This book deals with all parts of cave science. One of the eight
chapters is  "Behavior and Products of Cave Microorganisms." It
covers the microbial aspects  of cave manganese and iron
minerals, saltpeter, and moonmilk.

The biogeochemistry of iron and manganese layers in Cave of the
Winds, Colorado, is elucidated by nearby iron- and
manganese-depositing surface springs. The  spring deposits are
covered by Leptothrix slime. The heavy metals are said to be
derived from granite beneath the cave's limestone. When the land
surface  lowered, conditions in the cave changed sequentially, so
that bacterial goethite (Fe) was laid down first, then birnessite
(Mn), then nonmineralized clay and  silt, and finally the cave
was drained.

A sample of moist moonmilk from Mondmilchloch, Switzerland (type
locality for  the substance), grew brown, gray, and green spots,
presumably from microbial  contamination. The authors say that
this means that the moonmilk contained  soluble organic compounds
derived from percolating water that provided energy  for
organisms such as actinomycetes that produced the moonmilk.

The book proposes a new mechanism for the origin of the small
size of moonmilk  grains. A transmission electron micrograph from
Caverns of Sonora, Texas, shows  a cell at the end of one of the
smallest rod-shaped grains. The authors suggest  that such cells
control the mineral growth, and incidentally cause the strange 
diagonal crystal orientation of moonmilk calcite. When the cell
divides, mineral growth ceases, and subsequent enlargement is by
inorganic overgrowth.

The chemoautotrophic hydrogen sulfide environment at Movile Cave,
Romania, is  dealt with in the chapter on Habits of Cave Animals.
Energy for the surprising array of troglobites in that cave is
processed by Beggiatoa in floating mats  and by probable
Thiobacillus in the water column. The authors offer a 
speculative equation for energy conversion in which hydrogen
sulfide combines  with carbon dioxide and oxygen to produce
sulfuric acid and carbohydrate.

This 176-page book, illustrated with splendid etchings by John
Schoenherr  (himself a speleologist) is an exemplary introduction.