Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2009
In the study of marine diatoms examination of fresh material (or of wet mounts in some suitable preservative such as formalin-sea water) is essential, in addition to ‘permanent’ mounts of ‘cleaned’ frustules, because the violent cleaning process destroys many of the more delicate forms (e.g. the genus Guinardia). Conversely, it is not possible to see the fine details of skeletal structure, upon which the taxonomy of so many diatoms is based, while the organic contents of the cells are still present.