LIFE'S SIMPLEST CHILDREN. 23 
many different shapes, often with the most beautiful 
and complicated patterns upon them. All but the 
simplest shells have several chambers in them, a new 
one being added as soon as the animal outgrows the 
last one ; and in the partition between each chamber 
Fig. 4. 
a, Miliolite, with a shell of lime, a', The same, with a shell of 
sand, b, Peneropolis. c, Orbitolite. In these shells the animals 
feed only from the edge of the shell. 
d, Globigerina. e, Lagena. f, Nodosarina. g, Rotalia. h, 
Textularia. These shells are full of holes, oztt of which the animal 
puts threads to feed. 
there is a minute hole through which a thin thread of 
slime passes into the next chamber, so that the whole 
body is joined together throughout the shell. On 
account of these holes these lime-builders have been 
called Foraminifera from foramen a \\O\Q, f era I bear.* 
* This name is now often defined as meaning that the outside of 
the shell is perforated with holes, but the earlier use of the word as 
given here is more correct, because it applies equally to the perforated 
and non-perforated Foraminifera. 
