The royal natural history . f commercial sponges grow in the Red Sea; the Great BarrierReef off the north-east of Australia would probably yield a large supply. Thebulk of the harvest of sponges from Bahamas and Florida consists of commonbath-sponges. R. KIRKPATRICK. CHAPTER XVI. The Lowest Animals, -Subkingdom PROTOZOA. Characteristics. The lowest animals belong to a world invisible to the naked eye,a world whose very existence was unknown two hundred years ago,despite the fact that its inhabitants abound on every side. In 1755 Rosel vonRosenhof saw sticking on the side of a glass vessel of w
The royal natural history . f commercial sponges grow in the Red Sea; the Great BarrierReef off the north-east of Australia would probably yield a large supply. Thebulk of the harvest of sponges from Bahamas and Florida consists of commonbath-sponges. R. KIRKPATRICK. CHAPTER XVI. The Lowest Animals, -Subkingdom PROTOZOA. Characteristics. The lowest animals belong to a world invisible to the naked eye,a world whose very existence was unknown two hundred years ago,despite the fact that its inhabitants abound on every side. In 1755 Rosel vonRosenhof saw sticking on the side of a glass vessel of water and weed a tinyparticle of jelly, the movements of which attracted his attention. It fasteneditself, he writes, on the side of the glass; and since, like animals, it moves,although very slowly, from place to place, and thereby continually alters its form,and as I frequently examined the water with a magnifying-glass, the creature wasnecessarily discovered; as soon as I touched it, it contracted itself into a sphere and. PROTEUS ANIMALCULE. The same animal in different shapes. (Magnified 600 diameters.) fell to the bottom. Rosel removed the specimen to a watch-glass, and observed itcontinually changing its shape. In consequence of this peculiarity, lie named theanimal the small Proteus after the monster of fable. Later the animal was named ! moeba, as the name Proteus had been bestowed on another animal. An amoeba iscomposed of a small particle of living substance, called protoplasm, and resembles a my blob of jelly, which continually but slowly changes its shape. The amoeba is CHAR A CTERISTICS. 551 generally found on the ooze of ponds, or the under surface of the leaves of aquaticplants, but especially amongst conferva, in clear gently flowing water. When firstcaught, the animal will appear as a tiny yellowish semitranslucent globular speck,about one-hundredth of an inch in diameter; presently it becomes beaded withrounded projections, some of which grow longer at the exp
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