"There's a number of cells of various sizes," said Mike Osweiler, with the agency's hazardous-material unit for southwest Washington. But what kind of creature the cells came from is still uncertain, he said.

Osweiler said he will ask the state Department of Health to take a look, since his unit is not equipped to identify biological cells.

The mystery blobs, half the size of rice grains, have appeared twice during rainfall at the home of Sunny Barclift near the town of Oakville.

Since word got out about the blobs, a number of theories have been launched-such as the flying jellyfish theory. It's not a theory Barclift favors, but many in Oakville seem to like it.

"Some people want to start an annual jellyfish festival now, where they shoot jellyfish into town with a cannon," she said, laughing. Barclift noted that the town's tavern is also concocting a new drink, "The Jellyfish," made of vodka, gelatin and juice.

Barclift has been trying to get to the bottom of the blob mystery, since their first appearance on Aug. 7 was followed by her kitten's death and bouts of nausea afflicting her mother, herself and a friend who handled the blobs.

While she acknowledged the illnesses might just have been coincidence, Barclift's interest intensified when a hospital lab technician looked at the goop under a microscope and said it contained human white blood cells.

But Osweiler said his laboratory staff found the cells had no nuclei, something human white cells do have. He said he had no idea what jellyfish cells look like.

The jellyfish theory began when townsfolk learned the Air Force was dropping live bombs into the Pacific Ocean about 10-20 miles off the coast of Washington state. The idea was that jellyfish remains might have been blown up into the clouds where they were later dispersed in rainfall.

"I don't think so," Barclift said disdainfully.