Published by the Academy
. -. ;,
THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES are issued
annually under the direction of the Council of the Academy acting
through the Editor, the Business Manager and the Committee on
For this volume these officers are:
Editor T. H. HUBBELL
Business Manager R. S. JOHNSON
THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS
T. H. HUBBELL (University of Florida) Chairman, ex officio
R. I. ALLEN (John B. Stetson University)
J. F. BASS, Jr. (Bass Biological Laboratories)
H. W. CHANDLER (University of Florida)
HERMAN GUNTER (State Board of Conservation)
HERMAN KURZ (Florida State College for Women)
B. P. REINSCH (Florida Southern College)
THE PROCEEDINGS are sent to all members of the Academy and are
available for exchange. The price of this volume, paper bound, is
$1.00. Orders and correspondence are handled by the Secretary,
J. H. Kusner, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
The Academy During 1936.-J. H. KUSNER, Secretary...................... 1
The Achievement Medal .............................................. 3
Treasurer's Report ................................ ................. 3
Program of the Inaugural Meeting at Gainesville............................ 3
Program of the First Annual Meeting at DeLand........................... 5
Opportunities for Research in Florida. Address of Dr. HERMAN KURZ, Retiring
P resident................................... .............. 7
The Nature of Scientific Papers.-R. F. BELLAMY .......................... 17
The Freeze of 1934.-GRAY SINGLETON ................................... 23
Some Consequences of Pseudo-Mathematics and Quasi-Measurement in Psy-
chometrics, Education and the Social Sciences.-CHRIsTIAN P. HEINLEIN.. 33
Recent Advances in the Field of Vitamin Chemistry.-L. L. RusorF .......... 42
Cohering Keels in Amaryllids and Related Plants.-H. H. HUME ............. 48
Growth-Ring Studies of Trees of Northern Florida.-W. L. MACGOWAN....... 57
Studies on the Life Zones of Marine Waters Adjacent to Miami, I. The Distribu-
tion of the Ophiuroidea.-JAY F. W. PEARSON ......................... 66
A Key to the Fresh-Water Fishes of Peninsular Florida.-A. F. CARR, JR........ 72
The Gulf-Island Cottonmouths.-A. F. CARR, JR. ......................... 86
An Annotated List of the Birds of Alachua County, Florida.-R. C. McCLANA-
HAN............ .......................................................... 91
A List of the Recent Land Mammals of Florida.-H. B. SHERMAN ............ 102
The Analysis of Plant Ash in the Light of the Law of Definite Proportions: An
l4 Apparently Forgotten Principle in Chemical Analysis.-L. W. GADDUM... 128
Cellulose of Spanish Moss.-Louis E. WISE and A. MEER.................... 131
ABSTRACTS: Application of Helley's Theorem to Sequences of Jordan Curves, by
DONALD FAULKNER; The Methods of Multiple Factor Analysis, by CHARLES
I. MOSIER; A Quantitative Method for the Determination of Minute Quan-
tities of Copper in Biological Materials, by L. L. Rusorr and L. W. GADDUM;
Results of Some Further Studies of the Spectrographic Determination of
Zinc, by L. H. ROGERS and 0. E. GALL; Absorption Spectrophotometry and
its Applications, by L. H. ROGERS; An Application of Infra-Red Spectros-
copy to Rubber Chemistry, by DUDLEY WILLIAMS; Raman Spectra of
Acetone, by R. C. WILLIAMSON; Some Recent Developments in High-
Fidelity Sound Reproduction, by ROBERT I. ALLEN; The Interrelation of
Motor Abilities, by P. F. FINNER; Effect of a Lack of Vitamin A on the
Blood Picture of Rats and Adult Humans, by O. D. ABBOTT and C. F.
AHMANN; The Effect of Certain Environmental Factors on the Develop-
ment of Cotton Seed, Germinating Ability, and Resultant Yield of Cotton,
iv PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
by W. A. CARVER; Organography of Sixteen Millimeter Ameiurus, by
NELLE CAMPBELL; Inheritance of Rest Period in Peanut Seeds, by FRED H.
HULL; Genetics in the Taxonomy of Arachis hypogaea L., by FRED H. HULL;
Non-effective Gene Frequencies, by FRED H. HULL; Some Florida Craw-
fishes and their Habitat Distribution, by H. H. HOBBS; Two Larval Crane-
fly Members of the Neuston Fauna, by J. SPEED ROGERS; The Past and
Present Status of Some Rare and Threatened Florida Birds, by ALDEN H.
HADLEY; Comments on the Mammals of Florida, by E. V. KoMAREx; Effects
of X-rays on Corn, by A. A. BLESS; The Place of Mathematics in Moder
Socialized Education, by BARBARA DAVIS; Proverbs in Browning's The
Ring and the Book, by CORNELIA M. SMITH............................ 145
List of Officers and Members............................................... 159
Charter and By-Laws.................................................. 168
FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
THE ACADEMY DURING 1936
IN JANUARY of 1936, after some informal discussion, the following
eleven individuals constituted themselves an organization committee
to take steps toward the formation of a Florida Academy of Sciences:
A. A. Bless (Physics), C. F. Byers (Biology), L. W. Gaddum
(Biochemistry), T. H. Hubbell (Biology), F. H. Hull (Genetics),
J. H. Kusner (Mathematics and Astronomy), J. S. Rogers (Biology),
H. B. Sherman (Biology), J. R. Watson (Entomology), R. C. William-
son (Physics), all at the University of Florida, and H. Kurz (Botany),
Florida State College for Women.
After studying the form of organization of other Academies, the
committee prepared a proposed constitution and set of by-laws, and
issued a call for an organization meeting, inviting such other workers
in the sciences as were known by the members of the committee to be
interested in establishing an Academy. The meeting was held at the
University of Florida in Gainesville on February 6, 1936, there being
about thirty workers in the sciences from various parts of the state
present. A constitution and a set of by-laws were adopted and an
application for a charter as a non-profit corporation under the laws
of Florida was signed by those present. Officers to function until the
first annual meeting were elected as follows:
President-Dr. Herman Kurz (Botany), Florida State College for
Vice-President-Dr. R. C. Williamson (Physics), University of
Secretary-Dr. J. H. Kusner (Mathematics and Astronomy), Uni-
versity of Florida.
Treasurer-Dr. J. F. W. Pearson (Zoology), University of Miami.
On February 24, 1936, the charter application, containing 92 sig-
natures of science workers from all parts of Florida, was filed with the
Circuit Court at Gainesville, and the charter was granted.
In April, 1936, the Council of the Academy authorized the forma-
tion of a Physical Sciences Section, electing Herman Gunter, State
Geologist, as chairman, and a Biological Sciences Section, electing
Dr. H. H. Hume (Botany), University of Florida, as chairman. Also,
Dr. T. H. Hubbell (Biology), University of Florida was elected Editor
of the PROCEEDINGS.
2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
On May 8 and 9, 1936, the Inaugural Meeting of the Academy was
held at the University of Florida, with about 100 members in at-
tendance. In two general sessions, 21 papers were presented by mem-
bers of the Academy. At the banquet held in connection with the
meeting, the Inaugural Address, Academies of Science and the Coopera-
tive Spirit in Scientific Research* was delivered by Dr. C. A. Browne,
Supervisor of Research, Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, United
States Department of Agriculture, as the official representative of
both the Department of Agriculture and the American Association
for the Advancement of Science. An address of welcome was made
by Dr. Jno. J. Tigert, President of the University of Florida, and a
response was made by Dr. H. H. Hume for the Academy.
In October of 1936, the Academy was granted affiliation with the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The Annual Meeting was held at Stetson University in DeLand,
on November 20 and 21, 1936, with about 125 members present.
Papers were presented as follows: in the Biological Sciences Section-
8 papers; in the Physical Sciences Section-5 papers; in two general
sessions-14 papers. At the banquet, Dr. W. S. Allen, President of
Stetson University, delivered an address of welcome, and Dr. Herman
Kurz presented his retiring presidential address Opportunities for Re-
search in Florida.t
The Nominating Committee, consisting of Dr. Cornelia Smith
(Stetson) Chairman; J. F. Bass, Jr. (Bass Biological Laboratories);
Dr. R. F. Bellamy (Florida State College for Women); Prof. J. H.
Clouse (Miami); Dean W. E. DeMelt (Southern); Dr. J. S. Rogers
(University of Florida); Prof. R. F. Webb (Tampa); Prof. E. F. Wein-
berg (Rollins); reported nominations which resulted in the election
of the following officers for 1937:
President-Dr. H. H. Hume (Botany), University of Florida.
Vice-President-Dr. Jennie Tilt (Home Economics), Florida State
College for Women.
Secretary-Dr. J. H. Kusner (Mathematics and Astronomy),
University of Florida.
Treasurer-Dr. J. F. W. Pearson (Zoology), University of Miami.
Chairman, Biol. Sci. Section-E. P. St. John, Floral City.
Chairman, Phys. Sci. Section-Prof. J. A. Spurr, Rollins College.
Subsequently, the Council voted to hold the 1937 Annual Meeting
at the University of Miami on November 19 and 20.
-J. H. KUSNER, Secretary
Subsequently published in Science, July 3, 1936, Vol. 84, No. 2166, pp. 1-7.
t See pages 7 to 16 of this volume.
THE ACHIEVEMENT MEDAL
IN SEPTEMBER of 1936, Phipps and Bird, Inc. of Richmond, Virginia generously offered
to give the Academy a gold medal every year to be awarded to a member of the Acad-
emy for the presentation of a noteworthy paper at the annual meeting. Similar medals
have been presented by the same company to other Academies in the Southeast. The
Council accepted this kind offer and the medal was subsequently named "The Achieve-
ment Medal of the Florida Academy of Sciences."
A committee was appointed to make the award for the 1936 Annual Meeting. It
consisted of Prof. J. H. Clouse (Physics) University of Miami; Mr. J. F. Bass, Jr.
(Zoology) Bass Biological Laboratories, Englewood; Dr. R. F. Bellamy (Anthropology)
Florida State College for Women; Dr. L. W. Gaddum (Biochemistry) University of
Florida; Dr. Herman Kurz (Botany) Florida State College for Women.
The Achievement Medal for 1936 was awarded to Dr. H. H. Hume (Botany) Uni-
versity of Florida, for his paper: "Cohering Keels in Amaryllids and Related Plants."
Receipts from dues, etc. to November 16, 1936 ........................ $356.00
Disbursements for printing, postage, etc. to November 16, 1936.......... 53.00
Cash on Hand, November 16, 1936 .................................. $303.00
-J. F. W. PEARSON, Treasurer
PROGRAM OF THE INAUGURAL MEETING
AFTERNOON SESSION, FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1936
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS: President Herman Kurz presiding.
1. The Nature of Scientific Papers.-R. F. Bellamy, Florida State College for Women.
2. The Present Status of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.
-C. W. Stiles, Rollins College.
3. Inheritance of Rest Period in Peanut Seeds.-F. H. Hull, University of Florida.
4. The Effect of X-rays upon the Growth of Seeds.-A. A. Bless, University of
5. Comments on Problems in the Mammals of Florida, and: Comments on the Recent
Mammals of Florida.-E. V. Komarek, Thomasville, Ga.
6. Concerning the Migration of Bats in the Region of Gainesville, Florida.-H. B.
Sherman, University of Florida.
7. A Quantitative Method for the Determination of Minute Amounts of Copper in
Biological Materials.-L. L. Rusoff and L. W. Gaddum, University of Florida.
4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
8. The Requirements of an Accredited School of Forestry.-H. S. Newins, University
9. The Gulf-Island Cottonmouths.-A. F. Carr, University of Florida.
10. The Interrelation of Motor Abilities.-P. F. Finner, Florida State College for
11. Spectroscopic Sidelights on Molecular Structure.-R. C. Williamson, University of
12. Some Florida Crawfishes and their Habitat Distribution.-H. H. Hobbs, Univer-
sity of Florida.
13. A Limnological Reconnaissance of some Lakes, Ponds and Streams of Northern
Florida.-J. Speed Rogers, University of Florida.
BANQUET AT THE HOTEL THOMAS
Toastmaster: Herman Kurz, President of the Academy.
Address of Welcome:
Jno. J. Tigert, President, University of Florida.
Response and Introduction of Inaugural Speaker:
H. H. Hume, Assistant Director, Research, Experiment Station, University of
Guest Speaker, as Official Representative of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science:
C. A. Browne, Supervisor of Research, Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture.
Inaugural Address: Academies of Science and the Cooperative Spirit in Scientific
SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1936
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS: President Herman Kurz presiding.
1. The Habits and Distribution of a Rare Florida Dragonfly.-C. F. Byers, University
2. The Food and Feeding Habits of two Florida Frogs.-J. D. Kilby, University of
3. A Geological Explanation of the Distribution of Tropical Ferns in Florida.-E. P.
St. John, Floral City.
4. Results of Some Further Studies of the Spectrographic Determination of Zinc.-
L. H. Rogers and O. E. Gall, University of Florida.
5. The Crystal Structure of Calcium Chromate.-J. H. Clouse, University of Miami.
6. Growth Behavior of Plants as Affected by Cultural Practices.-W. A. Leukel, Uni-
versity of Florida.
7. The Analysis of Plant Ash in the Light of the Law of Definite Proportions: An
Apparently Forgotten Principle in Chemical Analysis.-L. W. Gaddum, Univer-
sity of Florida.
PROGRAM OF THE FIRST ANNUAL MEETING
8. A Peculiar Spider, Cydocosmia truncata (Hentz), in Florida.-H. K. Wallace,
University of Florida.
TRANSACTION OP BUSINEss-11:30 to 12 noon.
PROGRAM OF THE FIRST ANNUAL MEETING
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1936
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS: President Herman Kurz presiding
1. The Past and Present Status of Some Rare and Threatened Florida Birds-Alden
H. Hadley, Gainesville, Florida.
2. Effect of a Lack of Vitamin A on the Blood Picture of Rats and Adult Humans-
0. D. Abbott and C. F. Ahmann, University of Florida.
3. Growth-Ring Studies of Trees of Northern Florida-W. L. MacGowan, Lee High
4. The Methods of Multiple Factor Analysis-Charles I. Mosier, University of
5. Recent Progress in High-Fidelity Sound Reproduction-Robert I. Allen, Stetson
University. (Demonstrations by Clifford Ryerson.)
6. Non-Effective Gene Frequencies-Fred H. Hull, University of Florida.
7. Absorption Spectrophotometry and Its Applications-L. H. Rogers, University of
8. Recent Advances in the Field of Vitamin Chemistry-L. L. Rusoff, University of
9. Proverbs in Browning's The Ring and the Book. The Scientific Method Applied to
a Problem in English Literature-Cornelia M. Smith, Stetson University.
10. Damage to Citrus by Freeze of December, 1934-Gray Singleton, Federal Land
Bank, Columbia, S. C.
Toastmaster: R. C. Williamson, Vice-President of the Academy.
Address of Welcome:
W. S. Allen, President, John B. Stetson University.
Herman Kurz, President of the Academy.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS: Present Herman Kurz presiding
1. The Effect of Certain Environmental Factors on the Development of Cotton Seed,
Germinating Ability, and Resultant Yield of Cotton-W. A. Carver, University
6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
2. Some Consequences of Pseudo-Mathematics and Quasi-Measurement in Psycho-
metrics, Education and the Social Sciences-Christian P. Heinlein, Florida State
College for Women.
3. Effects of X-rays on Corn-A. A. Bless, University of Florida.
4. Has the Study of Mathematics a Place in Modern Socialized Education?-Barbara
Davis, Stetson University.
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES SECTION
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS: H. H. Hume, Section Chairman, presiding
1. Two Larval Crane-fly Members of the Neuston Fauna-J. Speed Rogers, University
2. Studies on the Life Zones of Marine Waters Adjacent to Miami: I. The Distribution
of the Ophiuroidea-Jay F. W. Pearson, University of Miami.
3. Organography of Sixteen Millimeter Ameiurus-Nelle Campbell, Stetson Univer-
4. Cohering Keels in Amaryllids and Related Plants-H. H. Hume, University of
5. List of the Recent Land Mammals of Florida-H. B. Sherman, University of
6. Genetics in the Taxonomy of Arachis Hypogaea, L.-Fred H. Hull, University of
7. A Key to the Freshwater Fishes of Peninsular Florida-A. F. Carr, Jr., University
of Florida. By Title.
8. An Annotated List of the Birds of Alachua County-R. C. McClanahan, Pensacola
High School. By Title.
PHYSICAL SCIENCES SECTION
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS: Herman Gunter, Section Chairman, presiding
1. The Solution of A. C. Problems by Means of Complex Numbers-Jess Armstrong,
Landon High School, Jacksonville.
2. Raman Spectra of Acetone-Water Solutions-R. C. Williamson, University of
3. Cellulose of Spanish Moss-Louis E. Wise, Rollins College, and A. Meer, Rollins
4. An Application of Infrared Spectroscopy to Rubber Chemistry-Dudley Williams,
University of Florida.
5. Application of Helley's Theorem to Sequences of Jordan Curves-Donald Faulkner,
Stetson University. By Title.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH IN FLORIDA
HERMAN KURZ, Retiring President
BY-PRODUCTS OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY
A GOOD MANY of us present are primarily teachers. For our benefit
and as an introduction I want to point out at once that an instructor's
development should not stop with the attainment of his higher degree.
This development should be a continual process. Most of our in-
spiring teachers are creative scholars. Someone has said that they in-
spire their students because they bring nuggets fresh from the mines.
Doing research, even in a modest way, develops an open-minded-
ness, a desire for caution, and a humility that we seldom see on the
part of those who have taught from the books, and only from the
books, all their lives.
Discussions with critical colleagues or appearing before an informed
audience will no doubt improve the quality of our creative efforts.
Pertinent and searching questions on the part of experts in the same
field will tend to produce a more cautious or sounder view of our
problems or fields. To one accustomed to appear only before under-
graduate students and whose word is there unquestioned, there is
nothing so helpful as a doubt or contradiction expressed on the part
of an informed fellow scientist.
In the modern day when even high schools are demanding M.A.
and Ph.D. degrees it becomes almost imperative that college teachers
be trained in research methods. The modern tendency even in the
grammar school is to teach by the project or the research method.
Procurement in itself of a Master's or a Doctor's degree hardly suffices
to give adequate training for those who intend to train for the higher
degree. In present day college training, a mastery of English is being
more and more emphasized. Proper marshalling and treatment of
facts is one of the very essences of good English. Ironically enough,
many college teachers themselves are unable to write a thesis that will
stand unshaken by the pen of a critical editor. I believe I can say with-
out contradiction that creative writing is conducive to good writing;
and, researches in the sciences offer excellent opportunities for pro-
ductive writing. One director of research recently said to me that he
could spend a month laying out research problems awaiting solution
in Florida. In this discourse I shall attempt therefore to indicate
merely some of the opportunities and demands for research in the
8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
To begin with, I believe that it must be perfectly apparent to every-
body that problems essentially sociological or involving racial con-
siderations should be studied by investigators who through birth and
rearing as well as training are familiar with the local or regional tra-
ditions and background. We can hardly expect those brought up and
trained in other sections of the country to make a cursory trip into
Florida, spend a few weeks or months, and then on the basis of this
brief study be able to make any real or great contribution on prob-
lems involving race, creed, or traditions.
LOCAL FLORAS AND FAUNAS
Florida has 3500 species of seed plants alone, to say nothing of salt
and fresh water algae, mosses, liverworts, ferns, lichens, and fungi.
The State has an even more prodigious Fauna, there being something
like 25,000 to 50,000 species of insects, spiders, reptiles, frogs, and
birds. From such a colossal aggregate of species it becomes readily
apparent that we need local or regional florass" and faunass" by
which naturalists can readily and with certainty identify species of
particular interest. It is to be lamented that herbaria and museums of
Washington and New York, for instance, possess more complete
specimens and records representing Florida present and past life than
A few years ago a specialist came to Florida locating and collecting
various species of our many native leguminous plants in the hope of
finding one rich in crotonin, a principle very powerful as an in-
secticide. No doubt not all is known about the other organic com-
pounds or therapeutic properties of native plants in the State.
We need to know more about plant and animal distribution. Small's
1933 Manual of the Southeastern United States, to cite two exam-
ples, records dogtooth violet, Erythronium Americanum, and skunk
cabbage, Arisiaemafoetida for Florida. Who has seen them? Florida
has a number of what might be called floristic islands. These islands
harbor a strange ensemble of local, endemic, and disjunctive species
of plants. At the Apalachicola River bluffs, for example, the endemic
Torreya hobnobs with the northern leatherwood and at the same time
and place with southern palms. There are accounts listing the species
and offering speculative explanations. But what we really need are
biological, geological, physical, and chemical quantitative data about
the environmental factors of this and other floristic islands in the
State. Somewhere in the State and certainly among the lower plants
unknown species await discovery. And species already familiar will
still surprise the explorer by looming up in new localities and situa-
tions. Painstaking scrutiny close to the substratum is sure to result in
new facts and revelations.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH IN FLORIDA
Geologically speaking, peninsular Florida is not nearly so old as
the Piedmont. Indeed the extreme southern Peninsula dates from
Pleistocene times, a matter of only 10,000 to 25,000 years ago. Ac-
cording to entomologists, therefore, the comparatively young physio-
graphic and geological peninsular Florida is characterized by little
races of insects, groups which as yet have not reached a species rank
or status. Due to present and ancient barriers and isolation, many
endemic species are also to be found here. For these reasons then in-
sects of southern Florida offer admirable material and facts for evolu-
Plant succession is one of the most important ecological concepts;
and yet, when one reviews the literature or the texts, he gains the
impression that this process operates only in the North and West.
Florida is in sad need of detailed successional studies. Very little is
known about the aggregate of species that make up our many types of
climax forests. In Europe and the North, plant ecologists or plant
sociologists are making statistical and quantitative studies of plant
communities. Such objective studies will enable ecologists to observe
trends or development in plant communities that take place over a
period of years. This modern objective method of describing plant
associations also presents ecologists of other regions with a much more
accurate and comparable picture than the rather outmoded sub-
We know very little about fresh water algae in relation to their
environment. We do not even have a treatise of the species to be found
in Florida. And this, despite the fact that these lower plants consti-
tute the primary food supply of most aquatic plants and animals
(fresh water fish and game, if you please).
Ecological knowledge applicable in the North falls short in the
extreme Southeast. Most data pertaining to life conditions of ponds
and lakes have been collected from bodies of water which freeze
annually. Florida's warm growing season is much longer, its cold
season shorter and less extreme, and its waters never freeze; the bodies
of water are nearly all shallower; light rays are more nearly vertical.
The sum total of all these peculiarities causes different light, tempera-
ture, carbon dioxide, and oxygen conditions. It will be readily ap-
parent that local studies are needed to determine how our aquatic
flora and fauna react to such regionally different environmental
Our days are never as long nor as short as in northern latitudes.
Length of day governs reproduction in many plants; there is, I
10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
believe, even evidence that reproduction in some animals is also
influenced thereby. Here is an open field for work. In the North many
mosses and liverworts go through their reproductive period in the
spring and early summer. In the extreme Southeast, reproduction on
the part of these same plants begins in autumn and continues through
the winter and early spring. For the Bryophytes, summer seems to
be the period of quiescence. These at least are the indications; but
we have no scientific or orderly records. The evidence points to the
fact that many fresh water algae from a reproductive point of view
are also most active during the cool autumn and winter months.
However, here too, there is a paucity of systematized data.
WILD LIFE BALANCES
Ignorance and commercialism are gradually but inevitably ex-
terminating our reptile life. If that is wise, I have no objection.
However, as yet I question the wisdom. It is doubtful whether we
shall in the near future be able to offset or cancel such philosophy,
"I kill all snakes on general principles," or "I kill all snakes because
I hate them." Only research and a subsequent dissemination of
thorough knowledge of the life histories and interrelation of reptiles
with other wild life can offer hope. Alligators are vanishing at a rapid
rate. Who knows whether they should go the way of the bison and
the heath hen? It is said that they destroy the eggs of the turtle that
feeds on eggs of bass. Right here arises a number of questions: Does
the alligator really feed extensively on eggs of turtles? Does the turtle
actually destroy too many fish eggs? Does the alligator also feed on
them? Does he prey upon fish? Can the alligator really catch a healthy
fish? Which species, alligator or turtle is the worst offender? And so
on. More research should enable us to make a more intelligent de-
cision or campaign regarding the status of the alligator and other
A mammalogist says that we have only a limited knowledge of the
food habits of our most common native mammals. According to him
apparently little is known about the diseases of our wild animals and
their relationship to domestic stock and man. Neither is there a life
history study of any Florida mammal that might be considered
complete. When it comes to the more recent fields of science, such as
Ecology, we find many blank pages or gaps; to fill them with de-
pendable information requires years, not weeks or months.
Modern naturalists interested in research pertaining to conserva-
tion no longer take a benign "let nature alone" attitude. Specialists
trained in Ecology are studying natural balances and taking steps to
manipulate factors that swing the balance between wild organisms one
way or the other according to particular objectives sought. It must
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH IN FLORIDA
be perfectly patent that the more contributions there are pertaining
to delicately adjusted interrelations and balances among competitive
species the more successful will be wild life management.
