230 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-I3TH ANNUAL REPORT

The writer saw one of them from a distance in 1910, but did not learn at that time whether the project was succeeding or not; but has lately been informed that other such platforms have been built near by, and that two carloads of the guano were shipped from Cedar Keys not long ago. In our climate the rain must soon leach out most of the nitrogenous compounds that give the Peruvian guano its greatest value, unless the platforms are roofed over.
 Rcptilcs. Our largest reptile is the alligator, formerly abundant throughout Florida, and ranging over the coastal plain from North Carolina to Oklahoma. It has been so mercilessly hunted for its hide or merely for sport that it has become rather scarce and shy, and the writer has never seen one outside of captivity in the area under consideration.*
 There are of course snakes of several species, but. they are apparently not as abundant as in many -equal areas farther north., probably because the prevailing open pine forests do not afford much food or concealment for them, and the annual fires must be an important factor in limiting their numbers.
 A characteristic reptile in the high pine lands, and even occasionally on dunes, is the "gopher" (Gophcrus Polyplicims), a turtle of strictly terrestrial habits, which digs a sloping burrow several feet deep in the sand, the entrance being marked by a mound of about the same size as the salamander hills already mentioned. Its general range is a little wider than that of the salamander, but as it is edible it has decreased in numbers with the increase of population According to Blatchley its burrows have quite a peculiar fauna, including a frog and several species of insects not found elsewhere.
 Remains of several species of turtles and a crocodile have been found in the phosphate mines.
 Fishes of many species abound in both fresh and salt water, ,and they afford a livelihood to many people on both coasts, particularly at Cedar Keys and Titusville. One of the largest is the
 *For a scientific study of the alligator in its native haunts, somewhere south of Orlando, see A. M. Reese, Pop. Sci. Monthly 77:365-372 (with 10 half-tones.) Oct., i9io.
 tThe Legislature of 19po passed a law protecting gophers in the three westernmost counties of Florida in 1\ay, June and July, and prohibiting the use of hooks and the taking of specimens less than nine inches long.