1895.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 377 



It covers a region which, prior to the earthquakes of 1811-12, was 

 a heavily timbered swamp traversed by Reelfoot Creek which 

 flowed south into the Mississippi, and was interspersed with numer- 

 ous ponds and bayous. Owing to the convulsions at that period this 

 tract was submerged, partly by the subsidence of the swamp, partly 

 by the filling up of the outlet of the creek, and thousands of acres 

 of forested land were permanently flooded from one to ten feet in 

 depth. The original vigor of this splendid growth is still evidenced 

 by the innumerable stumps and blasted tree trunks which stand in 

 and out of the water in every direction and which render the navi- 

 gation and fishing of these waters so vexatious to a novice, and 

 combiue to make the most weird and impressive bit of scenery to be 

 found along the Mississippi Valley. In such an environment we 

 are not surprised to find animal life abounding in a remarkable 

 degree. 



Collecting at Samburg was confined to the immediate vicinity, 

 but observations and records were made on the route between the 

 lake and Obion and Union City. 



2. Raleigh, Shelby County; April 8th to 14th. A post village 

 located on the banks of Wolf River, nine miles east of Memphis. 

 The hilly uplands which surround the village rise above the allu- 

 vial bottoms and bayous of the river much as the same formation 

 (Bluff Loam or Loess) does at Samburg, and the faunal and floral 

 peculiarities of the two regions are very nearly identical, with per- 

 haps a more obvious austral commingling than is presented at Reel- 

 foot Lake. Short bicycle expeditions of five to ten miles were made 

 into the surrounding country east and west of Raleigh. 



3. Bellevue, Davidson County; May 17th to 24th. A post 

 village on Big Harpeth River, twelve miles south of Nashville. The 

 vicinity of Bellevue lies within the western edge of the fertile 

 central basin of middle Tennessee, the country between it and 

 Nashville closely resembling in soil, topography and faunal and 

 floral features the blue-grass region of Kentucky. The soil is a 

 disintegrated limestone with abundant rocky outcrop of the same 

 and supports fine growths of poplar, walnut, ash, oak, hickory and 

 chestnut. A range of high hills runs east and west between Belle- 

 vue and Nashville separating the two branches of the Harpeth. The 

 mean elevation of this region is from 600 to 700 feet above sea level, 

 its mean depression below the Highland Rim lands lying westward 



