During many months a year the acquatic Planaria (F. notadena) living in a small pool in the La Balme cave are subjected to a drought with the complete drying out of their biotope; they support in situ this lack of water and, living in a latent way inside the clayey matrix. Thanks to the great hygroscopy of the clay, enough humidity stays around the Planarians to enable them to...
Modern biospeleology dates from May 15, 1907, with the publication of Racovitza’s “Essai sur les problèmes biospéologiques.” In this paper he posed - if he did not answer - every question raised by life in the subterranean world. He outlined a program of biospeological research, made an analysis of the conditions of existence in the subterranean domain and their influence upon...
Distinction is made between the experiment which “demonstrates” having an argumentative value - and the experiment which “questions” nature by isolating one factor and by determining the mode of its action. The concept of experiment in geology and in geodynamics and the distinctions between geodynamics and geophysics are discussed. Karstic geodynamics considers the action of...
For gravimetric investigations, a naturally occurring limestone cave may be compared with a buried empty sphere or cylinder, depending on its shape. The practical limit of detection for a subsurface void, utilizing available equipment (Worden gravity meter) and standard field procedure, is 0.1 milligal. Most corrections normally required by the gravimetric method may be neglected...
In this note, which results from a paper published in France, the author defines the “karst system” formed by several successive levels, at the heart of a limestone mass: joints of surface feeding, vertical chimneys, galleries which are alternatively dry and full of water according to the season, a network of continually drowned clefts. He then studies modifications in this...
Karst caves are prior to all due to corrosion. According to the well-known formula a CO2 supply is always needed. This type of dissolution explains only the corrosion in free circulation and, under reserve, the one in pressure conducts in the vadose zone. All corrosion in the phreatic domain is excluded, except for some rare cases in the upper levels. The corrosion by mixing of...
Three processes successively predominate in enlarging original fractures within limestone into cavern passages: (1) early dissolving by acid produced by oxidizing reactions within the groundwater as it flows through the limestone; (2) dissolving caused by the initial undersaturation with respect to calcite of the groundwater when it enters the limestone; and (3) increased...
The algal flora of a small, artificial, ice-cave located in Northern Hungary is described. In this cave 23 species of algae (see in Table 3) were found of which the Cyanophyta and Chlorophyta occurred with approximately equal number. (9 vers. 11) It was found that the primary limiting factor influencing the penetration of the algae into the cave is the low temperature and not the...
The author provides additional data to his publication of 1955. In a table he shows his results concerning 81 algal species which were returned to the cave of Aggtelek on June 22, 1954. When carrying out his control tests he found the decrease in the number of species to be 9 after 6 months and 18 after a further 8 months. In December 1957, after culturing on sun light however he...
Researches on the microflora of cave clay sediments were carried out. The study of these micro-organisms necessitates the use of an enlargement of the order of 5,000. For this purpose the organisms were separated from the clay sediments by the foam flotation technique, followed by cultivation. Morphologically they can be divided into 5 types but together they form a group...
The author kept 108 algal strains (Cyanophyta 53, Chlorophyta 35, Chrysophyta 20), of axenic cultures from the Kol-Algotheca in the Botanical Division of the Hungarian National Sciences Museum in the Baradla Cave, at Aggletek (Hungary) in darkness for 204-420 days under different environmental conditions. The experiments have proven that several algal strains can tolerate well...
The feeding behaviour of the blind cave fish Anoptichthys is characterised by two phases, an initial short chemioreceptic one and second one in which the fish explores the bottom systematically for a longer period. The whole process last approximately 30 seconds, both in adults as in youngsters.
In some materials collected from Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, a diatom was found which could not be identified with any known species. A taxonomic description of Gomphonema hotchkissii nov. spec. is given.
Samples collected in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, revealed the presence of a psychrophilic yeast, tentatively identified as a strain of Candida albicans. The yeast is saprophytic on dead animal tissues and exhibits a pale yellow colour when growing in the cave. In vitro, the yeast grows poorly at 37°C. and well at 130 and 200, but loses its pigmentation. It is non-pathogenic in...
Some physical data collected over a period of a year in seven locations of the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system in South Wales are reported, including humidity, air and water temperature, pH of the water, as well as the organic oxygen demand of the water. It is shown that seasonal variations in the physical constant in this particular cave system are not well marked. Algae and...
Neobisium (Roncobisium) allodentatum, a species inhabiting a cave in Saone-et-Loire, France, belongs to a new subgenus of Neobisium of which the essential characters are the possession of accessory teeth on the chelae (fig. 14) and a relative position of trichobothria eb and esb (fig. 8) recalling that of the species of Roncus. A determination key fixes the position of this new...
The authors assembled from about 70 caves a rich collection of osteological material and specimens of living or fossil mammals. A list of the caves is given with an enumeration of the identified species for each cave. Under each species the caves which supplied the material are listed. This is followed by an inventory of the osteological material and by observations on the living...
The discovery, in certain subterranean waters, of “pigmented,” brown or black Caecosphaeroma burgundum, led to the systematic study of the action of pigmented substances on these crustaceans. The results of these experiments demonstrate that the colorations thus obtained or observed in nature are due to the agglutination of coloured substances on the surface of the carapace and...
Study of the Mycetophilidae of the Biospeologica collection (Series IV to VIII of “Grottes visitées” was the objective of the present study. Thirty species have been identified, including Exechia peyerimhoffi n. sp. and Rhymosia pseudocretensis n. sp. The cave fauna contains several rare species - Exechia pollicata Edw., E. unguiculata Lundst., and Rhymosia cretensis Lundst. The...
We present the list of the Limnobiidae, Mycetophilidae, Anthomyidae and Helomyzidae species collected in the caves of Bulgaria, most part on occasion of the third international speleological expedition.
A new species of Mideopsis (Nudomideopsis) motasi n. sp. coming from a well near Gorni-Ciflik, close to Belogradchik in NW Bulgaria, is described. For the structure of the palp it is distinguished from the other subterranean European species Mideopsis (Mideopsis (Nudomideopsis) longipalpis Szalay and Mideopsis (Nudomideopsis) fonticola Tanasachi et Orghidan and resembles some...
The description of a trap permitting the capture of Niphargus in deep waters is given. No handling or surveillance is necessary. The amphipods are caught automatically.
Inventory of the Crustaceans collected in the basin of the Fonatine des Suisses at Dijon. The Copepoda are represented by 5 species: Macrocyclops albidits, Eucyclops serrulatus in two slightly different forms, Eucyclops serrulatus var. mihi, Acanthocyclops venustus, Acanthocyclops vernalis and Acanthocyclops robustus. The coexistence of these two last forms in this very tiny...
Pelodrilus bureschi Mich., one of two species of limicolous oligochaetes strictly confined to a subterranean environment and previously known from several caves in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, was recently found in three caves in the Banat Mountains, Romania. Examination of sexually mature worms showed that they are within the range of variability of P. bureschi and that there is no...