1 : Hieo Pas 1 - y 7 * . ‘ - wi 15 > a t Py . i i , ’ ee ial ie | pee 6 set | : Ty) rut gh ae ; ~ Pr f se ’ el at 48 SA LIF ¥ ah as be iy! ae a fi " Pep ? is a 1 tee ve MN Gag i war (sinc Quarterly Journal, of The Florida Academy of Sciences A Journal of Scientific Investigation and Research | H. K. Watziace, Editor VOLUME Il - /&. Published by THe Froripa ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Tallahassee, Florida 1949 Dates of Publication Number 1 — March 22, 1949 Number 2-3 — September 28, 1949 Number 4 — January 31, 1950 CONTENTS OF VOLUME Il NuMBER lL Probable Fundamental Causes of Red Tide off the West Coast feeeremea. By F.C. Walton Smith. A Preliminary Report on the Young Striped Mullet (Mugil Cephalus Linnaeus) in Two Gulf Coastal Areas of Florida. ene an Gz) fajita tore Ne OE eee ee A Preliminary List of the Endemic Flowering Plants of Florida. RCnORROTES EE TUT ICT. se Relationship of Recently Isolated Human Fecal Strains of Poliomyelitis to the Lansing Murine Strain. By Beatrice F. Howitt and Rachel H. Gorrie News and Comments Research Notes NuMBER 2-3 An Ecological Reconnaissance of the Biota of Some Ponds and Ditches in Northern Florida. By J. C. Dickinson, Jr The Organizational Structure of Industrial and Independent Labor Groups in the Petroleum Industry. By T. Stanton _ i037 = eee ere estos Metre? teat ak. A Preliminary List of the Endemic F lowering Plants of Florida. Part Il. By Roland M. Harper The Peep Order in Peepers; A Swamp Water Serenade. By Coleman J. Goin Check List of the Algae of Northern Florida. C. S. Nielsen and Grace C. Madsen News and Comments Research Notes NUMBER 4 Taxes are Everybody's Business. By Kurt A. Sepmeier The Plight of Korea. By Annie M. Popper The Flowers of Wolffiella floridana (J. D. SM.) Thompson. By Herman Kurz and Dorothy Crowson An Annotated List of the Fishes of Homosassa Springs, Florida. By Earl S. Herald and Roy R. Strickland Preliminary Check List of the Algae of the Tallahassee Area. By C. S. Nielsen and Grace C. Madsen Determination of the Physical Condition of Fish I. Some Blood Analyses of the Southern Channel Catfish. By A. Curtis Higginbotham and Dallas K. Meyer An Abandoned Valley Near High Springs, Florida. By Richard A. Edwards News and Comments Membership Drive Quarterly” Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences Vol. il March 1948 (1949) No. I Contents SmMItTH—PROBABLE FUNDAMENTAL Causes oF RED Tipe Orr THE re E GCE QRIDA < o)52o8 os)a 3 oo bw oc eiweiven be ceca ] Kitpy—A Pretiminary Report oN YouNG StrRiIpED MULLET (MUGIL CEPHALUS Linnzus) In Two Gutr Coastat AREAS OF FLORIDA.. “gs aE MT ES RTT PR ERA Ea ght ROIS Harper—A Prentiminary List oF THE ENDEMIC FLOWERING fmm ProrimnaA. PART 1.2...) conde vo ok cc ce cccccccecen 25 Howitt AND GorRIE—RELATIONSHIP OF RuEcENTLY ISOLATED Human Fecazt Strains oF PoLIOMYELITIS TO THE LANSING PTE SEL TEE: STE Lai 22 2 RSS ee aS News AND CoMMENTS.... 2 'C.1e 26.6 8 ee oe Se g © S See GS TUL 6: 8.6 @.8 € 6. eo 6 49 Vol. 11 MARCH 1948 (1949) No. 1 QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES A Journal of Scientific Investigation and Research Published by the Florida Academy of Sciences Printed by the Rose Printing Company, Tallahassee, Florida Communications for the editor and all manuscripts should be addressed to Frank N. Young, Editor, or Irving J. Cantrall, Asséstant Editor, Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Business communications should be addressed to Chester S. Nielsen, Secretary-Treasurer, Florida State University, Talla- hassee, Florida. All exchanges and communications regarding exchanges should be sent to the Florida Academy of Sciences, Exchange Library, Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville. Subscription price, Three Dollars a year Mailed March 22, 1949 THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Vol. 11 MARCH 1948 (1949) No. 1 PROBABLE FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES OF RED TIDE OFF THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA! F, G. Watton Smira Marine Laboratory, University of Miamz The recent outbreak of Red Tide and the consequent death of very _ large numbers of fishes on the west coast of Florida were subjects of investigation by the scientific staff of the Marine Laboratory during the first half of the year 1947. The results of these investigations are published in detail elsewhere (Gunter, Davis, Williams, and Smith 1948). These results together with the observations of a number of other observers have also been summarized by Galtsoff (2948). As a result of the above investigations it has been established that the immediate cause of the Red Tide was an enormous and rapid but intermittent increase in numbers of a dinoflagellate which has been described in detail by Davis (4948) and named by him Gymnodinium brevis. It was further established that a toxic material associated with the swarims of this organism was responsible for the death of fish in the area. The underlying cause of the dinoflagelate bloom has not been established, however. It may therefore be of value to discuss the fac- tors which could reasonably account for this phenomenon, in the light of the conditions actually known to be present. The enormous growth in numbers of planktonic organisms was not limited to Gymnodinium brevis, but, immediately after the loss of red colour due to the death of this species, large numbers of various other species were found. In all the samples of sea water examined at the . 1 Contribution No. 24 from the Marine Laboratory, University of Miami. WAR 2s iSabe 2 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES time of, or shortly after, the outburst, the wet volume of plankton was very considerably in excess of samples taken on the west coast of Florida by members of this Laboratory on occasions previous to ap- pearance of the phenomenon. Unpublished studies of waters in the Florida Keys over a period of several years which have been made by R. H. Williams indicate a low plankton content combined with a low content of inorganic phosphorus as the normal condition in these wat- ers, at all times of the year. Wherever the presence of sewage has gteatly increased the inorganic phosphorus content, the volume of plankton has also been found greatly to increase, although not to the extent characteristic of the Red Tide. It is therefore reasonable to as- sume that inorganic phosphorus is the principle factor limiting growth of plankton in these waters at all times. This is in agreement with the general body of observations on tropical or sub-tropical waters. The great growth of organisms during the Red Tide must consequently be associated with a considerable increase in the nutrient phosphorus available. The fact that the inorganic phosphorus content as determ- ined at the time was too low to be detectable is of no consequence, since this element was probably by then completely used up by the plankton growth. Ketchum’s observations here are particularly valu- able since they show that the rorat phosphorus, dissolved organic, inorganic, and particulate was very considerably greater than that ever found previously under normal conditions in ocean water (Ketch- um 1948). It is also interesting to note that R. H. Williams has de- tected phosphate phosphorus in a range of concentration of from 4 to 12 pg-atoms /liter in the Tampa Bay area, away from sources of human contamination during June 1946 (personal communication). The prob- lem remains to account for the presence of this excess. (See Table I.) Ketchum has suggested that the organisms may utilize the phos- phorus over the entire water column and, by subsequent migration to the surface, concentrate the phosphorus there. Unfortunately, no plank- ton and chemical analyses were made of water at different depths, so that no direct evidence is available to support or refute this suggestion. There are several observations that may have an indirect bearing on the problem, however. As Ketchum has pointed out, unless the organ- isms have a facility for developing with far greater nitrogen deficiencies than ever measured previously or a remarkable ability to utilize at- mospheric nitrogen, there must have been present in the water not only greatly increased quantities of torat phosphorus but also of total nitrogen. The swarming theory would satisfactorily account for FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES OF RED TIDE 5) simultaneous concentration of both. The intermittent appearance and disappearance characteristic of the Red Tide would be readily ex- plained under these conditions by the effect of winds, current, tem- perature changes and other factors promoting turbulence, which would quickly restore the phosphorus and nitrogen to the entire water column and thus bring conditions back to normal. In resolving the problem of the source of phosphorus this theory, unfortunately, presents a new difficulty. It now becomes necessary to explain why the swarming oc- curs at infrequent intervals separated by thirty years or more, and to explain what condition may stimulate or make possible swarming during Red Tide years alone. Without further knowledge of the life history, behavior, and physiology of Gymnodinium brevis this may be impossible to answer. Phenomena such as upwelling of nutrient-rich deep water would satisfactorily explain an increase of nitrogen coincident with the phosphorus increase, but as Ketchum has pointed out the amount actually present was far in excess of what is normally present in deep water. The measured amount of phosphorus present was so far above normal as to dispose of a previous suggestion by the present author (Gunter et al. 1948) to the effect that dissolved organic phosphorus might under certain conditions become more readily available. A further possibility depends upon the presence of nutrient salts in bottom muds. The experience of Raymont (1947) and many other workers in adding fertilizer to bodies of water has been that a large proportion of the phosphorus added disappears from solution in an amount greatly in excess of the amount utilized by plankton growth -and must necessarily have become incorporated with the bottom de- posits. Unpublished observations of the present author have shown bacteria present in the calcareous muds of sponge grounds to the number of several million per cubic centimeter. Thus, while direct evidence is lacking, there is good reason to believe that both phos- phorus and nitrogen may be present in the bottom deposits in quan- tities more than sufficient to account for Red Tide phenomena. Once more, however, a further problem arises of establishing the condi- tions or events which might release the nutrient salts from bottom deposits at infrequent intervals. Certainly no unusually heavy weather was associated with the Red Tide years (Gunter et a/.). Furthermore, in normal years the waters in question, close to shore, contain con- siderable quantities of sediment originating from the bottom. 4 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES A possibility which cannot be ruled out completely is that the excess nutrient has its origin in mineral deposits. Florida is a major soutce of rock phosphate and it is not inconceivable that river drain- age has brought increased concentrations of this into the ocean. The difficulty in this explanation lies in the fact that the Red Tide phe- nomena were observed near Key West and Cape Sable, which are at considerable distances from rivers which drain areas where phosphate deposits are known to exist. The prevailing drift of ocean water even at a distance of thirty miles from the west coast of Florida appears to be to the north (Smith, F. G. Walton 1941, and Marine-Laboratory, | University of Miami, 1948). It would be difficult therefore to explain how phosphates emptying into the ocean from rivers between Naples and Tarpon Springs could later appear near Key West. On the other hand, our knowledge of the surface wind drifts and alongshore circu- lation in this area is very inadequate and this possibility cannot be precluded. The transport of phosphates to a wide area of ocean would be more teadily explained on the basis of submarine deposits of the mineral which might become exposed periodically as a result of shifts in the bottom currents, which are known to be quite strong (Marine Labo- ratory, University of Miami, 1948). Virgil Sleight of the University of Miami Geology Department informs me that there is nothing in the literature which would rele out the presence of such deposits. Other theories advanced previously have been so at variance with the facts that no useful purpose would be served in quoting them. It is also evident that theories of mineral origin suffer from their failure to account for nitrogen excess as well as phosphorus excess. The pos- sibility of an ability on the part of Gymnodinium brevis to fix atmos- pheric nitrogen or to grow under conditions of extreme nitrogen defi- ciency has not been disproved, however. These theories, along with those previously mentioned cannot therefore be discarded before a careful study has been made. This should include not only observations on the physiology, behavior, ecology and life history of Gymnodinium brevis carried out under controlled laboratory conditions, but also an oceanographical chemical and biological survey of the Gulf waters near the west coast of Florida, and an examination of the bottom deposits in the area. The bottom deposits are particularly worthy of study in view of Nelson’s recent findings (Nelson 1948). Studies of the streams reaching the Gulf on the northern part of Florida’s west coast are, it is understood, already in progress. In order FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES OF RED TIDE 5 that the part played by mineral deposits may be thoroughly exam- ined it is hoped that these may be extended to the ocean and that the necessary experimental work outlined above will also be under- taken by competent investigators. TasLE I—PnHospHATE PHospHoRUS DETERMINATIONS Location Date uw gram-atoms Liter North side of Big Bird Key, Terra Ceia Bay, R. H. 0 UAUES 2 June 3, 1946 4.80 Middle of Terra Ceia Bay, R. H. Williams......... June 3, 1946 3.60 East side of Green Key, Hillsborough Bay, R. H. LETTS. ~ s5 ee June 4, 1946 12.0 One mile west of Green Key, Hillsborough Bay, Oo. Be EATS ee June 4, 1946 8.4 Neighborhood of Sarasota, B. H. Ketchum........ July, 1947 4.5 to 7.4 LITERATURE CITED DAVIS, C.. C. 1948. Gymnodinium brevis sp. nov., a cause of discoloured water and animal mortality in the Gulf of Mexico. Botanical Gazette, 109, No. 3: 358-360. GUNTER, G., WILLIAMS, R. H., DAVIS, C. C., and SMITH, F. G. WALTON 1948. Catastrophic mass mortality of marine animals and coincident phytoplankton bloom on the West Coast of Florida, November 1946 to August 1947. Ecology Cin press). GALTSOFF, PAUL S. 1948. Red Tide. A report on the investigations of the cause of the mortality along the West Coast of Florida conducted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and cooperating organizations. United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Special Scientific Report No. 46. KETCHUM, BOSTWICK H., and KEEN, JEAN 1948. Unusual phosphorous concentrations in the Florida ‘‘red tide’’ sea water. Journ. Marine Research, 7, No. 1. MARINE LABORATORY, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI 1948. Report on a survey of the sponge grounds north of Anclote Light. Florida . State Board of Conservation, January 1948. Mimeographed. 6 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES NELSON, THURLOE C. 1947- Some contributions from the land in determining conditions of life in the sea. Ecological Monographs, 17 :337-346. RAYMONI, J. E.G. 1947. A fish farming experiment in‘Scottish sea lochs. Journ. Marine Research, 6, No. 3. SMITH, F. G. WALTON 1941. Sponge disease in British Honduras and its transmission by water currents. Ecology, 22., No. 4. Quart. Journ. Fla. Acad. Sci., 11(2) 1948(1949). - A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE YOUNG STRIPED MULLET (MUGIL CEPHALUS Linnaeus) IN TWO GULF COASTAL AREAS OF FLORIDA! Joun D. Kirpy University of Florida ~The common striped mullet of commerce in Florida forms the base for a multimillion dollar fishing industry. Anderson and Power (1948: 165) fix the value of the 1940 catch at $1,188,185.00. This sum repre- sents more than one-third of the value of all Florida fish taken during that year. The next most important species listed is the red snapper, which had a value of less than one-third that of the mullet. Besides supplying thousands of tons of food for man and being a favorite bait fish, the mullet is also an important food for many of the game and commercial fishes of the state. Jordan and Everman (1908: 253) pre- sent an interesting account of the economic importance of the mullet to Florida. In view of its commercial value and the universally admitted de- sirability of its conservation and perpetuation as a natural resource of the state, it might be assumed that the life history of the mullet is well known. Such an assumption, however, would be in error, be- cause little has been published on the young, and specimens less than 16 mm. in standard length are apparently unknown. A detailed study by Gunter (1945) on the behavior of mullet along the Texas coast sum- marizes the observations of Hildebrand and Schroeder (1928), Hig- gins (1927), and Breder (1940). Jacot (1920) reports on the growth and characters, particularly scale development, of M. cephalus and M. curema collected in North Carolina. Gunter (op. cit.: 51-2) states that: Young first appeared in the minnow seine catches in December, 1941, on the Gulf beach and in lower Aransas Bay. In 1942 they were first taken on the Gulf beach in No- vember. They were 24 to 25 mm. long.