which we should at first suppose to be barren wastes, incapable of sustaining organized existence. But it suggests curious speculations of the wonders that may exist in the bowels of our globe, of which man has as yet no knowledge.
The Proteus has been frequently brought alive to England; the observations which have been made on them in confinement, prove their extreme susceptibility to the presence of light, the stimulus of which seems painful to them. “We have always noticed,” says Mr. Martin, “that they shrouded themselves in the darkest part of the vessel in which they were placed, when the covering was taken off in order to inspect them; and that they betrayed a sense of uneasiness by their actions, when exposed to the light of open day, creeping round the sides of the vessel, or under the shelter of any substance, which threw a partial shadow on the water. . . Though these animals lived many months, and were healthy and vigorous, they were not supplied with any food, nor know we on what they subsist, though we have every reason to believe them carnivorous.”[1] A kindred animal, the Siren of North America (Siren lacertina) kept in captivity in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, was fed on earth-worms, of which it ate a dozen and a half every other day.
In June 1847, a living Proteus was exhibited to the Linnean Society, by a gentleman who had had it in his possession eighteen months. This individual had never been observed to eat.
- ↑ “Pictorial Museum,” ii. 135.
