PEAT IN THE TROPICS 509 



the soil, fallen trees abound and are entombed in the growing and 

 only partially decaying vegetation. 



The temperature of Anticosti ranged, during the six years from 

 1897 to 1902, from -(-26° C, which occurred once, to — 39° C, 

 which occurred twice. The average temperature for June, July and 

 August is about -j- 12.5° C, that of the winter months about — 10° 

 C, or an annual average of about -|- 2° C. Precipitation during the 

 three months of the growing season varies from 23 to 28 centi- 

 meters, the mean annual rainfall lying between 50 and 100 cm., 

 but nearer the latter. Cloudiness arid fogginess often prevail. 

 (Twenhofel-48.) In southern latitudes peat is more rarely formed 

 from mosses. In the Chonos Archipelago (S. L. 44° to 46°) every 

 piece of level ground is covered with .Istilia pituiata and Donatia 

 jiiagellaiiica, which by their joint decay compose a thick bed of 

 elastic peat. ( Darwin- 12 : 24-26.) 



Astilia is the chief peat former of Tierra del Fuego. Fresh 

 leaves appear constantly around the growing stem, while the lower 

 ones decay. ( Stevenson-46 : 565 {161).) Every plant in the Falk- 

 land Islands becomes converted into peat, but the most important 

 plants are a variety of "crowberry" also common on Scottish Hills 

 {Empctrum rubniiii), a creeping myrtle (Myrtiis nniiiiinilaria) , a 

 dwarf species of water marigold (CaltJia appcndiculata) and some 

 sedges and sedge-like plants. "The roots, preserved almost unal- 

 tered, may be traced downward in the peat for several feet, but 

 finally all structure is obliterated and the whole is reduced to an 

 amorphous structureless mass." (Stevenson-46 : 5(5^ (id/).) 



Peat in the Tropics. 



Sphagnum does not occur south of N. L. 29°, but peat is formed 

 by a variety of plants south of this line. The cypress swamps of 

 Florida contain thick deposits of peat, with cypresses, grasses, ferns 

 and myrtle making up the bulk of the vegetation. On Bermuda a 

 thickness of at least 50 feet is assigned to the peat in one of the two 

 great peat swamps. "The climate is such that plants of Carbonifer- 

 ous type could grow well, for the banana thrives, while palms and 

 Indian rubber trees attain great size." (Stevenson-46:5(57 (165).) 

 Extensive peat bogs are found in the Amazon region and in the in- 

 terior of Africa. In the region between the Gulf of Guinea and the 

 sources of the Niger, extensive peat deposits are formed by the 

 sedge Eriospora pilosa Benth. On the Island of Sumatra occurs 

 a large swamp, 90 km. from the coast, on the left bank of the river 



