232 On the RMzo^oda as emlodying [^'oSS, aST?S? 
a definite nucleus in addition to the sarcoblasts, but which, in com- 
mon with the Foraminifera and Polycystina of the lowest Order, 
do not possess a contractile vesicle, we are met by precisely similar 
discrepancies : every function being the same in kind, and performed 
through the same means. And let it be particularly borne in mind, 
as affording most conclusive testimony to the fact that nutrition is 
effected in these two Orders in the manner I have described — that 
is to say, not by the inception of already-formed organic products 
into the substance of the living protoplasm, but by a power inherent 
in that protoplasm of converting inorganic elements into nutritive 
matter and shell-tissue, — that under no circumstances have solid 
matters, such as we constantly detect, and in fact see introduced 
as food, within the bodies of the Amoeban Khizopods, been hereto- 
fore detected within the bodies of the Foraminifera. Where foreign 
substances have been found imbedded within their protoplasm, these 
have either been of such a nature, or concomitant appearances have 
been such as to leave no room for doubt that their introduction 
was due to violence or accident. 
Lastly, if we compare the description already referred to of the 
vital attributes and characters of the Foraminifera with what we 
observe in the highest, or Amoeban Order of the Ehizopods, our be- 
wilderment is by no means abated. True, the description was not 
applied to any other family than the Foraminifera. But from that 
family it could not have been taken, or from any of the families 
whose habitats are oceanic. On the other hand it is not easy to con- 
ceive it was taken from the Amoeban group, and I should assuredly 
not venture to assert that it was held to be applicable to it, did not 
Dr. Carpenter in a subsequent part of his work (chap, ii., p. 12) 
leave no room for doubt on the subject. Speaking of the Ehizopod 
group generally, he writes as follows: — " In none of its members 
can any traces be found either of a nervous or vascular system. 
The digestive apparatus is reduced to its simplest possible condition ; 
of a circulating system, a mere rudiment only can be distinguished ; 
special organs for respiration and excretion seem altogether wanting ; 
and although there is reason to believe that true sexual products are 
formed by many of them, yet these develop themselves out of the 
general substance of the body, instead of in distinct organs set 
apart for their evolution. . . . They obtain food either by 
moving actively in search of it, or by putting forth prehensile 
appendages which bring it to them ; they introduce the food into 
the interior of their bodies, and subject it to a process of digestion 
whereby its nutritious material is extracted from the indigestible 
residue, which is cast forth by an act of defecation ; they diffuse 
this material through the general substance of the body, both by 
the general movements of its walls and by the agency of what 
seems to be a special contractile organ." 