* In January, 1941, they appeared in huge numbers and had by that time spread into Copano Bay. These small mullet continued in minnow seine catches in large numbers until March. They grew rapidly. A few were caught in April. Some of the small fish, especially in the later months, may have been Mugél curema - 1} Contribution from the Department of Biology, University of Florida. * Length expressed as the distance from tip of snout to tip of longest caudal ray. A 25 mm. specimen on this basis has a standard length of approximately 20 mm. 8 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES for the young of the two species are difficult to separate in the field.3 In June, 1941, the largest of the young were 33 to 103 mm. long. In November, the small mullet, in all likelihood the same group, ranged from 103 to 148 mm. long. They were then about one year old. In summary, the large mullet go to the Gulf in the fall and congregate near the passes on the outside beaches. Spawning takes place there and extends from late October to early January, with the peak probably falling in late November and early December. Young mullet first appear on the Gulf beach and the lower bay in November and December and soon spread all over the shallow areas of the bays. They were taken most abundantly in January. After spawning the large mullet scatter out again and large numbers of them return to the bays. : This rather simple picture of mullet spawning and movements of the old and young - observed here is essentially the same as that reported in Florida by Captain J. L. Sweat (Hildebrand and Schroeder, 1928). It also corresponds with observations of Higgins (192.7) and scattered observations of other workers throughout the years. Schroeder (see Hilde- brand and Schroeder, op. cit.) says mullet spawn in Florida in November and December. Hildebrand and Schroeder (op. cét.) said that the mullet did not spawn in Chesapeake Bay, but that spawning could not have been far away, for small fry came into the bay in April. Breder (1940) observed mullet spawning in inside waters in Florida in Febru- ary. He did not mention the salinity, but in all probability it was quite high. _ This summary indicates the small amount of available specific in- formation on which to base a sound, long term program of conserva- tion for Florida mullet. The principal measures in practice at present consist of a closed season between December 1oth of one year and January 20th of the next, and regulations governing the gear used in fishing operations. During the period from June, 1947, through December, 1948, the writer made a series of fish collections in the Gulf coastal marshes along the northern third of the Florida peninsula in the vicinities of Cedar Key and Bayport. These localities are some 100 miles and 50 miles north of Tampa Bay, respectively. Approximately one hundred and eighty collections were made and, of these, sixty contained mullet. The 2,024 specimens of young mullet from the Cedar Key area and the 210 from the Bayport area range in size from 16 mm. to 103 mm. stand- ard length measurement. This material and the data assembled on the habits and habitats of the mullet afford information which may be of interest to both the fisheries conservationist and the ichthyologist. The collections resulting in the mullet catches are part of a study primarily designed to discover which fishes, and to what extent these fishes, occur in the Gulf coastal marshes as represented by the Cedar ’ Some of the specimens in the present study may have been young of Mugil curema but, if so, preserved Florida specimens of the two species are extremely similar—more, perhaps, than Jacot (op. cét.) describes for North Carolina representatives. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON YOUNG STRIPED MULLET 9 Key and Bayport areas. A secondary aim is to investigate the role which salinity plays in the distribution of these marsh fishes. It is planned to report on these studies at a later date. The present paper is concerned with a limited amount of the data assembled on the mullet. AREAS STUDIED Collections were made in, and adjacent to, the zone commonly re- ferred to as salt or coastal marshes bordering the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, exploratory, but not intensive, collecting was done in the shallower waters of the open bays and in fresh water close to the margins of the marshes. The Cedar Key and Bayport marshes are fairly representative of many thousands of square miles of coastal marsh occurring on both the Atlantic and Gulf shores of Florida. Such areas are particularly exten- sive neat estuaries and in the vicinities of the larger bays and sounds. They constitute a very definite zone separating the open waters from the lands above high tide matk. Along the Gulf Coast, marshes are absent in some localities where the beach is adjacent to high land, but in most areas they are present and may reach a width of several miles. : Typically, the marshes are dissected by watercourses which empty into the bays and sounds. Between these watercourses are, usually, some areas of open water which frequently have soft, muddy bottoms. Some of the smaller open areas were found to contain young mullet; these situations are described in detail later. The dominant, emergent vegetation of the marshes at Cedar Key and Bayport is Juncus romerianus and Spartina alterniflora, with the latter pioneering almost to extreme low tide level and occupying, in general, the areas barely covered by water at normal low tides. Juncus romerianus tends to favor slightly higher situations which are in- undated only at high tide. Mangrove islands are not uncommon and usually are established along shorelines and on the more elevated oyster bars. The maze of watercourses interconnects all parts of the marshes. Flooding of the entire marsh at high tide covers the whole area with one vast sheet of water. At such times fish may pass freely through the stands of emergent plants which are only partially covered by the water at normal high tide. Field observations indicate that the fishes inhabiting the marshes penetrate the vegetated areas at all times that water covers them. As the water recedes the fish are consequently re- 10 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES stricted more and more, and on extremely low tides are confined ‘to the deeper holes in the bayous, along the shores of the bays, and especially in the small tide pools of the marshes themselves. It is at such times of concentration that effective seining is possible. During periods of high tides the fishes readilv escape the net by taking refuge in vegetated areas where it is impossible to catch them in numbers. Consequently, most of the collecting of the present study was ‘ac- ee at low tide. MertTHops The most frequently used net was a minnow seine of one-quarter inch mesh, ten feet long, four feet deep, and equipped with a four foot bag in the center. A similar net twenty-five feet long was used in bodies of water too large to be spanned by the shorter net. Supple- menting these two seines were tea strainers, D-type dip nets with fine mesh, and ‘‘Common Sense’’ seines of approximately one-eighth inch mesh. Whenever possible, the seine hauls were planned so that the body of water being worked was covered by the net from shore to shore, and seine hauls were repeated until it was believed that all, or at least nearly all, species of fish present were represented in the collec- tion. Care was exercised to keep the lead line either on or below the bottom and the cork line floating or even raised above the surface of the water. The seining through the soft, bottom mud netted many fish which would otherwise have escaped due to the habit of a number of species of burying themselves in the mud when disturbed. Mullet, for example, were caught by hand in crab holes approximately e1 SEs inches below the mud surface. Preservation of specimens was accomplished by placing the catch in ten percent formalin. All specimens caught were preserved except when the haul netted very large numbers of individuals. Then from one to six quatts of the fish were preserved by simply scooping them into the pteservative with no attempt to select specimens on the basis of size or species. A card bearing the identifying name‘ of the station and a field catalogue number was placed in the container with the speci- mens. The same number was then entered on a field catalogue card on which was recorded data principally as follows: location and descrip- tion of station; water conditions including depth, temperature, density, 4 Names for stations were employed in the field. Later each station was designated by a number and this simplified the handling of data, cf. Figs. 1 and-2. A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON YOUNG STRIPED MULLET 11 turbidity, and color; tide conditions; time of day; and collecting methods. Salinities were calculated in the laboratory from data collected in the field. A sample of the water of the station was taken within three or four inches of the surface as a consistent practice, because so often it was necessary to take the sample there due to the shallowness of the water at many of the stations. Within minutes of taking the water sample, its temperature was recorded from a centigrade thermometer and the density determined by the use of a sea-water hydrometer grad- uated in thousandths. The temperature and hydrometer readings were taken simultaneously and used to establish the salinity of the sample substantially in accordance with the specific gravity method employed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and described by Schureman Yo (1941: 81-5). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ~The field and laboratory work, as well as the organization and writing of this report on a part of it, has been made a pleasure by the unreserved assistance rendered the writer by nearly every member of the Department of Biology at the University of Florida. Staff members and students have been of material assistance by their contributions in seining operations, planning and organizing the field work, and the accumulation and interpretation of data and criticism of the manu- script. The list is too long to allow the specific listing of these aids by individuals. However, at this limited opportunity, particular thanks are extended to the members of the writer's Graduate Committee for their assistances which extended far beyond the call of duty; to Miss Esther Coogle whose skill was painstakingly employed in the produc- tion of the plate and text figures; to the Board of Conservation and to the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission of Florida for necessary collecting permits; and to Dr. Adrian C. Coogler and family who made the work at Bayport possible by generously furnishing quarters, boats, and motors for use there. HasiraTs The young mullet were obtained almost exclusively from two rather distinct habitats. Small specimens (246 mm.—27 mm., but chiefly 17 mm.— I9 mm.) were caught within feet, and usually within inches, of the water line of the open Gulf beaches having either sand or mud bottoms. These beach mullet were in definite groups of from five to about fifty 12 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES individuals, and showed well developed schooling behavior. On one occasion during low tide (November 8, 1947), a dozen schools were watched over a period of several hours.. All the schools kept close inshore and none could be found in nearby deeper water, although much searching was done for them. When undisturbed the fish ap- peared to be following the shore, and since they kept so close to the water's edge it appeared almost certain that the next high tide would lead them into the marshes beyond. Small (17 mm.), as well as larger specimens (up to 103 mm.), were found in mud-bottomed, shallow tide pools of the marshes themselves. The proximity of the pool to the open Gulf varied from a few yards to several miles. The pools which produced maximum catches were in- vatiably small pockets from approximately six feet wide to about thirty-five feet wide. All of these pools had ooze-mud bottoms into which a seiner would sink from slightly less than a foot to as much as three feet in some softer spots. At low tide the depth of the water in those pools having a direct outlet to bayous or other marsh water- courses would be reduced to as little as three inches in the deeper parts; other pools with no direct connection to lower levels would retain up to two feet of water even during extremely low tides. Around the edges of the pools dense growths of Spartina alterniflora, and oc-. casionally some Juncus romerianus, wete present and, when partially inundated by high tide, provided a well protected refuge and, quite possibly, feeding area for the pool fishes. Temperatures and salinities of the marsh waters fluctuate widely and vary from pool to pool. This is to be expected in such shallow waters where the effects of tidal action, precipitation, evaporation, radiation, and other factors would soon be noticeable. The extent of these changes is indicated by data recorded as each collection was concluded. Thus, as expected, the salinities vary widely from station to station and from month to month. Fig. 1 shows graphically the salinities of stations at which mullet were taken. The lowest reading is 1.1 °/oo (part per thousand) taken in a marsh pool (station 3) in the Bayport area or! March 20, 1948. This same pool showed a salinity of 24.7 oo on May 22 of the same year. The difference between these extremes was equaled at a beach station (Cedar Key No. 3) where the salinity ranged from 6.2 /oo in November, 1947, to 29.8 °/oo in December, 1948. A reading of 35.6 oo on May 16, 1948, at Cedar Key constituted the highest recorded during the study at a time mullet were found to be PRELIMINARY REPORT ON YOUNG STRIPED MULLET 13 present. This record was made at station 7, a small, shallow pool near the mainland edge of the marsh. Temperatures show a similar fluctuation as is indicated by Fig. 2, but here seasonal changes are more in evidence. The low recorded for a time and place that mullet were taken was 13°C. at Cedar Key (sta- tion 5) on November 29, 1947. The high, also at Cedar Key, was 34.5°C. recorded at two stations, Nos. 1 and 5, on June 27, 1948, and at station No. z on October 20, 1947. The greatest range of temperature for a station containing mullet (Cedar Key No. 5) extends from the low of 13°C. in November, 1947, to the high of 34.5°C. in June, 1948. This pool is approximately six feet in diameter at normal low tide and re- ceives ebb tide water from approximately one-half acre of open or sparsely vegetated mud flat nearby, where water depths are measurable only in inches at normal high tide and do not exist at low tide. The relatively few readings made (59 each for temperature and salinity) certainly donot represent the true extremes of either factor in the area; Oct'47|Nov hall Jan'48 Feb'48 |Mar'48 Apr.'48 May’ a a ol oO Ss = oS o s ° = Ti _— @® Qa 7) — Py So a = 2, = 15 10 2 = ': 7) ) na e 12 = tO ; o 2 . ‘ (op) -4 rq i 3 6 H 5 1S cay Gi 3 12 % 13 +3] Lo: 3 (@) Fig. 1. Salinities for stations at Cedar Key (solid lines) and Bayport (broken lines). Points on the bars show salinities recorded; numbers opposite the points identify the stations. Only data for stations having mullet at the times indicated are included. 