BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 233 



count of this cave, accompanied by maps and sections, will be found 

 in the " Journal of the Dublin Geological Society," written by Professor 

 Apjohn.* 



We were not long in obtaining guides, who brought with them a 

 large supply of candles, matches, &c. The extreme narrowness of some 

 of the passages in the caves renders the presence of torches quite un- 

 bearable. Following the guides, who lived in a small cottage by the 

 road- side, we proceeded for a short distance through a recently cut 

 meadow, and by the side of a thorn hedge, profusely covered over with 

 wild flowers, and then in a moment we found ourselves at the cave's 

 mouth. A small iron grating, which closed the entrance, was soon 

 opened, and for a season we bade farewell to the day. 



Once within, we found ourselves in a narrow passage, about four 

 feet wide, and thirty-three in length, and which gradually sloped till it 

 ended in a vertical precipice many feet deep, down which we descended 

 by means of a ladder. Advancing on, we arrived at the lower middle 

 cave, upwards of thirty-five feet high; the roof was covered with small 

 stalactites, the floor being strewed with large tetrahedral blocks of 

 limestone ; about the entrance of this cave some specimens of a Macro- 

 toma (Podura, Linnaeus) were running over the rocks ; they appeared to 

 be bewildered by the light when it approached, standing still, so that a 

 quill was applied over the spot so as to catch one or two, but if this 

 was not done dexterously, they quickly showed their powers of leaping. 

 Only one specimen was brought home, more having been put into the 

 pockets than came out, after the variety of creeping, stooping, and 

 wriggling gone through. This specimen was too much rubbed to pro- 

 nounce on the species with certainty ; but if not M. plumbea, for which 

 the size is perhaps too small, and the colour of the scales too bright, 

 it may be one of the allied species which Gervais has enumerated. 



The distance from the entrance in this cave was so small, and the 

 numbers of the insect so limited, that it is not at all improbable that 

 they had strayed in hither from the outer world ; the species of the 

 genus Macrotoma, and M. plumbea in particular, haunting rather dark, 

 damp situations, under stones among moss at the roots of trees. 



Going on still farther, we explored almost all the recesses of the 

 cavern ; at one time down precipices dangerous even to look at, then 

 creeping for many yards along the ground, which was covered with a 

 most delightful red clay, so very fine as to be like red paint ; then along 

 places where we could neither walk nor creep, but, lying quite flat, just 

 manage to wriggle through, at which, if the guides saw one, from want 

 of practice, not expert, they would kindly give you a slight pull, and 

 make you feel all the horrors of being metamorphosed into a wedge. 



However, the hope of seeing some fine Anophthalmus, and the pos- 

 sibility of finding some blind Mphargus when we reached the river, 

 tempted us on, and we passed along some sloping precipices, that even 



* "Journal of the Dublin Geological Society" for 1885. 



