©,'\ «''‘-
SSi'^w^
^ii8#
Fi' ' F /4*f#^k "H
I
i'
(-
t
1?
TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
WISCONSIN ACADEMY
OF
SCIENCES, ARTS, AND LETTERS
VOL. XLIX
NATURAE SPECIES RATIOQUE
MADISON, WISCONSIN
1960
OFFICERS OF THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
ARTS AND LETTERS
President
Merritt Y, Hughes, University of Wisconsin, Madison
President-Elect
Carl Welty, Beloit College, Beloit
Vice-President ( Sciences )
William B. Sarles, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Vice-President (Arts)
Cyril C. O’Brien, Marquette University, Milwaukee
Vice-President (Letters)
Robert C. Pooley, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Secretary
Ted J. McLaughlin, University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee
Treasurer
David J. Behling, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Milwaukee
Librarian
Roger E. Schwenn, University of Wisconsin, Madison
The Academy Council
The President The Past Presidents:
Paul W. Boutwell
A. W. Schorger
H. A. Schuette
L. E. Noland
Otto L. Kowalke
E. L. Bolender
Katherine G. Nelson
Ralph N. Buckstaff
Joseph G. Baier, Jr.
Stephen F. Darling
Rev. Raymond H. Reis, S. J.
Robert J. Dicke
Henry Meyer
Committees
Membership :
Robert F. Roeming, Chm
Harry G. Guilford
C. W. Threinen
The Secretary, ex officio
Representatives on the Council of the A.A.A.S.
Stephen F. Darling
Robert J. Dicke
Chairman, Junior Academy of Science
John W. Thomson, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Editor, Wisconsin Academy Review
Walter E. Scott, Wisconsin Conservation Department, Madison
Editor, Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters
Stanley D. Beck, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Publications :
The President
The Secretary
The Editor, Transactions
The Vice-President
The Secretary
The Treasurer
The Librarian
The Editor, Transactions
The Editor, Academy Review
- 1 V..
V \ ^ ^ ^
6 0 - 6 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Page
Bugs, Bounties, Balance, and Modern Americanese. Henry Meyer - 3
SCIENCES
Evidences of Dissected Erosion Surfaces in the Driftless Area. F. T.
Thwaites _ 17
A Study of the Effects of Diverting the Effluent From Sewage Treatment
Upon the Receiving Stream. K. M. Mackenthun, L. A, Lueschow,
and C. D. McNabb _ 51
A Study of Insect Transmission of Oak Wilt in Wisconsin. L. H. Mc¬
Mullen, R. D. Shenefelt, and J. E. Kuntz - 73
Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI. H. C. Greene - 85
Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wisconsin. No. 43, Primulaceae
Primrose Family. Hugh H. Iltis and Winslow M. Shaughnessy - 113
Growth and Development of the Greater Wax Moth, Galleria mellonella
(L.) Stanley D. Beck _ 137
Food Ingestion in Craspedacusta sowerbii. Andrew McClary - 149
Growth of Tree Seedlings in Hydroponics. D. E, Spyridakis and S. A.
Wilde _ 157
Lime and Fertilizer Incorporation for Alfalfa Production. J, R. Love,
A. E, Peterson, and L, E. Engelbert _ _ 161
Description and Experimental Analysis of Chick Sub-Mandibular Gland
Morphogenesis. Jack E. Sherman _ 171
The Saxeville Meteorite. William F. Read _ 191
Biological and Biochemical Aspects of the Development of Polyarteritis
Nodosa in Rats. P. M. Sanfelippo, J. C. Perry, N. B. Perry and
J. G. SURAK _ 199
ARTS AND LETTERS
Camus Speaks of Man in Prison. Robert F. Roeming _ 213
Calm Between Crises : Pattern and Direction in Ruskin’s Mature Thought.
Robert Kimbrough _ 219
The Creative Writer as Polyglot: Valery Larbaud and Samuel Beckett.
Melvin J. Friedman _ 229
Henry James and the American Language, Donald Emerson _ 237
Fenimore Cooper and Science. 11. Harry H. Clark _ 249
William H. Eighty, Radio Pioneer. Roger W. Axford _ 283
Daniel H. Burnham and the “Renaissance” in American Architecture.
Robert Spence _ 295
The Transactions welcomes sound original articles in the sciences, arts, and
letters. The author or one of the co-authors must be a member of the Academy.
Manuscripts must be typewritten, and should be double-spaced throughout,
including footnotes, quotations, and bibliographical references. Footnotes
should be numbered consecutively and compiled at the end of the manuscript.
The name and address to which galley proofs are to be sent should be typed in
the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Manuscripts should be mailed
flat or rolled, never folded. They should be addressed to Stanley D. Beck, 100
King Hall, University of Wisconsin, Madison 6. Papers received prior to
July 31, 1961 will be considered for inclusion in the Transactions, volume 50.
^■'73
TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
WISCONSIN ACADEMY
OF
SCIENCES, ARTS, AND LETTERS
VOL. XLIX
NATURAE SPECIES RATIOQUE
MADISON, WISCONSIN
1960
The publication date of Volume 49 is
Pecember 29, I960
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
I
1
, ■•‘-V
BUGS, BOUNTIES, BALANCE, AND MODERN
AMERICANESE*
Henry Meyer
President, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters,
May 2, 1959 to May 7, 1960
In his address last year entitled ‘'Naturalists, Biologists, and
People,”^ Dr. Dicke gave us some thought provoking ideas, many
of which have continued to make the news throughout the year.
Today, I should like to attempt to carry on the discussion of some
of the things he mentioned by talking about “Bugs, Bounties, Bal¬
ance, and Modern Americanese” I too must begin by defining my
terms.
Bugs: I know Dr. Dicke would give a different definition of a true
bug than the one I shall give. I think he would give a definition of a
true bug which would go something like this— -a member of the class
Insecta, order Hemiptera, a form having sucking, piercing mouth
parts, the beak arising from the front of the head; wings when
present membranous at the tips and thicker at the base; gradual
metamorphosis. This is not the kind of bug I am thinking of. A
definition of the bug I have in mind would not be that of a profes¬
sional entomologist, but more nearly the definition of a member of
the group referred to as “the people.’’ In other words, a bug would
be anything we want to be rid of, particularly if it is responsible
for an unpleasant condition or situation. If this is an acceptable
definition, the bug might be an insect, a worm, or a surplus of a
farm commodity such as butter or wheat. Yes, it would even in¬
clude “bug-juice”, the name given to poor liquor in certain parts of
our country ; and would cover Dutch-elm disease, and, for the pur¬
poses of my talk, might even include a baby! Certainly the popu¬
lation boom is creating a problem of concern the world over. One
of the causes of the expanding population is the increased produc¬
tion of babies.
Bounties: A common definition of a bounty is a grant or allow¬
ance from a government or state for the killing or destruction of
noxious animals or beasts of prey. For this year, because of the
bounty on the fox, our state had paid out $76,384.00 before the
* Retiring' Presidential Address, delivered at the 90th Annual Meeting- on May 7,
1960, at Madison, Wisconsin.
1 Dicke, Robert J. : “Naturalists, Biolog-ists, and People Transactions of the Wis¬
consin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, Vol. XL VIII ; Madison, Wise., 1959.
3
....
tlMSTITUTION JAN 2 7 1961
4 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences ^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
first of April.2 This goes on in spite of the fact that competent con¬
servationists and wildlife authorities have spoken out against it.
My interpretation of a bounty is not restricted to this type which
Dr. Schorger has paraphrased as “Mutiny on the Bounty.'’^ For
the sake of my talk I hope you will accept the definition of a bounty
as— the price we pay to get rid of the bugs as we defined them a
moment ago. For, one way or the other, it is we the people who
supply the monies to provide the funds required to support our
governments.
Balance: The word balance has many connotations depending
upon the circumstances. It may mean an instrument for determin¬
ing the exact weights of physical objects, or it may mean a symbol
or emblem of human values so that we speak of “balance of justice.'’
It may mean to waver or to hesitate. Of certainty the term may be
used too in what Dr. Dicke referred to as “Balance of Nature”
which he defined as a “rather vague idea that is freely expressed by
naturalists and people . . . based on the assumption that at one time
all the wildlife in this country was in perfect biological harmony
. . . some kind of biological Utopia prevailed,”^ None of the defini¬
tions so far given express what I have in mind. I should like to use
the term balance as a modifier of attitude, particularly the moral
attitudes we use in paying the bounties that are required to get rid
of the bugs.
Americanese: It is because there are so many varied usages of
commonly used terms that I have introduced the term Americanese
to my title. Some time ago Senator Barry M. Goldwater (R.- — Ari¬
zona) put into the Congressional Record what he called a word list
designed to help certain senators to understand what the Southern¬
ers were saying. Among the words included in his list were the
following :
“Sane — Speaking, i.e., I can hardly hair what he’s sane.
Bone — Blessed event, i.e., I was bone a Southerner.
Wretched — The long name for the nickname of my brother Dick.”®
Permit me to illustrate a bit more exactly with the use of this ma¬
terial I clipped from a newspaper quite some time ago. You might
be confused and think it something composed by the poet Virgil :
O civili si ergo
Fortibua es in ero
No villi
Demis trux
Si vatcinum
Copula dux
2 Scott, Walter E. : “Information on Bounties” (personal communication 4 April 1960).
3 Shorger, A. W. : “Mutiny on the Bounty;” Wisconsin Academy Review; Vol. V,
No. 1 ; Madison, Wise., 1958.
^ Op. at. : Dicke, Robert J.
3 Goldwater, Barry M. : Congressional Record, Vol. V, Tuesday, 8 March 1960, p. 4488.
1960] Meyer — Bugs, Bounties, Balance, & Americanese 5
Inasmuch as this represents one form of Americanese many have
difficulty in understanding, I’ll just let this sign remain before you
while I go on with my talk. Before I finish I will give a translation
for the benefit of those who may need it. To complete my list of
definitions I will define Americanese as a form of expression com-
pletely understandable to certain individuals but misinterpreted or
not understood by others because of local situations. Now I should
like to go on with my talk.
Informing the Public: The impact of science on society is con¬
tinually increasing. It is encouraging to note that the opportunity
to become informed is being enhanced through all the agencies of
public communication; i.e., the press, T.V., radio, and the movie.
The extent to which this is going on is reflected in the general topics
of conversation at meal time for an average family. The list of
topics ranges from air pollution, atomic fall out, detergents, fluori¬
dation, chlorination, waste disposal and its relation to water sup¬
ply, chemical control of animals and plants, i.e., insecticides, herbi¬
cides, and hormonal and chemical means of stimulating growth to
population concentrations, and racial integration.
These are all essential to our welfare because they are concerned
with the water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the
shelter which protects us. They are all related to environmental
health, but because of some misuse and misunderstanding too many
people may regard all chemical control of the environment as health
hazards. Certainly the agencies of communication must be used
properly so that our communities are intelligently informed on
these important topics.
Community Concept: A community is an association of popula¬
tions of many different species. It, like any living thing, owes its
success to raw materials and food, ability to reproduce, and pro¬
tection. If these are present it grows, develops, passes through a
phase of apparently stable maturity, grows old, and ultimately dies.
The history of the area may properly be called communal succes¬
sion. In any community, as with all levels of organic existence, turn¬
over occurs continuously; individuals die out or emigrate and are
replaced by others. During the period when the number of indi¬
viduals remains relatively constant it may be said to be balanced.
