Botany and In respect to vege tation the Alps have been divided into six zones. The limits of these depend not on absolute height, but on height modified by ex posure and local circumstances. The lowest is the olive zone. This tree flourishes better on sheltered slopes of the mountains than on the plains of northern Italy. The vine, which bears a greater winter cold, distinguishes the second zone. On slopes exposed to the sun it flourishes to a considerable height. The third is the mountainous zone or region. Cereals and de ciduous trees form the distinguishing features of its vegetation. The mean temperature about equals that of Great Britain, but the extremes are greater. The fourth region is the sub Alpine or coniferous. Here are vast forests of pines of various species, which have in many places been inconsiderately cut down, the result being that the valleys have been deprived of shelter and denuded of soil. Most of the Al pine villages are in the two last regions. On the northern slopes pine forests extend to 6,000, and on the southern slopes to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea. This is also the region of the lower or permanent pastures where the flocks are fed in winter. The fifth is the pas ture region, the term alp being used in the local sense of high pasture grounds. It extends from the uppermost limit of trees to the region of perpetual snow. The landscape is adorned with numerous shrubs; rhododendrons, junipers, bil berries and dwarf willows being among the dis tinctive forms of vegetation. The sixth is the region of perpetual snow. The line of snow appears from a distance to be continuous at a limit which varies, according to seasons and localities, from 8,000 to 9,500 feet, but on ap proaching this apparently continuous line it is found to be broken up and crossed by patches of brilliant vegetation, the limit of which ap pears to be imposed by want of soil rather than severity of climate. Few flowering plants ex tend above 10,000 feet, but they have been found as high as 12,000 feet. At this great elevation two species of quadrupeds may be seen, the bouquetin or wild goat, and the chamois, which delight in heights inaccessible to man. The bouquetin, which has become very rare, scales the most elevated peaks, while the chamois is generally found rather lower, but is never seen in the plains. In summer the high mountain pastures are covered with large flocks of cattle, sheep and goats, which in winter are removed to a lower and warmer level. The marmot and white or Alpine hare inhabit both the snowy and the woody regions. Lower down are found the mole, the wildcat, the fox, the lynx, the bear and the wolf ; but the last two are now extremely rare. The vulture, eagle and other birds of prey frequent the rugged Alpine rocks, and °the snowy ptarmighn° seeks food and shel ter among the diminutive plants that border upon the snow-line. Other kinds of game, in cluding the grouse, woodcock and partridge, may be found from the upper limit of the woods to the more level and habitable parts below. Several kinds of water-fowl frequent the higher lakes, where excellent trout and other fish are found; but those lakes situated at the greatest elevation are, from their low temperature, entirely destitute of fish.
Geology and The geological structure of the Alps forms the subject of, or is incidentally discussed in, many books of great distinction, some of which we include among the works mentioned in the bibliog raphy below. In general three zones can be distinguished, a central, in which crystalline rocks prevail, and two exterior zones, in which sedimentary rocks predominate. The rocks of the central zone consist of granitic gneiss of various forms, seldom pure granite, gneiss, hornblende, mica slate and other slates and schists. In the western Alps there are also considerable elevations in the central zone•that belong to the Jurassic (Oolite) and Cretaceous formations. From the disposition of the beds. which are broken, tilted and distorted on a gigantic scale, the Alps appear to have been formed by a succession of disruptions and ele vations extending over a very protracted period. The large beds of calcareous rock which overlie the older rocks both to the east and west appear to have been ruptured and rolled back by the upheaval of the central mass. Mining is not carried on to an extent proportionate to the magnitude of the mountain range. Iron and lead, however, are found in considerable abun dance, and the Bleiberg (lead mountain) mine. in Carinthia, furnishes the purest lead in Europe. Rock-salt is abundant toward the north of the chain, and the salt works of Bei in Canton de Vaud, of Hall in Tyrol, of Halleir and of Berchtesgaden in the vicinity of Salz burg, are of note. Mercury exists chiefly in the east part; the richness of the mine of Idria, northwest of Trieste, is well known. Besides those principal products, gold, silver, copper, zinc and coal are mined to some extent.
Ball, J.,