It is essential that the potential natural resources of Florida,
geological, botanical, and zoological, be investigated. Not only do
we need a knowledge of our total potential resources but we also need
to know how far we dare or dare not to go with the modification,
utilization, and exploitation of these resources. Here I would also
include some of the resources of anthropological or even esthetic
interest. If some or a part of these resources must be sacrificed at the
altar of progress, then the least we can do is to create accurate pic-
tures and records of what has been. Some of our native animals and
plants together with their natural setting are at least leaning, if not
actually going, toward annihilation; Indian mounds are going like-
wise; even natural wonders like sinkholes with their concommitant,
peculiar life are choked with fenders, cans, and stoves of yesteryear.
We should study, record, and map what still remains in primeval
Florida ought not to leave its fate in the laps of geologists, zoolo-
gists, botanists, naturalists, foresters, or engineers, no matter how
great their wisdom concerning the flora, fauna, or geology of other
regions or lands, unless the experts in question have been on the
ground long enough to be thoroughly familiar with all the aspects of
the problem or problems. Major modifications of Florida land or
water involving wild fauna and flora should not be permitted without
the sanctions and counsel of thoroughly trained scientists fortified
with years of local study.
Fundamental research of Florida clays is needed in order to deter-
mine more fully their merits in the manufacture of high grade ceramic
ware. At present we really do not know whether Florida clay is in-
ferior, equal, or superior to English kaolins which are still imported
because of their alleged superiority. Moreover, basic investigation
would greatly aid in finding new non-ceramic outlets for our white
clays; for example, cosmetics, fillers, cleaners, and so on.
Diatomaceous earth is another raw material offering problems
awaiting solution. This earth representing really the hulls of ancient
diatoms is of a high quality. It can be used for polishing and dessicat-
ing purposes. The latest salt shakers are equipped with diatomaceous
tops to keep the salt within dry and pourablee." Exploratory work
will probably find more efficient means of mining this product and
developing new uses and markets for it.
Still another example: at present, California and other states are
12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
modifying bentonitic clays chemically and producing an earth that
competes with Florida's fuller's earth as a refining medium of crude
oils. Florida should be explored for possible bentonitic deposits with
the view of creating a new industry. Also, the adaptability of Florida's
fuller's earth toward new uses should be considered.
Florida needs basic research on soils. There is much to be learned
about factors that make for good soils for citrus, truck, or field crops.
Yes, many of us would like to know more about soils in order to pro-
duce bigger and better roses, dahlias, azalias. We should also like to
know how to avoid the periodic failures that every flower grower
encounters in certain years. By the recent delicate and precise spectro-
graphic methods trace elements not detectible by ordinary chemical
methods can be determined quantitatively when as little as one part
in a million is present. Members of the Academy* have detected the
presence of at least seventeen elements not included in Hopkins'
famous "CaFe." Just how these elements and others still to be dis-
covered function in plant growth is still unknown. Naturally enough,
the whole consideration of elements expands into mineral-nutritional
problems of animals and humans. Maybe juvenile spinach mutineers
are several laps ahead of us when they question the nutritional value
or the presence of iron in spinach. The same species or subspecies of
grasses found in Texas and Florida have a different mineral content.
In the realm of elements lies a multitude of problems for plant and
human physiologists, biochemists, nutritional experts of plants,
animals, and man.
Very few institutions and no scientist can afford the luxury of spec-
trographic instruments and accessories. Still, would not some of us
ecologists like to have this beautiful technique applied to vexing prob-
lems of plant or animal distribution!
Much work needs to be done in the field of plant pathology. A good
many organisms that cause disease of cultivated plants spend part
of their life on native wild host plants. In the North, the American
barberry, for example, is a wild host species that harbors wheat rust
over winter. Eradication of this wild host has helped to control wheat
rust. In Florida, leaf mosaic of peppers, to cite merely one example,
is a disease causing great economic loss. To date, the alternate host
Gaddum, L. W., and Rogers, L. H., A Study of Some Trace Elements in Fertilizer
Materials, Bul. 290 Univ. of Fla., Agri. Exp. Station, 1936.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH IN FLORIDA
species, if there is one, of the filterable virus that causes mosaic of
pepper has not been discovered. Before many of our plant diseases
can be finally understood and controlled, the native alternate host
plants must be found and the conditions under which they thrive or
fail in nature be fully investigated.
The medical profession informsme that even from the standpoint
of human health, local research is essential. Certain diseases and their
symptoms vary considerably according to climate. For example, the
joint symptoms of acute rheumatic fever are much milder and fre-
quently absent in the South. Damage to the heart valves may there-
fore often occur with little or no preceding evidence of this disease.
In this connection, it is to be noted that there is relatively little rheu-
matic fever in the South. Yet there is considerable in Miami. The
following question arises: Why rheumatism in sunny Miami when
sunshine is supposed to be a curative agent? Has rheumatism been
conveyed down there from New England where it is more common?
Is rheumatic fever mildly infectious?
Again, the fact that plant species and varieties vary according to
geographical regions makes pollen sensitization problems essentially
individual and sectional.
What might be called a multiple way correlative problem is sug-
gested by one physician who points out that a thorough study and
survey is needed in order to determine the relations, if any, between
endogenous asthma, climatic conditions, native pollen producing
plants and even yeasts and fungi.
Biochemists and physiologists use the term basal metabolism to
designate the rate of energy metabolism or low heat production of the
body when at complete rest. It is determined by measuring the
amount of carbon dioxide he produces in the same interval of time.
The rate of basal metabolism like and along with other physiological
tests as X-rays, blood counts, and various other analyses is furnishing
valuable information in diagnostic work. The basal metabolic rate
for young people of the South is below the accepted normal stand-
ards.* Tables of basal metabolism prepared in the other sections and
from subjects elsewhere are therefore not wholly applicable to our
climate and region. Why does this variation exist? Climate may be
responsible. In any event it is plain that local standards taking into
account geographic variation should be worked out.
Cason, T. Z., The Progress of Medical Research in the South, American College of
Physicians, New Orleans, La., 1928.
14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
CORRELATIVE STUDIES OF HEALTH CONDITIONS
In 1933, a physician* and a geologist, utilizing malaria mortality
statistics and existing geological knowledge showed that there is a
marked correlation between malarial incidence or mortality anc
Tertiary limestone sinkhole topography of Alabama, Florida, Georgia:
and the Carolinas. It also appears that there is a correlation between
types of sinks or basins and reaction of the water. Basins with accumu-
lating vegetative matter are acid and favorite habitats of Anophele
crucians, whereas bodies of water influenced by limestone are alkaline
and inhabited by Anopheles quadrimaculatus. However, it is not
known whether or not more extensive work would all be confirmatory.
A quantitative study of the chemical, physical, and biological proper-
ties favorable to malarial mosquitoes would be a contribution.
Fluorine attacks the enamel of the teeth, especially of children,
and causes an unsightly mottling as well as eventual decay. A chem-
istt has found and determined quantitatively this element in certain
Florida waters. Moreover, this chemist and a geologist working
cooperatively, have found that there is correlation between certain
geological strata and fluorine content of well water, furnished by
such formations. Research is needed and going forward with the
anticipation that water supplies may be tapped with a full knowledge
of what to expect in reference to this particular and deleterious ele-
ment. At present, no nullifying remedy is known. The overwhelming
necessity of studying means of counter-attacking the ravages of
fluorine containing waters must be obvious.
The indications are that magnesium and calcium content favor
renal calculus. If that is so, here is a need of correlating medicine,
chemistry, and geology. The latter field is to help in ascertaining what
geological formations carry magnesium and calcium in such propor-
tions as to favor renal calculus.
SCIENTIFIC TEAM WORK
In 1899, John M. Coulter published Plants. This was a book con-
sisting of 348 pages. It covered the general field, including plant
ecology, fairly well. In 1936, thirty-seven years later, there appeared
a general botany text by Hill, Overholts and Popp of 672 pages.
In this book, scant if any, treatment is accorded such branches as
physiology, pathology, and ecology. By the present time, these babes
of 1900 have waxed so lusty that we now must consult special texts
for information regarding them. Early in Coulter's era, there was no
Boyd, M. F., and Ponton, G., The Recent Distribution of Malaria in The South-
eastern United States, Am. Journ. Trop. Med. 13: 2. 1933.
t Black, A. P., Stearns, J. H., McClane, J. H., McClane, T. K., Fluorine in Florida
Waters, Fla. Section Am. Waterwork Assoc., 1935.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH IN FLORIDA
plant physiology text, nor one on ecology. Cowles' general Ecology
of 479 pages did not appear until 1910; only six pages were devoted
to Succession. By 1916 there appeared Clement's 512-page Succession,
a text larger than Cowles' general works covering the whole subject
Even the venerable science of Physics has sprouted tremendously
new and lush growth since those calm "all is finished" days of 1895
just before R6ntgen did his signal work with X-rays. In 1908, Milli-
kan and Mills published a fairly comprehensive textbook of 389
pages on Electricity, Sound and Light. Today we have Compton and
Allison's 828 page X-rays of 1935, Morecroft's 1084 page Principles
of Radio Communication, and Wood's 519 page text on Sound. My,
what a cathedral that simple orderly house of 1890 has become!
Anthropology says that the human brain has not increased its ac-
tivity or capacity for mental pursuits in the last 20,000 years. No
man may therefore hope to master any of the basic sciences; and in
certain cases not even a narrow strip within the specialty. Physical
scientists or biologists may and do scratch or poke around the shore
or bank but between these two broad and many braided streams of
the physical and biological sciences lie forgotten and unexplored
islands, where mathematicians, geologists, physiologists, physicians,
physicists, botanists, chemists, zoologists, and psychologists and the
specialists within these fields must meet to solve basic two, three, or
even multiple-way and interlocking problems.
In connection with certain pine forest studies foresters have al-
most reached an impasse. A study of burned plots has shown that
burning concentrates such elements as calcium and potassium in the
surface layer. Concentrating these minerals in the surface soils seems
to be an advantage. But on the other hand, it is not known how such
burning affects important organisms and life processes in the soil.
Here is where the soil biologists, familiar with local soils, should step
in and help to crowd back farther the unknown.
Other scientific teams active in Florida may be mentioned. We
have, for instance, teams of physicians, and geologists; or chemists,
dentists, and geologists. Their work has already been indicated. An-
other hook-up consists of a scientific utility man in this instance func-
tioning as a botanist and, aided by a physicist, determining trace
elements in plants and soils by spectrographic methods. Then we have
a physicist and a geneticist determining the effect of X-rays on
germination of corn and its subsequent development.
I am sure that just about now mathematicians, if there are any
present, must feel like unnecessary orphans. Let them not become de-
spondent; some pure mathematicians will be needed soon to help
some plant ecologist to comprehend Bickford's Simple Accurate
16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Method of Computing Basal Area of Forest Stands.* The term "basal
area" has reference to the cross-sectional areas of tree trunks. A
glimpse at the chart will show the extreme simplicity which only a
dull biologist can fail to understand.
Corporations, like Bell Telephone, Dupont, Eastman Kodak, Ford
Motor Company, General Electric, General Motors, and the United
States Steel Corporation, have on their scientific staffs certain men
who are permitted to investigate within reason any problem or any
phase of a problem that they wish to. Nothing is said or asked about
the immediate application of such scientific data or discoveries.
Their superiors feel that any basic information will some day be use-
ful in some way.
In support of the foregoing, I give the substance of a paragraph
from a communication of Dr. Hawkins, Executive Engineer of
General Electric Company. He states that although a study of oil
films on water contributed to the flotation process in mining, opened
up a new branch of chemistry and earned a Nobel prize, this oil
film study brought nothing of direct consequence or utility to the Gen-
eral Electric Company. "However," he concludes, "we are not wor-
ried." So these men investigate fundamentals in a field out of sheer
scientific curiosity. To the speaker it appears that institutions of
learning in the State might encourage similar attacks on problems of
a fundamental nature. A reasonable amount of work devoted to such
problems would help to make more effective teachers and at the same
time to blaze the trial for and be of assistance to the practical scientist
who is expected to show results that can be measured in dollars.
Problems of the type I have surveyed, have been made by scholars
from other parts of the United States; visiting geologists, anthro-
pologists, zoologists, botanists, ornithologists, and naturalists, have
come, made discoveries, and incidentally taken away forever many
valuable specimens and deposited them in museums far removed
from here. There is nothing unethical in our accepting and using the
contributions of outsiders. It is, however, to be regretted that we have
not in turn been able to produce a more nearly commensurate amount
of native research. Not only is it desirable, but from an ethical point
of view, imperative that Florida reciprocate on a large scale in ad-
vancing the productive front of scientific investigation. Men con-
cerned with fundamental scientific researches and those interested
in industry and natural resources expect the institutions of learning
of the State to participate, yes, even to lead in creative scholarship.
Bickford, C. A., A Simple Accurate Method of Computing Basal Area of Forest
Stands, Journal of Agriculture Research, 1935.
THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
RAYMOND F. BELLAMY
Florida State College for Women
SCIENTIFIC PAPERS generally fall into two classes. It is relatively
safe to predict that the papers which will be presented throughout
the coming years at this newly organized Florida Academy of Sciences
will conform to this familiar pattern. The first class will consist of
short specific papers on particular points or bits of new information.
These will be of little or no interest to any one except those who pre-
sent them and it often will be difficult to think of any particular value
which they might have.
The second class will be composed of papers which will be longer,
more argumentative in nature, and concerned with more or less funda-
mental theories. When a scientist writes such a paper for publication
or to be read before some group, in all probability he will follow a
prescribed formula. He will start with an apology and then proceed to
show up some topic in a new light or at least from a new angle. In the
course of the discussion, occasion will arise for pointing out how other
treatments of the subject have been scholarly and valuable, of course,
but, after all, fragmentary and partial, and lacking the clear insight
which the paper under discussion shows. In fact, very much scientific
material consists in showing how very wrong the other fellow is.
To the undergraduate student and to the man on the street this is
often confusing. Yes, it is frequently painful. The world at large is
looking to science today, hoping almost prayerfully for information
and assistance. When the behavior of the scientist, as described above,
is noted, it causes bewilderment. It gives the impression that there
is nothing fixed or definite in science. The younger students almost
universally become uncertain of their own thoughts, frequently even
of their own sanity, and experience a stage of misery. The man on
the street, and the one who reads his newspapers becomes a skeptic
or a scoffer.
The matter is made all the worse by the fact that those who are old
at the game apparently like this very situation. They spend many
hours wrangling over some such minute point as to whether tweedle-
dum is more or less in evidence than tweedledee. Give a teacher or a
scientist an opportunity to speak or write and he will at once proceed
to show how somebody, or perhaps everybody, else is entirely wrong
about some hitherto commonly accepted point. However if this seem-
ingly cocksure writer or speaker is asked to prophesy the future of his
theory he is apt to say with great composure that in a few years it
will be dead-entirely dead and buried. The attitude of the average
18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
scientist may be summed up as follows:-"On this point everybody
else is terribly wrong; here for the first time is complete truth; in a few
years it also will be wrong."
Since teachers and scholars (perhaps mutually exclusive terms)
are just naturally constituted this way, there is apparently nothing
which we can do about it. But it may not be an altogether unforgiv-
able sin if we depart from the usual routine, for at least this one
time, and attempt to show how some of these folks may possibly be
right; if, instead of showing how different they are, we attempt to
show some points of agreement. When we do this, we find that very
often the differences are quite insignificant. There is a large body of
material about which there is agreement-not approximate agree-
ment, but complete agreement. There is a vast body of material
which has been tested, tortured, discussed, modified, and accepted-
and then promptly forgotten. We do not think of these commonly
accepted facts any more than we remember that there is a law against
We see this everywhere. Not long ago I happened to speak to a
physician about the work being done on the ductless glands. He
answered me at once, "Oh, we really do not know anything at all
about them." I could not help thinking of the way thyroxin is used
to cure that dreadful form of idiocy called cretinism; of how so many
thousands are alive and relatively well today who would have been
dead long ago except for insulin; of how adrenalin applied locally will
prevent bleeding, or used in other ways become a powerful stimulant
and will even bring to life a dead heart; of the way other glandular
products are used in childbirth, to control disordered growth, to pre-
vent excessive menstruation, and even to do such everyday things
as to prevent baldness. All these practices are commonly known
by even us laymen. The doctor to whom I was talking proceeded to
tell me a dozen or so more abstruse discoveries centering around these
glands. But he insisted that we really know nothing about them.
What is really known, we forget that we know.
Instead of keeping our eyes on our established body of knowledge,
we quarrel and theorize over minute points which are usually quite
insignificant. Furthermore, even those bitter, deadly, unforgiving
quarrels between the "true" scientists on the one hand, and those
whom they call the "pseudo" scientists (psychologists, sociologists,
etc.) on the other hand are usually over terribly important points
which do not exist.
A case in point is the quarrel between certain psychologists and
equally certain physicists over the relation of the different colors to
each other. But the Helmholtz theory which so many physicists
THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
stubbornly retain rests on the mixing of pigments. The Hering theory,
on the other hand, seeks to explain what happens in the retina of the
eye. The two are not at all hopelessly antagonistic.
This, then, is the first point to keep in mind, namely that there is a
vast field of information upon which there is general agreement. To
be sure, some of our commonly accepted theories are later proven to
be fallacious. This is true in all experiences of life. But the occasions
on which it is a fundamental destruction of the old theories are very
rare. Nearly always it is a mere modification or an elaboration of the
old theory which has occurred. To illustrate this we may take the case
of Darwin. During the last few years it has become a popular indoor
sport to show how Darwin was wrong. Scholars, investigators, teach-
ers, and beginning students all alike assume a knowing and some-
what condescending air and say, "Oh, of course, nobody holds to
Darwin's theory nowadays." Quite true. Yet the fundamentals of
Darwin's theory are more firmly established, more undisputed, and
more highly respected today than ever before. It is only the details
which have changed.
That which is true of Darwin's theory is also true of many others.
Even such theories as those of Mendel, Weismann, and DeVries are
at most only somewhat dented and are not at all pulverized by the
powerful blows of Jennings and other contemporary geneticists. In
fact, there is much which has come down to us substantially un-
changed from the days of antiquity. At Dr. William H. Burnham's
seminar I once heard a student give a review of a very popular new
book on educational theory. But Dr. Burnham remarked that with
the exception of the expression "conditioned reflex" there was nothing
in it which had not been said by Comenius. And Comenius had de-
scribed even the conditioned reflex under another name. Turning to
Plato and Aristotle, it is nothing short of amazing to see how ac-
curately and clearly they stated quite modern theories and principles.
Thus it appears that in contrast with the pessimistic views of the
beginning student and the man on the street, there is a vast field of
scientific information and belief which has remained substantially
unchanged not only for years and generations but for centuries.
We forget what the old scholars said and say it over-sometimes
better and sometimes not so well, but always in somewhat different
Perhaps it is saying about the same thing when we call attention
to the fact that much of the quarreling and disagreement between
scholars is in fact a quarrel over terms and definitions. Usually this
is not realized by those who are furnishing the entertainment since
each has so vividly in mind the specific point which he is trying to
20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
establish that he can see nothing else. In actuality the seemingly most
remote theories are often all but identical.
This can be illustrated in any field. In sociology let us glance at the
concept of Social Forces. Ward said they were the emotions, Small
makes them the six interests, Thomas conceives of them as four
wishes, Ross says they are instincts and interests, the educational
sociologists conceive of them as the institutions, and numerous other
writers have apparently attempted to conceal their true theories by
their involved and ambiguous terms. But we can boldly and un-
hesitatingly say that an analysis shows that they are all trying to
say the same thing. They are all in substantial agreement, even in-
cluding Hayes who says that there are no social forces. All that
Hayes means is that the emotional reactions are experienced by in-
dividuals and not by any abstraction of a group, and every one of our
writers knows that.
As expressed by Ole Reliable, the Mississippi darkey, when he de-
scribed the natives of southern Egypt, "They ain't a dime's wo'th
o' difference twixt these niggers and the ones back home."
In psychology the same is true. Even the remarkable lengths to
which modern psychologists go can be shown to lack some of the
terrifying connotations which they seem to have. Perhaps Sigmund
Freud is considered about as extreme as any. The Freudian theory is
generally looked upon as something of a cross between a case of
delirium tremens and hog chlorea. But Freud is not so bad. As Mark
Twain said about Wagner's music, he is not so bad as he sounds. The
modern psychologists have concluded that Freud was completely and
absolutely wrong, but have accepted substantially everything which
he ever said, only under a bit different set of names. I am told that
Knight Dunlap of Johns Hopkins would probably die of apoplexy
if he should be told that he agrees with Freud. Yet I make bold to
state that fundamentally even he says the same thing. Of course,
Freud has suffered greatly from mistranslation, and this is the most
confusing factor in the case.
Another somewhat spectacular quarrel that is raging at present
is concerned with the use of statistics, especially in educational
measurements. To listen to some of these quarrels we are reminded
of the story about giants sitting on grave stones cracking peanuts
with sledge hammers. One enthusiast will insist on the value of statis-
tical tests of ability, intelligence, achievement, or whatever we may
be trying to measure. A second will speak up and exclaim that such
tests are wholly unreliable as far as proving anything about the indi-
vidual is concerned. (There are some of us who knew this all the time.)
If our loud disputants could just for a moment try to get together
instead of trying to demolish each other, they would quickly agree
THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
that such tests are valuable as a rough practical means of selec-
tion and are probably superior to any other means which we could use.
The biologists have their copious quarrels over exact terminology
and infinitely minute points of difference also. We have already
mentioned their fights over questions of heredity. But the stock
raisers, horticulturists, farmers, and fanciers keep right on securing
splendid results in the applications of the principles which have been
given them, regardless of all these wordy quarrels. As it is with
heredity, so it is with almost every biological question. The methods
of evolution, of selection, of adaptation, of species differentiation, and
numerous other points are all substantially agreed upon by our bio-
logical friends. But they would not acknowledge it for worlds.
The controversies in chemistry and physics are equally evident,
especially within the sanctum of their own group. The wave of what
might be called scientific hysteria that has swept over this country
since Einstein began making his utterances shows this. The work
that is being done on the structure of the molecule and the atom and
the corresponding behavior of the electrons adds much scientifically
inflammable fuel to the hysterical fire. Ask such a scientist a leading
question today and he is sure to begin his answer by saying that all
the old fields of scientific belief and all the old axioms and funda-
mental postulates are completely destroyed and the entire founda-
tions of his science are demolished. Yet all this has not affected the
building of bridges and cathedrals nor the construction of engines and
rifles in the least. But it has provided a splendid field for endless dis-
cussion and disputation.
I understand that we are now called upon to give up the old belief
in the existence of the luminiferous ether. We had formerly thought
of it as a scientific abstraction, filling all space and existing only as a
concept to furnish a basis of explanation for various natural phe-
nomena. But now we are told that it does not exist at all and that
light, etc. travel by some other medium which is likewise just an
abstraction and which we must think of as existing only as a concept
which fills all space. We are reminded at this point of the researches
carried out by our friends the classical scholars. They finally con-
cluded that the Odyssey and the Iliad were not written by Homer but
by another man of the same name.
In every field, the situation is the same. There are endless quarrels
about the different ways in which the same thing should be said. It is
true, of course, that we can not explain away all the differences be-
tween the theories and beliefs of the various writers. There are some
differences which are quite real and very great. But such genuine
fundamental differences are not found as often as is generally sup-
22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Shall we say then that these quarrels, discussions, controversies,
arguments, and differences of opinion are destructive and worthless?
Shall we conclude that scientific investigation of such minute points
is a waste of time? Not at all. In spite of all that we have said, there
is no question but that they are exceedingly and immeasurably valu-
able. We must remember that the scientist is not interested in talking
about the established facts and principles. His interest is in the field
which is not yet established. We would get nowhere if we spent our
time discussing established facts. We may say that the scientist who
does not reach out and attack those questions about which there is
still no agreement is like Lot's wife-destined inevitably to turn to
lifeless, inanimate matter. In other words, he soon petrifies. There is
no other way beside that of painstaking study and endless experi-
ment by which we may attain progress. In no other way can the be-
ginning student or the veteran secure stimulation. To be sure it gives
the superficial impression of a great boggy, miry, unstable field. But
in reality we are looking only on the foremost outposts of the advanc-
ing line. The next generation will have passed on to new positions and
we shall have established a bit here and there, be they ever so small.
This is well put by Lester F. Ward, the pioneer American sociolo-
gist. "The progress of science is no even straight-forward march.
It is in the highest degree irregular and fitful.... Whatever the field
may be, the general method of all earnest scientific research is the
same. Every investigator chooses some special line and pushes his
researches forward along that line as far as his facilities and his
power will permit .... He observes and experiments and records the
results .... If the results are at all novel or startling, others working
along similar lines immediately take them up, criticize them and make
every effort to disprove them .. Part of them will probably stand
the fire and after repeated verification be admitted by all. These
represent the permanent advance made in that particular science....
Nothing is established until it has passed through this ordeal of gen-
eral criticism and repeated verification from the most adverse points
We may compare this advance of science to the flow of a river.
