FLORA. 163 



But it is the land with which we are more concerned, 

 and even within the limits of perpetual snow there is 

 found upon the surface of the frozen covering of the earth 

 and sea a minute vegetable organism, which was early 

 designated, in ignorance of its structure, ' Red Snow.' 



f This so-called " red snow " says the author of The 

 Arctic World, was found by Sir John Ross, in his first 

 Arctic expedition in 1808, on a range of cliffs rising about 

 800 feet above the sea-level, and extending eight miles in 

 length (lat. 75 N.) It was also discovered by Sir W. E. 

 Parry in his overland expedition in 1827. The snow was 

 tinged to the depth of several inches Moreover, if the 

 surface of the snow-plain, though previously of its usual 

 spotless purity, was crushed by the pressure of the sledges 

 and of the footsteps of the party, blood-like stains instantly 

 arose ; the impressions being sometimes of an orange hue 

 and sometimes more like a pale salmon tint. 



' It has been ascertained that this singular variation of 

 colour is due to an immense aggregation of minute plants 

 of the species called Protococcus nivalis ; the generic name 

 alluding to the extreme primitiveness of its organisation, 

 and the specific to the peculiar nature of its habitat. If 

 we place a small quantity of red snow on a piece of white 

 paper, and allow it to melt and evaporate, there will be 

 left a residuum of granules sufficient to communicate a 

 faint crimson tint to the paper. Examine these granules 

 under a microscope, and they will prove to be spherical 

 purple cells of almost inappreciable size, not more than 

 the three-thousandth to one-thousandth part of an inch in 

 diameter. Look more closely, and you will see that each 

 cell has an opening, surrounded by indented or serrated 



Above the 44th parallel the Atlantic species frequently correspond with those of the 

 Pacific. The salmon of America is identical with that of the British Isles, and the 

 coasts of Sweden and Norway ; the same is true of the Gadidae, or cod. The Cottas, or 

 bull-head tribe, arc also the same on both sides of the Atlantic ; increasing in numbers 

 and specific differences on approaching the Arctic seas. The same law holds good in the 

 North Pacific, but the generic forms differ from those in the Atlantic. From the pro- 

 pinquity of the coasts of America and Asia at Behring Strait, the fish on both sides are 

 nearly alike, down to Admiralty Inlet on the one side, and the Sea of Okhotsk on the 

 other;' 



