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altitude gradually diminishes westward; while in the eastern Pyrenees, with the exception of one break at the eastern 687 extremity of the Pyrenees Ariegeoises, the mean See also:

ELEVATION

elevation is maintained with remarkable uniformity, till at last a rather sudden decline occurs in the portion of the chain known as the Alberes. This threefold See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division is only valid so far as the elevation of the Pyrenean chain is concerned, and does not accurately represent its See also:

GEOLOGICAL

geological structure or See also:

general See also:

con-figuration. The careful examination of the chain by members of the See also:

ENGLISH

English and See also:

French Alpine Clubs has since 188o consider-ably modified the views held with respect to its general See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character; the See also:

SOUTHERN

southern versant, formerly regarded as inferior in See also:

AREA

area, has been proved to be the more important of the two. It has been recognized, as shown in the maps of MM. See also:

SCHRADER, EBERHARD (1836-1908)

Schrader, de St See also:

Sand and Wallon, that, taken as a whole, the range must be regarded, not as formed on the See also:

ANALOGY (Gr. avaXo-yLa, proportion)

analogy of a See also:

FERN (from O. Eng. fearn, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch varen, and Ger. Farn; the Indo-European root, seen in the Sanskrit parna, a feather, shows the primary meaning; cf. Gr. rmep6 , feather, rTepis, fern)

fern-frond or See also:

fish-See also:

bone, with t1 lateral ridges See also:

RUNNING

running down to the two opposite plains, but rather as a swelling of the See also:

earth's crust, the culminating portion of which is composed of a See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of See also:

PRIMITIVE

primitive chains, which do not coincide with the See also:

WATERSHED

watershed, but See also:

CROSS

cross it obliquely, as if the ground had experienced a sidewise thrust at the See also:

time when the earth's crust was ridged up into the See also:

long chain under the See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of contraction. Both the orderly arrangement of these See also:

DIAGONAL (Gr. &a, through, ywvia, a corner)

diagonal chains and the agreement which exists between the tectonic and geological phenomena are well shown in the geological and hypsometrical maps published in the Annuaire du See also:

CLUB (connected with " clump ")

Club Alpin See also:

FRANCAIS, ANTOINE, COUNT (1756-1836)

francais for 1891 and 1892 by MM.

Schrader and de Margerie. The primitive formations of the range, of which little beyond the French portions had previously been studied, are shown to be almost all continued diagonally on the Spanish See also:

side, and the central ridge thus presents the See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance of a series of wrinkles with an inclination (from See also:

north-west to south-See also:

east) greater than that of the chain as a whole. Other less pronounced wrinkles run from south-west to north-east and intersect the former series at certain points, so that it is by, alternate digressions from one to the other series that the irregular crest of ,the Pyrenees acquires its general direction. Far from having impressed its own direction on the See also:

ORIENTATION

orientation of the chain at large, this crest is merely the resultant of secondary agencies by which the primitive See also:

mass has been eroded and lessened in bulk, and though its importance from a hydrographic point of view is still considerable, its geological significance is practically nil. See also:

GEOLOGY (from Gr. yp7, the earth, and Abyor, science)

Geology.—The Pyrenees are divided by E. de Margerie and F. Schrader into a number of See also:

LONGITUDINAL

longitudinal zones. The central See also:

ZONE (Gr. 'WV77, a girdle, from 'wvvLvay to gird)

zone consists of See also:

PRIMARY

Primary rocks, together with See also:

GREAT

great masses of See also:

GRANITE (adapted from the Ital. granite, grained; Lat. granum, grain)

granite. It forms most of the higher summits, but west of the Pic d'Anie it disappears beneath an unconformable covering of Cretaceous deposits. On the French side the central zone is followed by (1) the zone of See also:

ARIEGE

Ariege, consisting of See also:

LOWER

Lower Cretaceous and See also:

JURASSIC

Jurassic beds, together with granitic masses; (2) the zone of the Petites Pyrenees, Upper Cretaceous and See also:

