RECORDS. 647 



Summary of Papers. 



Dr. Call records in this paper the number and classification of 

 the fauna of Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. It includes remarks 

 on the distribution within the cave and on the habits of the sev- 

 eral forms. These habits were not dissimilar to those exhibited 

 by related groups not epigeal and were beHeved to be indicative of 

 out-of-door origin. Thus, thehabit of hiding under sticks and stones 

 in a region of perpetual darkness, from enemies who like them- 

 selves were devoid of eyes, or if possessing them, were so aborted 

 that they were useless, was cited as an indication that the earlier 

 ancestors of the present cave species were out-door species which 

 became adopted to their changed environment but had not lost 

 the habits acquired by their ancestor above ground. 



The various forms of spiders, the coleoptera, the orthoptera, 

 all exhibit habits quite similar to those of species which live above 

 ground. 



The so-called " cave rat," popularly beHeved to be blind, is in 

 fact not so. Experiments on specimens kept in captivity for 

 some time seem to indicate that the power of vision was only 

 lessened, but not destroyed, by the change in environment. 



The nest-building habits of the cave Neotoina were given at 

 some length and it was remarked that much of materials left by 

 earlier explorers was utilized by these animals for nest-building 

 materials. With this habit was correlated the supposed antiq- 

 uity of certain piles of canes, partly burnt, left by the aboriginal 

 visitors to the cave and commonly believed to be of very great 

 age from the fact that they were found under large rocks " which 

 must have fallen after" the piles were formed. This conclusion 

 was rendered invalid by the observation that many of these piles 

 contained the fragments of cane with burnt ends arranged in 

 every possible manner and were evidently simply carried thither 

 by these animals in building nests among the loose rocks. To- 

 bacco plant buds, acorns, hickory nuts, and similar miscellaneous 

 matters testify to the recency of these piles in opposition to the 

 theory of great age. 



The colors of certain of the coleoptera, chestnut brown or 

 mahogany, were cited as an indication of rather recent origin, the 



