Bog is the name given to a piece of wet, soft, and spongy ground, where the soil is composed mainly of decaying and decayed vegetable matter. Such ground is valueless for agriculture until reclaimed, but often yields abundance of peat for fuel.
A bog seems usually to be formed as follows: A shallow pool induces the formation of aquatic plants, which gradually creep in from the borders to the deeper centre. Mud accumulates round their roots and stalks, and a semi-fluid mass is formed, well suited for the growth of moss, particularly Sphagnum, which now begins to luxuriate, continually absorbing water, and shooting out new plants above as the old decay beneath; these are consequently rotted, and compressed into a solid substance, gradually replacing the water by a mass of vegetable matter. A layer of clay, frequently found over gravel, assists the formation of bog by its power of retaining moisture. When the subsoil is very retentive, and the quantity of water becomes excessive, the superincumbent peat sometimes bursts forth and floats over adjacent lands.
Bogs are generally divided into two classes: red bogs, or peat-mosses, and black bogs, or mountain mosses. The former class are found in extensive plains frequently running through several counties, such as the Chatmoss in Lancashire, and the Bog of Alien in Ireland, the depth varying from 3.6 to 13 metres. Their texture is light and full of filaments, and is formed by the slow decay of mosses and plants of different kinds. The lower parts, being more entirely decayed, approach nearer to the nature of the humus than the upper portion, and, as being more carbonaceous, are more valuable for fuel. Black bog is formed by a more rapid decomposition of plants. It is heavier and more homogeneous in quality, but is usually found in limited and detached portions, and at high elevations where its reclamation is difficult.
In Ireland bogs frequently rest on a calcareous subsoil, which is of great value in reclaiming them. In the reclamation of bog land a permanent system of drainage must be established; the loose and spongy soil must be mixed with a sufficient quantity of mineral matter to give firmness to its texture and fertilize its superabundant humus; proper manures must be provided to facilitate the extraction of nutriment from the new soil, and a rotation of crops adopted suitable for bringing it into permanent condition. The materials best adapted for reclaiming peat are calcareousearths, limestonegravel, shell-marl, and shell-sand. Thoroughly reclaimed bogs are not liable to revert to their former condition. Trunks of trees are often found in bogs as are also bones of extinct animals. Research Bog
A cave, or cavern is an opening of some size in the solid crust of the earth beneath the surface. Caves are principally met with in limestone rocks, sometimes in sandstone and in volcanic rocks. Some of them have a very grand or picturesque appearance, such as Fingal's Cave in Staffordshire, others, such as the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, which incloses an extent of about 40 miles of subterranean windings, are celebrated for their great size and subterranean waters, others for their gorgeous stalactites and stalagmites; others are of interest to the geologist and archaeologist from the occurrence in them of osseous remains of animals no longer found in the same region, perhaps altogether extinct, or for the evidence their clay floors and rudely-sculptured walls, and the prehistoric implements and human bones found in them, offer of the presence of early man.
Caves in which the bones of extinct animals are found owe their origin, for the most part, to the action of rain-water on limestone rocks. The deposit contained in them usually consists of clay, sand, and gravel combined. In this are embedded the animal remains, and stones either angular or rounded. Some of the remains found in European caverns belong to animals now found only in the tropical or subtropical regions, and others are the remains of animals now living in more northerly areas; others, again, are the relics of extinct animals. Among the latter class of animals are the cave bear and lion, the mammoth and mastodon, species of rhinoceros, etc. Of others that have only migrated may be mentioned the reindeer, which is no longer found in Southern Europe; and the Hyoena crocuta, found in the Gibraltar caves, which now lives in South Africa. The ibex, the chamois, and a species of ground squirrel, are shown to have once lived in the Dordogne, but are now found only on the heights of the Alps and Pyrenees.
Thus it is evident that the geographical conditions of the country must have been very different from what they are now. Man's relation to these extinct animals, and his existence at the time these changes took place, are demonstrated by such discoveries as those of human bones and worked flints beneath layers of hyena droppings, as in Wokey's Hole, near Wells, England; mixed up indiscriminately, as in Kent's Hole, near Torquay, with bones of elephant, rhinoceros, hyena, etc; and by the fact that many bones of the extinct animals are split up, evidently for the sake of the marrow.