Standing on the bank, we may notice twigs and leaves floating up-
stream, eddying round and round, moving transversely, or being
washed up on the shore and left. But always and all the time the
main current of the stream is flowing steadily in one direction. Little
driblets-little insignificant definitions or infinitesimal points of dis-
covery or interpretation constitute the scientist's stock in trade.
Over these pitiably little bits do we quarrel and contend and learnedly
and profoundly come to conclusions or disagree with those who do.
THE FREEZE OF 1934
But tiny particles of dust eventually buried the cities of Chaldea and
Babylon and minute bits of silt at last built the delta of the Mis-
sissippi. Were it not for our attention to these bits of theory and dis-
covery and if they were not beaten out in the heat of controversy,
stagnation is the only thing which could happen to us.
Small fear is there of that! Scientists just will be scientists. We
may confidently expect to continue to hear the same old fashioned
type of scientific papers. And thereby the world will advance.
THE FREEZE OF 1934
Horticulturist, Federal Land Bank, Columbia, S. C.
ON DECEMBER 12 and 13, 1934, Florida experienced the most severe
damage from cold since the winter of 1894-1895. Comparison of
weather bureau records shows that the temperature did not go as low
in 1934 as in either the freeze of December 27, 28 and 29, 1894, or the
freeze of February 7, 8 and 9, 1895. The following table gives com-
parative data. The reporting stations are arranged in the order of
their latitude from north to south.
MINIMar TEMPERATURES (FAHRENHEIT) RECORDED DURING THE FREEZES OF
1886, 1894-95 AND 1934
Jan. 12, Dec. 29, Feb. 8, Dec. 12, Dec. 13,
Place Latitude 1886 1894 1895 1934 1934
o I 0 0 0 0 0
Jacksonville 30 191 15 14 14 23 33
St. Augustine 29 531 17 16 16 23 28
Federal Point 29 45 17 16 26 20
DeLand 29 001 17 16 17 23 20
Eustis 28 511 18 16 16 24 -
Sanford 28 48 21 18 18 25 -
Titusville 28 36 18 19 23 26
Orlando 28 321 19 & 20 18 19 22 24
Merritts Isl. 28 22 22 22 27 32
Melbourne 28 05 22 -
Tampa 27 57 19 22 27 34
Avon Park 27 361 21 23 26 21
Manatee 27 30 19 23 28 25
Jupiter 26 561 24 27 -
West Palm Beach 26 43 32 25 29 31 -
Myers 26 39 24 30 29 33
Hypoluxo 26 351 26 32 31 34
Key West 24 381 41-43 44 49 45 48
24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
We are indebted to Dr. Herbert J. Webber, of the United States
Department of Agriculture, for an excellent account of conditions
during and following the two freezes of 1894-1895. The first three
columns of the preceding table were prepared by Dr. Webber. The last
two were furnished the writer by the Weather Bureau. Dr. Webber's
report was written November 1, 1895, and by making reference to it we
get an interesting and comparative picture of conditions as they
existed then and after the freeze of 1934. In Dr. Webber's report we
find this statement:
The injuries to the fruit industries were very great, orange, lemon and many tropical
trees being generally killed to the ground in all parts of the State except in the extreme
southern portion and on the keys. Certain well protected localities in the central part
of the peninsula also escaped without serious damage, but on the whole, latitude was
the only modifying influence of any importance. As the blizzards swept southward
their severity gradually decreased. Judging from reliable temperature records and from
the effects of the cold on vegetation, the isothermal lines in both freezes ran almost
directly east and west across the State.
Dr. Webber refers to his table showing temperatures at various
latitudes as follows:
From a comparison of the locations given in the preceding table it will be seen that in
any given latitude practically the same temperature prevailed in localities whether
in the western part of the State, in the interior, or on the east coast. The Manatee
region, protected on the north by the broad Manatee River and Tampa Bay, shows
almost the same temperature as Avon Park, in about the same latitude, in the interior,
and Melbourne on the east coast. Again, Myers, on the west coast protected on the
north by the broad Caloosahatchee River, and West Palm Beach, on the east coast,
protected on the west by the waters of the Everglades, show nearly the same tem-
This was not the condition which existed during the freeze of 1934,
as may be seen by reference to the temperature records, particularly
on the morning of December 13, when the temperature was 33 at
Jacksonville and 26 at Homestead. Using stations of near the same
latitude we find Bradenton, on the west coast, with 25 degrees;
Avon Park, in the interior, with 21; and Ft. Pierce, on the east
coast, with 33 degrees. We also find Ft. Myers, on the west coast
with 33 degrees; Moore Haven, in the interior, with 24, and Hypoluxo,
on the east coast with 34. Going farther north and using points not
greatly differing in latitude we find St. Petersburg, on the west coast
with 40 degrees; Tampa, on Tampa Bay with 34; Plant City, in the
interior with 22, and Merritts Island, on the east coast, with 32.
On the morning of December 12, 1934, the temperatures corre-
sponded more closely with the latitude but we still find the interior
points colder, as a rule, than stations on the east or west coast. On
THE FREEZE OF 1934
this date we find Cedar Keys, on the west coast, with 24 degrees;
Gainesville, in the interior, with 16, and Daytona Beach, on the east
coast, with 25. Going farther south we find Ft. Myers, on the west
coast, with 29 degrees; Moore Haven, in the interior, with 23, and
Hypoluxo, on the east coast with 31.
From a study of temperature records of the Weather Bureau, and
from our observation of damage to vegetation, it is evident that the
FIG. 1. Temperatures (F.) on morning of December 12, 1934. Dotted lines show air
flow as indicated by damage to vegetation.
area of greatest cold moved down the west-central part of the State.
On the morning of December 12 the coldest area was roughly as
follows: Alachua, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, western part of Lake,
Sumter, eastern part of Hillsborough, western part of Polk, Hardee,
DeSoto and Glades Counties. At this time the center of the cold wave
seemed to lie over Alachua, Marion, Citrus, Hernando and Pasco
Counties. The coldest points in the peninsula were Gainesville 16;
Inverness 17; Brooksville 20; Temple Terrace 21 and St. Leo 22.
On the following morning, December 13, the center of the cold had
26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
moved down into Hardee, DeSoto, Highlands and Glades Counties,
and the temperature had risen in the counties to the north. The cen-
ter of the cold wave seems to have passed to the south and west of
Miami, since the temperature on the morning of the thirteenth was
7 degrees lower at Homestead than at Miami, and mangrove was
killed along the Tamiami Trail to within about ten miles of Miami.
FIG. 2. Temperatures (F.) morning of December 13, 1934. Dotted lines show air flow
as indicated by damage to vegetation.
The writer made trips over Florida following the minor freezes of
1917 and 1927. In each of these years the damage to vegetation was
most severe in the same areas where serious freezing occurred in 1934.
For instance, in Hillsborough County the area extending north and
south through Valrico and Thonotosassa was seriously damaged
while groves in comparable topographical locations at Lutz, in the
same county, were not hurt. In fact after each of these freezes the
damage to vegetation indicated that a river of cold air flowed down
the west-central part of the State and followed practically the same
THE FREEZE OF 1934
course each time. In general this stream of cold air seemed to follow
what is known as the flat woods area, but this was not always the case.
At Valrico a row of eucalyptus trees, along the Hopewell-Tampa road
on top of a considerable hill, showed a distinct freezing line which
extended some twenty feet above the top of the hill. Below this level
they showed marked damage while above it they were unhurt. Similar
areas are located a few miles northwest of Leesburg and northwest
of Orlando. The Peace River Valley from Bartow south, seems to
have furnished a channel for the flow of cold air. In these areas the
flow of cold air could be definitely followed by the damage to vegeta-
tion after each of the three freezes. There were also indications that
the major stream of cold air split in Marion County, probably where
part of the cold wave crossed the ridge through the Ocklawaha River
Valley. One branch of this stream flowed south over Citrus, Hernando
and Pasco Counties, while the other followed the west side of the
St. Johns River, flowing into Volusia County, across the western
side of Seminole County, across parts of Orange County and into
Osceola County. In other words, it appears from a study of the dam-
age to vegetation, that the hills and lakes of the ridge section, starting
in northern Lake County around Eustis, form a wedge which tends to
split the cold wave. This ridge section, from Eustis to Lake Placid,
showed only minor damage in low spots following each of the three
freezes mentioned, while serious damage occurred on both sides of the
ridge. Apparently the damage was caused by a great mass of cold air
moving into Florida from the northwest. The greater portion of this
mass of cold air seemed to flow to the western side of the ridge with-
out crossing. This may account for the absence of damage in the area
from Cocoa to Ft. Lauderdale. Should a cold wave move into Florida
from the northeast the west coast might get similar protection from
From a study of Dr. Webber's report of the two freezes of 1894-
1895 it appears that the cold wave, in both instances, moved into
the State from the north rather than from the northwest. This would
account for his statement that the isothermal lines were practically
east and west throughout the State.
A study of temperature records and damage to vegetation follow-
ing the freeze of 1934 indicates that the ridge section along the east
side of the St. Johns River gave similar protection to the upper east
coast as did the central Florida ridge to the area from Cocoa to Ft.
Lauderdale. It would also explain why Titusville was colder and suf-
fered more damage than either New Smyrna or Cocoa. A map pre-
cedes which shows the probable flow of cold as indicated by tem-
perature records and damage to vegetation.
During 1933 and 1934 the Federal Land Bank of Columbia, for
28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
itself and as agent of the Land Bank Commissioner, loaned more than
$10,000,000 in Florida, on mortgages secured by citrus groves. In
order to determine the damage to groves securing these loans and as a
guide to a future lending policy, it was decided to make a careful sur-
vey of each of the 2326 groves on which loans had been made. By
reference to the attached table it will be noted that these groves are
located in thirty-three counties, embracing all of those in which
citrus fruits are grown commercially, except the Satsuma district of
West Florida. This survey was started on February 15, 1935, and was
completed in about six weeks. The work was done by trained Land
Bank Appraisers and Citrus Loan Service Agents all of whom were
throughly familiar with citrus conditions in Florida. It was under
the direction of the writer as Senior Citrus Loan Service Agent that
the work was done. Each grove was visited and a careful estimate
made of the damage to wood and fruit, by groups having similar
characteristics. By groups is meant oranges, grapefruit and tan-
gerines, since no attempt was made to determine the relative damage
to different varieties of oranges. Neither was there any differentiation
between seeded and seedless grapefruit or between the different varie-
ties of tangerines. The estimate of wood damage was based on all
wood except the trunk of the tree. Fruit was considered damaged
where it showed ten percent or more of dry cells. The presence of
specks of crystallized naringin and hesperidin was not considered
evidence of damage if the fruit was firm. Soft fruit was considered
damaged even though showing no dry cells, because it was found that
it could not be shipped without rotting in transit. As near as possible
the estimate of damaged fruit was made on the basis of what could
not be marketed commercially.
With the exception of the area from Cocoa to Ft. Lauderdale, on
the east coast, and protected spots on the west coast such as Terra
Ceia Island, there was very little fruit in the State that did not show
specks of crystallized glucosides on the membranes. These specks may
be considered as evidence that the fruit has been frozen.
As each grove was inspected a detailed report was made on forms
provided for the purpose. These reports were sent to district super-
visors who checked enough of them to be sure that the work was
properly done and they were then sent to the Bank at Columbia where
statisticians tabulated the results by counties. The table (page 32) is
a composite picture of what was found.
The first point noted was that, in this freeze, latitude had very
little influence on the amount of damage done by the cold. At South
Jacksonville, south of the St. Johns River, there were small plantings
that showed little or no damage and from Palatka to Crescent City,
on the east side of the same river, there were found large commercial
THE FREEZE OF 1934
plantings that were practically unharmed. On the other hand, in Lee
County some three hundred miles further south, all groves were
seriously hurt where no large body of water was present to afford
protection. Putnam County, in the northern part of the State, showed
7.9, 8.1 and 7.7 percent damage to the wood of oranges, grapefruit
and tangerines, while Lee County in the south showed damage to
wood of 29.9, 23.5 and 26.4 on oranges, grapefruit and tangerines;
with fruit damage of 82.1, 75.3 and 85.7 respectively. It should be
noted in this connection that most of the groves in Putnam County
are on hills and are protected by the St. Johns River and by lakes,
while groves in Lee County are on practically level land and many of
them are too far from large bodies of water to receive any benefit.
In making this survey it soon become apparent that two factors
had much more influence than latitude. They were large bodies of
water and elevation. Elevation may be divided into two classifica-
tions-relative elevation and absolute elevation. By relative elevation
is meant elevation with respect to the immediate surrounding terrain
and by absolute elevation is meant height above sea level. Absolute
elevation seemed to afford little protection, while the importance of
relative elevation cannot be too strongly emphasized. Trees planted
in a small depression on top of a hill were found to be seriously hurt
while trees planted on the sides of the hill, at lower absolute elevation,
were unharmed. Cold air seemed to flow like water and settle in low
places. There also seems to be a concentrated effect of cold air where
it flows from a large elevated area into the lowlands. This was evident
in many places, particularly east of Ft. Meade where the cold air
flowed off of the Lake Hendry hills, and at Mammoth Grove where
the cold air poured down from the hills around Mountain Lake.
Groves located near the foot of the hills were hurt much worse than
those farther back in the lowlands.
Many peculiar effects of the cold were noted. In certain areas the
cold air seemed to settle to a definite level. The branches of the trees
below this level were all killed while those above it were unharmed,
and when the dead branches were pruned out the trees were left in
the shape of umbrellas, which would indicate that the damage was
done after the wind stopped blowing. Another noticeable feature in
many groves was the fact that more damage was sustained on the
southeast side of the tree than on the other sides. This was thought
by some to be due to the exposure to the direct rays of the sun before
It was clearly demonstrated in many instances that water pro-
tection is most effective to the south and east. On the Manatee River,
at Bradenton, and on the Caloosahatchee River, at Ft. Myers, the
mangroves were killed on the north side of the rivers while they
30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
remained green on the south sides. At Lake Weir groves on the west
and north sides of the lake were hurt while those on the south and
east escaped injury. The same condition existed at most large lakes.
However, those groves having good elevation and air drainage were
not seriously damaged, even where there was no water protection.
In most areas, except the east coast, the fruit was damaged or showed
evidence of freezing where there was no water protection, even
though the air drainage was good.
Following the freeze several growers abandoned properties on which
loans had been made by the Federal Land Bank and three methods
of bringing these groves back into production were tried.
First-pruning back into green wood as soon as the limit of injury
could be determined and painting all wounds with antiseptic paint.
Second-pruning back into green wood as soon as the limit of
injury could be determined but no paint applied to the wounds.
Third-Waiting for several months before doing any pruning.
The first method seemed to give the best results. Vigorous growth
resulted and there was very little dying back after pruning. In cases
where no paint was applied there was considerable dying back, some-
times three feet from where the first cut was made. This was accom-
panied by gum spots on the bark and may have been due to diplodia
or other infection at the cut. These trees had to be pruned again.
The third method did not give good results. Melanose was very
bad on the new growth and much of it was killed, the green limbs
dying back slowly until about the first of June. There was some
gumming along the branches as they died and the dying back did not
stop entirely until the trees were pruned and wounds painted which
was done in June and July of 1935. As this is written, November 1,
1936, the trees pruned in June and July, 1935, show much less re-
covery and top development than trees in the same grove and the
same rows that were pruned in March of that year. These observations
do not agree with the report of Dr. Webber, following the freeze of
1894-1895. He found little difference in the trees pruned early in
1895 and those pruned late in the year. Possibly melanose and diplo-
dia were not then as prevalent in the citrus groves of Florida as they
As this is written, November 1, 1936, there is very little in the
appearance of most of the groves to remind one of the freeze. In a
few of the coldest spots the gaunt, unpruned skeletons of abandoned
groves still stand as mute evidence of the disaster. With these few
exceptions the citrus industry of the State is back to normal. In fact,
the crop of this season is estimated to be above the average, both as
to quality and quantity. This is quite a contrast to the crop set in the
THE FREEZE OF 1934
spring of 1935, following the freeze. The crop bloomed late, was of
poor shape and texture, and was badly infected with melanose from
dead wood left by the freeze. The recuperative capacity of the citrus
tree is amazing when given proper care. Groves that seemed a total
loss shortly after the freeze have, in two years, grown new tops and
have this year put on commercial crops of fruit. Florida has been
visited by severe cold at more or less regular intervals in the past
and probably will be in the future.
In Dr. Webber's report we find the following statement:
It is known that severe freezes occurred in the winters of 1747, 1766, 1799, 1828,
1835, 1850, 1857, 1880, 1884 and 1886, and many lesser freezes are also known to have
taken place. Those which were remarkably severe, however, and which are spoken of
as "the great freezes" occurred on February 7 and 8, 1835, and January 12, 1886. In
the former, the only one which in severity and destructiveness compares with those of
last winter, the thermometer, it is said, fell to 8 d. at Jacksonville.
When freezes come the grower should not feel that his property
is gone until he has given the grove a chance to come back. Unless
the damage is exceedingly severe the grove will return to commercial
production in a remarkably short time. However, this should not en-
courage the selection of a grove site in a known cold area. Most of
our cold waves come from the same direction and affect the same
areas and it should be borne in mind that relative altitude, air
drainage and water protection have offered a measure of protection
in the past and probably will in the future. Should we have a recur-
rence of conditions such as existed during the freezes of 1835 or 1894-
1895 it is not likely that any groves in the State, with the exception
of a few in well protected localities, would escape serious damage.
Cold air, like water, settles in depressions and flows from areas of
high altitude to areas of low altitude through such channels as may
Cold waves moving into Florida from the northwest seem to flow
along the western side of natural elevations, such as the Citronelle
formation of Central Florida, commonly called the Ridge. This seems
to give some protection to areas on top of and to the east of such
Areas of low land immediately adjacent to large areas of elevated
land, suffer more severely from cold than flat areas distant from any
elevation. This effect may be noted where any abrupt change in eleva-
tion takes place, either to the east or to the west, or in any other
direction, from the elevated area.
FREEZE DAMAGE TO WOOD AND FRUIT ON FLORIDA CITRUS GROVES MORTGAGED TO FEDERAL LAND BANK AND/OR LAND BANK COMMISSIONER
DECEMBER 1934, AS ESTIMATED BY FLB CITRUS INSPECTORS
WOOD DAMAGE (ALL ACRES) FRUIT DAMAGE (BEARING ACRES)
County oof Total Am't Oranges Grapefruit Tangerines Oranges Grapefruit Tangerines
roperties Loaned Acres % Acres % Acres % Acres % Acres % Acres %
Damage Damage Damage Damage Damage Damage
Alachua 6 $20,700 94 23.2 1 5.0 12 53.0 90 71.8 3 83.3 12 98.4
Brevard 87 539,595 2234 .9 684 2.3 67 2.4 2146 10.8 609 4.8 63 19.1
Broward 5 9,600 39 3.1 2 9.0 2 5.0 34 36.3 2 0 2 80.0
Charlotte 11 31,000 124 35.0 38 33.6 23 67.5 90 60.0 27 40.6 9 100.0
Citrus 3 4,700 30 30.0 0 0 8 10.0 18 50.0 0 0 4 100.0
Dade 66 355,700 583 0 628 0 19 0 562 1.5 584 1.0 19 .8
De Soto 97 699,950 1436 58.0 302 48.7 158 72.1 1315 89.1 293 72.4 148 94.0
Flagler 1 800 3 5.0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0
Hardee 129 415,612 1989 57.9 217 39.5 253 51.3 1640 90.6 195 72.6 233 94.2
Hendry 4 6,370 22 40.1 4 38.0 3 61.6 17 74.0 3 50.0 1 100.0
Hernando 22 60,850 237 39.7 72 10.6 137 18.1 120 93.9 72 80.3 117 93.6
Highlands 64 352,225 1261 5.1 743 2.9 89 18.3 1220 14.4 723 6.3 86 26.0
Hillsborough 160 618,774 2065 53.2 541 62.3 202 56.4 1758 80.1 499 78.6 194 86.8
Indian River 94 375,090 572 1.5 943 1.5 112 1.5 539 7.2 838 5.2 107 12.6
Lake 168 672,840 2436 17.3 803 14.1 370 11.0 2052 44.8 712 49.8 347 60.8
Lee 26 89,750 338 29.9 148 23.5 18 26.4 309 82.1 144 75.3 16 85.7
Manatee 62 286,600 531 38.4 557 26.7 2 18.9 447 56.6 471 41.6 2 65.7
Marion 39 170,050 737 16.6 56 5.1 71 26.9 556 28.0 53 19.6 48 76.2
Martin 8 14,750 28 1.5 23 1.7 6 0 27 2.3 23 5.2 6 0
Okeechobee 3 6,400 27 13.7 7 18.4 1 0 27 32.9 7 36.9 1 0
Orange 222 1,076,080 4176 24.2 456 22.8 580 28.4 3647 39.5 441 31.5 564 52.8
Osceola 54 144,200 622 19.0 142 11.9 1202 1.4 546 44.8 126 27.9 113 59.3
Palm Beach 1 1,000 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
Pasco 51 146,400 691 15.4 218 16.8 78 20.3 471 58.1 164 44.0 70 93.3
Pinellas 97 609,525 1135 19.1 1516 23.2 119 22.3 1074 48.2 1438 50.4 117 62.4
Polk 541 2,232,975 7229 18.1 3512 13.9 891 17.0 6635 49.0 3388 32.2 891 42.7
Putnam 34 115,075 465 7.9 36 8.1 65 7.7 412 19.8 36 18.8 64 44.2
Sarasota 9 35,950 106 7.3 113 50.4 1 90.0 106 79.4 113 68.8 1 100.0
Seminole 67 244,765 1110 41.5 261 62.8 99 31.9 933 68.4 254 85.9 94 84.4
St. Johns 2 2,700 2 75.0 1 60.0 30 93.0 2 0 1 100.0 28 100.0
St. Lucie 55 242,350 515 1.6 323 .2 93 .5 484 3.4 299 .7 92 2.2
Sumter 7 19,100 67 72.3 1 25.0 8 28.7 47 97.8 1 100.0 8 100.0
Volusia 131 511,035 1878 38.8 155 21.1 395 43.4 1573 67.0 144 29.2 372 90.2
PSEUDO-MATHEMATICS AND QUASI-MEASUREMENT
In the freeze of 1934 water protection and relative elevation were
effective in preventing serious damage as far north as South Jackson-
ville and Palatka, while groves on level lowland and without water
protection were badly hurt in Lee County, three hundred miles
Very severe damage is likely to occur where a major stream of cold
air is forced to cross through the lower parts of a relatively high area,
such as Valrico, where the ridge to the north and east of Tampa and
the higher land of the interior form a funnel through which the cold
air must pass.
Careful estimates of damage to wood and fruit were made on 2326
groves located in 33 counties. Averages of these reports have been
compiled by counties and are given in the opposite table. Averages
for the State as a whole give the following figures:
Damage to oranges, wood .............................. 26.8 percent
Damage to grapefruit, wood .................. .......... 17.6 percent
Damage to tangerines, wood............................. 21.7 percent
Damage to oranges, fruit. .............................. 48.5 percent
Damage to grapefruit, fruit .................. .......... 34.5 percent
Damage to tangerines, fruit............................... 61.2 percent
Citrus groves recover very rapidly from cold damage if given the
Groves recover more quickly if pruned back into green wood as
soon as the extent of damage can be determined and the pruning cuts
treated with antiseptic paint.
Acknowledgment is made of assistance rendered by Mr. Eckley S. Ellison, Meteorolo-
gist in charge of the Florida Frost Warning Service, who furnished temperature records
covering the two nights of the freeze.
SOME CONSEQUENCES OF PSEUDO-MATHE-
MATICS AND QUASI-MEASUREMENT IN
AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
CHRISTIAN PAUL HEINLEIN
Florida State College for Women
THE PRIMARY purpose of this paper is to describe briefly certain
trends and widely accepted conclusions that have emerged from
numerous pseudo-mathematical practices as they appear in the
familiar fields of psychometry, education and social psychology.
A few of the pseudo-mathematical practices which have led to many
34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
thousand apparently useless quasi-measurements will be mentioned
in the course of discussion. Scientific criteria of measurement will be
indicated and their limits of applicability to certain behavioral phe-
nomena carefully considered. Finally, substitute mathematical pro-
cedures that may lead to more accurate description of behavioral
situations will be recommended.
Before a description of some of the consequences of quasi-measure-
ment is undertaken, the writer wishes to state that he fully realizes
the unpopularity which a critical evaluation of authoritative and
traditional knowledge inevitably reaps. The present treatise is likely
to prove extremely unpopular to a large body of educators who
persistently disregard logic and the principles of scientific interpreta-
tion. The amount of pseudo-scientific knowledge that has accumu-
lated in psychometry, education, and social science during the past
twenty years is truly enormous. Many investigators in social science,
fascinated by the intricate weave of nice mathematical tapestries,
have constructed special numerological devices and elaborate statisti-
cal techniques which often give to syllogisms based on false premises
the appearance of verified fact. It behooves the scientist, whose con-
cern is the discovery of natural law, to evaluate critically in the light
of logic and scientific method those spurious devices and specious
techniques which block the road to truth and which further swell the
volume of pedagogical equivocation.
