Pyrenoids of 6 diatoms, Acnanthes minutissima, Cyclotella meneghiniania, Cymbella affinis, Gomphonema parvulum, Nitzschia sp., and Surirella ovalis, were examined comparatively with the electron microscope. All except those of G. parvulum were membrane‐limited. The pyrenoid membrane forms a ridge around the pyrenoid of S. ovalis, C. meneghiniania, and Nitzschia sp. Distended double‐disc bands cross the pyrenoids of C. affinis, G. parvulum, S. ovalis, and A. minutissima; single‐disc bands occur in C. meneghiniania, and 3 disc bands in Nitzschia sp. The raphe fissures of A. minutissima, Nitzschia sp., and S. ovalis did not contain any cytoplasm or obvious organs of locomotion. In G. parvulum, membranous profiles extend outward from the raphe fissure, but these probably are not responsible for movement. In this diatom 2 membranes usually cross the raphe, and the distance between them fluctuates indicating that they may undulate to force water through the raphe. A 7–10 mμ subfrustular zone is associated with the inner surface of the silica, but separate from the cytoplasmic membrane, in Nitzschia sp. and G. parvulum. In the latter, it is attached to siliceous knobs protruding from the inner surface of the silica. It may join the 2 halves of the frustale, which are otherwise not connected either to each other or to the cytoplasm. Pores 80–100 mμ in diameter occur in the nuclear envelopes of all diatoms examined. Dictyosomes are always perinuclear. In S. ovalis the vesicular complex is a convoluted, single‐membrane‐limited structure containing a variety of vesicular profiles, and occupying much of the central cytoplasm. Internally it resembles leucosin bodies of a chrysophyte, but the arrangement and morphology of the internal vesicles suggests that intracellular pinocytosis may occur.