INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, PHILADELPHIA. 21 



apparent absence of insect life is in reality only a reflection of this period 

 of quiescence. 



We dragged off Big Gasparilla and again off Boca Grande, but both 

 times over unproductive grass-bottom. 



CHARLOTTE HARBOR. In the grass bottom off Uzeppa Island, where 

 our schooner anchored for the night, we found numerous single tunicates 

 and a few large clusters of a brilliantly colored branching red-sponge ; 

 otherwise there was a marked deficiency in the variety, no less than in 

 the numerical development, of animal life at this place. We dragged 

 opposite the northern extremity of Sanibel Island alternately over a shell 

 and grass-bottom, but the dredge added little of consequence to our 

 collections. An extensive shell-beach faces the ocean front on Sanibel 

 Island opposite to Blind Pass, but at the time of our visit it was strewn 

 almost entirely with dead and water-worn shells ; living specimens of the 

 shuttlecock shell (Pinna nniricatii), were, however, very abundant. 



We ran aground on a grass shoal just before reaching Punta Rassa, 

 but soon righted, and put into harbor not long after sundown. For 

 hours during this day's journey our vessel was followed by a number of 

 drum-fish, which appear to have hung close to the keel, and whose 

 diabolical serenade was continued from early in the afternoon almost 

 through the night. The different individuals, judged by their "booms," 

 must have retained their relative positions almost without change. 



