NOTES AND LITERATURE 



NOTES ON ICHTHYOLOGY 

 One of the most important publications in ichthyology, as a 

 result of the stimulus given to zoology by our knowledge of 

 evolution, is the ' ' Cave Vertebrates of America," by Dr. Carl 

 H. Eigenmann, of the University of Indiana, published by the 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington. In this large and finely 

 printed volume is a complete discussion of caves and of cave 

 fauna, the greater part of this fauna being composed of blind 

 fishes. The caves of Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Cuba 

 have been especially investigated in this paper. Dr. Eigenmann 

 shows very conclusively that those species of fishes which are 

 the ancestors of the blind forms were of those types which avoid 

 the light, skulking in darkness in preference. Those fishes 

 which take their prey by sight alone are never represented 

 among the ancestors of cave fishes. Dr. Eigenmann adopts the 

 judgment, independently reached by Mr. Garman, that the 

 originals of the cave species (non-aquatic, especially) of Ken- 

 tucky were probably already adjusted to a life in the earth 

 before the caves were formed. Dr. Eigenmann concludes : 



1. That the cave fauna is in large part t he result of this forma- 

 tion of the caves themselves, that environment and habitat de- 

 veloped pari passu. 



2. That to this original fauna have been added and are being 

 added species (such as Sprlcrprs marirticainht) which, because 

 they are negatively heliotropic or positively stereotypic, are 

 gradually becoming adapted to the deeper and deeper recesses 

 of caves. 



3. That to the fauna of the larger eaves may also have been 

 added animals which had become adjusted to cave existence in 

 crevices, under banks or rocks, etc., that is, in small caves. 



4. That accident has played little or no part in developing 

 the cave fauna. 



As to the general cause of degeneration, Dr. Eigenmann is 

 inclined to take the Lamarckian view, involving the inheritance 

 of results of disuse. A number of species of blind lizards are 

 discussed, as well as certain blind fishes which are not found in 

 caves. Among these are the parasitic hag fishes, Polistotrema 

 stouti, of the coast of California, and the blind goby of Point 

 Loma, in California, Typhlogobius, which lives in the darkness 

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