148 NATURAL SCIENCE. March, 



will be unable to accept Dr. Scharff's views, and may perhaps wonder 

 that he ignores the difficulty which their theory raises. In the detailed 

 memoir on the subject, which he promises at an early date, we may 

 expect this and other questions to be fully discussed. Meanwhile we 

 welcome his contribution, as a warning that theories about the past 

 physical conditions of the earth's surface must not contradict the 

 facts taught us by the distribution of living animals. 



Irish Cave Dwellers. 



The February number of the Irish Naturalist contains a paper by 

 Mr. G. H. Carpenter, which is of singular interest in connection with 

 the origin of the Irish Fauna. Zoologists remember Mitchelstown 

 because one of its famous caves is the only one in the British Islands 

 known to be inhabited by a member of the peculiar blind, subter- 

 ranean fauna, which, through explorations of the European and North 

 American caverns, now includes some hundreds of species. A recent 

 visit paid to Mitchelstown by the Dublin, Cork, and Fermoy Field 

 Clubs resulted in the discovery of several additional species, now ably 

 described and discussed by Mr. Carpenter. 



The first found was a spider of the darkness-loving genus 

 Porrhoma, and not to be distinguished from the species P. myops, which 

 was based on a female taken in the cavern of Espezel (Aude), in 

 southern France, but of which another female has since been found 

 in Dorset. A species which, from the description and figures, 

 appears to be identical with P. myops, occurs in the Fountain Cave, 

 Virginia, and in the Bat Cave, Kentucky ; it has been named 

 Linyphia incerta. 



The species formerly known from this cave was a minute insect 

 of the Order Collembola, doubtfully referred to Lipura stilicidii. Mr. 

 Carpenter, however, finds that it differs from that species in many 

 points, and therefore names it L. wrightii, after its discoverer. 



The most interesting animal here described is another blind 

 Collembolan, readily differentiated from the Lipura by the possession 

 of a well-developed " spring," two-thirds as long as the body. Mr. 

 Carpenter names it Sinella cavemicola, but points out that it differs 

 from the North American spring-tail, Entomobrya cavemavum (Packard) 

 only in the absence of clinging hairs from its feet. 



A small mite, Gammasus attenuatus, and an earthworm, Allurus 

 fiavus, the latter found near the entrance, complete the list. 



Of these animals, the arachnids are bleached and the insects 

 perfectly white. The latter are also blind, and the eyes of the spider 

 are degenerate. The mite is blind, too, but then it belongs to a 

 blind family. 



The amount of food forthcoming in such a habitat is not great. 

 Spring-tails live on vegetable refuse as a rule, and those found here 

 extract what nourishment they can from the fine, moist, red clay that 