The kinds of individuals in a community can be classified into
producers, transformers (reducers), and consumers. The inter¬
relations of these in the community have often been illustrated by
the so-called food pyramids for both aquatic and terrestrial environ¬
ments, i.e., for water: algae (producer), herbivore (primary con¬
sumer), carnivore (secondary consumer); for land: grass-herbi¬
vore-carnivore. In each instance the cycle may vary in length. For
several years I served as a member of the zoology staff at the Uni-
6 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
versity of Tennessee. One of the members of our department had a
slight speech defect and made it hard for him to pronounce his L's.
This caused one of his lectures to be dubbed the “pants en animus.'’
The theme of the lecture was that every animal must eat a plant;
if it does not eat a plant, it must eat an animal that has eaten a
plant, etc. Both plants and animals produce waste products, and
when they die they leave organic decay products that must be re¬
turned to the soil or water to complete what in reality is a basic
energy cycle of the community whereby solar energy is utilized in
the metabolism of both plants and animals.
Change and Death: One of the most fundamental attributes of
protoplasm is that it has the ability to change. If this is true for
one species, it must be true for an entire community from one of
microscopic limits to those of more nearly global proportions. A
common definition of death is that it is an irreversible gelation of
protoplasm, hence the name rigor mortis. In a community there
may be variable degrees of death. Because this may be true for
community or individual, Clark Kuebler, formerly President of
Ripon College, warned one graduating class to beware “lest you
develop rigor mortis of the mental variety before that of the cor¬
poral variety comes upon you.”
I have been concerned with the teaching of introductory courses
in college biology for several years. Since the development of phase-
contrast microphotography some excellent films have become avail¬
able. Recently I have made frequent use of one which is simply
called “Protoplasm” with Professor Seifritz of the University of
Pennsylvania as narrator. The film records the activities of a very
lowly form of life called a slime-mold. I like this particularly be¬
cause the film with the lecture points out the following things
essential to understanding life :
1. Each organism is related to another in an interdependent way in the
community.
2. Ceaseless energy transactions are necessary to produce biological
motility.
3. Variations in the rate and nature of the energy transactions are
responsible for rhythmic activities.
4. Living things grow in spirals and exhibit tensile strength and elas¬
ticity. “Protoplasm has a twist in it.”
5. Living things are responsive and adaptive. Injections with various
chemicals and drugs show how “it meets exigencies and heals itself
and seems to exhibit intelligence.” After all we are made of proto¬
plasm.®
Man and the Universe: The increasing rationale has profoundly
changed the conception of the world in which civilized man is liv¬
ing. Our earth is no longer considered to be a large disc, nor is it
® Seifritz,
: “Seifritz on Protoplasm;” University of Pennsylvania; n.d.
1960] Meyer — Bugs, Bounties, Balance, & Americanese 7
merely a planet in a solar system but it is part of a galaxy which is
but one nebula of the universe which perhaps contains billions of
nebulae. In spite of our space-age mindedness, it does appear to be
some time in the future before earth-man will be able to colonize
some place of abode other than the earth. So for the evening our
primary interests will remain earthy. I am, however very interested
in following the developments of project “Ozma.’' Wouldn’t it be
nice to be able to say “Hello, out there!” and to get an answer!
Not only has our conception of our world continued to change,
but also our evaluation of man and his place as an inhabitant of this
globe has changed. Last year, 1959, was the centennial year since
the publication of the Origin of the Species. The pre-Darwinian be¬
liefs associated with special creation and fixity of species are no
longer adhered to by the majority of biologists and by the general
assemblage so often called the progressive people. The fact that evo¬
lution has occurred and is still taking place is receiving increasing
acceptance in spite of the incompleteness of our knowledge as to
how it occurs.
The ability of protoplasm to change and evolve new varieties is
regarded as one of its principal attributes. Evolution is regarded as
a natural process which includes all forms of life, from the lowest
protist to the highest plant or animal. Each form is a protoplasmic
descendant of the ancestral type from which it evolved. In this sense
the fungal mycelia, the insect vectors, the elms, the oaks, the bird-
lovers, the economic biologists, and the ordinary people have a cer¬
tain togetherness when we consider the evolution of life forms. In
each community an interaction of species types is found. Within
each community some of the species are reproductively more suc¬
cessful than others, and within a community each species, including
our own, must evolve for its own sake if it is to survive and repro¬
duce continuously so that it may be capable of evolution.
Man and Evolution: The heart of the Darwin- Wallace concept of
evolution which forms the primordial framework upon which mod¬
ern interpretations of the process are founded is based on two prin¬
ciples: 1) struggle for existence, and 2) variation within a
population.
The first of these principles asserts that each species tends to
multiply in geometric progression, i.e., a species population which
doubles its numbers in the first generation has a potential to quad¬
ruple its number in the next, and to multiply to an eightfold in the
next, etc. Field observations indicate that this does not generally
attain, and the size of the population may remain fairly constant
for relatively long periods of time. This leads to the conclusion that
in many instances not all the young become adults and not all adults
survive to reproduce. Therefore the interpretation of struggle for
existence.
8 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
The second of the basic principles asserts that not all individuals
of a species are alike. In any population variation exists and the in¬
dividuals which have favorable variations will have a competitive
advantage over others and will survive in greater numbers.
The explanations relating to the causes of variation, the nature
of genetic transmission, the roll of mutations, the nature of the
gene-duplication and gene action in the gene-environment are be¬
yond the scope of this talk. The modern cytogeneticists and cyto-
chemists are gradually gaining information which when understood
and properly presented will aid us in gaining insight with regard
to the mechanism of evolution. For the purposes of this discussion
it is sufficient to agree with what Dr. George G. Simpson told our
parent organization, the A.A.A.S., in his presidential address last
December. Dr. Simpson said that Darwin “opened the door'' for a
new view of man and this causes us to reflect upon the duties of
man “if there is any future."^
Evolution is a process which is amoral. Nevertheless by this
process the most adaptable and self-conscious organism, man, has
evolved. Man is self-conscious because he is capable of being aware
of his own origin and, so far as we can discern, the only organism
that has a true language which he is able to store beyond his indi¬
vidual memory. And finally, he is an organism with moral qualities
for he can control his environment, and this leads to responsibility.
To whom and for whom is man responsible? He certainly is, in
part, responsible to himself and for himself and for this planet
called earth and all of its inhabitants. Thus, a land and community
ethic must have evolved along with that of a moral character.
Land Ethic: One of the essays of George Bernard Shaw is en¬
titled “The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God.”®
The essay is a brief study of comparative religion, and in it the
reader is presented a succession of gods, each perhaps an improve¬
ment on the previous one. In none of them discussed, however, is
there satisfactory development of man's ethical relationship to the
soil. Aldo Leopold in A Sand County Almanac^ extends man's rela¬
tion to land and to the plants and animals which grow upon it. Ex¬
tension of ethics to these elements, he points out, is an ecological
necessity which, although asserted since the days of the prophets
Ezekiel and Isaiah, has not been affirmed by many actions of mod¬
ern civilized man.
I earlier defined a community as an association of populations of
many different species. Leopold's land ethics enlarges the bound-
Simpson, Georg-e G. : “The World into Which Darwin Led Us;” Science ; VoL 131,
No. 3405, Washington D. C., April, 1960.
8 Shaw, George Bernard: The Adventures of the Blade Girl in Her Search for God;
Dodd, Mead, & Co., New York, 1933.
® Leopold, Aldo: Sand County Almanac; Oxford University Press, New Yxtrk, 1949.
1960] Meyer — Bugs, Bounties, Balance, & Americanese 9
aries of the community to include soils, waters, plants and animals,
or collectively, the landd^ Conservation thus becomes an extension
of man's moral character because through it we attempt to estab¬
lish the idea that nature and man are interdependent and that en¬
vironmental health for the entire community demands a reciprocal
relationship.
Protoplasm has been defined as the living stuff. Wilderness may
be defined as the natural raw material out of which man and civili¬
zations have evolved. The kinds of wilderness have in part deter¬
mined the nature of civilizations and the various cultures associated
with each. Wilderness is said to be a resource which can shrink and
not grow.
It has been estimated that when our people go to the polls to elect
a new president in November a potential of 100,000,000 votes can
conceivably be cast. This is an indication of the rapid growth of our
population. The population growth is producing increasing concen¬
trations in urban areas. If we are to maintain a high standard of
living (don’t ask me to define this) our land usage must be diversi¬
fied. Our agricultural lands must be properly managed so as to pro¬
duce food for all. Our water supplies must be utilized for transpor-
tational, agricultural, industrial, domestic, and recreational pur¬
poses without conflict. Wilderness and reclaimed areas must be
maintained as areas to provide proper recreational opportunities
without despoilation.
Technology and Land Usage: Scientific developments in many
fields play leading roles in the progress and economy of nations.
Increasing mechanization and automation is continuing to alter
land utilization. This has been particularly noticeable with agricul¬
tural lands. The mechanical revolution made it possible to bring
larger areas under cultivation with less man power. Application of
genetics to plant and animal breeding has increased the yield and
the quality of the products produced. Along with these we now have
the rapid expansion of agricultural chemicals which is producing
accelerated changes in the environments of plants and animals. The
efficient use of commercial inorganic fertilizers certainly has pro¬
duced many beneficial results. The use of chemicals as poisons to
control the flora and fauna has made it possible to determine to a
great extent the nature of the biota in selected places. This, too, has
been of importance and has had many beneficial applications.
There are however, certain instances where the use of specific
insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides have been used to control
organic pests but have not been species specific and have destroyed
beneficial forms along with the pests. The honey bee is one of the
insect friends of the farmer that has often been the innocent victim
Leopold.
10 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
of pesticides intended for other insects.^^ The nation was alerted on
“Black Monday”^- 9 November 1959, when Secretary of Health,
Education, and Welfare, Flemming removed cranberries from the
market because it was feared that the weed killer aminotriazole
might be carcinogenic in man. Although Secretary Flemming tried
to indicate his good faith in the cranberries later released for sale
by advocating and extolling the qualities of proper berries, the ter¬
rific economic blow to the grower was an expensive bounty to pay
in this instance because of improper usage of an herbicide on the
part of a few.
Dutch Elm Disease and Oak Blight: Currently there continues to
be much interest in the protection of our Wisconsin Elm trees from
Dutch Elm Disease. Tree lovers have reason to fear, for it is a
fungus disease, and there are many who fear that the spread of the
fungus by the bark beetle will bring about a destruction of our elms
that may rival that produced by the chestnut blight. Many people
in this room heard this afternoon concerning the rapid spread of
this from Mr. Hafstad. The general public has been less concerned
about the Oak blight which was spreading through oak populations
for many years, George S. Avery in 1957 pointed out the dangers
of this tree disease to one of our most important lumber resources.
Oak constitutes in dollar value about one-tenth of our commercial
lumber, being a wood of many uses besides that of making the best
bourbon-whiskey barrels. The oak is also a tree of enormous value
for its ornamental use as a shade tree. The spores of the Cerato-
cystis fagacearum are partial to the members of the beech family,
which includes, besides all the oaks, the chestnuts and the beeches.
