60 Mr Shuttleworth on the Colouring Matter 



of specimens of the colouring matter, the remainder was put 

 into a concave watch-glass, and there allowed to dry. Pro- 

 tected against the action of light by being wrapped in white 

 post paper, the colour did not change ; and when moisture was 

 added, the globules of the Protococcus nivalis and the Astasia 

 nivalis might still be distinctly recognised. I found also the 

 globules of the Protococcus nehulosus under the form of fila- 

 mentous debris ; but all the other organized bodies could not 

 be distinguished, at least with any certainty. The specimens 

 upon the mica exhibit a somewhat singular phenomenon ; for, 

 having occasion subsequently to examine them, I found that 

 two kinds of paper having been employed in covering them, 

 the one vellowish, and the other bluish, the red snow had lost 

 nothing of its colour in those in the former kind of paper ; 

 whilst, in the others, all that remained were colourless or 

 greenish globules ; a result probably owing to the chemical 

 composition of the different kinds of papers. 



The existence of this remarkable fact, which I believe has 

 not hitherto ever been suspected, viz., that, in the red snow, 

 there exists an infinite number of microscopic beings, which 

 are evidently animals, and at a temperature rarely elevated more 

 than a few degrees above the freezing point, and often probably 

 far below it, shews how much yet remains to be discovered in 

 this new world, the limits of which will be extended in pro- 

 portion as our microscopes become more perfect. Unfortu- 

 nately the great work of Ehrenberg, indispensable for all who 

 would prosecute the study of these organisms, is, from its form 

 and cost, inaccessible to many naturalists, — a circumstance 

 which will much retard the progress of this branch of science. 



The coexistence of these infusoria along with the Protococ- 

 cus nivalis, the contents of which appear to supply them with 

 nourishment, will, I trust, destroy, if it really exist, the opinion 

 of those who still maintain the theory of the transformation 

 of vegetable into animal organisms ; a theory which, in my 

 opinion, is based upon false appearances, and which ought never 

 to have been broached, being wholly opposed to every thing 

 like true philosophy. 



The extreme sensibility of these infusoria to the action of 

 heat, by which they are destroyed at a temperature a few de- 

 grees above that of the surface of the snow, and perhaps also 



