400 Ohscrvailons on the Natural History 
Tlie Proteus Anguinus lives and multiplies in the water of - 
certain subterranean caverns of Carniola. The province in 
which these caverns occur is divided by a chain of mountains of 
secondary or transition limestone, on which rest many hills of 
posterior formation. Both in the mountains and^ hills are many 
caverns and subterraneous passages stretching in various direc- 
tions, and lying in different places. These caverns communi- 
cate with one another, so that the water first collected in those 
at a higher level, falls down and circulates through subterrane- 
ous channels, till it settles in the lower caverns, some of which 
are of vast size and depth. ,Two of the most remarkable of 
these caverns are situate near Adelsberg, a village lying mid- 
way between Trieste and Lubiana. One of them, called the 
Cavern of Adelsberg, is close to the village, and the other, 
named the Cavern of Maddalena, is only a few miles' distant. 
It is in this last that the peasants at present go to fish for Pro- 
tei. On the 2d of August 1816, the authors, attended by three 
peasants, furnished with torches, and with a small net in the 
shape of a bag, fixed to the end of a staff, prepared to enter 
this cavern. At 5 o'’clock a. m., the temperature of the exter- 
nal air at the mouth of the cavern was 48° Fahr^'. As they de- 
scended, they passed through spacious apartments, some of 
them clothed with stalactites and calc-spar, which reflected with 
great brilliancy the light of the torches, and exhibited a mag- 
nificent appearance. Others appeared like pits of mud, which 
rendered the walking very inconvenient. At length they reach- 
ed a stagnant pond, about 30 feet broad, and at a depth below 
the surface of about 170 toises. In this pond they saw one 
proteus, but did not succeed in taking him ; and from the 
w^ater being turbid, and in too great quantity, in consequence 
of heavy rains the day before, they were obliged to reascend, 
after having been two hours in the cavern, without taking a 
single proteus. The temperature of the water in this pond 
w-as 55°, and that of the air of the cavern was stationary at 
* In the original, the temperatures are given according to the scale of Reau- 
mur, which are here converted into the corresponding degree of Fahrenheit. As 
great precision is not necessary, the nearest ivhole numbers of Fahrenheit are taken, 
in order to avoid fractions. 
