78 DISCREPANCIES. 



able subterranean galleries in the limestone formation, 

 some of which are of great extent. The temperature is 

 constant throughout the year — 59 deg. Tahr. A darkness, 

 unrelieved by the least glimmer of light, prevails. Ani- 

 mals of various races inhabit these caves, all completely 

 blind ; for though some have rudimentary eyes, they ap- 

 pear useless for purposes of vision. Among these are two 

 kinds of bats, two rats, (one found at a distance of seven 

 miles from the entrance,) moles, fishes, spiders, beetles, 

 Crustacea, and several kinds of infusoria* 



In 184!5, three caves near Adelsburg and one near 

 Trieste were examined by Professor Schiodte. Koch, 

 Schmidt, and others had already announced the existence 

 in these caves of a blind fauna, besides the proteus. An 

 Oniscus, a beetle of the family Staphylinidce, and two 

 belonging to the CarahidoB, were found to be either totally 

 destitute of eyes, or to have these organs reduced to rudi- 

 mentary specks. Schiodte added to these two new sj^ecies 

 of SilphadcB, a species of spring-tail, two remarkable 

 spiders, each constituting a new genus, and a crustacean. -f* 

 Still later, Schmidt has discovered two more beetles in 

 these caves, inhabiting the deepest recesses, and described 

 as perfectly eyeless, yet retreating quickly from the light 

 of the explorers' torches into clefts of the rock ; a curious 

 circumstance, which would seem to indicate a certain 

 sensibility to the stimulus of light. J Indeed, in several 



* Trans. Boy. Soc. Edhib., Dec. 1853. 

 ■f Schiodte's Spec. Faun. Subteir. 

 J Laibacher Zeitung, August 1852. 



