Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/442

* CAVE ANIMALS. 37S CAVEAT EMPTOR. ism, is that we never find any vestiges of the optic lobes or optic nen-es: if they are wanting at all, they .ire totally abolished. The atrophy is comparatively rapid, sudden, and wholesale. It was probably so with the loss by disuse of the thumb of the thunil)less monkey of South America, which has retained no vestige of tlie lost member. The varying degrees of development in the external parts of certain blind animals prove that tliese forms entered the oaves at different periods, and have been exposed for difl'erent lengths of time to the loss of light. The com- pletely eyeless forms are the oldest inhaliitiints of these regions of Cimmerian darkness. The imperfect lenses and retin;p, the abolishment of visual nerves and portions of the brain, arc, like all vestigial structures in higlily specialized or modified animals of various kinds, like ancient, decayed sign-posts pointing out some nearly oblit- erated paths now inworn .and disused. On the other hand, certain other parts of the body, as the result of use, become extraordina- rily developed: such are the tactile pai)i!la» of the blindfish, the greatly lengthened feelers and legs, the long, delicate tactile hairs of various Crustacea and insects. It is plainly the ease that the enhanced development of these organs is the result of frequent use or exercise. There is no need of invoking natural selection, these parts developing as the direct result of the change of habits, of the new needs of the animals to feel their way about, forced to adopt such hab- its by the abnormal conditions of their existence. Although the animals are luembers of very dif- ferent gioups, inheriting very different structures and habits, yet all gcnuitie cave animals resemble each other in being pale, ghost-like, in the ex- altation of the tactile .sense, and the correspond- ing increase in length and delicacy of the ex- tremities. Yet some naturalists of the Neo-Darwiuian school reject the operation of the Lamarckian factors and illogically attribiite the creation of this wonderful assemblage of blind forms to natural selection, and others to panmixia — i.e. the cessation of natural selection. Balance of Theories. — In his elaborate work on the eyes of blind fishes Eigcnmann fully and candidly discusses the conflicting views, and con- cludes as follows: ''The Lamarckian view, that through disuse the organ is diminished during the life of the individual, in part at least on account of the diminution of the amount of blood going to a resting organ, and that this efTeet is transmitted to succeeding generations, not only would theoretically account for unlimited pro- gressive degeneration, but is the only view so far examined that docs not on the face of it present serious objections," It would be a thorough test of the theory of de.scent if we could keep these creatures in con- finement, exposed first to twilight and then to the full light of day, and endeavor to breed a series of generations of these blind animals and ascertain whether their descendants would not revert to their original ancestral eyed forms. Fortunately, an underground biboralory for the study of cave animals has been cstablishid by M. Vire in the old catacombs and undergnnind quarries extending under the .Tardin des Plantes in Paris. Here are all the conditions of a cave, viz. perpetual diirkness, an unvarying temj.era- ture, and nmning water for .aquatic forms, M. Vire has introduced various blind or eyed spe- cies, and eventually we may expect to have nuich liglit thrown on the interesting problems sug- gested by such studies as these. tircat activity has been shown in France in the exploration of the caves and subterranean streams of the llidi. A Societe de fSpelcologie has been organzied for several years. Consult : A. S. Packard, "Tlie Cave Fauna of North America" {Memoirs yalional Aca(le»n/ of t^eieiievs. Vol. VI, manv plates, Washington, 1888): C. H. Eigcnmann, "The Eyes of the Blind Vertebrates of North .merica" ( Archie fiir Ijitlifiekehnifrsnieeiitfiiil's drr Orrjfiiiismen, VllI,, 1890) : and other i)apers. See also the writings of Tellkumpf, Schiiidte, Coiie, Putnam, Gannan, ITeushav, .loseph, Chilton, and others. CA'VEAT (I.at., let him beware, from cavere, to take heed). A formal notice addressed to a judicial or administrative ollicer, warning him not to take certain proceedings, which may or may not be in contemplation, without first giv- ing due m>tice to the person filing the caveat. The object of the notification is io secure to the [lerson giving it an opportunity io be heard in opposition to the action or proceeding in ques- tion, and it operates as a st^iy upon such ]uo- ceeding. Caveats are available in England for a variety of purposes, as to restrain the enrollment of a decree in chancery, the issuing of a lunacy commission, the grant of .a marriage license, the probate of a will, etc. In the I'nitcd States they are not so common, though they may in some States be employed for some of these puriioses, especially to stay the probate of wills and the issuing of letters testamentary. The laws regulating the gianting of patents in the I'nited States, however, jirovide that a caveat may be filed by an inventor to give notice to the Patent Office of inchoate inventions. Such a caveat must set forth the purpose of the invention or discovery, and its distinguishing characteristics: and it prays protection of the inventor's right until he shall have matured his invention. It is required to be filed in the con- fidential archives of the office and to be pre- served in secrecy, and it must be renc«?d from year to year in order to be kept in force. The person filing it is entitled to he notified of any application for a patent made during the lifetime of the caveat, which application, if granted, would interfere with the invention claimed there- in, and is entitled to priority by reason thereof. See Patkxt, Consult: Nulcs of United titnles Patent Office; Mcrwiu, Patentability of lincn- tions (Boston, 1SS3) : Luby, Patent Office Prac- tice (Kalamazoo, IStlT), CA'VEAT EMP'TOR (Lat., let the buyer beware <. The lonimcm-law maxim signifying that the purchaser of land or goods takes his chances as to the title or the quality of the projwrty acquired by him. There is great dif- ference of opinion as to the extent to which this ma.xim really represents the law, A Icariu'd English judge expressed the ojiinion, in 1S4'.I, that "the result of the older authorities is th;it there is by the law of England no warranty of title in the actual contract of sale, any more than there is of quality." A few years later an equally learned judge declared that "the only