c> » . j.^BlcKui-fcd Colour of Water. *^ !« '" 



the Egyptian fonii, which conseciucntly appeared to be of a 

 gelatinous nature. I have described it as a particular genus, 

 and called it Sarcoderma san^iinea. 



Sarcodeuma. — Char. Gen. T/uillus gelatino-vi.^ rvstnloHLM 

 gramUis dlscretis rephtus nee Jibris nee cjjidern Idio) 



instructus. The Nostocincn Alga? have a [)eridiuni. 



Another kind, the Gcocharis nihtica^ rather of a cinnabaf 

 than a blood-red, thougli of a very lively colour, is universally 

 prevalent in Egypt, on the wet banks of the Nile, where Riccia 

 {/lauca grows. It is a very remarkable kind of small mushroom^ 

 having a very close affinity to the Vaucheria granulata of 

 Lyngby, or the V. radicata of Agardh ; but^ notwithstanding 

 this, it certainly belongs to the fungi and not to the alga?. 



Geocharis. Char. gen. TJtullus tiibulosus cmitiiiuus teres 

 Jilrfwmis {radiciformis). Vesicidce fructus extcrnte inflate 

 {Conwcystce) sporangiis^ sporangiu sporidia colorata induden^ 

 t'lbus repletce. 



In the same year, I found at Siut in Upper Egypt, after the 

 inundation of the Nile, a stagnant water of a very red colour. 

 The colouring body was the Sphocroplea annullna of Agardh^ 

 a well-known alga of fresh water. 



In 1823, I was for a number of months at Tor, on the Re<l 

 Sea, in the vicinity of Mount Sinai. On the 10th December 

 I there observed the striking phenomenon of the whole bay 

 which forms the harbour of Tor of a bloody colour. The 

 main sea beyond the coral reef that encloses the harbour, was 

 as usual colourless. The short waves of the calm sea during 

 sunshine, carried to the shore a blood-coloured slimy maas, 

 which it deposited on the sands, so that the whole bay, fully 

 half a league in length at the ebb of the tide, exhibited a bloocU 

 red border of more than a foot broad. I took up some of the 

 water itself with glasses, and carried it to my tent at hand on 

 the sear-shore. It was immediately discovered that the colour- 

 ing was caused by small flakes scarcely distinguishable, often 

 greenish, sometimes of a lively green, but for the most part of a 

 dark-red colour, although the water itself was not staincil by 

 them. This very interesting appearance attractixl my attention 

 as explanatory of the name of the Red Sea, a name hitherto so 

 difficult of explanation. I for many days, and widi perfect lei- 



JANUAR\-— MARCH 1831. Z 



