Planta 
880 
The coasts, sounds, and inlets, abound in excellent 
1 fish; and the inland lakes and rivers are, in some 
bab 
Amphibia. 
places, 
actually crowded with the finny tribe. Of these, the 
more remarkable are, the brown spotted ser, 
from five to six fect in when fully grown, w 
im skin resembles a coat of mai!, of which the 
ibentedaped strong, that the Indians use them 
as points to their arrows, The mud fish, about two 
feet. long, the flesh of which is white and tender, but 
rather soft, and not much esteemed. The golden bream, 
or sun-fsh, about eight inches in length, resembling the 
trout in shape, remarkably and rapacious for his 
size, and very delicious as food ; the silver og white 
bream, and the black or blue bream, which are also ex- 
tremely beautiful and abundant; the cat-fish, sting- 
ray, scale, flounder, spotted bass, sheeps-head, drum, 
&c. and many other varieties, are found every where, 
even in the smaller ponds and open holes, in the utmost 
abundance. This multitude of fishes furnishes subsist- 
ence to an equally numerous brood of alligators, which 
are seen in all the rivers and lakes, in immense 
bodies, many of them nore tae ee er. 
prodigious assemblage of them in the river St John, was 
witnessed by Mr Bartram pursuing the vast shoals of 
fish with which that river abounds; and his descrip- 
tion of the scene will best convey an idea of their num- 
bers, as well as of the prolific nature of the waters in 
Florida, *“ The river in this place from shore to shore, 
and perhaps near half a mile above and below me, 
weak te be cue solid bank of fish of various kinds, 
ushing through this narrow pass of St John’s into the 
ittle lake, on their return down the river ; and the al- 
ligators were in such incredible numbers, and so close 
together from shore to shore, that it would have been 
easy to have walked across on their heads, had the ani- 
rex 4 been harmless. What expressions can sufficiently 
declare the shocking scene that for some minutes con- 
tinued, whilst this mighty army of fish were ongse 
pass! During this attempt, thousands, I may say hun- 
dreds of thousands of them, were caught and swallow- 
ed by the devouring alligators. I have seen an alliga- 
tor take up out of the water several great fish at a time, 
and just squeeze them betwixt his jaws, while the tails - 
of the trout about his eyes and lips ere he 
had ar soc Sag pT he horrid naise of Piste ehosing 
jews, their plunging amidst the broken banks of fish, 
and rising with their prey some feet upright above the 
water, the floods of water and blood rushing out of their 
mouths, and the clouds of vapour issuing from their 
wide nostrils, were truly frightful.” Here may be men- 
tioned, as belonging to the same genus with the alliga- 
tor, the lizards of Florida, of which there are several 
species: the little green chamelion, about seven inches 
long, and very harmless ; the striped lizard, called scor- 
‘ons by the Americans, covered with small scales, vi- 
their tail, and darting out their forked tongue 
when cere epepiliag 3 asmall blue lizard, remark- 
ably swift, with a long tail, which is subject to 
be broken off like that of the glass snake. There are 
several kinds of tortoises in rivers and lakes, of 
which the most d ing of notice is the great soft 
shelled tortoise, some of which, when full , weigh 
from 30 to 40 pounds, extremely fat nil Selisioaa, and 
ho aga ee much in form and nce the sea 
turtle. ve whole back shell, except the vertebra and 
ribs, is cartilaginous, and easily reduced to a jelly when 
boiled. These creatures bury themselves in the slushy 
bottoms of rivers and ponds, under the roots of aquatic 
plants, leaving an aperture just sufficient for the head 
. extremii 
FLORIDA. 
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Of frogs there are various kinds, the largest 
is about 8 or 9 inches in length from th 
oi to the ball frog of Viginia, but gs 
ferior indeed to the irginia, but 
resembling the grunt ofa hog. Ki Fino wel od 
are the bell rog, the voice of which is similar to the sound 
of a cow bell ; another species of abeautiful green ¢ 
which utter a noise like the yelping of young dogs; a 
still smaller tribe which infest the houses, whose voi 
is like that of young chickens; and an extremely di- 
minutive class, called Savanna crickets, which may be 
seen in the rainy season ing like Rey Omg 
the tall grass. There are red and black toads, the for- 
mer of which are very large, weighing upwards of a 
pound, but ne way venomous, : 
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There are numerous kinds of snakes in Florida, but Reptiles. 
little different from those which are found ‘in the other 
southern provinces of the United States. The largest 
is the rait , Which is commonly from four to six 
feet in length, and sometimes even eight or ten. With 
a single scratch of one of his fangs, he is able to kill the 
largest animal, but is never known to strike unless first 
assanited 5, ner -cmh..ne, orang Cates, tate Geta 
be _with a single blow on 
abounds in East Florida, large as the rattle-snake, and 
said to be more formidable by being more ite ; 
the bastard, or ground rattle-snake, of size, but 
extremely fierce and venomous ; the green snake, a beau- 
tiful and harmless creature, about two or three feet in 
] , but not thicker than a man’s little finger ; the 
snake, v 
but scarce 
mon walking stick, 
the abdomen towards the tail like a switch, or 
i i ing at times to 
ing it only with \its 
lower extremity ; the glass snake, rage one 
lour, about two feet and a half in length, a 
and great of tail, which is so 
and. of beautifal butterflies hover among the 
shrubs 
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