126 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



ings and description of the red coloring particles as seen 

 under the microscope of Dr. Armieux, it is evident that with 

 the red particles are mixed occasionally green ones ; and 

 the cryptogamous nature of the substance is placed beyond 

 a doubt. 



The explorers in the Swedish North Pole expedition have 

 seen marine algae growing and fruiting at a temperature far 

 below zero, while at higher temperatures the spores com- 

 pletely disappeared. There are therefore some vegetables 

 which can only live in intense cold and continuous dryness ; 

 and to these the cryptogams of the red snow must be nearly 

 allied. Many of the figures observed by Armieux bear close 

 analogy, he states, to those figured by Cohn in his beautiful 

 memoir published at Breslau in 1872 ; whence he concludes 

 an intimate relation between the Protoccocus nivalis and 

 the Protoccocus pluvialis, 3Iem. Acad, des Sciences de Tou- 

 loKse, 181 0,195. 



THE WINDS AND EAINS OF INDIA. 



A valuable memoir on the winds of Northern India, pre- 

 sented by Henry Blanford, of Calcutta, to the Royal Society 

 of London, has recently come to hand, in which this subject 

 is treated of in the fullest and most admirable manner. He 

 first describes the general scheme of the wind system of 

 Northern India, in which he shows that it is very different 

 from that of the adjacent seas. Instead of two monsoons 

 from northeast and southwest prevailing alternately during 

 about equal periods of the year, we find a great diversity of 

 prevalent wind currents depending upon the direction of the 

 mountain ranges and of the great valley plains ; and with 

 respect to period to be classified under three rather than two 

 distinct seasons, excepting, indeed, in Upper Assam, where 

 the normal monsoons prevail. In the cold weather months, 

 from November to January, the wind appears to flow in a 

 gentle current from a distinct source in the hilly regions 

 southward, down the valleys of the Indus and Ganges, or 

 across the water-shed of Central India. In hot weather the 

 winds draw around to the westward, and dry currents 

 radiate out over the whole region, and, becoming heated, 

 form the well-known hot winds of April and May. These 

 winds, however, are essentially diurnal winds. In June 



