16 RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ALABAMA. 



The climate of any two adjacent regions as small and 

 devoid of mountains as those here described naturally does 

 :not differ very much, so that it is not worth while to say 

 much about it in the regional descriptions. But some of the 

 salient features of the climate of the whole area are outlined 

 in the general discussion. 



Vegetation, like soils, is treated quantitatively as far as 

 possible. For each region the commonest trees, shrubs and 

 vines are listed in approximate order of abundance, as de- 

 termined by counting them repeatedly in the forests. In the 

 three or four northernmost regions here described, where 

 the original forests were rather dense and shady, native 

 herbs are mostly hidden among the trees where a traveler 

 by rail hardly notices them, and they form such a very 

 small fraction of the total bulk of vegetation that it does 

 not seem worth while to list them. Weeds are common 

 enough, but hardly important enough to justify taking up 

 space with long lists of them. In the four southernmost 

 regions, however, there is less cultivated land and conse- 

 quently fewer weeds, and large areas of open pine forests, 

 savannas, marshes, etc., where trees always have been wide- 

 ly scattered or entirely absent, allowing the development of 

 a luxuriant herbaceous vegetation with many showy flow- 

 ers, and this vegetation is so characteristic of the several 

 regions that the commoner species are listed after the woody 

 plants. 



In the plant lists the technical names of evergreens are 

 printed in heavier type (in the case of the few semi-ever- 

 greens only the second half of the name is thus treated), 

 and the percentage of evergreens, which varies considerably 

 in different regions (being highest on the poorest soils) is 

 estimated. Woody vines are listed with the shrubs, but dis- 

 tinguished by prefixing the letter V. Weeds introduced by 

 civilization from other states or countries are put in paren- 

 theses. 



No satisfactory treatment of the animal life of the area 

 is possible at this time. We know in a general way what 

 mammals, birds and reptiles are common here, but most of 

 them are found in all parts of the State, and we have no 

 data on how much they vary in abundance in different re- 

 gions, so that lists for the several regions, if reasonably 

 complete as to species, would be very much alike. And the 

 distribution of our fishes, insects, shells, and innumerable 



