FORMATION OF PEAT. 29 
dislocations closely resemble the not less remarkable ones to which 
the Bunter sandstone has been subjected in the lower Schwarzwald. 
4. The geological phzenomena of the transition formations finally 
yield a proof that the great outburst of the more recent granite and 
quartzose porphyry in the Schwarzwald took place during the period 
after the deposition of the transition strata and before that of the 
lower New Red Sandstone (Todtliegende). The veins of granite and 
porphyry which traverse the former are not found in the latter nor 
in the Bunter sandstone. In the boulders of the greywacke frag- 
ments of these recent granites and porphyries are entirely wanting, 
whilst among the rolled pebbles of the new red conglomerates they 
are very abundant. 
[J. N.] 
On the Formation of Peat in the North of Europe. By M. Lio 
LESQUEREUX. 
[Bulletin de la Société des Sciences Naturelles de Neuchatel, 1847, vol. i. p. 471.] 
Tue Vosges, the Rhon and Harz mountains have a great similarity 
in their phanerogamous vegetation. The Vosges, in consequence 
of the diversity of geological character, and the numerous habitats 
(stations) it presents, is much the richest, especially compared to 
the Rhon mountains, which, almost entirely basaltic, only support 
plants peculiar to a calcareous soil of a mean elevation. In the 
Vosges and Harz the tops of the mountains are covered with most 
of the alpine plants that characterise the summits of the Jura. The 
anemones are even found on the Kreutzberg, the culminating point 
of the Rhon mountains. A great number of plants must be enume- 
rated before distinctive characters can be established for these local 
floras; and these characters bear but little relation to the nature of 
the soil. It is very different with cryptogamous plants. The gra- 
nites, basalts, limestones, support mosses and. lichens of a perfectly 
distinct physiognomy ; and according to the author, botanical geo- 
graphy can here attain to such severe and precise laws, that it is 
sufficient to know a few of the cryptogames attached to a rock to 
determine its real nature. 
In studying river basins, the author has arrived at the same 
distinction. Singularly enough, the mode of dissemmation of the 
phanerogames is more difficult to establish than that of the crypto- 
games, especially the mosses. From a single specimen found on the 
bank of a stream, the author has indicated the existence of the plant 
in more elevated regions, even where the species did not grow in the 
immediate vicinity of running water. These considerations explain 
the occurrence of peat-deposits in the vicinity of certain streams, and 
their absence near others im similar hygrometric circumstances. 
The formations of peat are divided into two very distinct classes : 
immersed formations, produced by the accumulation of aquatic plants, 
like the reeds and carices ; and the emerged formations, caused prin- 
cipally by the sphagnum. In the Vosges and Harz, as in granitic 
D2 