14 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES however, they do indicate that a wide range of both are tolerated by young mullet. : CoMPARISON OF HaBiTATs AT Capar Key anp Bayport The habitats of the young mullet are very similar in the two areas studied, but some observable differences exist among the stations most frequently seined. The marshes of the Cedar Key area border, in gen- eral, a much ramified, shallow, mud-bottomed bay abounding in oyster bars. The shallower parts of the bay-are exposed at normal low tide, and, on those occasions when winds combine with lunar - effects to drive the tide level to extreme low, little open water exists except in the deeper channels and a limited number of pools. No sizeable streams empty into the bay, although the mouths of several small creeks are to be found. The Bayport marshes are much less extensive than those of Cedar Key, and receive the output of two rivers, the Mud and the Weeki- Oct.'47, Nov.47, Dec’ 47, Jan'48 Feb: 48 Mar 48 Apr 48,May 48 Jun'48|Jul'48,Aug 48Sep.48, |Dec'4e 35) PS Rs) 14 2 5 ed “12,7 a ie 2 13 bo +3 L3 a om 30 73 7 Le = 8 8,9 o : 6 ae oO, ! 12 "2 oe ; eo “4 Lo i 15 10 las 3 3 i @- 4 lO 2 le i} 12 oo is) jo 20 | e k2 ! ] = ic 3 r$ ese D iQ Ly 6 ta 5 [6 7s : it | is 3 | | ee ea 10 Fig. 2. Water temperatures (CC.) for stations at Cedar Key (solid lines) and Bayport (broken lines). Points on the bars indicate the temperatures recorded; numbers oppos- *° ité the points identify the stations. O times indicated are included. nly the data for stations having mullet at the PRELIMINARY REPORT.ON YOUNG STRIPED MULLET O15 watchee. Both streams are of spring origin and receive some contribu- tion from runoff along their courses. The faintly brackish water from both rivers tends to reduce salinities in the marshes of the bay and also, because of the relatively constant temperature of the springs, partially stabilizes the temperature of the diluted water. In addition, the collection stations at Bayport producing the bulk of the mullet caught there were slightly deeper than those of the Cedar Key area. Natural obstructions formed by the banks of the pools at Bayport prevented serious loss of water during extremely low tides. Thus the tairly constant water levels, plus the moderated temperatures of high tide water flowing into the pools, probably tended to reduce the range of the temperatures recorded. These temperature differences are shown graphically in Fig. 2. DEscRIPTION OF YOUNG Plate 1 illustrates, at about life size, specimens in formalin of young mullet of standard lengths @) 17 mm., (@) 39 mm., (¢) 63 mm., and (4) 82 mm. The drawing of the largest specimen shows detail; the other three show only the general body shape and the ‘pigmentation pattern visible in preserved specimens. The eye is drawn more as it appears in life for the sake of clarity. Living individuals are of a brilliant silver ventrally and laterally and show no pattern on the sides. Dorsolaterally the silver becomes progressively duller until the color reaches a dusky tan on the dorsal surfaces of the head and body. All surfaces are irridescent and show flashes of pale, whitish blue as the light strikes the-fish from different angles. A conspicuous irridescent spot is usually present between the eyes of individuals of about 40 mm. or less in length. Atop the head on the mid-dorsal line at a point between the posterior margins of the eyes, a conspicuous orange-red spot is present in indi- viduals up to about 35 mm. in length. In larger specimens the spot tends to become whitish, and in the largest specimens it is not dis- cernible. - The golden pigmentation of the iris and the blue spot at the base of the pectorals described for Texas specimens by Gunter (1945: 52) are not evident in the specimens from either Cedar Key or Bayport. These differences warrant further study. The pupil is jet black and is surrounded by a silver-white iris. Ad- jacent tissues are silver and mask the remaining eye tissues except on ‘very small specimens, which are sufficiently translucent to permit the 16 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Plate x. Fig. a, b, c, d. Mugil cephalus showing general body shape and development. Standard lengths: (2) 17 mm., (4) 40 mm., (c) 63 mm., (d) 82 mm. First three figures show pigmentation of preserved specimens—scales have been omitted. Fig. d shows both scales and pigmentation of preserved specimen. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON YOUNG STRIPED MULLET 17 outline of the whole eye to be seen. The adipose eyelid develops as descrited by Jacot (1920: 205-6). In formalin the silvery coloration rapidly fades, and in a few days the fish are dull and dusky. Heaviest pigmentation is on the dorsal surface as illustrated by the drawings in Plate 1. Specimens less than about 40 mm. standard length rarely show even a hint of the striped condition of the adult, but as the size increases from 40 mm. the stripes become more evident. Specimens of 60 mm. are well striped as indicated by the two larger specimens represented on Plate 1. The scales are in full evidence and appear well developed on the smallest (46 mm.) specimens examined. Their development is described and illustrated by Jacot (op. cit.). GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG MULLET Figs. 3 and 4 show, by months,the range in the standard lengths of young mullet collected at Cedar Key and at Bayport respectively dur- ing the period May 11, 1947-December 19, 1948. The range of the lengths of the specimens is indicated by dark, radial lines placed at the approximate dates of the collections made during the year October, 1947, to October, 1948; the hollow bars represent all other collections. Table 1 lists all young mullet collected at both areas by standard lengths and dates of collection. Cepar Key: The largest specimens (Table 1 and Figure 3) in the October and November collections from Cedar Key probably repre- sent individuals of the 1946-47 spawning and are presumably eight months to a year old. Very small specimens are apparently present from late October to the middle of May and indicate an extended breeding season of about that duration, but starting as much earlier as it takes a fertilized egg to develop into a 16 mm. fish. The season is probably from early October to early May if this year is at all typical of the normal situation. Although regular collections were conducted at Cedar Key stations which had contained mullet in the preceding months, none was found during July, August, and September of 1948. Apparently the young mullet had sought deeper water, possibly of the bays, and this move- ment was anticipated by what appeared in the data as an abnormal reduction in the expected number of fish more than 70 mm. in length. ~ It is thought that as the fish teach sizes from about 60 mm. to 100 mm. they move to deeper water, and that during July all fish remaining 18 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA “ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ..~ in the marsh pools move to the bays regardless of their size. Relatively high water temperatures may constitute the principal cause of the July exodus from the marshes. If this is the case, the critical point may be between 30°C.-35°C. The range of temperatures for the period under consideration is graphically represented in Fig. 2. i ft WO UILY ae) Ak. x Fig. 3. Number and size range of young mullet collected from the Cedar Key area October, 1947-September, 1948, represented by dark, radial bars (hollow bars are shown for May, 1947,-and December, 1948, collections). Numbers at ends of bars show sizes of samples. . D ete: PRELIMINARY REPORT ON YOUNG STRIPED MULLET 19 Bayport: Fig. 4 and Table 1 show that at Bayport young mullet were collected during all months of the year except October. ‘The large specimen of 83 mm. taken in November, 1947, probably represents a stray individual from the 1946-47 spawning. The presence of specimens 21 mm. or less in length in only the month of October may indicate a shorter spawning season than the one at Cedar Key where such specimens were collected over a period of eight months beginning in October, 1947. However, the number of specimens collected at Bay- port is insufficient to be conclusive. The presence of specimens in July, August, and September collec- tions at Bayport constitutes another point of interest when compared with Cedar Key collections and lends support to the assumption that temperature may determine, in part at least, the length of stay of young mullet in marsh pools. As previously mentioned under the dis- cussion of temperature, Bayport mullet were taken in pools which did not show as high temperatures as those at Cedar Key (Fig. 2.) GrowtH Rate: Allowing for the differences in the size of samples and the actual dates of collection in a given month, the growth rate of young mullet appears to be approximately equal for the Bayport _ and Cedar Key areas. Assuming that the larger specimens collected in succeeding months represent the larger specimens of preceding months, it appeats that a given specitnen of 18 mm. 1n October may reach ap- proximately 27 mm. by late November, 35 mm. by the latter half of January, 54 mm. by mid-March, and 6; mm. by mid-April. Data for larger specimens is even less sufficient, and therefore does not warrant further projection of the growth rate. However, comparison with the monthly size ranges given by Gunter (op. cit.: 51) suggests a close similarity between growth of Florida and Texas specimens. CONSERVATION RECOMMENDATIONS Although the data here clearly indicate the need for additional study of the mullet in Florida waters, two facts seem sufficiently well established to be useful in conservation practices or research pro- grams: i Lhe very young mullet make extensive use of the small, mud- bottomed pools in the Gulf coastal marshes. Continued reduction in the number of these habitats by the constructions of man may have a marked effect on the survival’ of the young mullet. On the other hand, an increase in the number of such pools by artificial means may 20° JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES offset the loss so evident in and around many of Florida’s coastal towns and Cities. Pools similar to those which contained the majority of the speci- mens collected during the present ‘study should be relatively easy to create in suitable marsh areas. It is believed that explosives could be used to advantage in approximately the same manner presently em- ployed in blasting ditches through marsh areas. A few sticks of dyna- mite placed at a depth of about two feet in the soft mud of the marsh, s JUNE ‘48 JULY ‘48 a | f ——— ee ; —~ a '? APR.' 48 FEB.'48 JAN.'48 Fig. 4. Number and size range of young mullet collected from the Bay port area Cctober, 1947-September, 1948, represented by dark, radial bars (the hollow bar represents a June, 1947, collection). Numbers at ends of bars show sizes of samples. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON YOUNG STRIPED MULLET 21 arranged to form a pattern over an area of about ten teet in diameter, and detonated simultaneously, should accomplish the desired effect. The dynamite can be planted with a dibble in a matter of minutes, and proper spacing of the sticks can be determined for a given marsh after a few trials. In the event blasting is used, it is suggested that it be done during the late summer when the mullet are normally in deeper water. It is believed that the new pools should meet thé following require- ments: a. The depth should not be less than twelve inches nor greater than three feet at normal low tide. Complete drainage of a pool at low tide would force the fish concentrated there to seek other waters. 6. The width should not exceed 35 feet. Larger pools may be as useful, but the data collected to date, at least, indicate a greater use of the small ones by the young fish. (In the event the blasting method is employed, it will be difficult to create pools larger than from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, but these should be adequate.) c. The bottom should be of soft mud. This will be accomplished automatically if the pools are constructed in those portions of the marshes where the ground is basically mud rather than shell, sand, or some other component. d. The marsh adjacent to the pool should be covered fairly regu- larly by high tide to a depth of at least several inches. It is not necessary that channels connect the marsh pools to permanent watercourses of the marsh. 2. In addition, the rather long breeding season noted for mullet at Cedar Key and the possibly shorter one for those at Bayport is sug- gestive. The present closed season (December 10-January 20) designed to coincide with the spawning period may not actually be of sufficient duration for a given locality, yet may be too long, or at the incorrect time, for others. Much useful data concerning this problem could be obtained by determining the roe development in fish caught for market. Further study is clearly indicated for all major mullet producing areas. SUMMARY A total of 2,234 specimens of young striped mullet were collected in or immediately adjacent to the coastal marshes near the towns of © Bayport and Cedar Key, Florida, over a period extending from May 11, 22 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 1947, through December 19, 1948. Specimens ranged from 16 to —_ mm. in standard length. The primary habitat in the maps consisted “ats ceaaiie itor pools having soft mud bottoms. Exclusive of an cccasional individual , the young fish were not found in the marsh streams or in other waters where a noticeable current was present nor in the larger bodies = water of the marshes. Salinities, determined by the specific gravity method, at times bie places where the mullet were collected, showed a range of from 1.1 /oo to 35.6 “Joo. There was little evidence that the salinity changes, which - appeared to be fairly rapid at times, had any effect on the mullet’s choice of habitat in the marshes. Fresh waters adjacent to the marshes into which the young mullet could have penetrated, and which often contained adult mullet, never were observed to contain the young. Water temperatures in the marsh pools containing young mullet showed a range of between 13°C. and 34.5°C. Water temperatures re- corded showed a greater fluctuation at Cedar Key stations than did those in the Bayport area. The stabilizing effect of a rather significant volume of spring water flowing into the Bayport area coupled with the mullet’s occurrence in deeper pools there are considered the main factors contributing to this difference. Mullet at Cedar Key of 21 mm. or less in standard length feeeatcd in collections over the period October, 1947, to May, 1948, and indi- cated an extended breeding season for that area. At Bayport, collec- tions during the same period netted mullet of the 2z mm. (or less) size only in December and suggest that a much shorter season May exist there than at Cedar Key. Growth of the young mullet appears to be comparable in 7 ese areas studied. A 17 mm. specimen in October apparently may reach a size of slightly more than 60 mm. by the following April. Present data‘on larger specimens are too scattered to watrant further projection of the growth rate. 7 : During months when mullet of the 60-65 mm. size zand greater were expected to be numerous, relatively few of these larger fry. were pres- ent. It is assumed that the individuals reaching about 60 mm. move out of the marshes into deeper waters. Further, in July, August, and September, 1948, repeated seining in the marshes of the Cedar Key area failed to result in the finding of mullet of any size. Possibly ‘their absence was associated with the relatively high temperatures of the marsh pool waters. Bayport pools, on the other hand, had water 5 AND Bayport. } Totals ar Key ? 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69} 70| 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 Total Cedar Key; 2024 Total Bay port 71, 79mm. TABLE I.—Numper oF YOUNG MULLET IN EACH SIZE GROUP SHOWN BY DATES OF COLLECTION ror Cepar Key AND Bayport Date STANDARD LENGTH IN MILLIMETERS Totals = 16|17| 18} 19) 20} 21} 22 | 23) 24| 25 | 26| 27} 28] 29) 30] 31| 32] 33| 34| 35 | 36 | 37| 38 39| 40| 41] 42] 43 44] 45 | 46] 47| 48| 49] 50) 51|52| 53] 54|55| 56] 57/58 59 60} 61 | 62 | 63} 64 | 65} 66] 67| 68| 69] 70) 71 | 72| 73 | 74 i —| i ete |e 99)118}115} 88} 58 7 42) 43] 15) 2) 2 eee 23) 12) 19} 33} 37) 42) 23) 17) 4 1 9 2) 1 1 ie} a wn ~) =) Dieta | erste | ed | 16) 35} 22) 14 @e2ouu EN wWouUneHe: E eae aS Total Cedar Key| 2024 Unne: 1 A ed ata dR Sv ee dl Ie I SL eet aI le ST SD bade dbedoed hs Welk. pedbeall athedbeche-[s. lee at Toral Bayport 210 Totals include: 1 1, 80mm.; 1, 89mm 21,102mm. #1,103mm. 41, 86mm 51, 80mm €], 82mm.; 1, 88mm. 71, 79mm. PRELIMINARY REPORT ON YOUNG STRIPED MULLET 23 temperatures lower than those at Cedar Key and contained young mullet up to the latter part of November. Color and pattern descriptions of the young mullet are given, and four specimens of 17 mm., 39 mm., 63 mm., and 82 mm., respectively, are illustrated to show pertinent features. Accurate determination of the duration of the spawning season at various localities, and the expecimental construction of pools similar to those in which young mullet have been found, are recommended as important fields for conservation research. LITERATURE CITED BREDER, C. M., JR. . 