lO THE YALLET IET^TTTIR/.AJLjIST. 
A Naturalist in Florida— Cruise of 
the "Rose Bud." 
BY W. W. CALKINS, CHICAGO, ILL. 
[Paper No. 1.] 
It was my good fortune — in the winter of 
1875 — to be one of a party of three gentlemen, 
sent out by the Chicago Academy of Sciences 
on an expedition to the Florida waters for 
the purpose of collecting objects of Natural 
History; such as Shells, Birds, Fish, Crusta- 
CC£t^ etc* 
We proposed to secure any thing of scienti- 
fic interest that might be available. Leaving 
Chicago about the 10th of January, when the 
thermometer marked fifteen below zero, by 
rail for New Orleans. We were prepared to 
appreciate the sudden change from the froz- 
en North to the milder atmosphere of the 
South. 
Three days journey found us bag and bag- 
gage — about half a car load— in the commer- 
cial center of the Gulf States. As the steamer 
" Clyde" was to sail on the day after our 
arrival for Key West and Havana, we had 
only one day in which to investigate the City 
of New Orleans. But I saw enough to satis- 
fy me of its greatness and its peculiarities as 
well, among the latter may be mentioned the 
old time buildings and the narrow streets, 
some of them having the appearance of a 
venerable antiquity. But above all the saucy 
independent air of the people was and is 
quite remarkable. Every nation under the 
sun seems to be represented and the Genus 
Homo in its numerous varieties affords here 
an interesting study which I would be de- 
lighted to improve. However, on the occa- 
sion referred to, we were obliged to defer 
any proposed investigations, and the next 
day embarked on the " Clyde " for a journey 
of seven hundred miles around the Gulf to 
Key West. Thus far we had, of course, col- 
lected very little of interest to a naturalist — 
it being our intention to reach headquarters 
at Key West as soon as possible and begin 
operations at that point. 
The voyage down the river occupied one 
day. To our chagrin, a dense fog hung over 
the river and shut out the view of the coun- 
try as we passed down. We saw now and 
then, however, orange groves and gardens of 
bananas. These and the interminable cy- 
press swamps, with the peculiar parasite 
(Tillandsia usneoides) hanging from every 
bough presented a truly tropical appearance. 
It was 10 o'clock on the following day before 
the fog lifted enough to run out " Pass a On- 
tre " with safety. We were soon on the 
blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The 
contrast were the ever turbid Father of- 
Waters meets and mingles its floods with 
those of the sea is striking and grand. The 
view may be compared to that of two con- 
tending armies in close and mortal conflict. 
The line of demarcation is ever there, clear 
and distinct. The tw 7 o elements seem to 
fight for the master, but neither to gain the 
victory or advance one foot. Imperceptibly 
the mighty current is lost in the bosom of 
the mother ocean, while almost as quietly 
we sail further and further away until all 
around us appears only the blue vault of 
heaven above. Once fairly at sea we settled 
down to our new situation with a rapidity 
that was astonishing. The weather was de- 
lightful. Our course lay due east for Cedar 
Keys where the vessel stopped to leave the 
mail on her weekly trips. The "Clyde" 
was small and narrow with state rooms on 
deck so that we could sit outside in fair 
weather and make observations. We had 
the good fortune not to encounter any blows 
or, I imagine, that a lower cabin would have 
been preferable. I had been at sea several 
times before so had my companions, but all 
of us avoided at first one delicate subject, 
seasickness. However we escaped, and this 
terror being avoided we were ready to enjoy 
anything from a good dinner to a shot at a 
porpoise. Schools of these followed and 
played around the ship. They afforded 
amusement. We often occupied hours in 
watching the Jelly fish of which there were 
millions floating around. The curious 
"Portuguese Men of War" (Physalia pela- 
gica) were a novelty. Their " float, " which 
resembles a miniature boat, is of the most 
beautiful blue imaginable. From this float 
depend the wonderful colony of almost 
microscopic animals, looking like a number 
of black threads hanging down several yards. 
There are millions ef these attached to each 
boat, united yet distinct; they look beauti- 
ful and harmless, but woe to the unlucky 
hand or member that comes in contact with 
them. Amateur naturalists beware! The 
result is instant paralysis of the limb, 
which sometimes extends to the whole body ; 
I was warned in time to save my bacon, and 
found that "Distance lends enchantment to 
the view," truly in the case of these animals. 
Nature has, with usual forethought, given 
them this means of making an honest living 
by stinging their prey as well as for defense. 
