| Taxonomic Hierarchy | |
| Kingdom | Animalia – Animal |
| Phylum | Mollusca – molluscs, mollusks |
| Class | Bivalvia Linnaeus, 1758 – bivalves, clams |
| Subclass | Palaeoheterodonta Newell, 1965 |
| Order | Unionoida Stoliczka, 1871 |
| Family | Unionidae Fleming, 1828 |
| Genus | Elliptio Rafinesque, 1819 |
| Species | Elliptio spinosa (I. Lea, 1836) – Altamaha spinymussel |
| Taxonomic Hierarchy | |
| Kingdom | Animalia – Animal, animals |
| Phylum | Mollusca – molluscs, mollusks |
| Class | Gastropoda Cuvier, 1797 – gastropods, slugs, snails |
| Order | Neotaenioglossa |
| Family | Pleuroceridae |
| Genus | Io I. Lea, 1831 |
| Species | Io fluvialis (Say, 1825) – spiny riversnail |
The most common form of ameba is the Ameba proteus, named from the mythological Greek sea god, Proteus, who could change his shape at will.
 An Ameba |
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| Taxonomic Hierarchy | |
| Kingdom | Protozoa |
| Phylum | Protozoa |
| Subphylum | Sarcodina |
| Superclass | Rhizopoda |
| Class | Lobosa – amoebas, amibes |
| Direct Children: | |
| Order | Amoebida |
| Order | Arcellinida |
| Order | Euamoebida |
The simplest of all the microscopic, single cell lifeforms. Once classed as an animal, the protozoa are now classified in the Kingdom Protozoa. The Amoebae form a group of single cell organisms called Protozoa or Protista.
Protozoa means "first animals". Protozoa also share many similar characteristics with plants, such as photosynthesis among some species, so the term Protista meaning "first creatures" is often used.
The name amoeba is not exclusively applied to members of the genus Amoeba but to a range of different types of Protista with pseudopodia. Some live in salt water, others in fresh water, perhaps on wet stems of plants which grown around wet environments. Others thrive in damp soil and others as parasitic in bodies of animals. They include some with shells, like Arcella, and also the half-dozen species that live in the human mouth and digestive system. One of these species is the cause of amoebic dysentery (Entamoeba). Some amoebae contain several nuclei which includes the large Chaos chaos, which may become six times the length of Amoeba proteus, which probably is the most well known species.
The amoeba's cell body is of an indefinate shape, changing constantly as it moves by means of pseudopodia (meaning "false feet"). The endoplasm is thrust outward from any point of its cell body, the liquid protoplasm (life material) within flows slowly into them. Afterward the rest of the cell contracts behind, creating motion and forward movement. Its basic structure consists of a thin, elasticized external membrane which holds the protoplasm safely inside the cell. Directly inside the membrane is a narrow layer of clear material, or ectoplasm, which aides in the cell's ability to possess form. Ectoplasm surrounds the main body mass of granular ectoplasm, which is differentiated into a more solid outer portion, the plasmagel, and more fluid inner portion, the plasmasol. Contained within the endoplasm is the roughly spherical nucleus which are associated with life fuctions of the cell.
An Ameba from Side View on Microscope Slide
This is a diagram of what was captured under a modern microscope. This side view, appears to be of an amoeba moving to the right with an extended "false foot", (or pseudopodium) and seemingly elevated on small protoplasmic pegs.
The ameba's body consists of a single cell which outermost film is called the cell membrane. This encloses a semi-liquid substance called cytoplasm, which is a special form of protoplasm. Though the ameba has no permanenly definitive shape, it does have a permanent hind end and forms its pseudopodium in a characteristic pattern, depending on the species.
Within the cytoplasm the following are included
The ameba was once classified among the animal kingdom because it feeds, excretes, respires and reproduces in many of the same fundamental ways that many animals do, not excluding man.
It feeds mainly on other protista, algae and bacteria, by utilizing its pseudopodia to surround and engulf a food particle. Water is engulfed with the food and the two form a vacuole within the cytoplasm. Digestion is a similar process to that which occurs with most other organisms, that is, digestive fluids are secreted into the food vacuole and digestible portions broken down and absorbed. The particle is digested within the vacuole and asorbed into the cell. This process is known as phagocytosis, which comes from Greek meaning, "eating by cells".
The contractile vacuole, bubblelike in appearance regulates water in the cell and may also serve the function of excretion. Food vacuoles are formed as the ameba ingest nutrients. Food vacuoles become smaller as digestion proceeds until the unused residue is excreted and vacuole disappears.