EOCENE (Gr. *In, dawn, icauvos, recent)

Eocene; and (3) the zone of the Corbieres, consisting of Eocene and Primary rocks. On the Spanish side, from north to south, are (1) the zone of Mont Perdu, Upper Cretaceous and Eocene; (2) the zone of See also:

ARAGON, or ARRAGON (in Span. Aragon)

Aragon, Eocene; and (3) the zone of the Sierras, Trias, Cretaceous and Eocene. In France the zones are clearly defined only in the eastern part of the chain, while towards the west they See also:

MERGE

merge into one another. In Spain, on the other See also:

hand, it is in the central part of the chain that the zones are most distinct.

Although the number of zones recognized is the same on the two flanks, they do not correspond. The zone of the Corbieres has no See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent in Spain, while in France there is no definite zone of Eocene like that of Aragon. The zone of the Petites Pyrenees, however, is clearly homologous with that of the Sierras. On the See also:

NORTHERN

northern side granitic masses occur in the zone of Ariege amongst the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous beds. On the southern side they are not found except in the axial zone, and the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous deposits are reduced to a narrow See also:

BAND

band. In spite of these See also:

DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences between the two flanks, the structure is to some extent symmetrical. On the north the greater number of the overfolds lean towards the north, while on the south they lean towards the south. Thus the chain shows the typical See also:

FAN (Lat. vannus; Fr. eventail)

fan-structure which has long been recognized in the western See also:

ALPS

Alps. Since the publication of the maps by de Margerie and Schrader it has been shown that the phenomena of " recouvrement " See also:

PLAY

play almost as large a part in the Pyrenees as iii the Alps themselves. Large masses of See also:

rock have been brought upon nearly See also:

HORIZONTAL

horizontal faults (thrust-planes) over the edges 'of either beds with which they originally had no connexion. In the region of Salies-du-Salat, for example, patches of Trias See also:

lie discordantly upon the edges of the Cretaceous and See also:

TERTIARY

Tertiary beds. Several other similar cases See also:

ALLUVIUM

Alluvium See also:

PLIOCENE (from the Gr. sr?eiov, mere, and xatvbs, recent)

Pliocene & See also:

MIOCENE

Miocene Oligocene & Eocene Cretaceous Jurassic See also:

SILURIAN

Silurian to See also:

CAMBRIAN

Cambrian rrmssie Crystalline Rocks FF..

1 See also:

PERMIAN

Permian & Carboniferous =Igneous Rochs K:!: `] Devonian \\c have been described; but denudation has been carried further than in the western Alps, and accordingly the masses overlying the thrust-planes have been more completely removed (q.v.). The earth movements which raised the Pyrenees appear to have begun in the Eocene See also:

period, but it was in Oligocene times that the principal folding took See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place. The Pyrenees are therefore contemporaneous with the Alps; but they appear to have escaped the Miocene disturbances which affected the latter. The arrangement of the Pyrenees in chains gently inclined near the centre but longitudinal everywhere else, is illustrated by the courses of the streams which flow down towards Spain. On the French side most of the longitudinal valleys have disappeared; and this is why the range has so long been described as sending out transverse spurs, the more important slope remaining unknown. It is, however, still possible to distinguish some traces of this formation towards the east, where atmospheric denudation has been less active. On the south the principal streams, after cutting their way through the highest zone at right angles to the general direction of the range, become involved See also:

HALF

half-way to the plains in great longitudinal folds, from which they make their See also:

ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape Only after traversing long distances without finding an outlet. The importance shown to attach to the Spanish versant has greatly modified the values formerly assigned to the area and mean elevation of the Pyrenees. Instead of the 13,440 sq. m. formerly put down for the See also:

TOTAL

total, M. Schrader found the area to be 21,044 sq. in. Of this total 6390 sq. m. fall to the northern slope and 14,654 sq. m., i.e. more than See also:

double, to the southern, the difference being mainly due to the zone of plateaux and sierras. The mean elevation, estimated by See also:

ELIE

Elie de See also:

Beaumont at 1500 metres (4900 ft.), has been sensibly diminished by the addition of that zone to the See also:

SYSTEM

system, and it must now be placed at only 1200 metres (3930 ft.) for the range as a whole; so important a part is played by the above-mentioned plateaux of small elevation in a chain whose highest See also:

SUMMIT

summit reaches 11,168 ft., while the passes show a greater altitude than those of the Alps.

