332 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



Xoniivs arhorca, Say , 1 



Zonitea ( Coimlus) clwrshia, t^ay 1 



Pupa conlracta, Say 2 



Pupa rnpicola, Say ; 14 



" Total, 13 spt^ies and 495 specimens of mollusks, besides? a tragmeut 

 of marine shell (a (JarfHum) too small to identify, several fish scales, 

 two pieces of fish bones, and one piece T)f nianiiiialiaa bone unidentifi- 

 able. The shells tabulated all live in the vicinity at the present time, 

 but are not abundant, owing to the drying up of the swamp or other 

 causes. At suitable localities about the lake they are believed to be 

 abundant as ever at the proper season, i. e., midsummer. Of all the 

 above mentioned, only the Viripam and Unio have ever beeii consid- 

 ered edible. Most of them are far too minute for food. The Ampul 

 larias {A. dcpres.sa, Say), which, as before stated, are not disseminated 

 through the mass, but found assembled iu small patches, were there- 

 fore probably gathered elsewhere, perhai)S at no great distance, and 

 those in the mound are doubtless only lelics of dinners. The assem- 

 blage is just what we might expect in a fluvial marl, and a similar assem- 

 blage would doubtless be found in a similar mass of the marl from the 

 orange grove. 



'' My conclusion, therefore, is that the mound was artiflcially con- 

 structed as a post of observation (for which it is otherwise peculiarly 

 well situated), a dwelling site, fortification against attack or flood, or 

 for sotoe other purpose requiring a dry or elevated site. That the build- 

 ing up, after high- water mark was passed, was intermittent, and the 

 materials supplemented by kitchen midden matters and that the gradual 

 elevation continued until about the time it was abandoned. 



"The theory that it is solely derived from the relics of dinners, etc., 

 seems untenable for the following reasons: (1) The character of the 

 main niassof which it is composed as above described; (-) the original 

 steepness of the sides, too great to have been the unintentional result 

 of throwing out small quantities of empty shells ; (3) the improbability 

 that the builders would squat in a marsh or on a beach snbject to over- 

 flow until their refuse had built them'a dry site in spite of themselves; 

 (4) the snmll area of the top, which renders it highly improbable that 

 the dinner refuse of all who could sit on it could have made such a 

 mound in many centuries; (5) and lastly, the fact that a. material simi- 

 lar to that of which the mound is composed is close at hand and offers 

 no difticulties to anyone desiring to get it. I should add that Mr. Le 

 Baron, an engineer who contributed to the Smithsonian Report of 1882 

 an interesting list of mounds observed by him in Florida, came, on 

 other grounds, to a similar conclusion with regard to this mound. 



THE SATSUMA MOUND. 



"This mound is situated on the bank of the St. Johns river, about 20 

 miles south of Palatka, near a small, new settlement called Satsuma. 



