46 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



plant, much recalling in habit the cipo matador of the South American 

 forests, accompanies many of the larger trunks very nearly to their loftiest 

 crown, holding them in a tight embrace, but apparently without exercising 

 much compression, or causing any great discomfort to its host. There 

 are usually one or two coils on a trunk, from which ponderous cables, 

 measuring as much as eight or ten inches in diameter, and tapering 

 inferiorly, depend in straight, or very nearly straight, lines to the bottom. 

 I was unfortunately unable to identify any leaves as belonging to this 

 plant, which possibly ascends as a feeble climber from below, and attains 

 its great expansion in its upper course. The absolutely smooth trunk is 

 grayish-white, and of a still lighter shade than that of the water-oak.* 



Animal life is very prolific in these wilds, and at almost all times the 

 forest resounds with the echoes of some of its more musical denizens 

 the shrill cry of the limpkin or screamer, the hoarse croak of the great 

 blue heron, or the Castanet rattle of that amphibious multitude, the 

 frogs, whose orchestration appears never to be final. Towards even- 

 tide, when the hooting of the great owl bids the sun to hie, and calls forth 

 the slumbering voices of the night, the dryadic music attains its highest 

 pitch ; once more the castanet rattle, and finally all is quiet, save the 

 hoarse bellowing of the alligator, which breaks from far and near upon 

 the stillness of the midnight air. 



The larger birds, such as the herons, snake-birds, and ibises are very 

 abundant, but the smaller forms were at the time of our visit conspicuous 

 by their absence. We found no trace of either the roseate spoon-bill or 

 the flamingo, although not impossibly both are found here at certain 

 seasons of the year ; the latter is said to breed along the southern borders 

 of the lake. The only time that we met with the spoon-bill was during 

 our traverse of the Okeechobee canal, in the Everglade region between 

 Sugar-berry and Coffee-mill hammocks. We observed several flocks, of 

 some ten to thirty individuals each, of parakeets on Taylor's Creek, and 

 obtained one specimen. These birds frequent the loftiest branches of the 

 forest, calling attention to their gambols by the garrulous tones which 

 they unremittingly send forth. 



We met with no quadrupeds in the region, although the tracks of deer 

 and of a large cat, possibly the lynx, were fairly abundant on the sand beach 

 which marks the entrance to the Creek. On one occasion we also heard 

 the distant cry of what appeared to be the puma or Florida lion. Many 

 of the smaller quadrupeds, doubtless, are found here, and possibly even in 

 considerable numbers, but we had no occasion to come across their tracks. 



* Prof. Gray has kindly directed my attention to the habits of Clusia, to which not 

 unlikely the plant above described belongs. It appears, however, to be very distinct from 

 Clusia flava, and may, therefore, represent a species not hitherto described as a member of 

 the American flora. 



