Mr. H. O. Stephens on Palmella prodigiosa. 409 



XXXVIII.— On Blood Rain (Palmella prodigiosa, Mont.). By 

 H. O. Stephe.vs, Esq., Vice-President of the Bristol Micro- 

 scopical Societv"^. 



[With a Plate.] 



The subject of my communication this evening is " Blood Rain," 

 a phaenomenon which in dark and superstitious ages filled the 

 minds of the people with terror, who, in ignorance of the nature 

 of such appearances, regarded them as manifest tokens of divine 

 wrath, and harbingers of approaching calamities. 



In the same catalogue must be included storms of ink, bloody 

 water, star sloughs, &c. Scattered through various ancient re- 

 cords are to be found indications of the occun-ence of the pro- 

 duction before us, as having suddenly appeared on various kinds 

 of provisions ; and instances are recorded in which the sacred 

 wafer, to the consternation of the worshipers, seemed to be 

 changed into blood. 



Growing intelligence and juster views of natural operations 

 have removed these phsenomena from the supernatural, yet the 

 nature and structure of the organisms themselves have only very 

 recently been understood. 



I am indebted to the Rev. M. J. Berkeley for all the scanty 

 literature on the Blood Rain we possess. The first modem na- 

 turalist who has described it in scientific terms is Dr. Sette of 

 Venice, who has published an account of its appearance at Padua 

 in 1819. Dr. Sette named it Zoogalactina inietropha, and con- 

 sidered it to be of a fungoid nature. 



Ehrenberg saw the same production in the summer of 1848, 

 and, in accordance with his known views and practice of refer- 

 ring so many of the lower organisms to the animal kingdom, de- 

 scribed the Blood- Rain as Monas prodigiosa. 



In the same year it occurred to Dr. Montague at Rouen, 

 covering fowls and cauhflowers, twenty-four hours after cooking, 

 with a layer of blood- coloui-ed matter. 



This learned cnptogamist considers the Blood Rain to be an 

 Algoid, and has described it as Palmella prodigiosa. 



Mr. Berkeley, to whom I sent specimens, says, " Your plants 

 are entirely identical with those of Ehrenberg and Montague, of 

 both of which I have specimens." Mr. Berkeley thinks it is a 

 Fungal, closely alhed to the yeast plant, which is acknowledged 

 to be a submersed form of an Oidium or Penicillium. 



With deference to so great an authority, I demur to this 

 opinion in part, fully according with Mr. Berkeley's views con- 

 cerning the yeast plant, but believing the Blood' Rain to be a 



* Read at a Meeting of the Bristol Microscopical Sooietj-, Sept. 14, 1853. 



