106 ROMANCE OF LOW LIFE AMONGST PLANTS. 



disorganize ; there are not others that can resist 

 temperatures so opposite." Admitting the truth of 

 this observation, which we are not certain has been 

 confirmed, it is probably due to the gelatinous in- 

 vestment which protected the cell contents from 

 injury, since it is known that a mucous or gelatinous 

 investiture of vegetable cells is a great protection 

 against the extremes of heat and cold. Undoubtedly 

 some species of Oscillaria will flourish in thermal 

 springs, and in currents of water so hot that the 

 hand cannot be held in them, as evidenced in the 

 waste from steam-engines in manufacturing districts, 

 which practised algologists will always examine in 

 search of rare species of Oscillaria. 



A species of Nostoc, also a gelatinous alga, has 

 been described by H. C. Wood, which was found in 

 California in a thermal spring. "In the basin are 

 produced the first forms, partly at a temperature of 

 124° to 135° Fahr, Gradually in the creek, and to 

 a distance of a hundred yards from the springs, are 

 developed, at a temperature of 1 10° to 120° Fahr., the 

 algae, some growing to a length of over two feet, and 

 looking like bunches of waving hair of the most 

 beautiful green." This alga was named provisionally 

 Nostoc calidariujn;'^ mixed with this was a species 

 of Chroococc7is, an unicellular alga, consisting of a few 

 cells, surrounded by a mass of transparent firm jelly. 

 In both cases the algae were of a distinctly gelatinous 

 character, the investment preserving them from the 

 injurious efifects of the hot water. 



In 1872 Dr. Blake reported that he had collected 



' Annals 0/ Natural History f September, 1868, p. 231. 



