20 GENERAL REMARKS ON CAVE FAUNA. 



and the Corneale cave at Trieste. The only plant found was a 

 sort of fungus, Byssus fulvus Linn. The only vertebrate is the 

 singular salamander, Hypochthon (Proteus) anguinus, found in the 

 Magdalina river. No shells were found. Regarding the articu- 

 lates he writes : 



"On searching along the w r alls within the entrance of the caves, 

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

 river, we meet w T ith a considerable number of Insecta, Myriopoda, 

 Arachnida and Crustacea, of various families which shun daylight ; 

 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, Ptinns, Ceraphron, 

 Belyta, a grasshopper of the Locust family, probably the Raphido- 

 pJwra cavicola Fischer, as it was only seen in the larva state, Trich- 

 optera, Sciara, Psychoda, Phora, Heteromyza, Sapromyza, Tomoce- 

 rus, Linyphia, Gamasus, Cryptops, Julus, and Asellus. In pro- 

 portion as we recede from the entrance the number of species as 

 well as individuals greatly decreases, 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. ( ma- 

 culata Meig., Heteromyza flampes Zett., and Sapromyza cJirysoph- 

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

 remotest accessible places in 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 likewise acci- 

 dental specimens of the parasites of the latter. Of the five ear- 

 lier known animals which inhabit these caves, I found Pnstonyclia 

 elegans Dej. rather frequently, and Homalota spelcea Er. in consid- 

 erable numbers. Besides these are Anopihalmus Sclimidtii, which 

 is very rare, and the wood louse, Titanethes alba. The new forms 

 he found were a beetle (Bathyscia byssina) allied to our Adelops ;* 

 Stagdbius troglodytes, an aberrant genus of Silphids ; a Podurid, 

 Anurophorus Stillicidii; and the two blind arachnidans, one a spi- 

 der allied to Dysdera, the Stalita tcenaria, and a false-spider, Blo- 

 thrus spelceus. Among the Crustacea he found Nipliargus stygius^ 



*Lud\vig Muller enumerates four other species of Adelops from theee caves, and 

 three species from France, and Maclicerites spelcetis, in Verhandl. Zool. Bot. Vereins, 

 Wien, 1855, p. 505. See also Heller's Beitrage zur Bsterreieh. Grotteu-Fauna. (Myrio- 

 poda and Crustacea.) Vienna, 1858. He describes a myriopod with rudimentary eyes 

 (Trachysphceria Schmidtii) allied to Glomeris, and another blind species (Brachydesmus 

 subterraneus) allied to Polydesmus ; also a new Titlianethes ( T. graniyer), and notices 

 Monolistra cceca Gerst. Wankel (18(51) also found a new rhalangid (Leiobunum troglo- 

 dytes) witli distinct eyes and four species of mites in the caves of Eastern Austria. The 

 mites are Scyphius spelceus, Linopodes subterraneus, Gamasus loricatus and G. niveus. 

 Mill an additional species of Trachysphama (T. HyrtHi). See also Ehrenberg's list 01 

 cave insects (Monabsberichte der Akad. Berlin. 18(51.) 



t Several species of Niphargus occur in the wells and hot springs in Europe. Accord- 