Let us first consider the widely accepted practice of leveling scholas-
tic achievement by means of number grades. I assume that each of us
is familiar with the five-point system of grading student achieve-
ment. Conventionally, levels of achievement, determined by the per-
centile scaling of objective test results or by some subjective criterion
of evaluation, are represented by letter symbols, such as A, B, C, D,
and E. Since the letter symbols do not readily lend themselves to the
process of addition, they are arbitrarily converted into numbers:
A=3; B= 2; C= 1; D= 0 and E= 0. It will be observed that numeri-
cally D= E, in spite of the fact that D is a passing grade while E is a
failure. Thus, qualitative differentiation is achieved by this single
pair of letter symbols (D and. E) but not by the numerical values
assigned to the symbols. With respect to the first three letter symbols,
quality differentiation is accomplished by a difference in the size of
the assigned numerical value. The quality of response represented by
the number 3 is higher than that represented by the number 2. In
differentiating the quality levels of student achievement, by an act of
pedagogical proclamation the nominal numbers assigned to the letter
symbols are transmuted into cardinal numbers having additive prop-
erties. Here is our first sample of illicit mathematical treatment-a
type of treatment which has deeply penetrated several important
PSEUDO-MATHEMATICS AND QUASI-MEASUREMENT 35
fields of knowledge. Many of the fallacies that are found in mental
testing, educational achievement testing and in social attitude scaling,
have their origin in the failure to differentiate between nominal,
ordinal, and cardinal numbers. Many zealous educators would benefit
greatly by reading the works of Johnson,' Keyser,2 and Cohen and
NageP on the nature of logic and scientific method. Following the
lead of Johnson, we may remark in passing that no meaning can be
attached to the result of any operation performed on nominal num-
bers that merely serve as naming numbers for certain discernible
properties. While it is true that one may find the arithmetic mean
of any column of numbers having a definite sign, it is not true that one
may ascribe qualitative value to every mean obtained. Qualitatively,
two objects denoted by nominal numbers may stand in a relation to
each other that in no way corresponds to the relation expressed by the
Nominal number grades, whether they are derived from so-called
objective tests or from comprehensive essay examinations, are non-
additive and hence are of no value in correlational techniques where
the variables represent defined unitary properties experimentally
isolated. The fact that 10,000 educators add, average, and scale such
nominal numbers does not make the procedure any the more valid
or scientific. Writing 6 X 9= 25 one million times does not make the
product 25 correct the last time it is written. Nor does repetition
of a bad measurement a million times make it a good measurement.
Professional opinion and professional proclamation, like public opin-
ion and public proclamation, may keep alive a fallacious practice
over a long period of years. Some of the most colossal blunders of
Aristotle were perpetuated more than fifteen centuries later by pro-
fessional proclamation minus critical insight.
By professional proclamation (certainly not by scientific demon-
stration) the hypostatized abstraction called "intelligence" has been
assigned operational significance by relating test ordinals to the
averages of non-additive grade numbers. Intelligence test scores,
qualitatively heterogeneous in character, are now being used by
psychometricians as forecasting-indices of scholastic achievement when
scholastic achievement is understood in terms of number grades de-
noting qualitative levels of response.
Let us look into this matter a little more carefully. A number grade
of the size 1.8 in differential calculus cannot be said to equal a number
1 H. M. Johnson, Some Neglected Principles in Aptitude Testing, Amer. J. Psychol.,
Vol. 47, 1935.
2 C. J. Keyser, Mathematical Philosophy, New York, 1922.
3 M. R. Cohen and E. Nagel, Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method, New York,
36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
grade of the same size in English literature. These two courses of
study introduce properties discernibly different. Moreover, the teach-
ing methods demanded by each course of study may vary consider-
ably while the patterns of student response are obviously different.
No one is in a position to demonstrate that the number and kind of
mental patterns manifested in the two courses of study are the same,
but any one who is unbiased in his judgment and who is not deficient
in gross discrimination will readily attest to the differences in the
properties of the subject matter involved in these two courses; yet
educators at large repeatedly treat grade points derived from different
courses of study involving different teaching methods and different
patterns of response as if they were additive and could be equated.
A simple example of the practice of equating average grades is in
order. Let us consider the semester courses of study which students
X and Y pursued in their sophomore year of college. Each course
listed is given by a different teacher. The semester grades earned by
each student are listed after the courses as follows: Student X-
Physics= 1; Chemistry= 3; Calculus= 2; Astronomy= 1; German= 2.
Student Y-English Literature=3; French= 1; History= 1; Soci-
ology = 3; Education = 1. The average semester grade of each student
is 1.6. Does this mean that the two students are characterized by the
same qualitative or quantitative level of educational achievement?
Assuredly not, and yet this is the conventional interpretation of
number grades expressed in ratio form. Two average grades of the
same magnitude, when related to other functions such as hyposta-
tized intelligence represented by composite scores, are projected into
correlational frames at one definite point in a scale of magnitudes and
hence treated as equivalent.
But this is not the end of this numerological scandal that persistent-
ly taintsour educational process. Averages of semester grades are aver-
aged, and these averages averaged into larger institutional averages.
Dormitories, fraternities, honor societies, and campus clubs of various
kinds compete with one another in terms of such spurious aver-
ages. Administrators are sufficiently sensitive about grade averages
to suggest the elimination of students who do not "measure up" to a
certain point level, but I believe that administrators on the whole
are not sufficiently concerned about the reliability of grade points to
calculate the probable error of grade averages. It was a custom in
one institution to carry out grade averages to 2 decimal places in the
selection of candidates for a national honorary. In some instances
fraternities are differentiated from each other in scholarship by carry-
ing out the group grade average to the fourth decimal place. Those
who have worked statistically with grade points will immediately
recognize that the probable error of a group grade average is suffi-
PSEUDO-MATHEMATICS AND QUASI-MEASUREMENT
ciently large to render any expansion to additional decimal places
meaningless. One fraternity is tied with a second fraternity by a group
grade average of 1.796. The average is carried to the fourth place to
break the tie and give one fraternity the advantage of enjoying cer-
tain honors and privileges over the other fraternity. The first frater-
nity receives a level of 1.7965 while the second receives a level of 1.7963.
Can any one ever state what difference in the quality of scholastic
achievement is indicated by the 2/10,000 of a point in the fourth
decimal place? This is, indeed, numerology with a vengeance; nomi-
nal, non-additive numbers refined to the 1/10,000 of a point. It is
quite possible, in terms of range and group variability, for one frater-
nal group to excel another in scholarship and achievement and yet
have a lower grade average. We need a redefinition of scholarship in
our institutions of higher learning and a discontinuance of the pseudo-
mathematical practice called the grade-point system.
Some years ago Thorndike said "Whatever exists, exists in some
amount and can be measured." This authoritative proclamation has
been instrumental in shaping the devolution of psychometry and edu-
cation. Every one will agree that Thorndike's influence upon psy-
chology and education has been great, and it is not surprising to find
this influence crystallizing into repeated attempts to measure many
phenomena which were once thought far too complex to measure.
This enthusiasm to measure whatever exists has developed into the
emotionally charged delusion that abstract names of undefined ob-
jects existing in the human imagination can be measured also. Thorn-
dike holds that intelligence can be measured just as a physicist meas-
ures distance or mass or time. On the basis of this assumption he has,
unlike most of his colleagues who recognize the arbitrary range as-
signed to scales, constructed an absolute intelligence scale with a
range extending from 0 to 43 to which he has given the name CAVD.
Zero intelligence is said to be "just less than that which leads one to
spit out a substance that has a very bitter taste or to retain in the
mouth a substance that tastes sweet." Score 43 is supposed to repre-
sent approximately "the intelligence of a college professor." The
application of this scale to human subjects reveals the verdict that
6-year old children have almost three-fourths of the amount of in-
telligence that a college professor has, and the mid-point of the scale
is represented by a mental age not far from adult idiocy. We may
consider this exhibit A of what happens when the quantitative method
is applied to human response for the purpose of guaranteeing new
psychological insights. Thorndike is one of a vast company of psy-
chometricians who have devised and utilized paper tests to measure
things that cannot be demonstrated to have concrete, objective
38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
If one cares to examine the hundreds of investigations in the field
of mental testing that have been published in the various psychologi-
cal and educational journals, he will be impressed by the futility of
the many attempts to measure hypostatized abstractions. In two
very recent volumes by Hunt4 and Guilford5 we are told that hypo-
statized abstractions such as memory, imagination, intelligence, musi-
cal talent, art talent, interest, attitude, conduct, character, and per-
sonality are measurable and have been measured. Other investi-
gators claim to have measured general intelligence, learning capacity,
emotional stability, thrift, introversion, extraversion, social adapta-
bility, moral discernment, mathematical ability, generosity, patience,
capacity for leadership, honesty, dominance, submissiveness, will-
power, and many others. One might excuse many of the psychome-
tricians if they openly acknowledged the ambiguous middle use of
the term "measure." But one cannot find such acknowledgment gen-
eral; to the contrary, one finds article after article and volume after
volume in which the word "measurement" is emphasized and stressed.
Without much effort on my part, I believe that I can convince any
true scientist that psychometricians have not and do not measure
any of the class names which I have mentioned nor the items which
are represented by these class names.
In order to clarify this point, we might do well to review briefly
the more fundamental conditions and criteria that satisfy measure-
ment. To measure a property, we must be certain that the property
exists. Thus, by way of example, length is a property of a walking
stick; extraversion is not a property of a walking stick. The property
to be measured must be quantitatively and qualitatively uniform
and homogeneous throughout its extent. Thus, length is always
length, never thickness. Nor is it confounded by any other property
such as taste or odor. In order to measure the property length, there
must be a unit of measurement quantitatively uniform within a
specified probable error and qualitatively identical with the property
to be measured. If we wish to measure as the physicist measures
(which to me is the scientific method of measurement), then our
scale must have a zero point as point of origin with equal units
throughout its extent. Consider the centimeter as a standard unit of
length. In measurement, we may say that 3 centimeters added to 5
centimeters will give a length of 8 centimeters. We may say that 45
centimeters are equal to 3 times 15 centimeters, and that 50 centi-
meters are equal to 10 times 5 centimeters. When we have such ad-
ditive conditions obtaining, we may establish an infinite number of
4 T. Hunt, Measurement in Psychology, New York, 1936.
' J. P. Guilford, Psychometric Methods, New York, 1936.
PSEUDO-MATHEMATICS AND QUASI-MEASUREMENT 39
qualities of ratios or proportions. We may say that a distance which
measures 5 centimeters is to a distance which measures 10 centimeters
as a distance which measures 50 centimeters is to a distance which
measures 100 centimeters. Whenever true measurement is accom-
plished such ratios are possible.
In the measurement of a property, the addition of quantities of
the property must satisfy all the axioms of addition of cardinal num-
bers. If the property is denoted by nominal or by ordinal numbers
only, it is non-additive and hence non-measurable.
When we examine the literature under the heading of mental tests
-that is, tests of the class names previously mentioned-we do not
find in any part of the literature any units which satisfy the criteria
of scientific measurement. The truth is, educators and psychometri-
cians, in applying mental tests and achievement tests, never do meas-
ure by means of such tests, either directly or indirectly. The few
ratios that have been utilized by Stem, Terman, and their pupils
are not true ratios of measurement. The function of an I.Q. 110 may
not be equivalent to the function of another I.Q. of the same identical
size. By the familiar method of scaling gross scores on an intelligence
test, there is no means available for determining how much more
intelligence is implied by one score than by another. It should be
observed that intelligence test scores are non-additive. Psychome-
tricians have not discovered any method by means of which we can
say John is twice as intelligent as Henry, three times as introverted
as Bill, six times as submissive as James, one-fourth as patient as
William, with twice as much inferiority feeling as Fred.
When we return to the properties which are supposed to inhere in
the list of hypostatized abstractions previously mentioned, we find
so-called traits described which either do not exist observationally or
else cannot be measured independently. We should remember that
if a property is to be tested, that is, indirectly measured, then it
must be observable and measurable independently of the property
by which one proposes to test it. Moreover, the test manner must be
regular, constant, and known, while the property to be tested must
depend on the test-property.
Intelligence tests and personality tests do not satisfy these criteria.
Through loose descriptions in articles and texts, students as well as
naive laymen have been led to believe that by means of an intelligence
test a person's quota of intelligence can be measured. Psychome-
tricians lead many to believe that it is possible to tell a person to
what extent he will succeed in a given endeavor if he has so much of
To say the least, bemuddled programs of intelligence testing and
personality testing are consequences of a complete misunderstand-
40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
ing of the fundamental axioms of arithmetic. The fact that different
kinds of response can be identified by numbers does not warrant the
pseudo-mathematical treatment of converting qualitatively hetero-
geneous activities into homogeneous coefficients from which are sub-
jectively extracted supposedly measurable hypostatized concepts.
Intelligence and personality tests are still laboratory devices in the
embryonic stage of investigation, and from the experimental point
of view further investigation leading to greater refinement should be
encouraged only when necessary research cautions are observed. But
as a means of diagnosing or prognosing human behavior, I recommend
the discontinuance of such tests in the departments of human welfare
and in our institutions of learning. I believe that a frank and honest
public confession of the many limitations and inadequacies of scaling
techniques in psychometry and education would help to remove from
the mental testing program the cataract of black-magic which has so
completely blinded the layman into a naive acceptance of statistical
numerology. Little does the layman realize that the professional
testers utilize volumes in debate over the properties of the abstrac-
tions which they assert to measure. I have recently found twenty dif-
ferent definitions of intelligence in a single journal, each definition
consisting of descriptions of abstractions demanding further defini-
tion. Moreover, the debate by prominent statisticians over methods
of analyses of test data is no less extensive. One can obtain an excel-
lent survey of the confusion over the past ten years in the successive
volumes of the Journal of Educational Psychology for that period.
With the number of mental tests increasing by leaps and bounds, the
professional tester himself is often at a loss as to just which test to
The elimination of falsely appraised, invalid, and unreliable intel-
ligence tests and personality tests from school systems would prevent
much dangerous negative motivation of students who are led to be-
lieve that their relatively low test scores are indices of an unalterable
deficiency in some indispensable inherited capacity. In the name of
academic freedom psychologists should be given the privilege of ex-
perimenting with various kinds of mental tests under proper cautions,
but the projection of mental tests of questionable validity and ques-
tionable reliability as a "standard program of diagnosis and prog-
nosis" is a wasteful and dangerous practice, especially when the tests
are given into the hands of untrained persons who sometimes pass
themselves as psychometricians or mental testers. In terms of be-
havior adjustment to various kinds of social situations found in col-
lege and in terms of scholastic achievement expressed in grade points,
the most valid and reliable intelligence and personality tests avail-
able show experimentally a forecasting efficiency that is only a few
PSEUDO-MATHEMATICS AND QUASI-MEASUREMENT
percent better than pure guess. No one as yet has discovered any
scientific and mathematically sound method of predicting a given
student's course in life in the light of any score he might obtain in
any intelligence or personality test. The use of the probable error of
estimate of a raw score in deviation form calculated from a coefficient
of correlation between some criterion adopted as valid and the hypo-
statized statistical entity called "intelligence" is just another ex-
ample of pseudo-mathematics. The coefficient of correlation is a
spurious index of forecasting efficiency when used in connection with
the great mass of psychological and educational testing material. The
misuse of the coefficient of correlation as an index of mutual depend-
ence and causal efficacy has led to the false identification of the
method of correlation with the method of concomitant variation.
The factorial analyses, such as those advanced by Spearman,6 Kelley7
and Thurstone,8 are pseudo-mathematical procedures that depend on
the mistreatment of coefficients of correlation as cardinally defined.
Psychological components may be, by an act of professional procla-
mation, projected into these larger hypostatized statistical entities,
but the obsolete, artificial psychological faculties attributed to these
mathematical factors can not be extracted experimentally. We can
not demonstrate experimentally that a certain portion of an assumed
faculty of memory can be extracted from orthogonal factor matrices.
Those who have investigated the method of factorial analysis in the
light of measurement-criteria must hold that for psychology and edu-
cation the method, whether single or multiple, is spurious and sterile.
Psychobiography and descriptions of biochemical development will,
I am convinced, eventually displace the questionable, intricate sta-
tistical mazes through which more than a few investigators are grop-
ing blindly and painfully. I strongly recommend the substitution of
configural analyses of dynamically interacting qualitatively homo-
geneous events expressed in simple percentages in place of the sta-
tistical standardization based on factorial analyses of static trans-
verse frames of reference not compatible with the facts of mental life
and mental development.
The present critical evaluation does not imply that psychometri-
cians, educators, and social scientists can not and do not measure in
their respective fields. Measurement is accomplished in these fields,
but only when the criteria of measurement are satisfied in the light
of some macroscopically exact and constant physical unit. Psycho-
physical contributions in the fields of visual and auditory sensitivity
assume the nature of genuine, invaluable measurements, but it should
6 C. Spearman, The Abilities of Man, New York, 1927.
7 T. L. Kelley, Crossroads in the Mind of Man, New York, 1928.
8 L. L. Thurstone, The Vectors of Mind, Psychol. Rev., vol. 41, 1934.
42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
be kept clearly in mind that the difference between a physical meas-
urement and a psychological measurement is not one of kind, but of
emphasis only. A physical measurement is essentially a psychological
measurement; a psychological measurement is essentially a physical
measurement. There is no essential difference in measurement be-
tween the two fields. In either field, psychology or physics, the stand-
ard unit of measurement is a "perceived-physical unit."
RECENT ADVANCES IN THE FIELD OF
L. L. RusoFF
University of Florida
PROGRESS in the field of vitamins since their discovery in the last
quarter century has been phenomenal. It is interesting to note that
until a few years ago, these substances, minute amounts of which
are so essential to life and well-being, seemed very elusive and there
appeared little immediate prospect of determining their identity. The
recent brilliant advances in this field have established the vitamins
as definite chemical substances of a decidedly complex character.
All of the officially recognized vitamins,-A, B1, C, D, E, and G
or B2 have been isolated in chemically pure form. Chemical formulas
have been assigned to all, except that of vitamin E. Vitamins BI, C,
D, and B2 have been synthesized in the laboratory and the compounds
checked by physical and biological tests.
Vitamin A, fat soluble, because of its physiological properties, is
also known as the growth promoting vitamin; anti-ophthalmic vita-
min, anti-xerophthalmic vitamin, anti-infective vitamin, and the anti-
In 1928, the Swedish investigators, von Euler and Hellstrom, estab-
lished the fact that animals suffering from lack of vitamin A could
be cured by administering the yellow plant pigment carotene. This
pigment, first found in carrots in 1831, and present in all chlorophyll-
containing plants, is now recognized as the precursor or parent sub-
stance of vitamin A.
In 1930, Moore of England, demonstrated that carotene is changed
to vitamin A in the liver. Measuring the absorption spectra for vita-
min A and carotene was an important factor in proving this conver-
sion. The physiological activity of carotene soon received confirma-
tion by a host of workers in Switzerland, England, and Germany and
led to the discovery of alpha, beta, gamma and iso forms of carotene.
These isomers differ in melting point, solubility, specific rotation, ab-
PSEUDO-MATHEMATICS AND QUASI-MEASUREMENT 43
sorption spectra, and physiological activity. The beta carotene pos-
sesses twice the activity of the other forms.
The work of Karrer and his associates in 1933 at the Chemical In-
stitute of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, led to the structural
formula for beta carotene and vitamin A. By ozonization of pure
crystalline carotene or a vitamin A- concentrate obtained from fish
liver oils, these workers always obtained geronic acid and a number of
other products. However, only half as much geronic acid was ob-
tained from the vitamin A concentrate as from the carotene. These
decomposition products, along with other tests, suggested the for-
mulas for beta carotene and vitamin A as follows: (Heilbron at Univ.
College, London has confirmed Karrer's work).
CH CH CH, CH'
CC CCH CHI CH \
c./ \--C=-CH-e-CH-CH=C--C-CH-CH--CH--CHC-CH=CH-CH=C-CH=CH-C CE
E.(C! C-CH. ,HC-J: )i
B carotene (CoHa.)
C CH3 CH3
H2 Vitamin A (C20HoO0)
The formulas for the other forms of carotene are of the same type.
Carotene might break down into two molecules of vitamin A on the
addition of water to the center double bond in the molecule. Vitamin
A is a clear pale, yellow, viscous oil.
Carotene and vitamin A have not yet been synthesized, although
perhydro vitamin A has been synthesized by Karrer and his workers
which is identical with the perhydro vitamin A obtained by hydro-
genating the natural vitamin A. This compound, however, does not
possess any vitamin A potency.
The spectrophotometric method of estimating vitamin A quanti-
tatively by means of the extinction coefficient of 328my, is now used
by many laboratories.
Vitamin A concerns us most in the dairy industry of Florida. Not so
long ago a U.S.D.A. worker at the Florida Experiment Station intro-
44 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
duced an African Squash. Our laboratory has isolated carotene as
one of its yellow pigments. The chemical tests were substantiated by
the Physics department which checked its absorption spectra as that
of carotene. In the near future, the Dairy department at the Uni-
versity of Florida intends to feed this yellow squash to dairy cows
with the hope of increasing the carotene or vitamin A content of the
milk. The milk will be tested biologically with rats, and checked with
Vitamin B--water soluble, also known as the anti-neuritic vitamin,
the anti-beriberi vitamin, the anti-polyneuritic vitamin, and the
Some years ago, the original vitamin B was found to consist of at
least two physiological substances, an anti-beriberi factor (heat
labile), and a pellagra-preventive factor (heat stable.) The English
investigators called them B1 and B2 while the Americans named them
B and G.
Today the vitamin B group has become complex. At least six dif-
ferent members have been isolated: B1, B2, B3, B, B5, and Be. The pic-
ture is complicated by the fact that some investigators have intro-
duced for some of these or different factors-vitamins H, J, K, and
Y. These substances in the vitamin B group are differentiated from
each other by their stability to alkali and heat, and by their physio-
logical effect on various animals-rat, chicken and pigeon.
Of all these substances, the chemical structures of B1 and B2 are
the only ones which have been established and verified by synthesis.
In 1932, Windaus and his associates in Germany isolated 62.3 mg.
of pure crystalline vitamin B1 as the hydrochloride, from 50,000
grams of yeast. They proposed the formula C12H17ON4S.2HC1. Wil-
liams and others confirmed this formula in the following year.
Last year (1935) Williams and his associates at Columbia obtained
crystalline vitamin B1 from rice polish. By sulfite digestion the vita-
min was split quantitatively into two fractions. On the basis of chem-
ical tests and ultraviolet absorption spectra, the following structural
formula was assigned for vitamin B1.
HC C- N
II II ^
Vitamin B1(C12H17N40 S)
PSEUDO-MATHEMATICS AND QUASI-MEASUREMENT 45
In August of this year (1936), Williams and Cline reported the
synthesis of vitamin B1. The compound was identical with the natural
vitamin B1 in composition, ultraviolet absorption spectra and anti-
neuritic potency. It is now on the market.
Vitamin B2-water soluble, the heat stable factor of B complex,
has been called the pellagra-preventive vitamin, or the anti-dermatitis
Within the last few years, Kuhn and his workers in Germany have
shown that B2 is indistinguishable from lactoflavin, the powerfully
fluorescent pigment which occurs in the whey of milk. These workers
obtained 12 grams from 220,000 pounds of whey. Kuhn and his
workers and Karrer with his associates, established the structural
formula for lactoflavin in 1934 and had verified it by synthesis the
very next year. Other investigators have presented evidence that B2
and lactoflavin are not identical.
CHs N N
CH3 N C
The synthetic product when tested biologically on rats to deter-
mine its physiological action showed only the growth promoting fac-
tor and not the pellagra preventive one. Thus, it is possible that B2
consists of at least two factors; the growth promoting lactoflavin and
the pellagra-preventive one.
Vitamins G and B6 have been identified by some investigators as
containing the pellagra-preventive factor. The other members of the
vitamin B group have not yet been isolated.
Vitamin C-water soluble, is known as the anti-scorbutic vitamin,
the anti-scurvy vitamin, ascorbic acid, ascorbinic acid, cevitaminic
In 1928, Szent-Gybrgyi, at Cambridge University isolated a hexur-
onic acid, CH806O, from adrenal cortex, oranges, and cabbage as an
oxidation-reduction factor. Finding it had anti-scorbutic properties,
he renamed it ascorbic acid in 1932. In that same year, King and
46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Smith at the University of Pittsburgh, isolated and crystallized
ascorbic acid from lemon juice.
In 1933, Hirst and Haworth and their collaborators in England,
making use of X-ray analyses, crystallographical measurements and
spectrophotometry established the structure for ascorbic acid or vita-
Later in that same year these workers announced the synthesis of
vitamin C from xylososone. Reichstein in Germany also published a
synthesis. Since 1933, other syntheses have been devised-one making
use of glucose, reducing it to sorbitol, and then allowing a micro-
organism, Bacillus xylinium, to act on the alcohol to change it to a
ketose, an intermediary product necessary in the synthesis.
CH2OH-CHOH-CH-C(OH) = C(OH)-CO
Vitamin C (C6HsO6)
Only the form of 1-ascorbic acid is physiologically potent. Ascorbic
acid is sold commercially in tablet and crystalline form under the
trade name of "cevitamic acid" and "Cebione."