Thousands of their barques are often blown 
ashore in tropical latitudes, along with their 
owners, in fierce storms. They are then help- 
less and do no harm when touched. As we 
moved on toward the "Land of Flowers " 
the character of the surface fauna became 
more and more tropical in appearance. The 
seaweed, (Sargassum bacciferum), floated 
around in unusual quantities, and we had an 
immediate anxiety to secure specimens as 
we knew that numerous Crustaceans besides 
mollusks inhabit it. After many attempts 
I succeeded, with the assistance of a sailor, 
in securing a piece. But I found no animals 
upon it. However it was something new 
and was carefully saved until further oppor- 
tunities were presented for getting good 
specimens. We left New Orleans on Wednes- 
day, and on Friday night anchored off Cedar 
Keys, about ten miles out, as our vessel 
could not go in with safety through the nar- 
row channel. Daylight on Saturday found 
us on deck to behold a view I shall never 
forget. In the distance we could discern the 
town and mainland. Near us lay a dozen 
small "keys" or islands— all clothed in 
emerald beauty. On the keys appeared the 
low scrubby "growth of Mangrove (Ehizo- 
phora.) The stately palm (Sabal Palmetto) 
or Cabbage Palmetto, lined the distant shore 
of white sand. The sight was novel and 
rendered most enchanting by the loveliness 
of the day. Having only a few hours w r e 
dared not go ashore. Meantime I got out a 
small dredge and line and began operations 
in six fathoms of water by casting the dredge 
off from the deck of the steamer and then 
hauling in. The passengers gathered around 
while the sailors lent a kindly hand. I never 
ascertained whether they believed in my 
lunacy or not, but the result surprised every 
one as well as myself, when the dredge be- 
ing emptied into a pail revealed several small 
live shells, mollusks, crustaceans, and a Star 
fish. The operation was repeated many 
times with success. I secured about a dozen 
species in all, enough to encourage further 
efforts. The mails being exchanged the 
steamer got under way and headed directly 
south for Key West. From Cedar Keys the 
trip was more delightful if anything than be- 
fore. Most of the time we were out of sight of 
land but occasionally caught a view of the 
low shore line with'the characteristic Pal- 
metto. About ten o'clock on Saturday night 
Tampa was passed and the Light-house on 
Egmont Key sent forth its welcome flash of 
light over the blue waters of the Gulf like 
another Pharos to Guide the mariner on his 
way. We were now approaching a region of 
perpetual summer, where frost is never 
known and the balmy air is never disturbed 
save by an occasional cold blast from the 
North, which is modified by the warm influ- 
ences of the Gulf and Gulf Stream. The lat- 
ter sweeps up around the southern end of 
Florida, and even so far north as Cedar Keys 
exerts a perceptable influence on the distri- 
bution of the marine fauna of this shore, giv- 
ing it a character unknown on the Atlantic 
side, where the tropical forms are crowded 
off by the cold waters of the Atlantic interven- 
ing between the Gulf Stream and the land- 
Hence the difference in the fauna of the two- 
sides of the peninsula. After dark we some- 
times spent hours in watching the phosphor- 
escence of the sea. This curious phenomen- 
on is produced by myriods of creatures,, 
principally infusoria, which live in all trop- 
ical waters. The Noctiluca miliaris, are the 
most abundant; they are so small that 50,000* 
can live with comfort in a common wine 
glass. But the effect is increased by myriads 
of other creatures, such as starfish, medusa% 
mollusks, etc., all of which have the power to 
evolve light or electricity. The least agita- 
tion sets the whole in motion; lights of blue,, 
green and red succeed and intermingle in the 
greatest variety, making up a seen which I 
can only compare to the starry heavens in 
grandeur. Another wander of this region is 
the Flying fish (JExoccetus) . 
Having never seen them before I easily 
mistook them for birds; rising from the 
waves, they would fly sometimes two or three-- 
hundred feet with great facility; there are 
many species of these. Thus we passed the 
days of bur voyage, ever seeing new wanders 
as our ship sped onward. At last on Sunday 
night we anchored off Key West Light. On 
Monday morning we steamed into the harbor 
and were soon ashore in the City of Key 
West. Every thing was new and strange; 
people were walking about with umbrellas 
or in their shirt sleeves. The thermometer 
stood at eighty above zero. Having regis- 
tered at the hotel, I started out to survey the 
town but soon became so heated that I was 
glad to sit down under the shade of some 
Cocoanut Palms( Cocos musifera) to cool off. 
These trees are a prominent feature on the 
island and may be seen anywhere. They are 
in a constant state of fruition throughout the 
year. They grow to a height of 40 or 50 feet 
without a limb; the bark is almost smooth 
and the body composed of pithy fibre. From 
the extreme top, large fronds or leaves shoot 
out in tufts; at the base of these fronds the 
fruit grows. The tree requires no soil as we 
understand it here. If they did, Key West 
could furnish very little of the genuine arti- 
cle, being composed entirely of limy forma- 
tions derived from shells and corals. This 
is only one of the many vegetable wonders to 
be seen in this part of the world. Finding 
so much of interest I must defer further 
mention of Key West to a future time. Be- 
ing anxious to visit Tortugas, arrangements 
were made at once with the owner of the 
schooner " Rose Bud," a neat little craft of 
eight tons measurement, with a crew of two 
men, to which we added Erebus the cook, 
and in two days we were again sailing south- 
ward. 
Botanical Monstrosity. 
In the January number of the Valley 
Naturalist we gave a description of an 
apple monstrosity discovered by Professor 
Leigh, since then we have noticed a very in- 
teresting account of a somewhat similar 
monstrosity by Prof. B. Auerswald (Anlei- 
tuns zum Pationellen Botanisiren. Leipzig, 
1860). Supposing that it would be of inter- 
est to many of the readers of the Valley 
Naturalist; we give below a short sum- 
mery of the salient points in his description. 
This apple is known as the "Fig-apple " or 
" Pommier de Saint Valery " (Pyrus dioica, 
Willd.) and is a truly abnormal variety of the 
common apple tree {Pyrus malus). The 
petals are transformed into small calyx-like 
organs and all the stamens are changed into 
pistils. The experiment was made by arti- 
ficially fertilizing these flowers with pollen 
from other trees, and it was found that the 
apples varied in taste, color and size; ac- 
cording to what variety of apple the pollen 
was taken from. A little above the middle 
the apples show a contraction, dividing the 
apple into two parts, each of which, as in 
Dr. Leigh's specimens, contain a separate 
" core." Professor Auerswald gives the fol- 
