SOME FLORIDA LAKES AND LAKE BASINS.
E. H. SELLARDS.
INTRODUCTION.
Florida is Justly celebrated for the number and beauty of its. lakes. These lakes vary in size from the small ponds which scarcely exceed a few rods in circumference to the great Okeechobee, the surface area of which -exceeds 700 square miles. Okeechobee is in fact noteworthy as being, with the exception of Lake Michigan', the largest fresh water lake lying wholly within -the United States. In depth the Florida lakes, are likewise variable, and in fact the depth'is, frequently in inverse ratio to the size. Many of the large lakes are comparatively shallow, while some of the small lakes are deep. This is particularly true of the small sink-hole lakes, some of which, while not exceeding a few rods in circumference have a depth of one to two hundred or more feet. In origin and history of development the Florida lakes are as variable as in other characteristics.
The lakes described in this paper include only a few of the many Florida lakes and' represent a type peculiar in character and in manner of development. They are fresh water lakes, often of considerable size, although usually relatively shallow as compared to their areal extent. Moreover they are variable in character. Under normal conditions they are clear water lakes abounding in fish and the favorite haunt of the wild duck. They have as a rule no surface outlet, yet from many of them the water has at times disappeared in a manner seemingly inexplicable.. In most instances the lakes thus disappearing have refilled slowly. Some of them, however, have remained dry a number of years. A correct understanding of these lakes together with the origin and development of the basins which they occupy is necessarily based on a study of the geologic formations which underlie them.,
The fall of i909 offered an exceptionally favorable time for investigating lakes of this character. The prolonged dry, weather of the past few years had reduced these lakes to a low stage offering an opportunity of examining the soil and vegetation as well as the geologic structure of their basins. At the Tallahassee station in Leon County, near which several of these lakes are located,