248 EDAVARDS, ON LIVING FORMS IN THE 



The facts in the case of the Californian water are as fol- 

 lows : — Prof. Brewer was under the impression that I had 

 found animal as well as vegetable organisms in several speci- 

 mens collected by him during the prosecution of the ^tate 

 Geological Survey, and so wrote. I received but one speci- 

 men from hot or saline water, and that was gathered at the 

 Geysers, in water of a temperature of 120^° F. Unfortu- 

 nately the rest of the collections made at this and similar 

 localities did not come into my hands, but I have arranged 

 so that I shall before long have specimens of this descrip- 

 tion, and doubtless the examination of them Avill throw 

 much light upon the subject under consideration. Of the 

 material I did receive the amount was very small, and I 

 made, as I had been requested, a very careful examination, 

 with these results. I found it to consist mostly of fine sand, 

 mixed with a little of what seemed to be the refuse of decay- 

 ing vegetation, which we might easily understand would be 

 blown or otherwise carried into the Geyser. Besides these 

 substances, I found it to contain a very few frustules of 

 Diatomaceae ; true aquatic plants. They are an Orthosira, 

 most likely O. crenulata of Kiitzing, which is the same as 

 GaiUionella crenulata, Ehr., and has been placed under 

 Orthosira orichalcea, "W. S., and by Smith in his ' Synopsis.' 

 The number of frustules of this species is small, but enough 

 for its determination. Besides this, I found perhaps half a 

 dozen frustules of Fragillaria, most likely F. capucina, Desm., 

 which is synonymous with F. rhabdosoma, Ehr. I also saw 

 a fragment of a much larger species, which looked as if it 

 were Cocconema lanceolatum, Elir., but, as the piece was very 

 small, I cannot be certain. 1 here are also present some 

 hollow hairs or spines which might have belonged to aquatic 

 crustaceans, but are of a dark brown colour, and therefore I 

 am of opinion were derived from some insect, and of ex- 

 traneous origin. It will thus be seen that what I found in 

 the single specimen I examined hardly bears out Prof. 

 Brewer's remarks on the occurrence of living organisms in 

 these hot waters. The only oroanized matters I detected 

 were the siliceous loricse of Diatomaceae, which we have no 

 proof were living in the water of the Geyser, and might, on 

 account of their extreme minuteness, be carried from a dis- 

 tance, and the hollow spines or hairs which I am convinced 

 are of insect origin. In connection Avith this matter and 

 bearing upon it in a very close manner, it will be as well to 

 mention here, and thus place upon record, one or two facts 

 to which it mav be desirable to refer at some future time. 

 In the nujr.ber for Januarv, lf^^>!7, vol. iii, of Max Scliultze's 



