THE BLIND FISHES OF MAMMOTH CAVE. 13 
Prof. Agassiz in 1851* stated that the blind fish was an aber- 
rant form of the Cyprincdontes. 
Thus all those authors who have expressed an opinion as to the 
position which the fish should hold in the natural system have 
come to the same conclusions as to the great group, division, or 
order, into which it should be placed. For all the terms used 
above, when reduced to any one system, bring Amblyopsis into 
the same general position in the system; its nearest allies be- 
ing the minnows, pickerels, shiners and herrings; and unless a 
careful study of its skeleton should prove to the contrary, we 
must, from present data, consider the family containing Amblyop- 
sis as more nearly allied to the Cyprinodontes, or our common 
minnows having teeth on the jaws, than to any other family, differ- 
ing from them principally by the structure of the several parts of 
the alimentary canal and the forward position of its termination. 
I have thus far mentioned only one species of blind fish from 
the cave, the Amblyopsis speleus. The waters of the cave not only 
contain another species of blind fish, differing from Amblyopsis in 
several particulars, especially by its smaller size and by being with- 
out ventral fins, which I have identified as the Typhlichthys subter- 
raneus of Dr. Girard; but also a fish with well developed eyes, 
as proved by the account given by Dr. Tellkampf and by the 
drawing of a fish found by Prof. Wyman, in 1856, in the stomach 
of an Amblyopsis he was dissecting. In order to call attention to 
the fact that fishes with eyes are at times, if not always, in the 
waters of the cave, I have reproduced the drawing by Prof. Wy- 
man on plate 1, fig. 13. It is very much to be regretted that the 
specimen is not now to be found, and that it was so much acted 
on by the gastric juice as to destroy all external characters by 
which it could be identified from the drawing, which is of about 
natural size. Dr. Tellkampf’s remarks on the fish with eyes are 
as follows : — 
“ Besides the Te blind-fish, there are also others found in 
i cave, — e black, commonly known by the name of ‘ mud- 
fish.’ wa i iored fish in the water, but did not suce2ed 
n catching nich The latter are said to have eyes, and are entirely 
rae Pavan to the blind-fish.” 
The name ‘‘ mud-fish,” given to this fish with eyes, and the state- 
ment that it is of a dark color, together with the drawing by Prof. 
*Silliman’s Journal. p. 128, 
