176 ANIMAL LIFE OF CARLSBAD CAVERN 



cavern are two species of large, long-legged, pale- 

 colored crickets, both of which proved to be new to 

 science and have since been described and named in the 

 Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washing- 

 ton. While generally similar in appearance, they are 

 readily distinguished by size and color. 



The Carlsbad cave-crickets (Ceutophilus carlsbad- 

 ensis Caudell) are the larger and browner of the two 

 species, with bodies about an inch in length, and very 

 long legs and feelers. They are pale brown or yellowish 

 in color, with small black eyes. Many were found in 

 the first rooms of the cave where there is some trace of 

 light from the natural openings, but mainly in darkness 

 that to untrained human eyes seems stygian. 



They were found moving slowly along the trails and 

 over the guano-strewn floor of the bat-inhabited rooms, 

 or hidden away under stones, boards, or old guano 

 sacks. When approached or alarmed, they made long 

 hops, but were generally slow and sluggish for crickets, 

 moving slowly and touching the ground in front with 

 the long antennae as if feeling their way. Apparently 

 they did not see well, if at all, but a quick motion in the 

 air or step on the ground near them, or even the bright 

 light of the lantern flashed upon them usually caused 

 them to move away or to make long jumps. 



The opaque contents of their stomachs could usually 

 be seen through the translucent walls of the abdomen, 

 and a microscopic examination of the contents of a few 

 stomachs showed mainly insect remains, evidently from 

 bits of bat guano. Whether they ate the mold plants 

 with which they were often closely associated was not 



