HOVEY : AETESIAN WELL AT KEY WEST. G7 



they begin to abouud again, and are either relatively or absolutely 

 numerous in nearly every sample from that point to the bottom, though 

 they are few in number at 750, 1,075, 1,225, 1,350, 1,450, 1,950, and 

 1,975 feet, and seem to be lacking from tbe samples from 775 and 875 

 feet below the surface. The samples from 1,625, 1,650, and 1,775 feet 

 are especially rich in these organisms. Foraminifera of the genus 

 Orbitoides seem first to appear in abundance at 900 feet from the surface. 

 From this depth down to 1,875 feet, apparently the same species of 

 Orbitoides are more or less abundant. At 1,375 feet a very steeply coni- 

 cal Textularia appears, and together with a more obtuse form is persistent 

 to the bottom, sometimes even outnumbering the Orbitoides. The largest 

 Orbitoides were from the depths of 1,375 and 1,4:00 feet and measured 3.5 

 and 4 mm. across. 



Bits of coral are present in small numbers in about half the samples, 

 but are not numerous enough at any depth to warrant calling the sam- 

 ple a "coral sand," though of course many of the undeterminable frag- 

 ments may have been derived from corals. Taken as a whole, there are 

 more bits of lamellibranch shells and casts of the interior than any 

 thing else in the referable fragments ; nex^ to these in poiut of numbers 

 come foraminifera; then follow echinoderms, corals, bryozoa, and gastro- 

 pods. Below the depth of 1,425 feet foraminifera greatly predominate 

 iu the meagre recognizable remains in many of the samples. Besides 

 the organisms just mentioned there were recognized occasionally Denta- 

 lium, CcBcum, tubes of Spiro>bis and other annelids, spicules of Gorgonia 

 and bits of what seemed to be nullipores. At 425 feet a single brachi- 

 opod (Cistella?) was noted. At 300, 500, and 525 feet from the surface 

 the thin sections showed a network of tubes reminding one strongly of 

 the Palaeozoic genus Stromatopora. These are l-eferred doubtfully to the 

 nullipores. With the exception of a few of the lamellibranchs and 

 some of the echiuoderms, minute animals are indicated by the remains. 

 In a few cases with the lamellibranchs and the gastropods the genus and 

 even the species could probably be determined from the fragments, and 

 all the foraminifera could be determined or described, but the echini 

 and corals are entirely undeterminable, and the other organisms are 

 probably so. Many of the samples look very much like the calcareous 

 sand forming the beach two or three miles west of Xassau, New Provi- 

 dence, and elsewhere in the Bahamas, judging from specimens of such 

 sand kindly furnished the writer by Prof. B. P. Whitfield. 



A condensation of the detailed record of the well as obtained from 

 the study of the samples is as follows : — 



