172 E. B. CKOFT — ON EED SNOW IJf HERTS. 



altlioiio'h they appeared in the microscope to be hyaline, were in 

 my opinion the canse of the red colour. These bodies I take to be 

 the "globules" of Meyen. As far as I could see, then and since, 

 there was no Protococcus, or to speak more exactly, no body re- 

 sembling Protococcus which might not have been some stage in the 

 life of the JEuglena. 



I sent three specimens of the melted snow to Mr. Saville Kent, 

 the talented author of 'A Manual of the Infusoria,' one taken 

 from the bottom of my vase with a good deal of sediment, one 

 taken from the surface, and the third with the sediment from 

 the vase containing the pieces of solid ice, which you will remember 

 I spoke of as being full of bright red specks. Mr. Kent tells 

 me that the contents of the three phials are identical ; that the 

 green frond-like masses are decaying masses of EugJenm^ probably 

 suddenly frozen, that the EugJena is Euglena acus, that he can 

 detect Protococcus, and that the yeast-like bodies may be an ab- 

 normal form of that plant. Mr. Bolton, of Birmingham, and my 

 co-secretary Mr. Hopkinson, who have examined the melted snow, 

 both say that it contains Protococcici, so that I am alone in my 

 opinion that it is not present. I think with regard to the yeast- 

 like bodies we may come to the conclusion that they are not yeast; 

 therefore the question arises, What are these bodies? Mr. Kent's 

 suggestion that they are an abnormal form of Protococcus leads to an 

 important train of thought ; for may not Protococcus always assume 

 this form when it colours snow red. But I venture to suggest 

 that, considering the extraordinary resemblance between the plant 

 Protococcus and the animal Ei/gkna,^ they may be a form of 

 Euglena ; and although I only throw out this as a possibility, yet 

 my idea is strengthened by the fact that some years ago, while 

 studying the Euglence, I found that during one portion of their 

 life they assumed forms which I described in my note-book as 

 " closely resembling the torula of the yeast plant." 



* See Colm's Memoir, previously referred to, for an account of this resemblance. 



