MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
19 
At a distance of a mile from the mouth the blind crayfish, Orconectes hamulatns Cope, began to 
be abundant; their snowy-white forms being readily distinguished by candle light in the clear water. 
On the land the Pseudotremm cavernarum proved to be common in some places, especially 
near to bat excrement, where were also found a number of Pselaphid beetles.* 
On examination of the aquatic cave life it appears that of the five kinds of animals found 
living in the waters of the cave all but one differ decidedly from those of the caves of Kentucky, 
Indiana, or Virginia. This is a matter of considerable interest from an evolutional point of view, 
as it shows that these cave forms are the descendants of different out-of-door species from those of 
the caves to the northward. The Nickajack Cave may be in a different faunal region from the 
Mammoth or Wyandotte Caves, and thus the blind crayfish has evidently originated from a different 
species of Cambarus than that which gave origin to Cambarus pellucidus. Thus, while the condi¬ 
tion, such as dryness and temperature, of cave life are much the same throughout the United 
States, the ancestors of the different cave animals w'ere in many cases of distinct species, since they 
belonged to somewhat different zoogeographical areas. 
The first animal to notice, and one not uncommon in the waters of the cave, is a little Isopod 
crustacean ( Cecidotcea nickajaclcensis Packard), which is evidently a modified Asellus, or water 
wood-louse, of the same genus as that so abundant in the caves, subterranean streams, and wells 
of Indiana and Kentucky. 
This species forms, in the antennse and slightly purplish color and the proportions of the leg- 
joints, perhaps a nearer approach to the genus Asellus than that of Mammoth and Wyandotte 
caves; on the other hand, C. stygia approaches Asellus more in its shorter, broader body, with 
the shorter, broader abdomen. It seems quite evident that the two species must have descended 
from different species of Asellus. Thus far we know of but one widespread species of Asellus (A. 
communis of Say) from the middle and northern States. Whether there is an additional species in 
the Gulf States, from which the present species may have been derived, remains to be seen. 
The genus Oecidotsea differs from Asellus in the larger and muqh longer head, the longer claw 
of the first pair of feet, the. much longer telson, and in the rami of the caudal appendages being of 
nearly equal size, while in Asellus one is minute; it is also eyeless. 
The second crustacean discovered swimming about in the subterranean stream was a species 
of Amphipod, belonging to the genus Crangonyx, and has been described as Crangonyx antennatus 
Packard. It is a large purplish species, with very long antennae, and distinct, well-developed black 
eyes. This genus occurs in caves and subterranean wells in Europe and this country. 
The form of most decided interest, however, is the blind crayfish ( Orconectes hamulatus Cope). 
It is quite different from C . pellucidus of Mammoth and Wyandotte caves, in the rostrum, the slender 
hands, the much broader antennal scale, and in the form of the gonopods, while the whole creature 
is slightly slenderer than C. pellucidus, though the rudimentary eyes are of the same proportion to 
the neighboring parts as in the other species. 
Of the two crickets found in Nickajack Cave, there were three small specimens of Eadencecus 
subterraneus Scudder, which only differed from Mammoth Cave individuals in having rather shorter, 
thicker maxillary palpi; but this is not even a varietal difference, as the antennae and legs have 
the same proportions. The other cricket is a new species of Ceuthophilus, and has been called 
Geuthophilus ensifer Packard. It is very nearly allied to C. stygius of Mammoth Cave, but may be 
distinguished by the characters given elsewhere. 
CLINTON’S CAYE, UTAH. 
While attached to the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories 
in the summer of 1875, during a visit to Great Salt Lake, my attention was called by Jeter Clinton, 
esq., to a curious cave on his estate, about half a mile east of his hotel at Lake Point. It is, at a 
rough guess, about 200 feet above the level of the lake, and the mouth faces tbe northeast. It 
was evidently due to wave action, being situated on an ancient beach-line, while the top and 
bottom of the cave were formed by a breccia. As my examination of it was a hasty one, no 
The five foregoing paragraphs were written by Professor Cope, (See Amer. Naturalist, xv, 877, 1881.) 
