THE PKOTEUS. 527 



upon which the Proteus may be seen crawling uneasily, as if endeavor- 

 ing to avoid the unwelcome light by which its presence is made 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 admission 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 the places where they are 

 found ; and it does not appear to me 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 com- 

 parative anatomy, but as affording another instance of the strange and 

 w^ondrous forms of animal life which still survive in hidden and unsus- 

 pected nooks of the earth. 



Many o:' these animals have been brought in a living state to this 

 country, and have survived for a considerable time when their owners 

 have taken pains to accommodate their condition as nearly as possible 

 to that of their native waters. I have had many opportunities of see- 

 ing some fine specimens, brought by Dr. Lionel Beale from the cave at 

 Adelsberg. They could hardly be said to have any habits, and their 

 only custom seemed to be the systematic avoidance of light. 



The gills of the Proteus are very apparent, and of a reddish color, 

 on account of the blood that circulates througll them. I have often 

 witnessed this phenomenon by means of the ingenious arrangement in- 

 vented by Dr. Beale, by which the creature was held firmly in its place 

 while a stream of water was kept constantly flowing through the tube 

 in which it was confined. The blood-discs of this animal are of extra- 

 ordinary size — so large, indeed, that they can be distinguished with a 

 common pocket-magnifier, even while passing through the vessels. 

 Some of the blood-corpuscles of the specimen described above are now 

 in my possession, and, together with those of the lepidosiren, form a 

 singular contrast to the blood-corpuscles of man, the former exceeding 

 the latter in dimensions as an ostrich egg exceeds that of a pigeon. 



The color of the Proteus is pale faded flesh tint with a wash of gray. 

 The eyes are quite useless and are hidden beneath the skin, those or- 

 gans being needless in the dark recesses where the Proteus lives. Its 

 length is about a foot. 



