Natural History. 207 



" Sowallick Point is formed by the projection of a small hill, 

 from the high mountainous coast which bounds Prince. Regent's 

 Bay. The summit of this hill is covered with high masses of 

 granite that have been precipitated at various periods from the 

 cliffs above, whilst the side, which forms a gentle declivity towards 

 the bay, was covered with crimson snow. It was evident, at first 

 view, that this colour was imparted to the snow by a substance lying 

 on its surface. This substance lay scattered here and there in small 

 masses, bearing some resemblance to powdered cochineal, surrounded 

 by a lighter shade, which was produced by the colouring matter, 

 being partly dissolved and diffused by the deliquescent snow. 

 During this examination, our hats and upper garments were ob- 

 served to be daubed with a substance of a similar red colour; and a 

 moment's reflection convinced us that this was the excrement of 

 the little auk (alca minor) ; myriads of which were continually 

 flying over our heads, having their nests among the loose masses 

 of granite, which I have before described as covering the ridge of 

 this little hill. A ready explanation of the origin of the red snow 

 was now presented to us, and not a doubt remained in the mind of 

 any that this was the correct one. The snow on the mountains of 

 higher elevations than the nests of these birds was perfectly white, 

 and a ravine, at a short distance, which was filled with snow from 

 top to bottom, but which atforded no hiding place for these birds to 

 form their nests, presented a uniformly white appearance. On the 

 2nd of August, I landed on Cape York, and procured a bottle full 

 of red snow, and collected some of the dung of the little auks from 

 the stones among which they had their nests ; and my intention 

 was to submit both to the examination of some eminent natu- 

 ralists." A hasty summons to Antigua prevented this from being 

 done. — Mag. Nat. History, ii. 321. 



15. On the Nemazoaires of M. Gaillon. — A memoir, by M. 

 Turpin, is contained in the fifteenth volume of the Mem. du Mvs. 

 d'Hist. Nat., on certain marine productions, which have been con- 

 sidered, some as isolated animalculae, the others as filamentous 

 aggregations of animalculae, similar to the former. In this memoir, 

 M. Turpin contends against the system of M. Gaillon, and points 

 out how he has been conducted to it. The conclusions of M. 

 Turpin are as follows, and are drawn from observations made 

 upon the Navicula scalprum, Gaillon, and the Girodetla comoides, 

 Gaillon. 



i. Careful observations forbid the possibility that organized 

 beings and free animals may re-unite and be engrafted one upon 

 another, to constitute, in some degree, animals more complicated 

 than themselves, ii. Such an idea, unless instantly dismissed from 

 science, would tend, by its contagious nature, and the want of 

 analogy which marks our times, to absorb all knowledge, and soon 



