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Remarks on a peculiar kind of Red Snow observed on the Arctic 

 Ices. By Rev. William Scoresby, F. R. S. L. & E., 

 Member of the French Institute, M. W. S., &c. Communi- 

 cated by the Author. 



In Captain Parry ''s " Narrative of an attempt to reach the 

 Pole," there is mention made of a peculiar description of red 

 snow, which was occasionally met with during the progress of 

 the expedition. As the nature of the colouring substance 

 which gives the appearance Captain Parry describes to the snow 

 of the Arctic ice, has, I apprehend, been greatly mistaken, I 

 beg to offer the following remarks on the subject, in order to 

 prevent any unnecessary confusion in respect to the natural his- 

 tory of this curious production. 



Having myself seen the kind of red snow observed by Cap- 

 tain Ross on the " Crimson Cliffs,'" and, likewise, both an 

 orange-coloured and a salmon-coloured snow, similar, apparent- 

 ly, to that described by Captain Parry as occurring upon the 

 floating drift ice, I had no hesitation in saying, that the nature 

 of the colouring matter on the fixed ice which I observed, was 

 essentially different from that on the floating ice ; the former 

 consisting in the growth of a vegetable, the latter in the deposi- 

 tion of what I concluded to be an animal substance ; and that this 

 was an animal substance derived from the sea, and not a vege- 

 table production of the snow, I was led to conclude from differ- 

 ent considerations; — because there was a correspondence be- 

 tween the colour of the sea in which the ice was floating, and the 

 tinge of the ice ; — because the coloured part of the ice was only 

 about the edges, or on such low flat portions as might reason- 

 ably be expected to be washed by the waves, or fl(K)ded by 

 means of interior openings in the mass of ice ; — and, lastly, be- 

 cause of the smell of the coloured snow, when dissolved and 

 heated. 



That some of the sea-water of the Arctic sea has the property 

 of colouring white porous substances immersed in it (such as 

 porous ice or compact snow), I have ascertained, by repeated 

 observations on its effects, especially in the case of an orange 

 tinge. This effect, indeed, may be almost constantly seen where- 

 ever the sea has a turbid olive-green colour, and that quality of 



