The colonial diatom "Bacillaria paradoxa"

Abstract: Bacillaria paradoxa was discovered by O. F. Müller in 1783. We have translated his enchanting description of this organism. It lives up to its name (though it has many others), in providing us with numerous unsolved problems, including its synchronous motility, apparent cell-cell communication, worldwide and geological distribution, and ability to adapt to many environments. We give an extensive bibliography for this organism, and present a simple L-system model for its clonal growth in terms of cell size reduction. This may have life cycle and ecological implications for all chain diatoms. We also suggest that its colonial motility is mathematically chaotic.