NATURAL HISTORY OF PARADISE KEY AND THE NEAR- 

 BY EVERGLADES OF FLORIDA. 



By W. E. Safford, 

 Economic Botanist, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



[With 64 plates.] 



Paradise Key, an island in the heart of the Everglades of Florida, 

 is almost unique from a biological point of view, presenting as it does 

 a remarkable example of a subtropical jungle within the limits of 

 the United States in which primeval conditions of animal and plant 

 life have remained unchanged by man, and thus offering a striking- 

 contrast to the keys along the coast of Florida as well as to other 

 Everglade keys in which normal biological conditions have been 

 greatly disturbed by destructive fires, clearing of forests, or the con- 

 struction of drainage canals, which not only affect the original 

 physical conditions, but at the same time permit aquatic animals and 

 plants previously unknown to penetrate into the Everglades. The 

 region is also remarkable for the fact that it is a meeting place for 

 many temperate and tropical types of plants and animals. On this 

 account and from the fact that it offers a virgin field for collectors 

 in most branches of natural history, it seems of the highest interest 

 and importance that a careful study of its biological features should 

 be made. 



The writer was directed by the Secretary of Agriculture to make a 

 survey of the region, which was begun in September, 1917, and 

 resulted in collections in nearly all branches of natural history, the 

 material of which has been studied and classified by specialists and 

 deposited in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the 

 United States National Museum, the Bureau of Entomology, and the 

 Biological Survey. 1 



It is impossible within the limits of the present paper to give a 

 detailed account of the various species of plants and animals col- 

 lected, or to treat fully of the climatic, physical, and ecological con- 



1 For hospitality and aid during the survey the writer acknowledges indebtedness to 

 those in charge of Paradise Key, particularly to the Park Warden, Mr. Charles A. Hosier, 

 a born woodsman and accomplished naturalist. 



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