U2 . FOOTNOTES FROM 



peculiar nature of its habitat. If we place a portion of 

 the snow coloured with this plant upon a piece of white 

 paper, and allow it to melt and evaporate, we find a 

 residuum of granules just sufficient to give a faint crim- 

 son tinge to the paper. Placed under the microscope 

 these granules resolve themselves into spherical purple 

 cells, from the I0 1 00 th to the -ginnr^ P ar t of an inch in 

 diameter. Each of these cells has an opening, surrounded 

 by serrated or indented lines, whose smallest diameter 

 measures only the -g-gV^th part of an inch. The plant, 

 when perfect, bears no inapt resemblance to a red-currant 



FIG. 20. PBOTOCOCCUS NIVALIS. 



berry; as it decays, the red colouring matter gradually 

 fades into a deep orange, which finally appears to change 

 into a brown hue. The thickness of the wall of the 

 cell does not exceed the 20 ^ 0o th part of an inch. Each 

 one of the cells may be regarded as a distinct individual 

 plant, since it is perfectly independent of others with 

 which it may be aggregated, and performs for and by 

 itself all the functions of growth and reproduction, hav- 

 ing a containing membrane which absorbs liquids and 

 gases from the surrounding matrix or elements, a con- 

 tained fluid of peculiar character formed out of these 

 materials, and a number of excessively minute granules 



