 

 economy. 



Wishing you every success in your new venture, 

 and apologising for thus troubling you, 



I am, yours truly, 



Devereux. 



Liverpool, November 6th, 1879. - 



CORRESPONDENTS. 



S . A. Gates, West Hartlepool. — An egg collector 



is called an "Oologist," the science "Oology." 

 The best mode of preserving eggs is to blow them. 

 The tools required are a drill, blow pipe, small 

 forceps and scissors. We will in an early number 

 give full instructions, with illustrations, on the 

 best method of preparing eggs for the cabinet. 



Actinopkrys Sol, one of the Protozoa, highly 

 magnified. 



LOWEST FORMS OF 

 ANIMAL LIFE. 



Abstract of a Lecture by Geo. 

 Brook, Esq., F.L.S. 



It is with those forms of life which are 

 lowest in the scale of being that we have 

 to deal to-night ; those about which scien- 

 tific men used to quarrel so much as to 

 whether they were plant or animal, and 

 it is difficult to distinguish even now, to 

 which kingdom some of them belong. 

 The GregarinidcB were considered the very- 

 lowest form of animal at present existing, 

 but recent experiments have shown that 

 they are not so low as was at first sup- 

 posed- In their perfect or fully developed 

 state they are a kind of worm-like piece I 

 of protoplasm with no differention of'' 

 parts, no mouth or anything only a little 

 nucleus near one end. They are parasitic' 

 in the intestines of other animals, such as 

 the common earth-worm. Their mode of 

 reproduction is curious, the nucleus disap 

 pears and the body part assumes a globular 

 form, and is then split up into little oval 

 bodies, which after a time separate, and in 

 that state look very like a diatom — a 

 curious low form of plants. After a while 

 the cell, wall, or outer skin of these bodies 

 bursts, and they put out little projections 

 called pseudopodia (false feet) ; they then 

 affix themselves to some part of the in 

 testines of the animal they infest and, 

 draw in these pseudopodia and develop 

 into a perfect Gregarina again. The next 

 group treated on was Rhizopoda, which are 

 simply little specks of jelly-like substance 

 called protoplasm and are destitute of| 

 mouth, but have the power of putting ou 

 contractile finger-like bodies called pseu 

 dopodia, from which their name is derived 

 They are very minute, some of them can- 

 not be seen with the naked eye, and they 

 live in water as most of the other classesj 

 do. The monoera form the first division 

 they have no hard covering like the 

 Foraminifera, they have the power of 

 putting out pseudopodia, but have n 

 trace of structure, not even a nucleus, 



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