FAKRE'S OSCILLATORIA. 267 



which are differently arranged in different specimens. In those portions 

 which have a flocculent surface and loose texture, the filatoents are seen 

 to be coiled up and interwoven in a tangled mass, which presents no ap- 

 pearance of any definite arrangement : at the edges of such portions the 

 filaments are seen distinct and separate from each other, and shooting free 

 into the surrounding fluid ; but the examination of the centre presents a 

 confused appearance where the fibres cross each other in all directions, 

 and intermingled with them are seen some irregular granules of the same 

 colour as the mass. When those portions however are examined which 

 have a membranous character, a very distinct and definite arrangement of 

 the fibres is perceived, which here cross each other nearly at right angles, 

 and are so interwoven as to form a layer of greater or less strength and 

 thickness ; and it is apparently entirely owing to this variety in the mode 

 of arrangement of the fibres, that the different appearances in the several 

 masses already described are produced : the tangled and confused aggre- 

 gation of fibres producing the villous masses, the loose ends of the 

 filaments constituting in fact the villosity, and the regular crossing of the 

 fibres giving rise to the smooth, shining membranous expansion. 



" To examine however the minute structure of these filaments, which 

 make up, in fact, the whole mass of these singular substances, with the 

 exception of the granules just noticed, and which are few in number, it is 

 necessary to use a magnifying power of 500 or 600 linear. 



" The filaments which have been just described, are so exceedingly 

 minute, and require such high powers for their examination, that it must 

 be a matter of some difficulty to determine their exact nature. The con- 

 fervoid type however is, I think, so very strikingly and obviously ex- 

 hibited, as to leave little room to doubt the class of products to which 

 this substance is to be referred. That it is no animal membrane or pro- 

 duct of inflammation, as it would at first sight appear to be, before it had 

 been submitted to the test of the microscope, will, I think, be readily ad- 

 mitted by all who have ever had the opportunity of examining these sub- 

 stances. The texture to which perhaps it approaches most nearly is the 

 muscular, arid that in the invertebrate classes only, in many of which the 

 filaments composing that texture are disconnected, and not bound up in 

 bundles and enveloped in sheaths, as in the Vertebrata, to which, there- 

 fore, the arrangement here described can bear no resemblance ; but the 

 resemblance to muscular texture at once vanishes when we apply the 

 higher power, and discover the intimate structure already described. 



" If, as I presume will be the case, the product be admitted to belong to 

 that group of Cryptogamic products which have been generally classed 

 together under the title of Con/ervce,ii then remains to determine whether 

 this specimen belongs to any known genus or species, or is as yet unde- 

 scribed. I am inclined to refer it to the genus Oscillatoria, but am not 

 acquainted with any species with which it is identical. Its resemblance 

 to Oscillatoria is seen in the extreme delicacy of its filaments, in its simple 

 transverse markings, and the separation of the green matter at intervals 

 within the sheath by which those markings are produced. In colour it 

 resembles Oscillatoria ocliracea, but that species is extremely brittle, and 

 can scarcely be handled without breaking up into fragments, while this is 

 very tough and elastic. I am inclined to consider it a new species, if not 

 a new genus. 



