300 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



and form as do the finger sponges. Other sponge 

 forms are long and slender, closely mimicking the 

 Gorgonias or madrepore corals. There are also 

 small, slender scarlet ones, and finally the Clionas 

 which bore into and destroy immense numbers of 

 shells. These ricks of sea trash upon the beaches 

 are excellent natural history museums. 



I know of no greater pleasure than that of a 

 naturalist or collector, in the woods, the swamps, 

 along the streams or upon the open sea shore. I 

 pity those whose entire life and energies are de- 

 voted to money making, who have never revelled in 

 the beauty and freedom of the great out-of-doors. 

 I pity those with unlimited wealth, whose lives are 

 spent in seeking any kind of a sensation, anjrthing 

 to consume the remorseless time which oppresses 

 them, — who would give anything for a new or 

 real thrill. Here on the sea shore are thrills with- 

 out number and discoveries many awaiting the 

 trained eye of the investigator. Here is opened 

 wide the great book of nature, the gleaming page 

 filled with wonders. Here too, is health, peace, 

 and contentment, and a new life for the soul cloyed 

 with the artificialities of an over stimulated civi- 

 Hzation. 



