MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 231 



Some time near the middle of October Miss Hoppin visited "Wil- 

 son's cave again, after some cold weather ; the water was four degrees 

 colder, and no fishes were to be seen. A couple of weeks later, after a 

 week of warm days, the water had taken on its summer temperature of 

 54°, but there was nothing to collect. The water at this time was so 

 low that the connection with the water of the inner cavern was broken, 

 the water in the stream being below the fissure from which it poured 

 earlier in the season. It appeared as if the fishes could not get out 

 into the cave till the water rose again. The opening into the inner 

 cavern would admit a small dog. There were no insects on the walls. 

 Something was heard that was supposed to be a bat, but it could not 

 be found. The neighbors said that after the floods white crayfishes 

 were frequently found out of the cave in the creek. 



Various caves were visited, at a considerable distance apart ; the collec- 

 tions were in the main made from the wells and the two caves mentioned. 

 It is evident from the notes that the caves are numerous, and similar to 

 those in the same formations in other States. It is also evident, from 

 what is found in the stomachs of the fishes, that there is more to be 

 done in the way of collecting. A few fossils from the walls were sent. 

 Though not peculiar to it, all are forms common in the Keokuk lime- 

 stones, which lie at or near the surface in this district, known as the 

 lead region of Southwestern Missouri. The greatest altitude is rather 

 more than eleven hundred feet above the sea level. At the point under 

 consideration the drainage goes to the westward. The waters after- 

 ward go south in the Grand River, then southeast in the Arkansas, and 

 reach the Mississippi a little below 34° north latitude, two hundred and 

 fifty miles or more below the mouth of the Ohio. Directly eastward, 

 a considerable distance, the water is carried toward the mouth of the 

 Arkansas, near which it meets the Mississippi. Northeastward it is 

 less than twenty miles to points from which the drainage is carried 

 through the Osage River to the Missouri, the mouth of which is about 

 a hundred and fifty miles above that of the Ohio. Whether approached 

 by the way of the Arkansas or by that of the Missouri, the caves of 

 Jasper County and the neighboring counties are pretty effectually iso- 

 lated from the caves east of the Mississippi, — a fact not to be lost 

 sight of in discussing the distribution of the animals. 



The collections contain a large number of specimens pertaining to a 

 rather small number of species. Of these the fishes and the Crustacea 

 claim most of our attention, being the only ones we can with safety call 

 peculiar to the caverns. As their testimony concerning the acquisition 



