8 FAUNA OF MAYFIELD'S CAVE. 



The Cave as a Unit of Environment. 

 location. 



Mayfield's Cave is 4.5 miles northwest of Bloomington, in the south 

 half of section 25, township 9 north, range 2 west, Richland Township, 

 Monroe County, Indiana. It is in the Mitchell limestone of the upper 

 half of the Subcarboniferous. It is in latitude about 39.5° north. The 

 mean annual temperature of the region is about 53.5° F. (11.9° C.),* 

 and the mean annual precipitation 40.05 inches. 



The mouth of the cave is squarely in the face of a low bluff of lime- 

 stone, 12 feet high, which forms the head of a winding valley, so 

 narrow as almost to be called a ravine. This valley, once a part of 

 the cave, is the course of the ancient stream which ran through the cave. 

 The cave, which was formerly much longer than now, has been shortened 

 by the tumbling in of the roof near the mouth, the debris having been 

 carried away by the agency of water. The valley, during times of 

 heavy rains, still serves as an outlet for the water which floods through 

 the cave. The cave is a little more than one-fourth mile long 

 and varies from 6 to 20 feet in width and 5 to 12 feet in height to 

 passages so small one can scarcely crawl through them. The cave 

 stream still exists, but it no longer flows through the whole cave, having 

 found a new outlet into the head of a little valley to the east of the 

 mouth, t where it gives rise to a spring. From this spring flows an 

 above-ground stream. This outlet for the cave stream is relatively 

 recent, but it has existed long enough for the stream to have formed 

 quite a spur from the valley into which it originally made its way. A 

 ridge extends between the valley at the mouth of the cave and the 

 valley through which the present stream finds its outlet. To the south 

 rises a hill perhaps 200 feet in height, under the edge of which the inner 

 portion of the cave extends. The accompanying map (plate 2) was 

 made after carefully running a line through the cave, and is about 

 correct as to the course of the cave, except possibly the ''cork-screw" 

 passage. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



The mouth of the cave is boarded up, and entrance is gained through 

 a small door. The cave was formerly used for storing fruit and vege- 

 tables during winter. The cavern leads into the hill on a level with 

 the ravine as a straight passage 14 feet wide by 12 feet high. The 



*U. S. Weather Bureau statistics for six years give an average of 54.4° F. for eleven 

 months, April not included. 



tSee map of cave and topographic map of surroimding region (plate 2). 



