16 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



rock, and the fact that it rests horizontally and shelves for some distance, 

 at least, under the sea. 



From this point Captain Strqbhar and I made a diversion in favor 

 of PKilippi's Creek, a tributary of the bay. We found plenty of water 

 in the stream itself, but the approaches to it, owing to the widening 

 out of the channel, were very shallow, and for a considerable distance 

 our skiff had to be dragged over the bottom. The difficulties of the 

 passage were further increased by the numerous islands, largely over- 

 grown with mangrove, which interpose themselves in the mouth of the 

 creek, rendering the channel very intricate. Almost at the mouth of 

 the stream, and at several points above the mouth, we found a true com- 

 pact coquina rock, some three to four feet in thickness, the first time, 

 I believe, that such a rock had been noted to occur on the west coast 

 of the peninsula. The shell fragments composing it were largely trit- 

 urated, and in most instances not even the genera of mollusks represented 

 by them could be identified. Underneath this rock, where present, there 

 crops out a yellow arenaceous limestone, which is exposed at various 

 points along the stream, rising about two feet above water-level. It con- 

 tains coral impressions and numerous shells, many of the latter apparently 

 identical with forms found in the yellow rock of the Manatee River 

 (Pecten Jeffersonius, etc.), and representing either a Miocene or early 

 Pliocene formation, more likely the former. I found at one spot, 

 evidently washed out from the bank, a large fragment of the jaw of a 

 cetacean. Philippi's Creek is reported to harbor numerous alligators, 

 but on our trip both up and down the stream we saw but a single indi- 

 vidual, and that a young animal. The weather was not very warm, and 

 possibly the reptiles may have kept beneath the surface. 



A water-way through the mangroves conducts from Big Sarasota 

 Bay to Little' Sarasota Bay, and may be used with much advantage by 

 small craft. Owing to the chances of stranding we were compelled to 

 take the outside route, and thus to pass the bars at both inlets. A con- 

 siderable surf was rolling at the time we entered Little Sarasota Inlet 

 just before sun-down, but we succeeded in making the point, and 

 anchored under the lee of the bar of sand that separates the inlet from 

 the sea, in one of the most picturesque spots that we had thus far seen 

 in our journey. 



The rock guarding the entrance to the channel on the north side is 

 a coquina, very similar to that found on Philippi's Creek. It is rapidly 

 undergoing destruction through the wash of the sea, and will, doubtless, 

 in a very short time be completely removed. In color it differs essen- 

 tially from the typical coquina of the east coast, which is very light, or 

 nearly white, whereas this one is by contrast rather dark. 



On White Beach, on the inner side of the bay, we again found large 



