76 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
assume. They frequently have the appearance of small rounds 1 
masses, like drops of water ; hut, whatever their form may be, it i 3 
always so unstable, that it changes, so to speak, every moment, 3° 
that it is found impossible to make a drawing from the model und el 
the microscopo — the design must be finished by an appeal to meinor?- 
This instability is the characteristic manifestation of life in the Ami &<*> 
which are naked beings, without apparent organization ; in fact, 
occupies tho first step in the scale of creation. 
The transparent immovable drop under consideration emits an e*' 
pansion, and a lobe of a vitreous appearance upon its circumference 
which, gliding like a drop of oil upon the object-glass of the microscop®’ 
begins by fixing itself to it as a supporting point, afterwards slowtf 
attracting to itself the whole mass, and thus gradually increasing & 
bulk under the observer’s eye. 
The Amiba, according to their dimensions and degree of develop' 
ment, successively emit a greater or smaller number of lobes, none 
which are precisely alike, but, after having appeared for an instant, eac& 
successively re-enters into the common mass, with which it becom® 8 
Completely incorporated. Yariable in their respective forms, these lob® 3 
present appearances quite different in the several genera. They 
more or lass lengthy, more or less fringed, and often branching ; soi» e ' 
times they are filiform, sprouting in all directions over the anin^ 
mass, which rolls in the liquid like the husk of a small chestnut. 
If we ask how these animals are nourished, in which no digestif 
apparatus can be distinguished, the question is difficult to answer" 
It is thought that they are nourished by simple absorption, and W 
absorption only. In the interior of the gelatinous mass which constitute 
the animals, however, granules and microscopic portions of vegetable 
are frequently discovered. “ We can conceive,” says Dujardhg “ ho * 
these objects have penetrated to the ulterior, if we remark, on the 0 #® 
hand, that in creeping on the surface of the glass, to which they adb ef® 
very exactly, the Amiba can be made to receive, by pressure, foreio 9 
substances into their own bodies, by means of the alternate contra®' 
tion and extension of the various parts natural to them, and, on W 
other hand, that the gelatinous mass is susceptible of spontaneo 113 ■ 
depressions — here and there near to or even at the surface of 
spherical cavities, which successively contract themselves and disapp® 9 * 
in connection with the strange body which they have absorbed.” 
