The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-11-28
LIVING WITHOUT EYES.
Blind Fishes and Insects Found In various
American Cnverns.

Bilnu f1AnGa ana NnAeCNN FOunu IN various
American Cnverns.
There are many animals in the world
which pass all their lives in darkness,
never seeing a ray of light Every one
has heard of the blind fishes of the
Mammoth cave. This cave is the big
gest of FIVE hundred great caverns in
the United States. All of them are in
habited by numerous other sorts of
creatures that have no eyes for vision.
Literally speaking, there is no such
thing as blind fish, since the most
sightless of the finny tribe possesses
visual organs in rudimentary condi-
ton, but through want of use the optic
gauglia and nerves have broken down
and been absorbed.
Among the animals in these caves
where Egyptian darkness ever dwells
are blind crayfish, colorless, which in
the water by torchlight look like white
phantoms of their outdoor kind. Now
and then in such places one comes
across n common frog emaciated and
seemingly discouraged, which has found
its way, how no one knows, to the Tar
tarean realms. Also one discovers Curl
Gus cave rats of the same color as
domestic rats, but with longer bodies,
like weasels, more developed whis-
kers, and much bigger ears.
Of bats there are multitudes in the
caverns, as one might expect, inasmuch
as they are creatures of darkness.
Countless numbers of them frequent
the black hollows of Mammoth and
Luray. There were times in the past
when these vast caves were the resorts
of gigantic beasts such as the megathe-
rum, mylodem, megalonyX and other
huge sloth wiped out by the glacial
epoch With the bones are found those
of extinct tapirs and peccaries.
Spiders of several kinds are found in
the caves They are uniformly small,
weak, and of sedentary habits Nc
web do they spin, save few irregular
threads sometimes. What they live
upon is rather puzzle, though it is sup
posed that they catch stray mites and
other such small fry. Scavengers con.
stitute large part of the population OF
the caverns. Carnivorous beetles are
plentiful, particularly in those places
where parties take lunch.
late in spots in the Mammoth cave actu
ally by carloads; but though there is
SO much moisture, decomposition pro-
crosses so slowly that the offal is not
! offensive. The processes of decay seen
TO be accomplished chiefly by a few
fungi. 1t is said that meat hung up a
the mouth of one of these caverns re
mains fresh for long time, and it il
surmised that the bacteria which causes
things to become putrid are probably
rare in the underground atmosphere.
No animals whatever are found in thu
dry parts of the caves. Dampness, or
certain degree of moisture, seems to bc
essential to their existence. Under thu
stones one finds white, eyeless worms
and in the damp soil around about are
to be discovered blind beetles in little
holes which they excavate and bugs o
the thousand-leg sort. These thousand
leg bugs, which in the upper world de
your fragments of dead leaves and othe
vegetable debris, sustain life in the cav
erns by feeding upon decayed wood
fungus growths and bats dung. Kneel
ing in beaten path one can see mum
| DcTS VI Unclu SdIhcI duOuG HdIuCuC'
drips of tallow from tourists candles
There are plenty of cricl1ets also.
So far as the insects of the caves ar
concerned the loss of sight which the,
gradually undergo is sufficiently wei
understood, The first step is decreas
in the number of the facets which max
up the compound eyes, with CORES
ponding diminishment of the lenses an
retin@. After four or five generation
the eyes become useless. 1t would b
most interesting to breed these or othe
blind creatures of the caves in the light
so as to find out if they would get thei
sight back. In all animals, including
man, it is found that nature tries t
compensate for loss of vision by increas
ing the power of the sense of touch
Thus the antennGe of cave insects grow
remarkably long 1t is very curious t
find that nothing in their behavior sug
gests the fact that they are blind. The,
walk, run, stop, explore the ground
and try to escape from the grasp o
the bug hunter just as if they reall
saw. The light of a candle startle
them as much as if they perceived
visually.
1t is remarkable fact proving tina
the ancestors of these creatures coul
see, that in the embryo stage of thei
! existence they have eyes well deve
oped.-N. Y. Telegram.
Jackets and Capes.