THE PROTEUS. 185 



The next order of Crawling Batrachians is called by the name of Meantia, and contains a 

 very few but very remarkable species. In all these creatures the body is long and smooth, 

 without scales, and the gills are very conspicuous, retaining their position throughout the 

 life of the animal. There are always two or four limbs, furnished with toes, but these 

 members are very weak, and indeed rudimentary, and both the palate and the lower jaw are 

 toothed. 



The first example of this order is the celebrated Proteus, discovered by the Baron de 

 Zois, in the extraordinary locality in which it dwells. 



At Adelsberg, in the duchy of Cai-niola, is a most wonderful cavern, called the Grotto of 

 the Maddalena, extending many hundred feet below the surface of the earth, and consequently 

 buried in the profoundest darkness. In this cavern exists a little lake, roofed with stalactites, 

 surrounded with masses of rock, and floored with a bed of soft mud, upon which the Proteus 

 may be seen crawling uneasily, as if endeavoring to avoid the unwelcome light by which its 

 presence is known. These creatures are not always to be found in the lake, though after heavy 

 rains they are tolerably abundant, and the road by which they gain admission is at present 

 a mystery. 



The theory of Sir H. Davy is, "that their natural residence is a deep subterraneous 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 at Sittich." 



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

 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 England, and have sur- 

 vived for a considerable time when their owners have taken pains to accommodate their con- 

 dition 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 : — 



"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, l)ut 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 corpuscles were 

 removed for the laurpose 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 starvation 

 than this, and it is probable that the ultimately fatal results were as much caused by confine- 

 ment, change of air and temperature, and occasional exposure to light for some hours, as 

 from mere starvation. It is well known, for example, that, as a general rule, theBatrachia 

 endure starvation most remarkably." 



Vol m.— 24. 



