by abundance of water vapour and carbon 

 dioxide in the atmosphere. The air was dis^ 

 tinctly oppressive on account of its density and 

 moisture, but even this passed unheeded in the 

 general excitement. The plant life had rapidly 

 increased in abundance as lower altitudes were 

 reached. These were chiefly algse and fungi, 

 though representatives of the mosses, liverworts, 

 and ferns were not wanting. On the plains a 

 dominant red colour pervaded the vegetation, 

 owing to prolific growth of red algas. The 

 existence of red^coloured plants was of course 

 to be expected, existing as they did in sunlight 

 from which a large proportion of the blue end 

 of the spectrum had been eliminated, in its 

 passage through so great a thickness of atmo^ 

 sphere. Finally the vegetation had already be^ 

 come very rank, and the odours distinctive of 

 some species were not at all pleasant. ^ How^ 

 ever much the plant life interested us, it did 

 not claim our attention so much as less pre^ 

 tentious examples of the animal kingdom. 

 Small crawling, spider^like beasts had been 

 noted close below the glacier zone ; since then 

 larger forms had made their appearance, some 

 of which looked distinctly formidable. The 

 biologist had an encounter with one of these 

 large^bodied, short^legged animals, and was 



35 



