912 The American Naturalist. [November, 
CERTAIN SHELL HEAPS OF THE ST. JOHN’S RIVER, 
FLORIDA, HITHERTO UNEXPLORED. 
By CLARENCE BLOOMFIELD Moore. 
(First Paper.) 
While the shell heaps of the east coast and of the west coast 
of Florida have received careful attention, the fresh-water shell 
deposits of the St. John’s River for nearly a score of years have 
been entirely neglected. In 1875 appeared Prof. Jeffries 
Wyman’s memoir “Fresh-water Shell Mounds of the St. 
John’s River, Florida,” embodying in an exhaustive way 
the researches of the learned author, conducted in person— 
researches for which his position as curator of the Peabody 
Museum of Archeology so eminently fitted him. So thor- 
oughly did Prof. Wyman cover the subject, and so conclusive 
were his deductions that the writer of the present paper would 
hesitate to attempt any farther work upon the subject were it 
not that the possession of steam motive power, and the aid of 
many assistants have put it in his power to explore a large 
tract of territory hitherto unvisited by any one with a view to 
the exploration of shell heaps, and to excavate on a scale never 
before undertaken on the River. | 
Previous to the work of Professor Wyman, the shell heaps 
of the St. John’s, while their presence was referred to in books 
of ‘travel, remained uninvestigated by scientists, with the 
exception of Dr. Brinton. After a personal examination of 
these shell heaps their construction was attributed by Dr. 
Brinton to the action of the River (Floridian Peninsula, Page 
180). Just how this conclusion was reached is difficult to 
understand. The writer, in several hundred excavations made 
in upwards of sixty localities, cannot recall a single one where 
the agency of man was not apparent. In every excavation of 
any size, unmistakable traces of ancient fires were discovered, 
evidenced at times by masses of burnt or calcined shells, and 
again by layers of shells reduced almost to powder by the 
