MICROBIOLOGISTS call yeast cells and bacteria devoid of their cell wall “protoplasts”1. According to a 100 yr old definition the protoplast represents the totality of the living cell constituents quite independent of whether the cell is coated by a wall or not. The general cytological term has therefore unfortunately been narrowed by considering the “protoplast” as the result of the removal of the cell wall. In seminars and symposia on “protoplasts”, the term is used for a cytological speciality which covers only a small sector of the wide classical concept, as represented by the publications in the journal Protoplasma and the monographs of Plasmatologia which are concerned with all aspects of living matter, and not only with the problem of whether and how the lost cell wall can be regenerated.