Gory Dew

Gory Dew, a dark-red slimy film sometimes seen on damp walls and in shady places. Its appearance on the whitewashed walls of damp cellars, &c. is apt to occasion alarm from its resemblance to blood. It is one of the lowest forms of vegetable life, an alga of the group Palnellaceæ, and allied to the plant to which the phenomenon of Red Snow (q.v.) is due. Its botanical name is Porphyridium cruentum (Palnella cruenta). See PALMELLACEÆ, and ALGÆ.