388 J.C. Dalton, Jr., on the Proteus anguinus. 
very abundant, however, and as they can be taken only when 
the water is perfectly clear, it is seldom that more than 15 or 20 
are obtained during the course of a year. 'The animals should 
be kept afterward in obscurity, and at a temperature as nearly as 
possible resembling that of the grotto. It 1s necessary, also, to 
change the water in which they are kept regularly every day. 
With these precautions it is said they may be preserved alive for 
an indefinite length of time. I have myself kept one of them 
for several weeks without giving it any food, and at the end of 
that time it was as active, and nearly as well-conditioned as ever; 
only the branchize had become somewhat smaller. I am told by 
Mr. Fitzinger, the Superintendent of the Department of Reptiles 
in the Vienna Zoological Museum, that they have been kept at 
the Museum for over six years, without any other food than the 
organic matters usually existing in fresh water. : 
It is very commonly believed that the Proteus is found only in 
the Magdalena Grotto. This, however, is an error; as it appears, 
by a report of Mr. Fitzinger’s to the Imperial Academy of Sci- 
ences, in Oct. 1850, that there are no less than thirty-one differ- 
ent localities in which the animal is said to have been found since 
it was first discovered in 1751. Mr. Fitzinger, himself, has seen 
specimens from eleven different localities. Of these the Magda- 
lena Grotto supplied much the greater number, viz.: 312 out of 
479. The reporter states that, in almost every instance, the aml- 
mals coming from different grottoes, present such striking pecu- 
liarities in size, color and shape, that they cannot be consi ered 
as belonging to the same species. Accordingly, he rejects the 
the old name of Proteus Anguinus and adopts instead the generie 
name ‘‘ Hypochthon.” In this genus he comprises seven differ- 
ent species, as follows: ; 
Hypochthon Zoisii, Hypochthon Laurentii; 
i Schreibersii, “ xanthostictus, 
$ Freyeri, sf * Carrare. 
os Haidingeri, : pee 
Six of these species are found in various grottoes of Carniola, 
and the seventh in Dalmatia. ‘Two different species never exist 
together in the same locality, though sometimes the same ee 
is found in more than one grotto. One of the principal marks 
distinction is their size; the maximum length of the different 
Species varying from 94 to 114 inches. The tint of the skin 1s 
Im some species more rosy, in others yellowish. he head 1s 
haped, triangular, or more globular in form. The eyes, 
also, are more distinctly visible in some species than in others; 
and vary somewhat as to their situation. 
The living Specimen from which the drawing for the ~ 
was made (fig. 1) came from the Magdalena Grotto. It 
ongs to the ibed 
l smallest of the species described. by Mr. Fitzinges 