Four conspicuous features of Pyrenean scenery are the See also:

ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of great lakes, such as fill the lateral valleys of the Alps; the rarity and great elevation of passes; the large number of the See also:

mountain torrents locally called gaves, which often See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form lofty waterfalls, surpassed in Europe only by those of Scandinavia; and the frequency with which the upper end of a valley assumes the form of a semicircle of precipitous cliffs, locally called a See also:

CIRQUE (Lat. circus, ring)

cirque. The highest See also:

WATERFALL

waterfall is that of Gavarnie (1515 ft.), at the See also:

head of the Gave de See also:

Pau; the Cirque de Gavarnie, in the same valley, is perhaps the most famous example of the cirque formation. Not only is there a total lack of those passes, so See also:

COMMON

common in the Alps, which See also:

lead across the great mountain chains at a far lower level than that of the neighbouring peaks, but between the two extremities of the range, where the principal highroads and the only See also:

RAILWAYS

railways run between France and Spain, there are only two passes practicable for carriages—the See also:

Col de la See also:

PERCHE

Perche, between the valley of the Tet and the valley of the Segre, and the Col de Somport or Pot de Canfranc, on the old See also:

ROMAN

Roman road from See also:

Saragossa to Oloron. Projects for further railway construction, including the See also:

BUILDING

building of tunnels on a vast See also:

scale, have been approved by the French and Spanish governments (see SPAIN: Communications). The metallic ores of the Pyrenees are not in general of much importance, though there are considerable See also:

IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron mines at Vic de Sos in Ariege and at the See also:

FOOT

foot of Canigou in Pyrenees-Orientales. See also:

COAL

Coal deposits capable of being profitably worked are situated chiefly on the Spanish slopes but the French side has numerous beds of See also:

LIGNITE (Lat. lignum, wood)

lignite. See also:

MINERAL

Mineral springs are abundant and very remarkable, and specially noteworthy are the hot springs, in which the Alps, on the contrary, are very deficient. The hot springs, among which those of Bagneres de Luchon and Eaux-Chaudes may be mentioned, are sulphurous and mostly situated high, near the contact of the granite with the stratified rocks. The lower springs, such as those of Bagneres de Bigorre (Hautes-Pyrenees), See also:

RENNES

Rennes (See also:

AUDE

Aude) and Campagne (Aude), are mostly selenitic and not very warm. The amount of the precipitation, including See also:

RAIN (O.E. regn; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Regen, Swed. and Dan. regn; it has been connected with Lat. rigare, to wet, Gr. 13pixeav)

rain and See also:

SNOW (in O. Eng. sndw; a common Indo-European word; cf. in Teutonic languages, Ger. Schnee, Du. sneeuw; in Slavonic snieg', Lith. snegas; Gr. vi4a, Lat. nix, nivis, whence the Romanic forms, Ital. neve, Fr. neige, &c.; Ir. and Gael. sneachd; the original

snow, is much greater in the western than in the eastern Pyrenees, which leads to a marked contrast between these sections of the chain in more than one respect. In the first place, the eastern Pyrenees are without glaciers, the quantity of snow falling there being insufficient to lead to their development. The glaciers are confined to the northern slopes of the central Pyrenees, and do not descend, like those of the Alps, far down in the valleys,but have their greatest length in the direction of the mountain-chain.

