184- Scientific Intelligence. 



Vincents, have safely reached this country. All procured after that pe- 

 riod are lost. 



36. Red Snow. — We have good reason to believe, that the famous red 

 snow will prove to be a vegetable production of far more common occur- 

 rence than has been supposed. It may excite some surprise if we state 

 that it is a native of Britain. We mentioned in our la6t number that 

 Agardh had informed us that it was found in Sweden, and we have 

 lately received specimens of an Alga, from Captain Carmichael, gather- 

 ed in Appin, Argyleshire, which we find to correspond exactly with the 

 Arctic red snow. We are not even sure that it has not been included by 

 some authors under the appellation of Leprariajolithos, a plant which 

 every one talks of, but which nobody knows j some taking one thing, and 

 some another for it. This is a subject well suited for one of Dr. Gre- 

 viile's illustrations. On mentioning our ideas to Dr. Richardson, he 

 writes thus : " With regard to red snow, I had some suspicion that it 

 had been before known as a Lepraria, from having observed a red sub- 

 stance upon the stones at Fort Enterprize, which, tinged the snow in 

 spring, and which Captain Franklin recognised as the red snow which he 

 had seen at Spitzbergen, at the same period that Captain Ross observed 

 it in Baffin's Bay. I noticed it only on the immediate banks of rivers, 

 and in the beds of mountain torrents, and suspected at the time that it 

 was a deposit of some animal substance, matter, or ova, because it seem- 

 ed to be always within flood mark, and to be carried off in the same man- 

 ner. Having no microscope with me of sufficient power, I did not at- 

 tempt to ascertain its nature." 



37. Govan's Herbarium. — The herbarium of the late celebrated Govan, 

 Professor of Botany at the University of M ontpellier, has recently been 

 purchased by Dr. Hooker, Professor of Botany at Glasgow, together with 

 his correspondence, which, amongst those of many other eminent natur- 

 alists of that period, contains forty original letters of Linnaeus. The 

 collection, it is estimated, includes about 7000 species of plants, and, as 

 may be supposed from the nature of the author's publications, is particu- 

 larly rich in the productions of the south of France and the Pyrenees. 

 There are likewise many plants from Northern Africa, Egypt, Arabia, 

 (derived from Forskal,) Spain, and Peru. Their arrival in Glasgow is 

 almost daily expected. 



38. Algarum Systema Manuale. — The celebrated Professor Agardh of 

 Lund, who had begun a Species Algarum, has been under the necessity 

 of discontinuing it ; but he has actually published what will prove of 

 great importance to the student of this beautiful order of plants, a 

 synopsis of the species, under the title of Algarum Synopsis Manuale. It 

 includes all the known Alga;, European and Exotic, and is comprised in 

 twenty-two sheets, printed in Latin in a 12mo. form. 



39. Dr. Hooker's System of Plants. — The publication of Dr. Hooker's 

 work, the System of Plants, which has been announced to appear dur- 





