196 ROMANCE OF LOW LIFE AMONGST PLANTS. 



forms possess the power of locomotion can be proved 

 by placing a gathering containing them in the sun- 

 shine, when they will be found in a short time on 

 the surface mud, appearing like a film of a golden- 

 brown colour.^ 



The claims which the diatoms possess to special 

 mention in a work devoted to what may be termed 

 the " romance of low life in plants," are based on 

 their immense number in nature, consequent on their 

 indestructibility, their collection in vast beds or de- 

 posits of variable depth and extent ; and the con- 

 tinuous formation of these deposits down to our own 

 times ; not to mention their beautiful and artistic 

 sculpture, their flinty structure, and the peculiarity of 

 their spontaneous movements. 



The manner in which the deposits of these flinty 

 valves have been formed is very simple. The living 

 plants flourished in some lake or other expanse of 

 water, and, as they died, the skeletons became dis- 

 engaged, and, being heavier than water, fell to the 

 bottom, forming a thin layer over the mud. Year 

 after year, and century after century, the little plants 

 continued to multiply, flourish, and die, thus con- 

 tributing their skeletons to the stratum at the bottom, 

 until at length, when the lake dried up, or its waters 

 were diverted, the skeletons still remained, as an 

 incontrovertible evidence of the existence of them- 

 selves, and the lake in which they flourished ages ago. 



» F. Kitton, in Cooke's " Ponds and Ditches," p. 89, etc. (1880.) 



