The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-19
QUEER CREATURES.
Zoologists Interested in Some Recent
Discoveries From Texas.


Washington Letter to Boston Tran
script.
Geological experts at the Smithsonian
institution are busy studying and in
venting names for the strange ami
mails cast up by the wonderful artesian
well at San Marcos, Texas Some of
them have been forwarded to Wash
ington in bottles and jars. and much
excitement has been occasioned among
government scientists. They declare
that this is the most remarkable dis
covery of subterranean life ever
made.
The government contemplates the es-
tablishment of a fish hatchery at San
Marcos for the propagation of black
bass, catfish and other pond fish. Bor-
ing was begun for the purpose of OBJ
tanning water which was struck in
plenty at a depth of 1873 feet. In fact,
when that point was reached the drill
suddenly dropped four feet, having evil
IDENTIFY reached a big cavity. and out
poured a vigorous stream. The stream
is still flowing at a steady rate of LOO
gallons a minute. and it bids fair to
keep on indefinitely.
The cavity struck by the drill was
undoubtedly the tunnel of a subter-
ranean river. That the waters of this
underground stream were full of life is
satisfactorily proved by the great num-
Z
are thrown out at the surface through
the artesian pipe. But 1t is not their
| quantity that excites establishment
! nearly so much as their strange char
| acter. All of them appear to belong to
] species hitherto wholly unknown to
} science. There are shrimps of a queer
kind, of which the well yields about
| half a pint day on an average; SOW
/ bugs of a new genus, not related to any
hitherto found in fresh water, and,
most remarkable of all. salamanders
| six inches long, with surprisingly de-
| veloped legs.
Where does the river come from?
That seems to be the first question. 1t
is a mystery up to date. In that re-
gion the phenomenon of the lost"
river is frequent and familiar. Such a
| stream runs merrily for distance and
then sinks into the ground; perhaps it
may reappear further on and disappear
| again. The supposition is that the
| subterranean river in question is a con-
| tinuation of some river that has got it
self lost far to the north. The geologi-
cal strata in the neighborhood of San
| Marcos dip southwark toward the Gulf
of Mexico. and it is believed that there
exists at higher level a hidden cavern
| of considerable size, through which the
stream runs. This undiscovered cav
ern, with no visible opening from above
! ground, furnishes the necessary supply
of air to the creatures that live in the
water that flows through the tunnel.
From any point of view the discovery
is quite extraordinary. All of the spe-
cies of animals thus far brought to the
surface are blind and colorless, resemb-
ling in those respects the crustaceans
and batrachians of the great caves,
where there is everlasting night. DR..
Stejneger, who knows as much about
salamanders as any man living, has
been making a special study of the San
| Marco specimens. He finds that they
have no near relatives with which
science is acquainted in this country or
abroad. Their nearest of kin are the
so-called mud puppies of our streams
and certain batrachians of Austrian
caverns They have remarkably long
legs. and their noses are shovel
shaped.
1t is likely that DR. Stejneger will put
these salamanders on record as repre-
senting not merely a new genus. but a
new family in the order of batrachians
One of the females laid five eggs after
il was caught The scientists are wait
Ting with interest for some fishes tc
come out of the wonderful well. They
are sure to turn up sooner or later, il
I is believed, because they are not at all
likely to be absent where there is sc
much food for them in the shape OF
shrimps, etc. Perhaps they also viii
prove to be OF an entirely new species
| 1t should be remembered that, the
source of supply being inaccessible. the
only animals thus far secured are thost
which have been brought to the sur
face of the ground by the merest
chance. There would surely be gooC
fishing in that subterranean river Il
one could get at it with a hook and
/ line
Most numerous by far among tn,
creatures cast up from the depths hav,
been the shrimps. They are abou
three-quarters of an inch long, colorlesi
and blind. In and attached to thei
bodies are found immense numbers o.
, parasitic protocol, which are nearly
related to the heterogeneous tina
breed malaria in the human system
This fact has an interesting bearing
} upon the theory hitherto accepted tina
artesian water is necessarily free from
malaria microbes. The sowbugs. al
ready referred to. which are crusta
ceans have only been familiar up 4
now as salt water forms. They get
living commonly by attaching them
selves to fishes. out of whose flesh the.
are able to take large bites by mean
| of their strong jaws. which are fur
nished with a sort of knife-and-fork ar
? | rangement one small and new specie
of leech turned up with the rest OF tn
, animals.
! The artesian well is only a few rod
distant from the famous spring OF Sai
! Marcos. which has an enormous out
? pour Of water. In fact. this spring
5 the head of San Marcos river. Pre-
l , sumably il is fed by the same subteI
J I ranean stream. Evidence of this is al
5 forded by the fact that fluctuations i
E the level of the spring correspond [
changes in the level Of the water in tn
2 well. As for the animals in the undei
2 ground stream, they must have bee
[ carried into IL long ago from the SUI