GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE OF BLIND FISH. 43 



dotted outline in fig. 1 e is quite large when compared with that of 

 a Leuciscus of about the same dimensions as the blind-fish here 

 described." WYMAN, SillitnaiCs Journal, Vol. 17, p. 259, 1854. 



The Amblyopsis spelceus undoubted!} 7 has quite an extensive 

 distribution, probably existing in all the subterranean rivers that 

 flow through the great limestone region underlying the Carbonif- 

 erous rocks in the central portion of the United States. Prof. 

 Cope obtained specimens from the Wyandotte Cave and from wells 

 in its vicinity, and in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at 

 Cambridge there is a specimen labelled "from a well near Lost 

 River, Orange Co., Ind.," which, with those from the Wyandotte 

 Cave, is conclusive evidence of its being found on the northern 

 side of the Ohio* as well as on the southern, in the rivers of the 

 Mammoth Cave. I have been able to examine a number of speci- 

 mens from the Mammoth Cave, and have carefully compared with 

 them the one from the well in Orange Co., Ind., and find that the 

 specific characters are remarkably constant. 



In 1859 1 Dr. Girard described a blind fish, received by the 

 Smithsonian Institution from J. E. Younglove, Esq., who obtained 

 it "from a well near Bowling Green, Ky." The general appear- 

 ance of this fish, which was only one and a half inches in length, 

 was that of Amblyopsis spdwus, but it differed from that species 

 in several characters, especially by the absence of ventral fins. 

 Dr. Girard therefore referred the fish to a distinct genus under the 

 name of Typhlichthys\ subterraneus. Dr. Giinther considers this 

 fish a variety of Amblyopsis spelceus and records the specimen in 

 the British Museum "' from the Mammoth Cave," as " half-grown." |j 



By the kindness of Prof. Agassiz, I have been enabled to exam- 

 ine nine specimens of blind Jish without ventrals, in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology. Seven of these were collected in the Mam- 

 moth Cave by Mr. Alpheus Hyatt in September, 1859. One was 

 from Moulton, Lawrence County, Alabama, presented by Mr. 

 Thomas Peters ; and another from Lebanon, Wilson Co., Tennes- 

 see ; presented by Mr. J. M. Safford. It is not stated whether 



* I have also been informed by Mr. Holmes of Lansing, Mich., that blind fishes have 

 been drawn out of wells in Michigan, 

 t Proceedings Acacl. Nat. Sci. Philad., p. 63. 



J Blind fish. 



Catalogue of Fishes in the British Museum, Vol. 7, p. 2, 1868. 



II The largest specimen I have seen of Typhlichthys is one and seventeen-twentieths 

 inches in length, and the smallest Amblyopsis one and eighteen-twentieths inches. 



