76 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



'' This growth, however, under a modified and less kixuriant 

 form, may take place upon an apparently unsullied and isola- 

 ted surface ; for in addition to its high mountain localities, as 

 described by Saussure, Bier, and others. Parry found it upon 

 the Spitzbergen ice fields; and I myself, in the May of 1851, 

 met with it on the floe ice of Baffin's Bay, fifty miles from 

 any land. 



" We found the red snow in the greatest abundance upon a 

 talus of the ' Crimson Cliffs ' which faced to the southwest, 

 staining the surface in patches six or eight yards in diameter. 

 Its color was a deep but not bright red, and its coloring mat- 

 ter was evidently soluble, for on scraping away the surface, 

 we found that it had dyed the snow beneath with a pure and 

 beautiful rose color, which penetrated, with a gradually soft- 

 ening tint, some eight inches beneath the surface." 



The earliest notice of this remarkable species of vegeta- 

 tion in modern times is accorded to Saussure, who in 1760 

 discovered it on the Brevent, and especially on St. Bernard, 

 where it existed in great abundance. Subsequently it has 

 been noticed by several travellers, and a variety of opinions 

 expressed by naturalists in regard to its nature and position 

 as of an animal or vegetable origin. Several other similar 

 substances have doubtless been mistaken for the veritable Pro- 

 tococcus, and we have gathered Byssoid algas [HtBinatococcus) 

 or allied genera, whose general aspect under the microscope 

 were ^^ery similar. We can readily conceive the thrill of 

 pleasure that visited the bosoms of Dr. K. and of his party, 

 at the sight of even these traces of vegetation amidst the 

 sterile shores of the northern regions, in those palaces of win- 

 ter's continuous and despotic sway and reign ! Doubtless 

 those fragments of lichens and of mosses which accompanied 

 this crimson flower/ess plant, told of many a blossoming and 

 sweet treasure far away and under more genial skies. May 

 he and they who are now with him return in safety and with 

 accummulated honors to scenes they cannot but love so well ! 

 A few drops of the Arctic polar ice, still stored with the little 

 Protoccociis, is treasured by the writer of this humble notice 



