138 Schiodte's Specimen 



stands in the fourth cave. The lowermost is the bed of a river, 

 covered above, and accessible only for a short distance ; the upper- 

 most two are nothing but slight excavations into the perpendicular 

 rock, and it is only in the third grotto from below that consider- 

 able Stalactitic formations exist and are in progress. The grotto 

 Corneale has its entrance nearly vertical, and contains no running 

 stream of any size. These cave-localities exhibit nothing peculiar 

 as respects their Fauna ; a moist air and low temperature are the 

 leading features of the Stalactitic caves, with the consequent 

 nearly total absence of vegetation. The only plant which I ob- 

 served was a sort of fungus, Byssus fulvus, L.* I found this 

 growing on bits of wood scattered about, on bridges, railings and 

 fragments of torches ; extending itself sparingly on the columns, 

 especially such as are stinted in their growth. 



On searching along the walls within the entrance of the caves, 

 among the rubbish and the vegetable debris along the sides of the 

 river, we meet with a considerable number of Insecta, Myriapoda, 

 Arachnida, and Crustacea, of various families, which shun day- 

 light; being such species only as inhabit promiscuously other places, 

 provided they are moist and feebly illumined. We find species of 

 Pterostichus, Pristonychus, Amara, Quedius, Homalota, Omalium, 

 Hister, Trichopteryx, Cryptophagus, Atomaria, Ptinus, Cerapkron, 

 Belyta, a grasshopper of the Locust family, which could not be 

 quite determined, as it was only seen in the larva state,'}' Trichoj)- 

 tera, Sciara, Psychoda, Phora, Heteromyza, Sapromyza, Tomo- 

 cerus, Linyphia, Gamasus, Cryptops, Julus, and Asellus. In 

 proportion as we recede from the entrance the number of species 

 as well as individuals greatly decrease, and at the distance which 

 entirely excludes the light, only single individuals are found. In 

 the deepest recesses these species are entirely wanting, except 

 some few which have been transported by the current ; only a few 

 Diptera are found, namely, a species of Phora, very near P. macu- 

 lata, Meig., Heteromyza Jlavipes, Zett., and Sapromyza chrysoph- 

 thalma, Zett., extending also very far into the caves, even to the 

 remotest accessible places in the Adelsberg cave, more than half 

 an hour's walk from its entrance. Dead moths are occasionally 

 found far in the caves, being left there by the bats ; and like- 

 wise accidental specimens of the parasites of the latter. 



Of the five earlier known animals which inhabit these caves, 



* Kindly determined by Prof. Liebmann. 



t I found this species, likewise in the larva state, in the following summer, in 

 the artificial grotto at Syracuse, called I'orrechio di Dioniaio ; also in most of 

 the adjacent grottos. 



