THE PROTEUS. 193 



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 Sittich." 



Whatever may be the solution of the problem, the discovery of this animal is ex- 

 tremely valuable, not only as an aid to the science of comparative anatomy, but as 

 affording another instance of the strange and wondrous forms of animal life which still 

 survive in hidden and unsuspected nooks of the earth. 



Many of 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 seeing 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. Dr. Beale has kindly forwarded to 

 me the following account of these curious creatures : 



PROTETUS. Proteus aaguinus. 



11 One of the Proteuses I brought over from Adelsberg lived for five years, and, what 

 is very interesting, passed four years of his life in the same water, a little fresh being 

 added from time to time to make up for the loss by evaporation. He lived in about a 

 quart of water, which was placed in a large globe, this being kept dark by an outer 

 covering of green baize. Perhaps half a pint of water may have been added during two 

 years. 



He was not once fed while he was in confinement, and one of his companions died 

 soon after taking a worm before he had been two years in this country. 



The one I kept was very active, and his movements were as rapid as those of an eel. 

 He was thinner just before death than when he was brought from the cave, but the 

 loss of substance was so very slow as not to be perceptible from year to year, and to 

 the last he retained the power of performing very active muscular movements. 



His external gills always contracted when a strong light was thrown upon them. The 

 circulation of the blood in the vessels of these organs was very often exhibited ; the 

 animal being placed in a long tube with a flat extremity, provided with an arrangement 

 for the constant supply of water, and on several occasions some of the large blood cor- 

 puscules were removed for the purpose of microscopical examination, so that the animal 

 was not placed under the most favorable circumstances for living without food. 



There are probably very few more striking examples of very slow death from starva- 

 tion than this, and it is probable that the utimately fatal results were as much caused 

 '3 



