The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-12-04
SOME ANIMALS
 THAT ARE BLIND They Have Houses In Caves And In Ocean Abysses
 Also SUBSTITUTES FORLIGHT Able To Get About With Certainty And Catch
 Their Prey.
SUBSTITUTES FORLIGHT

An interesting group in natural his tory is that comprising the blind ani- mals. Most of them live in caves. Others live concealed during the day under stones or are found in the gloomy abysses of ocean.
 A striking peculiarity of most of the blind cave animals is that though no faintest ray marks the difference between day and darkness in the depths they live in, those whose an- cestors were nocturnal in their habits still prefer to move about during these hours when the surface of the earth Is in darkness.
 Among the cave animals one of the most striking varieties is that of Am blyopsis. This fish was at one time abundant in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky and of other cave streams in the central part of this country, but is now scarce for some unknown reason.
 Although the fish is entirely desti- ute of external eyes the optic lobes are as much developed as in fishes with perfect eyes. To compensate the animal for the loss of sight, which would be useless to 1t, nature has pro- vided 1t with great number of soft nipples arranged on tranverse ridges on the head and provided with sensi- tive fllaments by means of which 1t is enabled to seek it's food solely by means of this exquisitely arranged sense of touch.
 They feed quite largely upon one another and upon the blind crayfish and smaller crustaceans which inhab- 1t the same waters Tn color they are white, with a rosy tint. Despite theii blindness they are said to make theii way from one cave to another through the short, open streams which some. times connect them.
 Among other blind cave flshe. found in this country are Typhlichthy' subterraneans. Troglichtys rosae ant three species of Chologaster. The first which Is found in the caves of Indi [ ana Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama ant Tennessee, has a translucent, colorles X body. Its mouth Is directed upward and ais the head is very fiat the fisl ] receives It's food from above, and as result spends most of its life near tn & surface, a very wise provision of nat & ure, as the greater part of the cav n life Is found there.
 Chologaster has eyes in a primitiv ] condition of development and has tn color and structure of ordinary fishes i While not completely blind, 1t Is yer E nearly so It is common in the ditch es and swainps of the Southern States
 In South America is found a sma ASiluroid or catfish, called prenadills aby the natives, which has very sna Ieyes covered with transparent ski lThis species achieved some fam Through the popular belief that the ived in subterranean waters withi he bowels of the active volcanoes { he Andes and were elected wit
 dreams of mud and water durin sruptions. The real explanation { heir appearance during volcani ,sruptions Is that they abound in tn hkes and torrents of the Andes, ar
 llled or stupefied b2 the gases. oscar hg during an eruptl1n and are swer 5 pwn to the valleys below by the cur
 nts of water issuing from the vol
 Lnoes
 Two species of blind catfish ar
 und in the cave streams of Pennsyl
 mia, while many members of tn
 me family which live in muddy wa
 Is have very small or even minut
 les. One of the Gobies, whic
 ries itself in the sand or is foun 2 fder stones in the holes of a bun
 wing crab on the coast of Californi
 also blind.
 Two long and very slender fshe
 Eh the shape of cells, which al
 and in fresh waters of certain cavt
 Cuba, are also blind. In the India # ban is found an electric ray wit
 ntless eyes, but, curiously enoug
 fish is provided with row of mil ' luminous blands, being lures
 Fact prey.
 h the caves of Carinthia and Da