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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



central and southern Kentucky. This 

 is the region where the Mississippian 

 limestone is exposed or close to the sur- 

 face. It includes certain areas within 

 the Bluegrass Region. West of the Blue- 

 grass Region, Mammoth Cave, Colossal 

 Cavern and Hidden River or Horse 

 Cave are the largest and best known. 

 The fauna of Mammoth Cave includes 

 twenty-eight species, among which aie 

 blind fish, salamanders, crayfish, 

 crickets and beetles. The caves of the 

 Bluegrass Region are smaller and not 

 so well known. Several Boone's caves, 

 in Highbridge limestone, have consider- 

 able local interest. In the plateau 

 section of eastern Kentucky, a few 

 caves occur in the Mississippian lime- 

 stone. Among these are Oligonung in 

 Carter County, and the small caves at 

 Natural Bridge. The best known caves 

 of this section are on the western margin 

 and are not real caves but rock shelters 

 or rock houses hollowed out beneath 

 resistant conglomerate sandstones of the 

 basal Pennsylvanian. Such is the 

 "cave" at Torrent, one of the finest of 

 these overhangs. A waterfall 160 ft. 

 in height drops over this during wet 

 seasons. There are no caves in Ken- 

 tucky west of the Cumberland River. 

 6. Natural bridges. Several natural 

 bridges of different types occur within 

 the state. The sandstone bridges of the 

 western margin of the Allegheny Pla- 

 teau are represented by the one at 

 Natural Bridge, Powell County, a 

 picturesque bridge at the plateau 

 summit. 



References: 

 Gannan, H. 1913. The Woody 

 Plants of Kentucky. Ky. Agr. Exp. 

 Sta. of the State University. Bull. 

 1G9. 

 Miller, A. M. 1919. The Geology of 

 Kentucky: a classified compend of 

 State Reports and other publica- 

 tions, with critical comment based 

 on original investigation. (Con- 

 tains chapters on the "Physical 

 Regions of Kentucky" and on 

 "Natural Features and Phenomena 



of Geologic and Scenic Interest," 

 and extensive bibliography.) Dept. 

 of Geology and Forestry of Ken- 

 tucky, Series 5, Bull. 2. 

 Jillson, W. R. 1924. Kentucky State 

 Parks. Ky. Geol. Survey, Frank- 

 fort, Ky. Also Primeval Tracts of 

 Kentucky, Pan-American Geolo- 

 gist, Vol. XLI, ap. 1924. 



II. NATURAL AREAS (a. R. M.) 



Kentucky. At the present Kentucky 

 has no completed state parks, but 

 tracts of land for State Park purposes 

 have been given to the Commonwealth 

 near Pineville, Harrodsburg, Elkton, 

 Craborchard Springs and elsewhere. 

 These are proposed State Parks and 

 will be considered by the State Legis- 

 lature in 1926. The Mammoth Cave 

 (D5), in Edmondson County is being 

 proposed as a National Park. The 

 place where Stephen G. Foster wrote the 

 Old Kentucky Home near Bardstown 

 and Lincoln's birthplace at Hodgenville 

 in Larue County are respectively State 

 and national shrines. The State expects 

 the next Legislature to make appropria- 

 tions to establish several parks, the last 

 General Assembly having created a State 

 Park Commission of which the State 

 Geologist is the chairman. 



Natural Bridge. (A4.) Area of virgin 

 forest, mixed deciduous and evergreen; 

 very beautiful. Limestone on the lower 

 slopes and cliffs of sandstone on the 

 upper slopes. Cliffs and flat summits. 

 Beech-hemlock climax below, chestnut, 

 white pine higher up on east and north 

 slopes. Pine on south slopes, pine 

 barren summits. Small sphagnum 

 swamps, caves, rockhouses, sandstone 

 natural bridge, mountain streams, flat 

 alluvial valley. 760-1180 ft.; dissected 

 area of the Allegheny Plateau. 



Winchester!, 27 mi. southeast, Lexing- 

 ton and Eastern R. R. ; at Natural 

 Bridge Station, Powell County, Ky. — 

 E. Lucy Braun. 



*The Lloyd Library Forest Reservation. 

 (A4.) This consists of two tracts of 

 about twenty acres each that have never 

 been touched with the ax. It represents 



