250 



THE MUSEUM. 



THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine devoted to Ornithology, 



Oology, Mollusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences. 



Walter F. Webb, Editor and Pub'r 

 Albion, N. Y. 



Correspondence and items of interest on above top 

 Ics. as well as notes on the various Museums of the 

 World— views from same, discoveries relative to the 

 handling and keeping of Natural History material, 

 descriptive habits of various species, are solicited 

 from all. 



Make articles as brief as possible and as free from 

 technical terms as the subjects will allow. All letters 

 will be promptly answered. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 



Single Subscription $1.00 per annum 



Sample Copies _ 10c each 



ADVERTISING RATES. 



5 cents per Nonpareil line each insertion. Twelve 

 lines to the inch. No discounts. 



Cash must accompany all orders. 



Remittances should be made by Draft. Express or 

 Post Oftlce Order or Registered Letter. 



Unused U. S. Postage Stamps of any denomination 

 accepted for small amounts. The Jl.OO Columbian 

 stamps, unused, will be accepted at rate of Sl.T.i each. 



WALTER F. WEBB, 



ALBION. ORLEANS CO., N. Y. 



Entered at Albion post-office as second-class mail matter. 



The Canons of Southern France. 



The great canons of America are so 

 well known that the very name canon 

 has now an American flavour about it 

 and people are apt to forget that it is 

 a Spanish word applicable to many 

 valleys in Spain and in Southern 

 France, says Natural Science. In- 

 deed, some remarkable e.xamples oc- 

 cur in a part of France which it is 

 now by no means difficult to reach, 

 though it is only within the present 

 century that Frenchmen themselves 

 have become .aware of the marvels to 

 be found in a corner of their own 

 country; and it is only by the recent 

 extension of the Eigne du Midi, and 

 by the conversion of ancient tracks 

 into good roadways, that the "causses" 

 and canons of Lozere have been made 

 accessible to the ordinary traveler. 



Bounded on the north by the gran- 

 ite hills of central France, on the east 

 by the range of the Cevennes, and 

 rising high above the lowlands that 

 border the Gulf of Lyons, are the 

 "causses" of Lot and Lozere; high- 

 lying plains or plateaux, consisting of 

 thick Jurassic limestones disposed in 

 nearly horizontal beds, and resting on 

 clays and marls of Triassic age, from 

 beneath which, to the north and east, 

 emerge the gneiss and granite of the 

 Central Highlands. Southvvestwards, 

 the causses descend in a series of broad 

 steps toward the valley of the Garonne. 



All the water which falls on the 

 surface of the limestones is absorbed 

 by those rocks and sinks into the 

 ground, finding its way by subterrane- 

 an passages and caverns down to the 

 level of the springs, which feed deep 

 sunk rivers of the country. The causs- 

 es themselves are dry, rocky, and bar- 

 ren plains, without soil and without 

 trees. But Mr. Baring-Gould'- tells 

 us that before the Revolution they 

 were covered with forests, and that 

 the impoverishment or the entiie lime- 

 stone district is due to the ruthless 

 denudation which followed on that 

 event. The seigneurial forests were 

 cnt down, the soil was bared to the 

 winter storms, and, no longer held to- 

 gether by roots of trees and shrubs, 

 it was rapidly swept away and carried 

 down into the depths of the valleys or 

 into the swallow-holes, which gape 

 like gigantic wells in the bare surface 

 of the causses. "One hundred years 

 has sufficed to sweep every particle of 

 soil from the causses, which it took 

 countless ages to accumulate, and 

 land that once maintained a well-to- 



* 'The Deserts of Southern France." Meth- 

 uen tt Co., 1894. 



