Miscellaneous, 379 



and for the fabrication of musical instruments and touchwoods ; but 

 the major part is floated to the lower countries for timber and for 

 fuel. Large quantities of the timber are sent annually to England 

 and Hamburg for ship-building. 



Rapacious animals, as bears, wolves, and lynxes, were formerly very 

 abundant in the Bohmer-Wald, but have been exterminated. A 

 bear, the last of its race, is supposed to be still haunting the Jokus- 

 wald, near Salnau. 



The beds of peat or bituminous turf, locally denominated " Auen" 

 or " Filze," may be considered in connexion with these old forests. 

 The whole upper part of the Moldau Valley, as far up as the neigh- 

 bourhood of Ferchenhaid, for an extent of 7 Austrian miles [=32*958 

 English miles], and with an average breadth of \ Austrian mile [= 

 ri78 English mile], is one continuous peat-bed, traversed by the 

 windings of the Moldau, whose waters assume a brownish tint by 

 dissolving the extractive substances of the peat. 



In the mountainous parts the peat-deposits are more isolated, amid 

 surrounding forests. The dense vegetation of pumilous birches and 

 pines covering their surfaces attests their antiquity, and points to 

 their analogy with the primitive forests. Lakes occur in the centre 

 of the peat-beds near Innergefild and Ferchenhaid. A swimming 

 island, probably owing its origin to the central swelling and bursting 

 of the peat, is seen in the last-named locality. 



Cultivation is busy converting the peat-beds into forests, meadows, 

 and arable-fields. These deposits, however, are of great importance 

 in the economy of nature, and it may become a question of national 

 economy how far this cultivation may proceed without injurious con- 

 sequences. The climatal and meteorological influence of the peat- 

 beds is the same as that of the forests ; they even act with more 

 energetic and concentrated eifect. By acting as natural sponges in 

 periods when water is abundant, they attract the superfluous humi- 

 dity, and so prevent inundations. In seasons of drought they give 

 up their accumulated waters. They are the real water-reservoirs in 

 mountainous regions ; generally giving rise to the rivulets and rivers, 

 and keeping their water-level constant during every seasoii. m?^' ■ 



boow'io 'iv^'h 



OCCURRENCE OF DIODONTA FRAGILIS AT WEYMOUTH. 



' ' ' T6 the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Weymouth, October 23, 1855. 



Gentlemen, — I beg to record "Weymouth as a habitat for that 

 very local MoUusk, Biodonta fragilis, having some short time since 

 picked up a living specimen on the sands in front of the Espla- 

 nade. It measures 1-|- inch in width, and is in excellent condition. 

 I should have announced it before, but the fact was, it had been 

 placed in a drawer with other shells to be examined, and I was not 

 aware of the prize I possessed until it was pointed out by my friend 

 Mr. H. Adams. I Ibdj^oIo^iI Ip 



