NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



31 



river, on both shores, but more 

 numerous on the west bank, the 

 heaps remain as evidences of man's 

 occupancy or Nature's upheavals. 



Still another theory, this too, 

 having rational adherance; a theo- 

 ry, too, which accords with Dame 

 Nature's marvelous workings and 

 strange freaks. It is claimed that 

 the natural elevations and subsid- 

 ences of the sea shore, and espec- 

 ially on the borders of lagoons sep- 

 arated by a narrow neck of land 

 have caused this condition. In di- 

 rect opposition to this idea, many 

 heaps are found at some miles from 

 the salt water, but even these may 

 be accounted for by the action of 

 the waves in low sections. 



These shell heaps are multitu- 

 dinous on Indian river, and also 

 Halifax and Hillsboro rivers and 

 Lake Worth, all of which are la- 

 goons of salt water. If the larger 

 heaps were joined together they 

 would foot up many miles of shell 

 wall fully fifteen feet high, while 

 the smaller heaps are so numerous 

 as to be almost continuous for 

 miles and miles in certain sections. 

 In truth, it may be said, that over 

 a large portion of the state, it is 

 next to impossible to step without 

 treading on the remains of some 

 form of animal life, either visible 

 to the observer, or lying just be- 

 neath a thin covering of earth. 

 When we compute the enormous 

 consumption of bivalves which 

 those earlier oyster gourmets must 

 have devoured in order to erect 

 these piles of shells, we are inclin- 

 ed to the theory of the wave action. 

 Verily; we can appropriately use 

 the words of Bryant, when consid- 

 ering the oysters of Indian river 



"All that tread 

 The globe are but a handful to the tribes 

 That slumber in its bosom." 



For the living examples are com- 

 paratively few, and I can demon- 

 strate that these creatures do walk 

 (crawl) on land; in addition to 

 which, some are seen hanging to 

 the branches of trees. 



Many of these shell heaps are 

 so well covered with soil, while 

 thick scrub palmettos are growing 

 over them, that their presence is 

 not suspected, unless one has to 

 dig down a foot or so, or next the 

 water where the waves have wash- 

 ed into the pile and undermined 

 the bank, and left the material of 

 which they are made exposed. 



They are nearly all composed of 

 nothing but shells, together with 

 the natural dirt accumulations of 

 ages, and a few bones. These 

 shells greatly resemble the com- 

 mon oyster of commerce, Ostrea 



virginiana and to me, are identical 

 with the species of the region of 

 the present. 



These mounds, apparently ris- 

 ing from the water's edge, when 

 on the shore, are often washed out 

 at their bases by the waves, and 

 can be readily measured as to 

 height. It is quite common to 

 find them fifteen or twenty feet 

 high, and one that I measured was 

 over twenty-three feet. It was 

 over four hundred feet long, and 

 fromt hirtv to sixty feet deep back 

 from the river. Huge palmettos 

 were growing on the mound, and 

 reasoning from the slow growth of 

 this tree, it is reasonable to judge 

 that many were two centuries old. 



There is a large heap on the 

 western shore of Indian river about 

 opposite Pelican island and below 

 St. Sebastian; known as Barker's 

 Bluff, and which is very clean and 

 free from impurities. There is a 

 house perched on top, and the 

 owner, afraid of his position, has 

 prohibited excavating below." Sev- 

 eral trees of the cabbage palm spe- 

 cies have toppled from the edge 

 into the water. 



Several heaps of twenty-five to 

 thirty-five feet in height were re- 

 ported to me by reliable authori- 

 ties and one heap at over fifty feet, 

 but I did not measure them. 



In addition to the common oys- 

 ter shells which constitute over 

 nine-tenths of the heaps, aside 

 from the dirt, there were many oth- 

 er species of shells, and also at 

 times many bones. Among the 

 latter I identified the remains of a 

 turtle, deer, raccoon, opossum and 

 porpoise, while the vertebrae of 

 what I took to be a shark were 

 plentiful. 



In several heaps, skeletons were 

 found, and the usual stories of the 

 great size of the originals were 

 started. Twelve skeletons were 

 exhumed from one heap on the 

 river bank, but as these remains 

 were always near the top 'of the 

 heaps, it occurred to me that the 

 burials might have been made by 

 comparitively recent tribes, and 

 that these elevated points were se- 

 lected because of their known dry- 

 ness. Another evidence of the 

 probable recentness of the burials 

 was presented in the use of char- 

 coal, which was found with the re- 

 mains. I have repeatedly found 

 charcoal, with the bones in the 

 smaller tumuli in Michigan, and 

 think this an evidence of recent 

 date. One skull which was exam- 

 ined pointed to the typical Ameri- 

 can aborigine. 



It is a singular fact that the pres- 



ent aboriginal inhabitants of Flori- 

 da have no liking for oysters and 

 we were informed by several In- 

 dians that members of their tribe 

 never ate oysters unless other food 

 was scarce. 



In conversation with Billy Bow- 

 legs, a very intelligent Seminole, 

 grandson of the original Billy, he 

 informed me that the traditions of 

 his tribe offered nothing pertain- 

 ing to these mysterious shell heaps. 



Morris Gibbs, 

 Kalamazoo, Mich. 



List of Texas Mollusca, Maiine. 



Collected by J. D. Mitchell, Victoria, 

 Texas. » 



Spirula Peroni. Lam. 



Dead shells on beach of Mata- 

 gorda and Corpus Christi Bavs: 

 also on Gulf beach. 



Murex spinicosta, or fulveceus Sbv. 



All along the gulf coast visited 

 by me — dead shells only. 



Purpura Floridana. Bar. 



This conch is very numerous in 

 the deep waters of Matagorda Bay 

 where it is playing great havoc on 

 the oyster beds, drilling and eating 

 the young oyster. They are fast 

 destroying the deep water beds 

 around Palacios Point, Matagorda 

 Bay. The Greek and Italian oy- 

 stermen cook and eat them. They 

 taste like an oyster which may be 

 from their feeding on them. 



Purpura hcemastomd. Linn. 



This conch lives in shallow wat- 

 er on shelly ground. It has a ha- 

 bit of crawling up on anything that 

 projects above the water and tak- 

 ing a sun bath. 



Tritonidea tin eta. Con. 



I got some fresh shells from Her- 

 mit crabs, near east end of penin- 

 sula, gulf. 



Fasciolaria distans. Lam. 



Several tolerably well preserved 

 shells taken from Hermit crabs on 

 peninsula shore and gulf; found 

 beach worn shells on Mustang is- 

 land, gulf beach. 

 Fasciolaria piga ntea. 



Two beach-worn specimens on 

 Matagorda Island, gulf beach. 



Fulgur carica. L. 



I found two beach worn speci- 

 mens on peninsula gulf beach. 



Fulgur perversus. L. 



I found this conch alive and in 

 some places associated with F. 

 pyrum but not so common. 