Dr. Avery points out that the spores are also capable of existing on
ash, hickory, dogwood and others but its wilting effects are most
pronounced on the oaks. The spores of the oak wilt fungus are
spread in numerous ways in areas where the oaks grow close to
each other. Transmission has been known to occur through natural
root grafts. Besides, the fungal mycelial mats produce a fruity odor
which is attractive to insects. Birds and squirrels are also attracted
to them and may serve as possible carriers. Dr. Avery reported that
more than 500 centers of infection were from Ohio; other areas
from Pennsylvania through Minnesota and Iowa have many cen¬
ters of infection. Dr. Avery did not report the number of infec¬
tions for Wisconsin other than including it with other states with
heavy infection centers.
To control the disease requires drastic methods because thus far
treatment with antibiotics has been without success. The infected
Smith, M. V. : “Honey Bees and Pesticides Welch Biology and General Science
Digest; Vol. 9, No. 2, Chicago, 1960.
laDuShane, Graham: “Cranberry Smash;” Science; Vol. 130, No. 3387, Washington
D. C., November, 1959.
1960] Meyer — Bugs, Bounties, Balance, & Americanese 11
trees must be girdled, while still wilting, to kill the trees and pre-
vent the formation of the fungus mats and thus stop the aerial
spread of the disease. The roots of the infected trees must be killed
because the fungi can live in them for three years. The branches
and twigs should be immediately burned. However, the useful lum¬
ber can be saved. This is all a very expensive operation but with the
proper cooperation of timbermen and home owners it is believed
that oak wilt can be brought under control. Dr. Avery feels that it
is doubtful that the disease can be completely erradicated, but if we
are willing to pay this bounty oak wilt can be reduced from a men¬
ace to a nuisance.^^
Each year since 1957 the committee on bird protection of the
American Ornithologists’ Union has expressed concern over the
rapidly increasing use of insecticides and herbicides in both the
United States and Canada. This (use of these chemicals) has been
done before there is any adequate research on the effects of these
sprays on wildlife. A year ago it was pointed out to this group that
there was “accelerated inference or coincidence” with regard to
robin mortality associated with D.D.T. poisoning. If the report of
the A.O.U.’s committee reported in the January, 1960, issue of the
Auk is correct there is a distinct difference in the opinions of com¬
petent ornithologists and that of the economic entomologists, for I
quote: “To recite all the accumulating evidence of the harmful
effects of aerial dispersal of highly toxic pesticides would extend
this report beyond a permitted length.”^^ I point this out because it
shows that there is a distinct need for further research in environ¬
mental health which would bring about a close cooperation between
related groups of scientists. There seems to be a real area for co¬
operation to be worked out. The trees of our cities and our forest
areas need protection from pathogenic forms. We must learn to
protect them without creating undue environmental hazards Ito
wildlife or to man. We must not have the “only one-way attitude.”
We must find the other ways and this can lead to better ways. This
can only be accomplished by research and cooperation at all levels.
Chemical control of the environment should be a matter of con¬
tinuous study. Spray programs should be carried out under the
supervision of individuals who are really informed with regard to
safe dosages for given situations. Continuing vigilance should be
necessary to determine what the effective safe dosage will be from
year to year.
Up to the present, as far as I know, a practical means of produc¬
ing immunity to fungal disease has not been found. Are we to as-
13 Avery, George S. : “The Dying Oaks;’’ Scientifio American; Vol. 196, No. 5, New
York, May 1957.
i^Kalmbach, E. R., et al: “Report to the American Ornithologists’ Union by the Com¬
mittee on Bird Protection, 1959 The Auk; Vol. 77, No. 1, 1960.
12 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
sume that this is not possible? I think not, but the only way we can
find out is through increased research. This takes money, lots of
money. Leroy E. Burney, Surgeon General of the United States
Public Health Service, has suggested the establishment of an En¬
vironmental Health Unit within the service. He admits that it would
be easy to set up such a unit by legislation. The second step, that of
financing the unit would be hard.^® Yet this is the bounty we must
pay if we are going to maintain the proper land ethics.
Population Control: There is much current interest in space ex¬
ploration. The race for space supremacy is important in many ways.
Whether or not national success at getting pay-loads into orbit is a
measure of superiority and security is an open question. I for one
do not doubt the importance of continuing our efforts to explore
space. I do, however, feel that there are other areas that are equally
important and equally in need of study. One of these is population
control.
I have already indicated that our world civilizations have evolved
out of the wilderness areas of the planet earth. The command in the
eighth chapter of Genesis 'To be fruitful and multiply and replenish
the earth’' is one that seems to have been followed. The ability of a
species to replace its death losses has been called its biotic potential.
Man has been doing this at a high rate and the result is that the
earth is undergoing a population expansion of world wide concern.
The relation of births to increasing populations has led to the dis¬
cussion of birth control. Birth control has become a topic of politi¬
cal, social, economic, and religious importance on local, national,
and international levels.
Birth control relates to the individual. The unwanted child,
whether born in wedlock or out of wedlock has long been a matter
of social concern. It is one of the earth’s greatest sorrows. A second
sorrow is the sorrow of the barren womb. These two sorrows are
related, for they both are concerned with human reproduction. If it
is proper and humane to aid in the removal of sorrow by helping
the barren to conceive, is it necessarily improper and inhumane to
aid in the prevention of sorrow through birth control at the indi¬
vidual level ? In each instance, individuals are involved and must be
made aware of the fact that help may be made available. This can
only follow enlightenment through education. Liberal education
should always be concerned with the search for knowledge and
truth so that wisdom can be cultivated which will help man regard
his potentialities, individually and collectively, to continue to occupy
this planet earth. In a highly interdependent world intercultural
studies of international scope are becoming increasingly important.
i^DuShane, Graham: “Hazards of the ’60’s Science, Vol. 131, No. 3409, Washmg--
ton, D. C., April 1960.
1960] Meyer — Bugs, Bounties, Balance, & Americanese 13
In order to implement such a program of liberal education on a
global scale we again come to the problem of bounty. It will take
money, lots of money, to provide teachers and scholarships for
studying languages, and the so-called humanities as well as for the
study of the sciences. Language barriers must be broken so that
there may be a free intercourse of ideas between cultures. If
through enlightenment by education a given nation or cultural
group arrives at a decision to consider methods of limiting popu¬
lation, it is my opinion that we should give assistance. However,
each country must be free to develop its own program as deter¬
mined by its culture and religion,
I have already made several references to land usage. I should
like to urge action with regard to conservation of our shrinking
wilderness areas. Each year new areas are becoming agricultural
and industrial. As this occurs swamps and wet lands are being
drained, waters are being diverted, wooded areas are being cut
down, natural ecological situations are being changed at an alarm¬
ing rate. We in Wisconsin are all proud of our scenic areas and
should be concerned with preserving the remnants of our wilder¬
ness and reclaimed wildlife areas. We should also maintain the
beautiful roadsides that so enhance the development of beauty in
our industrial and agricultural areas. Professor Hickey and Mr.
Eugene Roark have recently called to the attention of the member¬
ship of this academy several instances of land-use conflicts that are
related to the loss of our natural areas. How can we minimize and
prevent future continuous shrinkage or destruction? This can be
accomplished by a program of action. In order to be able to act
rationally we should be familiar with some of the causes for loss
of or injury to wilderness areas. Permit me to list a few of them:
1. Creation of new agricultural lands through the drainage of wet lands
or the removal of forests.
2. Real estate developments associated with recreational usage.
3. Highway building and the extension of public utilities to new areas.
4. Destruction by fire of forest areas, grasslands, and marshlands. (Many
of these fires are the result of human carelessness.)
5. Despoliation through the action of pathogenic organisms of plant and
animal origin.
The prevention of continual shrinkage of the wilderness areas
can partially be diminished through direct purchase of lands by the
state and national government. This would make possible increased
acreage for preservative and scientific areas. Perhaps some of the
money now being spent on fox bounties could more appropriately be
used for this. We should urge interested citizens to aid in supply¬
ing funds to be used for this purpose. We should give support to
Hickey, Joseph J. and Roark, Eugene : “Can’t We Save Some of Wisconsin’s
Natural Resources?’’ (Bulletin to Academy 29 April 1960.)
14 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
those who are urging the National Park Service to create an Ice
Age National Park in our state.
In areas where new development (industrial, agricultural, or
recreational) are being made, we can urge care in the building of
highways and the extension of utility lines. The ruthless use of the
chain saw and potent (improperly applied) herbicides and insecti¬
cides can be discouraged. Local and county governments can be
advised to establish zoning regulations which would aid in maintain¬
ing ecological communities in healthy condition.
We must urge increases in the budgets for conservation depart¬
ments and school programs so that they can do more effective work
in conservation education. These are the bounties we must pay or
we will lose our wilderness and its wildlife.
Summary: I have defined a bug as a problem we want to be rid
of and have said that a bounty is the price we must pay to get rid
of the bug. By balance I indicated that I refer to man’s moral atti¬
tude toward his complete environment and its problems. I think the
ethics of living expressed by David Starr Jordan in his Days of a
Man are appropriate :
“TVisdom is knowing what to do next, Virtue doing it.
Religion, our conception of the reason right action is better than wrong.
Prayer, the core of our endeavor.’^
He goes on to cite the zoologist Thoburn’s conception of prayer:
‘Trayer is not a plea to change the world about us but our own resolve
to do our best in the loftiest affairs of life. If our prayer aims to realize
hope in action it will be answered.
To return to our Americanese :
O see Villie, see her go,
Forty buses in a row.
No Villie,
Dem is trucks;
See vat’s in ’em?
Couple o’ ducks!
Let’s hope they’re not dead ones!
Jordan, David Starr: Days of a Man; Vol. II, World Book Company, New York,
1922, p. 773.
SCIENCES
15
EVIDENCES OF DISSECTED EROSION SURFACES IN
THE DRIFTLESS AREA*
E, T. Thwaites
Madison, Wisconsin
Evidences of dissected erosion surfaces in the Driftless Area of
the Upper Mississippi Valley have been discussed for many years
without agreement. Bain (1906) thought that the upland surface
extends across the region. Trowbridge (1912-21) postulated two
peneplains, one on the crests of cuestas, the other in the vales. Mar¬
tin (1932) saw only the effect of rock differences in gently dipping
formations. Evidences included : the even skyline, beveling of rock
formations, a bridge connecting two cuestas, the level plain of cen¬
tral Wisconsin, level tops and terraces on quartzite, entrenched
meanders, and upland gravels. The writer concludes that every one
of these evidences which were taken to show former base leveled
surfaces can be interpreted in another manner. The skyline is a
will-o-the-wisp, always distant. Beveling of dolomite depends on
length of time since overlying formations were eroded. The “bridge”
is where a weak formation is thin. Level places on folded quartzite
were marine erosion during Ordovician submergence. Although
entrenched meanders may show uplift, they are indecisive. The
break in slope between uplands and valley sides is determined by
resistant layers of bedrock. The inverted parabolic profile on dolo¬
mite agrees with Gilbert’s (1909) explanation of creep. No rem¬
nant of a pre-valley landscape can be proved. The plain of central
Wisconsin is lacustrine. Topography on escarpments is youthful
and there is no proof of two levels on dip slopes. The hypothesis of
pediplanation lacks evidence.
The validity of the evidences which were once taken to disclose
dissected erosion surfaces in the Upper Mississippi Valley has been
debated for more than half a century. Agreement between different
geologists has never been attained. Now that the entire region has
been mapped topographically, photographed from the air, and in
part mapped geologically in detail, it is possible to reappraise the
reliability of the evidences which have been presented, for the issue
is not yet closed.
