ORIGIN OF CAVE LIFE. 
25 
were inhabited by postpliocene mammalia and shells. The caves 
of Anguilla include remains of twelve vertebrates,'^ of which seven 
are mammalia of extinct species, and several of them are of large 
size. These are associated with two recent species of molluscs 
Turbo pica^ and a Tiidora near pupmformis.j; As these large ani- 
mals no doubt required a more extended territory for their support 
than that represented by the small island Anguilla, there is every 
probability that the separation of these islands took place at a 
late period of time and probably subsequent to the spread of the 
postpliocene fauna over North America.” 
I tliink the reader will conclude from the facts Prof. Cope so 
clearly presents, that the subterranean fauna of this country does 
not date back of the Quaternary period. These species must have 
been created and taken up their abode in these caves (Mammoth 
Cave and those of Montgomery County, Virginia) after the breccia 
flooring their bottoms and containing the bones of Quaternary ani- 
mals had been deposited ; or else migrated from Tertiary caves 
farther south, which is not probable, as it has been previously 
shown that those blind animals inhabiting wells immediately die 
on being exposed to the light (British Sessile-eyed Crustacea, i, 
p. 313), though the blind craw fish is not thus affected. 
The case becomes much simpler when we consider the age of 
the rocks in which the Adelsberg and other caves mentioned by 
Schiodte are situated. The Alps were under vmter in the Middle 
Eocene ; consequently the caves could not have been formed until 
the close of the Tertiary. Hence the species of the cave fauna 
were evidently created either at the close of the Tertiary, or more 
probably the beginning of the Quaternary, as “even in the later 
part of the Pliocene era there was an elevation of three thousand 
feet in a part of the Island of Sicily” (Dana). We are therefore 
led to conclude that the species of the subterranean fauna the 
world over are recent creations, probably not older than the ex- 
tinct mammals associated with man. 
*IjOG. cit. 1869, 183; 1870, 608. A fourth species of gigantic Chiiichillid has been found 
by Dr. Rijgersma, which may be called Loxomyhis quadrans Cope. It is represented by 
portions of jaws and teeth of three individuals. It is one of the lai-gest species, equal- 
ling the L. latidens, and has several marked characters. Thus the roots of the molars 
are very short, and the triturating surface oblique to the shaft. The roots of the second 
and fourth are longer than those of the first and third. The last molar has four dental 
columns instead of three as in the other LoxomyU;a,n(l is triangular or quadrant-shaped 
in section; the third is quadrangular in section, and has three columns. The second is 
the smallest, being only .6 the length of the subtriangular, first. Length of dental series 
m. .063 or 2.5 inches. Palate narrow and deeply concave. There is but little or no lat- 
eral constriction in the outlines of the teeth; the shanks are entirely straight. In its 
additional dentinal column, this species approaches the genus Amhlyrliiza. 
The large Chinchillas of Anguilla are as follows, Loxomylus longidens., L. latidens., L. 
quadrans, and Amhlyrliiza inundata. 
fSee Bland, Proceed. Amer. Phil. Soc., 1871, 58. 
