246 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
builds her nest among the rushes, their mossy 
sides starred with the large, snow-white flowers 
of the Grass of Parnassus, and adorned with the 
closed hoods and diamond-studded leaves of the 
sun-dew. Every movement of the tiny fairy exem- 
plifies the curve of beauty ; every filament winds 
ceaselessly and rapidly through a thousand forms 
of matchless grace. When removed from the: 
water, however, the filaments lose all trace of or- 
ganization, and slip through the fingers like a 
piece of jelly or frog-spawn. The Batrachosper- 
mum occurs in the Ganges, in North America, 
Hermite Island near Cape Horn, and New Zea- 
land, and is probably distributed all over the 
world. Its colour is very varied, being purple, 
violet, green, yellow, and dusky brown. One 
curious circumstance in this plant is, that from 
the basal cells of the branches, secondary branches 
grow down the stem forming a kind of rind over 
it, and thus making that compound which was 
originally simple. The Batrachospermum is ex- 
ceedingly tenacious of life. It may be removed 
with the stone to which it adheres to the coldest 
or the warmest water, and it will continue to live. 
It may be immersed for a short time even in boil- 
ing water without destroying its vitality. Even 
when dried in the herbarium for a considerable 
‘ime, if placed in water it will vegetate as before. 
