THE SLLTxCxISH DIATOM. 1 37 



Kozlowski smile again. But I am quite undisturbed. The 

 conclusive answer is ready. Protoplasm can do greater 

 things than this in the way of locomotion. 



Among microscopic organisms endowed with the power of 

 motion there are manj^ of the same order of size with the 

 diatom. Some of them progress through the water fifty or a 

 hundred times faster than the diatom. Such is the gloriously 

 beautiful, naked zoospore of Qldogoniiim , travelling buo}'- 

 antly, flashing along like a green streak, with its buzzing 

 ring of cilia. Such is Tiachelomonas , in its heavy, flask- 

 shaped shell, going its dizzy spiral with lashings of its long 

 flagellum. Compared with these, the diatom is indeed slug- 

 gish, and would seem to stand still in a way to bring delight 

 to Jackson and Kozlowski. But the mechanism of propul- 

 sion in Trachelomoiias and the like is obvious, and all the 

 world recognizes the motion as a result of protoplasmic 

 energy. Had we started our calculation with Trachelomoyias , 

 instead of with the diatom, the outcome would no longer have 

 been merely amazing ; it would have become stupefying. 



Yes ; protoplasm is capable of these wonders. 



