THE BLIND FISHES OF MAMMOTH CAVE. 9 
The fishes which in a general way, so far as blindness, tactile 
sense and mode of life are concerned, come the nearest to the blind 
fishes of the Mammoth Cave, are those described by Prof. Poey* 
under the names of Lucifuga subterraneus and L. dentatus.t 
hese fishes having the broad, flattened, fleshy head, with minute 
cilia, without external eyes, and inhabiting caves so similar in 
structure to the Mammoth Cave, make a comparison of them with 
the fishes of the Mammoth Cave most interesting. This is greatly 
enhanced by the fact that the Cuban fishes belong to a family of 
essentially marine habit, quite far removed from Amblyopsis. 
The fresh water ling (Lota), belonging to the same great group 
of fishes (though to a distinct family or subfamily) containing the 
cod on the one hand and the Cuban blind fish on the other, is 
probably the nearest fresh water relative of the Cuban fish, but 
the nearest representative yet known is the marine genus Brotula, 
one species of which is found in the Caribbean Sea. 
n the Cuban blind fish we find ciliary appendages on the 
head and body quite distinctly developed, evidently of the same 
character as those of Amblyopsis and answering the purpose of 
tactile organs. These cilia are in the form of small, but plainly 
visible, protuberances (reminding one of the single fleshy protu- 
berance over the opercular opening just back of the head in Ambly- 
opsis). There are eight of these on top of the head of a speci- — 
men I hastily examined, received from Prof. Poey by the Museum 
of Comparative Zoology, and quite a number arranged in three 
rows on each side of the body, showing that tactile sense is well 
developed in this fish ; though it is rather singular that the barbels 
on the jaws, so usually developed as organs of touch in the cod 
family and its allies, are entirely wanting in this fish. 
The brain of Lucifuga subterraneus, as represented by the figures 
of Poey, differs very much from that of L. dentatus and of Ambly- 
opsis. In all, the optic lobes are as largely developed as in allied 
fishes provided with well developed eyes. In Lucifuga subterra- 
neus the cerebral lobes are separated by quite a space from the 
* Memorias Sobre la Historia =. de la Isla de Cuba, por Felipe Poey. Tomo 2. 
pp. 95-114. Pls. 9,10, 11. Haban 
t This species was afterwards n o the genus aae Gill, on account of the 
ati There a 
eral other good characters, to judge from the figures of the Di skull and brain given 
= kad that would warrant the ores of the fish to a distinct genus from L. subter 
