AN UNDESCRIBED LARVA FROM MAMMOTH 

 CAVE. 



BY H. GARMAN. 



A strange worm-like animal taken recently by the writer 

 in Mammoth Cave, presents some peculiarities of struct- 

 ure, which render it worthy of notice. 



It is a very slender, legless, cylindrical, transparent 

 creature, the largest specimen at hand measuring about 

 one-half inch in length. It is apparently a dipterous larva 

 related to Sciara, but I can find no reference to anything 

 like it in the literature of our cave animals. 



The head is enclosed in a chitinous crust, and is brown, 

 smooth and shining. It is followed by four short seg- 

 ments, then the diameter of the body increases somewhat, 

 and the skin becomes finely wrinkled but shows no evident 

 segmentation. Occasionally I have seen what appeared 

 to indicate division of the posterior part of the body into 

 long segments, but further examination has always failed 

 to satisfy me on this point. No stigmata are present. The 

 integument is very thin, and is so completely transparent 

 that the larger internal organs can be seen through it. On 

 ordinary inspection the skin appears to be without color, 

 but under the microscope a faint reticulation appears, due 

 to minute particles of pigment. At the posterior end of 

 the body is a pair of short, fleshy appendages, one on each 

 side of the vent. 



The crust of the head is divided by sutures into three 



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