Small Temporary Glaciers of the Yosgei. 231 



at the bottom is soldered to the grass and mosses on which 

 it rests. On the parts recently left by the ice, these vege- 

 tables appear pressed down and flattened in the direction of 

 the declivity, as if a heavy roller had passed over them. 



" What particularly distinguishes these old snows from 

 such as exist only in the winter, is, that they share in the 

 properties of the Swiss glaciers ; they possess a locomotive 

 movement which transforms them into true glaciers, although 

 of small size. This movement of the neve, which we had 

 formerly remarked in the month of April, we again witnessed 

 at Hoheneck in a very striking manner. When the small 

 glacier rests upon a pointed rock, and this rock forms a pro- 

 montory, the distance between the rock and the neve some- 

 times extends to upwards of a metre in a longitudinal direc- 

 tion ; while, in the lateral sense, the neve touches the rock, 

 or is distinct from it on a few centimetres. This disposition 

 appears wherever any obstacle fixed in the ground arrests 

 the descending progress of the neve. 



" The large glaciers have the power of transporting the 

 matters which lie on their surface, and forming moraines ; 

 our microscopic glaciers of the Vosges, having the power of 

 motion, likewise carry along with them the objects which 

 happen to be on their surface. The only difference is, that 

 these objects, instead of being blocks of 1000 cube metres, 

 are composed of small fragments of a few square millimetres 

 in size. The locomotive principle is the same, the only dif- 

 ference being in the size of the masses. 



" Accordingly, on the surface of our old snows, we ob- 

 served, on the 15th of June, coloured bands of a deep grey 

 on a white ground ; on examining these close at hand, they 

 were found to be composed of exceedingly minute debris, 

 earth and sand, accompanied by the vegetable detritus which 

 follow the movement of the mass of neve, and form a ribbon 

 of a muddy hue, turning round the rocks, and following their 

 sinuosities to the distance of many metres. 



" This ribbon indicates a moraine in infinitesimal propor- 

 tions; its breadth varied according to the position of the 

 masses of neve, the medium being from 6 to 8 centimetres. 

 Each mass of snow of any dimensions, that is to say, of at 



