185 



TFTK n.-\t i.i-l, -r ,,f Crawling Ratrnrhiiin* is called by tin- nnm- >' \l.-:mtia. ami contains a 

 very few but very remarkable species. In all these .-ivMt.ir.-s t|,,. body in long and MiM,<.tli. 

 without scales. :,!{ th>- irji| s :ir ,. ver y conspicuous, retainini; their |H,sjtion throughout the 

 lift- of tli,- :inim:il. There are always two or four limbs, furnished witli toes, bat these 

 MII-III|HTH are very weak, and indeed rudimentary, and both the jwlute and the lower jaw are 

 toothed. 



The first exam|>l>> of this m.l.-r is the celebrated PROTEPS, discovered by tin- Haioii ! 

 Zois, in the extraordinary locality in which it dwells 



At Adelaberg, in thedm-hy of Caniiola, is a moat wonderful cavern, called tin- (irotio of 

 the Maddalena. extending ninny hundred feet below the surface of the earth, ami consequently 

 buried in tin- profoundest darkness. In this ,-:i\.-rn .'\ists ; , little lake, roofed with stalactites, 

 surrounded with masses of rock, and floored with a bed of soft mud. upon wliich the Proteus 

 may be seen cniwling uneasily, as if endeavoring to avoid the unwelcome light by which its 

 present, is known. These creatures are not always to be found in the lake, though after heavy 

 rains they are tolerably abundant, and the road by which they gain admi.-wion is at present 

 a mystery. 



The theory of Sir H. Davy is, " that their natural residence is a deep subterraneous lake, 

 from which in great floods they are sometimes forced through the crevices of the rocks into th>- 



places where they are found; and it does not apj>ear to impossible, when the peculiar 



nature, of the country is considered, that the same great cavity may furnish the individuals 

 which have been found at Adelsberg and at Sittich." 



Whatever may be the solution of the problem, the discovery of this animal is extremely 

 valuable, not only as an aid to the science of comparative anatomy, but us affording another 

 instance of the strange and wondrous forms of animal life which still survive in hidden and 

 unsuspected nooks of the earth. 



Many of these animals have been brought in a living state to England, and have sur- 

 vived for a considerable time when their owners have taken pains to accommodate their con- 

 dition as nearly as possible to that of their native waters. I have had many opportunities of 

 seeing some fine specimens, brought by Dr. Lionel Beale from the cave at Adelslx-rg. They 

 could hardly be said to have any habits, and their only custom seemed to be the systematic 

 avoidance of light. Dr. Beale has kindly forwarded to me the following account of these 

 curious creatures : 



"One of the Proteases I brought over from Adelsberg lived for five years, and, what is 

 very interesting, passed four years of his life in the same water, a little fresh Ix-in^ added from 

 time to time to make up for the loss by evaporation. He lived in about a quart of water, 

 which was placed in a large globe, this U-ing kept dark by an outer covering of t'reen baize. 

 Perhaps half a pint of water may have been added during two yean. 



" He was not once fed while he was in confinement, and one of his compunioas died soon 

 after taking a worm before he had been two years in this country. 



"The one I kept was very active, and his movements were as rapid as those of an eel. 

 He was thinner just before death than when he was brought from the cave, but the loss of 

 substance was so very slow as not to be perceptible from year to year, and to the last he 

 retained the power of performing very active muscular movements. 



His external gills always contracted when a strong light was thrown upon them. The 

 circulation of the blood in the vessels of these organs was very often exhibited : the animal 

 being placed in a long tube with a flat extremity, provided with an arrangement for the 

 constant supply of water, and on several occasions some of the large blood corpuscles were 

 removed for the purpose of microscopical examination, so that the animal was not placed 

 under the most favorable circumstances for living without food. 



"There are probably very fewmorestrikin^ewimplesof very slow death from starvation 

 than this, and it is probable that the ultimately fatal results were as much caused by confine- 

 ment, change of air and temperature, and occasional exposure to light for some hours, as 

 from mere starvation. It is well known, for example, that, as a general rule, the Batrachia 

 endure starvation most remarkably.' 1 



VoLUL-M. 



