FLORIDA AND THE WEST INDIES 157 



certain to catch a number of grunts, so called from 

 their gurgling sound when removed from the 

 water, a feeble edition of the conger's "bark." 

 The fiddler-crabs may be gathered by the pint 

 alongshore at low tide, but great care should, as 

 may have been inferred from an episode related in 

 these pages, be taken not to tread on broken 

 oyster-shells. In every little bay, high and dry 

 among the oyster-studded mangroves, these pug- 

 nacious little crabs may be seen scuttling in and 

 out of their burrows. Florida is a land of 

 burrowers. There are burrowing mammals, 

 burrowing reptiles and burrowing crustaceans. 

 From the look of some of the " crackers " who 

 drifted past Useppa pier on broken-down craft of 

 obsolete and fearful model, I should not wonder 

 indeed if there are also burrowing men and 

 romen. 



