Further Observations on the Fine Structure of Chrysochromulina Ericina Parke & Manton

Extract

C. ericina Parke & Manton has been re-investigated to add salient features of micro-anatomy from the electron microscopy of thin sections and also to add photographs of living cells taken with anoptral contrast light microscopy.

The most important new observations concern the scales which are shown to be essentially two-layered plates in which the layers in the very large spined scales have become separated except at their edges, with the outer layer greatly hypertrophied to produce a hollow spine with a flared base closed at the bottom by a flat plate. The patterns of external marking on the two layers are very similar in both plate-scales and spines in this species and the orientation of both with respect to the cell surface has been demonstrated by a section of the scales in situ.