Animals fou?id in the Mitchelstown Cave* 27 



in the matter of showing a light. My friends and colleagues, 

 Messrs. A. R. Nichols and J. N. Halbert, were indefatigable in 

 searching during the whole time of our stay below-ground, 

 and their efforts were heartily seconded by several of the Cork 

 members, and Mr. F. Neale from Limerick. Mr. Nichols took 

 the single specimen of the interesting species of mite, Gama- 

 sus attenuat2is, described below ; while it was Mr. Halbert 

 who, in one of the large chambers at a distance from the 

 entrance, found the first specimen of the Lipura discovered 

 by Messrs. Wright and Haliday. A fair number of examples 

 of this insect were secured. They occurred, mostly beneath 

 stones, among the very fine, moist red clay which, in many 

 places, carpets the floor of the chambers. OwXy a minority of 

 the specimens proved to be adult — a similar experience to that 

 of Dr. Wright. In the farthest chamber w^hich we reached, 

 much amusement was caused by the discover}^ of an animal 

 which was clearly not a member of the cave fauna, but, like 

 ourselves, a visitor from the outer world. This was a common 

 Frog, whose sojourn in darkness was brought to a startling 

 end by the advent of our candle-bearing procession. On the 

 way back, I was so fortunate as to find beneath a stone a fully- 

 grown specimen of another blind Collembolan, readily differen- 

 tiated from the Lipura by the possession of a well-developed 

 *' spring." Subsequent examination revealed the presence of 

 one or two young individuals of the same species among the 

 specimens oi Lipura which had been collected. This **spring- 

 tail"' is perhaps the most interesting animal which we found. 

 It belongs to the genus Sinella, Brooks,^ though it is hard to 

 find any good character by which to separate it from Degeeria 

 caverna?2wi, Packard, described from specimens taken in 

 various caves in the United States. The latter species, how- 

 ever, according to Packard, has, on the feet, distinct clubbed 

 (tenent) hairs which are never present in Sinella; so I feel com- 

 pelled to describe the Mitchelstown insect as new to science. 



' In the preliminary report of the expedition (/rw/i NaL, 1894, p. 183), 

 this insect was wrongly recorded as Te/iipL'tonia crystallina, Miill. I was led 

 into this error, on a hurried examination, by the white colour and ringed 

 terminal joint of the antenna. Subsequent study showed an entire 

 absence of scales, effectually removing the insect from Templetonia. — 



* /ourn. Limi. Soc. (Zoo/.), vol, xvi., 1883, p. 541. 



A 2 



