CONSTANCE, LAKE or (German, BODENSEE), a large sheet of water on the confines of Switzerland, surrounded on the S.W. by the cantons of Thurgau and St Gall, E. by Tyrol, N.E. and N.W. by Wiirtemberg and Baden re:pectively. It is of an oblong shape, the western extre amity being considerably contracted. The length of the lake from Bregenz to Spittelberg is 42 miles, with an average width of 7i. miles. It forms the great reservoir of the Rhine, receiving the upper waters of that river near the village of Altenrhcin and parting with them at Constance. The mean level of the surface is 1290 feet above the sea. The depth between Romanshorn and Langenargen is 152 fathoms, between Constance and Friederichshafen 120 fathoms, and between Lindau and the mouth of the Rhine 45 fathoms.