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.’ 
‘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. 
‘Tt 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, are also the same on both sides of the Atlantic; increasing in numbers 
and specific differences on approaching the Arctic seas. Thesame law holds good in the 
North Pacific, hut 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.’ 
