222 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 
large enough to be called creeks, and probably no lakes. The 
soil is everywhere sand, and the ground-water is so near the surface 
that very little of the land is cultivated. The population is con¬ 
sequently sparse, and wells and other excavations so rare that it 
is not easy to make a general statement as to what underlies the 
sand. On the shores of Apalachicola Bay can be seen low bluffs of 
hardpan, a substance which looks like black sandstone but can 
be easily crumbled in the 'fingers,* and this probably underlies much 
of this region (and parts of some of the other flatwoods regions') 
at no great depth. The limestone which is supposed to form the 
foundation of all Florida is not near enough to the surface in the 
Middle Florida flatwoods to have any marked effect on the vegeta¬ 
tion. 
The innumerable bays and ponds all contain some peat, but on 
account of the flatness of the country it is so shallow (hardly 
ever more than a foot or two in thickness) that it will probably 
be a long time before it can be utilized with profit. No samples 
have been taken from this region. 
GULF HAMMOCK REGION. 
(plates 17.2, 20.2, 21) 
Between St. Mark’s on the west and Tarpon Springs on the 
south, within about 15 miles of the coast, the country is mostly 
flat, damp and sandy as in the region just described, but differs 
from that in having limestone everywhere near the surface, and 
often cropping out. The greater part of Sumter County seems to 
be also of this character. The whole region, including the Sumter 
County portion, seems to be less than 75 feet above sea-level 
This is a somewhat more diversified region than the adjacent 
flatwoods above described, as it contains many low hammocks (of 
which the great Gulf Hammock of Levy County is typical), a 
few lakes, and some areas of undulating dry sandy pine land 
(especially in Taylor County), hardly distinguishable from that of 
the lime-sink region. Although long-leaf pine is the most abundant 
tree here, as in most other parts of Florida, there is a considerable 
variety of hardwoods in the hammocks and swamps. 
The coast of the Gulf hammock region is unique. Islands and 
beaches are practically absent from it, but the ocean bottom slopes 
so gradually (only a foot or two to the mile in most places) that 
large waves cannot approach the shore, and the effect is much the 
*An analysis of this material can be found in the chapter on fossil peat. 
