The Microscope. 207 



•cerned in this activity, but that the membrane and nucleus also 

 participate in the life activity of the cell. The entire cell is 

 therefore living. To it we must ultimately descend to seize life 

 in its source, and here we may study the phenomena of life in 

 their simplest expression. 



If it is ever alloted to mortal man here below to arrive at any 

 knowledge of life, it is clear that a complete and profound knowl- 

 edge of Cytology will be the key to the m3'steries of that now 

 unknown region. 



DIATOMS AND ETYMOLOGY. 



CHARLES S. BOYER. 



THE writer, who is somewhat of a diatomaniac, has been very 

 much puzzled over the written description of Diatoms. In 

 the course of his investigations, he had occasion to start ab ovo, 

 and to inquire what must have been the impressions of those 

 who first named each genus, and he was surprised to find that 

 the name, in nearly every case, suited the Diatoms perfectly, and 

 that if the matter had ended there, the determination of many 

 forms would have been less difficult. 



We would, therefore, advise the young investigator to provide 

 himself with a Greek lexicon and start out at once on his dis- 

 coveries. Ever so many Diatoms are called plates, with words 

 prefixed to distinguished the different kinds of plates. Thus, 

 if the diatomaniac discovers a glass plate, he knows that he has 

 a Hyalodlscus ; if a plate looking like a sieve a Coscinodiscus ; a 

 plate that is bent, a Campylodiscus ; a plate with grooves or fur- 

 rows, an Aulacodlscus ; a plate that looks exactly like a spider's 

 web, an Arachnodlscus ; a plate that has projections looking like 

 towers, a Pyrgodiscus ; a plate with hollows, a Glyphoditcus ; a 

 l^late looking as if it had been punctured or pricked, a Sticto- 

 discus; a plate with scales, a Lepidodiscus ; and a plate with foot- 

 like processes, a Eupodiscus. But it is not necessary to confine 

 ourselves to plates of Diatoms, which are sometimes deceptive. 



It will not be difficult to find litttle bowls or boats in Cymhellse ; 

 nails or pegs in Gomphonemge ; syringes with curious roots in Rhi- 

 zosolenia; a trident in Trinacria; and various kinds of boxes, from 

 a little box, Pyxilla, to a box with corners, Goniothecimn, and a 

 box with a crown, Stephanopyxis. If we are particular to look at 



