CAUSE OF RED SNOW. 355 



hiding-place for these birds to form their nests, pre- 

 sented an appearance uniformly white.'* 



This testimony seems to be as clear and indisputable 

 as the explanation given by Peiresc of the ejecta of the 

 butterflies at Aix. But though it will account, per- 

 haps, for the red snow of the polar regions, it will not 

 explain that of the Alps, the Appennines, and the Py- 

 renees, which are not, so far as we know, visited by 

 the little auk. Thus the matter at present rests, till 

 it be elucidated by further observations. 



* Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. ii, p. 322. 



