The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1891-11-21
LIVING WITHOUT EYES.
Creatures of the Caverns That Have no
Organs Of Visions.

Creatures Of the Caverns That Have no
Organs Of Visions.
There are many animals in the
world which pass all their lives in
darkness, never seeing ray of light.
Every one has heard of the blind
fishes of the Mammoth Cave. The
cave is the biggest of 500 great cav
ems in the United States. All of
them are inhabited by numerous
other sorts of creatures that have no
eyes for vision. Literally speaking
there is no such thing as a blind
fish, since the most sightless of the
finny tribe possesses visual organs
in a rudimentary condition; but,
through want of use, the optic gang
liza and nerves have broken down and
then 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 common frog,
emaciated and seemingly discourag-
ed, which had found its way, how, no
one knows, to the Tartareal realms.
Also, one discovers curious cave
rats of the same color as domestic
rats, but with longer bodies, like a
weasels more developed whiskers
and much bigger ears.
or bats there are multitudes in
the cayerns, as one might expect, in
asmuch 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 caves
were the resorts of gigantic beasts,
such as the megatherium mylothan,
magalonyx and other huge sloths
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 hab-
its. No webs do they spin, save a
few irregular threads sometimes.
What they live upon is rather puz-
zle, though it is supposed that they
catch stray mites and other such
small fry. Scavengers constitute a
large part of the population Of the
caverns. Carnivorous beetles are
plentiful, particularly in those places
where parties take lunch.
Such rejectamenta of tourists &C
cumulate in spots in the Mammoth
Cave actually by cart loads; but
though there is SO much moisture,
decomposition progresses so slowly
that the offal is not offensive. The
processes of decay seem to be accom-
plished chiefly by low fungi. 1t is
said that meat hung up at the mouth
of these caverns remains fresh for
long time. and it is surmised that
the bacteria which cause things to
become putrid are probably rare in
the underground atmosphere.
No animals whatever are found in
the dry parts of the caves. Damp.
ness, or a certain degree of moisture,
seems to he essential to their exist
ence. Under the 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
of the thousand-leg sort. These
thousand leg bugs, which in the up
per world devour fragments of dead
leaves and other vegetable debris,
sustain life in the caverns by feeding
on decayed wood, fungus growths
and bats dungs. Kneeling in a
beaten path one can see numbers OF
them gathered about hardened drips
of tallow from tourists candles.
There are plenty of criekets, also.
So far as the insects Of the caves
are concerned, the loss of sight which
they gradually undergo is sufficient
" well understood The first step is
decrease in the number of facets
which make up the compound eyes
with corresponding diminishment
of the lenses and retin9. After four
or five generations the eyes become
useless. 1t would be most interest
ing to breed these or other blind
creatures of the caves, in the light,
so as to find out if they would get
their sight back. In all animals, in
Guiding man, it is found that nature
tries to compensate for the loss OF
vision by increasing the power Of the
sense of touch. Thus. the antenp@
of cave insects grow remarkably
long. 1t is very curious to find that
nothing in their behavior suggests
the fact that they are blind. They
walk. run, stop, explore the ground
and try to escape from the grasp OF
the bug hunter just as if they really
saw. The light of a candle startles
them as much as if they perceived it
visually.
1t is a remarkable fact, providing
that the ancestors of these creatures
could see, that in the embryo stage
of their existence they have eyes
well developed