t^. V 



•"^T-IV 



fi 



dr,' 



Or,, 



M 



(*»^vli 



"'ia| 



:ii. 



f 



the 



I.- 1 





-mt.^. 



e 



Europe; 

 ^^oots ill 



»*('••! 





W traced 

 '•^t there 



\ 



•;> one 



11 consists 

 ^-t:iiu of 



I together 

 unties of 



1 Ireland 

 PIT little 

 lUoch. it 



. 'Me 



7 ciiue- 

 , where 



<jely, ^ 

 in low 



J forty 



V owes 



I as 



we 



ideS'^ 



p. 3^^ 



ti 



Ch. xliy.] blown sand, and volcanic ejections. 



497 



- 



The same plienomenon is repeated in the southern hemi- 



sphere. No ^ , _^ ^,_ ^^^ ^^^^ ^wtimpj 



parts of the country drained by the La Plata on the east 

 side of South America, or in the island of Chiloe on the 

 west ; yet when we reach the 45th degree of latitude and 

 examine the Chonos Archipelago or the Falkland Islands 

 and Tierra del Fuego, we meet with an abundant growth of 

 this substance. Almost all plants contribute here by their 

 decay to the production of peat, even the grasses ; but it is 

 a singular fact, says Mr. Darwin, as contrasted with what 



position of the 



many plants, b" 

 pumila* 



kind of moss 



formed 



chiefly by that called by Brown Astelia 



■om the late Dr. Forchhamme 

 th veg-etable matter in solu 



mean temper 



ture of the year is above 43° or 44° Fahrenheit. 



Frost 

 matter, but in w^arm 



climates the attraction of the carbon for the oxygen of the 



mechanically mixed 



increases with the 



increasing temperature, and the dissolved vegetable matter 

 or humic acid (which is organic matter in a progressive state 

 of decomposition) being converted into carbonic acid 



rises 



rf surf I 



atmosph 



There is a vast extent 



of surface in Europe covered with pes 

 said to spread over a tenth of the whole island. One of the 

 mosses on the Shannon is described as being fifty miles long, 

 by two or three broad ; and the great marsh of Montoire' 

 near the mouth of the Loire, is mentioned by Blavier, as 

 bemg^ more than fifty leagues in circumference. According to 



mosses 



many 



them, disappeared within the historical era. Such changes 

 are brought about by the fall of trees and the stagnation of 

 water, caused by their trunks and branches obstructing the 



VOL. II. 



* Darwin's Journal, p. 319 ; 2nd ed. p. 287. 



K K 



( 



'/ 



