284 Sketch of the Infusoria of the family Bacillaria. 
Arr. lV. —A Sketch of the in faterin, of the family Bacillari, 
with some account of the most interesting species which have 
been found in a recent or fossil state in the United States ; by 
J. W. Battery, Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and aaa 
ogy, in the United States Military earner 
Tose organized beings which Ehrenberg has placed ananey 
the Infusoria, in the family Bacillaria, present almost equal claims 
on the attention of the zoologist, botanist, and geologist: Con- 
taining, as this family does, those obscure organic bodies which 
form, as it were, the connecting links between the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, and which appear to possess characters be~ 
longing to both, the student of either zoology or botany must 
examine them, and in fact the very simplicity of their structure 
renders them peculiarly proper for the observation of many phe- 
nomena of great physiological interest. 
The geologist must attend to them, for the discoveries of Kut- 
zing, Fischer, and especially. of Ehrenberg, have shown that 
many of these minute bodies possess siliceous coverings, which 
oceur in vast abundance in the fossil state, and which Lomteiie. 
minutest, and yet not the least important nor least inter 
the series of “ nature’s medallions.” 
Believing that some account of the structure, elamsiicatiows 
&c., of this family would be acceptable to many in this country; 
and that figures of our most remarkable species would be of in- 
terest to the students of this family, both in this country and i a” 
Europe, T have devoted for some time past the very few lei 
hours at my command, to the preparation of the following sketch. 
As an apology for the very imperfect state in which I now pre- 
sent it, I must state that my knowlege of the labors of others is 
necessarily very slight, as it is almost impossible to procure ia 
this country any works relating to this branch of natural history: 
Of the many European works which contain figures of th 
obscure beings, scarcely one has been at my command, and as 10 
one in this country has previously studied this subject, I have had 
to trust almost entirely to my own observations. 
To avoid the risk of adding to the already burdensome syn00- 
ymy, I have not attached any names to the species which I be- 
lieved new, or which I could not determine satisfactorily, an¢ 
