THE LURE OF THE PINEY WOODS 183 



In the higher, drier parts of the forest one 

 occasionally sees low, sandy mounds from one to 

 two feet high and ten to fifteen feet across. For a 

 long time I was uncertain as to what; these were, 

 though I felt sure they were artificial. I had seen 

 gopher mounds up the State which somewhat 

 resembled these but I was unaware that this 

 animal came so far south. I was also puzzled to 

 account for animal burrows in almost solid rock. 

 One day I found that I could thrust a sharpened 

 iron rod down four feet anywhere in one of the 

 mounds and, indeed, for some distance around it. 

 Another time I found a large dead gopher in the 

 pine woods near my home. This is not the animal 

 which bears that familiar name in our western 

 states but is a large land tortoise {Xer abates poly- 

 phemus) which has very strong forelimbs to 

 enable it to excavate its immense burrows. 



The mystery was solved; the r gopher is a resi- 

 dent of Dade County. Since theh-Lhave seen its 

 mounds in other places in the neighborhood of 

 Miami and also at Cape Sable. As a rule the 

 limestone in this region comes to the surface and 

 the only sand to be found is that which fills the 

 pot holes. At long intervals solution has been so 