1940. The spawning of Mugé/ cephalus on the Florida west coast. Copeia 1940(2): 138-139 GUNTER, GORDON 1945. Studies on marine fishes of Texas. Pub. Inst. Marine Science, Vol. 1,(2): 1-190, 11 figs., 75 tables. HIGGINS, ELMER 1927. Progress in biological inquiries in 1926. App. VII, Dept. U.S. Comm. Fisheries, 1927. Bur. Fish. Doc. 1929: 517-681. HILDEBRAND, SAMUEL F., and SCHROEDER, WM. C. 1928. The fishes of Chesapeake Bay. Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish. 43 (Part 1): 1-366, 211 figs. JACOT, ARTHUR PAUL 1920. Age, growth and scale characters, Mugél cephalus and Mugil curema. Trans. Am. Micro. Soc. 39: 199-229, 7 figs., 7 plates. JORDAN, DAVID STARR, and EVERMANN, BARTON WARREN 1902. American food and game fishes..1-+- 572. Doubleday Page and Co., New York. SCHUREMAN, PAUL (Prepared by) 1941. Manual of tide observations. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Coast and Geod. Surv. Special Pub. No. 196, Rev. (1941) Ed. iv + 92, 30 figs. > Quart. Journ. Fla. Acad. Sci., 11(1) 1948(1949). alee. ty via. iit: q ste , Parsi: t'r'é é. o eC x TEEER) F f gy) ¢ ‘ pkyi , ORR eth tt Heinys a [Piaf : ‘ ried 2 ul . x +. ' ae + F is - 4 » { 2 uw ¢ ad “/ , 6 aay § A PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE ENDEMIC FLOWERING PLANTS OF FLORIDA Rotanp M. Harper University, Alabama Part I—INTRODUCTION AND History oF ExpLORATION Florida probably has more species of endemic plants than any other atea of similar size and shape in the United States, and more than any other state except Texas and California, which are much larger and mote diversified. According to recent estimates Georgia and Ala- bama, which are about the same size as Florida, each have only ap- proximately 25 endemic species of flowering plants. The present study has been confined to the flowering plants, largely because it is primarily based on a book that includes only the Spermatophytes, and also because our present knowledge of the cryptogams is too limited to warrant definite statements about their distribution. There are three principal reasons for the many endemics in Florida. First, most of the state is a peninsula, relatively isolated from other land masses. Second, it projects southward from the continent, and there is no land near with climates similar to those of the southern part, if we except the Bahamas, which are relatively small, and differ greatly in soil from most of Florida. If the Florida peninsula extended eastward instead of southward its flora might be much like that of southern Georgia. Third, Florida has more sandy soils than any other state, and considerable areas of limestone in the central and southern portions. If the red hills of Georgia extended all the way down the peninsula and across the width of it, the numerous local species that characterize the dry sand areas could not exist. There are, however, a number of endemics in northern Florida, not so easily accounted for. No final or complete list of Florida endemics will ever be possible. If we make our list as complete as possible this year, it may be changed next year, as has often happened in the past, by the discovery in other states and countries of plants now known only from Florida, by the discovery of new species within the state, or by the dividing of pre- viously described species into two or more forms. It has happened several times that the Florida representatives of what was supposed to be a fairly widely distributed species have been found to differ decidedly 26 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES from those in other states or in tropical America. Some of the latter cases will be specially mentioned tarther on. A Brier History OF THE Discovery, oF Froripa ENDEMICS As the number of known Florida endemics has increased greatly since the early days, it would be of considerable interest to ascertain just where, when, and by whom each species was discovered and described. Tt would also be of interest to discuss the known distribution of each endemic species, and point out just how it is supposed to differ from its nearest relatives; but with so many species involved that would make quite a book. A complete history of botanical exploration in Florida would be rather voluminous, even without mention of particular species or bibliography, but the present study would be incomplete without some account of the men who discovered most of our en- demic species. 3 The principal botanists who have contributed to the list of ddebn: plants of Florida are mentioned in the next few pages, together with notes on their travels and writings. Much of the information about them has been obtained trom an article entitled “Some American Botanists of Early Days,’’ by Dr. John Hendley Barnhart (Journal New York Botanical Garden, August 1909), and from numerous biographical footnotes by him in various narratives by Dr. John K. Small, in later volumes of the same journal. Several other publications on Florida plants, not cited here because no new species ate described in them, ate cited in the bibliographies in the 3rd, 6th, and 18th Annual Reports of the Florida Geological Survey, the last of which brings the record down to about twenty years ago. Mark Catesby (1679-1749), an English naturalist, published a large work with colored plates, in instalments from 1730 to 1748. His work, entitled Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, is often referred to by later workers. The title would seem to imply that he visited Florida, but if he did he missed a splendid opportunity for discovering many plants no other botanist had ever seen. As far as I know, there is no specific reference to Florida in his work, nor even a description or figure of any plant now known only from Florida. Lin- naus used Catesby’s work, but apparently had no specimens or records from Florida. John Bartram (1699-1777), of Philadelphia, said to have been ie first native American botanist, made a tour of exploration through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida in 1765-1766, collecting seeds and PRELIMINARY LIST OF ENDEMIC FLORIDA PLANTS 27 plants to send to botanical gardens in England. In Florida he worked in the vicinity of St. Augustine, and the St. Johns River as far south as Lake Harney. He is said to have been a man of limited education, and did not consider his work of enough importance to publish a formal account of his-discoveries; but various fragments of his journal, taken from letters, etc., were published soon after his death by some of his English friends. A more complete manuscript of his was un- earthed in Philadelphia a few years ago, edited by my brother, Francis Harper, and published by the American Philosophical Society in December, 1942. Bartram is credited by Small (Journ. N.Y. Bot. Gard., 22:127. July, 1921) with being the discoverer of Zamia integrifolia, the first species on our endemic list. William Bartram (1739-1823), the son of John Bartram, accom- panied his father on his Florida journey and remained in Florida about two years, but at that time was chiefly interested in farming. He visited Florida and other southern colonies again in 1773 and later, with the primary purpose of botanical exploration, although he also made interesting and valuable observations on animals, Indians, etc. He published an interesting account of his work in his well-known volume of Travels, first printed in Philadelphia in 1791, and later reprinted in London and elsewhere and translated into other lang- uages. He seems to have gotten no farther south in Florida than his father did, but covered more ground, and got as far west as the Suwan- nee River, and later to Pensacola by way of Mobile. He discovered among other things the types of our endemic genera Salpingostylis and Pycnothymus, and one ot mote species of Pityothamnus, although these genera were not described until long after his death. An unpublished journal of William Bartram’s, giving numerous details not in his Travels, was edited by Francis Harper and published by the American philosophical Society in November, 1943. Andre Michaux (1746-1802), a Frenchman, traveled widely in the eastern United States a few years after the Revolution, and got into Florida far enough to discover a few new species, which were described in his Flora Boreali—Americana, published in Paris in 1803, after his death. The well-known genus Lespedeza is said to have been named by him-(by a misprint) in honor of Vicente Manuel de Cespedes, Spanish governor of Florida at the time of his visit. (See P. L. Ricker, Rhodora 36:130-132, April, 1934). Dr. William Baldwin (4779-1819), a navy surgeon, native of Pennsylvania, visited northeastern Florida in the spring of 1817, 28 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES and is credited with the discovery of Zamia umbrosa, one of our endemics, among other things. (See article by Small cited above under John Bartram.) Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859), an Englishman, lived in the United States from 1808 to 1841, with his headquarters in Philadelphia or Cambridge for most of that time. He traveled widely, often on foot- but the records of his travels in the southeastern states are very scat, tered. Dr. Francis W. Pennell pieced them together in Bartonia, De- cember, 1936, and found that he passed through West Florida in the spring of 1830, and then northeastward across Georgia. He also de- scribed before and after that a few species of plants collected in Florida by others. Nathaniel A. Ware (17802-1854), probably a native of Massachu- setts, made a.collection of plants, probably the most complete Florida collection up to that time, in East Florida in the fall of 1821. Ware’s specimens came into the hands of Nuttall; who published a report on themin the American Journal of Science in 1822, in which was included descriptions of six of the species now known only from Florida. The genus Warea, with four known species—three confined to Florida and tlie other a little more widely distributed—was named for Mr. Ware. (Only one of the species of Warea appeared in Nuttall’s 1822 list, and that under a different generic name.) Nuttall described a few more new species from Florida in the Journal of the Philadelphia Academy of Na- tural Sciences in 1834, and described the genus Warea in the same paper. Hardy B. Croom (1797-1837), of New Bern, North Carolina, owned plantations near Aspalaga, and later one near Tallahassee, and spent his winters in Florida from about 1832 to 1836. He discovered the tree now called Tumion taxifolium near Aspalaga (a now extinct settlement on the Apalachicola River in Gadsden County), but took it for a Taxus and thought that it did not differ much from the English yew. (See Amer. Journ. Sci., 26:314, 1834; 28:165, 1835.) He also discovered Bap- tisia simplicifolia near Quincy. One of his most interesting finds at or near Aspalaga was the type of the genus Croomia, but that is now known also from several places in Georgia and Alabama, and one or two other species of the genus have been found in Japan. He published some inter- esting articles about his observations in Florida and elsewhere in the American Journal of Science, and Dr. Chapman (mentioned below) pub- lished some reminiscences of him in the Botanical Gazette for April, 1885. Lieut. B. R. Alden (1811-1870), of the United States Army, who was stationed at Fort Brooke (near Tampa) and Fort King (near Ocala) in PRELIMINARY LIST OF ENDEMIC FLORIDA PLANTS 29 1832-33, during the Seminole wars, sent botanical specimens to Dr. John Torrey of New York (mentioned below). Apparently Lieut. Alden was not the discoverer of any of our endemics, but the genus Aldenella was named for him. M. C. Leavenworth (1796-1862) and G. W. Hulse (1807-1883) were both army surgeons in Florida in 1838, and they sent plams to Dr. Torrey. One species named for Dr. Leavenworth appears in our list, and he discovered a few other species in Florida and other states, de- scribing some of them himself. Dr. Hulse is believed to have been the discoverer of one of our species of Zamia. Dr. J. L. Blodgett (1809-1853), a druggist from Massachusetts, lived in Key West about the last 15 years of his life, and was practically the first botanical explorer of the Florida Keys. He discovered a consider- able number of new species there, several of which were named for him. Some of these appear in the following list, while others were later found also in the West Indies, and are therefore excluded from the list of Florida endemics. Drs. John Torrey of New York and Asa Gray of Cambridge, who at that time had never been near Florida, began the publication of a flora of North America, about 1838. In the next three years enough parts had been published to make two volumes, about halt of the projected total, but that was as far as it got. They had access to collections made by all or nearly all the Florida botanists already mentioned, and also some from Dr. A. W. Chapman, who had then been in Florida only a few yeats. One of our endemic genera, hee was first described in their Flora. Ferdinand Rugel (1806-1878) traveled widely in on southern states in the early 1840's and discovered several new plants in Florida and elsewhere. Most of these were named by R. J. Shuttleworth, an English- man living in Switzerland. About eight of Rugel’s discoveries appear in the following list. Prof. John Darby (1804-1877), about whom little is known except that he taught at Macon, Georgia, in the ’4o’s and at Auburn, Ala- bama, in the ‘50's, published a Botany of the Southern States in 1841, te- vised it in 1855, and reprinted it in 1860. This work is notable chiefly for being the first flora of the southeastern states as such. In the 1855 edition only about a dozen of our Florida endemics can be recognized. A genus of shrubs was named for Prof. Darby by Asa Gray. Dr. A. W. Chapman (1809-1899), a native of Massachusetts, was a physician interested in botany. He came to Florida about 1835 and prac- 30 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA’ ACADEMY OF SCIENCES - tised medicine for awhile in Quincy and Marianna, and finally for most of his long life in Apalachicola. In 1860, evidently encouraged and assisted by Dr. Gray, he published his book, entitled Flora of the Southern United States, but covering only the states east of the Mississippi River from North Carolina and Tennessee southward. é Although at that time about’ 95% of the area of Florida was virgin country, teeming with rare and interesting plants, most of Dr. Chap- man’s tite was naturally taken up by his professional duties; and his facilities for exploration were very limited. Neither Quincy, Marianna, not Apalachicola had a railroad at the time he lived in those places, and when Dr. Gray visited him in 1875 Apalachicola was connected with the rest of the United States by a river steamboat once a week and by occasional coastwise vessels. (See reminiscences of Chapman by Miss Winifred Kimball, an Apalachicola neighbor, in the Journal of the New York Botanical Garden, January, 1921.) : Despite all these difficulties, however, Dr. Chapman made good use of his limited opportunities. Besides his own collections in West and Middle Florida, he had access to specimens collected in other parts of ' the state by the men mentioned above, or at least had information about them from Dr. Gray. In his book he did not undertake to give the distribution of any native plant outside of the United States, so that many species also known from the West Indies were credited by him to Florida only. So Chapman’s Flora by itself is of little use in counting the number of Florida endemics known to him, but we can pick them out of Small’s southern floras, published in the present century, and then trace them back through the various editions of Chapman’s work. Even then, however, there is some uncertainty, because some of the species de- scribed by Chapman can not be identified in Small’s works, which do not give enough synonyms. Very likely most such plants were not good species, but all of them should not be dismissed without investigation. Making the best possible allowance for these uncertainties, it would . seem that 62 species of flowering plants now known only in Florida were known to Dr. Chapman in 1860, although some of them were treated by him as varieties, and a few he did not even consider worth naming. Without making a special count, I would-guess that about half of these 62 were Dr. Chapman’s own discoveries. Botanical activity in Florida Le during the Civil War, but was resumed in the ’7o’s. Allen H. Curtiss (1845-1907), a Virginian, came to Flonida in n 3875, PRELIMINARY LIST OF ENDEMIC FLORIDA PLANTS 31 and in the next 25 years traveled extensively over the state, collecting