The redness assumed by the snow after lying on the ground for
soome time was known to Aristotle, and was probably observed by him on the
mountains of Macedonia.*
[footnote] *Aristot., 'Hist. Animal.', v. xix., p. 552, Bekk.
p 345
While, on the loftiest summits of the Alps, only Lecideae, Parmeliae, and
Umbilicariae cast their colored but scanty covering over the rocks, exposed
by the melted snow, beautiful phanerogamic plants, as the Culcitium
rufescens, Sida pinchinchensis, and Saxifraga Boussingaulti, are still found
to flourish in the tropical region of the chain of the Andes, at an
elevation of more than 15,000 feet. Thermal springs contain small insects
(Hydroporus thermalis), Gallionellae, Oscillatoria and Confervae, while
their waters bathe the root-fibers of phanerogamic plants. As air and water
are aniimated at different temperatures by the presence of vital organisms,
so likewise is the interior of the different portions of animal bodies.
Animalcules have been found in the blood of the frog and the salmon;
according to Nordmann, the fluids in the eyes of fishes are often filled
with a worm that lives by suction (Diplostomum), while in the gills of the
bleak the same observer has discovered a remarkable double aniimalcule
(Diplozoon paradoxum), having a cross-shaped form with two heads and two
caudal extremities.
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