In the Dordogne and Savigne caves fragments of horn have been found bearing carved, or rather deeply scratched, outline figures of ibex, reindeer, and mammoth. Among the most remarkable bone-caves are those of Kirkdale, in Yorkshire; Kent's Hole, Wokey's Hole; of Franconia, in Bavaria; the banks of the Meuse, near Liege; and the south of France. Research Cave
Originally, a sarcophagus was a stone coffin manufactured from stone quarried at Assos in the Troad. It was popularly believed that the coffin would consume the body placed within it within forty days. Later the term came to be applied to any stone coffin. In ancient Egypt many stone coffins were made from limestone, basalt, marble or granite. Granite chiefly being used for the bodies of royalty and priests. Research Sarcophagus
The Amazon Ant (Formicidae rufescens) is a reddish coloured ant, about eight millimetres long found in a large part of the temperate Holarctic region preferring sunny, warm habitats on sandy soil or limestone. Amazon ants have aggressive sword-like mandibles which they use as weapons when raiding. The Amazon ant is remarkable in that it is unable to build a nest, feed itself or rear its offspring. Instead it raids other ant nests, particularly those of Formica fusca, and carries off pupae which soon hatch and are employed as slaves. Amazon ant raids usually occur in late afternoon in July and August. The Amazon ants emerge, and after a while slowly line up into a formation a few centimetres wide and several metres long containing thousands of ants. This formation then marches the tens of metres to another antnest, kill the defending ants and carry away thousands of pupae to be hatched as slave workers. After mating, the winged male dies, but the winged female sheds her wings and assaults an antnest of another species, penetrating the nest she kills the queen ant and gradually takes over the entirenest, enslaving the worker ants. Research Amazon Ant
Foraminifera is an order of animals of low type belonging to the class Rhizopoda, of the Phylum Protozoa, furnished with a shell or test, simple or complex, usually perforated by pores called foramina from which the animals get their name.
The shell may be composed of horny matter, or of carbonate of lime, secreted from the water in which they live. Owing to the resemblance of their convoluted chambered shells to those of the nautilus, they were at first reckoned among the most highly organized molluscs. In reality they are among the simplest of the protozoa. The body of the animal is composed of granular, gelatinous, highly elastic sarcode, which not only fills the shell, but passes through the perforations to the exterior, there giving off long thread - like processes called pseudopodia interlacing each other so as to form a net like a spider's web. Internally the sarcode-body exhibits no structure or definite organs of any kind.
Foraminifera appear very early in the geological formations. The great formation known as white chalk is largely composed of foraminiferous shells, while another remarkable formation known as Nummulitic Limestone receives its name from the presence of coin-shaped foraminifera, generally about 25 mm diameter. Research Foraminifera
The Greater horseshoe-bat (Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum) is a larger species of bat, the wing-span being about 33 cm and the wings broad with rounded ends. The ear is large, broad at the base, and tapers to a sharp point, the front edge being curved so that the point is directed backwards. The hind edge has a well developed lobe, the antitragus, at its base; there is no tragus. The upper incisor, and the first upper, and second lower premolars are minute. The fur is thick and woolly and extends a short distance on to both surfaces of the wing membrane. The colour is medium brown above, rather lighter below, often with a yellowish or pinkish cast. The range of the species extends from south England through central Europe and Asia to Japan. In Britain it is confined to the south of England and it is not known in Scotland or Ireland. It is most plentiful in the south-west and south Wales where it is a constant inhabitant of the limestone caves. Summer colonies sometimes occur in house roofs, cellars and perhaps hollow trees, the caves
in which hibernation takes place being deserted at that season. The species is gregarious and there is a segregation of the sexes in the colonies at least during the summer. The food consists of the larger as well as smaller insects, and especially beetles. Large prey is pouched against the wing- membrane during manipulation since there is no tail-pouch; and it is often taken to the roost to be eaten. Wingless and other insects are often picked up off the ground, the flight frequently being only a few inches above it. The single young is born in late June or July and probably does not breed until it is three years old. Hibernation lasts from October to the end of March, but within the hibernating caves the bats often shift their quarters at intervals during the winter, when it is possible that they feed upon insects hibernating in the caves. Research Greater Horseshoe-Bat
Ophrys is a genus of hardy terrestrial orchids with three sub-equal sepals and two entire petals. Two species; the beeorchid (Ophrys apifera) and the flyorchid (Ophrys muscifera) are native to Britain, occurring in limestone and chalky districts. Research Ophrys
Pholas is a genus of burrowing bivalve molluscs, also known as piddocks in parts of England where they are used as bait. The species are found within such rocks as shale, chalk, limestone and the like. Like all burrowing bivalves, they have gaping shells, which in this genus are pure white in colour, and have accessory plates of lime attached. The animal is furnished with long siphons, having fringed extremities, and during life these siphons are protruded from the burrows, so that water, containing food and oxygen, may pass in. Research Pholas
Augustus Montague Toplady was an English hymnwriter. He was born in 1740 at Farnham, Surrey and died in 1778. Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Dublin, he was ordained in 1762, and in 1768 he exchanged the living of Harpford with that of Broad Hembury, Devonshire. A convinced Calvinist, he embodied his views in 'The Historic Proof of the Doctrinal Calvinism of the Church of England', publsihed in1774, and engaged in bitter controversy on the subject with John Wesley. He also wrote a number of poems on sacred subjects. He is remembered, however, only for his hymns, these including the world-famous 'Rock of Ages' first published in 'The Gospel Magazine' in 1775, which was inspired while sheltering fromastorm in a cleft of limestone rock at Burrington Combe in the Mendips. Research Augustus Toplady
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Bog