Basic Facts Which Bear on the Problem. The major phenomenon
which led to interpretation of ancient dissected erosion surfaces in
* Paper read at the 90th Annual Meeting- of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences.
Arts, and Letters.
17
18 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
20 MILES
Figure 1. Physiographic diagram of the Driftless Area showing the
escarpments of the three major dolomite formations and that due to
the resistant Franconia sandstone. Valleys within the cuestas which
expose lower formations were omitted.
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 19
the Driftless Area is the fact that the entire region is commonly
referred to as ‘'two story.'' Agricultural development, and in fact
all human activity, is sharply divided into (1) uplands, and (2)
valley bottoms. Only in a few localities are there benches interme¬
diate between the two major levels. Cultivation extends as high on
valley sides as soil erosion will permit and the steeper slopes of the
valleys are chiefly in forest. Some of the uplands were treeless
prairies. On uplands slopes are relatively gentle and locally the
term “rolling ground" is applied to them. An observer who stands
on one of the uplands gets the strong impression that he is looking
at an old surface of low relief into which valleys were eroded in
relatively recent time. To check this impression we must first con¬
sider the nature and position of the different bedrock formations.
Bedrocks. The bedrock formations of the Driftless Area are
nearly horizontal sedimentary rocks which are commonly classified
as “soft rocks," The different units or formations dip gently to the
southwest away from the Wisconsin arch of Precambrian “hard
rocks." The dip is in few places as much as 20 feet to the mile far
below the least which is visible to the eye and is very irregular in
detail. There are some small folds and faults which have little
visible effect on the upland level.
The youngest bedrock formation which is preserved in the Drift¬
less Area is the group of dolomites generally lumped under the
name “Niagara" of Silurian age. In places these dolomites contain
much chert. They are confined in surface distribution to the higher
hills which are locally known as “mounds." None of the mounds is
situated north of Wisconsin River. Beneath the light colored dolo¬
mites of the Niagara is a shale known by various names, “Cincin¬
nati", “Richmond", or “Maquoketa." The shale is dolomitic where
fresh and is blue-gray in color. It is generally regarded as of Ordo¬
vician age. There are several thin layers of gray dolomite inter-
bedded in the shale. The outcrop area of shale is comparatively
small, for it is confined to a band around the outliers of Niagara
dolomite and to a few ridge crests in the southern part of the Drift¬
less Area, Beneath the shale lies a sequence of dolomite, some lime¬
stone, and a little shale, all of Ordovician age. Geologists divide
these rocks in descending order into “Galena", “Decorah", and
“Platteville" formations, but the materials are so much alike that
there is little reflection of these divisions in the topography, which
is a rolling upland which extends from Illinois north to the vicinity
of the Wisconsin River with one extension along the Mississippi
River for some distance north of the boundary farther east (Fig.
1), Under the carbonate rocks is the outcrop of the incoherent “St.
Peter" sandstone. The surface distribution of this sandstone is
almost confined to a narrow belt along the edge of the younger for-
20 Wisconsin Academy of ScienceSy Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
mation. The St. Peter varies greatly in thickness. Locally it is
absent but where it is thick the lower part consists of layers of red
non-dolomitic shale, chert rubble, and chert-sandstone conglom¬
erate. These basal beds are rarely exposed, but it is clear, especially
from records of drilling, that they rest upon various older forma¬
tions, some of which are of Cambrian age. Beneath the St. Peter
and its associated basal beds lies another dolomite unit which has
received various names, “Lower Magnesian'’, “Oneota-Shakopee”,
Figure 2. Break between upland on Prairie du Chien dolomite at right and
Platteville dolomite at left. Steep slope is due to St. Peter sandstone which
makes crags and towers at nearby points. Locality is at north end of section
shown in Fig. 5. The bevel of the lower dolomite ends against this escarpment
of youthful topography. The theory which ascribes the two levels on the dolo¬
mites to different erosion cycles leaves the question of how old age topography
could be formed so close to a youthful escarpment.
and “Prairie du Chien." Within the dolomite are several thin layers
of sandstone, one of which is often called “New Richmond." These
thin sandstones do not appear to affect the topography of the out¬
crop area to a material extent. The Prairie du Chien dolomites are
very cherty and cap a rolling upland. (Fig. 2)
Beneath the oldest Ordovician formation, the Prairie du Chien,
lies a considerable thickness of sandstone with a little shale and
siltstone. This sequence is what was termed “Potsdam" sandstone
in older reports. Many systems of subdivisions into formations have
been proposed since the days of Owen, one of the earliest geologists
to visit the Driftless Area. In the system of classification now in use
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 21
the units in descending order are “Jordan"’ and “Madison” sand¬
stones which make steep slopes and cliffs. Some geologists include
them in the underlying “Trempealeau” formation which consists
mainly of dolomitic siltstone and dolomite. These lower layers form
a slight bench on many hillsides. Under the Trempealeau is the
dolomitic “Franconia” sandstone part of which was once termed
“Mazomanie.” It makes a bench which is locally slightly terraced.
The Franconia caps lower hills north of the Prairie du Chien
escarpment (Fig. 1), locally it makes crags and cliffs although over
most of its outcrop slopes are moderate. Below the Franconia is the
cliff-making “Galesville” member of the “Dresbach” formation. In
many outcrops it is strikingly white in contrast to darker overlying
formations. Under the Galesville is the shaly “Eau Claire” member
which caps some ridges of a lower bench. Beneath the Eau Claire
lies a variable thickness of coarser grained “Mt. Simon” sandstone
with a few layers of shale. The Mt. Simon thins out gradually upon
an irregular surface of the Precambrian crystalline rocks. Locally,
for instance at Baraboo, Black River Falls, and in northeastern
Adams County there are isolated inliers of these hard rocks which
project as mounds and bluffs through the weaker sandstone above.
Baraboo, Adams County, and Necedah occurrences are all quartzite.
At Black River Falls it is a low-grade iron formation.
History of Investigation. So far as the writer has been able to
discover, the first suggestion of a former old-age topography in the
Driftless Area was by Kiimmel (1895) who described some en¬
trenched meanders in southwestern Wisconsin. In 1896 and 1897
Hershey discriminated both in the Driftless Area and in adjacent
territory uplands which he regarded as dissected peneplains. In
1896 Van Hise suggested that the even surface of the Precambrian
in central Wisconsin is the same age as the upland of the region to
the southwest. In 1900 Salisbury and Atwood described the region
around Baraboo including the Dells of Wisconsin River and the
vicinity of Camp Douglas. The report clearly stated that the plain
around Camp Douglas is a peneplain which has not yet been dis¬
sected. In 1903 Weidman demonstrated with cross sections that the
subdued erosion level on the Precambrian of central Wisconsin can
be traced south under the Cambrian and younger rocks and is hence
much older than any land surfaces to the south. From 1903 to 1907
various papers by Grant and Bain described the topography of the
region south of Military Ridge. All of them stated that the upland
of that region is the same as that to the north of Military Ridge.
This hypothesis is shown in Fig. 3A, In evaluating this conclusion it
must be remembered that there were then no accurate topographic
maps of the area and that travel over it was very slow prior to the
development of the automobile and must have been mainly limited
22 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
to the mineralized area on the Galena-Platteville upland. When
Lawrence Martin visited the area, he was able to travel much more
widely because he had the use of a car. In 1916 his conclusion was
published that instead of a dissected peneplain the topography con¬
sists of a series of eroded cuestas whose form is due solely to the
nature of the bedrock formations (Fig. 3C). The writer shared
Figure 3. Diagram showing basic ideas of different hypotheses of the origin
of the topography of the Driftless Area.
A. Bain regarded the uplands as all parts of a single erosion surface which
once covered the entire area. It is not possible to pass a straight line
through the uplands showing that they are remnants of the same surface
so the hypothesis is contrary to fact.
B. Trowbridge recognized this relationship and postulated two erosion levels,
one survives on the crests of the cuestas, the other in the vales between
them.
C. Martin recognized only the effects of differential erosion and did not
regard any parts of the upland as remnants of a peneplain.
D. Bates found that the crests of the cuestas line up as if remnants of a
former peneplain and that the dolomites are beveled on the crests and
not in the vales. A single peneplain corresponding to Trowbridge's Dodge-
ville surface was deduced.
E. In eastern Wisconsin no straight line can be drawn through the crests
of the cuestas although each of them displays bevel of the formation.
Each upland is progressively lower going west.
many of Martin’s trips and in 1907 worked with W. C. Alden in the
region just east of the Driftless Area. Although in the field Alden
privately expressed doubt of the significance of the even skyline,
his report of 1918 describes three cycles of erosion of which the
first developed the “Dodgeville peneplain” of the Driftless Area.
The process of leveling was clearly stated as due to meandering
rivers which had reached base level. From 1916 to 1924 the writer
worked on the detailed mapping of three quadrangles in western
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 23
Wisconsin, no reports on which have ever appeared. A report on
the Tomah and Sparta quadrangles in collaboration with W. H.
Twenhofel and Lawrence Martin was completed in 1922 but was
refused publication by the U. S. Geological Survey partly on account
of disagreement over the classification of the Cambrian formations
but also because of Martin’s opposition to the recognition of any
peneplain in the area. In 1921 a report based on work by Trow¬
bridge and some of his students (Shipton, Hughes) appeared. In
this report Trowbridge denied the views of Martin and instead
postulated two upland surfaces. The older one (Dodgeville) beveled
the formations of the cuesta tops and the lower one (Lancaster)
had only been developed in the vales between these cuestas (Fig.
3B). A surviving remnant of the older surface was recognized on
the Baraboo quartzite. Here the problem rested until 1932 when
Martin’s report was republished with no change in his views. In
1939 a report by Bates on the region around the Kickapoo River
appeared. He had drawn, but not included in the report, many pro¬
jected profiles of the Driftless Area in which geology was shown.
Bates recognized only one peneplain level which truncated the
crests of the cuestas and was absent in the vales (Fig. 3D). In the
latter the upland is a stripped formation whereas on the crests
there is a marked bevel. In Horberg’s paper of 1946 on the gla¬
ciated surfaces of Illinois several distinct erosion surfaces were
recognized. The lack of harmony between these surfaces and the
dip of the formations was shown by maps and a cross section.
What Is a Peneplain? Before reappraising the evidence of dis¬
sected erosion surfaces presented by the authors listed above, it is
essential to define the term ‘"peneplain.” Space forbids a complete
summary of the development of this term, but we may pass to the
original concept as expounded in textbooks. As first proposed, the
logical endpoint of a long undisturbed erosion period is a peneplain.
