MINUTE ANIMAL LIFE. 
215 
rest flows on after them. It is now clear that it is a 
living thing. It has no permanent shape, but assumes 
flrst one form and then another. At one time it is 
round, then it puts forth a projection or two, some¬ 
times a dozen at once. These projections are called 
pseudopods, which means sham feet. 
But that is not all. The gelatin creature gets hold 
of a bacterium and quickly enwraps it by flowing 
around it. After some time it unrolls itself, and we 
see but little left of the bacterium. 
The tiny animal has just enjoyed a breakfast. 
Since it has no stomach in which to put its food, it 
Fig. 110.— Ameba taking its breakfast, a one-celled plant. 
(Jordan and Kellogg’s Animal Life.) 
must wrap itself around the food and absorb it. Its 
food consists generally of vegetable matter, although 
it relishes bits of animal matter if it can get hold of 
them. Watch it again as it takes a nap after its 
meal. A minute bubble rises out of the center of the 
mass. The bubble is doubtless carbon dioxid, and it 
is proof that the little lump breathes. It takes in 
oxygen through the skin—no, the poor thing has not 
even skin—and gives out carbon dioxid. 