Absorption spectra of vitamin C are now being studied to deter-
mine the vitamin quantitatively (re Rogers paper).
Vitamin D-fat-soluble, the anti-rachitic vitamin, the sunshine
vitamin, the calcifying vitamin, the bonebuilding vitamin, calciferol.
In 1924, Hess of Columbia and Steenbock of Wisconsin independ-
ently announced that many foods lacking in vitamin D could obtain
anti-rachitic properties by irradiation with ultraviolet light. In 1927,
Windaus and Hess reported that ergosterol, a sterol, present in the
skin of animals and in plant tissues, when exposed to ultraviolet
formed a highly anti-rachitic substance.
In 1934, four different investigators, two in England, one in Ger-
many, and one in Holland isolated crystalline anti-rachitic substances
from the products obtained by irradiating ergosterol. The English in-
vestigators at the National Institute for Medical Research in London
designated their product as calciferol which still remains today. This
is known as crystalline vitamin D. The vitamin D2 of Windaus is the
same as calciferol of the English workers.
Hielbron of England and Windaus of Germany assigned the follow-
ing formula for vitamin D.
Pure crystalline vitamin D-calciferol-is now prepared commer-
cially by irradiating ergosterol under exact conditions which changes
about 25 per cent to calciferol and a number of other sterols. Calcif-
erol possesses the highest anti-rachitic property of these substances.
PSEUDO-MATHEMATICS AND QUASI-MEASUREMENT 47
C CH3 CH3 CH, CH3
/ \1 H I /
H2C C- C-CH-CH=CH-CH-CH
H I I I
C HCH2 C CH2 CH3
/\// \ /H\ /
H2C C C C
I I II H2
HOCH C CH
Vitamin D (C28sHIOH)
The calciferol is precipitated with digitonum- and then forming the
crystalline dinitrobenzoate, it is isolated out as the pure product.
During each step, the vitamin compound is checked by optical activ-
ity, absorption spectra and other tests.
Present evidence seems to point out that at least several forms of
vitamin D exist. Calciferol, (crystalline vitamin D) and vitamin D of
cod-liver oil are not the same product. Not only ergosterol but also
cholesterol has been shown to form anti-rachitic products upon ir-
Vitamin E-fat-soluble, the anti-sterility vitamin, the reproduc-
Evans and his associates at the University of California in 1935
obtained a crystalline substance from wheat germ which showed
highly potent anti-sterility properties. The empirical formula was
found to be C29H5002, and the compound seems to be one of the higher
alcohols. The structural formula has not yet been established.
There has been a movement to fortify and improve foods which
are lacking in certain mineral and vitamin nutrients. This has spread
to products other than foods, so that today many commercial prod-
ucts contain vitamin supplements including milk, bread, yeast, ce-
reals, cosmetics, facial soap, beverages, cough drops and candy bars.
There is much competition in selling these products by manufac-
turers and there has been some misrepresentation in advertisements.
Unless a substance advertised to contain certain compounds is
checked scientifically-i.e., shown to be physiologically potent, it
should be questioned.
A normal diet containing fresh fruits, especially citrus, fresh vege-
tables, meats, milk and dairy products, and plenty of sunshine sup-
ply the necessary vitamins to maintain good health and well-being at
48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
COHERING KEELS IN AMARYLLIDS AND
H. HAROLD HUME
University of Florida
FLOWERS in their development present many interesting phenomena.
In some species a long period of time may elapse after the flower buds
appear before the flowers are matured. They grow slowly, enlarge and
change color even after their several parts become clearly differ-
entiated. Sepals and petals are folded in buds in different ways and
the method of folding is, in some manner, related to the time neces-
sary for them to develop fully. As a general rule those that open
slowly,-some indeed so slowly that were it not for the maturity of
anthers and stigmas it would be difficult to say when they had
reached complete anthesis-also last for a long time. On the other
hand, the flowers of some plants mature very quickly and also they
fade. quickly. Growth, temperature and light are factors affecting the
rate of maturity.
I During a study of certain Amaryllids and some related plants, ex-
tending over a period of several years, the phenomena connected
with their flower expansion have been studied. It was observed, in
these groups, that the flowers of many species open quickly, so
quickly that what appear to be rather tightly closed buds at one
moment a few minutes later are completely expanded flowers. Im-
mediately and without much warning they appear fully formed. A
period of a few hours only may intervene between buds, in which no
color shows, and well colored, completely developed flowers from
the anthers of which pollen is discharged and pollination effected at
This behavior was first noted in the flowers of Zephyranthes, all
species of which genus, thus far observed, behave in precisely the
same manner. Flower buds progress toward maturity, perianth parts
come to practically full size. They swell out like tiny balloons, then
suddenly they snap open,-flowers fully developed. All preparations
for the final burst are made in advance and then they expand fully
almost at once. Several steps in the opening of a flower bud of Z.
Atamasco (L.) Herb. are illustrated in Plate I. Progress is from left to
right. Development from No. 1 to No. 3 is accomplished in a few
hours, while, for the remaining stages, the time required is a matter
Further study of the perianth parts revealed certain adaptations
that make this interesting flower opening possible. It was observed
Awarded the Achievement Medal for 1936.
COHERING KEELS IN AMARYLLIDS
that on the inner tip of each outer perianth segment sepall), there is
a tiny papillose elevation, a development of the central rib, and that
on each side of it there is a tiny depression formed in part by the side
of the elevation and in part by a slight infolding of the margin of the
segment. In the folded bud two of these depressions in adjoining seg-
ment tips come together to form a larger cavity and the tips of the
outer segments are held together by the interlocking of the papillae
much as two brushes are fastened together by pressing the bristles of
one in among those of the other. The tips of the inner segments
(petals) fit into the cavities at the tips of the outer ones and so the
apices of all segments, outer and inner, are locked together and re-
main so until growth expansion and the pressure of the inner three
becomes so great as to unlock the tips. Thereupon, almost fully ma-
tured, the flower flies open. The release of the tips may be acceler-
ated by a breeze swaying the buds about, by the visit of an insect in
search of nectar, by a passing squirrel or rabbit brushing against the
plant. Many times in attempting to obtain photographs of expand-
ing buds, specimens have been collected and placed in position only
to have the setting spoiled by the buds exploding, so to speak. In the
Amaryllids the margins of the segments are free, and, as expansion
progresses, they separate in their central or median parts, leaving
spaces between, remaining attached only at their bases and apices.
When in some way or other the mechanism has been damaged and
the papillae fail to release, the buds do not or indeed cannot open
beyond the balloon stage.
Careful examination of botanical literature has failed to reveal
specific reference to these interesting structures for which the name
"cohering keels" is proposed. Apparently botanists have attached no
particular importance to their functioning.
To determine how generally cohering keels occur, investigations
have been made in three directions. Naturally, the first and easiest
was to study living, growing buds, opening flowers and fully opened
flowers. This sort of material had its limitations since only a compara-
tively small number could be examined; no large collections have
been available. Second, flowers of herbarium specimens have been
examined. Here it is much more difficult to detect their presence be-
cause of their delicate fragile structure. Poorly prepared specimens
yield little information, but here and there well prepared dried peri-
anth segments show dried cohering keels at their apices. Little of form
and character can be made out and nothing beyond their presence is
discernible. The third source consisted of plant illustrations made by
artists for such publications as the Curtis Botanical Magazine,
Lindley's Ornamental Flower Garden, and Loddige's Botanical Cabi-
net. It is interesting to note the number of drawings in which coher-
50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
ing keels are shown though not in detail. Since it has been impossible
to cover these adequately a limited number only are listed below.*
Many more might be added, but these are sufficient to illustrate the
point that, while botanists seemingly overlooked them, artists who
illustrated their writings portrayed them in their fine pictures.
After observing the behavior of Zephyranthes flowers, the study
was extended to the fresh flowers of a number of other plants with
the result that cohering keels have been found on the segments of
species belonging to the genera Agapanthus, Lilium and Hemero-
callis of the family Liliaceae, to Crinum, Eucharis, Hymenocallis,
Sprekelia, Habranthus, Cooperia, and Amaryllis, of the family
Amaryllidaceae, and to Aristea of the family Iridaceae. Certain note-
worthy differences have been observed in the shape, size and eleva-
tion of the cohering keels and in the shape, length and arrangement
of the papillae. In some the adjoining pits are absent. In others both
the keels and pits are absent and only papillae are present on the
margins of the segments, these margins acting in place of the keels.
The flowers of certain species open more suddenly than do those of
others. There appears to be a relationship between the elasticity and
the thickness of the segments and the release of the apices. Those
with thick inelastic segments open much more slowly, their tips being
released without marked ballooning taking place. Indeed, so striking
are these differences that they possess a certain amount of taxonomic
value. Their characters within a given species are quite constant,
while features presented in one species are different from those found
in another. These points may be further emphasized by reference to
References to illustrations showing cohering keels. Plants illustrated are desig-
nated by the names under which they were published; no attempt has been made to
give their synonyms or to indicate the names under which they now pass.
Brunsvigia multifora. Bot. Mag. t. 1619. Feb. 1814.
Coburgia incarnata. Lindley's Ornamental Flower Garden. t. 196. III. 1854.
Crinum americanum. Bot. Mag. t. 1034. July, 1807.
Crinum erubescens. Bot. Mag. t. 1232. Oct. 1809.
Crinum revolutum. Bot. Mag. t. 915. March, 1806.
Crinum variable var. roseum. Lindley's Ornamental Flower Garden. t. 195. III. 1854.
Habranthus concolor. Lindley's Ornamental Flower Garden. t. 240. IV. 1854.
Habranthus robustus. Loddige's Botanical Cabinet. t. 1761. 1831.
Hymenocallis rotata. Bot. Mag. Apr. t. 827. 1805.
Ismene calathina. Bot. Mag. t. 1561. June, 1813.
Pancratium caribaeum. Bot. Mag. t. 826. Apr. 1805.
Zephyranthes Atamasco. A partly developed bud, upper left, followed by various
stages leading to the opening of the flower, lower right. Flowers reduced nearly one-half,
drawn from photographs.
COHERING KEELS IN AMARYLLIDS
i~' / ~
I' j 7
52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
the cohering keels found in some species belonging to the genera
listed. Certain of these are illustrated, a few are not.
Several species of Crinums are shown in Plate II. Figures 1 and 2
show two views of a sepal (outer perianth segment) profile and front
of an unknown species. It will be noted that the cohering keel is ele-
vated at the tip and furnished with long hairlike papillae. Figure 3
illustrates an unnamed species different from Figures 1 and 2. The
keel is much broader and covered abundantly with long attenuated
papillae. Figure 4 illustrates the tip of a C. longifolium segment. The
keel is blunt, oblong and rounded at the tip and furnished with two
kinds of papillae. Those at the tip are hairlike. A tip of a sepal of C.
Moorei is shown in Figure 5. The tip of the cohering keel is turned
backward, and the margins of the tip of the segment are papillose with
short rounded papillae. Figures 6 and 7 of C. Moorei represent the tips
of matured outer segments while Figure 8 shows a segment tip from a
bud. A sepal tip from the same species is shown in Figure 9. Figure 10
shows how the tip of an inner segment (petal) is held between co-
hering keels on the tips of two outer segments. The limb of C. Asiati-
cum, not illustrated, is white in color and about 8.0 cm. long, sur-
mounting a perianth tube 6 cm. in length. The incurved margins of
the segments as the sharp pointed bud approaches maturity are free
throughout practically their entire length. The bud is somewhat ir-
regular in outline because of the thickened central ridges of the outer
segments. These are compressed laterally at their tips. Cohering
1. Crinum sp., sepal, from bud, X2. Papillae long and hair-like.
2. Crinum sp., sepal, from bud, front view, X2.
3. Crinum sp., petal, from bud, X2.
4. C. longifolium var. album, sepal, X4. Cohering keel, thickened and elevated at an
angle, papillae of two kinds, the short oblong rounded form more abundant.
5. C. Moorei, sepal, X4. Cohering keel densely covered with hairy papillae, its tip
turned upward. Margin of sepal papillate at the tip.
6. C. Moorei var. album, sepal, X2.
7. C. Powellii var. alba, sepal, X4.
8. C. Powellii, sepal, from bud, X2.
9. C. Powellii, petal, from bud, X2.
10. C. Powellii, from bud, X 2. This sketch shows how the petal tip is locked between
two cohering keels in the unopened bud.
COHERING KEELS IN AMARYLLIDS
54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
keels on the segments are dissimilar in shape and size. One is blunt,
1.5 mm. long, irregular in outline; a second is pointed, 1 mm. long;
while the third is attenuated with a total length of 3.5 mm. The tips
of the three inner segments are erose and dissimilar. The margins of
the segments are incurved at their tips. At full anthesis the perianth
parts are strongly recurved. Illustrations of Crinum have been intro-
duced to show the variation in form of adhering keels and their
Segment tips of three forms of Hemerocallis are shown in Plate III.
(1) H. fulva Kwanso, (2) H. fulva and (3) H. citrina, sepals in all
cases. The papillae are quite uniform but the cohering keels are dif-
ferent in size, shape and the angle at which they are attached to the
A segment tip of A. belladonna is shown in Figure 4. It will be
noted that the point of the segment is strongly reflexed. The keel
stands off at an acute angle and two types of papillae are shown.
Cohering keels and adjoining pits on the tips of Z. carinata are
shown in Figure 5. They are quite typical for the genus. The petal
1. H. fulva Kwanso, sepal, X6.
2. H. fulva, sepal, X6.
3. H. citrina, sepal, X6.
4. Amaryllis belladonna, sepal, X3. The cohering keel here is separated from its
matrix and projects outward and downward.
5. Zephyranthes carinata, sepals, X5. The cohering keels and adjoining pits shown
here in Z. carinata are typical for the genus and are followed closely.
6. Agapanthus umbellatus, sepal, X5.
7. Z. candida, sepal, X6.
8. Z. candida, petal, X6. The petal of Z. candida has a papillose tip.
9. Agapanthus umbellatus, expanded bud, Xi.
10. L. speciosum, X4.5. Both sepals and petals are papillose at their tips. The strong
rib tips are a part of the holding mechanism.
11. L. speciosum, X2.5.
A. Petal tip.
B. Sepal rib.
C Petal rib.
COHERING KEELS IN AMARYLLIDS
J JtZl I4 /
56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
tips are plain, i.e., without papillae and fit into the pits formed by
adjoining sepals. Z. candida (Figures 7 and 8) shows kinds of keels
and pits but the petal tip is papillose in which respect it differs from
Z. carinata. This plant was assigned to a new genus, Argyropsis, by
Wm. Herbert in 1837.
The blunt tip of the sepal, of A. umbellatus, and the densely papil-
late area at the apex and the extension down the margins is quite
characteristic. An expanded bud is shown in Figure 9, Plate III.
A bud tip (Figure 11) and the tips of two outer and one inner seg-
ment of L. speciosum (Figure 10) are shown in Plate III. Papillae are
present on both outer and inner segments. The strong rib tips are a
part of the cohering mechanism which differs markedly from what is
found in the Amaryllidaceae.
Tips of outer segments of E. grandiforus are rather blunt, pits
lacking, margins slightly folded inward at the tips, keel slightly ele-
vated with abundant white papillae. The tips of the inner segments
are triangular apiculate and slightly papillose. Segments of this flower
are quite thick, and consequently they do not open so rapidly as in
In A. capitata the flowers are blue. On the tips of each outer seg-
ment there is a very small area covered by blue papillae. Flowers
open quickly and last only a few hours.
Cohering keels in S. formosissima show certain variations related
to the rather peculiar formation of the perianth. The upper segment
has a bilateral symmetrically balanced keel, 7 mm. long, red with
white papillae. Another of the segments has a half keel and the third
has a rudimentary one or none.
1. Flowers of many Amaryllids and some related plants come to
full maturity and then open suddenly.
2. This behavior is made possible through the presence and func-
GROWTH RING STUDIES OF TREES
tioning of cohering keels, elevated papillose areas or their equivalents
on the inner surfaces of the tips of the outer segments of the perianth.
These have apparently been overlooked or regarded as unimportant
by taxonomic and morphological botanists.
3. Cohering keels serve to hold the perianth segments closed until
growth expansion releases the tips. In the meantime, the essential
organs are coming to maturity and are fully developed very shortly
after the flowers open.
4. It is believed that a study of a wide range of forms will develop
variations in form and other characteristics that have important taxo-
Several members of the staff at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, have
been very helpful in working out the details of this study. Through the courtesty of
Sir Arthur W. Hill, Director, opportunity was afforded for examining the flowers of
several amaryllids and other plants in grounds and greenhouses. Valuable suggestions
were made by Mr. A. D. Cotton, Keeper of the Herbarium, and by Dr. T. A. Sprague,
Deputy Keeper of the Herbarium. The excellent detail drawings were made by Miss
Stella Ross-Craig from fresh material, except where noted.
GROWTH-RING STUDIES OF TREES OF
W. L. MACGOWAN
Robert E. Lee High School, Jacksonville
THIS PAPER deals with some studies of typical growth habits of certain
North Florida trees as derived from an examination of their annual
rings of growth, and forms part of a research problem conducted by
the writer in conjunction with and under the direction of Dr. Herman
Observation shows that the first forest growth to cover denuded
land is usually a stand of some kind of Pine. This correlates with the
fact that the seeds of most Pines need full sunlight for germination,
whereas the seeds of most other trees require some degree of shade.
As the Pine matures, its shade prevents its own seed from sprouting.
If fire does not interfere, the Pine stand will be invaded by young
Oaks and Hickories, which become the dominant species in the forest
as the Pines die of old age.
The Oak-Hickory association is composed of many tree species,
and competition becomes so great in the understory that all but the
most shade-loving trees are gradually killed for want of sufficient light.
At this stage appears the Spruce Pine,-our only shade-loving Pine,
58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
-which heralds the approach of the climax or final stage of forest
The climax species in the type of forest described are Magnolia,
Holly, and where they grow, Beech and Southern Hard Maple. As
these trees mature, they cast so dense a shade that no tree seeds, not
even their own, can germinate beneath them. Consequently this for-
est represents the final stage in the succession of forest growth, and
CHART I.-CYCLE OF FOREST SUCCESSIONS.
The larger the opening (represented by rings) made in the forest cover of the climax
association by accident or the death of an aged tree, the farther back in the cycle the
subsequent vegetation will start. A catastrophe starts the cycle again from its beginning.
tends to remain unchanged except when the death of an aged tree, or
some destructive agency such as fire, wind or the axe of man makes
an opening in the forest canopy.
The fall of a single tree will admit enough light to allow the germina-
tion of Oaks or Hickories. A larger opening pushes the cycle still
farther back, and Pines may grow in the well-lighted center of the
open space. Apparently the larger the opening made in the climax
forest, the farther back the cycle is thrust. Complete destruction of
the forest cover results in the repetition of the cycle, beginning with
GROWTH RING STUDIES OF TREES
the Pines again. Thus, barring periodic fires and other disturbing
factors, each part of the forest tends to develop associations of suc-
cessively greater shade-tolerance until a climax association of some
form is reached. This concept is illustrated in Chart I, which shows
the succession of tree associations from open ground to climax forest.
This preface applies to the matter in hand in that the present study
has disclosed the fact that each succession yields a characteristic
growth curve which seems to be common to all members of its par-
ticular association of tree species.
To determine these growth curves a careful study of annual rings
was made. Under ordinary circumstances a tree adds a layer of wood
which appears as a ring in cross section just under its bark each year.
GROWTH CURVES, PINEASSOCIATION
Youth. Maturity Old Age
These rings are wider in younger trees and in wet warm years. Their
study has led to such diverse results as the discovery of undetected
long-term weather cycles and the dating of ruins. They also form a
record of each individual tree's experiences, and when averaged with
ring measurements of other trees of like species, yield a picture of the
growth habits of that species.
Typical growth curves are shown on Chart II. The average number
of rings per radial inch has been plotted for each species. The re-
sulting straightline plots were smoothed and the curves were further
generalized to compensate for conditions peculiar to each case. This
is illustrated on Chart III.
The Pines originate in the open; their growth-curves show beauti-
fully the acceleration of growth which represents the vigor of youth,
the lessened rapidity of growth that comes with maturity, and the
slow decline and retardation of senescence. It will be noted on the
charts that the faster the growth the fewer rings per inch. Therefore
a rising curve indicates acceleration, a falling curve deceleration.
60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
The straight-line graph of the Pinus Taeda measurements yielded a
rise in the middle of the slope of senescence. This apparently was due
to the fact that beyond' the low point preceding, the curve is domi-
nated by the giants whose growth, because of favorable environment,
has been more vigorous than in the case of smaller trees. To show that
the growth-curve approximated reality, the small and the large trees
were plotted separately. The curve of the giant Loblollies on Chart
III is identical in character with the curve of all the Loblollies.
I n.,2 4 S 6 7 8 9 10 It 12 a 14I 1 17 I
4 Larger spec -nenns only.
Oaks and Hickories germinate in the shade of Pines and replace
them. These are shade-tolerant trees, but even so, their youth is
marked by a period of struggle and slow growth which shows at the
beginning of their growth-curves (Chart IV). This is due to the in-
tense struggle for survival in the dense understory. Eventually the
weaker trees fail in competition, root systems of more vigorous ones
expand, and canopies are thrust up into the light. This state of affairs
is reflected in rising curves of accelerated growth. For example the
Mockernut Hickory as it approaches maturity shows twice the rate
of growth as in infancy. The dip in the curve showing deceleration in
early youth seems to be characteristic of this association.
The sub-climax Spruce Pine, and three climax trees, Beech, Mag-
nolia and Southern Hard Maple, are shown on Chart V. Even though
GROWTH RING STUDIES OF TREES 61
it Basketi a
1$ Mockesnut Miclry
"^.._* -P oe.t- oak. _
I 2 l. 38nd-4-/S S 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 1 H /S 16
: ^ --
a s Spruce PveM
a, y geech-
.r/2 2Me la
62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
these trees start life as a rule in the dense shadows of the Oak-Hickory
forest, their extreme youthful vigor and consequent acceleration of
growth is shown in their more-or-less steeply rising growth-curves.
This significant and consistent difference between the curves of the
climax species and the Oak-Hickory group is in itself intensely inter-
esting to the student of Ecology, for it explains why the Beech-Mag-
nolia association tends to be the final forest to dominate an area.
The trees thus far considered grew in mesophytic habitats, or
regions of moderate moisture. Some studies of other types of habitat,
and of the effects of varying habitat on a species yielded some inter-
^ T~tupelo quwvy
testing results. For example, Chart VI shows the Tupelo Gum, grow-
ing in a wet, or hydrophytic habitat. The curve shows the character-
istic phases of youth, maturity and senescence with the last phase
longer in proportion and with a steeper slope of retardation than in
other species studied.
A comparison was made between Mockernut Hickory growing on
the levee of the Apalachicola River with Mockernuts growing on the
adjacent limestone bluff. The Hickory on the levee (Chart VII) shows
no such severe struggle as its relative on the bluffs. Flanked by river
and swamp, it has an adequate water supply, a rich soil, and light
filtering in from river bank as well as from overhead. The Hickories
on the bluff, however, show the record of a hard, losing fight. Soil is
probably sparse, even though rich, drainage is too efficient and there
is no advantage of light such as obtained on the levee. Hence, a
GROWTH RING STUDIES OF TREES
gradually retarded growth from infancy until death is self-evident.
In the case of Longleaf Pine, shown on Chart VIII, the constant
retardation in growth is probably due to boxing for turpentine, and
repeated fires. Adequate studies of unburned, unboxed Longleaf have
not yet been completed for comparison. A study has been made, how-
ever, of burned, boxed Longleaf growing under conditions of rather
extreme drought and poverty of soil. Specimens for this study were
taken mostly from the dry shoulder above a large sinkhole, where
limestone was overlaid with a heavy overburden of red sandy clay
EFFECT OF VARYING HABITAT
I inr 2. rd. 3 4 7
/ Mocker, .
'. / meSo )hyt i-
^ g / v haWitet--
1 ^4Mocker' t, ,
whose upper increment had been leached and bleached to a compara-
tive whiteness. Only a sparse xerophytic or near-desert vegetation
consisting mostly of tufts of wire-grass was growing here. One might
expect to find a losing fight as in the case of the other Longleaf Pine,
but no,-one finds exactly the opposite. The rising curve shows a con-
tinual increase in rate of growth. This is no doubt due to the fact
that the Longleaf has a long tap-root, and as the root system pene-
trates the hardpan and increases in size and in capacity to absorb,
the tree's condition steadily improves. In this habitat the near-desert
conditions were those of the surface only; there was more water avail-
able underneath, although the most rapid growth found was far
slower than the slowest growth of the mesophytic Longleaf.
Several trees besides the Hickory referred to were studied on the
64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
limestone bluffs along the Apalachicola River. These are exemplified
on Chart IX. Loblolly Pine shows the falling curve characteristic of
most of the bluff species. The substratum of limestone evidently
foiled its root system, with a result different from the case of the
Longleaf Pine of the sink-hole shoulder, and not at all typical of the
growth of the same species under more favorable conditions. (Refer
back to Chart III.)
