VIS? 
The Valley Naturalist. 
EstaDlisHed January, 1878. 
(NATURE DISCERE MORES.)" 
Henry SKaer, Publisher- 
Volume I. 
SAINT LOUIS, MO., NOVEMBER, 1878. 
Number 11. 
W. W. Calkins on a New Species of 
Succinea. 
Succinea Calumetensis, Calkins. 
Shell oblong, ovate, thin, shin- 
ing, finely striate ; color golden; 
whirles three, the last broad, 
dilated; aperture below ex- 
panded. Striae of growth 
marked. Length 12 to 13 mill. 
Locality: Banks of the Calumet 
River, Cook County, 111. 
Remarks: The nearest allies to this species 
are jS. retusa, Lea, and 0. ovalis, Gould. It 
differs from both however in size and mark- 
ings. Found abundantly clinging to long 
grass partially submerged in the water, i 
It is confined so far as my observations go 
to the locality mentioned and the adjoining 
swampy tracts. S. retusa was described by 
Dr. Lea from a~ single specimen found in 
Ohio. My'Cabinet, Cabinet of the TDaven- 
port Academy of sciences; of the Chicago 
Academy, etc. 
A Naturalist in Florida— Cruise of 
the "Rose Bud." 
BY W. W. CALKINS, CHICAGO, ILL. 
[Paper No. 5.] 
As indicated at the close of my last paper 
the "Expedition" had returned to Key West 
richly loaded with material, particularly 
corals. When the Rose Bud arrived, nearly 
every foot of space in her was filled with 
them, and their oder which is something like 
that of tainted flesh was not yet gone. Messrs. 
Allen and Pierce at whose store had been 
our headquarters, kindly allowed us the use 
of an adjoining lot on which to dry and pack 
the specimens. The schooner was unloaded 
and we occupied the next few days in pack- 
ing, shipping, etc. About thirty barrels of 
corals were sent home. 
This series now in the Chicago Academy of 
Sciences, illustrate about all the reef building 
species common to Florida waters. Several 
boxes of shells and fish were also sent. Hav- 
ing finished this task in which we were kind- 
ly assisted by Allen and Pierce, who donated 
barrels, boxes, etc. without number, we be- 
gan to pine for another voyage. Negotiations 
were entered into with the owners of the 
Rose Bud for a trip among the Keys to the 
northeastward or as far as we might wish to 
go. Our arrangements being completed, the 
schooner thoroughly cleaned and provisioned 
with plenty of fresh rainwater in our casks ; 
our last letters answered and my dairy of 
events written up to date, we again set sail 
on the seventh of February, heading for 
Bahiahonda Key which lies some forty miles 
eastward from Key West. By consulting a 
map it will be seen that a long chain of 
Islands extend from the latter point as far as 
Key Biscayne, which is near the mainland 
on the Atlantic coast. Our course was along 
the eastern side of these Keys. We passed 
quite close to many of them and 1 noticed 
that nearly all were small, lying low and flat, 
and covered with a dense growth of Man- 
grove. On some the Gocoanut and Carica 
Ta-pa-ya were growing in a wild state. The 
fruit of the former was procured by our 
party from these trees, and though not ripe 
the milk was delicious and a very agreeable 
change from rainwater, which was our regu- 
lar drink plus polywogs and other interesting 
animalia. There are no wells on Key West 
or elsewhere nearer than the mainland, the 
inhabitants depend entirely on the rains, 
which they catch in large public and private 
reservoirs at Key West. We were adviced 
to qua-Ufy the water before drinking, but 
if we had done so to the extend practised by 
most Floridians, the properties of the aqua 
would have been entirely lost in the qualifier. 
So we remained virtuous, only taking a little 
light claret occasionally to steady the stom- 
ach when the sea was rough. My compan- 
ions, Drs. Brown and Velie, became a little 
tender on this trip, and for a while found a 
reclining position on the deck under the 
shade of a sail the most agreeable. As for 
myself, I was never sea sick from first to last, 
and if anyone should so state, I beg to deny 
the allegation and scorn the allegator. The 
day was glorious, and as we bowled along at 
the rate of six or seven knots an' hour, I felt 
like sailing on forever. 
