NATIONAL ACADEMY BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS — VOL. Vti 



Among other side excursions I have been where very few white men 

 have been — into the Everglades — which I found most interesting and 

 very different from what our geographies lead us to expect. The whole 

 interior of southern Florida is a great lake of pure spring water, 

 covered with wild rice and reeds, and with a hard bottom, with no mud. 

 It is surrounded by a rim of limestone about 30 feet above the level 

 of the lower land, and it overflows ii*- rivers wherever the rim is low. 

 We went up a river, very deep and rapid, for about twenty miles, to the 

 rapids, and we got up the rapids by towing on the overhanging branches 

 to the top, where the big river at once became lost in the great shallow 

 lake. We picked out a tree on a little island about five miles away, and 

 pushed through the tall reeds until we reached it. We climbed the tree, 

 and as far as we could see there was nothing but reeds in all directions. 

 After eating our lunch we pushed back' through the reeds and struck 

 our river again ; but I could not help wondering what would happen to 

 us if we missed the river. The trip down the rapids, about half a mile, 

 was most exciting, and I was nearly torn out of the canoe by some low 

 branches. 



On our way back we visited an alligator farm, where they hatch, from 

 stolen eggs, the little alligators that are sold in our northern cities. 

 They also deal in rattlesnakes and owls and hawks. In one pond they 

 had the biggest American crocodile known. He is 19 feet long, big 

 enough to drown a horse, and he is fed on live hogs. It must be very 

 exciting to rob the nests of alligators and crocodiles. If you ever have 

 the opportunity to visit southern Florida you should do so. 



Miami is the prettiest tropical town I have ever seen and well worth 

 a visit. 



Yours affectionately, W. K. Brooks. 



PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS. 



As a scientific investigator Brooks showed sound judgment, 

 philosophic insight, and breadth of view. His method of work, 

 like his manner of life, was calm and slow. He was not a pro- 

 lific writer, and of the one hundred and fifty titles, more or less, 

 which appear in his bibliography, not less than thirty are pre- 

 liminary notes or republications of other papers. Many of 

 these papers are brief notes or abstracts, so that his total num- 

 ber of important contributions does not exceed one hundred. 

 These were distributed over thirty-five years of his active life, 

 so that he did not average more than three such papers a year. 

 He did practically no research work on vertebrates, and his 

 work on invertebrates was confined almost exclusively to five 

 groups, viz. : pelagic tunicates, mollusks, Molluscoida, higher 



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