110 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



room is, in truth, a fairy grotto, decked with jewels 

 resplendent, and a view of it will well repay for all 

 the time and toil necessary to step within its bounds. 



Animal life was represented by but few forms in 

 Coon Cave. Several bats were found hanging, head 

 downward, from the roof, but all were of the single 

 common species, the little brown bat, Vespertilio subu- 

 latus Say. In winter they are found in the cave by 

 thousands, suspended from the roof and projections 

 of the walls, their bodies remaining in a state of com- 

 parative torpor for months in succession. 



Several specimens of a cave-inhabiting beetle, 

 Quedius spelceus Horn, were found beneath stones 

 within 300 feet of the entrance. This is a twilight 

 form, the adults of which are not wholly blind, and 

 usually lives in the dim light near the entrances of 

 caves, feeding upon the excrement or decaying re- 

 mains of such animals as frequent the place. A few 

 flies were found on the walls and near them two kinds 

 of spiders were taken showing that here, as else- 

 where, the fly is followed by the spider, with the ever 

 ready invitation "to walk into his parlor." 



By far the most common form of life in this, as in 



many other of the caves visited, was a small whitish 



insect, Degeeria cavernarum Pack., about one-eighth 



of an inch in length and belonging 



to the order Tkusanura. Like most 

 Spring-tail. 



other cave-inhabiting insects, it occurs 



only in comparatively moist places, often swarming 

 by thousands beneath or on the surface of damp 

 rocks, especially where organic matter, such as the 

 remains of lunches, drippings of candles, decaying 



