THE BLIND FISHES OF MAMMOTH CAVE. 15 
obtained in a stream that passes into the Wyandotte Cave, though 
he entered it by means of a well in the vicinity of the cave, says 
that : — 
“Tf these Amblyopses be not alarmed they come to the surface 
to feed, and swim in full sight like white aquatic ghosts. They are 
then easily taken by the hand or net, if perfect silence be pre- 
served, for hay are beeen iow of the presence of an enemy 
dently very acu | for at any ar “they turn suddenly downward, 
and hide nin stones, etc., on the bottom. They must take 
apparently very sparse. This habit is rendered easy by the struc- 
ture of the fish, for the mouth is directed upwards, and the head i is 
very flat above, thus allowing the mouth to be at the surface.” 
The blind fish has a single ovary, in common with several genera 
of viviparous Cyprinodontes. In three female specimens of Am- 
blyopsis which I have opened, the ovary was distended with large 
eggs, but no signs of the embryo could be traced. In these three 
specimens it was the right ovary that was developed, and this, as 
in the figure (Plate 2, fig. 1c), was by the side of the stomach 
and did not extend beyond it. The number of eggs contained in 
the ovary was not far from one hundred in the specimen figured. 
As the embryos develop, the mass probably pushes further 
back in the cavity and also extends the abdominal walls. That 
the fish is viviparous is proved by the statement made by Mr. 
Thompson before the Belfast Natural History Society,* that one 
of the blind fishes from the cave, four and a half inches long, 
‘was put in Water as soon as captured, where it gave birth to 
nearly twenty young, which swam about for some time, but soon 
die These, with the exception of one or two, were carefully 
preserved, and fifteen of them are now before us [at the meeting, 
I wish they were here], they were each four lines in length.” 
It is singular that no mention is made regarding these young, as 
to the presence or absence of eyes, and, as if it was fated that this 
important point should remain unnoticed as long as possible, if is 
equally singular that Dr. Steindachner omitted to examine some 
very young specimens which he received from a friend a few 
months since and sent to the Vienna Museum, where they will 
remain unexamined until he returns there. I saw the Doctor only 
* Annals and Mag. of Natural History, Vol. xiii, pp. 112, 1844. 
