VITALITY OF THE "RED SNOW" PLANT.
WHILE most plants at least cease to grow when the temperature falls to freezing point, some of the microscopic forms will only grow when the temperature is very high or very low. The phenomenon known as red snow is produced by a small plant of this character, long known as Protococcus nivalis, more recently called Sphaerella nivalis, as an illustration of this. It only grows prosperously in snow-banks in various parts of the Swiss Alps, where it has been noted for nearly a hundred years as giving a red character to the snow. In the arctic region it was noted, in 1818, by Capt. John Ross, and also has been found on some of the snow-covered hills of Greenland. A new species has recently been described under the name Sphaerella pluvialis, which comes down apparently with the rain, so as to give the idea in Northern regions that it is raining blood. These have been called, in Northern Germany, blood showers. The little plant propagates with great rapidity. The little spores have scarcely been caught by the rain-drops in the atmosphere before they commence to reproduce themselves in large numbers, and in that way give the red color to the rain as it reaches the ground. It is believed that these spores will retain their germinating power for immense periods under a continually warm temperature, only starting to grow when the atmosphere is near the freezing point.—Independent, Dec. 19, 1895.