THE FLORIDA KEYS 43 



it has been found are so recent that it seems 

 improbable a new species of palm could develop 

 on them. With this we found also another, 

 Thrinax wendlandiana, a native of Cuba but quite 

 generally distributed over the Florida Keys and 

 the south shore of the mainland. 



Aside from the common littoral vegetation, the 

 mangrove, Avicennia, Laguncularia, and button- 

 wood (which fringe all the keys) the only trees 

 seen were the very common poison tree {Metopium 

 metopium), Pithecolobium guadelupensis (also 

 abundant in Lower Florida), and two stoppers, — 

 Eugenia buxifolia andiE. rhombea, the latter being 

 confined in the United States to the Lower Keys. 

 A few grasses and herbaceous plants were found 

 and an intensive search brought to light but a 

 single minute land snail, one of the Pupillidae. 

 The impression gained was that since the islet 

 group formed there had been insufficient time for 

 any considerable flora or fauna to develop. 



But there are still younger keys in this region. 

 Sand Key, about six miles southwest of Key West 

 is one of these — a mere rick of broken corals, shells, 

 and sand, heaped up by the sea. It is an island 

 of to-day. Not over an acre in extent it is used 



