90 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 



nized and respected in scientific circles. In " Sil- 

 liman's Journal" for January, 1851,, p. 127, Pro- 

 fessor Louis Agassiz, perhaps the most eminent 

 living naturalist, especially in the department 

 of ichthyology, in reply to a letter of inquiry 

 from the senior editor of the "Journal," remarks, 



" The blind fish of the Mammoth Cave was 

 for the first time described in 1842, in the Zool- 

 ogy of New York, by Dr. Dekay, Part 3d, page 

 187, under the name of 'Amblyopsis spelaeus,' 

 and referred, with doubt, to the family of ' Silu- 

 ridge,' on account of a remote resemblance to 

 my genus Cetopsis. Dr. J. Wyman has pub- 

 lished a more minute description of it, with very 

 interesting anatomical details, in vol. xlv. of the 

 ^American Journal of Science and Arts,' 1843, 

 page 94. 



"In 1844 Dr. Tellkampf published a more 

 extended description, with figures, in 'Miiller's 

 Archiv' for 1844, and mentioned several other 

 animals found also in the Cave, among which the 

 most interesting is a Crustacean, which he calls 

 'Astacus pellucidus,' already mentioned, but not 

 described, by Mr. Thompson, President of the 

 Natural History Society of Belfast. Both Thomp- 

 son and Tellkampf speak of eyes in these spe- 

 cies ; but they are mistaken. I have examined 