The climate under which this erosion took place was for the most
part not mentioned but may be presumed to be one like that of the
eastern United States. Many writers refer to this as “normal cli¬
mate,” We must also realize that the word “plain” means a surface
which looks level to the unaided eye and not necessarily to the sur¬
veyor’s instrument. Later some students of erosion expanded the
term peneplain to include all reasonably level surfaces regardless of
agency of erosion or climate. To the writer this seems to be an ex¬
pansion of the original meaning. Johnson (1916) spelled the word
“peneplane” because he concluded that the ultimate surface of ero¬
sion should be a geometric plane. In much, if not all, of the theo¬
retical discussions of this problem the methods by which stream
divides were destroyed was not discussed. The relative importance
of slopewash, creep, and solution was ignored. A few stated defi-
24 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
nitely that leveling was due to lateral erosion of streams. Horton
(1945) appears to be the first or one of the first to recognize that in
time the force of surface runoff becomes equal to the resistance of
the soil to erosion. Comparison was made at the upper limit of rill
erosion on slopes under normal rainfall. Obviously resistance to
erosion is closely related to soil, vegetation, and climate. Horton
ignored both mass movement of the soil and solution. Crickmay
(1933) appreciated the problem of the removal of divides and defi¬
nitely concluded that lateral stream erosion is the dominant process.
It should be noted that advocacy of such an idea is tantamount to
the theory of pediplanation discussed below.
Weathered Material on a Peneplain. A common suggestion of the
manner in which divides were removed was that weathering got
ahead of erosion thus leaving a thick mantle of clay which yielded
readily to slopewash. Some suggested that (Penck, 1953) mass
movement was favored by this clay mantle. However, this hypoth¬
esis does not stand up well under analysis. Weathering requires the
penetration of ground water. Ground waters move only when im¬
pelled by pressure. Such pressure could only be due to differences of
elevation. It is an open question how thick a mantle of clay could be
formed with the postulated low relief of a peneplain.
Stairways of Peneplain Remnants. In many areas, including the
Driftless Area, geologists have described stairways of distinct ero¬
sion levels close together. Horberg describes just such a series of
levels in Illinois. So far as the writer can determine, Crickmay
(1933), Rich (1938), and King (1949) are almost the only geolo¬
gists to question such an interpretation which seems to be an out¬
growth of the “treppen’' concept of Penck. Several different ques¬
tions may be asked about this theory of steps in level: (1) Why
are not the older surfaces progressively more and more dissected
and weathered down in proportion to their increasing age? (2)
Which is more rapid, scarp retreat or stream cutting? (3) What
protected the older levels from complete destruction by the same
processes that made the younger surfaces? (4) Do erosion surfaces
grow laterally or vertically? (5) Is lateral stream erosion more
important than weathering? It should be noted that if we lean
toward the last named idea, we are approaching the hypothesis of
pediplanation and departing from the original concept of the
peneplain.
Modern Peneplains. It has been remarked by many geologists
that there are no undissected peneplains extant today. Such a state¬
ment involves abandonment of the interpretation of the central
plain of Wisconsin as such a surface and applies only to surfaces
of erosion governed by sea level. If we observe surfaces of consid-
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 25
erable elevation above sea level, there are many areas underlain by
either shale or limestone which are undissected and are level enough
to be called ‘'plains.'' Adjacent to such plain areas are regions un¬
derlain by sandstone which have rather rugged relief because this
rock can support steeper slopes than can shale or limestone. There
are many such areas in Kansas and Oklahoma. Factors which must
be considered in the discrimination of modern base-leveled surfaces
are: (1) vegetal cover, (2) amount of rainfall and soil moisture,
(3) the angle of repose, that is the angle at which equilibrium is
attained between the forces of erosion and the forces of weathering
and erosion, (4) the mechanical hardness of the bedrock, and (5)
the solubility of the bedrock.
Pediplanation. It has long been known (Rich, 1935) that in rela¬
tively dry climates in western United States the bedrock adjacent
to mountain ranges is eroded into sloping “pediments," most of
which have a thin veneer of water-transported material. It must be
recognized that in order to produce such surfaces we must have
widespread erosion both by slopewash and ephemeral streams.
There has been much argument as to which process is dominant, but
that discussion cannot be followed in detail here. That large sur¬
faces called “pediplains" are produced by the same agencies has
recently been advocated mainly by King of South Africa. It is clear
that to produce such large surfaces requires rock which weathers
into a mantle which is easily moved by water for which process
sparse vegetation is a requirement. This means that pediplanation
takes place mainly on crystalline rocks which weather into gran¬
ules or on sandstone. Some shales weather into loose rather than
tightly packed clay. On all of these bedrocks “wash slopes" which
are concave upward can be developed if vegetation is sparse. Such
vegetation requires (1) either light or seasonal rainfall, (2) brush
rather than grass, (3) semi-arid or arid climate, or (4) poor soil.
One of the stumbling blocks in the way of acceptance of this hy¬
pothesis of pediplanation is that many geologists seem to be reluc¬
tant to accept changes of climate. In this discussion we should real¬
ize that arid or semi-arid climates are actually of greater extent
today than are climates of the so-called “normal" type. That cli¬
matic changes have occurred in the past is demonstrated not only
by glaciation but by the occurrence of evaporites. The theory of
pediplanation explains not only erosion levels with a cover of gravel
much of which seems too coarse for transportation on a true pene¬
plain but also the presence of stairways of levels or terraces. It has
been suggested that grass, which more than any other vegetation
restrains erosion, appeared only relatively recently in the history
of the earth. In connection with climatic changes it seems possible
26 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
that our present distribution of climates is a holdover from the
Pleistocene glaciations.
Uplands. Turning back to the Driftless Area, it is necessary to
recall that almost the only criterion of past peneplanation which
was applied in early days was the “even skyline,’’ It is true that this
phenomenon is very striking to any observer who looks out from a
high point in the area and it at once suggests that he sees an old
subdued erosion surface which has rather recently been uplifted
and dissected by narrow valleys. But if one is critical, one soon
notes that the appearance of an old dissected plateau is best seen at
a distance. It is a veritable “will-o-the-wisp” which everywhere re¬
treats before the observer only to close in behind him. Many valleys
are concealed by the ridges. Viewed on good maps or from the air
the landscape is seen to be thoroughly dissected and it is difficult
indeed to discover the division between old and new erosion, or be¬
tween the pre-valley surface and the narrow steep-sided valleys
with sandstone cliffs. The break in slope between valley sides and
rolling upland is almost everywhere at a stratum which is more
resistant than the adjacent beds. Such resistant layers include: (1)
the iron-oxide cemented Glenwood sandstone member of the Platte-
ville formation and (2) the quartzitic “clinkstone” at the top of the
Gambrian, Only at a few localities where the “clinkstone” is absent
has the writer found a cliff of basal Prairie du Chien dolomite be¬
low a break in slope at the border of the upland. The flat top of
West Blue Mound, 1716 feet in elevation, is apparently controlled
by the top of a very cherty part of the Niagara dolomite. A well
drilled on this top showed dolomite only in the basal 10 feet of 85
feet of boulders of Niagara chert mixed with clay. Why there was
an unusual amount of chert at the locality is unknown. East Blue
Mound is 230 feet lower and has a similar flat top. This summit was
shown by road cuts to be fixed by a layer of dolomite in the Maquo-
keta shale. Apparently no one has ever suggested that either of
these level summits is a remnant of a peneplain. The break in slope
at the base of the Platteville formation where the St. Peter sand¬
stone is present below is equally sharp. At no place has the writer
found that the break in slope lies at a higher horizon than the iron-
oxide cemented beds of the Glenwood member of the Platteville.
The upland of the Franconia sandstone is marked in many places
and is wide enough to permit farming. It is, however, by no means
as definite a rolling surface as are the dolomite uplands. The re¬
sistant layer which causes the break in slope at the border of the
Franconia upland varies. It may be (1) a micaceous siltstone, the
Tomah member, (2) a thin layer of dolomite, the Birkmose mem¬
ber, or (3) a firm layer of poorly sorted coarse sandstone which is
in many places dolomitic where not weathered, the Wood Hill or
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 27
Ironton member. The break in slope at the margins of all uplands
is bordered by rougher topography on the underlying weak forma¬
tions of sandstone. In that bordering belt there are cliffs and crags
with steep slopes adjacent, a topography decidedly unlike the
smooth rather gentle slopes on the dolomite.
Natural outcrops of dolomite are virtually unknown on uplands
except very near to the border. No upland is continuous with that
on the next lower dolomite so that the old idea of one upland sur¬
face throughout the entire Driftless Area is contrary to fact. To be
sure, the rolling dolomite uplands do resemble what some geologists
thought a peneplain ought to look like. During the time that the
manuscript of the Tomah-Sparta folio was being considered in
Washington, someone wrote on the margin of the section describing
the upland on the Prairie du Chien dolomites : “good description of
a peneplain.'’ It is supposed that this was a remark of M. R. Camp¬
bell. The moral is that the older geomorphologists paid little atten¬
tion to the nature either of the residual material or the bed rock but
regarded only slopes. We must realize that shale disintegrates into
clay which is somewhat like the clay which remains after the solu¬
tion of limestone and dolomite, whereas sandstone weathers into a
rubble of hard fragments in sand. The removal of these residual de¬
posits by rain wash and mass movement must differ with the nature
of the source rock and have a profound effect on the resulting
landscape.
A factor which affects the topography of the Driftless Area is
the mantle of silty loess which lies on all slopes gentle enough to
retain it. The mantle is thickest near the Mississippi River, Many
of the older road cuts showed the abrupt base of the loess where it
lies on the red stony residuum from dolomite. Many years ago
Chamberlin and Salisbury (1885, pp. 239-258) reported on the
thickness of mantle rock and gave an average of 13.55 feet appar¬
ently for the upland on the Galena-Platteville formations. It is not
clear that this included loess, but it probably did. For the entire
Driftless Area their figure is only 7.08 feet. These students of the
area had access to many of the old lead pits which are now filled.
Outside of the lead-producing region their data must have been
scanty. The writer attempted to obtain information from well drill¬
ers and has examined many sets of cuttings from upland wells. The
drillers’ answer to questions was invariably: “What do you mean
by solid rock?” This implies a gradation from stones scattered
through clay to more or less solid bed rock. The records of five wells
on the Prairie du Chien upland suggest a figure for loose material
which is several times that ascribed to the region to the south,
namely an average of 55 feet. Fifty-five analyses collected by Steidt-
mann (1924) range from 1.37% insoluble matter to 26.26% for the
28 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Prairie du Chien and from 0.82% to 28.46% for the Galena to
Platteville. The averages are 8.5% and 9.4% respectively although
the scatter is entirely too large to give much confidence in these
averages. The samples were probably selected as representative of
the reasonably pure phases of the limestons and dolomites and do
not include either chert or shale. Since the bulk density of the
mantle rock is probably not over half that of the parent bedrock, we
may estimate that it would take over 100 feet of bedrock to yield
20 feet of residuum. The problem is to find out if all residuum is still
present or if not, how much has been removed. Exact data on this
point is lacking, but it seems from the cross sections that a large
amount has been removed in past times. A confusing factor is the
extremely irregular original thickness of the Prairie du Chien dolo¬
mites. A control in leaching which should not be lost sight of is
Shaler’s old idea of control by stream spacing (Shaler, 1899). j
Upland Divides. If one descends a stream course from the upland 1
on dolomite to the adjacent valley which is eroded in sandstone, one
will find that there are pebbles and cobbles of dolomite which are
moved whenever there is a heavy rain or when the snow melts.
These rock fragments were derived from the broken and weathered
bedrock. Many probably moved to the stream course by creep or
mass movement. Lower down the stream course debris from the
firmer layers of sandstone appears. If one descends from the upland
between valleys, one will find a mantle of weathered material which
overlies a fairly regular surface of the sandstone with a rather
abrupt contact. There is no gradation of mantle rock to bedrock on
hillsides as there is on uplands. If one analyzes the ground waters
of the Driftless Area, one will find that all appear to be saturated
with dissolved carbonates. It is difficult to decide which is more
important in removing dolomite : solution or removal of fragments.
