244 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



Jeffries Wyman, and the results of his investigations are contained in a hand- 

 some memoir published by the Peabody Academy of Science, at Salem, Massa- 

 chusetts. It is thus far the most conspicuous treatise on shell -heaps issued in 

 this country. Professor Wyman's field of investigation extended a considerable 

 distance along the river, from Forrester's Point, some miles above Palatka, to 

 the Salt Lakes ; but he found the deposits most abundant between Lakes George 

 and Harney. He is of opinion that these heaps were the dwelling-places of the 

 first inhabitants of the region through which the Saint John's River flows.* 



" The shell-deposits on the river," he says, " are entirely different as to their 

 characteristics from the mounds of the sea-coast. The last extend around the 

 shores of the whole peninsula of Florida, and in certain places, as at Turtle 

 Mound, Charlotte Harbor, and Cedar Keys, are of gigantic proportions. They 

 are composed exclusively of marine species, mostly of oysters on the Atlantic, 

 but on the Gulf coast of several species belonging to different genera, as Ostrea, 

 Hysicon, Strombus, Fasciolaria, Cardium, etc. 



" The mounds of the river, on the contrary, consist exclusively of fresh-water 

 species, viz. : Ampullaria depressa, Say, Paludina multilineata, Say, and Unio 

 Buckleyi, Lea. The Paludina forms by far the largest portion of every mound, 

 and with a few Unios the whole of some. Either of the above-mentioned 

 species, however, instead of being promiscuously mingled with the rest, as is 

 generally the case, may be found forming considerable deposits by themselves, 

 without the admixture of the others, as if at certain times they had been exclu- 

 sively used for food. At Old Town we have seen large deposits of Ampullarise 

 alone in one part, and of Unios in another. Other shells, as Melanise and Helices, 

 are occasionally found, but are too small and too few to justify the supposition 

 that their presence was other than accidental. 



"As far as known to the writer, the fresh-water shell-mounds on other rivers 

 of the United States, understanding by the word shell-mound a dwelling-place, 

 consist almost exclusively of Unios. Those of the Saint John's are therefore 

 peculiar, and are the only, or certainly the chief, instances in which the Ampul- 

 Iaria3 and Paludinre just mentioned have become to so large an extent articles of 

 food. There is not a single mound on the Saint John's composed exclusively of 

 Unios. 



" The most of the mounds are in the form of long ridges parallel to the 

 shore, though a few are nearly circular. The limits of all are sharply defined, 

 and at a few feet from the base shells cease to be found. Rising somewhat 

 abruptly from their foundations, they are mostly surmounted with a nearly level 

 area."f The larger ones sometimes cover several acres, and rise to the height of 

 fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five feet. 



* Wyman: Fresh- Water Shell Mounds on the Saint John's River, Florida ; Fourth Memoir of the Peabody 

 Academy of Science; Salem, Mass., 1875 ; p. 3. 

 f Ibid. ; pp. 9 and 10. 



