of eleva ted Alpine Lahes, 277 



peat-mosses in different places, e. g. in the neiglibourhood of 

 Zurich, near the Katzensee ; also near the Hlittwylerseen in 

 the vicinity of the Untersee, the Bunzermoos in the Aargau, 

 the peat-mosses near Einsiedeln, &c. A rich locality already 

 indicated by me will be the extensive peat-mosses near the 

 Lago di Varese in Upper Italy. 



A peculiar character is possessed by the subterranean 

 water-basins, such as are met with especially in Carniolia, 

 Dalmatia, and North Africa. In connexion with these we 

 must also mention the fauna of the mineral springs. I have 

 already commenced special investigations upon the fauna of 

 the peat-mosses and mineral springs, and propose to report 

 upon them next year. 



For four years (since October 1882) I have chiefly occapied 

 myself with the microscopic animals of the smaller and larger 

 lakes belonging to the pelagic and deep-water fauna. The 

 lakes hitherto visited by me amount in all to about 130. 



In my present communication I propose to fill up a gap, 

 namely as to the microscopic fauna of greatly elevated lakes. 

 Upon this subject we find only isolated statements in lite- 

 rature. Probably the oldest publication in connexion with 

 it is to be found in tlie ' Denkschriften der schweizerischen 

 naturforschenden Gesellschaft,' in the year 1845 : — Vogt, 

 Cyclopsine alpestris^ collected on the Aar glacier at an eleva- 

 tion of 8500 feet, = 2552 metres, above the level of the sea. 

 Perty's work, ' Kleinste Lebensformen der Schweiz ' 

 (1852), contains the most extended observations upon micro- 

 scopic organisms. Of Rotatoria, Perty names twenty-four 

 species, which he met with principally upon the St. Gotthard, 

 the Grimsel, the Gemmi, the Simplon^ the Faulhorn, the 

 Stockliorn, and the Sidelhorn. He also cites numerous Infu- 

 soria as inhabitants of the more elevated water-basins. In 

 connexion with my present investigations the occurrence of 

 Dinohryon sertxdaria upon the St. Gotthard and the Grimsel 

 is particularly to be noted. In the celebrated ' Microgeo- 

 logie ' of Ehrenberg (1854) we find, on pi. xxxv. B, figures 

 of animals of the high Alps, upon which Ehrenberg had in 

 the previous year (1853) published a communication in 

 the ' Monatsberichten ' of the Berlin Academy. These 

 organisms were obtained from the Weissthor Pass on Monte 

 Rosa. There are six Tardigrada, three Rotatoria, and an 

 Anguillulid from an elevation of 11,138 feet, = 3344 metres, 

 above the sea-level. 



The first naturalist who particularly investigated tlie pelagic 

 fauna of the Swiss lakes, and among these the elevated 

 St. Moriz lake, was P. E. Miiller, from Denmark, who was 



