THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



39 



at close quarters the recently deposited 

 morsels give off a peculiar rancid odor. 

 As before in the Rotunda I was struck with 

 the conviction that decay in the cave is an 

 exceedingly slow process, accomplished 

 mainly through the agency of a few fungi.* 

 Prof. Tyndall has shown that in the pure 

 atmosphere of the Alps, perishable in- 

 fusions of meat and vegetables remain un- 

 changed for an indefinite length of time.f 

 May it not be that the equally pure and 

 bracing air of these caverns is likewise com- 

 paratively free from the germs of Bacteria, 

 Vibrios and other agents of putrefaction 

 and fermentation ? It has been asserted 

 by the guides, that meat hung up "at the 

 mouth of the cave " will keep fresh a long 

 time.t But if Bacteria are absent, other 

 scavengers in abundance attack this food 

 material. I found it swarming with the 

 larvs of Adelops and the maggots of a 

 small fly {Fhora). The imagos of the 

 beetle, and puparia of the fly were also 

 present in countless numbers. The adult 

 beetles were very agile, and on being dis- 

 turbed when gathered in a cluster about a 

 bit of meat, they scattered in every direc- 

 tion over the sand, so that it was diffi- 

 cult to pick them up rapidly. I found the 

 best method to be to throw the lump with 

 Adelops clinging to it on to a handkerchief. 

 The beetles then hid in the folds of the 

 cloth and could be picked up by a quill 

 passed through the cork of the collecting 

 bottle. In this way we secured several 

 hundred specimens in a few minutes. To 

 secure a good supply of larvae it was suffici- 

 ent to tie up in a cloth one or two small 

 fragments of chicken bone crowded with in- 

 sects. These unfortunately remained for- 

 gotten in my collecting sack, until after my 

 return home a week later, when I found 



* The fungi of our caves have not as far as 1 know been 

 studied. Two species have been identified l)y Dr. Farlow 

 from the Mammoth Cave, Oz0niu*n auricomutn Link, the 

 mycelium of an unknown fungus, and Stemonitis ferruginca, 

 also immature. A list by Pokorny of fungi from the Adelsberg 

 and Lucg caverns, (Germany) extracted from Dr. Ad. 

 Schmidt's " Die Grotten und Hoehlen von Adelsberg," Wien, 

 i8s4, and kindly sent me by Dr. Hagcn, enumerates nineteen 

 species, all found above ground, and originating, as Pokorny 

 thinks, from spores introduced from without on wood. 



t For an account of these experiments see Popular Science 

 Monthly for Feb., 1878. 

 _ J During the summer months, when the temperature out- 

 ,side is higher than that of the cave, {59° F.) a strong current 

 of air flows out of its mouth. The in-coming supply is said to 

 be by filtration through the rocks, in which case it would be 

 very probably freed of floating germs. 



and examined them They were much 

 crushed, and the larvae all dead, but of 

 twenty or more adult Adelops which ad- 

 hered to the lumps, and had been im- 

 prisoned with them, two were still alive. 

 Both however died after another week's 

 confinement. Some of the puparia of the 

 fly were also uninjured, and in a few days 

 several perfect Phoras made their appear- 

 ance from them. Three or four living 

 mites [Acarus] and a very minute Psocid, 

 {Atropos divinato7-ia Muell.) possessing eye- 

 spots and undeveloped wings were also 

 found upon the lumps. 



Washington's Hall was said to be a good 

 locality for Anophthalmus, but we found 

 only a few specimens under flat pieces of 

 gypsum. The party of sight-seers had in 

 the meantime gone on to the end of the 

 cave, and a few minutes before their return 

 " Pete," who remained behind with us, pro- 

 posed to take us to a place where plenty of 

 Anophthalmi could be found. He then 

 led us back a short distance to a passage 

 called Martha's Vineyard. Here the rocks 

 are damp, with some dripping springs and 

 one quite large pool known as Hebe's 

 Spring. This locality did not disappoint 

 our expectations. It is one of the best in 

 the cave, but as we had but a few minutes 

 time, we were obliged to hurry over the 

 ground and could delay but a few mo- 

 ments in one place. The guide constantly 

 moving on, called back to us that it was 

 dangerous to fall behind. At Hebe's Spring 

 the repairing of a stairway left the timbers 

 of the former structure scattered about, 

 and under these, Anophthalmus Tellkampfii 

 and A. Memtriesii were common, the former 

 much more abundant than the latter how- 

 ever. I found here under a piece of wood 

 lying on sand a specimen of a larva which 

 agrees perfectly with Packard's figure of 

 that of A. Tellkampfii* We also secured 

 two specimens of Phrixis longipes, (Fig. 9) 

 the blind Phalangid spider or Harvestman 

 described by Cope.f With a little more 

 time at our disposal, I feel sure that the 

 pupa of Anophthalmus would have been 

 found at this spring, as many of the imagos 



• Am. Naturalist Vol. x, pi. II. + Ibid, vi, p. 481. 



