
RAMBLES IN FLORIDA. 461 
way between the latter and the point, there is a narrow 
lagoon with dead mangroves standing along its edge; here 
we found the screw-shaped shell, Cerithidea scalariformis,* 
and the fine Littorina anguliferat, the latter on the man- 
groves high above the reach of the water; and on the grass, 
or slowly creeping on the surface of the wet sand, the coffee 
shell, Melampus coffea.t The Cerithidea is also found near 
the salt works, and Littorina irrorata can be gathered in 
quantities within a stone's throw of the buildings. On our 
way across the sand from the shell-heaps, an army of fiddler 
crabs hobbled aside, opening ranks to let us pue. After a 
hearty dinner we bade ' ‘ye ancient mariner” farewell, and 
making a straight wake, were at camp by dusk. 
Remaining in Tampa for a few days awaiting the arrival 
of letters, ind to complete our reconnoissance of the country 
in the immediate vicinity, we finally abandoned our head- 
` quarters, and bidding adieu to Camp Misery and its number- 
less fleas we placed our equipment on board of the schooner 
“Santa Maria, of St. Marks,” a vessel of sixteen tons meas- 
urement, and cast loose from the wharf at Tampa at noon 
of a pleasant Monday in February, en route for Cedar Keys, 
to stop at such islands and points on the way as might be of 
interest. Proceeding down the bay we anchored near Bal- 
last Point, and grappled up a goodly supply of oysters for 
the subsistence department, at the same time adding two 
LL i sr d 





* A much larger — species, Pyrazus palustris, which occurs in great numbers 
td Salt marshes of the Eastern Archipelago, is collected, and the eaten by 
made by breaking off the apex of the spire. Vide Adams, Genera of Recent 
Mollusca, Vol. I, p. 291. 
tA species of Littorina, E. — is used as an ornament by the natives uF te 
South Sea Is slands, and the animal of another Sp 
tg used for food chy the poor in Great Britain; thousands ‘of bushels are annually 
ected for this 


14 species of Schein sometimes 
the es of the Indo Pacific Islands, where this shell is found. In the Ethnological 
= ection of the Museum of t ite an Institution is de Explor (S. I. No. 3663) 
e kino i essen d e the Expl ormg 
e from the King's M Isiands, c sm 
