No. 8 NEW RACCOONS FROM FLORIDA NELSON 5 



The common name for this group well indicates the great number 

 of little keys of which it is formed. They are closely grouped and of 

 most irregular outlines, being separated from one another, and from 

 the mainland, by a network of tortuous, shallow tide channels varying 

 in width from a few yards to several hundred yards. Enclosed within 

 this mass lie Chokoloskee and other narrow land locked bays. Cho- 

 koloskee Bay is the largest, having a length of about eight miles and 

 a width of from a half mile to a mile and a half. Nearly all the 

 keys of the group, like those where we trapped the raccoons, are 

 overgrown with tangled masses of the aerial roots of the red man- 

 grove above which rises the low wall of their dense, green tops. 



These keys, in general, are covered with from one to about three 

 feet of salt water at the daily high tide and are devoid of fresh water. 

 The Ten Thousand Islands form, in fact, a great mangrove swamp 

 based mainly on the flat tops of old oyster beds. The red mangrove 

 thickets rise about 25 feet and are interspersed with larger black 

 mangroves and a few other salt loving small trees or bushes. In the 

 Shark River section, to the south, ihe mangroves are the largest I 

 have ever seen, forming closely set forests of trees 40 to more than 60 

 feet high. The mainland adjacent to these keys is bordered by a 

 fringe of mangrove swamps limited by the end of salt water. The 

 accompanying photograph gives an idea of the typical water front of 

 the mangrove islets near Chokoloskee (see pi. i, fig. i). 



I have included the mangrove keys of the Shark River area within 

 the range of the small Chokoloskee raccoon wholly on statements of 

 several trappers that the raccoons there are the same as those about 

 Chokoloskee Bay. No specimens have been seen from there but 

 several from the mainland a few miles away at Cape Sable and Flam- 

 ingo are unmistakably P. I. ehicus. 



RACCOONS AND THE FLORIDA KEYS 



After observing the effect of environment on the raccoons of the 

 " Ten Thousand Islands " it appeared probable that similar influences 

 may have produced modifications of the animals living on the great 

 series of islands or " keys " extending from Biscayne Bay to Key 

 West, commonly known as the Florida Keys. To determine the facts 

 concerning this I crossed the Everglades, over the motor highway, 

 from the town of Everglades to Miami. There, through the friendly 

 assistance of Mr. E. J. Brown, some trappers were promptly located 

 who were well acquainted with all the keys. The information they 

 gave confirmed my belief that the raccoons there would differ from 

 those of the mainland. Two trappers were employed as field assistants 



