78 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
these creatures aro without trace of mouth or digestive cavity, a® 
the entire body is a single cell, or aggregation of cells, which receh 1 
their nutriment by absorption ; for, although the creatures have neith 3 
mouth nor stomach, yet, according to Professor Kolliker, it takes 111 
solid nutriment, and rejects what is indigestible. When in its progi'i*' 
through the water one of these minute organisms approaches one of f b e 
equally minute Algae, from which it draws nourishment, it seizes 
plant with its tentacular filaments, which it gradually encloses on 
sides ; the filaments, to all appearance, becoming more or less shorten ® 1 
in the process. In this way the captive is brought close to the surfed 
of the body ; a cavity is thus formed, in which the prey is lodg‘d’ 
which closes round it on all sides. In this situation it is gradual!) 
drawn towards the centre, and passes at last entirely into the ma s9 ' 
The engulfed morsel is gradually dissolved and digested. 
THE FOEAMINIFEKA. 
There is nothing small in Nature. 
The idea of littleness 
:A 
A 
greatness is a human conception — a comparison which is suggest *-' 1 
by the dimensions of his own organs. Nature, on the other ban 
compensates smallness by numbers. The result produced by the bon 1 " 
of some large animals is also accomplished by the accumulated sp 0 ‘!' 
of millions of animalcules. The history of the Foraminifera is a strike 1 ? 
example of this great truth. 
What, then, is a Foraminifer ? It is a very small zoophyte, a sh (> 
nearly invisible to the naked eye ; for, in general, its dimensions ra t&f 
exceed the two hundredth part of an inch ; in short, it is strictly m^ r °' 
scopic. Examine under a microscope the sand of the ocean, and ’ 
will be found that one-half of it consists of the debris of shells, of vari 0 ^ 
but well-defined forms, each habitually pierced with a number of hob’ 3 ' 
To this they are indebted for their name Foraminifera, from forcM^' 
a hole. With these microscopic animalcules Nature has worked wond £p 
in geological times ; nor have the wonders ceased in our days. 
Many beds of the terrestrial crust consist entirely of the remain * 5 
of 
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Foraminifera. In the most remote ages in the history of our pin 11 ' 
these zoophytes must have lived in innumerable swarms in the seas 
the period ; they buried themselves in the bottoms of the seas, and 
shells, heaped up during many ages, have finished by forming bin 3 1 
great thickness and extent. We may say, to give an example, ^ 
