6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 82 



and by the use of motor boats and an automobile we made a rapid 

 reconnaissance of the entire chain of keys to Key West. Raccoons 

 occur abundantly on all the keys and we obtained a sufficient series to 

 indicate their characteristics. As at the Ten Thousand Islands this 

 work was done soon after the close of the regular trapping season, 

 during which thousands of raccoons had been caught, so that much 

 more time was required to capture the animals needed than would 

 have been necessary earlier in the year. 



These keys are connected by the Over-Seas Railway from Miami 

 uniting them by fills where the channels are narrow and shallow 

 and by cement viaducts and bridges where they are more broadly 

 and deeply separated. In recent years the Over-Seas motor highway 

 has been constructed parallel to the railway from Miami, striking 

 the middle of Key Largo and extending thence down the keys to 

 the southern point of Lower Matecumbe, whence a ferry carries 

 passengers and motor cars across about 40 miles of water to the 

 northern end of No Name Key. There the motor road begins again 

 and continues southward crossing various keys to Key West. In 

 addition to the railway fills which unite some of the keys in this chain, 

 other fills made for the highway broaden the land bridge made by 

 the railway embankments uniting a number of keys, thus destroying 

 their individuality. 



About midway in the 40-mile gap between the northern and southern 

 groups of keys lies a smaller group, the main one of which is Key 

 Vaca. A practically disused motor highway, extending north and 

 south about 12 miles, joins the main keys of this group except Long 

 Key which lies isolated by sea channels nearly midway between Key 

 Vaca and Lower Matecumbe. As shown below, the raccoons living 

 on each of these natural groups of keys, the northern, the middle, and 

 the southern, has its local subspecies. 



The Florida Keys differ very much in formation and vegetation 

 from the Ten Thousand Islands. Most of these keys, except the 

 more recent small ones, are of limestone with nearly level surfaces, 

 elevated well above tide water, with borders of varying width of 

 mangrove swamp which are covered at high tide. Back of the tidal 

 area on the Key Largo and Key Vaca Groups is a strong growth of 

 deciduous tropical shrubs and trees often forming a dense and al- 

 most impenetrable jungle, from 15 tO' 30 feet high, where it has not 

 been destroyed by man. The northern half of Key Largo has the 

 heaviest forest growth I saw on the keys, rising to 50 or 75 feet high, 

 or perhaps more, in places. The trees appear to be the same species 

 as those elsewhere but grow on a better soil. 