Excretion is accomplished through the cell membrane by osmosis (the passage of a liquid through a semi-permeable membrane) and perhaps also by the contractile vacuole that regulates water pressure. The Ameba discards fecal materials by merely flowing away from indigestible particles.
Respiration is achieved through osmosis as well. The ameba takes oxygen from surrounding water and releases carbon dioxide by a reverse process.
Reproduction is accomplished by the cell dividing into two equal halves of a whole, mature ameba which has reached maximum size. During this process, elements of the nucleus separate into identical halves, which insure the chromatin of the nucleus is evenly divided between the two resulting individuals. This process is called binary fission and takes less than an hour to complete. It is the usual method of reproduction. The chromatin of the nucleus likely carry the genetic and heredity factors. This complicated process which results in successfully dividing a single chromosome into two individuals is called mitosis.
The entire reproduction process begins with the amoeba becoming spherical in shape and the nucleus divides into two, the halves move apart, then the cell splits down the center.
Sometimes Amoeba proteus reproduce differently. The nucleus divides into hundreds of smaller ones which become surrounded by cytoplasm and a protective wall. All this takes place in the original single cell. These cysts can survive through droughts but also serve the purpose of transplant into new locations. Large cysts are formed when the whole cell surrounds itself with a thick shell. Some species of Amoeba do reproduce sexually.
If threatened the ameba has the ability to form a tiny spherical shaped droplet, and if the water supply in its environment is evaporated, it secretes about its body a thick impervious shell, called a cyst. While in this state it is able to withstand death by desiccation until the availability of more favorable environmental conditions. Encysted amebas can be carried by wind and therefore are widely distributed. Other protozoans are also known to use this same survival mechanism.
The average ameba is between 5 to 200 microns in diameter or an average size of about 1/1000th of an inch. The largest amebas are only about twice the diameter of a coarse human hair. The smallest species may be about 1/20th of the same hair. Amoeba proteus, measures ½ mm., and is just large enough to be visible to the naked eye.
There are many known species, some of which are:
Amebas are not only free-roaming, but some are parastic in both humans, animals and plants. Some are harmless whilst others may cause serious disease or potentially fatal. One serious human parasite is Endamoeba histolytica which lives in the intestine and is the cause of amebic dysentery. See Amebiasis. Once considered serious but now is readily controlled by drugs, such as an alkaloid called emetine, derived from ipecac.
These creatures, protozoa, named so as "first animals," consist of but a single cell and may serve as a glimpse, an insight into what possibly may have been the first animals to inhabit the planet, and give some indication as to what kind of common ancestor in the past gave rise to all living things.
Some permissible variations on spelling include
Classification of Amoeba proteus from itis.gov, Amoeba proteus (Pal.), Taxonomic Serial No.: 43854 Diagram of Amoeba proteus  Amoeba proteus | |
| Taxonomic Hierarchy | |
| Kingdom | Protozoa |
| Phylum | Protozoa |
| Subphylum | Sarcodina |
| Superclass | Rhizopoda |
| Class | Lobosa – amoebas |
| Order | Amoebida |
| Family | Amoebidae |
| Genus | Amoeba Ehrenberg, 1930 |
| Species | Amoeba proteus (Pal.) |
Wilhelm Fabricius Hildanus
Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine, History of Medicine Division
Wilhelm Fabricius Hildanus [fə-brĭsh′əs hĭl-dā′nəs] also known by the name, Wilhelm Fabry of Hilden, German physician and called "The father of German surgery."
Among his numerous contributions to medicine were the first classification of burns, the introduction of the tourniquet in surgical practice and extraction of iron splinters in the eye with use of a magnet.
Venus Flytrap, also known as Venus's Flytrap
The Venus Flytrap is among a group of plants known as Carnivorous plants. There are various types of carnivorous plants, including flowering plants and fungi which prey and feed upon small animals and insects. Such species are sometimes referred to as insectivorous plants.
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Governor Arthur Dobbs of North Carolina was the first person to describe the plant. He named it "Fly Trap Sensitive". In 1760 he communicated about the discovery of the plant's peculiar ability to close and trap objects, to Mr. P. Collinson of England. Later, Mr. J. Bartram of Philadelphia sent specimens known to him as "Tipitiwitchet," to Mr. P. Collinson. The species was first described among the scientific community in 1768 by the American botanist J. Ellis in letters to Linnaeus providing a substantial description of the structure and functions of the leaves, suggesting even the insectivorous nature of the species. Linnaeus declared it the most wonderful of plants, Miraculum Naturae. Linnaeus presumed the plant exhibited extreme sensitivity, in which insects were accidentally captured and subsequently allowed to escape.
