122 M. C. G. Ehrenberg's Observations on the 



lyx; the stamens are inserted in the calyx; the anthers long, 

 and opening at the top by two fissures ; the leaves in both are 

 generally opposite, of precisely the same structure, serrated at 

 the margin, and furnished with innumerable minute pellucid 

 dots ; the stipules are small and deciduous ; the fruit in both is 

 three-celled ; and the flowers are white and pendulous. The 

 structure of the seeds in both genera is precisely similar, having 

 a flat embryo placed in the centre of very copious fleshy albu- 

 men. The stigmata in Tricuspidaria are distinct, but united 

 in Aristotelea, which has been hitherto considered as possessing 

 a simple stigma. The leaves may more correctly be regarded 

 as approximated in pairs than as decidedly opposite, and they 

 are found often alternate, as might be expected, in both genera. 



( To be concluded in our neaU) 



New Observations on the Bhod-like Phenomena observed in 

 Egypt, Arabia, and Siberia, with a Viezv and Critique of the 

 Early Accounts of Similar Appearances. By Mr C. G. 

 Ehrenberg. 



A HE blood-red colour of waters, and the scattered blood- 

 coloured spots which have sometimes appeared so suddenly as to 

 excite the wonder, and often the alarm, of the people of all ages, 

 however much the scientific investigations of these things may 

 have been gradually refined and confirmed, are still objects of 

 much ambiguity ; and, even among learned men, the knowledge 

 of the causes of this phenomenon is capable of farther extension, 

 and of stricter demonstration. In my travels, I have had an 

 opportunity of collecting many facts regarding these appearances, 

 that is, on the red colour of the Red Sea, on the blood spots in 

 Egypt ; and, during the last journey which I, in company with 

 Baron Humboldt, made to Siberia, on a very intense blood 

 colour in a lake of the Steppe of Platow. I shall attempt to 

 arrange these facts along with the appearances already known, 

 so as to counteract the present disposition, created by Chladni, 

 to refer all the historical accounts of blood-coloured masses to 

 meteoric and cosmical appearances. As it is of consequence to 



