THE BLIND FISHES OF NORTH AMERICA. 481 



small one, and found his tail projecting from the mouth of a larger 

 one." 



Wyman found a small-eyed fish in the stomach of an Am- 

 bljopsis. 



Hoppin was struck by the fact that, if not capable of long fasts, 

 Troglichthys must live on very small organisms that the unaided 

 eye can not discern. Garman found, .in the stomachs of Troglich- 

 thys collected by Hoppin in Missouri, species of Asellus, Cambarus, 

 Ceuthophilus, and Crangonyx. 



All the specimens of Amblyopsis 'so far taken by me contained 

 very large fatty bodies in their abdominal cavity, a condition sug- 

 gesting abundance of food. The stomachs always contained the 

 debris of crustaceans, a closer identification of which was not at- 

 tempted. One yoimg Amblyopsis disappeared on the way home 

 from the caves, and had evidently been swallowed by one of the 

 larger ones. A few old ones, kept in an aquarium from May to 

 July, were seen voiding excrement toward the last of their cap- 

 tivity, and their actions at various times suggested that they were 

 scraping the minute organisms from the side of the aquarium. 

 The young Amblyopsis reared in the aquarium seemed to feed on 

 the minute forms found in the mud at the bottom of its aquarium. 

 Some Coecidotsea placed in the aquarium of the young soon disap- 

 peared, and the capture of one of these was noted under a reading 

 glass. The fish was quietly swimming along the side of its aqua- 

 rium; when it came within about an inch of the crustacean it be- 

 came alert, and with the next move of the Coecidotsea it was cap- 

 tured with a very quick, well-aimed dart on the part of the yoimg 

 fish. Others were captured while crawling along the floor of the 

 aquarium. From all things noted, it seems very probable that 

 Amblyopsis is a bottom feeder, and that it also picks food from the 

 walls of the caves. It is not at all improbable or impossible that 

 food should be captured at the surface or in open water, but there 

 seems no warrant for Cope's supposition that Amblyopsis is a top 

 feeder. I have frequently seen larger specimens, which had been 

 in captivity for several weeks, nosing about the bottom of the aqua- 

 rium, with their bodies inclined upward in the water and quietly 

 taking in the organic fragments at the bottom. An Asellus stir- 

 ring about at such a time always produced an unusual alertness. 



The number of respiratory movements of Amblyopsis averaged 

 nineteen a minute in five observations, reaching a maximum of 

 thirty in a small individual and a minimum of fourteen in a large 

 one. This is in strong contrast to Chologaster, the number of 

 whose respiratory motions reached an average of eighty per minute 

 in five observations, with a minimum of fifty-six and a maximum 



VOL. LVI. — 38 



