106 REY. F. A. WALKER, D.D., F.L.S., 
greener because of the dazzling fields of snow that shroud 
the glacier’s surface? Or how describe the glaciers them- 
selves, with their billows seemingly all on a sudden con- 
gealed, some more snowy than others because more free from 
the grimy moraine that is rolled down and ground at the 
same time by their ceaseless action, but all picturesque? 
How can I do justice to the reddened mountain peaks of 
Switzerland, reddened in two ways—by the rose of the Alps 
that clothes their steep sides, and, secondly, as often as those 
heights of snow blush with a brilliant rose colour beneath 
the glory of the springing or that of the declining day. 
We are familiar with the lines,— 
“ Where Afric’s sunny fountains 
Roll down their golden sands.” 
And if the term “golden” be understood as applying 
to the colour only, and not to the metalliferous deposit of those 
sands, no more suitable appellation could be derived, for 
nowhere have I ever seen softer, purer, and more golden 
sands than those forming the drifts which skirt the Libyan 
banks of the Nile, while partially covering its temples and 
its tombs. Last, but not least, in point of rarity, I have once 
in my life seen red snow as it is called, but really consisting 
of the particles of a very elementary species of lichen, the 
Protococcus nivalis, which grows in high latitudes on the surface 
of the snowfells, while ascending the great St. Bernard. I 
may add, in conclusion, that in the compilation of this paper,— 
which contains too varied facts and results to be the outcome 
of one person’s experience alone, in addition to the record 
of unscientific travel and observation,—I have been largely 
indebted to an article in Chambers’s Journal, Wallace’s Malay 
Archipelago, Kingsley’s Christmas in the West Indies, as well 
as to Mr. Poulton’s scientific papers in the Proceedings of the 
Royal Society. 
The Cuairman (H. Cadman Jones, Esq.).—I am sure all present 
will join in according a vote of thanks to Dr. Walker for his paper. 
I will now ask the Honorary Secretary to read the communications 
received in regard thereto. 
Captain Francis Perri, F.G.S.—The first communication is from 
Mr. H. E. Cox, F.E.S., who writes :— 
