214 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 
Falkland Islands,* where climatic conditions are somewhat similar 
to those of Anticosti. 
The belief seems to be quite prevalent, even among scientists 
and authors of textbooks, that peat is chiefly confined to cool 
climates. This idea doubtless originated in Europe, where peat 
was first studied; because Europe has no coastal plain to speak of, 
and glaciated topography is confined to the northern and cooler 
parts of the continent. In this country the coastal plain has been 
singularly neglected by peat investigators and most other classes of 
scientists (most of whom live in or near the glaciated region), so 
that the European notions about peat have continued to flourish, 
much like some of the weather proverbs which were brought over 
from Europe by our ancestors and are still in circulation, regard¬ 
less of the fact that they do not fit American conditions very well 
High temperature alone would hardly prevent the formation 
of peat where the humidity and topography were favorable, and the 
scarcity of peat in the humid tropics, where vegetation is noted 
for its luxuriance, can probably be explained on topographic 
grounds. 
*See in this connection Jour. Geol. 16: 585. 1908. 
