l895 . NOTES AND COMMENTS. 149 



carpets the cave, although it cannot contain much organic matter 

 except what may be brought in by water or produced by the disinte- 

 gration of some of the lower fungi. The spring-tails themselves form 

 the food of the mites, while mites, spring-tails, and all, are apparently 

 a prey to the spiders. These spiders do not seem to spin webs as do 

 all their next-of-kin, but walk about seeking whom they may devour. 



The wide geographical distribution of these cave-dwellers is, says 

 Mr. Carpenter, a truly remarkable phenomenon, especially as the 

 caves can be of no great geological age, and there can have been no 

 migration of subterranean animals between southern Europe and 

 Ireland, or between Ireland and North America, within any period 

 during which the fauna can have been specifically identical with that 

 of the present day. Mr. Carpenter, therefore, concludes that " from 

 ancestors, presumably of the same genus, which took to an under- 

 ground life in such widely-separated localities, the similar conditions 

 of the caves have evolved descendants so similar that, when com- 

 pared, they cannot, or can hardly be, specifically distinguished from 

 each other. Should the identifications suggested in this paper stand 

 the test of a comparison of types, we shall have proof that the 

 independent development of the same species, under similar con- 

 ditions, but in widely-distant localities, has taken place. It must be 

 granted, however, that cave conditions are so marked and exceptional, 

 that it might not be safe to argue from them as to what may have 

 occurred in the upper world." 



It is to be hoped that this suggestive paper of Mr. Carpenter's 

 may evoke fresh search for cave-dwellers in other parts of the British 

 Isles, especially in the limestone caverns of Ireland. 



" The Geologist at the Luncheon-Table." 

 We cannot close our copy of the Irish Naturalist without alluding 

 to a really charming little paper by Mr. Grenville Cole, with the above 

 title. In a writer gifted with a less pleasing style we might resent 

 this imitation of the dearly-loved Autocrat ; but Mr. Cole's stylograph 

 is filled with a humour and a geniality not unlike those that flowed 

 from the famous gold pen of Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



Those of our readers who have visited Dublin have doubtless 

 received hospitality from their scientific brethren in the delightful 

 refreshment-rooms conducted by the Misses Gardiner. It was a 

 happy idea of the literary and scientific wits who frequent these 

 rooms to make their owners a New Year's present of seven orna- 

 mental tables, whose tops of polished Irish marbles were carefully 

 selected by a scientific committee. The little paper now before us 

 shows what lessons may be learned from these table-tops by the 

 geologist who may chance for a few minutes to sit solitary over his 

 midday meal. The paper should be framed and hung up in the 

 rooms that all who eat may read. 