EFFECT OF VAlRIN HABITAT
Sin. 1 wra 3 4 -5 7 8 t9 o
22 P/ijus /a/tis n
23 xero- resophytbc
I Ii 1a.d. 2 3 4
Torreya, which grows nowhere else in the world, while it is holding
its own under these difficult conditions, shows also a falling curve of
gradually decelerated growth. More successful is the Beech, whose
growth shows no drop for many years. This is not surprising when one
considers that it is a climax tree, with huge vitality in its youth. A
steady rate of growth is therefore maintained over a long period in
spite of the adverse conditions obtaining on the limestone bluffs.
Referring once more to the curve of Florida or Southern Hard Maple,
which appears with the climax species on Chart V, we find an even
more extraordinary vitality. In spite of the thin soil of the bluffs,
over-drainage, and dense canopy, this species shows a speedily rising
tide of youth characteristic of climax species living in more favorable
GROWTH RING STUDIES OF TREES
habitats. It is an eminently successful species. Its growth-curve is
one of the most interesting of all. It is the only species studied whose
curve shows the three ideal phases of growth under the difficult con-
ditions prevailing on the limestone bluffs.
The studies of which this paper is an excerpt form a pioneering
expedition into a large and practically untouched field, and the re-
sults of which are to be considered indicative rather than conclusive.
It seems justifiable, however, to form the following tentative conclu-
ADVERSE SOIL CONDITIONS OCK BLUFF
c. 3 4 r 6 7 B 9 so it 12
6 m Loblolly Pmne
First: Rates of growth in the forest tree species studied differ ac-
cording to the successional association in which the species occurs.
Second: Growth rates in each successional association of trees are
characteristic and differ significantly from those found in other suc-
Third: Rates of growth correlate with the innate differences in vi-
tality, structure and behavior which determine the successional type
of the tree species.
Fourth: Differences in habitat involved in these studies produce
definite changes in rates of growth, and the reaction of a species under
different conditions is characteristic of its successional type.
66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
STUDIES ON THE LIFE ZONES OF MARINE
WATERS ADJACENT TO MIAMI: I. THE
DISTRIBUTION OF THE
JAY F. W. PEARSON
The University of Miami
IN THE SPRING of 1928, the writer began the first of a prolonged
series of class studies of underwater life off the shores and keys of
the south Florida region, making use of the Miller-Dunn Divinghood
and giving undergraduates their first opportunity to become ac-
quainted with living specimens of the marine fauna in their natural
Each spring of the past three years a regularly scheduled class in
Marine ZoSlogy has carried on this work under the writer's direction.
Almost every Saturday, weather permitting, one or two boats have
carried the group down into the waters of the Bay, out around the
upper keys, or out to the reef itself, out of sight of the mainland.
Many studies have been made on the flats in the bay and around the
shores of the keys, using a Blake trawl or plankton net at times. How-
ever, the great majority of the time has been spent under water, at
depths of from ten to forty feet, where the students enter the actual
environment of the living animals.
Strict discipline following careful training has so far prevented ac-
cidents during the several hundred student hours of actual diving.
Though the work has its hazards, the writer believes that the benefits
accruing to the students more than justify the risks. The number of
helmets in use at once has ranged from two to ten, four being the
most desirable number and two being an absolute minimum as well
as a maximum in excessively deep water on the outer side of the
reef. A minimum of three people is required for effective operation of
each helmet, but long periods of diving in deeper water demand four,
five or even six students to each helmet to care for the strenuous task
of pumping and to provide sufficiently long periods of recuperation
Until the spring of 1934, no effort was made to chart and number
stations made by the classes, but with the first offering of regular
course work in Marine Zoology each separate collecting station has
been carefully recorded and all collections and studies are readily
cross-referenced. Since 1934, fifty-five stations have been established,
the majority of them diving stations. With each new station that is
established the variety and complexity of the minor plant and animal
habitats become more evident. Several major zones may be deline-
LIFE ZONES OF MARINE WATERS
ated, based on physical features of the land and water itself. Sub-
zones or smaller divisions exist in each of these, while local variations
of each sub-zone offer an almost infinite variety of associations or
communities, three or four being within hose-range at one anchorage
If we limit our discussion to the waters within an area formed by
a line running east from Coconut Grove, Dinner Key, to Key Bis-
cayne and thence south to a line extending from Broad Creek to
Carysfort Light, we may describe the major zone as follows:
Zone I. Soft or sticky bottom, usually densely covered with Zostera or eelgrass,
water three or more feet in depth at low tide, mainly confined to protected regions of
the Bay itself.
Zone II. Flats of hard or soft bottom, exposed or almost exposed at low tide, some-
times with considerable growth of Zostera or eelgrass, forming large areas in the less
protected region of the Bay, adjoining the mainland, or adjoining the Keys, usually
on the northern or eastern sides of the keys, though sometimes to the south as well.
Zone III. Alcyonarian areas of less protected stretches of the Bay itself, usually
existing also on the gradually sloping eastern and southern sides of the keys, usually
with hard bottom often rocky, or with well packed shell or sand, never exposed at low
tide and ranging from three to 20 feet in depth, often marked with patches or stretches
of eelgrass or of completely clean bottom.
Zone IV. Relatively deep channels of rapid water between keys and up the inner
side of Key Biscayne, or forming narrow passes between Bay flats, and including
Hawk Channel itself, the countercurrent passage extending northeast and southwest
outside the line of keys and inside the reef. These channels are often completely free
of large animal life and the bottom is usually well-packed sand, shell or rock. Hawk
Channel has patches of life here and there throughout it at depths that at times reach
fifty feet or more at low tide.
Zone V. The coral reef extending from a point south of Key Biscayne on down out-
side Hawk Channel and forming the barrier that protects the channel, keys, and bay
from the waters of the open sea. Of course the reef itself is rocky, completely submerged
at low tide, and varies in depth and continuity. Above Fowey Rocks there is an old
dead reef which shows signs of rejuvenation. Below Fowey the active reef-building
corals have been steadily at work. A new line of keys should some day occupy the
region now marked out by the reef.
The length of this paper does not permit inclusion of detailed lists
of the many residents of each of these regions. Numerous species have
been taken in each of them. Many have been identified and many
others are still in process of study. The work to date bears out the
assumption that while some species will be strictly limited in dis-
tribution, others will show such wide distribution as to be considered
Centrechinus antillarum, the black, long-spined sea urchin, for ex-
ample, is found almost everywhere, except in the bare channels of
fast moving water and in the deeper eelgrass-covered waters of the
68 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
bay and Hawk Channel slopes. Lytechinus variegatus, the variable
sea urchin, has a more limited distribution, being found in almost any
bottom having eelgrass and occurring also in bare channels swept
clean by fast moving water. Tripneustes esculentus, the edible sea
urchin, on the contrary, has been taken only on flats having abun-
dant life, either inside the bay or extending out eastward from certain
of the keys. Likewise, Echinometra lucunter, the rock-boring sea
urchin has been taken only in water-worn rocks on the south side of
Bear Cut on Key Biscayne, while Eucidaris tribuloides, the club-
spined sea urchin, has been taken almost exclusively by trawling in
eelgrass on the shallow, sloping western side of Hawk Channel, east
or southeast of Soldier Key and well off shore. Noira atropos, a
gloriously golden little heart urchin, has been found only in knee-
deep mud in perhaps twenty feet of water well up the bay inside of
Corals of one group or another, form the dominant life of certain
of these zones. Porites porites, a small branching grey form, of which
two or three varieties have been considered or rejected at various
times, occurs sometimes in the eel-grass regions of deep water in the
bay, but is far more abundant on certain flats and is extremely abun-
dant south and east of most of the keys. Its little colonies remind one
of a tumbled heap of giant jacks, although definite heavily branching
masses also occur.
The dominant corals of rougher waters of the bay are of course the
soft corals or Alcyonaria. They cannot stand emergence and rarely
occur on the flats. They extend outward beyond the keys forming
dense stands on the slopes of Hawk Channel as well as patches here
and there, scattered among eelgrass and regions of bare sand, en-
tirely across the Channel to the reef itself. Here, too, in many lo-
calities they are very abundant, though they rarely seem to reach
the dominance they attain in quieter water, inside the reef. Rarely on
the reef do they reach the size attained in the less violent water. The
variety and abundance of form, color, and growth pattern attained
by these bushlike colonies of soft corals in Miami waters offers in-
finite opportunity for the study of morphology and speciation. Often
one clearly defined species will attain an almost uniform stand in one
small region. Almost pure stands of the sea plume, Gorgonia acerosa
may be found, or perhaps an almost pure stand of Xiphigorgia anceps
or one of the species of Plexaura or Plexaurella. The writer knows of
only one region of these waters where a practically pure stand of
Gorgonia flabellum may be found. Interestingly enough this locality
is on the reef itself, the old or dying reef, in the immediate vicinity
of Fowey light. These sea fans are to be found almost everywhere
that Alcyonaria occur, of course, but not as the dominant form.
LIFE ZONES OF MARINE WATERS
Solid heads of stony coral may occur here and there over the sandy
or rocky bottom of the bay as well as on the western slopes of Hawk
Channel where they often reach tremendous size. Aside from these
occasional large heads and other smaller patches, few stony corals
other than Porites porites occur inside the reef.
While many kinds of stony corals contribute to the life and struc-
ture of the reef itself, Acropora muricata palmata, the elk-horn or
palmate coral may be considered most characteristic. This great
branching coral with its many upraised hands attaining a dozen or
more feet in height at times occurs in massed colonies on all true
reefs. Its dead skeletons may be recognized even when the majority
of the hands have been broken off and a crenulated growth of the
encrusting stinging coral, Millepora, has overgrown its rocky columns.
On the inner slopes of the reef the closely related Acropora muri-
cata cervicornis, the stag-horn coral, a slender, low-grading form, pre-
The Ophiuroidea will be considered in somewhat greater detail to
illustrate the differences existing between the faunas of the five main
regions that have been marked out in local waters. Over two thousand
specimens have been studied in the data that will be presented,
drawn from a considerable number of the stations that have been
made since 1934. The specimens have been collected by the writer
and his classes. Two students, Mr. Charles Kramer and Mr. Harold
Humm, have aided in special studies that are being carried on with
this group and others of the Echinoderms. The writer also is indebted
to Dr. Hubert Lyman Clark of the Museum of Comparative Zo6logy,
who kindly looked over a number of forms that proved difficult to
determine with accuracy in the absence of an original, named collec-
Dr. Clark, in his volume on West Indian Echinoderms (1933), lists
65 species from 9 families. He reports 18 from Bermuda, 38 from
Tortugas, 33 from Puerto Rico and 36 from Tobago. In the present
study 33 recognized species have been collected in the Miami region,
all taken by the writer and his classes. In addition to these, one other
genus is represented by a young specimen, which is undoubtedly a
new species, while still other puzzling forms indicate the probability
that new species exist in these waters but have not yet been brought
Counting the one representative of the genus Ophiacantha, all nine
recognized families of the littoral West Indian Ophiurans are known
from the Miami region and their representatives make up The Uni-
versity of Miami's local collection of the Ophiuroidea.
One species, Astrophyton muricatum, the basket-star or basket-fish,
of the family Gorgonocephalidae, with its many branched arms end-
70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
ing in tentacle-like tips, appears to feed almost exclusively on the
polyps of Gorgonia acerosa, the sea plume, and is taken abundantly
in the Alcyonarian or hard bottom zone, Zone III. It is found with
its arms interlocked and wrapped tightly about a branch of the plume,
forming a ball-like mass that cannot be removed forcibly without
damaging the specimen.
All other littoral members of this class appear to be secretive, posi-
tively thigmotactic creatures, living in sponges, in crevices or holes in
rock, under coral heads, in empty mollusc shells, in masses of coralline
algae such as Halimeda, beneath any object resting on the bottom,
or they may be found burrowing into mud or sand, perhaps to a con-
While the littoral distribution of these animals would be expected
to place all of them in all 5 zones that make up the writer's collecting
range, specific adaptations to specialized small niches of the general
environment have acted to eliminate some entirely from certain zones,
or have limited their numbers decidedly in comparison with the abun-
dance of other forms.
Zone I, with its mud and sand, often eelgrass covered, in protected
bay waters, has so far yielded the poorest fauna. Only seven identified
species have been brought to light. The unique Ophiophragmus filo-
graneus, recorded here for the first time from the east coast of Florida,
and the ubiquitous Ophiactis savigny occur with almost equal abun-
dance in the collections from this zone. The other four species are each
represented by a single specimen. One specimen of Ampnioplus abditus
constitutes the only record for this species, while the single A mphiodia
repens has been taken once also on the flats.
Only 6 of the 33 identified species have not been taken in what has
been termed the zone of the flats, Zone II. These 6 species include
Ophiophragmus filograneus, which has so far appeared only in the sand
of Zone I, Amphipholis squamata, Amphiodia rhabdota, Amphioplus
abditus, Ophiactis algicola, and Ophiothrix angulata, which is typically
a reef form. Nine species taken in this zone have not occurred else-
where. Single specimens of Ophiothrix brachyactis and Ophionereis
olivacea constitute the only representatives of these species. Ophiocoma
echinata, 0. riisei, Ophioderma brevicaudum, 0. appressum, 0.
cinereum, Ophiozona impressa and Ophiolepis paucispina occur in
some abundance on the flats and have been taken nowhere else.
Ophioderma brevispinum is very abundant on the flats and has been
taken once elsewhere, in the Alcyonarian zone.
Seventeen species of ophiurans appear in the Alcyonarian or moder-
ately deep water zone of fairly hard bottom. Amphiodia rhabdota has
come as a single specimen and from this zone alone. While more speci-
mens have been taken from the flats than from this zone, Ophionereis
LIFE ZONES OF MARINE WATERS
squamulosa has been three times as abundant here as it has been on
Poor collections have been yielded by the channel zone with nine
species represented. Ophionereis squamulosa has been most abundant
with no species appearing that has not been found elsewhere.
The reef zone with its seventeen species presents a rather unique
representation of ophiurans. Ophiothrix lineata is the dominant form
and far exceeds all others, although it has occurred but rarely else-
where. There are indications that continued study may make it de-
sirable to divide the reef zone into northern and southern sections.
Further studies will clear up this point.
When the relative abundance of the various species is considered,
it must be noted that the family Amphuridae with its 13 species is
dominant in zone I, the deeper protected waters and shores of the
bay. The two most abundant species of this zone belong to this family
and the third most abundant form falls in the family Ophiotrichidae.
Not a single specimen of any family, other than these two, has been
taken in zone I.
With every family but the Ophiacanthidae represented in zone II,
the Amphiuridae are relatively less abundant than other families of
the flats, even though Ophiostigma isacanthum and Ophiactis savignyi
have been collected in great numbers. Ophiothrix Urstedii of the Ophio-
trichidae is most abundant. Ophiopsila riisei of the Ophiocomidae
ranks second, and Ophioderma brevispinum of the Ophiodermatidae is
The Alcyonarian or hard bottom zone, Zone III, shows Ophionereis
squamulosa of the Ophiochitonidae as most abundant, Ophiactis
savignyi of the Amphiuridae as second in point of numbers, and
Ophionereis squamulosa of the Ophiochitonidae as third.
The third zone, the channel zone, gives greatest abundance to
Ophionereis squamulosa of the Ophiochitonidae, but yields second
place to Ophiothrix Urstedii of the Ophiotrichidae, while two species
of the Ophiocomidae appear in equal numbers to tie for third.
In the reef zone or fifth zone the family Ophiotrichidae completely
dominates. Three species of this family rank first, second and third in
abundance, namely, Ophiothrix lineata, 0. Urstedii, and 0. angulata.
In summary it may be said that the family Amphuridae offers the
greatest number of species, most widely distributed, but that except
for the abundant and ubiquitous Ophiostigma isacanthum and Ophiac-
tis savignyi along with the localized Ophiophragmus filograneus, these
species are not well represented in the Miami area.
The Gorgonacephalidae, represented by Astrophyton muricatum are
abundant in the Alcyonarian zone and occasionally occur in flats, or
72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
The family Ophiomyxidae with its single species, Ophiomyxa flac-
cida, has been taken only on flats or reefs.
The rare Ophiacanthidae are practically unknown to the area.
The Ophiotrichidae, except for two rare species, are very abundant.
One species, Ophiothrix irstedii is ubiquitous and dominant in every
zone, and this one with two others completely dominate the reef zone.
The Ophiochitonidae, with one species rare and two abundant, is
well represented on the flats, while one of them, Ophionereis squamu-
losa dominates the Alcyonarian and channel zones.
While two species of the Ophiocomidae occur in all zones, except the
first, these forms are primarily flats animals and reach their true im-
portance in Zone II.
The Ophiodermatidae and the Ophiolepididae are almost exclu-
sively confined to the shallow water and hiding places of the flats,
Attention must also be called to the remarkable abundance of
Ophiothrix orstedii, which ranks third in Zone I, first in Zone II, third
in Zone III, second in Zone IV, and second in Zone V.
It is hoped that this paper will offer some indication of the work
that is being carried on in local waters. Space does not permit the
inclusion of tables and additional data bearing upon the ecology of
these and other groups of the area. Additional material brought to
light by this method of class study and research will be forthcoming
from time to time as the opportunity presents itself.
A KEY TO THE FRESH-WATER FISHES
A. F. CARR, JR.
University of Florida
THE FRESHWATER fish fauna of Florida is one of the most interesting
in the United States. It is a fauna developed in a region of recent
geologic origin, low topographic relief, poor drainage, and unusual
geographic configuration, and consequently exhibits certain very pe-
culiar features. Some of the characteristic continental groups appar-
ently have not had time to establish themselves in the peninsula since
its elevation above the sea, while others have doubtless failed to find
suitable conditions in its low and swamp-bordered water courses.
Of the suckers and cyprinid minnows, which form a major element
in the fauna of eastern North America, few more than a dozen occur
in Florida, and several of these are confined to the extreme western
portion of the panhandle. The darters, likewise widespread and abun-
KEY TO FRESH-WATER FISHES
dant farther north, are represented in the peninsula by only three
The scarcity of these common forage fishes in the state probably is
due in part to the recency of the establishment of migration routes.
Moreover, many of the forage fishes, and especially the darters, are
adapted particularly to life in swift highland streams, where food is
scarce and predators and competitors few. Such delicate fishes may
find conditions intolerable in the sluggish and fertile Florida streams.
Throughout the first several million years of its history Florida was
an island. Whatever fish fauna existed in its youthful drainage system
must have been derived principally from marine or marine littoral
forms. With the closing of the Suwannee Straits and the establishment
of a link with the great land mass to the north, a new region was
opened up for invasion by the continental fishes. The newcomers en-
countered a fish population composed chiefly of forms characteristic
of brackish coastal waters. Among these the cyprinodonts were doubt-
less the most numerous, both in species and individuals. Today
Florida's cyprinodont fauna is one of the most extensive in the world.
The vigorous and adaptable centrarchids apparently found the new
conditions highly favorable, for they have spread over the entire
state, and with the gars, comprise a predator list almost unrivaled in
the United States.
In certain Florida lakes there are found fish closely related to or
(nominally) identical with marine forms of the adjacent coasts. Most
of the lakes of the state have been formed by solution and collapse
of underlying limestone. Some of them, however, appear to be ancient
lagoons, or depressions consequent upon the elevated sea-bottom. In
Lake Eustis (Lake County), which is presumably of the latter type,
three of these marine relicts occur-a sheepshead minnow, Cyprinodon
hubbsi; a glass minnow, Menidia beryllina atrimentis; and a needle
fish, Strongylura marina. Although there is a poorly developed and
extremely circuitous drainage connection between Lake Eustis and
the Atlantic, it seems improbable that migration takes place through
In addition to anadromous species, which ascend the rivers to
spawn, there is a fairly large list of marine or brackish water fishes
which are found more or less regularly in freshwater. A pipefish and
a stingaree were recently collected in the St. Johns at Welaka, nearly
a hundred miles above the mouth of the river. Unsubstantiated verbal
reports record these forms from various other streams and springs in
the state. Flounders are fairly common in some of our large freshwater
springs. The snook is abundant in many of the canals and rivers of
southern Florida, and once in the Everglades, after a three day rain, I
74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
saw several three-foot tarpon cruising the drainage ditches in an old
The present key includes 102 species, and constitutes the first state
list of freshwater fishes since 1899, when Evermann and Kendall's
Check-List of the Fishes of Florida appeared. Most of the records
are based upon specimens in the collection of the Museum of Zo6logy,
University of Michigan, and that of the Department of Biology, Uni-
versity of Florida. The few records taken from the literature are from
entirely reliable sources.
Although I accept sole responsibility for the present form of this key and for the
final selection of the criteria that have been used in distinguishing between the groups
and species, I must gratefully acknowledge the other workers whose studies have
made the key possible.
I am greatly indebted to Mr. Leonard Giovannoli of the Key West Aquarium,
formerly of the Department of Biology, University of Florida. Data which he obtained
thru extensive field work, and his unpublished key to the fishes of Alachua County
have been used extensively, with his permission, in the preparation of this paper.
I am deeply grateful to Dr. Carl L. Hubbs, Museum of Zoology, University of
Michigan, for much valuable advice, for his identifications of Florida material, and for
a list of Florida fishes compiled from his own data and collections.
For assistance in securing specimens I wish to thank the following: Mr. R. E.
Bellamy, Dodd College, Shreveport, La.; Dr. R. F. Bellamy, Florida State College for
Women, Tallahassee; Mr. John Kilby and Mr. George Van Hyning, Wakulla Resettle-
ment Project, Tallahassee; Mr. Herbert Braren, Ormond; and Miss Marjorie Harris,
Welaka Resettlement Project, Welaka.
Mr. Horton Hobbs, Department of Biology, University of Florida, is responsible for
the explanatory figure, and Mr. Frank Young, of the same department, has been of
great help in testing the mechanics of the key.
Directions for Using This Key.-Read the first half of couplet No. 1. If your fish
agrees with the description, proceed to the couplet to which the number in the right
margin directs you. However, if the first half of the first couplet does not seem applica-
ble, read the second half. One of the two sections should describe your specimen. Con-
tinue the process of selecting the most pertinent description in each of the couplets to
which you are directed until you encounter a name. If you have made the proper
choice in each case this will be the name of your fish.
Scales are counted along the lateral line from the upper end of the gill opening to the
last caudal vertebra. The crowded scales which often extend out onto the caudal fin
are not included.
In counting fin rays, consider only fully developed rays, ignoring the rudimentary
ones. Soft rays usually are forked, and appear to be jointed. Spiny rays are not always
stiff, but they never show joint-like transverse lines, and are never branched. Spines
are indicated by Roman numerals and soft rays by Arabic numerals. D. means dorsal
fin; A. means anal fin.
KEY TO FRESH-WATER FISHES
FIRST DORSAL FIN
S. SECOND ERSAL
f a : '.' SECOND DORS AL I
, '* 1 "'I .,-
"' '' CAA"At FIN
The depth of a fish is the greatest belly-to-back distance exclusive of fins. The head
length is the distance from the tip of the snout to the posterior edge of the opercular
flap. Where the flap is greatly extended, as in the case of some sunfish, the projection
is not included. Head 4; depth 3 indicates that the head is i as long as the body, and
the depth, j the body length. Body length in this key is the standard length, which is
the distance from the tip of the snout to the last caudal vertebra.
The more obvious external features have been used as far as possible in separating
the forms. In many cases, however, it has been necessary to use more detailed and ob-
scure characters. In such instances the novice may have some difficulty in using the key.
In general an adult fish is much easier to identify than an immature one.
The common names used here are those held in best repute by the committee of
common and scientific names of the American Fisheries Society. Local vernacular
names, when included, are printed in parentheses.
A thick fin without rays.
Fused; grown together.
A fleshy filament or projection, usually about the head.
Bony rays that support the membranes on the lower side
of the head of a fish.
Pertaining to the tail; the caudal fin.
The region between the caudal fin and the dorsal and
Not separated; continuous.
Pertaining to the back.
The tooth-like projections along the inner edges of the
bony arches that support the gills.
76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
An unsymmetrical tail, whose upper lobe is often longer
than the lower. The backbone may extend out into the
upper lobe, or may merely curve upward before reaching
it as in the case of the Bowfin (Amia).
A symmetrical tail; the backbone ends at the base of the
fin and does not curve upward or enter the fin.
The ventral part of the throat and breast between the
Pertaining to the sides.
A series of small pits or tubes forming a line along the
sides of most fish.
The outer bones of the upper jaw.
Having the appearance of an eye; rounded, and sur-
rounded by a ring of lighter color.
Posterior part of the bony covering of the gill-chamber.
Reproducing by means of eggs which hatch outside the
Reproducing by means of large eggs which hatch within
the body of the female.
The shiny membrane which lines the body cavity.
Anterior part of the bony covering of the gill-chamber.
At the end.
Cut off square; not rounded or forked.
Pertaining to the under side of the body.
