372 NATURAL SCIENCE. June 



" Irish Cave Dwellers" (vol. vi., p. 148) we gave an account of the 

 interesting researches by Mr. Carpenter into the fauna of the celebrated 

 cavern ; these are continued in the April number of the Irish Naturalist 

 by Mr. H. Lyster Jameson, who was assisted in his exploration by a 

 grant from the Royal Irish Academy. The chief addition made by 

 him is the spider, Leptyphantes pallidiis, which is new to the Irish 

 fauna. This is a rare species that has been found by Mr. Pickard- 

 Cambridge in Dorsetshire, at roots of heather, also in caves of France 

 and Bavaria. Mr. Jameson also found the mollusc, Hyalina contractu, 

 which, though it occurs in Sweden, Germany, France, and Switzer- 

 land, had hitherto been found in the British Isles only at Killarney, 

 by Dr. Scharff. Mr. Jameson has also examined the caves at 

 Enniskillen, which are of less age than that at Mitchelstown, and 

 contain a fauna less purely troglodytic in character. By further 

 investigations among the many unexplored caves of Ireland, he hopes 

 to fill up the gaps in the history of the evolution of cave-faunas. 



This paper is followed by one from Mr. E. A. Martel, President 

 of the Societe Speleologique of Paris. He gives a survey of the cave, 

 and a plan on the scale 1:2000, Three things, he says, are remarkable 

 in Mitchelstown Cave : — 



'* ist. Its ramification in every direction, and the infinite sub- 

 divisions of its central parts, 



" 2nd. Its extent, which attains and even exceeds, including all 

 the passages, one mile and a quarter. This must be the longest cave, 

 yet known, in the British Isles. 



" 3rd. Its blind fauna. It is the only grotto in England, Scot- 

 land, or Ireland where, up to the present time, there have been found 

 animals peculiar only to caverns." 



" The cave of Mitchelstown," he concludes, " may still be con- 

 sidered as a worthy object for interesting future work and research." 



The May number of the Irish Naturalist contains a further list of 

 Irish caves, by R. Lloyd Praeger. 



Blind Animals. 



An interesting discovery of blind animals has recently been made 

 at San Marcos, Texas, U.S.A., where, in sinking an artesian well to 

 supply water for the station of the U.S. Fish Commission, a sub- 

 terranean stream was struck at a depth of 181 feet. The water 

 flowing from this well contains numerous shrimps and a lesser 

 number of Isopoda and Amphipoda, as well as a few batrachians, 

 all new. 



The batrachians are characterised by their extremely long and 

 slender legs, which may serve as tactile organs, and by their broad, 

 flattened, squarish snout. The species is related to the North 

 American Necttmts and the European Proteus, and has been named 

 Tvi)hlomolge rathhuni by Dr. Stejneger {Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. xviii.. 

 No. 1,088). 



