1901.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF THILADELPHIA. 'iOl 



ment, which seems of interest in this connection. Of GEdogonium 

 capillare this author says : " It is a form frequent in stagnant waters, 

 and forms when the water disajipears a felt-like mass, the so-called 

 'Meteor Papier' (Meteor Paper). Such masses are also found 

 on meadQws which have been submerged for some time, the so- 

 called Wiesentuch, Wiesenleder (meadow cloth, meadow leather). 

 The same formations have been repeatedly found on meadows 

 along the River Oder after floods and are called Oder Haut (Oder 

 skin). A piece which was examined in 1736 by Ehrenberg, and 

 one observed by Cohen in 1849, consisted principally of Clado- 

 phora /raeto and diatoms. " In commenting on this phenomenon 

 Leuuis makes the following statement : " This comparatively rare 

 formation is the result of a number of conditions — appearance of 

 vigorous algoid growth, rapid evaporation of water in consequence 

 of sunshine and high temperature, and a soil which does not long 

 retain its moisture, so that the Confervte are not decomposed." 



The condition described by Leunis resembles the one I have just 

 observed in the fact that in both cases the alga is bleached and not 

 decomposed. It differs from it, however, in the fact that in drying 

 all activity is forced to cease, while the plant under consideration 

 continues its existence in its normal medium ; and it is this, together 

 with the fact that decomposition does not set in, which makes this 

 condition of CEdogonium a very remarkable one. 