The relative abundance of chert in residual deposits favors the
dominance of solution. The analyses of ground waters show that
dolomite dissolves as dolomite with no accumulation of magnesite.
Another problem is present, the relative importance of slopewash
versus mass movement in the removal of residual clays of dolomites
from the divides. Horton showed that for a certain distance from a
divide the force of slopewash is not enough to overcome the resist¬
ance of the soil to removal. The idea is logical and it must be noted
that many of the divides of the Driftless Area were originally
prairie with a dense cover of grass. Grass is more resistant to ero¬
sion by slopewash than most, if not all, other forms of vegetal cover.
It should also be realized that very few valley heads of this area ex¬
tend to the divides. Slopewash, however, is not the only method of
removal of material. Where there is clay, mass movement or creep
also occurs or possibly occurred under a wetter climate than that
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 29
of the present. The inspection of the new maps and air photographs
discloses that divides are predominantly convex upward. Terraces
on slopes are rare although some occur in positions where their
relation to bedrock is not known. Gilbert (1909) showed that if the
thickness of residuum is essentially uniform, it must be in process
of removal, for it is formed all over the slope at once. Observation
shows that approximately uniform thickness of mantle rock is com¬
mon on slopes underlain by dolomites. In order to bring about this
approximate uniformity of thickness it is evident that the speed of
removal must increase down slope at a uniform rate. The mantle
must be entirely removed both at stream courses and at the break
in slope to talus-clad valley sides. The force which produces this
mass movement of mantle rock must be the component of gravity
parallel to the slope. This quantity is proportioned to the sine of
the angle of slope in degrees. Since the slopes are almost all rather
gentle, it is accurate enough to say that this force is proportioned
to the tangent of the angle of slope since for small angles sine and
tangent are nearly the same. Hence, the velocity of motion, V, is
related directly to the technical definition of slope, S, (the tangent
of the angle in degrees) and we may then write that V : S. Now to
secure uniform thickness of mantle rock, V must be in direct pro¬
portion to distance from the divide, h. Hence V : h and therefore
S : h. The fall in the given horizontal distances, h, is then measured
by horizontal distance times average slope. Thus we can write f : h
times S/2, By substitution f : h times h/2 or f : hV2. This is the
equation of an inverted parabola. It makes no difference except to
the “constant of proportionality’' whether we measure distances in
feeb or in miles. The check on the actual occurrene of the above
theory is to plot horizontal distances and fall from divides on loga¬
rithmic coordinates. We can write the equation f = h^ as log f = 2
log h. When this is plotted, the result is a straight line whose slope
indicates the value of the exponent 2. Figure 4 is an actual example
which agrees exactly with the theory. In 20 trials some variation in
value of the exponent was discovered, but all yielded straight lines
when thus plotted. The average exponent proved to be 1.96 which
considering the scale of the maps made from air photographs in¬
stead of actual surveyed points is about as close as can be expected.
Part of the deviation may be due to difficulty in locating the true
divide on gentle slopes. Another factor is variation in thickness of
the mantle rock including loess. A value of the exponent less than 2
probably indicates that the thickness of loose material decreases
down the slope and values above 2 mean a down slope thickening.
Gilbert’s theory is definitely substantiated. Such slopes represent
an equilibrium condition, meaning that the mantle must be under-
30 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
going removal at the same rate as it is formed. Creep may not be
going on now at the rate at which it did during glaciation of the
surrounding region. The evidence of the parabolic slopes shows that
material is being or has been removed from the entire slopes. Hence,
there can be no remnants of a topography which antedates the ero¬
sion of the valleys. Divides have been lowered concurrently with the
0 1000 aooo 3000 FEET
Figure 4. Profiles of slope below a divide in southwestern Wisconsin on |
Galena dolomite. The upper diagram is on ordinary coordinates and shows j
that the divides are smoothly convex, a fact confirmed by map study. The lower I
profile is on logarithmic coordinates and indicates that the fall is proportioned 1
to the square of the horizontal distance from the divide. This type of inverted I
parabolic slope develops when residual material is of nearly uniform thick- •
ness and is being removed by mass movement at a rate close to that at which '
it is formed by weathering. Material is either being removed at present or has i
recently been in motion. Removal extends to the divide so that no proved
remnant of pre-valley topography can be recognized.
formation of valleys. This fact removes the validity of the evidence
formerly used to deduce the erosional history of the area. It should ,,
be noted in this place that the slopes on the uplands are Wood's
“waxing slopes” and those of the valley sides are his “constant i
slope” type, that is talus or gravity slopes where material is re¬
strained from further movement by friction. The exponent of these
slopes is unity.
i
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 31
Beveling of Bedrock Formations. Although it has long been real¬
ized that the discovery of old erosion surfaces is extremely diffi¬
cult^ where the bedrocks are as nearly horizontal as they are in the
Driftless Area, it has often been postulated that the original thick¬
ness of each formation should be preserved throughout its outcrop
area if it was not beveled by peneplanation where the control was
local base level. Construction of accurate cross sections where the
dip is checked by well records discloses that there is a distinct bev¬
eling. Some comparisons of thickness of dolomite on different parts
of a cuesta have, however, been unfair, for they compared the
thickness of small outliers with that on wide ridges. The surviving
thickness is unquestionably related to the width of the interval be¬
tween valleys. The major factor which this older view of beveling
ignores is that dolomite is water-soluble. True, it is not as soluble
as pure high-calcium limestone as shown by the paucity of caverns
in the Driftless Area compared to those in the limestone of Ken¬
tucky. It has been demonstrated above that solution is probably a
very important factor in the lowering of divides. Hence, it follows
that the control of amount of thinning of an exposed dolomite for¬
mation is the length of time that it has been uncovered from over-
lying formations. Since in gently inclined formations which are
present in the Driftless Area the escarpments are slowly worn back
exposing the underlying material, it follows that if this is a dolo¬
mite it must thicken gradually as the distance from the next escarp¬
ment decreases. This condition is exactly what sections disclose.
In the case of several escarpments there are remnants of the weak
formation for some miles from the cuesta face. It was often stated
that the upland shows no trace of the minor faulting and folding
which has been discovered in southwestern Wisconsin. The largest
fault or monocline which has been definitely proved has a displace¬
ment of only about 100 feet and most folds are less than that. When
we consider both the imperfections of the human eye in detecting
vertical differences of level at a distance and the rolling nature of
the uplands, it is small wonder that these structures appear to be
beveled.^ A still stronger item of evidence is found in eastern Wis¬
consin (Fig. 3E) where the three dolomites are each beveled and
yet no nearly straight line can be drawn across the crests as can be
done in southwestern Wisconsin. Each cuesta is lower than the next
to the east. This region was glaciated, yet the cuestas are progress¬
ively lower toward the west away from the most active glacial
action in the center of the Green Bay Lobe. Although the back
slopes of the dolomite cuestas appear very much like old age topog¬
raphy, the escarpments on the weak formation outcrops are steep
1 Davis, W. M., Personal communication.
1 The detailed cross sections which the writer prepared are all too large to repro¬
duce with this paper and hence were omitted.
32 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
and craggy (Fig. 2). The latter raise the question how old age
topography could originate so close to youthful forms. At Blue
Mounds it is readily seen that the Galena dolomite is about 100 feet
thicker under the Mounds than a short distance away. This varia¬
tion is not evidence of peneplanation but rather of the protection
afforded by the overlying shale. It measures how much the dolo¬
mite has been weathered down by solution since the erosion of the
cover of Maquoketa shale. As we approach the cuesta caused by the
Niagara dolomite of northern Illinois there is some shale still pre¬
served on the uplands and parts of the shale outcrop are very flat.
It is not clear that these flat areas are remnants of the surface
which existed prior to the erosion of the valleys, for they are very
close to much higher land with a craggy escarpment. The older stu¬
dents of the area must have thought that shale is peneplaned much
more rapidly than dolomite and probably they emphasized the role
of lateral stream erosion to account for the abrupt change in level.
Breaks Between Uplands. The striking contrast between the sur¬
face on the dolomites and the nature of the landscape on the weak
formations has been noted above. To the writer it offers an insuper¬
able objection to the theory of peneplanation whether we accept the
idea of two peneplain levels or not (Fig. 3B). There is no material
difference in degree of dissection of the back slopes of the dolomite
uplands as Trowbridge’s theory of two surfaces of different ages i
demands. One can travel on back slopes of the cuestas from the '
older Dodgeville surface down to the younger “Lancaster” surface
without finding any visible appearance of difference in age with
either a gradual transition or a sharp break. It is true that the
lower surface is more dissected than the upper south of Wisconsin ’
River, but this condition is the natural result of the shorter dis¬
tance from Military Ridge (See Fig. 1) to a major drainage line
than is the case down dip to the south. This difference is exactly the :
opposite from that demanded by the two level theory.
Bridge Between Two Upland Surfaces. Trowbridge concluded that
the divide between the Kickapoo and Mississippi rivers in western :
Wisconsin is a surviving bridge or connection between two cuestas '
which indicates the former extent of the “Dodgeville” peneplain.
Just why such a remnant should have been left so close to the i
largest stream of the region, the Mississippi, was not explained. It |
has been suggested that the Mississippi River was forced into its ;
present course by some of the earlier ice sheets which advanced i
from the west in the same way that the Ohio River was diverted |
across former divides. No westward continuations of the tributaries
which enter the east bank of the Mississippi have been discovered j
and the gradual narrowing of the inner valley between the bluffs is ,
easily explained by the southerly dip of the formations which brings '
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area
33
the Prairie du Chien dolomite down from the crests of the bluffs at
La Crosse to near river level at Prairie du Chien. The same phe¬
nomenon of downstream narrowing of the interval between the
bluffs is also observed on Wisconsin River. Some early students of
the area actually took this phenomenon to indicate a reversal of
direction of flow.
Returning to the Kickapoo-Mississippi divide Figure 5 is an accu¬
rate section along its course where the dip of the formations was
taken from wells which have been drilled at the villages on it. This
section demonstrates that the appearance of connection is due sim¬
ply to the small thickness of the St. Peter sandstone (Fig. 2) at the
Figure 5. Profile of the Kickapoo-Mississippi divide in southwestern Wiscon¬
sin. This area was regarded by Trowbridge as a “bridge’’ connecting two
cuestas. The uplands on the two dolomite formations are at the same level
because there is a local abnormally steep dip. Moreover, the St. Peter sand¬
stone is relatively thin so that its escarpment is inconspicuous. See Figure 2.
Note that the two short sections at right angles to the main profile demon¬
strate that the Prairie du Chien upland extends south on the spurs. GP = Ga-
lena-Platteville, SP = St. Peter, PC = Prairie du Chien, JT ■= Jordan-Trem-
pealeau, F = Franconia, D = Dresbach, P = Precambrian.
north edge of the outlier of Platteville dolomite. There is an escarp¬
ment at the contact of the two levels just as everywhere else. The
lower level on the Prairie du Chien dolomite can be followed along
the spurs south to Wisconsin River and is just as distinct as along
the north side of Military Ridge. Note the transverse sections of the
ridge in Figure 5. At the time the former interpretation was first
made of this ridge it must be realized that it had not been surveyed
topographically. The low escarpment shown in Figure 2 was doubt¬
less explained as due to post-Dodgeville erosion. The evidence
afforded by the divide is not competent to indicate that there was
once a peneplain across the entire area.
