Retrospective Criticism. 559 



mountain which we had still to make ; we emptied our brandy 

 flasks, and, having rinsed them well with melted snow, filled 

 them with the most highly coloured portions we could collect, 

 with a view to future examination, and the gratification of 

 absent friends. On arriving at our miserable quarters at 

 Chalet Motet, the greater part of the surplus water was sepa- 

 rated, so as to concentrate the whole of the colouring matter 

 in one flask; proposing to arrange it better, on reaching 

 more comfortable quarters, the next day. While busily em- 

 ployed for this purpose at Contamines, one of my companions, 

 in combating the restiveness of a rickety table, contrived to 

 lanch the cup, in which the colouring matter was collected, 

 into the ashes of a fire, which we were happy to procure to 

 dry paper for our plants and our own clothes, the latter not 

 having quite recovered from the effects of a sharp squall we had 

 encountered on the Bon Homme. Thus ended my short but 

 interesting acquaintance with Protococcus nivalis. Now, no 

 one who, having a map of Europe before him, casts his eye on 

 the situation of the St. Bernard and Col de la Seigne, will 

 imagine that a little auk, or an auk of any dimensions, ever 

 yet found his way there ; nor in situations like those in which 

 I met with the red snow is it usual to see any bird, except 

 occasionally an eagle or a lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus). 

 Mr. Nicholson does not mention the elevation at which he 

 noticed the red substance on the snow ; but, from the wording 

 of his letter, I should imagine it not to have been considerable, 

 as it was on the side of a " small hill" which " forms a gentle 

 declivity towards the bay ; " and Captain Ross speaks of the 

 mountains as being only about 600 ft. high. Both the instances 

 I observed were above the line of perpetual snow, which Ebel 

 fixes for the Pennine Alps at 7800 French, or 8320 English, 

 feet above the level of the sea ; more than 2000 ft. of per- 

 pendicular height above the highest point reached by a few 

 stunted plants of Pinus Cembra and P. Mugho, and beyond 

 which would be found no other shelter for birds than occa- 

 sional tufts of jRhododendron ferrugineum. Nor did what I 

 saw bear the slightest resemblance to the effect which would 

 be produced from the dung of birds; an effect, however, ex- 

 actly described by Mr. Nicholson ; viz. " scattered small 

 masses surrounded by a lighter shade, produced by the co- 

 louring matter being partly dissolved and diffused by the 

 deliquescent snow." The two instances I saw were altogether 

 different from the above, and strikingly similar to each other : 

 the first was on a surface strongly inclined, but apparently 

 even ; the second was on a slope forming a somewhat smaller 

 angle, and in one of those undulations or slightly conchoidal 



