Miscellaneous. 79 



A Notice of the Baradla Cavern, near Agtelek, in Hungary. 

 By Dr. Schmidl*. 



This is the most extensive of the caverns at present known in the 

 Austrian empire. Its principal gallery has a length of more than 

 f of an Austrian mile (about 4 English miles). The limestone- 

 mountains containing this natural excavation hear some resemblance 

 to the Karst Mountain of Illyria, and may be considered to absorb 

 the atmospheric waters, as their interior contains three rivulets, two 

 in the principal and one in a lateral cavern. These subterranean 

 currents come to day near Josafo, N.E. of Agtelek, with sufficient 

 water to work several mills. Most of the larger caverns examined 

 by Dr. Schmidl have before their mouth a heap of rolled fragments, 

 rising from the bottom of the valley. The heap, or talus, is some- 

 what depressed at its top ; it then slopes rather steeply towards the 

 mouth, and continues within the interior of the cave, before the 

 commencement of the real cave-soil, lying somewhat beneath the 

 level of the external valley-bottom. The mouth itself is most fre- 

 quently situated on a high, steep, sometimes nearly vertical cliflF. It 

 is generally a fissure, increasing in breadth downwards, with its lower 

 extremity concealed by the heap of detritus. This fissure has been 

 evidently obstructed by falling rocks, so as to prevent the high-water 

 penetrating to the interior : the rocks, corroded by the action of the 

 waters, broke further down, and produced the heaps of detritus ; 

 until, at last, the external waters found another way into the interior 

 of the mountains. 



Like the caverns of Carniolia, the Baradla Cavern is composed of 

 a series of isolated chambers and narrow channels ; but a greater 

 number of separations being broken through, its longitudinal extent 

 has become more considerable. The terminations of the cavern are 

 no more than 180 to 200 fathoms distant from the outside of the 

 mountain, opposite to its mouth. 



The inner portions of the Agtelek Cavern are warmer than the 

 exterior, and the dry portions have a higher temperature than those 

 traversed by running water. The thermometer indicated 8°-3 R. in 

 the first large hall, and 1 0°*4 R. in the last one. 



The fauna of the Baradla Cavern is rather rich, especially in insects; 

 among them, are genuine cavicolous forms ; namely, two species of 

 Acarina {Hcemalastor gracilipes and Eschatocephalus gracilipes, 

 Frauenf ). Tritons are not unfrequent. The Frogs found in the 

 cavern are probably but accidental tenants. A genus of Rirudinidae 

 {Typhlohdella, Kov.) is peculiar to this cavern. A lateral cave is 

 called the "Bat-cave," on account of the enormous number of these 

 animals found inhabiting it ; so much so, indeed, that experiments 

 have been made to use their excrement as a substitute for guano. 

 No Proteus has hitherto been found in the Hungarian cavern in 

 question. Dr. Schmidl was the first who discovered, in the soil of 

 one of the lateral branches of the Baradla Cave, the fossil remains of 

 Ursus speheus. 



* From the Proceedings of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Vienna, 

 October 2, 1856. Communicated by Count Marschall. 