many sets of plants, which were distributed to the leading herbaria of the world. Several of the species were new, and named for him, and some of these appear in the following list. After 1900 he extended his explorations to other southern states, and to the West Indies, but continued to make occasional discoveries in Florida. He did not de- scribe any new species himself, but published several interesting articles about his travels, and notes on particular species or groups of plants. Dr. A. P. Garber (1838-1881), a Pennsylvanian, visited Florida for his health in 1876 and later, and discovered several new plants. He seems to have worked mostly in the northeastern quarter of the state, but got as far south as Miami at least once. The genus Garberia and several species bear his name. Dr. William T. Feay (18032-1879), of Savannah, seems to have visited Florida in the late ’70’s, but not much is known of his itiner- aty. He was the discovered of Asclepiodella Feayi, Palafoxia Feayi, and Lobelia Feayana, and a few other species that are more widely dis- tributed. Dr. Chapman published descriptions of several new species col- lected by himself and others, in the Botanical Gazette in 1878, and in 1883 a second edition of his Flora. Most of that was identical with the first edition, but it contained a 71-page supplement with separate index, describing many additional species. That brought the total of known Florida endemics up to 100, if I have counted correctly. In 1892 he published another edition, with a small second supplement; but that work is quite rare, and I have not had access to it in pre- paring this study. Around 1890 Joseph H. Simpson (1841-1918), who in his younger days was a coal miner in his native state of Illinois, explored some little-known parts of South Florida, particularly around Manatee and on the Keys, and discovered a few new species, some of which bear his name in the following list. Several of his specimens, distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, were cited in Hitchcock’s list Gmentioned below). He settled near Bradenton, and at one time, when land was cheap, owned considerable property there; but he was tricked out of it, and when I called on him, in the spring of 1909, he was living in poverty and ill health. At that time he did not even have a copy of Small’s Flora. In the middle and late ’g0’s several enthusiastic young botanists from the North, born since the publication of the first edition of 32 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Chapman’s Flora, took advantage of recently constructed railroads and growing towns, especially in the central parts of the state, to make some more important discoveries. Among these were George V. Nash (1864-1921), A. S. Hitchcogk (1865-1935), P. H. Rolfs (1865- 1944), Herbert J. Webber (1865-1946), and W. T. Swingle (still liv- ing). Mr. Nash, connected with the New York Botanical Garden during most of his professional life, soon attracted considerable atten- tion for his discoveries around Eustis, and later for his work on grasses; and he wrote the chapter on grasses for = first and second editions of Small’s Flora. About the same time a few other men of about the same age, or a little younger, who had not yet visited Florida, studied specimens from. various parts of the state in northern herbaria, and found some previously unsuspected novelties among them. Some of the new species discovered in the ’90’s were very distinct, but had been over- looked before because they did not grow near the older routes of travel. Dr. Chapman seemed to be very skeptical about the work of these ‘“‘young upstarts,’’ and admitted only three or four of their ‘species to his last book, but intimated that others, if found valid, would be treated in future editions. The fourth and last Cmiscalled third) edition of Chapman’s Flora, completely revised, was published in 1897. Although he made little use of the work of the younger botanists just mentioned, additional discoveries by himselt, Curtiss, Simpson, and others since 1883 brought the total of Florida endemics then recognized to 121. Professor Hitchcock, then connected with the Kansas Agricultural College, later a grass specialist in Washington, made a few visits to Florida in the ’90’s. In the summer of 1898 he walked, mostly along railroads, from Monticello to Live Oak, Dunnellon, Brooksville and Bayport, trundling his plant press and other baggage on a wheel- barrow-like contrivance with a bicycle wheel, designed by him for that purpose. He published a brief account of that trip, with a pic- tute of his vehicle, in his college paper, the Industrialist, for Novem- ber, 1898. From that we learn that he walked 242 miles in 24 days, camped out every night. cooked his own meals, and his expenses aver- aged about 30 cents a day. (That may seem incredibly low to persons born since then, but at that time commodity prices were just about the lowest in the whole history of the United States, and steak could be bought for about ten cents a pound.) The plants collected on that trip and two earlier ones, and by sev- PRELIMINARY LIST OF ENDEMIC FLORIDA PLANTS 33 eral other botanists with whom he exchanged specimens, made the basis of his List of Plants in My Florida Herbarium, published by the Kansas Academy of Science in two instalments, 1899 and 1901. This list enumerated about 1750 species of spermatophytes (of which 96 species are now believed to be confined to Florida) and 32 pterido- phytes, with localities. It did not claim to be a complete flora of the state, but is useful for giving fairly definite localities, though often nothing more than the county, and with little or no indication of habitats (which mean little to the average taxonomist). Protessor Hitchcock wrote up the grasses for Small’s Manual, 1933. His last work, Manual of the Grasses of the United States, a 1040-page book published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1935, con- tains descriptions of all the endemic grasses in the following list, and a few others not included because they were published after Small’s Manual. Professor S. M. Tracy (4847-1920), native of Vermont but long a tesident of Mississippi, traveled extensively in Florida in the early yeats of the present century, primarily to study forage plants for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but also collecting as many other plants as possible, a considerable number of which proved to be un- described. His name is commemorated by Pityopsis Tracyi in the fol- lowing list, as well as by several species not confined to Florida. Some of his Florida plants were still being described after the publication of Small’s Manual (and are therefore not listed here), for example, Eragrostis Tracyi, known only from Sanibel Island, described by Hitch- cock in 1934. About the turn of the century a new and brilliant star was rising, so to speak, in the person of Dr. John Kunkel Small (1869-1938), of New York. He began exploring the southern states about 1893, and made his first trip to Florida, with Mr. Nash, in the fall of 1901. On that trip he stuck pretty closely to the east coast most of the time, but got as far south as the Upper Keys, and the unfinished grade ot the Florida East Coast Railway on the mainland below Miami. After that he visited Florida practically every year, and sometimes two or three times a year. He wrote narratives of each trip, and various other observations on Florida plants, for the Journal of the New York Botanical Garden, and described many new species in other magazines. At the New York Botanical Garden he had access to the most com- plete collection of sovthern plants in the world, and he made good use of it in his 1362-page Flora of the Southeastern United States (North 34 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Carolina to Texas), published in the summer of 1903. This work listed about 400 species of flowering plants apparently confined to Florida; but he and his enthusiastic associates and contemporaries had evidently carried species-splitcing too far in some groups, especi- ally Paspalum, Panicum, Sisyrinchium and Crategus, and many of these were dropped trom his later works. At the same time he was less diligent then than later in ascertaining the distribution of his species outside of the United States, so that quite a number now known also in the West Indies were attributed to Florida only, as they had been by Chapman. The total number of Florida endemics in Dr. Smail’s first book which stood his later tests was 227, if I have counted cor- rectly; but even that was nearly twice as many as Dr. Chapman had included six years before. Dr. Small published a second edition of his Flora in 1913. Most of this edition was identical with the first, but several pages scattered through the book were revised to include more species—the descrip- tions being shortened for that purpose—and a 53-page supplement was added. This brought the total of supposed Florida endemics up ‘to 259. In the same year he published four small books on Florida plants, namely, Florida Trees, Shrubs of Florida, Flora of Miami, and Flora of the Florida Keys. All of these of course contained descriptions of some of our endemic species, but none additional to those in his large book of the same date. About that time some of the thinly settled parts of the state, especi- ally in the southern half, were being made more accessible by new railroads and highways, and Dr. Small made good use of these, and sometimes of trucks and boats furnished by wealthy patrons who owned winter homes in South Florida and assisted his researches in the last twenty years of his life. (Some of his Florida narratives of that period were written in rather exuberant language, as if to enter- tain the men who helped him, who were flower-lovers of a sort, but not profound students of botany.) Some of the Florida endemics described by him were named for these men, as can be seen in the following list. With these added facilities for travel Dr. Small accumulated new material so fast that twenty years elapsed between his 1913 book and his last one, Manual of the Southeastern Flora (North Carolina to eastern Louisiana). In the meanwhile many of his discoveries were published in Magazines; but quite a number made their first appearance in his Manual, which, unlike his two previous Floras, was restricted to PRELIMINARY LIST OF ENDEMIC FLORIDA PLANTS 35 flowering plants. If I have counted correctly, it lists 427 Florida en- demics (including a few near-endemics, discussed farther on), besides about a dozen species attributed to Florida only which have been as- certained from other sources to occur in tropical America. A few younger botanists have made significant contributions to our knowledge of the Florida flora during the present century, but their work can perhaps be appraised better after it has been completed. In order, however, to make clear my own connection with the work, for the benefit of those who may have come into the state since 1931, I may say that my first records of Florida plants were made in August, 1903. At that time I visited River Junction, as Dr. Gray had done about 28 years before, to see the Torreya |Tumion| in its native haunts, and I tried to trace it up into Georgia, where I was then work- ing. Cin that I was unsuccessful at the time, but I had better luck 15 years later.) In the fall of 1908 I began working for the Florida Geological Sur- vey, continuing intermittently until 1931. During that time I visited every county, and made the acquaintance of about fifty of the endemic species listed below. In the 6th, 13th and 18th Axnual Reports of the survey, all published between Small’s second and third books, I classi- fied the commoner plants of northern, central, and southern Florida by regions or habitats, or both, and a few of the endemic species were included in these lists. In the last report I gave some statistics on the endemics of South Florida, by regions. It was my good fortune to discover two of the endemic shrubs, Prunus geniculata in Lake County in 1909, and Grossularia Echinella in Jefferson County in 1924. (See Torreya, March, 1911, and June, 1925.) But the former turned out to have been collected long betore but not recognized, and Dr. Herman Kurz shared in the discovery of the latter by taking me to the place on the day of discovery, February 29, 1924. I collected some specimens of the monotypic endemic genus Litrisa near Fort Pierce in August, 1923, about a year before Dr. Small described it, and soon sent some of them to him. It may also be worth putting on record here that I knew all the bot- amists mentioned in the foregoing narrative, beginning with J. H. Simpson, and read manuscript, or proof, or both, of Dr. Small’s three large books. (To be Continued) \ iy’ " As « : i. i a be vor. ‘ A is ; : ew ey . tj § Fah j . ei a oe i \ be ca L. é r +k i “ 4 i a, y al Me ~ 4 , ‘ iis We ee ; * ! ca . i \ by ( ' a 7 - Ps ‘ oye ee h 4 ‘ eg. , Sas nial Coop £52 CHG iit 1. hy ape . wt 44 i Pa ‘ rat + “ : ALth ry vt ; €% “s ra (ss Aa « 34 h if . . : ” A i, , t i ‘ “4 a) F P . Bhs Ca ‘ h - 4 ( a Pe Wid 2. is Ma’ ¢ iui A,’ i cry lasiu : eater ss oh : & r He Ciatrity RELATIONSHIP OF RECENTLY ISOLATED HUMAN FECAL STRAINS: OF POLIOMYELITIS TO THE LANSING MURINE STRAIN’ Beatrice F. Howrrt gud Racnet H. Gorrie? During the summer of 1946 fecal specimens and blood sera were obtained by the epidemiological division of our Public Health station in Montgomery from human cases of poliomyelitis at Florence, Ala- bama. The fecal specimens were inoculated into monkeys and several strains of poliomyelitis virus were isolated. These strains fulfilled the ctiteria proposed for the identification of the poliomyelitis virus; namely, (1) the monkeys became ill within the required incubation period, showing fever, irritability, tremor and flaccid paralysis of one or more limbs and occasionally complete prostration, (2) histopatho- logical sections of the cord showed the typical lesions of acute anterior poliomyelitis, and (3) the virus could be transmitted to other monkeys by the intracerebral route but not to mice or guinea pigs. In 1939 Armstrong (1939) had adapted the Lansing strain of polio- myelitis to cotton rats. In 1940 Haas and Armstrong (1940) determ- ined that neutralizing antibodies to the Lansing mouse adapted polio- myelitis virus could be demonstrated in many human sera. Early and late bleedings were not tested, however. Turner and Young (1943) showed that antibodies to the Lansing virus were. present in 45 per- cent of the sera of the poliomyelitis patients studied but since they wete found both early and late in the course of the disease, no par- ticular significance could be attached to their presence. They decided that the test was of no value as a diagnostic aid. Recently, in 1947, Brown and Francis (1947) determined the antibody titers during the acute and convalescent stages in the sera from several groups of polio- myelitis cases obtained from outbreaks in various parts of the country. In only 5 out of 35 cases were the sera negative in the acute stage and positive after recovery. Likewise Hammon, Mack, and Reeves (1947) found that 84 out of 102 sera from poliomyelitis cases had a high titer at onset of the disease. Because the blood samples had been obtained from the Florence 1 Contribution from the United States Public Health Service, Communicable Disease Center, Laboratory Division, Montgomery, Alabama. 2 Bacteriologists, United States Public Health Service. 