178 ROMANCE OF LOW LIFE AMONGST PLANTS. 



meteoric substance, described completely and figured 

 in 1686 and 1688, was recently again considered by 

 M. von Grotthus, after a chemical analysis, to be a 

 meteoric mass ; but M. von Berzelius, who also 

 analyzed it, could not discover the nickel said to be 

 contained in it ; and Von Grotthus then revoked his 

 opinion. It is mentioned in Chladni's work on 

 meteors, and noticed as an aerophyte in Nees von 

 Esenbeck's valuable appendix to R. Brown's " Botan. 

 Schriften." " I [Ehrenberg] examined this substance, 

 some of which is contained in the Berlin museum 

 (also in Chladni's collection), microscopically. I 

 found the whole to consist evidently of a compactly 

 matted mass of Conferva crispata, traces of a Nostoc, 

 and of about twenty-nine well-preserved species of 

 Infusoria, of which three only are not mentioned in 

 my large work on Infusoria, although they have since 

 occurred, living, near Berlin ; moreover, of the case 

 of DapJmia pnlex? Of the twenty-nine species of 

 Infusoria only eight have siliceous shields, the others 

 are soft, or with membranous shields. Several ' of 

 the most beautiful, exceedingly rare, Bacillarice are 

 frequent in it. These Infusoria have now been pre- 

 served one hundred and fifty-two years. The mass 

 may have been raised by a storm from a Courland 

 marsh and merely carried away ; but may also have 

 come from a far distant district, as my brother, Carl 

 Ehrenberg, has sent from Mexico forms still existing 

 near Berlin. Seeds, leaves of trees, and other things 

 of the kind scattered through the mass, were on the 

 examination of larger portions, easily visible. The 

 numerous native Infusoria, and the shells of the 