On the trip we passed away a portion of 
the time with dip nets in fishingup sea-weed 
(Sargassum), but not finding any mollusks 
or crustaceons upon it, gave up the amuse- 
ment. Two o'clock came and we anchored 
under the lea of Bahiahonda Key; after din- 
ner we went off in the "dingy" and spent 
the rest of the day collecting shells, a num- 
ber of rare species were secured, some on the 
outer beach and others in a shallow lagoon 
on the Key. Here I found a single specimen 
of marginella guttata, a rare West Indian 
form. When night came we felt well repaid 
for our work. While I was studying over my 
books in the cabin, Velie and the sailors were 
sitting outside watching for turtle, I soon 
joined them, never shall I forget the beauty 
of that night; the Rose Bud lay quietly at 
anchor in what is called the entrance to Vac- 
cas Bay, a large sheet of water about ten 
miles long and five wide, surrounded by a 
dozen Keys which make it a safe harbor. 
Numerous shallows and channels thread the 
B ay, it is the resort of the small sponging 
vessels from Key West, and is the favorite 
ground for sponges. For the naturalist or 
sportsman the advantages are unsurpassed, 
millions of birds are flying about, the waters 
teem with myriads offish, the Keys are cov- 
ered with a dense vegetation, new forms 
startle one at every step, new cries are heard. 
We sat far into the night contemplating all 
these things, and when at last we crawled 
down into our little cabin to try and sleep, 
we found it almost impossible to do so, the 
next day opened bright and fair, the sun 
came glittering and glimmering over the 
waters, revealing to us about thirty vessels 
lying at anchor in the Bay, these were 
"spongers." After some further explora- 
tions we weighed anchor at ten and sailed 
down the Bay. On the way we saw the 
spongers at work. The modus operandi is 
this: having anchored their schooner, two 
men get into the small boat, provided simply 
With a pole about fifteen feet long to which 
is attached a hook, and a common water pail 
with a glass bottom. One rows the boat 
slowly, while the other sinking his pail in the 
water sees clearly anything on the bottom of 
the sea to a depth of fifteen feet or more. 
Quick as lightning down goes the pole and 
up comes a sponge. The sponger becomes 
an adept and seldom misses his aim. 
Sponges grow in water from two feet deep 
to many hundreds. We waded around in 
shallow water and secured a number, but 
I noticed that the best ones were in water 
from five to twenty feet deep. Sometimes 
the sponger strikes it rich and loads his boat 
in a few days, but it generally takes from 
four to six weeks to get a cargo for a ten ton 
vessel. The sponges, when first taken out 
of the water, are of a gelatinous soft nature 
resembling putrid meat. When a "dingy" 
load is secured or the days work is done, the 
sponger sails for his anchorage which is al- 
ways near some island, here they build in 
shallow water a pen of small poles which 
the call a "crawl," into this they dumped the 
sponges. The tide washes in and out and in 
a week most of the gelatinous matter has 
disappeared. One of the men stripping 
stark naked goes into the "crawl" and com- 
pletes the work with his hands. The sponges 
are then conveyed in a boat to the land and 
left to dry, when a full cargo is obtained it is 
loaded and marketed at Key West, a dollar a 
pound being paid for the best sheepswool. 
Other qualities bring less. Sponging is a 
great business here and the supply seems in- 
exhaustible. 
On our way down the harbor we stopped 
a few hours at Pigeon Key, I found here a 
few shells not abundant elsewhere. The 
pipe-stem coral (Manicina areolata) grew 
plentifully on the flats where at low 
tide the water was not more than 
eight inches deep. I also ob- 
tained in the same localities another coral of 
rare interest — Millepora alcicornis, L. 
About dark we reached Key Vaccas and 
anchored for the night in a little rock 
ribbed bay. We had been hungry for turtle 
