Occurrence of Conferva on Gold-fish. 333 



chanced to see the vegetation from the equator to high lati- 

 tudes in both hemispheres under some variety of circum- 

 stances, and the only families of plants which I could per- 

 ceive followed humidity through many different parallels were 

 Hepaticae and Lichens ; from the moist pine-forests of the 

 north to the warm sunny clime of the equator, wherever the 

 atmosphere is humid, these abound. In the former, the sur- 

 face of the large vegetation, the soil, and denuded rocks have 

 each their investment ; whilst in the latter it is the trunks of 

 the trees chiefly which support many briUiant and fascinating 

 species. 



[To be continued.] 



XXXVII, — On the Conferva ivhich vegetates on the skin of the 

 Gold-fish. By John Goodsir, Conservator of the Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh*. 



Lady Brisbane having observed that a gold-fish which had 

 lived for some time in a glass vase presented a very unusual 

 appearance, as if a quantity of cotton were attached to its 

 dorsal fin and tail, requested Mr. Bryson to explain the cir- 

 cumstance. That gentleman, having seen in the ' Microscopic 

 Journal' a notice of the occurrence of vegetables parasitic on 

 living animals f, at once suspected that the cotton-like sub- 

 stance was a plant. Lady Brisbane kindly allowed him to re- 

 move the fish to Edinburgh for more accurate examination. 

 Mr. Bryson sent it to me, with the information that the pe- 

 culiar substance had made its appearance on the animal six 

 weeks before. 



The fish had been conveyed to town in a jug of water, 

 but had died on the journey, so that I lost the opportunity of 

 observing the parasite during the life of the animal. The 

 water had begun to be tinged with blood and colouring matter 

 from incipient putrefaction. The results of the examination 

 were not, therefore, so satisfactory as I could have wished. 



The parasite, when examined under water, presented to the 

 naked eye a continuous mass consisting of minute filaments 

 about three-quarters of an inch in length, and extending all 

 along the dorsal and posterior edge of the tail-fins. The fila- 

 ments, although individually transparent, were so close to one 

 another and so numerous, that the mass appeared opakc. 

 When the lateral portions of the mass were separated along 

 the median line, so as to display the free edges of the fins, 



* Read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Jan. 13, 1842. 

 t See Ann. and Mag. Nat. Mist., vol. viii. p. Tl'd, and p. 10 of this vo.- 

 liinie. — Ed. 