KEY TO FAMILIES
1 Mouth without jaws, a circular opening adapted for sucking ...............
............... .............................. Petromyzonidae. p. 78
Mouth with articulated jaws ................... ....... ............... 2
2( 1) Body disk-like; tail whip-like and longer than body....... Dasyatidae. p. 78
Body not disk-like; tail not like a whip................................ 3
3( 2) Tail heterocercal................... ... ................. ...... 4
Tail homocercal.......................... .... ............... 6
4( 3) Tail forked, its upper lobe the longest ..................Acipenseridae. p. 78
Tail not forked, rounded............................................. 5
5( 4) Mouth extended into a bill; dorsal fin short..............Lepisosteidae. p. 78
Mouth normal, not bill-like; dorsal fin very long............ Amiidae. p. 78
6( 3) Both eyes on one side, or body very elongate and encased in a bony armor..26
Eyes normal, one on either side and body not encased in a bony armor; scaled or
naked............................. ... .............. 7
7( 6) Fins without spines, or with only one spine which is in the dorsal fin, or skin
naked........................ ... ..... ... .................... 8
Fins with spiny rays preceding the soft rays; skin with scales ............19
KEY TO FRESH-WATER FISHES
8( 7) Body covered with scales .............................................9
Body scaleless ...................................... ...............17
9( 8) Head without scales ................... .................... ..........10
Head more or less scaly.........................................14
10( 9) Gill membranes free from isthmus....................................11
Gill membranes united with isthmus.................................13
11(10) Lateral line wanting.............. .............................12
Lateral line present ............... ... ................. Elopidae. p. 78
12(11) Mouth not extremely wide; maxillary reaching scarcely beyond eye.........
...................................... ............ .... Clupeidae. p. 79
Mouth very wide; maxillary extending much beyond eye.. .Engraulidae. p. 79
13(10) Rays of dorsal fin 10 or more ........................ Catastomidae. p. 79
Rays of dorsal fin fewer than 10 .........................Cyprinidae. p. 80
14( 9) Mouth large and terminal; body strikingly elongate...................15
Mouth small, more or less superior; body not strikingly elongate.......... 16
15(14) Mouth not extended into a long sharp beak; pectoral fins inserted low.......
.................. .................... ................. E socidae. p. 81
Mouth a very long, sharp beak; insertion of pectorals high on sides.........
................... ................................. Belonidae. p. 81
16(14) Anal fin of male different from that of female; intestine long, with numerous
convolutions, or if not long and convoluted, then body and fins without bars,
stripes, large rounded spots, or gay colors, and when pregnant, with an irregular
black blotch on side before anal fin, and 8 to 13 very large eggs or embryos in
body cavity; ovoviviparous ............................ Poeciliidae. p. 83
Anal of male similar to that of female; intestine comparatively short and little
convoluted ................... ........ ....... Cyprinodontidae. p. 81
17( 8) Body not snake-like.................. .............................18
Body long and snake-like; ventral fins lacking............. Anguillidae. p. 81
18(17) Barbels 8; posterior nostril with a barbel; no teeth in roof of mouth.........
................ ................... .......... ..... .Ameiuridae. p. 80
Barbels 4 or 6; none present on posterior nostril; roof of mouth with teeth...
...................................................... A. Ariidae. p. 80
19( 7) Ventral fins abdominal ....................... ................25
Ventral fins thoracic or jugular ..................................... 20
20(19) Gill membranes free from isthmus .................................. 21
Gill membranes united with isthmus ......................Eleotridae. p. 86
21(20) Vent below preopercle in adult; ventrals without spines.................
............ .................................... .Aphredoderidae. p. 83
Vent normally located; ventrals with at least one spine..................22
78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
22(21) Dorsal fins two.......................... ................ 23
D. single or divided only by a notch....... ........................24
23(22) Anal spines III; size large.............................. .Serranidae. p. 83
Anal spines I or II; small species only.....................Percidae. p. 83
24(22) Lateral line present; dorsal spines VI to XIII ........... Centrarchidae. p. 84
Lateral line lacking; dorsal spines IV or V.............. Elassomidae. p. 85
25(19) Anal spine I; dorsal spines slender ......................Atherinidae. p. 85
Anal spines II or III; dorsal spines stout .................Mugilidae. p. 86
26( 6) Eyes normally placed; body very elongate, encased in bony armor..........
........... ............. .......................... Syngnathidae. p. 86
Eyes on one side of the head only; body not elongate; scales not bony.......
................. ................... ................ Archiridae. p. 86
One species in our list: Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus-Sea Lamprey
One species in our list: Amphotistius sabinus (LeSueur)-Stingaree
One species in our list: Acipenser brevirostris LeSueur-Shortnosed Sturgeon
KEY TO LEPISOSTEIDAE
1 Snout not twice as long as rest of head ................................2
Snout twice as long as rest of head or longer...........................
......................... Lepisosteus osseus (Linnaeus)-Long-nosed Gar
2( 1) Large teeth of upper jaw in a single row on either side; mouth opening longer
than rest of head ................. ................................3
Large teeth of upper jaw in two rows on either side; mouth opening not as long
as rest of head........ Lepisosteus spatula Lacepede-American Alligator Gar
3( 2) Distance from front of orbit to edge of opercular membrane less than length
of snout............ Lepisosteus platyrhincus De Kay-Florida Spotted Gar
Distance from front of orbit to edge of opercular membrane more than length
of snout.............. Lepisosteus oculatus Winchell-Northern Spotted Gar
One species on our list: Amia calva Linnaeus-Bowfin (Mudfish)
KEY TO ELOPIDAE
1 D. with the last ray extended much beyond rest of fin....................
............................... Tarpon atlanticus (Valenciennes)-Tarpon
D. normal, its last ray not extended.....Elops saurus Linnaeus-Tenpounder
KEY TO FRESH-WATER FISHES
KEY TO CLUPEIDAE
1 D. with its last rays extending much beyond rest of fin; stomach like a fowl's
gizzard.................................... ........................ 7
Last rays of D. not extended; stomach not gizzard-like ................... 2
2( 1) Upper jaw not strongly notched at tip; cheeks longer than deep; no wing-like
scales at base of caudal fin...........................................3
Upper jaw notched at tip, the notch receiving the lower jaw; cheeks deeper than
long; a pair of wing-like scales at base of caudal........................6
3( 2) Peritoneum pale ................. .... ........................4.
Peritoneum black......... Pomolobus aestivalis (Mitchill)-Summer Herring
4( 3) Head about 4 or more; depth about 31; A. 19 or more...................5
Head about 31; depth about 31; A. 18................................
.....................Pomolobus chrysochloris Rafinesque-Skipjack Herring
5( 4) D. 16; A. 19; head about 43; gill rakers about 35 on lower limb of arch......
...........................Pomolobus pseudo-harengus (Wilson)-Alewife
D. 15; A. 21; head about 4; gill rakers about 23 on lower limb of arch.......
.........................Pomolobus mediocris (Mitchill)-Hickory Herring
6( 2) Depth about 32; gill rakers about 60 on lower limb of arch...............
.............................Alosa sapidissima (Wilson)-American Shad
Depth about 3; gill rakers about 40 on lower limb of arch ................
.................... Alosa alabamae Jordan and Evermann-Alabama Shad
7( 1) A. 22 to 26; scales 42 to 44....... ................................
................. Signalosa petensis vankyningi Weed-Florida Lesser Shad
A. 29 to 33; scales 52 to 56 ............................................
.................. Dorosoma cepedianum (LeSueur)-Northern Gizzard Shad
One species in our list: Anchoviella mitchilli (Valenciennes)-Bay Anchovy
KEY TO CATASTOMIDAE
1 Lateral line lacking; mouth subinferior, slightly oblique; color pattern (if
present) consisting of longitudinal streaks, sometimes with narrow vertical
bars.................... ........ ..................................2
Lateral line more or less developed in adult; mouth inferior, horizontal; color
pattern of adult consisting of longitudinal rows of black spots, one on each
scale; young pale, obscurely mottled.................................
.......................Minytrema melanops (Rafinesque)-Spotted Sucker
2( 1) Scales 40 to 42; head about 4 to 4Q; A. of male not bilobed; fins more angular;
D. 11.................. Erimyzon tennis (Agassiz)-Alabama Chub-sucker
Scales 35 or 36; head about 31 to 35; A. of male bilobed; fins rounded; D.
usually 12-sometimes 11. ................. ................. .
............ Erimyzon sucetta sucetta (Lacepede)-Eastern Lake Chub-sucker
80 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
KEY TO CYPRINIDAE
1 Rays of anal fewer than 14................. .................. 2
Rays of anal more than 14 ...................... ......................
..........Notemigonus crysoleucas bosci Valenciennes-Florida Golden Shiner
2( 1) Rays of anal fewer than 11.................. .. ......................3
Rays of anal 11..........Notropis hypseopterus (Gunther) Big-finned Shiner
3( 2) Sides of head and lower jaw without conspicuous silvery or translucent cavities
...................................................... ....... 4
Sides of head and lower jaw cavernous, with distinct silvery or translucent
mucus channels .............. Ericymba buccata Cope-Silver-jawed Minnow
4( 3) Mouth not very small, lateral cleft extending beyond anterior margin of eye..5
Mouth very small, scarcely any lateral cleft ..............................
............................ Opsopoeodus emiliae Hay-Pug-nosed Minnow
5( 4) Scales fewer than 45............... ............................6
Scales more than 45...................................................
.... Semotilus atromaculatus thoreauianus Jordan-Southeastern Creek Chub
6( 5) Lateral line extending all the way to caudal fin.........................7
Lateral line extending hardly half way to caudal fin....................
..............................Notropis maculatus (Hay)-Spotted Shiner
7( 6) A. 8; 6 rows of scales above the lateral line.............................8
A. 7; 5 rows of scales above the lateral line..........................
................... ............. Notropis roseus (Jordan)-Coastal Shiner
8( 7) Scales about 33; head about 3f; eye in head about 3 ......................
........................Notropis chalybaeus (Cope)-Iron-colored Shiner
Scales about 39; head about 41; eye in head about 3 .....................
...........Notropis eurystomus (Jordan)-Chattahoochee Blacktailed Shiner
KEY TO ARIIDAE
1 Lower jaw with two barbels; dorsal and pectoral spines terminating in long
filaments................. Galeichthysfelis (Linnaeus)-Gaff-topsail Catfish
Lower jaw with 4 barbels; spines without filaments.....................
.......................... Bagre marinus (Mitchill)-Northern Sea Catfish
KEY TO AMEIURIDAE
1 Tail deeply forked................... ................................2
Tail rounded or slightly emarginate, not deeply forked....................3
2( 1) Sides with dark spots; an unbroken bony ridge from head to origin of D.; lobes
of tail pointed; head narrow ...........................................
.......Ictalurus lacustris punctatus (Rafinesque)-Southern Channel Catfish
Sides plain; bony ridge from head to D. not quite complete; lobes of tail
rounded; head broad............ Ictalurus catus (Linnaeus)-White Catfish
KEY TO FRESH-WATER FISHES
3( 1) Adipose fin adnate to back posteriorly...................................
Adipose fin not adnate to back posteriorly.............................4
4( 3) Color silvery, heavily mottled with black or dark brown; anal rays about 21
.....Ameiurus nebulosus marmoratus (Holbrook)-Marbled Brown Bullhead
Color above brownish to black, not mottled............................5
5( 4) Lower sides and caudal peduncle with rounded light spots; rays of A. 16 to 18
...................Ameiurus platycephalus (Girard)-Flat-headed Bullhead
Sides without rounded light spots; rays of A. 25 to 27 .....................
.......................... Ameurus natalis (LeSueur)-Yellow Bullhead
6( 3) Color brown to black and nearly plain; pectoral spine more than 3 in snout to
D.........................Schilbeodes gyrinus (Mitchill)-Tadpole Madtom
Color yellowish, usually mottled, especially on D. and A. pectoral spine 3 in
head or less..........Schilbeodes leptacanthus (Jordan)-Gulf Coast Madtom
KEY TO ESOCIDAE
1 Scales 108 or less; length 12 inches or less; branchiostegals 11 to 13.........
..............................Esox americanus Gmelin-Bulldog Pickerel
Scales about 125; length up to two feet; branchiostegals 14 to 16............
.............................Esox niger LeSueur-Chain Pickerel (Jack)
One species on our list: Strongylura marina (Walbaum)-Northern Needlefish
One species in our list: Anguilla bostoniensis (LeSueur)-American Eel
KEY TO CYPRINODONTIDAE
1 Teeth pointed ................ .................................. 2
Teeth notched, bicuspid or tricuspid..................................17
2( 1) Teeth in a single series...............................................3
Teeth in more than one series ................ ......................5
3( 2) Body short and deep; depth less than 4 in length.......................
.................. Rainwater Killifish-Lucania parva (Baird and Girard)
Body rather elongate; depth more than 4 in length ........................
4( 3) A black lateral stripe present from head to tail; no ocellated spot on side....
......................... Chriopeops goodei (Jordan)-Red-finned Killifish
No lateral stripe present, at least not anteriorly; side or caudal peduncle or both
with an ocellated spot..... Leptolucania ommata (Jordan)-Ocellated Killifish
5( 2) Gill openings restricted above: opercle adnate to body from about root of
pectoral upward; body short and deep ..................................
................... Adinia xenica (Jordan and Gilbert)-Diamond Killifish
Gill openings not restricted above: opercle not adnate to body from root of
pectoral upward; body oblong ........... ........................6
82 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
6( 5) Dorsal fin with 11 to 17 rays, inserted above or before anal............... 7
Dorsal fin with 7 to 11 rays, inserted well behind front of anal............ 12
7( 6) Scales in lateral line 33 .............................................
................ Fundulus similis (Baird and Girard)-Long-nosed Killifish
Scales in lateral line 35 or more....... ........... ................. 8
8(7) Scales more than 40................... ............. ......... ..... 9
Scales fewer than 40 ...............................................10
9( 8) Scales about 45; dorsal with 10 rays ................ ................
................... Fundulus confluentus Goode and Bean-Spotfin Killifish
Scales about 52; dorsal with 17 rays............................... ..
...........................Fundulus seminolis Girard-Seminole Killifish
10( 8) Male with about 12 dark vertical bars and a black spot on dorsal fin; female
with black longitudinal bands and 1 or 2 dark vertical bars at base of caudal fin;
scales 36; depth 4; D. 12.... Fundulus majalis (Walbaum)-Striped Killifish
Male with scattered spots or silvery vertical bars, and sometimes a black spot
on D.; female nearly plain; young male with 9 or 10 silvery bars; young female
with 9 or 10 black bars; scales 35; head 3f; depth 3,; D. 11.............. 11
11(10) Longest dorsal ray about 1 in head; longest anal ray about li in head; base of
D. 2 in head; Atlantic coastal form.................................
.... Fundulus heteroclitus heteroclitus (Linnaeus)-Southern Common Killifish
Longest dorsal ray 2 to 21 in head; longest anal ray 11 to 2' in head; base of D.
25 in head; Gulf coastal form..... ............................... ..
.......................Fundulus grandis Baird and Girard-Gulf Killifish
12( 6) No distinct longitudinal bands or stripe-like rows of dots .................13
Sides with one or more dark longitudinal streaks ...................... 15
13(12) A. 11; scales about 32 ...Fundulus chrysotus (Giinther)-Golden Topminnow
A. 8 or 9; scales 34 to 36 ........................................ 14
14(13) Dark vertical bands about 15; depth about 4 ............................
................. Fundulus cingulatus (Valenciennes)-Banded Topminnow
Dark transverse bands about 12; depth about 4 ..........................
Fundulus notti lineolatus (Agassiz)-Eastern Star-headed Topminnow (male)
15(12) Side with a single dark longitudinal band extending from head to tail........
..................... Fundulus notatus (Rafinesque)-Streaked Topminnow
Longitudinal streaks numerous and formed of black spots arranged in parallel
rows ....................... ............. .............. 16
16(15) In female, dark spots on scales confluent into about 6 longitudinal stripes which
may alternate with rows of fainter dots; longitudinal bands indistinct or lacking
in male, the vertical bands more distinct and about 12 in number...........
........Fundulus notti lineolatus (Agassiz)-Eastern Star-headed Topminnow
Longitudinal rows of spots not confluent into lines, but forming series of dis-
connected dots. ............................................ .....
.......... Fundulus notti notti (Agassiz)-Southern Star-headed Topminnow
KEY TO FRESH-WATER FISHES
17( 1) D. 10 to 12 ................................... ................. .18
D. 16 to 18...................Jordanellafloridae Goode and Bean-Flagfish
18(17) Head about 3; A. 9...................................................
......... Floridicthys carpio carpio (Gtinther)-Florida Gold-spotted Killifish
Head about 34; A. 10 or 11 .................... .. .................. 19
19(18) Depth 32 to 41; interorbital 12 to 19 ................. ..... .... ....
................ Cyprinodon hubbsi Carr-Lake Eustis Sheepshead Killifish
Depth 21 to 3; interorbital 8 to 11 .................................
.... Cyprinodon variegatus variegatus Lac6pede-Southern Sheepshead Killifish
KEY TO POECILIIDAE
1 D. (and A. in female) with a large black spot ............................
........................... Heterandriaformosa (Agassiz)-Least Killifish
D. without large spot ..... ........... ...................... 2
2(1) D. 6to10........................ ... ..................... .. 3
D. 15 or 16....................... Mollienisia latipinna LeSueur-Sailfin*
3( 2) Eye in head, 24 to 3; head 3;; D. 7...................................
.........Gambusia affinis afinis (Baird and Girard)-Western Mosquito-fisht
Eye in head, 31, head 4; D. 8 .....................................
............... Gambusia affinis holbrookii (Girard)-Eastern Mosquito-fish
One species in our list: Aphredoderus sayanus (Gilliams)-Pirate Perch
KEY TO SERRANIDAE
1 D. VIII-I, 10; A. III, 6; head 2) to 3; depth 4 to 4 ......................
............... Centropomus undecimalis (Bloch)-Northern Robalo (Snook)
D. IX-I, 12; A. III, 2; head about 32; depth about 3 ................
............................... Roccus saxatilis (Walbaum)-Striped Bass
KEY TO PERCIDAE
1 Scales fewer than 44 ................................................ 2
Scales more than 44..................... .................... 3
2( 1) Lateral line incomplete, tubes usually not reaching penultimate scale in longi-
tudinal series; depth more than 5 .................................
....................... Villora edwini Hubbs and Cannon-Brown Darter
Lateral line complete, at least as far as next to last scale; depth less than 5...
............... Poecilicthys jessiae swaini Jordan-Southern Swamp Darter
Occasionally found in an abnormal phase, in which the entire body is heavily
blotched with black; the ground color may be silvery or greenish gold.
t The typical race has not been recorded from Florida, but intergrades between it
and the following form have been found at Pensacola.
84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
3( 1) Soft rays of A. 6 or 7; scales fewer than 57.............................4
Soft rays of A. 9 or 10; scales more than 57............................5
4( 3) Soft rays of A. 6; premaxillaries separated from the forehead in the middle by a
groove.................................. Doration davisonii Hay-Speck
Soft rays of A. 7; skin of middle of upper jaw continuous with that of forehead
.................... Hololepis barratti (Holbrook)-Florida Swamp Darter
5( 3) Anal spines II; dorsal spines XII ......................................
...................... Hadropterus nigrofasciatus Agassiz-Crawl-a-bottom
Anal spine I; dorsal spines VIII to X...................................
........................Ammocrypta beanii Jordan-Coastal Sand Darter
KEY TO CENTRARCHIDAE
1 Dorsal and anal fins nearly equal in length .............................2
A. distinctly shorter than D ....................... ......................3
2( 1) Dorsal spines XI to XIII........ Centrarchus macropterus (Lac6pede)-Flier
Dorsal spines VII to VIII.....Pomoxis sparoides (Lac6pbde)-Black Crappie
3( 1) Tail rounded, not forked....... ........ ........................4
Tail forked, or lat least emarginate .................. ................ 6
4( 3) D. with IX spines, the median ones not elevated....................... 5
D. with X spines, some of the median ones elevated beyond rest of fin.......
.................. Mesogonistius chaetodon (Baird)-Black-banded Sunfish
5( 4) Opercular spot large, more than half the size of eye; sides with 5 to 8 distinct
vertical bars of black.........Enneacanthus obesus (Girard)-Banded Sunfish
Opercular spot small, less than half the size of eye; vertical bars narrow and
indistinct or lacking; male with iridescent blue or purple spots on body and
vertical fins....... Enneacanthus glorious (Holbrook)-Blue-spotted Sunfish
6( 3) D. not divided by a deep notch; depth 21 or less........................7
D. divided by a deep notch between soft and spinous portions; depth 3 or more
7( 6) Mouth large, maxillary reaching middle of eye; lingual teeth usually present. .8
Mouth small, maxillary not reaching middle of eye; lingual teeth usually
absent ...................... .................... 9
8( 7) Anal spines 6 or 7........ Ambloplites ariommus Viosca-Southern Rock Bass
Anal spines 3............. Chaenobryttus gulosus (Cuvier)-Warmouth Bass
9( 7) D. without black blotch at base of last rays.................. ......... 10
D. with a large, more or less diffuse black blotch at base of its posterior rays;
pectoral fins pointed; black of opercular spot reaching edge of flap, no pale or
colored margin in adult......... Helioperca macrochira (Rafinesque)-Bluegill
10( 9) Black opercular spot short and broad, not longitudinally elongate in adults;
usually no blue on sides of head ................... .................. 11
KEY TO FRESH-WATER FISHES
Black spot on operculum more or less elongate longitudinally in adult; blue
streaks on head ..................................................13
11(10) Pectoral fins rounded, shorter than head; usually with lateral rows of black or
red spots ......................................................... 12
Pectorals pointed, longer than head; not regularly spotted; sometimes with 9 or
10 irregular vertical bars; in fresh specimens a red or orange edge to posterior
and ventral part of dark opercular spot.................................
...........Eupomotis microlophus (Gtinther)-Stump-knocker (Shell-cracker)
12(11) Numerous longitudinal rows of small, dark spots usually present on sides, at
least ventrally; 7 rows of cheek scales ..................................
.........Sclerotis punctatus punctatus (Valenciennes)-Black-spotted Sunfish
Male with about 14 rows of'red spots along sides; 4 rows of scales on cheeks;
belly orange with red spots ......................................
.................Sclerotis punctatus miniatus (Jordan)-Red-spotted Sunfish
13(10) Opercular spot with a pale or colored margin; cheek scales in about 4 or 5 rows;
ventrals reaching anal; scales on belly in front of ventrals not much smaller
than those of lower sides............................................
....... Xenotis megalotis marginatus (Holbrook)-Florida Long-eared Sunfish
Opercular spot without pale or colored border, black to the edge in adults;
scales on belly in front of ventrals much smaller than those on lower sides;
cheek scales in about 7 to 9 rows; ventrals not reaching origin of anal.......
........Lepomis auritus solis (Valenciennes)-South rn Red-breasted Sunfish
14( 6) Dorsal almost completely divided into two; maxillary in adult extending be-
yond eye; no scales on soft dorsal and anal.............................
.........................Huro salmoides (Lac6pede)-Large-mouthed Bass
Dorsal not nearly divided into two; maxillary not extending beyond eye; scales
on soft dorsal and anal.......................................... 15
15(14) Sides plain or with a dark longitudinal band; scales 59 to 66; soft rays of D. 11
or 12...................... Micropterus pseudaplites Hubbs-Spotted Bass
Sides plain or with vertical bars; scales 72 to 75; soft rays of dorsal 13 to 15..
........ Micropterus dolomieu Lac6pede-Small-mouthed Bass (Introduced)
KEY TO ELASSEMIDAE
1 A round black spot on side; dorsal spines V; scales 38 to 45................
........................ Elassoma zonatum Jordan-Banded Pigmy Sunfish
No round black spot on side; dorsal spines III or IV; scales 27 to 30........
.................... Elassoma evergladei Jordan-Everglades Pigmy Sunfish
KEY TO ATHERINIDAE
1 A. I, 16 or 17; scales about 39; length of upper jaw about equal to eye......
............Menidia beryllina atrimentis Kendall-Freshwater Glass-minnow
A. I, 23; scales about 72; eye 12 in upper jaw ............................
.... Labidesthes sicculus vanhyningi Bean and Reid-Florida Brook Silversides
86 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
One species in our list: Mugil cephalus Linnaeus-Striped Mullet
KEY TO ELEOTRIDAE
1 Depth 4 or more; soft rays of A. 8; scales more than 40 ............... .2
Depth about 3; soft rays of A. 9 or 10; scales about 33 ....................
...............................Dormitator maculatus (Bloch)-Fat Sleeper
2( 1) Scales 40 to 46; depth about 41 ........... .....................
.................. Eleotris amblyopsis (Cope)-Large-scaled Slender Sleeper
Scales about 62; depth 41 to 5 .....................................
......................Eleotris pisonis (Gmelin)-Fine Scaled Slender Sleeper
One species in our list: Syrictes scovelli (Evermann and Kendall) Scovell's Pipefish
One species in our list: Trinectes maculatus (Rafinesque)-Northern Round Sole
THE GULF-ISLAND COTTONMOUTHS
A. F. CARR, JR.
University of Florida
FOR SEVERAL years and from many quarters I have heard vague tales
of appalling numbers of snakes inhabiting the little Gulf islands in
the vicinity of Suwannee Sound. Visiting sportsmen have returned
with incredible stories of their numbers. The inhabitants of the little
coastal towns of the neighborhood, though at great variance in their
interpretations of the taxonomic status of the form, are all agreed that
the island brand of snake possesses a biotic potential more vigorous, a
venom more lethal, and a disposition more treacherous and vindictive
than any other North American reptile.