"But the plant, of which I now enclose you an exact figure, with a specimen of its leaves and blossoms, shews, that nature may have some view towards nourishment, in forming the upper joint of the leaf like a machine to catch food: upon the middle of this lies the bait for the unhappy insect that becomes its prey. Many minute red glands, cover its inner surface, and which perhaps discharge sweet liquor, tempt the poor animal to taste them; and the instant these tender parts are irritated by its feet, the two lobes rise up, grasp it fast, lock the row of spines together and squeeze it to death. And, further, lest the strong efforts for life, in the creature thus taken, should serve to disengage it, three small erect spines are fixed near the middle of each lobe, among the glands, that effectually put an end to all its struggles. Nor do the lobes ever open again, while the dead animal continues there."
The letter which contained inaccuracies did not convince Linnaeus of the plant's carnivorous nature, he believed rather, that the insects were released, and trapped merely due to oversensitivity, being such the case with Mimosa pudica.
Ellis arrived at incorrect conclusions about the functions in the plant, including the three erect spines which were later discovered to be trigger hairs on the inner surface of the trap, and a view shared by Erasmus Darwin, botanist and grandfather of Charles Darwin, who wrote,
"In the Dionaea muscipula there is a still more wonderful contrivance to prevent the depredations of insects: the leaves are armed with long teeth, like the antennae of insects, and lie spread upon the ground around the stem, and are so irritable, that when an insect creeps upon them they fold up and crush or pierce it to death."
However the insectivorous nature of the plant was more elaborately investigated by Charles Darwin and described in his book, Insectivorous Plants (1875).
Charles Darwin observed the plant during its digestive state, noting the abundance of the secreted fluid. Making a small opening at the base of one lobe which contained a large crushed fly, the secretion continued to run down the rootstalk a total of nine days, during which the plant was under steady observation.
The required time for digestion is approximately ten days to complete, after which the leaf reopens. Each leaf, or trap, can capture an average of three or four insects during its life span after which it ceases to function. Otherwise, when the trap has been triggered without successful capture of prey it can open and close many more times.
Ellis named the plant Dionaea. The origin of the name Dionaea has its origin in Greek and Roman mythology. In Greek, Dione is the mother of Aphrodite and at times used as an alternative name for the goddess of love. To the Romans, Venus was the goddess of love.
The Venus Flytrap is a native perennial found near the borders of coastal North and South Carolina around swampy bogs. Seldom ever does the flytrap survive well after relocation from its wet native habitat. Often flytraps are found in the presence of other carnivorous plants such as Sundews, Butterworts, Bladderworts and Pitcher Plants. The flytraps inhabit relatively level areas, and tend not to be found where depressions lie due to excess water. They thrive in damp soil, although it has been observed that during relatively dry periods there is no apparent harm to the plants.
Several methods are employed among carnivorous plants to trap their prey. Venus Flytrap's method is different from many other carnivorous plants and referred to as a "Mechanical Trap," specifically a "snap trap". Each leaf has two lobes, standing at rather less than a right angle to each other. The typical angle formed by the lobes is 40 to 50 degrees.
The upper surfaces are covered with minute circular sessile glands. The prey is trapped by rapid closure of the lobes around the insect when it touches one of the three sensory hairs, or fine-pointed bristles. In rare instances there may be as many as four trigger hairs on each surface. The trap has been compared to a hinge but this is inaccurate because a hinge has an articulated joint. The trap has none. It is equipped with bristles that are sometimes referred to as cilia. There are two types of glands,
This reaction, snapping shut and the leaf closing around the insect, occurs in about half a second in normal daytime temperatures. The spikes interlock, and the insect is trapped. After suitable prey is captured, within thirty minutes a narrowing phase begins in which the lobes become tightly pressed together and the outline of captured prey is visible while soft-bodied insects are crushed. This is followed by the release of digestive enzymes within the trap's interior whilst a protective seal is produced just below the marginal spines. If the insect has not been crushed by the lobes, it is likely the insect drowns in the digestive fluids.
The leaf then forms what may be referred to as a "temporary stomach" of sorts. With the insect imprisoned, the Flytrap's glands pour out a red acidic secretion or "sap" containing an enzyme that will dissolve the soft body parts. This digestive enzyme is similar to that which is produced by the leaves of the Sundew plant.
