220 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 
red or brown loam hills, sandy and calcareous hammocks, flat pine 
woods, prairies, lakes, sink-holes, waterfalls, caves, and other curi¬ 
osities. The flat pine woods are very similar to those of East 
Florida (described a few pages farther on), but are readily distin¬ 
guished by the fact that they are always lower than the adjacent 
loamy hills, while those of East Florida are higher. In elevation 
above sea-level this region ranges from over 200 feet in some places 
along its northern edge to about 50 feet near some of the lakes 
and rivers. 
Streams are not rare in some parts, but there is considerable 
subterranean drainage besides. There are quite a number of 
streams which rise near the northern and eastern edges of this belt, 
flow across it toward the Gulf, and disappear into the ground near 
the lower edge. The topography of the region is complex, and 
difficult to describe in general terms, but by considering a small 
part of the area at a time some of the more striking features can 
be pointed out. 
In Gadsden County the topography is just about what would be 
produced by normal erosion, there being plenty of valleys and 
streams and no lakes or sinks. The red hills, with many ponds 
and few streams, and forests composed of hardwoods and short- 
leaf pines, culminate in the northern half of Leon County, and 
extend eastward with diminishing relief through Jefferson and part 
of Madison. South of the Santa Fe River the red clay is scarcer, 
and in Marion County the belt under consideration is reduced to 
a ridge of high hammock, with sandy soil, limestone near the sur¬ 
face, and neither streams nor lakes. 
Many if not most of the lakes in this region are of a peculiar 
type (unknown outside of Florida), flat-bottomed, with one or more 
sink-holes at or near their edges, by means of which the water is 
kept drained off most of the time, especially during the dry season.'* 
Such lakes when dry are commonly known as prairies, though they 
have little in common with the large flatwoods prairies of South 
Florida, except that they are treeless and subject to inundation 
at more or less regular intervals. 
Conditions are not very favorable for peat in the Middle 
Florida hammock belt, on account of the paucity of streams and 
the frequent emptying of the lakes. There are, however, various 
kinds of swamps, some of which contain pretty good peat; and 
many of the lake-bottoms (or prairies) are dotted with saucer- 
*This type of lake or prairie is discussed by Dr. Sellards in a paper pre¬ 
ceding this. 
