216 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



shrubs, and all are tropical. In fact there are 

 as many different kinds of trees within an acre 

 of this forest as grow wild in any state of the 

 Union wholly north ^of the fortieth parallel of 

 latitude. 



As I have said there is only a limited amount of 

 growth on the floor of the forest. No matter how 

 perfectly a plant may be adapted to living in the 

 shade it is necessary that it should have some 

 light, and over much of this forest floor the sun 

 never shines. The birds, the insects, the foliage, 

 and blossoms all life are up in the tree tops in 

 the glorious sunlight. Even butterflies are rarely 

 seen, however common in more open places. A 

 few large arboreal snails (Liguus) live on the tree 

 trunks or shrubs, but even they are far more abun- 

 dant in the more open sunlit parts of the jungle. 

 That they are plentiful high up in the tree tops 

 where they are exposed to the light is proven by 

 the large number of dead shells, or "bones" as 

 collectors call them, scattered over the floor of the 

 hammock. As Kingsley has said of a similar 

 forest in the Island of Trinidad: "You are in the 

 empty nave of the cathedral and the service is 

 being celebrated aloft in the blazing roof." 



