Windhole Cold Caves near Roquefort, Aveyron.—They lie 13 kilometers from Millau, at an altitude of about 600 meters, and are utilized in the manufacture of Roquefort cheese.
Aven de Carlet, near la Roche Giron, Basses Alpes. (Martel, Les Abimes, page 53.)—Lumps of ice are reported to have been taken from it.
La Poujade, Cévennes. (Martel, Les Abimes, pages 212-215.)—An intermittent spring in limestone rock. At the bottom of the first gallery, on the 18th of September, 1892, the temperature of the air was 12.3°, and that of a pool of water supplied by drip 11.5°. Mons. Martel thought that the drip brought to the pool the mean annual temperature of the ground through which it had come. A little further within and 5 meters lower, the temperature of the air was 7.3° and that of another pool of water 6.8°. This pool was not supplied by drip and must have been left over by the last flow of the spring. Mons. Martel thought that the lower temperatures at this spot were due to the cold air of winter dropping to the bottom of the cave and on account of its density not being able to get out.
Snow Preserved in Chasms in the Italian Mountains. (The Penny Magazine, London, August, 1834, page 335.)—Mr. Bunford Samuel called my attention to an article in which the Southern Italians are said to dig wells or cellars on the mountain sides, and to throw snow into them in winter. The snow is well pressed together and straw, dried leaves, etc., is thrown on top. By having a northern exposure for these pits, and seeing that they are in thick forest, or in rifts where the sun does not penetrate, these depots may be safely placed as low down the mountain as the snow falls and lies. Naples is largely supplied [1834] with snow in summer from such snow wells situated on Monte Angelo, the loftiest point of the promontory separating the Bay of Naples from the Bay of Salerno.
Cold Caves of San Marino, Apennines. (De Saussure, Voyages dans les Alpes, 1796, III., page 211.)—These are probably windholes.
La Bocche dei Venti di Cesi. (De Saussure, Voyages dans les Alpes, 1796, III., page 211.)—These windholes were in the cellar of the house of Don Giuseppe Cesi, in the town of Cesi. The cellar acted as a natural refrigerator. The air stream was so strong, that it nearly blew out the torches. In winter the wind rushed into the holes. De Saussure was shown the following Latin verses by the owner:—
“Abditus hic ludit vario discrimine ventus
Et faciles miros exhibet aura jocos.
Nam si bruma riget, quaecumque objeceris haurit.
Evomit aestivo cum calet igne dies,"
Windholes or “Ventarole” on Monte Testaceo, near Rome. (De Saussure, Voyages dans les Alpes, 1796, III., page 209.)—There are a number here among heaps of broken pottery. The temperatures seem abnormally low.
Krypta Sorana. (Kircher, Mundus Subterraneus, 1664, page 118 and page 239.)—This has been spoken of as a glacière cave, but as there is much doubt in the matter, I quote the passages, on which the reports are based, in the original Latin: “Cryptae sunt naturales, quarum innumerae sunt species, juxta vires naturales iis inditas. Sunt nonnullae medicinali virtute praeditae, quaedam metallicis vaporibus, exhalationibus, aquis scatent, sunt et glaciales, plenae nivibus et crystallo, uti in Monte Sorano me vidisse memini.” And further: “Vidi ego in Monte Sorano cryptam veluti glacie incrustatam, ingentibus in fornice hinc inde stiriis dependentibus, e quibus vicini montis accolae pocula aestivo tempore conficiunt, aquae vinoque, quae iis infunduntur, refrigerandis aptissima, extremo rigore in summas bibentium delicias commutato.”