The Venus Flytrap grows from a bulb-like rootstalk and bears slender flower stalks which reach about a foot in height, producing a corymbs of white flowers which sprout in May and bloom in June. The stalk may bear between 1-15 white flowers. Each flower consists of 5 green sepals, 5 white petals, typically 15 stamens and 1 compound pistil. The leaves grow two to eight inches long and located at the base of the plant in a spreading rosette.
During the changing seasons the plant takes on varying characteristics. During the spring, leaves tend to be green with broad petioles which lateral extensions are referred to as "wings". Red coloration is limited or absent, if it is present, it is restricted to the glands on the inner surface of the traps. When late spring becomes summer, the spring leaves are terminated by flowering. When flowering has completed, the summer leaves are produced which are as long or longer, much more narrow and almost wingless. The summer leaves produce the largest traps which tend to grow vertically. With the onset of fall, winter-like leaves are produced which are the smallest. Frost may kill the leaves during the winter. Those which survive winter, tend to be prostrate and about the size of spring to summer leaves.
The bright red coloration in some flytraps seems to be influenced by its exposure to light. Though genetic factors play a role, flytraps thrive well in intense light with most of the plants developing the deep red maroon coloration in the traps, however, when there is insufficient lighting, the plants tend to develop with less healthy characteristics and remain a green pigmentation throughout. Although light contributes to their overall preferred health, direct sunlight is discouraged when cultivated in enclosed containers.
Venus Flytrap is the only known species in the genus Dionaea, therefore making it monotypical.
| Kingdom | Plantae – plants |
| Subkingdom | Viridaeplantae – green plants |
| Infrakingdom | Streptophyta – land plants |
| Division | Tracheophyta – vascular plants |
| Subdivision | Spermatophytina – seed plants |
| Infradivision | Angiospermae – flowering plants |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Superorder | Caryophyllanae |
| Order | Caryophyllales |
| Family | Droseraceae – sundews |
| Genus | Dionaea (J. Ellis) – Venus flytrap, Venus fly trap |
| Species | Dionaea muscipula (J. Ellis) – Venus fly trap, Venus flytrap |
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Johannes Fabricius [fä-brē′tsē-
German astronomer who discovered the sun rotates on its axis and in 1610, while a medical student he discovered sunspots about the same time as Galileo. Noting that sunspots move, he concluded the movement was a result of rotation of the sun.
Born January 8, 1587 in Resterhafe, Netherlands in the East Friesland, and died in 1615. Johannes was the son of the noted astronomer David Fabricius (1564-1617), a Lutheran pastor and noted astronomer who discovered the variability of light in the star Mira in the Cetus constellation in 1596.
Johannes Fabricius was educated in medicine as a physician at the university in Wittenberg. In Holland, he obtained some of the earliest astronomical telescopes that were starting to circulate in the Netherlands. He first saw sunspots on February 27, 1611, (March 9 on the Gregorian calendar which had not yet been adopted in East Frisia). Shortly after his discovery he decided to team up with his father for further guidance and observation.
Johann, a studied physician, left medicine and in 1611, returned home. His father lived in Osteel, a town in the northwest part of Germany which in addition to his studies of astronomy, he was a Lutheran preacher. In Osteel, Johannes Fabricius shared his telescopes with his father, and on March 9 they collectively began to observe the sun.
At first, the Fabricius team first made their sunspot observations before and after sunrise, observing the sun directly through their telescope. According to their account:
"Having adjusted the telescope, we allowed the sun's rays to enter it, at first from the edge only, gradually approaching the center, until our eyes were accustomed to the force of the rays and we could observe the whole body of the sun. We then saw more distinctly and surely the things I have described [sunspots]. Meanwhile clouds interfered, and also the sun hastening to the meridian destroyed our hopes of longer observations; for indeed it was to be feared that an indiscreet examination of a lower sun would cause great injury to the eyes, for even the weaker rays of the setting or rising sun often inflame the eye with a strange redness, which may last for two days, not without affecting the appearance of objects."
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Johannes observed and made record of the black spots on the sun's surface. Sunspots had been seen by the Chinese, and Thomas Harriot observed them through telescopes in December of 1610.
To be able to observe and track sunspots without hindrance, they adopted Kepler's camera obscura technique, which allows an image of the Sun to be formed by a pinhole opening and observed, without damage to one's eyes. The Fabricius' interpretations of sunspot activity gave indication the Sun possessed an axial rotation, and in the same year Johannes Fabricius completed a short account of their observations and interpretation. It was through this publication he covered his discovery of sunspots, and the rotation of the sun on its axis.
