166 American Fisheries Society 



thus camouflaged the nest before and after depositing the eggs, 

 she makes for the sea. It is while laying that turtles are generally 

 taken. The hunter, finding them out on the beach, turns them 

 on their backs and they become powerless. 



The nest is deep enough not to be overheated by the sun's 

 rays or chilled by the waters of the sea. An examination by day 

 or night will show a warm, even temperature, the nest being just 

 a little less heated than is a hen's nest. How the turtle in the 

 first place ever found out that, in a hole eighteen inches deep and 

 just above high tide, the heat of the sun and the cool of the sea 

 would mingle and keep a steady temperature that would hatch 

 her eggs and save her the trouble of sitting on the nest, is to me a 

 mystery. 



The fame of Florida's citrus fruits are known the world over. 

 Fancy concerning them fills the minds of those who have not seen 

 them and Florida is justly famous for them. But Florida's 

 fishing industries are even greater; and when the superior quality 

 of her fish become better known and her fishing operations are 

 wisely conducted, improved and extended, they will increase many 

 times in value. Recently one packer showed me his books and 

 from his records we found that the fish he handled had brought 

 gross to his firm a sum that, when added to what the carriers 

 received for carrying the fish, amounted to about one and one half 

 million dollars for one year. We have in Florida about 100 fish 

 packing firms, of which some twenty each handle as much fish as 

 this particular firm. One dealer once told me that he had on a 

 certain day paid two men $800. for their week's hook-and-line 

 catch of fish. 



If you will pardon the digression, I will tell what befell me 

 and what I learned within the last week, which illustrates the 

 hospitality of a native Florida fisherman and his success. 



A deputy was accompanying me on an inspection tour of his 

 district. We were traveling by auto. He was mistaken as to the 

 quantity of gasoline we had and about eleven o'clock at night, 

 when seven miles from any hotel or similar institution, the gas 

 gave out. My deputy said he knew a fisherman who lived near, 

 a Mr. Carver, who was doubtless out fishing. "This man," he 

 said, "has an outhouse with two single cots in it. We will go 

 there and take charge. " Following his suggestion, I found things 



