Halifax Grammar School - Grammarian Yearbook (Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada)

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7. LIVBTG THBIGS Living things are called organisms and are made up of one or more cells. They include plants, animals and things which have characteristics of both plants and animals, called protists. There are six kinds of protists. They are bacteria flagellates, rhizopods, ciliates, sporozoa and slime molds They are generally microscopic in size and are mostly one celled organisms. Bacteria are the smallest single-celled organisms vrith the possible exception of viruses. They are fomd almost everyvrhere. They are so abundant that almost everything we touch may have bacteria on it. Bacteria can cause food to spoil, and can carry diseases, such as tuberculosis , Flagellates used to be called protozoans. They move by means of flagella (whiplike projections). Some flagellates are parasites, and some carry diseases such as sleeping sickness. Flagellates are the cause of red tides . Amoebae are rhizopods. Most amoebae are not harm- ful to man but some carry diseases, Ciliates have cilia (hair- like projections) around their bodies. Sporozoa are practically all parasites. Malaria is caused by a sporozoan. Slime molds are not well known. They can be found under decaying logs or leaves. There are four major groups of plants; the thallophytes, which include algae, fungi and lichens; bryophytes, which include mosses and liverworts; pteridophytes, which include ferns, club mosses and horsetails; and spermatophytes, or seed plants, vihich include coniters and flowering plants. There are many thousands of varieties of plants in the world. Botany is the study of plants. The animal kingdom is the other group of living organisms. No one knows how many different kinds of animals there are in the world, although over a million species have been identified. The blue whale, vrhich may be a hundred feet long, is the largest known animal. The smallest kjio- m animal is so tiny one needs a microscope to see it. Animals live in the arctic regions, the steaming jungles, in the oceans and on the desert. Different animals are adapted to different regions. The study of living things is a very interesting occupation. Fred Stoddard Age 10 Prep. VI.