Algae World: diatom collections

 Walker Arnott collections

List of sheets of unmounted foreign diatom material

In the early 21st century, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh acquired a collection of sheets bearing unmounted diatom material from the University of Glasgow herbarium. Most of the material (consisting of diatoms dried down onto paper or mica and often enclosed in small envelopes) derives from the collections of G.A. Walker Arnott, who was sent material by most of the diatomists active in the middle years of the 19th century. Each sheet bears one to several envelopes (sometimes referred to in herbaria as 'capsules'). The Glasgow collection was split into two parts: UK and foreign. The sheets listed here comprise the foreign subset. They were scanned in March 2020

The names of the sheets reflect the names written on the sheets and do not indicate that the sheet wholly or even partly bears material of the genus as it is circumscribed in modern classifications. Nor are the separate envelopes on e.g. 'Navicula' sheets always labelled 'Navicula': the envelopes may be labelled 'Pinnularia' or 'Schizonema', according to the classification used by Walker Arnott, which differs from the classification used by the person who arranged the envelopes on the sheets. Ultimately, we hope to provide a full index to the Walker Arnott material. Meanwhile, if you want to locate a particular species and can't find it under its usual name, try looking through the sheets of all the genera where the species has previously been classified (the online DiatomBase catalogue of names and AlgaeBase will help you find synonyms).

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David Mann, November 2020

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