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XII. Some experiments on the fungi which constitute the colouring 
matter of the red snow discoveredin Baffin’s Bay. By Francis 
Bauer, Esq. F. L. S. In a Letter addressed to the Right 
Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, Bart . G.C.B. P.R.S. &c. &c. 
Read May 11th, 1820. 
Sir, 
The continuance of the severe cold weather, and the fre- 
quent falls of snow, during last winter, afforded me ample 
opportunity for investigating the nature and economy of the 
fungi, which constitute the colouring matter of the red snow, 
discovered in Baffin’s Bay, on the 17th of August, 1818, 
during the Northern Expedition, under the command of Cap- 
tain Ross ; and I have now the honor of laying before you, 
the result of my investigation ; and if you should consider it 
to merit the notice of the Royal Society, I should feel highly 
honoured by its being communicated to that learned Body, 
through your favor. 
Since the month of March, 1819, I preserved in a small 
glass, a portion of the original sediment of the red snow, 
brought from Baffin’s Bay, during which time the fungi, 
which constitute that sediment, had considerably increased in 
number ; but the newly formed fungi remained ever perfectly 
colourless, and formed a kind of whitish crust, at the top of 
the red sediment. 
With a view to ascertain whether those fungi really ve- 
getate, and propagate in the snow, after draining off the 
MDCCCXX. Z 
