230 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY I3TH ANNUAL REPORT 



The writer saw one of them from a distance in 191 o, but did not 

 learn at that time whether the project was succeeding or not ; but 

 has lately been informed that other such platforms have been built 

 near by, and that two carloads of the guano were shipped from 

 Cedar Keys not long ago. In our climate the rain must soon leach 

 out most of the nitrogenous compounds that give the Peruvian 

 guano its greatest value, unless the platforms are roofed over. 



Reptiics. Our largest reptile is the alligator, formerly abund- 

 ant throughout Florida, and ranging over the coastal plain from 

 North Carolina to Oklahoma. It has been so mercilessly hunted 

 for its hide or merely for sport that it has become rather scarce 

 and shy, and the writer has never seen one outside of captivity 

 in the area under consideration.* 



There are of course snakes of several species, but they are ap- 

 parently not as abundant as in many ■equal areas farther north, 

 probably because the prevailing open pine forests do not afford 

 much food or concealment for them, and the annual fires must be 

 an important factor in limiting their numbers. 



A characteristic reptile in the high pine lands, and even occa- 

 sionally on dunes, is the/'gopher" {Gophcrus Polyphemus) , a tur- 

 tle of strictly terrestrial habits, which digs a sloping burrow sev- 

 eral feet deep in the sand, the entrance being marked by a mound 

 of about the same size as the salamander hills already mentioned. 

 Its general range is a little wider than that of the salamander, but 

 as it is edible it has decreased in numbers with the increase of 

 population.! According to Blatchley its burrows have c|uite a pe- 

 culiar fauna, including a frog and several species of insects not 

 found elsewhere. 



Remains of several species of turtles and a crocodile have been 

 found in the phosphate mines. 



Fuhcs of many species abound in both fresh and salt water, 

 ,and they afford a livelihood to many people on both coasts, par- 

 ticularly at Cedar Keys and Titusville. One of the largest is the 



*For a scientific study of the alligator in its native haunts, somewhere 

 south of Orlando, see A. M. Reese, Pop. Sci. Monthly 77:365-372 (witih 10 

 half-tones.) Oct., 1910. 



tThe Legislature of 1909 passed a law protecting gophers in the three 

 westernmost counties of Florida in May. June and July, and prohibiting the 

 use of hooks and the taking of specimens less than nine inches long. 



