424 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917, 



ida marsh hare, Sylvilagus palustris valudicola; the Florida wild- 

 cat, Lynx Tujfus floridmms, still very common in Paradise Key and 

 in the hammocks between Royal Palm State Park and Miami, and 

 even within the city limits of Miami; the Florida panther, Felis 

 coryi, now nearly extinct, but said to be an occasional visitor to 

 Paradise Key ; the Florida otter, Lutra canadensis vaga, not uncom- 

 mon in the sloughs of the park ; the Florida raccoon, Procyon lotor 

 elucus^ of a more yellowish color than our northern type ; the Florida 

 bear, Ursus a/mericanus floridanus^ an occasional visitor to the park ; 

 the Florida deer, Odocoileus virginianus osceola^ a dark colored, little 

 animal, about one-quarter smaller than our Virginia deer. 



In addition to the above mammals, the manatee, Trichechus lati- 

 rostris, already mentioned, should be included ; for, although it does 

 not occur in the immediate vicinity of the park, it is not uncommon 

 in the Miami and other streams close by, into which it enters to feed 

 upon the aquatic vegetation. Its favorite food is the so-called mana- 

 tee grass, Cymodocea manatorum, to which it gives the specific name. 

 During the writer's visit to Miami he saw a fine specimen of this 

 strange animal in captivity, which was fed daily with great quan- 

 tities of this succulent weed. 



For a resume of the work which has thus far been done in this 

 branch of zoology, the reader is referred to a paper on "The land 

 mammals of peninsular Florida and the coast region of Georgia," 

 by Outram Bangs,^ in which it is pointed out that the chief cause of 

 the occurrence of so many well-defined subspecies of animals is the 

 isolated position of southern Florida which, like that of an island, 

 has resulted in the segregation of groups and the development of 

 special breeds or distinct forms. 



INDIANS OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA. 



Many of those who have visited southern Florida have had their 

 attention called to the shell mounds and other prehistoric vestiges 

 of human habitation found in many places along the coast. Some 

 of the most remarkable of these, situated at Marco, or San Marcos, 

 on the Gulf coast of southern Florida, were investigated in 1896 by 

 the late Frank Hamilton Gushing, who, among other things, found 

 the remains of remarkable terraces constructed almost entirely of the 

 shells of conchs, Fulgur perversiim, a species which takes its specific 

 name from the perverse, or left-handed twist of its spiral shell.- 

 Among the objects unearthed were many made wholly or in part of 

 these shells: Mattocks or hoes (fig. 29), war clubs, ladles for baling 

 canoes, drinking cups, spoons, and even boat anchors, the latter 



1 Proceedings Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 2S : 157 to 235. 1898. 



' See Cushing's report in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 35, 

 pp. 329-448. 1896. 



