1881.] The Fauna of the Nickajack Cave. 877 
flavor of Scotch whisky. Its percentage of alcohol is about that 
of whisky, perhaps a little higher; it burns readily with a yellow- 
ish, purple flame, leaving an intensely bitter residue, and gives an 
acid reaction with litmus paper. | 
Sotol mescal is a pure, wholesome alcoholic drink; if the best 
brand be kept long enough to lose its sharp edge, it compares 
favorably with good whisky ; Mexicans prefer it, and with reason, 
to the ordinary frontier whisky, and the American toper takes 
kindly to it if the latter be not readily accessible. On account 
of its cheapness and characteristic taste, mescal is very seldom 
adulterated. As far as I have observed, it has no peculiar effect 
upon the system; stomach, liver and kidney troubles, which 
might be referred to its action, are very rare, nor do the acid, 
pungent and bitter elements, contained in it, seem to affect any 
of the organs unfavorably. In the parlance of the toper, and to 
his thinking no mean advantage, tnere is much less headache in 
it than in whisky. 
This sotol mescal should not be confounded with maguey mes- 
cal, or tayuile, the product of the maguey plant, Agave amert- 
ana, and the liquor perhaps more generally known under the 
name of mescal in the United States; it is extensively manufac- 
tured in the interior Mexican States from the abundant sap col- 
lected in the cavity made by removing the young central leaves. 
Although much like it in taste and effects, it is a finer article 
than the former and commands a higher price. 
:0:-—— 
THE FAUNA OF THE NICKAJACK CAVE. 
BY E. D. COPE AND A. S. PACKARD, JR. 
f leas cave is situated near that point of the southern boundary 
of Tennesse where it is joined by the line which separates 
the States of Georgia and Alabama. In dimensions it ranges 
with the Mammoth and Wyandotte caves of Kentucky and Indi- 
ana, whose faunz have already been described in earlier volumes 
of the Naruratist. Many miles of galleries have been explored, 
and no end has yet been reached. The entrance is in the north- 
€rn side of a hill, not far from the road that passes on the south 
side of the bottom of the Tennessee river. It is of much more 
imposing proportions than that of either of the caves already 
Mentioned, The visitor climbs the hill from the road, following — 
