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Show ~18 ,BURSTING OF PEAT-MOSSES. [Ch. XIII. covered four hundred acres. The highest parts of the original moss subsided to the depth of about twenty-five feet, and the height of the moss, on the lowest parts of the country which it invaded, was at least fifteen feet. A recent inundation in Sligo (January, 1881) affords another example of this phenomenon. After a sudden thaw of snow the bog between Bloomfield and Geevah gave way, and a black deluge, carrying with it the contents of a hundred acres of bog, took the direction of a small stream, and rolled on with the violence of a torrent, sweeping along heath, timber, mud, and stones, and overwhelming many meadows and arable land. On passing through some boggy land the flood swept out a wide and deep ravine, and part of the road leading from Bloomfield to St. James's Well was completely carried away from below the foundation for the breadth of two hundred yards. The antlers of large and full-grown stags are amongst the most common and conspicuous remains of animals in peat. They are not horns which have been shed, for portions of the skull are found attached, proving that the whole animal perished. Bones of the ox, hog, horse, sheep, and other herbivorous animals, also occur ; and in Ireland and the Isle of Man, skeletons of a gigantic elk ; but no remains have been met with belonging to those extinct quadrupeds of which the living congeners inhabit warmer latitudes, such as the ele· phant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hyrena, and tiger, though these are so common in superficial deposits of silt, mud, sand, or stalactite, in various localities throughout Great Britain. Their absence seems to imply that they had ceased to live before the atmosphere of this part of the world acquired that cold and humid character which favours the growth of peat. From the facts before mentioned, that mosses occasionally burst, and descend in a fluid state to lower levels, it will readily be seen that lakes and arms of the sea may occasionally become the receptacles of drift-peat. Of this accordingly there are numerous examples, and hence the alternations of Ch.XIII.J. ANIMAL .REMAINS IN CAVES. • ~19 clay and sand with d'fli I erent dep 't f some coasts as on th OSI s 0 peat so frequent on ' ose of the Bait· d We are informed b D Ic an German Ocean. . Y eguer that rem · f . mstruments, and oars h b ams o shtps, nautical ' ave een found · mosses; and Gerard . 1 . H' m many of the Dutch ' m us Istory of th Vall Somme, mentions that in th I . . e ey of the J! d e owest tier of th lOUn a boat loaded with b . k . at moss was rlc s, provmg th t th were at one period nav I. gab le 1a ke s and a f ese mosses were also many mosses o th arms o the sea, as . n e coast of Pi d z Friesland, from which d d car y, ealand, and so a an salt canoes, stone hatchets d are procured *. The . . ' an stone arrow-he d ~ d . m ddferent parts of Grea t B 't . 1 a s, oun In peat ri am ead t · 'l -but these will mor 1 ' o Slrni ar conclusions e proper y b 'd ' of subaqueous phenom e consi ered when we treat en a. Imbedding of A m·m al R emm.n s 'l.n . the Stalactite and Mud o Caves and Fzssures. if WE explained in the former volume h been formed from time t t' b ow vast fissures have h o Ime y eru·thquak d t at the continual percolation of . es, an suggested rocks of limestone m. I t h acidulous waters through Ig 1 ave enlarged th fi caverns. We sha]] n 'd . ese ssures into ow cons1 er m what of animals may becom . d . manner the remains fi . e preserve m rents and .. nmg ourselves at present t ti cavities, con-are known or can b . ~ o Ie monuments of events which human era. e m erred to have happened within the As the same caves an d fissures rna . periods of indefinite d t. y remam open throughout f h ura IOn, and may becom th o t e remains of species inh b' t' e e receptacles h · a I mg a country t d' epoc s, It requires the utm t . a very rlferent the monuments f os care to avoid confounding toO'ether B o occurrences of d' · 0 nckland, in his . d J! • very Istmct dates. Dr. h m etatigable resear h . p enomena, has often g d d . c es mto this class of uar e With t k'll anachronisms point' grea s I against such ' mg out the comparatively recent preser- * Re!Ulie on :Peat Atoss1 p. 205. |
