498 The American Naturalist [June , 



the supply, seemed to be requested by the latter to " give me some ; " a 

 request that did not seem to be refused. Soon pairs of ants became 

 locked together mandible to mandible, the one giving, the other receiv- 

 ing, a drop of honey. As quickly as a lepismid perceived this condi- 

 tion of affairs, he rushed in between the pair and intercepted the drop 

 or a portion of it in its passage, and then retreated precipitately, but 

 only to treat another pair in a similar manner, and so on until his 

 hunger was appeased. Lepisma then is not in the ant hill for an exchange 

 of services, like some of the staphylinds ; nor to be " milked," like the 

 aphid, nor to be a common parasite, nor a common thief; but is there 

 as more or less of a wary freebooter. — F. C. K. 



Lipophrys a Substitute for Pholis.— In my article on the 

 application of the name Pholis to the gunnels, I find a note was omit- 

 ted, replacing the homonymous name of the blennioid genus. As the 

 latter will be left without a proper name on account of the preoccu- 

 pation of the one it has so long borne by the gunnel, a new one will 

 be requisite for the blennioid genus, then, I propose the designation 

 Lipophrys (At-, indicating want or absence; ov''/"^ eyebrow) 3 in illu- 

 sion to the absence of the superciliary cirri, and its type is the common 

 BUan'vt* pho/is (Linn) of Europe. 



I have given the family name Pholididce, because there are some 

 who will not retain Xiphidion on account of the existence of a prior 

 Xiphidium, and therefore would not adopt the family name derived 

 from that genus. If, however, the latter is retained, it would be better 

 modified as Xiphidiidce.— Theodore Gill. 



Blind Batrachia and Crustacea from the Subterranean 

 Waters of Texas.— From an artesian well, 188 feet deep, recently 

 bored at San Marcos, Texas, there were expelled more than a dozen 

 specimens of a remarkable batrachian, together with numerous crusta- 

 ceans. The latter are described by Mr. Benedict, and the batrachian 

 by Dr. Stejneger. 



The crustaceans comprise numerous shrimps (one new species, Palce- 

 wtonete* "n^rorum, a lesser number of Isopods of a new genus (Ciro- 

 lanides), and a very few Amphipods. 



All the species are white, blind and have unusually long, slender 

 feet and antenna. 



The Batrachian, for which Stejneger creates a new genus, is de- 

 scribed under the name Typhlomolge rathbuni. It belongs to the 

 family Proteida3, and is more nearly allied to Necturusthan to Proteus. 



3 In analogy with kino-fiU^Ape^, without eyelids, and XiizoyAr^x;, with- 

 out eyeballs, or sightless. 



