October 28, 1892,] 



SCIENCE. 



241 



the rumbling of vehicles (not more than twenty feet away) pafs- 

 ing on a road overhead coull be distinctly heard. In all proba- 

 bility the beetles of this cave penetrate much neuter the surface 

 than this. Some of the other species are common under rpcks 

 und wood in the shade of overhanging cliffs at the mouths of 

 •caves, where they are associated with the Carabidie commonly 

 found in such places. The isolation, such as it is, is largely vol- 

 untary on the part of the insects, and I can see nothing in the 

 ■surroundings or habits which would indicate that they have ever 

 been more completely isolated than they are now. I believe, on 

 4he contrary, that they ar« more completely isolated now, from 

 specialization, than ever before. 



In short, a reconnaissance of the zoology of Kentucky, which 

 the writer has had an opportunity to make during the past two 

 years, satisfies him that the evolution of the structures which 

 •characterize our cave species is to be considered apart from the 

 question as to the age of Mimmoth Cave, and that the origin of 

 ■our aquatic cave fauna is in some respects a separate question 

 from that touching the origin of the insect fauna. 



Of these matters I hope to have something further to present in 

 the future. Of the insects I may say now that there appears to 

 have been after the Oharaplain perioJ a migration towards Mam- 

 moth Cave of cave insects from the south and east, where the 

 ■continent had not been so greatly affected by changes of level as 

 was the Mississippi valley. Some observations in my possession 

 tend to show that cave species are now abundant in the vicinity 

 ■of the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. In fact much of the 

 •eastern end of the State appears to be adapted to an extensive 

 ■subterranean fauna It was a source of wonder to me during the 

 first few months of my residence at Lexington how the rainfall 

 disappeared so rapidly. A. precipitation, which in central Illinois 

 would have left its traces in muddy roads and swollen streams for 

 weeks, disappears here in the course of forty-eight hours, having 

 been swallowed up by a network of fissures in the underlying 

 limestone and hurried down to the Kentucky River. These fis- 

 ■sures are co-extensive with the Trenton limestone of this locality, 

 and constitute the natural drainage system of the blue grass 

 region of Kentucky. The wonder is not where the rainfall goes, 

 but that any at all should remain at the surface. It early oc- 

 ■curred to me that one might find cave animals in these fissures 

 -could he but get access to them. This can be done in som'e cases 

 in quarries, and I can say as the result of preliminary exploration 

 that some cave insects do occur here, and that at least one blind 

 beetle is as abundant as it well could be. On a single visit to one 

 of these opiened channels I have, with the aid of a pupil, taken 

 over one hundred specimens of the new species here described. 

 It is without trace of external organs of vision, but like the earth- 

 worms possesses the power of recognizing light, a power which is 

 evidently of some importance to it. It occurs in channels seem- 

 ingly wherever there is food and moisture, and may be collected 

 in the dim light near the openings. For some time I have kept 

 forty individuals of this little beetle in my cellar where it appears 

 to be perfectly at home, although during the day the light is 

 never wholly excluded from its quarters. It wanders about 

 freely, but may be sent scampering to cover by a flash of strong 

 light. The food evidently consists of dead animal matter, such 

 as insects and small mammals which are carried into fissures by 

 freshets. This supply must be very great, though perhaps some- 

 what irregular; but this latter Is a feature of the available food 

 supply of many ordinary insects. Dead grasshoppers carried 

 into the fissures are eagerly devoured. Food is evidently dis- 

 covered by the sense of smell. In three minutes after placing a 

 freshly killed grasshopper on the ground in one of the channels, 

 several beetles were found at work on it. In confinement the 

 beetles collect on such food after the manner of small ants, and 

 eventually leave only the empty crust. 



