173 



Measurements. Largest specimen, 4-5 inches total length. Smallest 

 specimen, 1-9 total length. 



Geographical distribution. Subterranean streams in Kentucky and 

 Indiana. 

 Specimens examined : 



PROF. WTMAN'S COLLECTION. 



7 specimens. Half grown and adults. Mammoth Cave. 

 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 

 7 specimens. No. 778. Half grown and rf $ adults. Mammoth Cave. * 



1 specimen. No.. Two-thirds grown. Cave near Lost River, Orange Co., Ind. 



BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



2 specimens. No. 840. Half grown. Mammoth Cave. 



PEABODY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



1 specimen. No. 520. Adult ?. Mammoth Ca've. 'Presented to Essex Insti- 

 tute in 1851 by N. Silsbee. 



Other specimens. Dr. Giinther mentions six specimens and a skele- 

 ton in the British Museum. Mr. Thompson, an adult and newly born 

 young in the collection of the Natural History Society of Belfast. 

 Dr. Steindachncr has recently sent an adult and eight young to 

 the Vienna Museum. The first specimen of which we have any 

 record was presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia; the second is the one described by DeKay and then in the 

 Lyceum of Natural History of New York. Prof. Cope obtained three 

 specimens from the waters of Wyanclottc Cave in Indiana. Dr. Tell- 

 kampf had several specimens from the Mammoth Cave, and it is prob- 

 able that 'specimens exist in nearly all the principal museums and in 

 many private collections, as about all that have been caught in the 

 Mammoth Cave for years have been sold by the .guides to visitors. 

 Habits. But little is known of the habits of the large blindflsh. 

 Dr. Tellkampf states that they are solitary; on the slightest motion 

 of the water they dart off a short distance, and that they are mostly 

 found near stones or rocks on the bottom, and seldom come to the 

 surface of the water. Prof. Cope states that if they are not alarmed 

 they come to the surface to feed, swim in full sight, and can then be 

 easily captured if perfect silence is preserved. He also thinks that 

 they are principally surface feeders. 



In the stomachs of several that I have opened the only remniui 

 found were those of Crayfish. In one specimen, opened by Dr. Wy- 

 man. a small fish with well developed eyes was found in the stomach. 

 (See Amer. Nat., vi, p. 13, PI. 1, fig. 13.) 



The eggs are well developed in September, and the young arc born 

 about the middle to last of October. The young when born are half 

 an inch or less in length, and are without external eyes. (See Amer. 

 Nat., Feb., 1872. The young there mentioned may possibly be those 

 of Typhlichthys.) 



