Concerning the habits of the blindfish (_Troglichthys rosæ_), Mr. Garman quotes the following from notes of Miss Ruth Hoppin, of Jasper County, Missouri: "For about two weeks I have been watching a fish taken from a well. I gave him considerable water, changed once a day, and kept him in an uninhabited place subject to as few changes of temperature as possible. He seems perfectly healthy and as lively as when first taken from the well. If not capable of long fasts, he must live on small organisms my eye cannot discern. He is hardly ever still, but moves about the sides of the vessel constantly, down and up, as if needing the air. He never swims through the body of the water away from the sides unless disturbed. Passing the finger over the sides of the vessel under water I find it slippery. I am careful not to disturb this slimy coating when the water is changed.... Numerous tests convince me that it is through the sense of touch, and not through hearing, that the fish is disturbed; I may scream or strike metal bodies together over him as near as possible, yet he seems to take no notice whatever. If I strike the vessel so that the water is set in motion, he darts away from that side through the mass of water, instead of around in his usual way. If I stir the water or touch the fish, no matter how lightly, his actions are the same." [Illustration: FIG. 163.—Blindfish of the Mammoth Cave, _Amblyopsis spelæus_ (De Kay). Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. ] The more famous blindfish of the Mammoth Cave, _Amblyopsis spelæus_, reaches a length of five inches. It possesses ventral fins. From this fact we may infer its descent from some extinct genus which, unlike _Chologaster_, retains these fins. The translucent body, as in the other blindfishes, is covered with very delicate tactile papillæ, which form a very delicate organ of touch. The anomalous position of the vent in _Amblyopsidæ_ occurs again in an equally singular fish, _Aphredoderus sayanus_, which is found in the same waters throughout the same region in which _Chologaster_ occurs. It would seem as if these lowland fishes of the southern swamps were remains of a once much more extensive fauna. No fossil allies of _Chologaster_ are known. =Kneriidæ, etc.=—The members of the order of _Haplomi_, recorded above, differ widely among themselves in various details of osteology. There are other families, probably belonging here, which are still more aberrant. Among these are the _Kneriidæ_, and perhaps the entire series of forms called _Iniomi_, most of which possess the osteological traits of the _Haplomi_. The family of _Kneriidæ_ includes a few very small fishes of the rivers of Africa.