1890.] NEW yOEK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 89 



deposits towards the east, and the elevated country westward 

 which lias a substratum of the Vicksburg limestone." 



After the above observations Prof. Smith summarizes as fol- 

 lows (which I condense): 



''(1st) The Vicksburg limestone is the oldest rock in Florida, 

 and therefore the State was still submerged until near the end 

 of the Eocene period. (2d) After the deposition of the Vicks- 

 burg limestone (upper Eocene), Florida was elevated to its 

 present level above the sea. (3d and 4th) After the Miocene 

 submergence there was another elevation of Florida, followed 

 (oth and 6th) by a submergence during the Champlain period, 

 and then an emergence which brought about the present topo- 

 graphy and elevations, substantially." 



We may limit our discussion of the new phosphate-beds to the 

 western counties, though rearrangement and restatement may 

 at any time be rendered necessary by further discoveries. But for 

 the present we will consider only the region of the Gulf counties 

 south of Wakulla and north of Tampa. There appears to be a 

 concentration also toward a central area, indicated by a circle of 

 some fifteen miles radius around the town of Hernando, in Cit- 

 rus County. The Withlacoochee Eiver crosses this circle from 

 S. E. to N. W., and within its limits are the towns of Dunellen 

 on the north and Floral City on the south. Of course, wherever 

 such a line is drawn, I am compelled to exclude some good lo- 

 calities that lie beyond it, and to incur the wrath of speculators 

 and boomers elsewhere. But this statement merely indicates 

 the centre of the region, while there are important deposits over 

 an extensive area of the State beyond this limit. 



The first kind of phosphate-beds above mentioned, — similar 

 to those near Charleston, in appearance, composition, and oc- 

 currence, — have long been known, but have attracted little at- 

 tention. Some years ago the occurrence of nodules and fossil 

 bones in the outlets of creeks on the west coast, had been re- 

 ported by oflBcers of the U. S. Coast Survey. Fine specimens 

 of them are in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, and 

 they were also exhibited at the Sub-Tropical Exposition at Jack- 

 sonville. More than ten years since, attempts were made to 

 work these deposits at several points. The process is simple, 

 and at the works of the De Soto Mining Company, at Peace 

 River, is substantially as follows : A centrifugal dredge is an- 

 chored in the river, and the sand and pebbles taken from the 

 bottom discharged into a revolving screen. The sand washes 

 through, and the pebbles, which are entirely phosphate nodules, 

 are delivered into barges and taken to the works to be dried 

 and shipped. The company's storage capacity here is 1,500 

 tons. The material seems to be redeposited by the river almost 



