48 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JULY 
from shore (diagram, 71) would indicate that at the present time 
this lake is much larger than it was at some earlier period when 
this deposit was formed, since the plants which have entered into 
its composition can only exist in a partially drained locality, while 
at present there are 10 feet of water above the stratum. 
Many small shallow lakes at Zellwood, Eustis, and Orlando 
were visited, but each one showed a sandy floor and a character- © 
istic absence of allocthonous material. This condition is owing, 
apparently, to the more or less intermittent nature of the lakes in 
which periods of drought permit the destructive action of the air 
and fungi to break down what little material there may have 
accumulated during periods of greater precipitation. Then, too, 
there is the action of the waves, which keeps the water in a state 
of agitation and prevents the gradual amassing of plant débris 
which may fall or float into the lake. 
An estimate of the extent of the peat deposits in Lake and 
Orange Counties is manifestly impossible when one considers that 
there are over 2,000 lakes in this vicinity which vary in size from 
Apopka, with its more than 60 miles of coast line, to those which 
are only a few rods in diameter. In order to make determinations 
with accuracy, it would be necessary to resort to a careful survey 
of each one individually, which is beyond the scope of the present 
investigations. Consequently, no attempt is made to give even 
the probable extent further than to state that the allocthonous 
deposits are of greater numerical and quantitative importance than 
those of an in situ character, a condition true, also, for the other 
regions visited in Florida. Further, when one considers the prob- 
able amount of lacustrine peat, both from the standpoint of the 
number of lakes and the extent of the deposits as revealed by 
probings in the chosen regions, one must infer that the allocthonous 
type of peat in these 2,000 lakes and surrounding marshes must 
be enormous, and, when compared with those of an autocthonous 
nature, their relative superiority is very striking. 
Lake Tohopikaliga, Osceola County, represents a large shallow 
lake with an area of about 30 sq. m. In following the dotted line 
in the plan of this lake there appears no place where the water is 
over 10 feet in depth (the observations were made in November, 
