348 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



occasion I immersed a lot of Liguus in fresh water 

 and after they had been kept beneath the surface 

 for thirty hours I found nearly all were alive and 

 able to crawl away as though nothing had hap- 

 pened. Some of them remained attached to the 

 pieces of wood to which they clung when put in 

 during the entire immersion. 



Suppose that decajHing logs, bamboos or living 

 trees bearing snails or their eggs were thus carried 

 out to sea from Cuba or other West Indian islands 

 into the Gulf Stream; that after a voyage of some 

 weeks or even months the whole were cast high 

 and dry on the Florida Keys or the southeast 

 coast of our State, there would be absolutely noth- 

 ing to prevent them from crawling off the packet 

 on which they took passage and establishing them- 

 selves as immigrants into the United States. 

 There would be no custom house or need for 

 naturalization papers. 



Floating islands consisting of vegetation in large 

 masses are carried to sea by tropical rivers. Such 

 islands have been seen in the Atlantic as far north 

 as Nova Scotia, and these undoubtedly carry land 

 snails or their eggs. It may be urged that such 

 a combination of favorable circumstances could 



