The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-11-26
CREATURES OF DARKNESS
rnsae+s and Animals That Avoid the
Light of Day and Some 3nas
Are Eyeless.


Tho cavern beetle was arst dlseov-
erad some 20 years ago N an aus
tr;an cave. the grotto OF AdelsoeFg-
o,o snecimen only was caught anu
tho,,eb it's discoyerer offered a prize
of 5e5 for another, it was "a Sea19 70
fore q second was found, says 9 hoh-
don paper. ,;++,o round
The cavern beetle has q httle Iouna
hody. very long legs, ana apsolueely
no ewes at all Brought out IEoli us
Gloomy haunts into the light OF lhe
Sun i dies almost Immediately fet
i, tic niteh-dark home far beneath the
surface of the earth it moves with as
oraaf rapidity and certainty as any OIL
e., avad, ro1afiyes on the upper soil.
To make up for its lack OF slght' u
is nroyided with antennae OF eStfaof-
binary length and delicaey. by means
of these it feels it's way over the foash
surface of the stone and hunts It's
nrov-other smaller blind insects
with great rapidly and absolute GER
tainty.
The cavern beetle has its enemies.
The bIothrus Ia species OF scoFp1onl
and the great eyeless SPIDER NUM- 1t
remorselessly. Prince kheVennuner'
who thoroughly explored these caves
some years ago, describes 1t as a most
extraordinary sight TO watch by tue
light of a candle a scorpion, absolute
" eveless. hunting beetle equally
blind along the cavern wall Although
the beetle was several feet IN front OF
the scorpion. and divided from II Dy
a assure in the rock, yet the SCORPION
tracked it with absolute and almost
appalling certainty
The spider found in these caves IS
Of a lovely ivory white, and is able.
like the other insects which lnhaolt
the same subterranean depths, TO run
very rapidly, and find its way with as
positive certainty as if it had eyes and
light to use them. Like several OF the
others, it, too, perishes ii taken out OF
the cave. Sunlight seems to Wither
and shrivel up these insects, just as
though they had been placed in front
of a hot fire.
Yet in spite of this fact, it is known
that the blind cave creatures are de-
scended from others which originally
lived in the light of day.
An extraordinary proof Of this Is
that, though no faintest ray marks the
difference between day and darkness
in the depths they live in, yet it has
been ascertained beyond shadow OF
doubt that those whose ancestors were
nocturnal In their habits still prefer to
move about during those hours when
the surface Of the earth is in darkness.
The cavern rat, found in the Mann
moth cave of Kentucky, is OF a soft,
blush. color, with white neck and feet.
It has enormous eyes, black as night,
but quite unprovided with iris,
These eyes are perfectly insensible
to light, and when the experiment has
been made of catching cavern rat
and turning it loose in bright sunlight,
it blunders about, striking itself
against everything, is unable to PRO-
vide itself with food, and finally falls
down and dies.
In its native depths, however, it is
able to lead comfortable enough ex-
istence, as its enormously long whis-
kers are SO extremely sensitive that
they enable it to find its way rapidly
through the darkness. The principal
food of the cavern rat consists of a
kind of large cricket of a pale yellow
color, and, like most cave dWelIers,
itself perfectly blind
Numbers of different kinds of fish
are known to live in the gloomy rivers
and lakes which exist IN all large
caves
At San Marcos, Tex. borfngs were
recently made to provide water supply
for some new fish hateheries. AT a
depth of 1873 feet a great stream of
water was struck, which shot up at the
rate of 1900 gallons a minute. With
it came thousands of tiny, shrimp-like
creatures, and also large number of
curious little, pale-co1ored reptiles.
provided with long tails, and each hav-
ing four legs. These tiny monsters
were absolutely eyeless. The oily
trace that they ever possessed such or
gans are two little black spots above
the nostrils.
q similar creature, known as the
DIN, inhabits the rivers in the Aus
trian caves already mentioned. Down
in the depths of the Planina cave,
nearly mile and half from the en-.
trance the ohm is most abundant.
The waters are fairly alive with them.
and when, some years ago, ArchduEe
fero1nand PAID visit to this cave, a
net was let down and number of the
little reptiles caught for his benefit.