GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA 97

are. commonest northward, and the lakes most numerous in Hillsborough County, where the ground-water is nearest to the surface. (This southern portion is not very different from the lake region farther east.)
 Streams and swamps are rather scarce., on account of most oJ the drainage being subterranean, through the deep sand and cavernous limestone. There are several large limestone springs, the most noted being Silver Spring (fig. 8), a few miles east of Ocala, which is one of the largest in the world.
 Soils. The greater part of the soil is a cream-colored or ligm buff fine-grained sand, varying toward white or brown, and usually quite uniform in texture to a depth of several or many feet. About half of this region in central Florida is now covered by soil surveys, from which it appears that by far the greater part of the soils are referable to the "Norfolk" series, with a scattering of "Gainesville," "Hernando," "Leon," "Fellowship," "St. Lucie.," etc (which names however may mean little to persons not thoroughly familiar with the publications of the U. S. Bureau of Soils, to which they are- at present chiefly confined). The leading texture classes are fine sand (about 75% of the total), sand, fine sandy loam,


















 Fig. 9. High pine.land with scattered oaks (the most conspicuous. one a live oak, (Quercus gem inata), about 5 miles west of Inverness, Citrus County. March 14, 1914.