SCHMIDL MOUNT OETSCHER. 29 



species of plants, notwithstanding wide distances separating them ; 

 as proved by the floras of the Alps and of Lapland. MM. Heget- 

 schweiter and Heer have brought forward proofs of the vegetable 

 types being capable of undergoing more or less imitations within 

 certain limits, and these changes being caused by external agents, either 

 of climatological or of geological and chemical nature. The only 

 effect of climate is to stop or to favour the developmental growth of 

 individuals. The alterations of form must therefore be ascribed to 

 the nature of the soils, especially as these forms remain constant on 

 soils of identical constitution. 



M. Stur has come to the following results : — 1st, calcareous pre- 

 vailing over siliceous rocks in the regions explored by him, meadows 

 are of scarce occurrence within it ; nor is it in general favourable to 

 the development of agriculture, owing to a greater proportion of 

 rocky soil than of loose soils of mixed condition ; 2nd, cereals are 

 only cultivatable in mixed soil ; their extreme limit above the sea- 

 level is nearly the same on the north and the south portions of the 

 calcareous Alpine chain, and depends completely on the altitude 

 reached by the loose soil indispensable for their cultivation ; 3rd, 

 the upper limit of compact forests within the region under notice is 

 accessible only in the Wochein district ; notwithstanding frequent 

 irregularities, it may be stated in general terms that the upper limit 

 of the forest, like that of the cereals, is considerably lower here 

 than in the Central Alps. This may be connected with the smaller 

 amount of upheaval affecting the lower portion of this region. 



[Count M.] 



On the Caverns in Mount Oetscher. By Dr. Schmidl. 



[Proceed. Imp. Acad. Sciences, Vienna, April 1857.] 



Dr. Schmidl was assisted in his investigations of the Oetscher 

 Caverns (in the Alps between Lower Austria and Styria), in Sep- 

 tember 1855, by MM. Lucas, Pohl, and Schabus. The portion 

 of these caves called the Taubenloch (Pigeons-hole), 294 feet in 

 length, and 44 feet in breadth, offers no object of interest, except 

 traces of fallings which have taken place since 1747, as inferred 

 from a description of this cavern of that date. Another portion, 

 called the Seelucken (Lake-hole, on account of a pond in it), and 

 subsequently Geldloch (Money-hole, from Italian adventurers having 

 been supposed to have found treasure in it), is one of the largest 

 caverns known in the Austrian Empire. It measures 1080 feet in 

 length, 156 feet in its greatest breadth, and 108 feet in its greatest 

 height. It is still more remarkable on account of ice continually 

 being formed in it on an unusually extensive scale. A pond in the 

 interior, 150 feet from the mouth of the cavern, is 90 feet long and 

 6 to 12 feet broad, and has a depth of from 4 to 5 feet. This pond 

 IS frozen over during the hot season ; it begins to thaw in the 

 autumn, and at the end of September one may wade across its muddy 

 bottom. A slope, rising from the further bank of the pond, with 