An attempt to formulate a coherent concept of the serpent or ser-
pents responsible for the harrowing reports met with little success.
The more conservative of the narrators identified the species as cop-
perhead; the more imaginative pronounced it sea cobra. Between
these extremes of nomenclature were proposed such picturesque
names as stump moccasin, stump-tail viper, salt-water rattler, and
mangrove rattler. I discussed the matter at some length with an old
fisherman who had lived many years on one of the islands. His ob-
servations had led him to conclude that there were four kinds of
snakes on the keys off the Suwannee Delta-all equally deadly. The
rarest of these he described as a rough-scaled tan snake with long
THE GULF-ISLAND COTTONMOUTHS
stripes; for this creature he knew no name. Then there was the com-
mon black stump moccasin which used to eat his young chickens, the
copperhead with bright colors and foul temperament, and worst of all,
the little green-tailed water rattler, which never attained a length of
more than 18 inches, and from whose bite recovery was impossible.
Those of you acquainted with snakes, perhaps, will wonder why I
did not immediately identify the species described in the fisherman's
account. The first in his list could be none other than the marine lit-
toral Natrix clarkii, while the last three are obviously stages in the
pattern development of the cottonmouth moccasin, Agkistrodon
piscivoris. In defense I can only remind you of the attitude of slightly
pained, though conciliatory, unresponsiveness with which the pro-
fessional zo 6logist always receives the reports of the amateur. He ex-
pects to learn nothing of importance and, consequently, rarely does.
But cottonmouths they were, and, the establishing of the fact was
an experience fraught with excitement as well as ecological interest.
On April 4, 1934, a group from the Department of Biology em-
barked on a general collecting trip to the islands off Cedar Keys. The
party was composed of Mr. Buck Bellamy, Mr. H. K. Wallace, Mr.
J. D. Kilby, Mr. T. D. Carr, Mr. Herbert Braren and myself. We
located our camp on the beach at the south end of Seahorse Island,
which lies about five miles northwest of Cedar Keys.
Seahorse is a roughly crescent-shaped, fairly well wooded island,
two or three miles long, with a large population of hogs, a boarded
cistern for them to wallow in, and an abandoned lighthouse on its
We arrived rather late and set about making preparations for retir-
ing. Kilby, objecting to the arenaceous nature of the communal couch,
retired to a distance of fifty yards or so back of the beach, where the
grass was thicker. Suddenly we heard shocking language in his quarter
and he emerged in great haste, shouting that he had laid his blankets
on two adult cottonmouth moccasins, and dragging the mutilated
corpse of one of them to support his story.
Stimulated by this experience, the party dispersed to explore the
island. Within an hour three more moccasins were discovered. One of
them was coiled at the base of a cabbage palm near the beach; the
other two were nearly trodden upon in the trail leading from the beach
up to the lighthouse.
On the following morning we set out to investigate the validity of
the name Snake Key, as applied to another little island four miles off
the mainland to the south of Seahorse. We found it to be a narrow
strip of land about a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, bordered
along two sides with a thick growth of red mangrove. Inside the island
we were surprised to discover a well-developed forest of shore bay
88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Tamala littoralis, with scattered cabbage palms, and little under-
growth other than an occasional patch of wild pepper bushes. The
ground is overlaid by a thick carpet of bay leaves, and the sunlight,
filtered and broken by the interlocking limbs above, falls in a pleasing
mosaic on the forest floor. The whole aspect is very reminiscent of a
high hammock on the mainland.
As we sauntered slowly through one of the long aisles among the
trees, I happened to direct my glance downward. There at my feet
was a young cottonmouth, neatly coiled, his pattern blending per-
fectly with the chiaroscuro of the background. I impaled him with a
thrust of a frog gig which I was carrying. Turning to exhibit my
capture to Bellamy, six feet behind me, I again looked down. To my
alarm I perceived a broad, black head, belonging to a body hidden
under the leaves directly in Bellamy's path, where he could not fail
to step on it. Since his feet were clad only in low quarter tennis shoes,
and since the two steps that would place him squarely over the snake
were being executed with energy, I made recourse to the only means of
stopping him that I could conceive on the instant-I jabbed him
viciously with the gig, adorned though it was with the still-living
cottonmouth. Bellamy was justly outraged at the act, while Kilby and
Tom, who brought up the rear, regarded the scene with grieved aston-
ishment. As I pointed out the cause for my show of violence, the latter
two suddenly uttered cries of warning and scaled a nearby tree with
great alacrity. From a branch they indicated the position of a third
moccasin lying a few feet away and nearly covered by leaves.
After a brief period devoted to recovering a semblance of com-
posure, we bagged the three snakes and resumed our interrupted stroll.
During the course of our traversal of the island we caught ten more
cottonmouths. We didn't go out of our way to search for them-we
merely tried to avoid stepping on them. It was with some relief that
we reached the opposite end of the island. We returned to the boat
by the way of the beach.
It is very difficult to account for the presence of such a tremendous
cottonmouth population in a situation of this nature. We found no
trace of fresh water on the island. The only other terrestrial vertebrate
that we encountered was the skink, Eumeces inexpectatus, which was
fairly abundant among the dead leaves in the woods. The bay trees
harbored a large number of wading birds, most of which were nesting;
*we identified the following species: Ward's, little blue, little green,
snowy, Louisiana, and black crowned night herons. We saw no sign
of rabbits, rats, or other small mammals, and terrestrial birds were
very scarce. Apparently then, the food sources available to the snakes
are three in number: the heron rookery, the skink colony, and the
marine fish population.
THE GULF-ISLAND COTTONMOUTHS
The herons are there for only a short period of each year; even then,
the most to be expected from them is the occasional toppling out of
the nest of an egg or fledgling. The skinks, though perennial inhabit-
ants, are small, very nimble, and apparently not much more numer-
ous than the snakes. Salt water fish are plentiful enough, but it is
difficult for me to envision a cottonmouth pursuing its prey in the
open Gulf or a mangrove swamp. The improbability of the occurrence
of this perversion is attested by the fact that, though on several occa-
sions we have walked around the island and through the mangrove
swamp, we have never encountered one of the snakes near the water,
or in fact anywhere except in the dry woods in the interior.
The possibility of temporary, seasonal, or sporadic occupancy of the
island by the moccasins seems to me very remote. I have seen other
terrestrial and freshwater snakes in salt water-on two occasions, rat-
tlesnakes,-but I never saw or heard of a cottonmouth voluntarily
taking to the sea.
A tabulated account of the stomachs of the thirteen snakes taken
on the island is presented here:
No. Age and sex Stomach contents
1. yearling none
2. adult female 3 heron feathers
3. adult male heron feathers
4. young female none
5. adult male bird bone
6. adult female bird bones
7. young female 1 skink (Eumeces inexpectatus)
8. adult male none
9. adult female 1 skink (Eumeces inexpectatus); 3 fish all under one inch in
length; 1 heron egg shell
10. adult female none
11. yearling none
12. adult female none
13. young male none
It will be noted that the most salient general feature of the stomachs
is their vacuity.
The most interesting item in the list is the three small fish found in
No. 9. No. 9 was the biggest snake we caught, measuring four feet
ten inches. The fish were very small, two of them were Cyprinidon
variegatus, three quarters of an inch long; the third, an atherine re-
sembling Menidia, was less than a half inch in length. The necessity
for believing that this massive serpent had engulfed these tiny fry
with the aid of dental equipment too heavy for prey five times their
size was disturbing. It was with relief that I finally realized that I had
picked the fish, with forceps, out of an eggshell and had laid them
90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
aside for identification. Sensing a way around the impasse, I returned
to the eggshell and inspected it carefully. There to my satisfaction I
found on its inner wall two spots of white guano and a streak of dried
mud. The snake was vindicated. She had not eaten the fish at all, but
merely an old eggshell with the smell, or taste, or aura of fish and bird
about it. The mother heron had caught the fish, and the sloppy young-
sters had spilled them into the eggshell in the bottom of the nest. At a
subsequent housecleaning the shell had been ejected. Mingled with
my satisfaction at the neat deduction was a feeling of pity for the
cottonmouth. How the shell was ingested without being crushed to
bits I cannot imagine.
Two observations which I find in my notes on the moccasin hunt
impress me as being of such an esoteric nature that mention is made
of them here with the greatest trepidation. I record them only as sta-
tistical facts, with the assurance that I have conceived no explanation
Of the thirteen snakes encountered, five of them were young, with
the juvenile pattern of alternating wide bands of brown and gray,
while the remaining eight were old individuals of uniform black colora-
tion. The young ones were all found lying in the open on top of the
leaves, where they presented the most remarkable example of protec-
tive coloration that I have ever seen. Two of the eight black ones were
crawling over the ground, but the other six were without exception
coiled beneath the leaf mold, with only the head protruding.
Further, out of the thirteen snakes, all but the two which were mov-
ing about were located under trees in which there were heron nests.
I leave to your discretion speculations as to whether and how the
young snakes knew they were protectively colored, and the old ones
that they were not. Moreover I disclaim all responsibility for their ly-
ing under the nesting trees, and know no more than you whether or
how they knew they were under nests and that sooner or later an egg
or a young bird or a fish would fall out.
In fact there is little about these island cottonmouths that I do
understand, except that seven months later, during their breeding sea-
son, we came upon a three foot male and a monstrous female whose
old skin had broken away from her lips and head and stood out around
her neck like a Queen Anne collar, and who started gliding away at
our approach, and whose consort, lying patiently by her side, ignored
our presence, and gaping his fearful mouth, seized her gently about
the middle and detained her. That, I believe, we can all understand.
And I also know that the problems presented by the Snake Key
moccasins are fundamental ones which, for personal and biological in-
terest, would more than justify the time spent in their solution.
BIRDS OF ALACHUA COUNTY, FLORIDA
ANNOTATED LIST OF THE BIRDS OF
ALACHUA COUNTY, FLORIDA
ROBERT C. MCCLANAHAN
Pensacola High School
EVERY ornithologist visiting a new territory longs for a summary of
the findings of previous workers; this paper attempts to provide that
help for future bird students in Alachua County. In addition, the pres-
entation of present knowledge always brings attention to points that
need further investigation, and that too is the purpose of this list.
Material for this paper is taken from publications of Oscar E.
Baynard, Dr. Frank M. Chapman, Arthur H. Howell, and Harry C.
Oberholser. Also specimens in the Department of Biology, University
of Florida, have been examined, and the records of the Florida State
Museum have been copied and used, but specimens were not examined
because of inadequate storage and cataloguing methods. Another im-
portant source of information was correspondence with Mr. Baynard
and conversation and correspondence with Charles E. Doe. Except
for nesting data, which is taken almost wholly from Baynard's paper,
the majority of the material is taken from my own notes covering a
period of four years, 1930-34.
Most of Mr. Baynard's work was done in the vicinity of Orange
Lake. The territory covered by Frank M. Chapman was probably
only the vicinity of Gainesville. Places most frequently visited by the
author were Payne's Prairie and its arms, Lake Wauberg, Orange
Lake, Lake Newman, Sugarfoot Prairie, and the grounds of the Agri-
cultural Experiment Station, which adjoins the University of Florida
One point of particular inadequacy is the departure data for fall;
the author never arrived in Gainesville until late September, and
many species had evidently departed by that time. Migration dates
given represent what the writer considers average unless otherwise
stated. In all a total of two hundred and one species and subspecies
is recorded, while one hundred and sixty-one of these have been re-
corded by the author.
1. COMMON LooN-Gavia immer immer. Rare migrant. Records are as follows:
Chapman, fifteen from March 31 to April 17, 1887; Florida State Museum, specimen
#45615 on June 1, 1929; one group seen by myself during the spring of 1932; and one
captured alive November 21, 1935, specimen now in the Charles E. Doe Collection.
Loons have also been seen by Oscar E. Baynard.
2. HORNED GREBE-Colymbus auritus. Occasional in winter. L. C. Remsen of Mc-
Intosh reports this species as occurring on Orange Lake, and it is reported by Baynard
3. PIED-BILLED GREBE-Podilymbus podiceps podiceps. Permanent resident, com-
92 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
mon in winter, but rare from April 1 until about September. This bird is widely dis-
tributed in all water areas. Nesting is substantiated by Baynard, who gives June 1 as
4. FLORIDA CORMORANT-Phalacrocorax auritus floridanus. Permanent resident,
common; generally distributed over all water areas. According to Baynard, nests rarely
about April 10.
5. WATER-TURKEY-Anhinga ankinga. Permanent resident, common, being found
on all bodies of water. Breeds from March through May.
6. GREAT WHITE HERON-Ardea occidentalis. This species is known only from a sight
record by O. C. VanHyning on May 9, 1926 (Howell, p. 96).
7. GREAT BLUE HERON-Ardea herodias herodias. Winter resident, exact status un-
known. One specimen mentioned by Oberholser, but no data given.
8. WARD'S HERON-Ardea herodias wardi. Permanent resident, common; may beh
seen on practically all bodies of water. Breeds in colonies during February and March;
birds were building nests February 3, 1934, in a colony located on Bivan's Arm of
9. AMERICAN EGRET-Casmerodius albus egretta.-Permanent resident, common;
seen on all bodies of water. Breeds in April and May; found nesting at Bird Island and
Orange Lake, where it was less common than the Snowy Egret.
10. SNowY EGRET--Egretta thula thula. Permanent resident, not common during
fall and winter, but apparently outnumbers the American Egret during the breeding
season. Breeds from late March through early part of May; colonies at Bird Island and
Bivan's Arm, and formerly (through 1934) just east of Lake Alice.
11. REDDISH EGRET-Dichromanassa rufescens rufescens. Baynard records the Red-
dish Egret as breeding on Orange Lake during 1907, 1908, and 1911; probably has not
12. LOUISIANA HERON-Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis. Permanent resident, common;
generally distributed, but never as numerous as the Snowy and American Egrets and
Little Blue Heron. Breeds from middle March through May; colonies at Bird Island,
Bivan's Arm, and formerly near Lake Alice.
13. LITTLE BLUE HERON-Florida caerulea caerulea. Permanent resident, common
about all water. Breeds from about middle of March to middle of May; found nesting
at Bird Island and formerly at Lake Alice.
14. EASTERN GREEN HERoN-Butorides virescens virescens. Permanent resident,
common in summer, but rare from middle of October until March. Breeds in April and
15. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON-Nyclicorax nycticorax hoactli. Permanent resi-
dent, locally common. Seen at Bird Island regularly, but a preference is shown for small
ponds and shaded "sinks." Breeds in March and April.
16. YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON-Nyctanassa violacea violacea. Permanent
resident, uncommon. Reported by Baynard at Orange Lake; in my experience it pre-
fers small ponds. Breeds in March and April.
17. AMERICAN BITTERN-Botaurus lentiginosus. Permanent resident, rare in breed-
ing season, but common during the winter in all marshes. Baynard reports eggs on
18. EASTERN LEAST BITTERN-Ixobrychus exilis exilis. All records of my own, as
well as published records of others, indicate that this species occurs only during the
breeding season. Nests in marshes commonly from April through May.
BIRDS OF ALACHUA COUNTY, FLORIDA 93
19. WOOD IBIS-Mycteria americana. Common after nesting season, but I have no
winter or early spring records. I found this species common on Payne's Prairie in July,
1936, but previously thought it rare. Nests in March and April.
20. EASTERN GLOSSY IBIS-Plegadisfalcinellusfalcinellus. Baynard found this bird
breeding on Bird Island in 1909, April 1 to May 1. It has nested at Orange Lake in
recent years, and at Bivan's Arm in 1936.
21. WHITE IBIs-Guara alba. Summer resident, common. On May 12, 1934, I esti-
mated 5000 birds breeding on Bird Island; nests normally from April through May, but
on July 13, 1936, I found two hundred pair nesting at Bivan's Arm, some still having
eggs. This was the first time White Ibis has nested here, and the first nests were not
built until sometime in June according to Charles E. Doe.
22. ROSEATE SPOONBILL-Ajaia ajaja. Chapman reports one observed by a Mr.
Reynolds on April 23, 1887, and another in the collection of a Mr. Bell.
23. LESSER SNOW GOOSE-Chen hyperborea hyperborea. Rare, in late fall and winter.
A specimen labelled Chen h. nivalis, #35739, in the Florida State Museum, is un-
doubtedly this form, although I have not examined the specimen. It was taken by T. A.
Ridgell, November 24, 1927, on Payne's Prairie. Baynard has one or more additional
24. COMMON MALLARD--Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos. Winter resident, rare.
Scattered records from middle November through February. No migration records for
ducks are given as my records are not complete enough for accurate predictions; how-
ever, the middle of October finds many species already present, while the majority have
departed by the middle of April in the spring.
25. RED-LEGGED BLACK DucK-Anas rubripes rubripes. Winter resident, rare. The
only records are by Chapman in 1887, when he reported it not uncommon.
26. FLORIDA DucK-Anas fulvigula fulvigula. Permanent resident, common. Un-
known until 1906, when it appeared on Payne's Prairie and began to nest (Baynard).
Nests in April and May.
27. GADWALL-Chaulelasmus streperus. Winter resident, rare. I saw two live birds
which L. C. Remsen had "winged" during the winter of 1933-34; also reported by
28. EUROPEAN WIDGEON-Mareca penelope. The only record is a specimen taken at
Orange Lake, December 26, 1931, by Dr. A. L. Strange. The specimen is in the collec-
tion of the Department of Biology, University of Florida.
29. BALDPATE-Mareca americana. Winter resident, common. Prefers larger lakes;
most common on Orange Lake.
30. AMERICAN PINTAIL-Dafila acuta tzitzihoa. Winter resident, usually common.
Duck hunters inform me that a fluctuation in numbers is common; some winters a
species may be the predominant form, but during other winters few will be seen.
31. GREEN-WINGED TEAL-Nettion carolinense. Winter resident, rare. I saw a cap-
tive bird taken by L. C. Remsen in 1933 on Orange Lake. Reported common by Chap-
man and also seen by Baynard.
32. BLUE-WINGED TEAL-Querquedula discors. Winter resident, common.
33. SHOVELLER-Spatula clypeata. Winter resident, usually considered rare, but in
my experience, common, especially at Bivan's Arm.
34. WOOD DUCK-Aix sponsa. Permanent resident, common. Prefers cypress
swamps about lakes and small wooded ponds. Breeds in cavities in trees in April and
94 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
35. RING-NECKED DUCK-Nyroca collaris. Winter resident, usually the most common
duck, but showing a decrease in recent winters.
36. CANVASBACK-Nyroca valisineria. Winter resident, rare. A specimen (#35934)
in the Florida State Museum was collected December 13, 1927, by G. E. Geller. Not
seen by Chapman or myself, but reported by Baynard.
37. RuFFLE-HEAD-Charitonetta albeola. Winter resident, rare. I examined a speci-
men taken on Orange Lake in December, 1933; also reported by Baynard.
38. RUDDY DucK-Erismatura jamaicensis rubida. Winter resident, uncommon.
Occurs only in small flocks, mainly on open bodies of water.
39. HOODED MERGANSER-Lophodytes cucidlatus. Winter resident, rare. Reported
by Chapman and Baynard; also seen on Orange Lake by hunters.
40. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER-Mergus serrator. Rare winter visitant. The only
record is a specimen (#50708) in the Florida State Museum, taken November 30, 1931,
by Paul Winter.
41. TURKEY VULTURE-Cathartes aura septentrionalis. Permanent resident, abun-
dant. Occurs singly more often than in flocks; always present on Payne's Prairie. Breeds
from March through May.
42. BLACK VULTURE-Coragyps atratus atratus. Permanent resident, abundant. In
flocks more often than singly; likewise common on Payne's Prairie. Breeds from Febru-
ary to June.
43. SWALLOW-TAILED KITE-Elanoides forficatus forficatus. Rare migrant. Five ob-
served by Chapman, the only record.
44. MISSISSIPPI KITE-Ictinia mississippiensis. Three records; Chapman, April 29,
1887, and one seen by the writer one mile west of Gainesville on May 18, 1934. Also
reported by Baynard.
45. SHARP-SHINNED HAWK-Accipiter velox velox. Common in winter, but rare as a
breeding bird. Nests April 15 to May 1.
46. COOPER'S HAWK-Accipiter cooper. Not as common as the Sharp-shinned Hawk
in winter, but breeds more commonly. Nests in March and April.
47. EASTERN RED-TAILED HAwK-Buteo borealis borealis. Permanent resident, com-
mon. All specimens in the Florida State Museum are catalogued as Buteo borealis
borealis Nests in March.
48. FLORIDA RED-TAILED HAWK-Buteo borealis umbrinus. A specimen brought to
the Florida State Museum, December 27, 1933, was identified by Charles E. Doe as
this form. It is quite likely that intermediates are common in this locality, although
A. H. Howell (Florida Bird Life) says that Buteo b. borealis "probably breeds south to
49. FLORIDA RED-SHOULDERED HAWK-Buteo lineatus alleni. Permanent resident,
common. Typical Buteo lineatus alleni are more common, but one taken by Dr. H. B.
Sherman on January 7, 1928, was identified by the U. S. Biological Survey as being
nearer Buteo lineatus lineatus, but not quite typical; this is interesting in view of the
fact that the typical northern form has never been recorded from the state, and also
since Dr. Josselyn VanTyne identified this specimen as typical Buteo lineatus lineatus.
The specimen is #26 in the Department of Biology Collection at the University of
Florida. Breeds from middle of February to April.
50. BROAD-WINGED HAWK-Buteo platypterus platypterus. Rare; arrives sometime in
April and breeds in May.
51. SHORT-TAILED HAWK-Buteo brachyurus. One record, a specimen (#28639) in
the Florida State Museum, collected by O. C. VanHyning, February 27, 1926.
BIRDS OF ALACHUA COUNTY, FLORIDA
52. SOUTHERN BALD EAGLE-Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus. Permanent
resident, common. Frequents lakes where it often robs the Osprey of its fish. There
has been a noticeable decrease in the numbers of this bird in the past six years. Lays in
53. MARSH HAWK-Circus hudsonius. Permanent resident, rare in breeding season,
but common at other times. Although most common over prairies, such as Payne's
Prairie, it is often seen over dry fields. Most birds seen are either females or immature
males. Baynard reports it breeding at Micanopy in May and June.
54. OSPREY-Pandion haliaetus carolinensis. Permanent resident, rare in December
and January, but common during remainder of year. Nests from February through
55. DUCK HAWK-Falco peregrinus anatum. Winter resident, rare. Reported by
Baynard, while I have three records as follows: Payne's Prairie, January 9, 1931; Uni-
versity of Florida campus, February, 1931; and January 12, 1934, about one mile west
56. EASTERN PIGEON HAWK-Falco columbarius columbarius. Winter resident, rare.
Reported by Baynard, and a single specimen was collected by Chapman on January 4,
57. LITTLE SPARROW HAWK-Falco sparverius paulus. Permanent resident, com-
mon. Nests on the University of Florida campus; eggs most common about middle of
April. Charles E. Doe states by letter that he suspects Falco s. sparverius also occurs in
winter, but all winter specimens I have examined were Falco sparverius paulus.
58. BOBWHITE-Colinus virginianus. Permanent resident, common. The Bobwhite
is much more common in Alachua County than in Escambia County, where I have ob-
served it for over ten years. According to Howell (p. 193), two specimens from Gaines-
ville are intermediate between Colinus v. virginianus and Colinus virginianusfloridanus.
Breeds from April to September.
59. FLORIDA TUREY--Meleagris gallopavo osceola. Permanent resident, rare. Howell
(p. 195) states that birds of this region are not typical, but are nearer osceola. Baynard
reports full sets of eggs on April 15.
60. FLORIDA CRANE-Grus canadensis pratensis. Rare; I have not seen this species.
Baynard reports that it once bred on the prairies of two lakes; nests in April.
61. LIMPKIN-Aramus pictus pictus. Rare; I have not seen this species within the
county, but recorded it on the Ocklawaha River in Marion County. Baynard reports
it breeding from November to June, with the height of the nesting season in April and
62. KING RAIL-Rallus elegans elegans. Permanent resident, not uncommon, but
not often seen because of its secretiveness, a characteristic of all rails. Nests in May.
63. VIRGINIA RAIL-Rallus limicola limicola. Winter resident, rare. The only ob-
servation is by Baynard, who by letter informs me of two birds on Payne's Prairie
either December 9 or 10, 1934.
64. SORA-Porzana carolina. Winter resident, rare. Recorded by Baynard, Chapman,
and F. W. Walker (specimen #9, Department of Biology, University of Florida).
65. BLACK RAIL-Creciscus jamaicensis stoddardi. Rare; the only record is by Bay-
nard, who saw an adult with three young in early June.
66. PURPLE GALLINULE-lonornis martinica. Common during nesting season, and
probably winters rarely, but I have no records of its doing so. Prefers water areas with
a bonnet or water-hyacinth growth. Nests March to August.