of Bed Snow. 61 



an incapacity of supporting all displacement and jolting, ai^e 

 probably the causes why their presence, as in part a cause of 

 red snow, has hitherto remained unknown. On the other 

 hand, I do not mean to maintain, that the infusoria above 

 described are always to be found bearing so large a portion of 

 the colouring matter of the red snow (in my observations 

 the globules of the Protococcus nivalis were to the infusoria 

 in about the proportion of 5 or 10 to 1000) ; on the contrary, 

 it appears to me probable, that the number of the globules of 

 the Protococcus often surpasses that of the infusoria ; for, in an 

 analogous production, viz. the Hcematococcus Noltii, Ag. (dis- 

 covered in the year 1838, by Dr Smith, in the water of the 

 turf diiichQ^, fosses de la tourbiere, of Gumlingen, near Berne), 

 with which a species of the Astasia was found intermixed, 

 and also the Protococcus nebulosus, the relative quantities of 

 the two productions presented considerable differences ; some- 

 times the Astasia was found there almost to the exclusion of 

 the Hcematoccocus^ and sometimes the granules of this latter 

 predominated considerably. 



In comparing my observations with those of others, it ap- 

 pears evident that Bauer especially, and Unger, have described 

 as a gelatinous matrix the colourless remains of the Protococ- 

 cus nivalis and nebulosus ; for, so far as oiu* Alps at least are 

 concerned, the general distribution of the colouring matter in 

 the substance of the snow, to considerable depths, and its gra- 

 dual deposition upon the sides and bottom of the vessels, in 

 proportion as the snow melts, demonstrate that it can have no 

 substratum whatever in the fresh state. 



As to the reproduction of flakes of this same gelatinous and 

 filamentous matrix, and the fresh development of new colour- 

 less organised bodies, observed by Bauer, I doubt not that the 

 organisms were on these occasions altogether new, and quite 

 independent of the red snow. For all observers, however 

 little they may have been engaged with the study of micros- 

 scopic organisms, whether vegetable or animal, must know 

 with what wonderful celerity the species of Hygrocrocis^ Pro- 

 tococcus, &c. on the one side, and the Chenas, and other infu- 

 soria, on the other, develope themselves ; so much so, that I 

 believe the Protococcus nebulosus might readily develope it- 

 self during the short time the snow remained in the vessels 



