14 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



SARASOTA BAY. We were informed that at Hunter's Point, near the 

 northern end of the Bay, we would find a coral rock or formation 

 skirting the shore; I was naturally anxious to determine the accuracy of 

 the statement, inasmuch as no reef formation had been reported from the 

 region so far to the north. The rock in question turned out to be a vast 

 mass of growing Vermetus ( V. variants), which from a short distance 

 actually presented the appearance of a clump of rocks. A limestone of 

 an analogous structure crops out in the meadow a few hundred feet from 

 the shore. The same growth of Vermetus reappears at Whittaker's, a few 

 miles further down the bay, where the matted tubes of the gasteropod 

 form organic " boulders " or reefs stretching over acres of territory, one 

 of the most striking features of this part of the coast. A yellow sand- 

 rock, some three or four feet in thickness, appears at this point on the 

 shore margin; its general aspect bears the impress of a recent formation, 

 but I found in it the casts of one or more species of coral of a facies new 

 to me, which, in the absence of other definable organic remains, led me 

 to suspend judgment as to the age of the deposit. The same coral I 

 afterwards identified in a more compact, and much more fossiliferous, 

 limestone occurring on White Beach, Little Sarasota Bay. 



On Perico Island, where we landed for the purpose of skinning our 

 alligators, we found vast numbers of the common fiddler-crab of the 

 coast (Gelasimm pugilator), which, in apparent concerted action, were 

 hurrying from the sea-border into the interior, passing far beyond the 

 line of their burrows. So numerous were the migrating hordes, that in 

 many places they literally obscured the beach, and the noise of their 

 progression was like that produced by a wind moving a heavy accumu- 

 lation of autumn leaves. The border of the island was covered with a 

 heavy fringe of mangrove, on whose aerial roots, considerably above 

 water-level, we found the parasitic oyster (Ostrea parasitica) clinging in 

 great abundance. The interior of the island supports a stunted growth 

 of saw-palmetto, and the usually accompanying yellow-pine. We found 

 a moccasin coiled on the leaf-stalk of a palmetto, about two feet above 

 the ground : the first ophidian met with on our trip; the animal, 

 although plainly cognizant of our approach, made no attempt to attack, 

 and but a very feeble one to escape, and was consequently secured 

 without much difficulty. 



At a locality known as Mrs. Hanson's, opposite to which we anchored 

 for the night, I was conducted to a spot where it had been reported a human 

 skeleton lay embedded in the rock. My misgivings as to such a find 

 were naturally very great, but I could not resist the temptation of 

 satisfying myself personally in the matter, even at the risk of appearing 

 over-credulous to my fellow-companions. The rock I found to be a par- 

 tially indurated ferruginous sandstone, removed but a short distance from 