38 - JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES cases, some of them in pairs of early and convalescent bleedings, it was thought of interest to test these sera for neutralizing antibodies against the Lansing murine virus, and also to determine any relation- ship between these recently isolated strains of poliomyelitis and the murine adapted type after experimental studies in monkeys. Since very little has been done in determining the development of antibodies for the Lansing virus in monkeys that have recovered from a polio- myelitis acquired by the inoculation of human feces nor on the determ- ination of the amount of cross immunity that might be found between these strains in monkeys, the results of a few neutralization and ex- perimental tests are being presented. MetHops Virus Strains: Several strains of poliomyelitis virus were used in the following experiments. These included three human strains re- cently isolated from fecal material; the old MV or monkey .passage strain kindly sent by Dr. H. Howe of Johns Hopkins; the Lansing mouse adapted strain also sent from the same laboratory and origin- ally isolated by Dr. C. Armstrong, and the Y-SK murine adapted polio- myelitis virus kindly sent by Dr. J. L. Melnick of Yale Medical School. Each of these strains was made into a 10 per cent brain suspension and kept frozen in ampules at —60°C until needed. They were then thawed, removed from the ampules and used either for intracerebral inoculation of the monkeys to be tested for immunity or for the neutralization tests in mice with the sera to be tested for antibodies. In testing for immunity, the MV virus was usually administered in 0.5 ml. and the Lansing and Y-SK viruses in 1.0 ml. amounts into the brain tissue of the monkeys through a small opening made in the skull under light ether anesthesia. Daily temperatures were taken on the animals and they were exercised regularly for the appearance of symptoms. They were kept under observation for from two to three weeks. Neutralization Tests: All neutralization tests on either animal or human sera were performed with the Lansing mouse adapted polio- myelitis strain and with a few modifications were based on the work of both Young and Merrell (1943) and Morgan (1947) who have carefully evaluated the most reliable methods for this test with the Lansing virus. The so-called ‘‘screen test,’ using one dilution of virus against the undiluted serum was employed initially in order to HUMAN STRAINS OF POLIO AND LANSING MURINE STRAIN 39 roughly determine which sera contained neutralizing antibodies. If a more quantitative estimate was desired, the positive sera were either diluted out and used against one dilution of virus or the nutralization index was determined by using the undiluted serum against several dilutions of virus. : Equal quantities of the appropriate dilution of serum or virus were mixed and held overnight in the coldrcom at 6 to 8°C. They were then inoculated intracerebrally into 4 weeks old mice, allowing 8 mice for each dilution. A known positive as well as a known negative serum was included with each series of tests. Daily observations were made for three weeks. All fatalities within this period were recorded and the degree of neutralization determined. A serum was considered negative if of the 8 mice 2 or less survived and as positive if 2 or less died. The test was called 1+ or weakly positive if between 3 and 4 of the 8 mice died. NEUTRALIZATION JEsSTs ON. HUMAN SERA Neutralization tests against the Lansing murine virus were per- formed on the sera of 38 of the poliomyelitis patients from Florence, Alabama. The virus of poliomyelitis had been isolated from the fecal specimens of 6 of these cases, so that there was no doubt that the virus Was present in the community. Early and late sera were tested from 13 of the 38 patients. In only 2 instances (15.3%) was there a definite rise in antibody formation between the first and second bleedings, although 3 of the 13 sera (23%) were negative at the first bleeding and showed very weak antibodies after the second. A total of nine of the 38 patients showed strong neutralizing antibodies, while 12 (31.5 %) wete only weakly positive. The latter are included with the sera taken in the acute and convalescent stages. The remaining 17 sera did not show the presence of antibodies. The poliomyelitis virus had been isolated from the feces of 3 of these cases. Only one patient with a positive virus isolation had definite antibodies for the Lansing strain. Neutralization screen tests were likewise made on the sera of seven of the laboratory personnel, one of whom had a history of poliomyelitis in early childhood and was left with residual paralysis. All except one serum showed neutralizing antibodies for the Lansing virus. Two, however, were only weakly positive. The older ages of this group as compared with those of the recently recovered poliomyelitis patients may have accounted for the larger percentage of positive results. 40 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ExPERIMENTAL DATA Monkeys that recovered after having developed poliomyelitis from inocu- lation of fecal specimens: Six morkeys were on hand that had been inoculated with the strains of poliomyelitis from the feces of six dif- ferent human cases. Two of them G/3 and #37) had received the feces directly by the intranasal and intraabdominal routes and showed definite paralysis. The other four animals had been inoculated intra- cerebrally with cord suspensions from monkeys that became paralyzed after receiving the fecal material from four different human cases. One of these four monkeys developed slight symptoms but the others all remained well. | About a month after recovery M#3 (Allen) was given an intracere- bral injection of the MV virus. No symptoms of poliomyelitis were noticed. On January 31, 1947, all six of the animals were tested intra- cerebrally with a 10 per cent mouse brain suspension of the Lansing virus. These injections were done three months after the last inocula- tion for M#3 and about two months after the initial dose for the other monkeys. M#3 withstood the inoculation of the MV monkey passage virus but succumbed to the Lansing strain. All except one of the others developed paralysis and two died G56 and #57) after receiving the latter virus. The control animals in each instance showed com- plete paralysis. About two and one-half months later the surviving monkeys #37, #42, and #49 were reinoculated intracerebrally with a Io pet cent mouse brain suspension of the Y-SK murine virus. All remained well. | Blood was drawn from all of these animals at different time inter- vals. The sera were tested for neutralizing antibodies against the Lansing strain. All of the tests were negative until after the inocula- tion of the Lansing virus into the animals, when antibodies developed in the blood of two of the three survivors. From these observations it was found that neutralizing antibodies for the Lansing virus wefe not developed in monkeys after either a partial paralysis due to inoculation of fecal human strains of polio- myelitis virus or after attempts at a second passage of freshly isolated ‘strains. The four monkeys that had been given the second passage ma- terial either died or were paralyzed after intracerebral injection of the Lansing virus, indicating that even though they may have had a subclinical infection after the human strain, no immunity was de- veloped for the Lansing virus. Protection was develpoed for the HUMAN STRAINS OF POLIO AND LANSING MURINE STRAIN 41 Jatter, however, in one monkey (#37) that was a post paralytic after the fecal inoculations. The reverse was true with M73 which sur- vived the fecal and MV injections but became completely paralyzed after the intracerebral inoculation of the Lansing virus. Experiment 1: Eight Rhesus monkeys were inoculated with fecal specimens from two human cases of poliomyelitis, using four animals for each specimen and two different methods of inoculation. The fecal specimens had previously given positive results in monkeys when introduced intranasally and intra-abdominally, although the strains of virus were not highly active after isolation. In this experiment the same fecal materials were again used both by the older method of Paul and Trask used previously (1941) and by another method recently developed by Bodian (1947). By the former a portion of a fecal sus- pension was left untreated to be instilled intranasally over a five to six day period and the remainder was treated with 15 % ether and left overnight in the cold to inhibit bacterial growth. After centrifugation the supernatant fluid was then inoculated intra-abdominally in 10- 15 ml. amounts for several days or until about 30 ml. were given. By the Bodian method 0.5 ml. of a fairly thick fecal suspension was placed in each nostril and delivered onto the cribriform plate while the ani- mal was held with head down and under ether anesthesia. Material from two different patients was used. Only two animals showed symptoms of poliomyelitis and these wete inoculated by the first method. Blood was drawn from all the animals both before injection and at different intervals later as shown in Table 1. Neutralization screen tests were performed against the Lansing strain of poliomyelitis virus using these sera. The results were all negative. The monkeys were then inoculated intracerebrally with 0.5 ml. of a 10 ! dilution of the Lansing virus. Five of the 8 animals as well as the control monkey, became completely paralyzed and were sacrificed. This included M#75 which had shown muscular weakness after the fecal inoculations. M#72 and #78 which had not developed any previous symptoms of poliomyelitis remained well but M#76 showed definite paralysis even though it was the only animal that had manifested marked symptoms after the fecal inoculations. Blood was removed from the survivors about two months later. The neutralization tests against the Lansing virus were positive for monkey #72 but negative for the others. 42 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES According to this experiment no neutralizing antibodies against the Lansing strain of poliomyelitis virus were developed after inoculation of eight monkeys with fecal specimens from two human cases of poliomyelitis. Two animals, however, withstood an intracerebral injection of the virus even though they had not previously shown any sumptoms to the human virus. Experiment 2: Six Cynomolgus monkeys were inoculated with one of the newly isolated strains of poliomyelitis GGonce). Two animals (#82 and #83) were given intracerebral injections of second passage brain suspensions, while the other four were inoculated with the original fecal material from the same patient. Two of the latter mon- keys were given the feces intranasally and intra-abdominally by the Paul and Trask method while the remaining two received the un- treated feces by way of the cribriform plate according to the Bodian method. All animals developed typical poliomyelitis (Table 2) but differed in the degree of severity. Two showed slight muscular weakness, one of the left arm and the other of the left leg. Both recovered. The other monkeys were sacrificed. Blood was removed from the surviving two animals at different intervals up to five weeks after recovery. All neutralization tests on the sera were negative for the Lansing poliomyelitis virus even those from convalescent monkeys. The re- sults were in accord with the other tests performed. Discuss1oNn The need tor some simple method of determining immunity to polio- myelitis among the human population has long been realized. Serum neutralization tests had previously been made by inoculation of monkeys with mixtures of human serum and a monkey passage strain of virus or viruses recovered from human cord taken at autopsy. Be- cause of the scarcity and high cost of monkeys this method was of necessity greatly restricted. It was also statistically unsound because of the small numbers of animals employed for each serum. When it was found that a particular strain of virus isolated from a human case of poliomyelitis could be adapted to small animals such as the cotton rat and white mouse, there was hope that the determination of neu- tralizing antibodies for this virus in human sera might be ot diagnostic value. Such antibodies were found not only in the serum of recovered poliomyelitis patients but in large numbers of the normal population as well. However, this wide distribution of neutralizing antibodies had HUMAN STRAINS OF POLIO AND LANSING MURINE STRAIN 43 likewise been observed when using the older monkey inoculation method. Because tests with this Lansing mouse adapted virus were more readily performed, reports have been made by several workers. Although Hammon and Izumi (1942) in 1942 observed a rise in antibody titer during convalescence in 9 out of 23 (9.1%) sera from poliomyelitis cases, the more detailed studies by Turner and Young (1943), Turner, Young and Maxwell (1945) and Brown and Francis (1947) have failed to observe any consistent difference in antibody formation between acute and convalescent sera. Antibodies were rarely found in the sefa of healthy young children and the number of positive tests increased with age. Turner, Young and Maxwell (1945) in study- ing the sera of healthy children demonstrated an increase of antibodies for the Lansing virus from 15% in the 6 to 11 months period to 86% in the 10 to 14 year group. Brown and Francis (1947) furthermore found a lower percentage of positive tests in 234 sera of acute cases between the ages of 1 and 15 years than in Turner’s group ot healthy children. One of the main outcomes of this interest in the mouse adapted Lansing poliomyelitis strain has been the realization that the human clinical disease is probably not confined to one type of virus and that not only in different localities but in the same area, the same clinical manifestations may be elicited by closely related though antigenically dissimilar neurotropic viruses. This idea was well demonstrated in 1943, when Schlesinger, Morgan and Olitsky (1943) were able to isolate two serologically unrelated poliomyelitis viruses from one epidemic occurring among the Middle East Forces of the British Army. One of these could be transferred to cotton rats and mice and was sero- logically related to the Lansing strain, while the other could be transmitted to monkeys and failed to produce antibodies for the Lansing virus. Although antibodies to the murine strains of poliomyelitic virus seem to be generally present, largely among the adult population, and are probably indicative of some contact with this variety, yet the disease clinically recognized as poliomyelitis is mainly caused by another strain which is not adaptable to the rodents. For this reason large scale neutralization tests on human sera against the Lansing virus would not have much epidemiological significane as tar as the usual variety of the disease is concerned. Development of antibodies to the Lansing strain after inoculation of chimpanzees with the human virus has been reported in the literature (Melnick and Horstmann, 1947) but without satisfactory explanation. 44 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES In the present study no antibody formation to the Lansing strain was observed after inoculation of monkeys with the human fecal specimens from this one epidemic of poliomyelitis, although clinical symptoms of poliomyelitis were produced. These human fecal strains were not adaptable to mice. Since neutralizing antibodies for the Lan- sing strain were present during the early stages of the disease as well as later, in the majority of acute and convalescent human sera tested, one can conclude that this epidemic of poliomyelitis was not pri- marily due to the strains easily adapted to small rodents, and that the presence of these neutralizing antibodies was not an indication of the immunity to poliomyelitis in this region. SUMMARY 1. Neutralization tests against the Lansing mouse adapted polio- myelitis virus were done on the sera otf 38 poliomyelitis patients and on those of 7 normal adults among the laboratory personnel. One of the latter had the disease in childhood. 2. Nine (23.6%) of the 38 recovered patients had strongly positive neutralizing antibodies for the Lansing virus while 12 (g1.5%) were only weakly positive and 17 or 44.9% were negative. Ot the 13 pairs of early and late sera, only 2 (15.3%) showed a definite rise in anti- body formation while 3 of the 13 sera (23%) were weakly positive on the second bleeding. 3. All except one of the 7 sera of the laboratory personnel showed some degree of neutralizing antibodies for the Lansing poliomyelitis virus. ) 4. Neutralizing antibodies for the Lansing virus were not developed in any monkeys recovered from the poliomyelitis produced by inocu- lation of human feces. They were found only in monkey sera after a definite attack of the disease due to the Lansing strain or after hyper- immunization with the later virus. This observation may be inter- preted as indicating an antigenic difference between the Lansing strain of virus and that responsible for the human disease. 5. Four out of 5 monkeys that recovered from an attack of polio- myelitis of human origin showed symptoms of poliomyelitis after an intracerebral inoculation of the Lansing virus. The fifth animal sur- vived. | 6. From the results of these neutralization and tissue immunity tests, further evidence is presented to corroborate the work of others that the neutralization test against the Lansing murine strain of polio- 45 HUMAN STRAINS OF POLIO AND LANSING MURINE STRAIN Ayjesvursaui—'o°y . 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LNAWTYAIX “SNOLLV'TNSONT AAANOYPYT £0 LTASAY—' T aTav T a — — — — es == = - on = = — — ~ _ —— ——————— Ha ae 46 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES myelitis virus is not of diagnostic significance in an outbreak of polio- myelitis. 