512 



covered witli v.atei' .several feet deej). To explore it 

 one must go in a boat and take a ij,uide, bolli of wliicli 

 are alwa3s obtainable. The boat's bow is furnished 

 witli a large light, othei'wise it ^Yould be impossible to 

 see anything in the Stygian darkness that invades 

 every nook and corner of this weird opening that 

 penetrates the bowels of mother earth. This place, 

 called Peiai's Cave, is the soui-ce of Penn's creek. The 

 stream, with its several feeders, is noted for the 

 abundance and excellence of speckled beauties (trout) 

 they contain. Few sections of the State afford better 

 Ruffed Grouse shoo'ting than is to be found in the 

 mountains around these cool, healthful and rapidly- 

 flowing streams. Penn's Cave — a modest, old-fashion- 

 ed summer resort — can be reached by a branch of tlie 

 Northern Central Railroad, which extends from Mon- 

 tandon to Pellefonte. In the winter season the cave is 

 the harboring place of thousands of Bats which con- 

 gregate in great masses on the limestone rocks where 

 they escape the piercing winter's cold, and remain in 

 quiet, hani:ony and contentment, unless their hiding 

 place is ii.A^aded by human beings, when they crawl 

 over one another or fly aimlessly about the boat and 

 its occupants, uttering all the while, in their squeaking 

 way, tlie mc-st violent protests at being aroused from 

 their winter's nap. 



Bats are beneficial. They destroy great numbers of 

 insects — particularly flying species. They do not dis- 

 turb the young of birds nor do they destroy yo'ung 

 chickens as some persons suppose they do. 



THE OPOSSUM. 



We have a single species of the Opossum — the only 

 marsupial in the State — and of this animal's breeding 



