MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 229 



by the rains until several days after the creek has begun its rise. This state- 

 ment is from the people at the cave, and was not verified by me. 



" From one well thirteen blind crayfish were taken by means of a net 

 formed of mosquito bar spread on the bottom. The specimens became en- 

 tangled in it. From the same well a few snails were taken. The owner re- 

 ports, that at various times, a year or more ago, the surface of the water would 

 be covered with ' little white lice or something of the kind.' Minnows were 

 put in, after which the lice disappeared. A blind fish was also put into this 

 well, but nothing had been seen again either of it or the minnows. From 

 each of the other wells one crayfish was taken; from one of the three, a few 

 minute centipedes. Earlier in the season these centipedes had been so numer- 

 ous as to render the water unfit for use ; they seemed to be inhabitants of 

 the well. Some minnows were put in, and the centipedes vanished. I heard 

 of them too late to make a satisfactory collection. From the Armstrong well 

 two small blind fish were taken, and one from the Adams well. From the 

 latter some snails were secured, also some large centipedes, these latter under 

 circumsjLances indicative of accidental presence. Repoits come from the coun- 

 try for miles around where fish and crayfish are taken. One well, an Arte- 

 sian, went dry when a neighbor dug another farther down the hill. It was 

 then found that the first well opened at the side directly into a small cave. 

 All of these wells are in limestone ; only in this formation is good water to 

 be obtained hereabout. The larger caves in this vicinity are under the lime- 

 stone cliflfs and hills that skirt Centre Creek. The wells are usually walled 

 with stones that leave spaces, through which the fishes may pass. There are 

 probably many small subterranean springs and streams, not one large under- 

 lying lake or stream, as popular belief has it. 



" Day's Cave, from which a small collection is sent, opens under the cliffs. 

 After much digging the mouth was enlarged so that a small boy squeezed 

 through. Wilson's Cave is not large ; it is spanned by one limestone, and 

 floored w-ith the sticky 'gumbo.' This mud is utterly without grit. It 

 forms a crumbling bank on the approachable side of the stream, and the 

 minute particles are seen through the very clear water to be suspended in a 

 thin swaying cloud at the bottom of the water. This mud-cloud is so light 

 as to form no obstacle to the movement of the creatures which find it a ready 

 hiding-place. It renders a study of the animals at the bottom very difficult, 

 the water is so easily roiled. It required great care to catch the specimens ; 

 the stirring of the water frightened them away to their hiding places on the 

 bottom, or among the dark nooks and crevices of the jutting rocks of the. op- 

 posite bank, their movements at the same time stirring up the mud so that 

 nothing could be seen. In the farthest corner of the cave, where the water 

 comes in, would seem to be the home of the fishes ; here they were most 

 numerous and most active. When the water is low, they are found only 

 here, though the stream below is equally cold and deep. Apparently, they 

 avoid the light. 