Relation of Dip of Strata and Slope of Upland. Both Trowbridge
and Horberg (1921, 1946) attached much importance to the dis-
34 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Figure 6. Butte of Galesville sandstone near Camp
Douglas rising from lacustrine plain of central Wis¬
consin which was once described as a peneplain. The
relationship could only be explained by lateral stream
erosion of the plain which is graded to the post-Cary
rock gorge at the Dells of the Wisconsin.
cordance between the general slope of the uplands and the dip of
the underlying strata. Trowbridge (1921, pp. 66-68) used diagrams
showing relations at corners of a triangle between surface slope
and dip of the strata, Whereas Horberg relied on maps where both
phenomena were shown by contours. To evaluate this evidence in
the light of present knowledge of the region one must realize: (1)
gradual beveling of water-soluble formations such as dolomite has
been previously explained as the result of solution whose amount
increases with length of time that overlying material has been re¬
moved; (2) choice of the locations on the uplands is subject to
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 35
error, for they were taken to demonstrate a point although perhaps
also because the elevation of the bottom of the dolomite was known
there; (3) the computation involves the assumption that the base
of the dolomite is a mathematical plane and not irregular as de¬
tailed mapping shows; and (4) elevations ascribed to the upland
involve the same assumption of a plane surface whereas as shown
above it is rolling with no truly level areas except a few on the shale
in northern Illinois. It has been noted before that the failure to find
any recognizable reflection of small folds and faults in this general
Figure 7. Happy Hill upland on tilted Baraboo quartzite. The old maps
showed this upland much wider than it really is. The soil is clay which con¬
tains both quartzite and Paleozoic chert fragments. The writer ascribed it to
marine erosion during Ordovician submergence. Elevation is over 1480 feet.
level is due principally to their slight amount of displacement of
the strata but also to the higher rate of erosion of the higher areas.
Another factor is that of distance. ‘‘Distance lends enchantment to
the view’' is here well exemplified. Vertical differences are every¬
where small compared to horizontal distances and cannot be ob¬
served accurately with the unaided eye at any considerable distance.
Although at first inspection the evidence presented on lack of har¬
mony between uplands and rock structure appears impressive, it is
in the writer’s opinion incompetent to prove the former existence
of peneplained surfaces whose form approached a mathematical
plane.
Distinction Between Upland Levels. It has been explained previ¬
ously that no distinction between upland levels can be observed on
36 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
the back slopes of the cuestas, clear though it may be at the escarp¬
ments (Fig. 2). It was, however, noted by Trowbridge and his asso¬
ciates that in the west end of the Baraboo quartzite area there is
also a marked distinction. The summit upland on the quartzite lies
at an elevation about 200 feet higher than the upland on the Prairie
du Chien dolomite to the west. The upper level is locally called
'‘Happy Hill” and is discussed in the paragraph below. The contact
of the two levels is definite and abrupt with no gradation such as
might be expected were both the result of peneplanation.
Figure 8. Happy Hill from the east. The upland at 1460 to 1480 feet elevation
cuts across strata of quartzite which clip about 25 degrees to the right. Con¬
glomerate found along the break in slope was derived from wave erosion of
quartzite at a higher level. The notch at the right strongly resembles a shore
cliff and is regarded by the writer as the shore of Prairie du Chien time.
Paleozoic sandstone and conglomerate in foreground as loose blocks.
Happy Hill. Happy Hill, the level quartzite upland, is well seen
along the road from North Freedom to the south as shown in Fig¬
ure 7. Examples of this level occur on many bluffs of the area west
of the border of the glacial drift. Elevations were surveyed accu¬
rately only recently^ and range from 1462 to slightly over 1480 feet
above sea level. Elevation is closely related to size of summit area.
Close inspection shows that although level enough for marginal
farming, the uplands slope gradually toward the margins where the
slope steepens markedly as shown in Figure 6. The width of the
largest area of this surface is shown on the old Denzer Quadrangle
1 North Freedom Quadrangle, 1958, replaced Denzer Quadrangle of 1898.
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 37
as over two miles, but the new resurvey, the North Freedom Quad¬
rangle, shows only three fourths of a mile. The Happy Hill upland
is clearly not structural, for it truncates the strata of the Baraboo
quartzite to a marked degree. The quartzite dips northwest at about
25 degrees (Fig. 7). Happy Hill does not seem to have been dis¬
cussed by some of the early geologists but was correlated by Hughes
and Trowbridge with the “Dodgeville” peneplain. G.-H. Smith and
Martin regarded it as remnants of a dissected peneplain of Pre-
cambrian age. (Martin, 1916, p. 68; 1932, p. 74; Smith, 1921, pp.
128-129) In order to interpret this surface, or rather series of sur¬
faces on different bluffs, as remnants of a former peneplain it is
necessary to answer several problems : ( 1 ) exactly how could inter¬
stream ridges in such resistant rock be destroyed so completely and
(2) why should this hard rock have been beveled so completely
when only 25 miles to the south the eminences of Blue Mounds sur¬
vived? East Blue Mound consists wholly of shale and West Blue
Mound has only 85 feet of Niagaran chert on its top. The soil on
Happy Hill is a heavy clay with many angular fragments of quartz¬
ite. It was termed “Baraboo silt loam” by the soil survey (Geib,
1925). Many of the quartzite fragments have been gathered into
stone fences. Search of freshly plowed ground reveals many Paleo¬
zoic chert fragments. The chemical nature of the soil does not sug¬
gest that it was derived from weathering of the quartzite although
the soil report suggests that this was the origin. It is more prob¬
able that it is residual from dolomite which once overlay the bluffs
and it must include some loess. The presence of the chert frag¬
ments from Paleozoic dolomite definitely shows that this is not a
post-Paleozoic surface as was thought by Trowbridge. The quartz¬
ite weathers into a rubble which makes it difficult to see how divides
could be lowered by slopewash. There is no gravel which might sug¬
gest lateral erosion by streams except on part of East Bluff at
Devils Lake. To the writer interpretation of these flats as remnants
of a peneplain either post-Paleozoic or Precambrian is highly im¬
probable. Under this idea we would have to explain the survival
of the remnants on the tops of the quartzite bluffs during the long
time during which the surrounding Precambrian rocks were re¬
duced to a surface of low relief fully a thousand feet lower. In 1931
the writer suggested (Thwaites, 1931, p. 745) that the crests of the
bluffs were eroded by the waves of the Ordovician sea as they were
being submerged. The fact that the air photographs and new map
show no level tops over three quarters of a mile wide greatly aids
this interpretation. Projection of the Paleozoic section to the south
(Thwaites, 1935) suggests that the level of these hill tops corre¬
sponds to the base of the Ordovician Platteville dolomite. The
Platteville transgresses all older formations to the northeast. It lies
38 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
upon St. Peter sandstone in Wisconsin and upon Precambrian in
Ontario (Cohee, 1948). The postulated agency, waves, is clearly
competent to level rather low islands of those days provided only
there was for a time a near stillstand of land and sea. To check this
interpretation the writer sought for conglomerate at the borders
of the level hilltops. Several outcrops of boulder conglomerate were
discovered, the material of which could only have come from rocks
above their level which were eroded during their formation. The
only occurrence of gravel on one of these hills at Devils Lake is
associated with potholes on the top of the bluff and for 80 feet down
its side. Salisbury (Salisbury, 1895; Chamberlin, 1874) stated that
the potholes extend back from the edge of the bluff where they were
reported in an old dug well. The writer dug test pits and examined
the sides of this well by removing stones from the curbing and dis¬
covered only clay with scattered stones which is present on other
bluffs (Alden, 1918, pp. 99-102). This situation raises the question
of the reliability of Salisbury’s evidence. It could have been ob¬
tained by asking “leading questions.” The writer concluded that the
gravel has no relation to the origin of the bluff crests but is simply
an incident of the erosion of the Paleozoic cover. Certainly the high
velocity of water needed to form potholes on this level surface of
quartzite required fall from some formation which was later
eroded or weathered away. This checks with the nature of the
gravel which contains a high proportion of Paleozoic chert pebbles
including Ordovician fossils (Thwaites and Twenhofel, 1920;
of peneplanation. (Thwaites, 1958, pp. 147-148).
Terraces in Quartzite. The northwest slopes of the higher ungla¬
ciated hills of Baraboo quartzite show terraces on the spurs the
tops of which do not exceed 1300 feet elevation (Fig. 8). Early stu¬
dents of the region (Salisbury and Atwood, 1900, pp. 63-69; Trow¬
bridge, 1921, pp. 353-357) regarded these as the continuation of
the lower or “Lancaster” peneplain on the Prairie du Chien dolo¬
mite west of the quartzite. Formation of terraces in such resistant
rock as quartzite would require lateral erosion by streams although
this point was not discussed in the early reports. Paleozoic con¬
glomerate occurs just below the terraces. The slopes above the ter¬
races are quite steep and the form of the notch in the bluffs is
strikingly like a shore terrace. The writer suggests that the ter¬
races are the product of marine erosion during Prairie du Chien
time. The westernmost terrace is covered by basal Prairie du Chien
strata. The objection that a shore feature could not survive so long
is met by the fact that the cliff was soon buried with sediment and
its exhumation is an event of relatively recent time. Minor terraces
also associated with conglomerate have been found at other locali¬
ties in the region. To the writer the evidence of the terraces sup-
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 39
ports his suggested interpretation of the Happy Hill bluff tops,
namely marine erosion during submergence rather than any phase
of peneplanation (Fig. 6). (Thwaites, 1958, pp, 147-148).
Central Wisconsin Plain. Although the plain of central Wisconsin,
w^hich extends north of the escarpment of Galesville sandstone
overlain by Franconia sandstone, has never been used as an evi¬
dence of regional peneplanation of the Driftless Area, it was re¬
garded by Salisbury and Atwood (1900, p. 51) as ‘‘one of the best
examples of a base-leveled plain known.'' Hence it is discussed here
although this interpretation seems to have been abandoned by later
geologists. Pictures of the striking buttes and mesas of the Camp
Douglas region (Fig. 6) which rise from this plain found their way
into text books (Chamberlin and Salisbury, 1909, p. 132; Salisbury,
1907, p. 152). Judging not from their statements but from Alden
(1918, p. 104) it seems that the early students ascribed the forma¬
tion of this plain to lateral stream erosion. This is the only origin
which could be reconciled with the obvious youthful character of
the escarpment and the isolated buttes. Such features as that shown
in Figure 6 are obviously incompatible with formation of a pene¬
plain by weathering and slopewash. If the level of the plain had
been established by streams, it is evident that they flowed at the
level they now do which is fixed by the rock gorge of the Dells of
the Wisconsin. The Dells were formed rather late in the Wisconsin
stage of glaciation which would necessitate a very youthful age of
the surface. In Preglacial time the level of the streams was con¬
trolled by the quartzite bottom of the gorge at Devils Lake. How¬
ever, modern knowledge, based in part on soil surveys and in part
on the many borings of the Civilian Conservation Corps plus a few
sample-controlled well records, definitely prove that the surface of
the plain is lacustrine, not erosional. The steep sides of the Gales¬
ville sandstone bluffs may be due in large part to erosion by the
waves of Glacial Lake Wisconsin which covered this region until
the erosion of the gorge at the Dells, Some of the wells show that
the drift on the plain consists of two parts. The lower material
next the bedrock is weathered fluvial deposits, probably early
Pleistocene outwash, and the surficial part is relatively fresh lake
deposits of fine sand and clay. The relief of the bedrock is unknown
in detail, for much of the region is sparsely inhabited. From the
numerous bluffs which project through the lake deposits it seems
as if it must certainly be considerable. One can, therefore, safely
discard the evidence of what was once thought to be a modem
peneplain.
