ands, but they have only three
claws or fingers, and are too feeble to be of use in grasping or
supporting the weight of the animal; the hinder feet have only two claws
or toes, and in the larger specimens are found so imperfect as to be
almost obliterated. It has small points in place of eyes, as if to
preserve the analogy of Nature. It is of a fleshy whiteness and
transparency in its natural state; but when exposed to light, its skin
gradually becomes darker, and at last gains an olive tint. Its nasal
organs appear large, and it is abundantly furnished with teeth: from
which it may be concluded that it is an animal of prey; yet in its
confined state it has never been known to eat, and it has been kept alive
for many years by occasionally changing the water in which it was placed.

_Eub_.--Is this the only place in Carniola where these animals are found?

_The Unknown_.--They were first discovered here by the late Baron Zois;
but they have since been found, though rarely, at Sittich, about thirty
miles distant, thrown up by water from a subterraneous cavity; and I have
lately heard it reported that some individuals of the same species have
been recognised in the calcareous strata in Sicily.

_Eub_.--This lake in which we have seen these animals is a very small
one. Do you suppose they are bred here?

_The Unknown_.--Certainly not. In dry seasons they are seldom found
here, but after great rains they are often abundant. I think it cannot
be doubted that their natural residence is in an extensile deep
subterranean lake, from which in great floods they sometimes are forced
through the crevices of the rocks into this place where they are found;
and it does not appear to me impossible, when the peculiar nature of the
country in which we are is considered, that the same great cavity may
furnish the individuals which have been found at Adelsberg and at
Sittich.

_Eub_.--This is a very extraordinary view of the subject. Is it not
possible that it may be the larva of some large unknown animal inhabiting
these limestone cavities? Its feet are not in harmony with the rest of
its organisation; and were they removed, it would have all the characters
of a fish.

_The Unknown_.--I cannot suppose that they are larvae. There is, I
believe, in Nature no instance of a transition by this species of
metamorphosis from a more perfect to a less perfect animal. The tadpole
has a resemblance to a fish before it becomes a frog;