7. Moreover, because antibodies are so prevalent in the sera of the general population without evidence of disease, one would have to test both acute and convalescent blood of a suspected case, and quan- titatively determine any rise in titer before making any decision as to its significance. One must likewise bear in mind the probable occur- rence of a multiplicity of virus strains that may be responsible for the same clinical disease in man. LITERATURE CITED ARMSTRONG, C. 1939. Successful Transfer of the Lansing Strain of Poliomyelitis Virus from the Cotton Rat to the White Mouse. Public Health Reports, 54, 2302-2305. BODIAN, D. 1947. Personal Communication. BROWN, G. C., and FRANCIS, T., JR. 1947. The Neutralization of the Mouse-Adapted Lansing Strain of Poliomyelitis Virus by the Serum of Patients and Contacts. Journal of Immunology, 57, 1-10. HAAS, V. H., and ARMSTRONG, C. 1940. Immunity to the Lansing Strain of Poliomyelitis as Revealed by the Protec- tion Test in White Mice. Public Health Reports, 55, 1061-1068. HAMMON, W. McD., and IZUMI, E. M. 1942. Poliomyelitis Mouse Neutralization Test, Applied to Acute and Convalescent Sera. Proceedings of the Socéety for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 49, 242-245 HAMMON, W. McD., MACK, W. N., and REEVES, W. C. 1947. The Significance of Protection Tests with the Serum of Man and Other Ani- mals Against the Lansing Strain of Poliomyelitis Virus. Journal of Immunology, 57, 285-299. MELNICK, J. L., and HORSTMANN, D. M. 1947. Active Immunity to Poliomyelitis in Chimpanzees Following Subclinical In-. fection. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 85, 2.87-303. MORGAN, I. M. 1947. The Role of Antibody in Experimental Poliomyelitis. I. Reproducibility of Endpoint in a Mouse Neutralization Test with Lansing Poliomyelitis Virus. American Journal of Hygiene, 45, 372-378. PAUL, J. R., and TRASK, J. D. 1941. The Virus of Poliomyelitis in Stcols and Sewage. Journal of the American Med- ical Assn., 116, 493-497. SCHLESINGER, R. W., MORGAN, I. M., and OLITSKY, P. K. 1943. Transmission to Rodents of Lansing Type Poliomyelitis Virus Originating in the Middle East. Scéence, 98, 452-454. HUMAN STRAINS OF POLIO AND LANSING MURINE STRAIN 47 TURNER, T. B., and YOUNG, L. E. 1943. The Mouse Adapted Lansing Strain of Poliomyelitis Virus, I. A Study of Neutralizing Antibodies in Acute and Convalescent Serum of Poliomyelitis Patients. American Journal of Hygiene, 37, 67-79. TURNER, T. B., YOUNG, L. E., and MAXWELL, E. S. 1945. The Mouse Adapted Lansing Strain of Poliomyelitis Virus. IV. Neutralizing Antibodies in the Serum of Healthy Children. American Journal of Hygiene, 42, 119-127. YOUNG, L. E., and MERRELL, M. 1943. The Mouse Adapted Lansing Strain of Poliomyelitis Virus. II. A Quantitative Study of Certain Factors Affecting the Reliability of the Neutralization Test. American Journal of Hygiene, 37, 80-92. Quart. Journ. Fla. Acad. Sci. 11(1) 1948(1949). f c poe hi Spe ¥ , { | (ie AS 6 7 “A Leo 4A * ‘ wae ; ‘ ‘ ey ey ? ; “4 at-t ¥ ~ \ E i , ‘ np (rd i % ; [ a ‘ = ' t ‘ i U i / ¢ I i Mh ae ca aes . “ fete i = . q : si ~ g £ i 1 a J ry y . ’ 4 rhs By var Fai at eet! \ F NEWS AND COMMENTS The 1948 Annual Meeting of the Florida Academy was held at the University of Miami in Coral Gables on November 19 and 20 as an- nounced in the last issue of the Journal. More than fifty papers were presented in the sectional meetings and in the general sessions. The local committee and the University of Miami are to be commended on the fine arrangements for the meetings and the excellent field trips and other entertainment provided for the members of the Academy and their guests. The fine organization and excellent program of the Junior Academy arranged by Dr. J. D. Corrington, is especially to be commended. The Council of the Academy voted to accept the invitation to hold the 1949 Annual Meeting at John B. Stetson University, DeLand, Florida. OFFICERS OF THE FLorripA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 1948 1949 President: George F. Weber President: J. E. Hawkins University of Florida University of Florida Vice President: Garald G. Parker Vice President: J. D. Corrington U.S. Geological Survey University of Miami Secretary-Treasurer: Chester S. Nielsen Florida State University Chairmen of Sections Soctal; Rev. C. W. Burke, O.P, Soctal: Paul F. Finner Barry College Florida State University Biological: John H. Davis, Jr. Biological: A. M. Winchester University of Florida John B. Stetson University Physical: A. A. Bless Physical: H. H. Sheldon University of Florida University of Miami Member of the Council for 1948-1949: E. M. Miller, University of Miami Member of the Council for 1949-1950. George F. Weber, University of Florida Historian: George F. Weber, University of Florida Librarian: Coleman J. Goin, University of Florida Publicity Agent: Raymond F. Bellamy, Florida State University Editor: Frank N. Young, Jr., University of Florida Assistant Editor: Irving J. Cantrall, University of Florida 50 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Dr. Marcus W. Collins of John B. Stetson University was awarded the Florida Academy of Sciences Achievement Medal for 1947 for his paper entitled “‘Race, Caste, and Motbility—A Study of the Negro in the Santee-Cooper Project Area of South Carolina.’’ His paper was published in shortened form in the Quarterly Journal under the title “Life, Labor, and Sorrow—A Study of the Caste System in the Santee- Cooper Project Area of South Carolina.”’ We regret to announce the death of Dr. Winslow S. Anderson, President of Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, and former Dean of Rollins College. Dr. Anderson died in Rochester, Minne- sota, on November 13, 1948, following a major operation. ResEarcH Notes RANGE EXTENSIONS OF TWO BATS IN FLORIDA—To the growing knowledge of the distribution of bats in Florida (@éde H. B. Sherman, 1936, Proc. Fla. Acad. Sci. 1:106-109, and 1945, op. cét., 7:193-197 and 201), it is desired to contribute the following records which extend known ranges of two-species. Corynorhinus macrotis, big-eared bat. A.E. Glatfelter captured two individuals of this species in the basement of his house on the campus of the Hampden-DuBose Academy at Zell- wood, Orange County, Florida, in June, 1946. He preserved one of them, a female, which, after two years in alcohol, measures 99-41-11-29 and forearm 46 mm. This constitutes the fourth locality record for the big-eared bat in Florida, and extends its range 60 miles south from the nearest previously reported locality, Satsuma, Putnam County (the writer, in press). Dasypterus floridanus, Florida yellow bat. James I. Moore of Miami, Dade County, Florida, was given a female bat of this species by a friend who had captured it in that city when it fell from a palm tree with a dead frond blown down by the hurricane on September 17, 1947. This specimen measures 115-55—10-10 and forearm 51 mm. Since the Florida yellow bat has been previously known only from as far south as Punta Gorda, Charlotte County (O. E. Frye, Jr., 1948, Journ. Mammalogy 29:182), this information extends its known range 140 miles southeast. These two specimens have been placed in the mammal collection of the Department of Biology of the University of Florida (catalog numbers 267 and 268, respectively ).— JOSEPH CURTIS MOORE, Department of Biology, University of Florida. x ’ 7 INsTITUTIONAL MEMBERS FroripA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Florida Southern College Lakeland, Florida Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Jacksonville Junior College Jacksonville, Florida University of Tampa Tampa, Florida John B. Stetson University DeLand Florida St. Petersburg Junior College St. Petersburg, Florida Rollins College Winter Park, Florida University of Miami Coral Gables, Florida Peninsular Telephone Company Tampa, Florida Wakulla Springs Wakulla, Florida Glidden-Naval Stores Jacksonville, Florida Orkin Exterminating Company Atlanta, Georgia Marineland St. Augustine, Florida Rose Printing Company Tallahassee, Florida Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences Vol. ll June-September 1948 (1949) Nos. 2-3 Gontents DickINSON—AN EcoLtoGicaAL RECONNAISSANCE OF THE BIOTA OF Some Ponps AND DitcHEes IN NorTHERN FLORIDA......... I DietrRicH—THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF INDUSTRIAL AND INDEPENDENT Lasor Groups IN THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY. 29 HarperR—A Pretiminary List or THE ENpDEMIC FLOWERING Seeremseee REORIDA, PART ID... 2s cence cee been ee ee 39 Goin—Tue Peep Orper IN Peepers; A Swamp WaTER SERENADE 59 NEILSEN AND Mapsen—CuHeck List or THE ALG# or NortTH- fe ME ORDELY AEE Rie on fa? 2c sania onc 2 aati s clctre S ctle Gates 63 Vou. 11 JUNE-SEPTEMBER 1948 (1949) Nos. 2-3 ~QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES A Journal of Scientific Investigation and Research Published by the Florida Academy of Sciences Printed by the Rose Printing Company, Tallahassee, Florida Communications for the editor and all manuscripts should be addressed to H. K. Wallace, Editor, Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Business communications should be addressed to Chester S. Nielsen, Secretary-Treasurer, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. All ex- changes and communications regarding exchanges should be sent to the Florida Academy of Sciences, Exchange Library, Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville. Subscription price, Three Dollars a year Mailed September 28, 1949 ime QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE BeORIOA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Vaz. 11 JUNE-SEPTEMBER 1948 (1949) Nos. 2-3 AN ECOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE OF THE BIOTA OF SOME PONDS AND DITCHES IN NORTHERN FLORIDA? J. C. Dickinson, Jr. University of Florida The present paper is concerned with a biological reconnaissance of a group of ponds and more or less permanently inundated ditches in the region of Gainesville, Florida. This part of Northern Penin- sular Florida presents a very fertile field for limnological investiga- tion. Situated between latitudes 29° North and 80° North, it is approximately 600 miles south of those regions in North America where aquatic life has been intensively studied. Here the greater penetration of insolation through the water's surface not only pro- vides more solar energy for metabolism but there is an average growing season of approximately 300 days, and the periods of freezing temperature are so short and relatively mild as to permit active existence on the part of a large proportion of the aquatic biota throughout the year. A certain amount of work has already been done on the limnology of Florida. Carr (1940), Trogdon (1934), Townsend (1935), Pierce (1947), Harkness and Pierce (1940), have made more or less de- tailed studies of various lakes, rivers and ponds; H. H. Hobbs (1936, 1942), L. Berner (1949), C. F. Byers (1930), F. N. Young (1940, 1942), and others have dealt with various groups of aquatic arthro- pods; Goin (1943) published the results of his research on the cold-blooded vertebrate fauna found in association with water 1 Contribution from the Department of Biology, University of Florida. OCT 4 - 1948 pu JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES hyacinths. However, these works, as a part of a general reconnais- sance of Northern Florida’s fresh-water habitats and biota, have omitted or only incidentally been concerned with the very char- acteristic semi-permanent small ponds and ditches that border nearly every roadside and are widely distributed throughout most of the extensive “flatwoods”. Barbour (1944), has remarked upon the importance of these habitats in the maintenance and distribu- tion of many of Florida’s characteristic animals and plants. Incidental observations and the field work of classes in limnology at the University of Florida have shown that these small and often temporary situations have a surprisingly rich fauna. When one con- siders in detail the abundance and variation of the biota, it is quite evident that these environments provide an important fraction of Florida’s aquatic life. Since this paper was accepted for publication Roman Kenk (1949) has published the results of his studies of very similar sit- uations in southern Michigan. A comparison of the faunal lists in the two papers reveals some interesting parallels and diversities. Some of the differences are no doubt due to the fact that we did not have the same facilities for identification available. In both localities Coleoptera are the most numerous in species represented, the may flies are represented by the same two genera, and there is great similarity in the lists of Hemiptera in the two localities. Chemically the Florida stations present a greater diversity than those in Michigan, while physically the reverse is true. METHODS Since, at the time the study of these ponds and ditches was first planned, it was not possible to determine which would be most suitable for study or which would provide a typical range of con- ditions, it was decided to select a large number and then as their various characters became evident, to concentrate on a few selected examples that appeared to be representative. For practical reasons, it was desirable that the selected series of stations should be so located that regular field trips would be practicable. With this in mind, two roads south of Gainesville were selected. (Map 1). Twenty-two stations, ranging from an open pond of several acres to pools of a few square yards extent, and from unquestionably AN ECOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE 3 permanent to clearly ephemeral situations were reconnoitered and mapped along the twenty-two miles of this circuit. Observations were begun in early June, 1940, and continued into March of 1942, except for the months of July and August of 1940. Work was finally concentrated on Stations 1, 4a, 7, 12 and 16. Data available on the remainder of the stations are included. An effort was made to visit all of the stations weekly throughout the study. However, vagaries of weather and other conditions oc- casionally disrupted this schedule. Records of all field work on the diminishing series of stations were kept in the form of a Journal in which the following data were recorded: Direction and velocity of air movement, depth of water, turbidity and color of water. Hydrogen ion concentration was taken in the field with the Beckman Laboratory Model pH Meter. Free carbon dioxide was determined according to the method outlined in the manual of the American Public Health As- sociation (1936). Dissolved oxygen determinations were made in the laboratory with samples previously treated with potassium permanganate in the field according to the Rideal-Stewart modifica- tion of the Winkler method as outlined in this same manual. Tem- perature was recorded with centigrade mercury thermometers. Semi-circular dip nets with %#” mesh scrim were used with great success in most of the ponds for collecting the larger animals. They proved to be the best tool for taking crayfish, tadpoles, the larger Odonata and some of! the fish. Very productive collections were made by “scooping” through detritis and algal mats, dumping the contents of the net into a large white enameled pan, and searching through this materia] in the field. When this was not practical, I found it possible and productive to dump the contents of the net into a one gallon jar, bring the jar into the laboratory and examine the contents there at my convenience. The latter method also brings to light many of the smaller forms that are usually missed in the field examination. Seines, 4’ mesh, were used in those ponds in which the rooted aquatic vegetation did not prevent their proper functioning. Material taken in the seines was handled by the same technique as noted above for the dip nets. A standard Birge Plankton Net was used to obtain the smaller plankton organisms as well as the non planktonic micro-crustaceans that rest on sub- merged vegetation. The Birge Cone that forms the distal end of 4. JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES the plankton net was used with some degree of success in those ponds in which it was not possible to use the tow net because of excessive vegetation. Small plankton dip-nets, constructed of $16 bolting silk, were found to be more practical than the Birge Cone because they were more easily handled in small open areas and because they did not become clogged so rapidly with filamentous algae. Strainers, about 4” in diameter, made of 16 to 20 mesh . screen wire were used in the areas where it was impractical to use a net of greater size. With these strainers, one can be very selective in the micro habitat collected. The Goin Dredge, (Goin loc. cit.) was used on several occasions. This is undoubtedly the best ap- paratus now available to use in areas that are overgrown with water hyacinths. THE Ponp AS A HABITAT Some of the ponds are natural solution depressions—others are essentially “borrow pits’—shallow, usually rectangular depressions from which road building material has been excavated down to an impervious hardpan. Many of the ditches are actually elongate borrow pits; others were constructed to drain a road-bed or to prevent inundation from bordering flatwoods and sloughs during the prolonged rainy seasons. As aquatic habitats, these’ situations show all degrees of per- manence. Many become dry with each normal dry season, others persist through the usual dry seasons and become dry only after very prolonged drouths, still others persist as aquatic habitats throughout even abnormally dry years. Any clear-cut classification, on the basis of permanence, is difficult because of the vagaries of Florida climate and drainage. Although more or less definite rainy and dry seasons may be recognized in northern Florida, the dry season is very variable in both duration and intensity, and the rate at which rainfall is lost into the soil is greatly influenced by con- siderable local fluctuations in the water table. Moreover, it is not always possible to determine by an inspection of the fauna and flora whether or not a pond is permanent or temporary. Even though a pond or ditch may include fish and Paleomonetes, typical inhabitants of permanent bodies of water, it may have been dry a few days previously and then refilled and restocked instanter by AN ECOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE 5 the rise and spread of water from a flooded stream bed that lies several hundred yards away. One of the prime causes for the existence of the habitat is the geology of the region; flat or gently rolling lands provide for slow drainage of surface waters. The variableness of underlying soils results in differing degrees of permanence of the ponds and ditches. Low spots in sandy soil, underlain with strata which permit rapid absorption of water result in ponds which persist for short periods; the same situation when occuring in clay soil or with sub-strata of impervious formations may exist as an aquatic habitat for quite long periods, without refilling rains. The Gainesville region has in addition to these soil conditions numerous “sink-hole” ponds. In most of this area a hard formation, Hawthorne, lies over a soluble formation, Ocala Limestone. In many cases, owing to solution pro- cesses, there has been a collapse of the undermined hard roof or erosion has occurred along a fissure in the Hawthorne in such a way as to result in the formation of a nearly circular, fairly deep “sink-hole” pond. If the plugging of the drainage outlet into the Ocala formation is complete, the cavity will probably exist as a permanent pond. If this plugging is incomplete or temporary, a pond may exist only during wet seasons when runoff exceeds the drainage capacity of the hole. Further, the hole may become dry at unpredictable intervals whenever the plugging material is washed out and/or dissolved away, or when a new drainage channel is formed, Scott (1910). 3 The average rainfall of the region, though not excessive by standards set for truly tropical regions, is high. An annual mean of about fifty inches of rain is distributed over the twelve month period. If the rainfall was actually evenly distributed, many of the ponds that now become dry in the prolonged rainless periods would exist as permanent habitats in spite of the variability of the soils. Even distribution is not the case, however, and temporary ponds are more abundant as the result. A further cause for great varia- bility is the spotty distribution of local rainstorms. Ponds a few hundred yards apart often do not receive the same amount of rainfall. Records of the Agricultural Experiment Station on the campus of the University of Florida illustrate the great variability of precipitation in this region. During May, 1941, rainfall totalled 1.77 in.; in June, 10.57 in. In 1940, during these same months the 6 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES record was 3.34 inches and 5.77 inches respectively. In October, 1940, .09 inches of rain fell. However, during the same month in 1941, 15.78 inches was recorded; of this total, 9.93 inches fell in a single 24 hour period on October 21st. Variation of this sort can be found in most months, although extremes have been indicated for purposes of illustration. Not uncommon downpours of 4-9 inches provide for prompt and complete refilling of dry pond basins and, by flooding streams and ditches, sometimes provide a means of adding to or completely renewing the fauna. Still another factor which affects the conditions of aquatic habitats is the frequent excessively prolonged dry periods. Although comparable figures are not readily available for the Gainesville region, the records for Jacksonville, Florida are indicative of the conditions found in Gainesville. Dry periods of 22-30 days per month for the months of October through May are not at all uncommon. Truly, most of these prolonged dry periods occur during the winter months, but they are not exceptional in the early spring as well. The effect of these variables on the overall biota of the region is obviously great. Those animals that can survive dessication (as eggs, larvae or adults) are best fitted for survival; those that find it possible to move to other localities as the water disappears are also well adapted for life in temporary habitats. In recently filled ponds, populations of some forms rapidly developed as blooms which lasted until other, more slowly developing animals took their place in the food chains. The fairy shrimps, Phylopoda, insofar as I was able to determine, owe their very existence to the temporary nature of some of the ponds. They were recorded only from those ponds and ditches that had previously been dry. The drying of the ponds permits the essential dessication of the eggs. In the small temporary pond, Station 1, it was noticed that clado- cerans and copepods flourished in greatest numbers very soon after refilling and just prior to complete drying of the basin. This, I believe, is partially the result of the absence of the animals that utilize them for food. The fact that they are able to mature and lay eggs before their number is depleted by the arrival of predatory forms is assured by the high biotic potential of the species, pro- ducing an abundant population in the early stages of development of the newly filled pond. In the last stages of drying, many preda- tors, such as the aquatic Hemiptera depart, seeking a new pond. AN ECOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE 7 The volume of water is decreased constantly and as a result per- fectly amazing concentrations of these less vagil forms are found. In 1940, the fall months received well below the average amount of rainfall and consequently nine of the stations studied were dry on November 18th. The water table of the entire region was lowered considerably and many deep wells in the area went dry for the first time in many years. Several light rains fell during the remain- ing days in November and in early December, but none was large enough to cause water to stand in any of these ponds. On December 19th, rain began to fall and continued almost steadily from this date to December 25th. Investigations on December 25th revealed such tremendous populations of copepods, cladocerans and volvox that the water was colored. On January 7, 1941, fairy shrimp were discovered in five of the stations. In four of these, Streptocephalus sealii, Eubranchippus sp., Limnetis sp., and Eulimnadea sp. were present in large numbers. In the fifth only a few shrimp, S. sealii, were present. This difference may be explained, I believe, by the presence of numerous individuals of several species of carnivorous fish which had entered the pond by way of a connecting ditch and flooded stream. Gambusia affinis holbrookii and Chaenobryttus coronarius were the most abundant forms present. On January 7th, copepods in all stages of development from nauplii to adult females with eggs were present. At Station 1, a small depression well out in the surrounding pasture that had not previously contained water was swarming with copepods, cladocerans and volvox. It is un- fortunate that it was not possible to make quantitative studies of these populations, but I am certain that the numbers far exceeded any that I have ever seen in permanent bodies of water. In addi- tion to the animals, many of the lower plant forms, especially the desmids and filamentous algae, became reestablished with great rapidity. The latter seemingly keeping pace with the micro- crustaceans. In some cases, for example the crayfish and salamanders, it is probable that some individuals burrowed down into the soil of the pond bed and remained there until the pond refilled; both of these forms were found soon after refilling. Frogs seem to locate the ponds with surprising rapidity, for on January 7, 1941, the larval forms of two species, Rana grylio and Acris gryllus were present in Station 1. On this date, mayflies, damselflies and dragonflies had 8 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES laid eggs and the nymphal stages of these forms were found in all of the formerly dry ponds. I noted “a large beetle larvae seen swimming with a Conchostracan in its mandibles”—balances were becoming established. Having decided that the ponds owe ° their origin and existence to a variety of circumstances, it is of interest to consider the great variety of faunal associations that are present in the various situa- tions. Aquatic habitats which seem to be much alike in origin and appearance may have very different assemblages of animals. The faunal list which follows bears out the known fact that many species are limited to specific habitats and it is reasonable to assume that there is some cause for this delimitation. Amount of shade, depth, hydrogen-ion concentration, dissolved oxygen, free carbon dioxide, temperature, type of bottom, type of plant associations present in and near the pond, types and numbers of predators, amount of food, turbidity, degree of permanence, percentage of open to closed water, amount of silt, silica content, and iron concentration are only a few of the many factors that may vary with season, with type of pond, and within certain specific localities within the pond. Most of the factors mentioned have long been recognized as having some effect on the existence of various animals and plants. It would, of course, be desirable to follow the rhythmic variation of many of these factors in the environment, but this would require a con- siderable staff of trained field workers and technicians. SOME CHEMICAL CONSIDERATIONS In Station 1, over the period covered by this study, the tempera- ture varied from 11° C. on January 15, 1941, to 32° C. on May 2nd of the same year. pH varied from 5.9 in January, 1941, to 8.87 in June. Dissolved oxygen varied from 1.1 ppm. to 9.9, while carbon dioxide concentration varied from 2.0 to 12.0 ppm. It is interesting to note that the extreme figures obtained in regard to carbon dioxide and dissolved oxygen content were obtained on May 2, 1941. On this occasion, samples were taken at the surface and on the bottom. The surface sample revealed a concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide of 9.9 and 2.0 ppm. respectively, whereas the sample taken near the bottom showed concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide of 1.1 and 12.0 respectively. At this time, the surface temperature was 32° C., while the sample on the bottom AN ECOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE 9 was 22° C. This definite stratification in a body of water less than 2 feet deep is surprising, and it is probable that it existed for only a few days. This also points to the fact that it is vitally important, in a study of this kind, that the samples must be taken in the same area on each occasion; surface and bottom samples in this case giving entirely different pictures of the physical conditions existing in the pond. Even with the precaution observed, the samples in- dicate the condition of these environmental factors only in respect to a given place at a particular time. It is also interesting to note the changes that take place in these factors immediately before the pond becomes dry. If it is assumed that water level in the pond was normal or average in February, 1941, when the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations were 5.2 and 8.0 ppm. respectively, it will be seen that immediately prior to drying the oxygen concentration dropped sharply and the car- bon dioxide concentration increased. Sample taken on June lI, 1941, when Station 1 was almost dry, indicated a concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide of 2.0 and 18.1 respectively. The records of chemical change for Station 4a reveal that the temperature varied from a low of 11° C. on January 7, 1941, to a high of 23° C. on June Ist of the same year. pH varied from 5.9 in Jannuary to 7.0 in February and March. Dissolved oxygen reached its lowest level of 4.0 ppm. on October 28, 1940, when the pond was almost dry. On December 27, following the heavy rains, the oxygen content had reached 6.0 ppm., the highest re- corded. Free carbon dioxide in the same station varied from a low of 5.0 ppm. on October 28th to a high of 12.0 ppm. on February 25th. The water in this station remained clear throughout the course of the study. Station 7 appears to have the physical and chemical character- istics of a small lake, these factors in this station showing little variation throughout the year, the temperature varying from 17 to 25° C.; pH showing a variation of 5.9 to 7.5; dissolved oxygen varied from 8.7 to 9.0, while carbon dioxide showed a variation from 1.5 to 2.1 ppm. In stations 10 and 12, dissolved oxygen determinations seemed to bear out the fact that organisms demanded less oxygen during periods of low temperature. In both cases, as temperature decreased, dissolved oxygen content decreased. Other factors remained fairly 10 JOURNAL OF FLORIDA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES constant throughout the study. Station 12 showed a temperature variation from 11° C. to 30° C., a pH variation from 6.0 to 7.69, dissolved oxygen from 8.7 to 9.8, carbon dioxide from 5.9 to 7.0. The water in Station 12 was cloudy throughout the course of the study. | With the possible exception of the low hydrogen-ion concentra- tion in Station 16, it is not felt that any chemical or physical factor has been demonstrated as controlling the presence of any organism. In Station 16, temperatue varied from 15° C. to 24° C. , pH from 4.2 to 5.65, oxygen from 8.7 to 10.2 and carbon dagen from 7.9 to 8.1. The water in Station 16 was uniformly clear. The data obtained on chemical factors, indicate that these may vary greatly from time to time and place to place within a pond. The extremes of variation of these factors is as great within a given pond as from pond to pond. The organisms present, therefore, must be plastic enough to withstand this range in order to survive. Physical factors are, on the other hand, clearly demonstrated as being the controlling factor for many species. Station 1, with silty water that covered the basin with a thin layer of mud, did not contain sponges. Permanent ponds did not contain fairy shrimp. Fish were present only in permanent ponds, with the exception of stations 4a and 4b, where the fish populations come in with the floods. The neuston was much richer in species and individuals in stations’ such as 1, 4a and 10, where the marginal growth offers protection and food. Goin (1943), has shown that the water hya- cinths have a fauna associated with the physical aspect of the hyacinths, as cover, resting place and food. In general, it appears that temporary ponds show much greater variability in regard to chemical change than do ponds of permanent character. DESCRIPTION OF STATIONS STUDIED Station 1: (Plate I, Upper and Lower).—A small pond located about ten yards from the west side of the Old Ocala Road, 0.3 miles from McDonald’s Corners? and in a pasture that is often heavily 2 This is the local designation for point where the Old Ocala Road branched south from the old Gainesville-Archer road, just east of the point where the latter made its second crossing of the Seaboard Railroad, some 3.4 miles southwest of Gainesville. This will be used as the reference point for locating all ponds and ditches that are included in this paper. (See Map 1.) AN ECOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE 11 PTT ne A sanesviere | Z : Q "Z DAYSVILLE i Do Bofoan a At : N <2 (a5 a ier ratte ln _ a iees We 7 a o i 2 scole in miles ———— LE NO LED, (ee Map 1: Map showing the locations of the stations studied, num- bers in circles. Mileages in the text are from the intersection of roads near Daysville on State Road 24. “id ah wh Ri