West and West's British Desmidiaceae

Summary of volumes 1–5

  • Volume 1 (Plates 1–32)
    ... containing the subfamily Saccodermae (genera Gonatozygon, Genicularia, Spirotaenia, Mesotaenium, Cylindrocystis and Netrium) and the first part of the subfamily Placodermae (genera Penium, Roya, Closterium, Docidium, Pleurotaenium and Tetmemorus).


  • Volume 2 (Plates 33–64)
    ... containing the genera Euastrum, Micrasterias and the start of Cosmarium.


  • Volume 3 (Plates 65–95)
    ... continuing with the genus Cosmarium only.


  • Volume 4 (Plates 96–128)
    ... containing the final part of Cosmarium, the genera Xanthidium and Arthrodesmus and the start of the genus Staurastrum.


  • Volume 5 (Plates 129–167)
    ... containing the main part of Staurastrum and the genera Cosmocladium, Oocardium, Sphaerozosma, Onychonema, Spondylosium, Hyalotheca, Desmidium and Gymnozyga. The final two plates illustrate some species of genera treated previously.


If you already know which plates you want to see, click here.


Technical notes (and scale bars)

All 167 plates have been scanned in 24-bit colour, and they are presented here completely unedited, except for the removal of a slight colour cast (probably due to ageing) and the inevitable file compression necessary to present them on the web.

Each plate is presented at two resolutions (other than as a thumbnail): medium and high. The images in each category are all at the same magnification. However, neither category is likely to correspond on your screen exactly to the size of the original pages. And since the plate legends (reproduced as part of each plate) include magnifications, we have produced a scale bar for each category of image resolution:

The scale bars are graduated in millimetres; 1 mm on the scale bar is equivalent to 1 mm in the original plate as published.

The scale bar images open in new windows. If you are likely to want to use them, open them first, before you open any of the plate images. Then, when you've opened a plate, you can move the appropriate scale bar window around on top of it.


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