They form, in fact, a narrow zone near the crest of the highest mountains. Here, as in the other great mountain ranges of central Europe, there are evidences of a much wider See also:

EXTENSION (Lat. ex, out ; tendere, to stretch)

extension of the glaciers during the See also:

ICE (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Eis)

Ice See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age. The See also:

case of the See also:

glacier in the valley of Argeles in the See also:

DEPARTMENT (Fr. departement, from departir, to separate into parts)

department of Hautes-Pyrenees is the best-known instance. The snow-See also:

LINE

line varies in different parts of the Pyrenees from 8800 to 9200 ft. above sea-level. A still more marked effect of the preponderance of rainfall in the western half of the chain is seen in the aspect of the vegetation. The lower mountains in the extreme west are very well wooded, but the extent of See also:

FOREST

forest declines eastwards, and the eastern Pyrenees are peculiarly See also:

WILD, JONATHAN (c. 1682-1725)

wild and naked, all the more since it is in this part of the chain that granitic masses prevail. There is a See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change, moreover, in the See also:

composition of the See also:

FLORA

flora in passing from west to east. In the west the flora, at least in the north, resembles that of central Europe, while in the east it is distinctly Mediterranean in character, though the difference of See also:

LATITUDE (Lat. latitudo, latus, broad)

latitude is only about I°, on both sides of the chain from the centre whence the Cobieres stretch north-eastwards towards the central See also:

plateau of France. The Pyrenees are relatively as See also:

rich in endemic See also:

SPECIES

species as the Alps, and among the most remarkable instances of that endemism is the occurrence of the See also:

SOLE (Solea)

sole See also:

EUROPEAN

European species of Dioscorea (See also:

yam), the D. pyre naica, on a single high station in the central Pyrenees, and that of the See also:

MONOTYPIC (Gr. µbvos, alone, single, and 'rb ros, a type)

monotypic genus Xatardia, only on a high alpine pass between the Val d'Eynes and See also:

CATALONIA (Cataluna)

Catalonia. The genus most abundantly represented in the range is that of the saxifrages, several species of which are here endemic. In their See also:

FAUNA

fauna also the Pyrenees See also:

PRESENT

present some striking in-stances of endemism. There is a distinct species of See also:

IBEX

ibex (Capra pyrenaica) confined to the range, while the Pyrenean desman or See also:

WATER

water-See also:

mole (Mygale pyrenaica) is found only in some of the streams of the northern slopes of these mountains, the only other member of this genus being confined to the See also:

rivers of south-ern See also:

Russia.

Among the other peculiarities of the Pyrenean fauna are See also:

BLIND, MATHILDE (1841—1896)

blind See also:

INSECTS

insects in the caverns of Ariege, the principal genera of which are Anophthalmus and Adelops. The See also:

ETHNOLOGY

ethnology, folk-See also:

lore, institutions and See also:

HISTORY

history of the Pyrenean region form an interesting study: see See also:

ANDORRA, or ANDORRE

ANDORRA; ARAGON; See also:

BASQUES

BASQUES; BEARN; CATALONIA; See also:

NAVARRE (Span. Navarra)

NAVARRE. See H. Beraldi, Cent ans aux Pyrenees (1901), See also:

Les Sierras, cent ans acres Ramond (1902), Apres cent ans. Les Pies d'Europe (1903), and Les Pyrenees orientales et l'Ariege (1904) ; P. Joanne, Pyrenees (1905) ; H. Belloc, The Pyrenees (1909) ; for geology, in addition to the papers cited above, A. Bresson, Etudes sur les formations See also:

des Hautes et Basses Pyrenees (See also:

Paris, Ministere des Travaux Publics, 1903) ; L. Carez, La Geologie des Pyrenees francaises (Paris, See also:

Min. des Tr. P., 1903, &c.); J. Roussel, Tableau stratigraphiquedesPyrenees (Paris, Min. des Tr. P., 1904); and for See also:

CLIMATE

climate and flora T.

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