frustule
(ˈfrʌstjuːl)
[a. F. frustule, ad. late L. frustulum, dim. of frustum.]
The siliceous two-valved shell of a diatom, with its contents.
| 1857 Berkeley Cryptog. Bot. §103. 130 The frustules which are long and slender, slip over each other, yet so as always to adhere. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. ii. i. 278 Each frustule is however a perfect unicellular plant. 1876 Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. iii. 67 Diatomaceae..whose frustules are also of silex. |