PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT. 
219 
is approximately that which would be produced by normal erosion; 
lakes, ponds, and big springs being ^scarce. The surface varies 
from nearly flat near the coast to quite hilly in the interior, es¬ 
pecially in Walton County, where elevations of nearly 300 feet are 
known. (In Gadsden County there is a small area over 300 feet 
above sea-level, which is the highest recorded elevation in the 
state.) The uplands are mostly covered with long-leaf pine for¬ 
ests, containing a large proportion of black-jack oak (Quercus 
Catesbaei) } and the bottoms of the valleys are occupied by narrow 
creek and branch swamps. 
All conditions are here favorable to the formation of peat, ex¬ 
cept the topography. Lakes being scarce, and the valleys mostly 
narrow, there is no room for extensive accumulations of peat. 
Fairly good peat occurs however in some dense tyty swamps (local¬ 
ity No. 39), and some of the estuaries mentioned under the pre¬ 
ceding region might almost as well be regarded as belonging to 
this one. 
WEST FLORIDA LIMESTONE REGION. 
As here treated this is chiefly confined to Holmes and Jackson 
Counties, but embraces quite a variety of scenery, from sandy open 
pine forests with cypress ponds to red clay hills and limestone 
outcrops with dense hardwood forests. The limestone (represent¬ 
ing various Oligocene horizons) crops out extensively in the vicinity 
of the Chipola River, and its influence is shown elsewhere in the 
numerous ponds in the pine woods, and in a few big springs. A 
considerable part of the drainage is subterranean, and consequently 
surface streams are much less frequent than in the region last 
described. 
On account of the scarcity of streams and lakes, and the shallow¬ 
ness of the cypress ponds, nearly all of which dry up in the spring, 
the quantity of peat in this region is insignificant. For various 
other reasons not so well understood, peat does not seem to form 
so readily in calcareous as in non-calcareous regions, other things 
being equal. 
MIDDLE FLORIDA HAMMOCK BELT. 
(PLATES 7, 8, 27.2. FIGS. I-5, 19) 
Beginning on the west in Liberty County, this extends approxi¬ 
mately parallel with the Gulf coast about to Ocala, with an outly ¬ 
ing area of similar character centering around Brooksville. It 
is an even more diversified region than the preceding, embracing 
