130 Remarks on Gloeocapsa. [Sess. 



Society, he had in the spring of last year commenced a 

 study of the local Flora, with the object of making a record 

 of the plants occurring in the county of Edinburgh. During 

 the summer of 1903 two orders were taken in hand, the 

 Cruciferse and the Labiatse, and the lists collated by him ; 

 and although nothing remarkable was brought out, the re- 

 sults were encouraging. Next summer, in addition to con- 

 tinuing the study of these two orders, it is proposed to take 

 in hand two others, the Scrophulariaceae and the Geraniacese. 

 Mr Pinkerton will be glad to hear from members of the 

 Society who may be desirous of joining in the work. 



ILW.— REMARKS ON GLCEOGAPSA. 



By G. T. west. 



{Read Oct. 26, 190 4.) 



There is always a fascination in the study of microscopic life, 

 animal or vegetable, — perhaps because it is only by aid of the 

 microscope that we are able to recognise their forms, admire 

 the exquisite beauty of their symmetry or sculptured tracery, 

 or philosophically to study the economy of their life-history 

 and minute anatomy. Or perhaps it is that among the 

 lower organisms we think we can approximate more closely 

 to an answer to the question. Of what consists life ? From 

 whatever direction we approach, it is with a feeling akin 

 to reverential awe that we meander in that borderland of 

 life, whence on the one hand is given off vegetable and on 

 the other hand animal existence. 



Let us devote some attention to a plant form known as 

 Gloeocapsa crepidinum — one of the lowest forms of vegetable 

 life. It occurs upon mud and other places in brackish and 

 salt water. Similar species are also abundant in fresh 

 water. It is a member of a group of unicellular chloro- 

 phyllous organisms whose green colour is masked by a 

 blue-green pigment known as phycocyanin, which in aqueous 



