96 



ously exhibited, as to leave little room to doubt the class of products 

 to which this substance is to be referred. That it is no animal mem- 

 brane or product of inflammation, as it would at first sight appear to 

 be, before it had been submitted to the test of the microscope, will, I 

 think, be readily admitted by all who have ever had the opportunity 

 of examining these substances. The texture to which perhaps it ap- 

 proaches most nearly, is the muscular, and that in the invertebrate 

 classes only, in many of which the filaments composing that texture 

 are disconnected, and not bound up in bundles and enveloped in 

 sheaths, as in the Vertebrata, to which, therefore, the arrangement 

 here described can bear no resemblance ; but the resemblance to mus- 

 cular texture at once vanishes when we apply the higher power, and 

 discover the intimate structure already described. 



If, as I presume will be the case, the product be admitted to belong 

 to that group of Cryptogamic products which have been generally 

 classed together under the title of Conferva, it then remains to deter- 

 mine whether this specimen belongs to any known genus or species, 

 or is as yet undescribed. I am inclined to refer it to the genus Os- 

 cillatoria, but am not acquainted with any species with which it is 

 identical. Its resemblance to Oscillatoria is seen in the extreme de- 

 licacy of its filaments, in its simple transverse markings, and the sepa- 

 ration of the green matter at intervals within the sheath by which those 

 markings are produced. In colour it resembles Oscillatoria ochracea, 

 but that species is extremely brittle, and can scarcely be handled 

 without breaking up into fragments, while this is very tough and elas- 

 tic. I am inclined to consider it a new species, if not a new genus. 



Further opportunities of examining this product, supposing it to be 

 allied to or to belong to Oscillatoria, may probably throw some light on 

 the disputed question of the animal or vegetable nature of that genus, 

 which appears to be now one of the many bones of contention between 

 the botanist and the zoologist. Perhaps the chemical analysis of this 

 substance, which I have not yet had an opportunity of instituting, 

 may throw some light upon the question. I have already alluded to 

 the resemblance in colour and other particulars, of this substance to 

 animal matter ; it appears also to be disposed to a similar putrefac- 

 tion, for on opening the phial this morning, in which the substance 

 was contained in a weak solution of salt and water, I perceived a very 

 distinct odour, similar to that of decomposing animal matter, and I 

 find that these specimens are not now so perfect as when I first exa- 

 mined them. 



With regard to the source from which these bodies could be dc- 



