452 THE PROTEUS. 
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 con- 
sidered, 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 thescience of comparative anatomv, 
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 accommodare their condition as nearly as possible tu that of their 
native waters. I have had many opportunities of seeing some tine 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. 
The gills of the Proteus are very apparent; and of a reddish colour, on 
account of the blood that circulates through them. I have often witnessed 
this phenomenon by means of the ingenious arrangement invented by Dr. 
Beale, by which the creature was held firmly in its place while a stream of 
water was kept constantly flowing through the tube in which it was confined. 
The blood-discs of this animal are of extraordinary size; so large, indeed, 
that they can be distinguished with a common pocket magnifier, even while 
passing through the vessels. Some of the blood-corpuscles of the specimen 
described above are now in my possession, and, together with those of the 
lepidosiren, form a singular contrast to the blood-corpuscles of man, the 
former exceeding the latter in dimensions as an ostrich egg exceeds that of a 
pigeon. - 
The colour of the Proteus is pale faded flesh tint, with a wash of grey. 
The eyes are quite useless, and are hidden beneath the skin, those organs 
being needless in the dark recesses where the Proteus lives. Its length is 
about a foot. 
