222 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
of the snow-plain, although previously of its or- 
dinary spotless hue, was crushed by the pressure 
of the sledges and of the footsteps of the party, 
blood-like stains appeared most visibly; the im- 
pressions being sometimes tinged with an orange 
colour, and sometimes appearing of a pale salmon 
hue. 
Red snow, however, seems by no means peculiar 
to the Arctic regions, or the highly elevated moun- 
tains of the globe. It has been discovered spread- 
ing over decayed leaves and mosses on the bor- 
ders of small lakes, and in water tanks in hot- 
houses; and in greater perfection on limestone 
rocks within reach of the spray of the ocean in 
Lismore, an island off the coast of Argyllshire. 
Professor Harvey, the distinguished Irish botanist, 
found small patches on micaceous schist near Mill- 
town Malbay, on calcareous rocks at Limerick, 
and in the neighbourhood of Dublin on granite, 
with only an occasional supply of moisture. On 
Ben Nevis and Ben Lawers I have more than once 
detected specimens, upon the surface of the large 
masses of unmelted snow, with which the summits 
of these mountains are sometimes covered even in 
the depth of summer. 
The fact that the red snow is capable of grow- 
ing in such spots as those in which it has chiefly 
been found in Britain, namely, on rocks, leaves, 
