VI PREFACE. 



before the lake is reached, and thus what appears to be the direct 

 water-way, was in reality, until the last two or three years, all but 

 inaccessible. The difficulties of this passage are thus described by 

 engineer J. L. Meigs, who, in 1879, undertook an exploration of the 

 region under the direction of the Government: "On the I4th of March 

 the united parties attempted to force a skiff, by wading, dragging and 

 pushing, through the burnt stubble across the marsh intervening between 

 Lakes Hikpochee and Okeechobee. After a day of exhausting toil, 

 struggling through water and mire for tho most part 2 feet deep, they 

 arrived late in the afternoon within ^ of a mile of the western shore oi 

 Lake Okeechobee, but their progress was arrested by vast beds of water- 

 lilies, careless and frog weeds, and wild lettuce, filling the entire space 

 between them and the lake, across which they were unable, by their united 



strength, to force the boat Reluctantly the effort 



to enter Okeechobee was abandoned, and the parties retraced their steps, 

 arriving in camp after midnight in a state of exhaustion after 16 hours 

 of continued wading through water and mire" (Report of the Chief of 

 Engineers, 1879, p. 865). 



The author wishes to express his indebtedness to Mr. George \Y. 

 Tryon, Jr., Conservator of the Conchological Section of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, for much valuable aid received in the preparation of 

 this report, and to the Levytype Photo-Engraving Co., of this city, for 

 the very perfect rendering of the illustrations of new fossil species. The 

 figures are reproductions direct from the specimens themselves. 



A. H. 



