118 IXTRODUCTIOX. 
are peculiar to each. And notwithstanding that these 
sections may be defined with some particularity, their 
limits are necessarily in a considerable degree arbitrary ; 
and it will require many years of patient and indus- 
trious observation, and the accumulation of a great 
number of facts, before they can be laid down with cer- 
tainty. Beginning at the southern extremity and pro- 
ceeding northwards, they occur in the following order. 
Section 1. The Peninsula of Florida, and the 
adjacent islands, extending from 24° 30' to 30° north 
latitude, and at the nearest point being about one hun- 
dred and thirty miles distant from the northern shore of 
the island of Cuba. This section, surrounded by the 
ocean on every side except the north, is but little raised 
above it, no part rising more than one hundred and fifty 
feet above its level. The interior of its southern part is 
an immense morass intersected by sluggish streams, while 
its northern portion is in some parts a level, and in others 
an undulated country with a sandy soil, and, except 
near the streams and ponds, and in the islands or insu- 
lated thickets of verdure locally called hammocks, where 
deciduous trees prevail, covered with pine trees and an 
undergrowth of dwarf palmetto. The climate is peculiar ; 
summer and winter present no great extremes, and meet 
each other by slow and insensible changes ; the beautiful 
vegetation and verdant foliage of the tropics are ever 
present ; and with the temperature of Cuba, are enjoyed 
many of its productions also. Its zoology has never 
been thoroughly investigated, but a careful exploration 