Anophthahnus Jioriii, n. s. Somewhat depressed; smooth and 

 shining; bead, thorax, elytra, and abdomen everywhere provided 

 with scant, erect, microscopic pubescence. Head oval; cheeks 

 rounded; dorsal linear impressions rather deep; surface between 

 the impressions very finely transversely rugulose; mentum tooth 

 prominent, bicuspid. Antennse densely pubescent excepting the 

 ^thickened basal segment, which is smooth and shining, with a 



few hairs near its distal extremity. Thorax trapezoidal, larger 

 than the head; sides strongly arcuate in front; sinuate behind; 

 the hind angles acute but not produced ; basal impressions deep, 

 separated by a ridge at which the well-marked median linear 

 impression terminates; truncate behind, but with a shallow 

 emargination at each side separated by a wider median one; 

 margin of contracted posterior part a trifle convex before the pos- 

 terior angles. Elytra oblong oval, widest a little in front of 

 the middle, truncate in front with the rounded humeri rather 

 prominent; humeral margin obsoletely serrulate under a high 

 magnifying power ; striae very^ evident next the suture, be- 

 coming obscure next the outer margin, obsoletely punctured, 

 the third and fourth broken near the middle by a dorsal 

 puncture, the sutural stria recurved at the posterior extremity 

 of the elytron, joining the third; four rather strong punctures 

 within eagh humeral margin, the second of which gives rise 

 to one of the long setse. Color pale fulvous, fading on pos- 

 terior part of elytra to yellowish white, or cream color; curved 

 impressions of head, edge of prothorax behind and at sides, rims 

 about coxae, etc., darker; length of body 3.67^ millimeters; 

 antenna, 2-'2.23 millimeters; length of head, 0.64 millimeter; 

 width of head, 0.60 millimeter; length of thorax, 0.72 milli- 

 meter; width of thorax, 0.80 millimeter; width of thorax at 

 base, 0.66 millimeter. 



The species is closely related to A. pusio, Horn, from the Carter 

 caves of eastern Kentucky, agreeing in size, in the absence of 

 evident serrulation at the humeral margins of the elytra and 

 in the deep basal impressions of the prothorax. It differs 

 in the size and shape of the prothorax, A. pusio having a 

 very small prothorax, " not as long as the head and scarcely 

 larger," whereas in this beetle the prothorax is distinctly 

 larger than the head. The prothorax in A. pusio is as wide 

 as long, and contracts in vvidth somewhat gradually from 

 the front, while in the new species this division of the body is 

 broadly rounded at the sides, contracting rather abruptly behind. 

 A. pusio is said to have pubescence only at the bases of the elytra. 

 In this species the pubescence is rather scant, but is present on all 

 the surfaces. The new species was discovered within the cor- 

 porate limits of Lexington in the spring of 1890. It is named in 

 honor of Dr. G. H. Horn of Philadelphia, who has contributed 

 much towards an accurate knowledge of our species of Anoph- 

 thslmus. 



state College of Kentucky, Lexington, Oct. 8. 



THE BOTANICAL LIBRARY OF A STATION BOTANIST. 



B'y A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



Probably the most essential part of the special equipment of a 

 botanist to an experiment station is his working library. At least 

 a part of the work of a station should be original investigation. 

 In order that the results of his investigation should be an addition 

 to the sum total of the world's knowledge, it is obviously desira- 

 ble that the investigator should know all that has been published 

 on the subject up to the time he presents his own results to the 

 public. In the scientific world results ai'e said to be known when 

 they are put on record ; that is, when they are published. If all 

 the results of botanical investigation were published in one peri- 

 odical, it would be an easy matter to hunt up the literature on a 

 given subject. If all the results were to be found in botanical 

 periodicals in the English, French, or German language, our work 

 would be less easy, but still not difficult. But, lo ! where must 

 we look for our information ? In botanical periodicals in all 

 languages. I doubt if there be a station botanist in this country 

 who can readily read all the botanical literature published in 

 Europe. This statement will probably hold good if we exclude 

 the Hungarian, Polish, and Russian; and most of us are confined 

 to French, German, Latin, and possibly Italian. But this is not 

 the worst; we must look through the proceedings of a multitude 

 of scientific societies, prominent ones whose proceedings are 

 readily accessible in the larger libraries, others more or less local 

 and little known. But even this is not the worst; we find botani- 

 cal literature in periodicals or proceedings devoted to general 

 science, or even to miscellaneous matters. Sometimes it is tucked 