Johannes Fabricius was the first scientist to publish a treatise on the subject. This publication lead the way to four centuries of solar research.
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 "Studies that relate rock fabric to pore-size distribution, and thus to petrophysical properties, are key to quantifying geologic models in numerical terms for input into computer simulators." - utexas.edu |
Rock Fabric
Spatial arrangement orientation of components in rocks. In igneous rocks the term refers to the shape and relationship of the crystals. They may be
In metamorphic rocks, fabric can be collectively used to denote structure and texture characteristics imposed on the rock during metamorphism. This is particularly useful, as it can denote the lack of consistency in the way the rock structure and texture have been used.
In sedimentary rock, grain size and layering can be described by the term fabric.
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Fabre, Jean Henri [fȧ′br’] (1823-1915), Famed French entomologist, born at Saint-Léons (Aveyron) France on December 21, 1823 of a humble peasant family. He became famous for his largely self-taught, study of insects and their life, histories, habits and instincts. His primary focus tended to be with bees, ants, beetles, grasshoppers and spiders. He was educated at normal schools in Rodez and Vaucluse, and later at the École Normale of Vauclause. At the age of 20 he commenced teaching at the school in Carpentras (1842). Later he taught physics and chemistry at the College of Ajaccio in Corsica (1843-1851), and at the Avignon Lycée (1853).
The teaching profession had paid poorly and having discovered a process for the production of madder-dye, hoped to achieve financial security by manufacturing the dye; but the simultaneous discovery of aniline dyes doomed his venture to fail.
In 1879 he retired to Sérignac, in Provence, where he at first earned his living by writing textbooks which were used in French schools and did well popularizing science. Fabre's real interest however, had always been natural history. He became interested in the habits and instincts of insects while he was studying for his doctorate. After his retirement from teaching in 1871, he lived in seclusion at Serignan, and devoted himself exclusively to the study of entomology, collecting and observing insects.
Fabre did important research on the orders Hymenoptera (wasps), Coleoptera (beetles), and Orthoptera (grasshoppers).
Fabre did not accept the conclusions of previous studies in this field and based all his research on direct observation of insects in their natural environments. In his study of the Hymenoptera, he found that wasps frequently sting their prey in the region of nerve centers, thus rendering them immobile. In this condition they may be stored for eating at a future time. Fabre believed that this specialized behavior demonstrated reasoning power, and he gradually came to the conclusion that habits are not fixed in insects, and that the theory of evolution is invalid.
Based on his observations of wasps paralysing their prey in specialized neuro-sensitive areas, he described the importance of inherited instinct as a behavior pattern in insects. In 1866, he isolated from the madder plant a coloring substance, which was identified as alizarin that later became useful in biological stain.
Along with his work on the relationship between the human and insect mind, Fabre also did research on the relationship of insects to agriculture. This latter work was stressed in his book Souvenirs Entomologiques (10 volumes, 1879-1907), parts of which have been translated to English and are among the most important works in the field of entomology. He became a corresponding member of the Institute of France, and a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He also wrote La Science Élémentaire (1862), De Sciences Naturelles (1875) and La Vie des Insects (1910), The Life and Love of the Insect (1911), Social Life in the Insect World (1912), The Life of the Fly (1913), Bumble Bees (1915) and others. He was unsympathetic to the theory of evolution and opposed Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, considering the purposeful acts characteristic in insect behaviors, emphasizing those differences in contrast to the intelligent behavior of man, to give support of his anti-evolution beliefs. However, Charles Darwin admired his work and termed him the "incomparable observer." Fabre died at Sérignac on October 11, 1915.
 Long before he was old enough to go to school Jean Henri Fabre was interested in insects. He thought them more fun than other animals. In his old age he would sit still for hours watching an ant nest or a hive of bees working. His neighbors thought he was odd, but his patience paid off. By observing insects, he became famous later in life as an acclaimed scientist. Fabre was born in the French village of St. Leons. His family had very little money, but when he was old enough he sold lemons to earn money to go to school. He was such an extraordinary student that he was given a scholarship so that he could go to college. He finished college and began teaching science when he was only 19 years old. After nearly 30 years he gave up teaching so that he would have more time to study insects. He wrote many books about them, such as Our Humble Helpers and The Life of the Fly. No one gave Fabre's work much attention until he was nearly 80 years old. Then he was given great honor. A few years before he died the French government gave him a pension as a reward for what he had done to aid science. |
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Seeking ClarificationSource: Encyclopedia International, ©1966 (Grolier Inc.) Source: Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia, ©1950 |
