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the turf of mountainous places produces colours from the Cladoniw that vie with 
the tints of the gaudiest flowers, as noticed by Wordsworth— 
Ah me! what lovely tints are there ! 
Of olive-green and scarlet bright, 
In spikes, in branches, and in stars, 
Green, red, and pearly white. 
But to enjoy this diversity of colouring from lichenie growth, the explorer 
must climb among the mountains, and although among barren cliffs and desolate 
scenery he will awake to glorious imaginings. 
Probably the A/g@ exercise a greater power as to the extent of colour they 
impart to landscape and marine scenery than even the Lichens. This is very ~ 
obvious on the coast, where the ebb tide reveals the flabby fingers of seaweeds 
upon the dripping rocks. It is true that the commoner kinds, as Fucus vesicu- 
losus, are very dingy in hue; but among the little pools of water left in the cavities 
of rocks, the eye is delighted with the fairy forms and diversified colours there 
presented to view that emulate the tints of the brightest garden flowers ; but here 
T can only indicate, as time will not allow me to describe. On a grand scale the 
Sargasso Sea, extending hundreds of miles, is a marine spectacle often described 
by voyagers in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. 
But I must glance a moment at the hues that arise from moisture on the 
eround everywhere. Notice the effect of rain after any drought. In some places 
a quantity of green jelly appears so suddenly produced that it was formerly sup- 
posed to have dropped from the sky, and was believed to be the residuum of a 
shooting star! This is really an Algal called Wostoc communis, whose growth on 
gravelly soil from sudden rain is of the most extraordinary character, and quicker 
than the night-erowing Agarics. Other Algals of a similar jelloid nature occur to 
give a green or dark brown colour to damp rocks. In exposed paths or roads long 
spreads of green appear from the sudden growth of the tubular Lyngbya, or black 
trails show themselves as if soot had fallen made by the combined cells of the 
Palmellacece or Oscillatoriacews Under walls, too, these spread numerous crimson 
and deep purple blotches, commonly called gory dew, and which has been thought 
to be ominous of bloody deeds done or shadowed forth, This is an Algal called 
Palmella cruenta, and allied to the red snow of Alpine and Polar regions, which is 
coloured by Protococcus nivalis. The Alge comprise a vast variety of forms, all 
variations of the simple vegetable cell, but the greatest number of the Conifervoid 
tribes vegetate in water, and thus give a colour to the surface of ponds and rivers, 
Here they increase with wonderful quickness, and in summer time the Zntero- 
morpha intestinalis becomes very conspicuous, and I have seen it covering canals 
for miles together. So the Water-flannel (Zygnema capillaris) shows itself like 
creat cobwebs along the sides of ditches in autumn, though it is soon blanched 
from exposure. 
The surface of stagnant water becomes in summer spread over with a green 
coat of Desmidew, an accumulation of vegetable cells, and another tribe colour the 
water of pools and canals as if they were converted into blood. I once noticed this 
a canal in Wiltshire, where the water was crimsoned for miles, strangely con- 