Entrenched Meanders. Entrenched (sometimes spelled intrenched)
meanders may also be termed meandering valleys as distinguished
from floodplain meanders with low banks. It is difficult to find such
40 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
3SOOO Feet
5 Klloxaeters g
Corttoto? interval 2 0 feet
Figure 9. (In two parts, section and map) Entrenched meanders of Kickapoo
River. The bluffs of the outer valley are capped by Prairie du Chien dolomite.
The terrace is underlain by the Cambrian Franconia sandstone. This terrace is
absent farther downstream where erosion does not extend as far beneath the
Franconia. It is not a record of a halt in uplift. For explanation of letters see
Figure 5. y
SW
1960] Thrvaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 41
meanders without either good topographic maps or air photo¬
graphs. Now that the entire Driftless Area is covered in both ways
it is possible to study these meanders. Several facts stand out:
(1) there are no entrenched meanders in the valleys of the major
streams such as the Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Chippewa; (2)
very small streams also show few if any examples of this phe¬
nomenon; (3) entrenched meanders are found in medium-sized
stream valleys where the bluffs are capped by dolomite; (4) there
are no entrenched meanders v/here the bluffs are wholly sandstone ;
(5) all known entrenched meanders have an alluvial fill in the bot¬
tom; (6) many entrenched meanders have smaller meanders on
this alluvial fill; (7) the alluvial fill is due to aggradation of major
valleys which carried glacial meltwaters and hence were filled to
considerable depth by outwash which made the tributary streams
aggrade their valleys to meet the higher outlets. This relationship
of two sizes of meanders is often termed “misfit.” Since entrenched
meanders were the first criterion used to demonstrate uplift (Kiim-
mel, 1895, pp, 714-716), it is important that we consider them
briefly. Space forbids any extended discussion of the fascinating
problems of meandering streams. Some of the misfit streams of
southwestern Wisconsin are shown in Figures 9 and 10.
Causes of Meandering. Meandering occurs when a stream pos¬
sesses a lateral component of force which causes it to erode the
banks first on one side and then on the opposite. Statistical study
by Leopold and Wolman (1957) shows that this condition is most
marked when the slope of the stream is low. These authors did not
prove any relation between meander size and slope or discharge of
the stream. Friedkin (1945) proved by experiment that there is a
relation between length of meanders and both discharge and slope.
Discharge is related to the normal channel width, for vegetation is
almost entirely excluded from that. Meanders form only where the
banks are reasonably firm material, for in very soft deposits braid¬
ing occurs instead. Map study shows that the size of meanders is
related to discharge, for big streams have larger meanders than do
small ones. Meanders must stop enlarging when the erosive force
directed against the bank is equal to the resistance of the bank to
erosion. Elementary physics demonstrates that if we consider bends
in a stream as segments of circles the force of unit mass of water
against the bank is related directly to the square of the velocity and
inversely to the radius of curvature. Since with other things equal,
the square of velocity of a stream is directly proportional to the
slope, we can say that this relationship may also be written as slope
divided by radius. As meanders grow, they affect the lateral force
in two ways : ( 1 ) increased length of channel diminishes slope and
velocity and (2) increase in radius also decreases force. The two
42 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
I . • , , ° _ 1. KILOMETER
CONTOUR interval' 10 FEET
Figure 10. Entrenched meanders of Balltown Quadrangle Wisconsin. The
bluifs are capped by Galena dolomite. The meanders are apparently of the
^'ingrown” type and originated when the surface was much higher than it now
is but was not necessarily a peneplain.
1960] Thwaites— Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 43
phenomena finally bring about a state of equilibrium which might
be perfect were it not for the changes of discharge of almost all
streams. Lateral force of streams can erode high banks as well as
the low banks of a flood plain but evidently the former will be worn
back more slowly than the latter. In every case there is a slight
component of lateral force which is directed downstream so that
meanders gradually move downstream in a process called ^^sweep''.
Destruction of meanders by cutting off inside the bend or at the
neck is obviously much slower where the banks are high and made
of rock than in the case on a floodplain. Rich (1914) long ago
divided meandering valleys into (1) ‘hngrown'', and (2) ''in¬
trenched”. The former are bends which enlarged themselves during
downcutting, the latter are meanders which are eroded down ver¬
tically without such enlargement. Initiation of such meanders cer¬
tainly began when the streams were high above their present level.
At that time the banks were composed of strata which were long
ago eroded away. During the long history of these streams we can¬
not be sure either of climatic conditions or of material of the banks
when these entrenched meanders began. The writer can see no
compelling reason for thinking that they began on a peneplain
although they do demonstrate uplift of the region. In soft sand¬
stone, downstream sweep has destroyed all trace of meanders. Their
disappearance in large streams is probably due to the greater total
force of those streams. In fact one might say that size of meanders
is related to the total force of a stream which is related to both
discharge and slope.
Upland Gravels* Many geologists have thought that gravels on
an upland are positive proof that it was once a peneplain. Probably
these people were thinking of a surface which originated from lat¬
eral erosion by streams which process is now thought of as a fea¬
ture of pediplanation. Little attention seems to have been directed
to the slopes of the streams which transported this gravel. It is not
difficult (Nevin) to compute the velocity of water required for a
given maximum size of pebbles, but it is almost impossible to trans¬
late this velocity into slope. The velocity of a stream of water is
related to three factors: (1) slope, (2) size of stream expressed
either as mean depth or as cross section area divided by width of
bottom (hydraulic radius), and (3) kind of bottom. Of these the
size of the stream is most important and is hardest to estimate.’^
Pediplane Theory. So far as the writer is aware, the theory of
pediplanation has never been applied as an explanation of the up¬
lands of the Driftless Area, Geologists in this country seem to have
avoided that hypothesis, perhaps because of the climatic change
that it requires. It appears to the writer that the presence of some
1 See explanation of Mannin^^s Fornnila in textbooks on hydraulics.
44 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
gravel, the Windrow Formation (Thwaites and
Twenhofel, 1920; Andrews, 1958) on the up¬
lands of the Driftless Area is more in line with
the idea of pediplanation than it is with the
theory of peneplanation. In fact a number of
geologists in the past seem to have ascribed
leveling to lateral stream erosion which is part
of the theory of pediplanation. On the other
hand the gravels are very scattered and re¬
siduum from the dolomites does not appear
favorable for erosion by slopewash or ephe¬
meral streams as the theory of pediplanation
requires. In parts of Wisconsin it is not pos¬
sible to discriminate a former plain which trun¬
cated the cuestas (Fig. 3E) although such a
construction is possible in the southern part of
the Driftless Area (Fig. 3D). The surfaces in
Illinois described by Horberg have scattered
gravel on some of them. Pediplanation could
account for the stairway of levels which have
been discriminated. Potter (1955; Lamar and
Reynolds, 1951) described so-called Lafayette
gravel in Illinois but do not appear to have de¬
veloped a definite hypothesis of its origin be¬
yond the discrimination of alluvial fans. Potter
correlated the Windrow Formation of Wiscon¬
sin and Iowa with these gravels of Illinois and
farther south, but to the writer this is far from
established. The Windrow gravels are almost
all preserved because of their resistance to ero¬
sion which is due to limonite cement and could,
therefore, be much older. All factors consid¬
ered, the pediplanation hypothesis must be dis¬
carded for the Driftless Area although it might
Figure 11. Profile on a divide from the Prairie du
Chien upland at left to the castellated sandstone bluffs
at Camp Douglas. The divide forms a bench on the
front of the Prairie du Chien upland which is obviously
due to the relative resistance of the Franconia sand¬
stone above the weaker Galesville member of the Dres-
bach formation. Note that the sandstone bench does not
show the bevel which occurs on the dolomite uplands.
For explanation of letters see Figure 5. Figure 6 is a
photograph of one of the Camp Douglas bluffs.
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area 45
be acceptable in Illinois. We can simply say that the evidence is
insufficient for an intelligent conclusion. The Windrow gravel is
observed filling a narrow depression in Devonian limestone at
Mitchell, Iowa. Farther west exactly similar material occurs in
Cretaceous conglomerate.
Franconia Upland. The Franconia sandstone along with many
outliers of younger formations caps a much dissected upland north¬
east of the Prairie du Chien cuesta. (See Fig. 1) (Shipton, 1916).
This upland is little discussed in the literature although Shipton
suggested that it is another dissected peneplain. It lies much lower
than we would expect the “Dodgeville” surface and might perhaps
be regarded as part of the “Lancaster’' peneplain. It does not dis¬
play the bevel of the capping formation as the dolomite cuestas do.
It does not have as wide rolling uplands between valleys as char¬
acterize the dolomite surfaces. This surface occurs not only outside
the Prairie du Chien escarpment but also in valleys within it.
(Fig. 11) Figure 9 shows the relations of the Franconia bench
within the Kickapoo Valley of western Wisconsin. There the bench
is found only where preglacial erosion extended well below the bot¬
tom of the Franconia. There is no continuation of the bench down¬
stream as there should be were it due to a halt in uplift of the
region. It is a feature due entirely to weathering and erosion con¬
trolled by the nature of the bedrock and has no bearing on the
hypothesis of former peneplanation. The large meanders of the La
Farge Quadrangle did not originate on this bench but long before
as is shown by similar features downstream (Thwaites, 1928).
Relation of Stream Courses to Rock Structure. The writer is not
aware that any geologist has used the discordance of stream courses
within the Driftless Area as an evidence of peneplanation. Trow¬
bridge postulated (Trowbridge, 1921, pp. 97-103) a complex the¬
ory of stream capture to explain the relation of Mississippi River
to the structure of bedrocks displayed in the bluffs of the present
time. Flint (1941) described similar phenomena on the flank of the
Ozark dome to the south. Antecedence to the present structure,
superposition on a peneplain, and glacial diversion were hypotheses
which some have considered. The simplest idea is superposition
from strata which were disconformable to those now preserved.
The Devonian, Pennsylvanian, and Cretaceous were all in this rela¬
tion to the older sediments. The former extent of these younger
formations is unknown. Streams which had become adjusted to
these overlying formations could have been let down onto older
rocks and thus have brought about the present relations. Surely
this is the most plausible theory.
46 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Conclusions. The writer has tried above to show that every one
of the criteria which was formerly used to demonstrate ancient
peneplanation of the Driftless Area can be accounted for by another
interpretation. The sole possible exception is an apparent bevel of
some local structures. The alternative explanations appeal to the
writer, as they did to Martin, more plausible than those formerly
offered. The level skyline is certainly an optical illusion. Beveling
of the dolomites is clearly related to the length of time since the
protecting strata above were removed, for these are water-soluble
formations which were greatly reduced by solution. The upland
topography on dolomites displays inverted parabolic slopes in
accordance with Gilbert’s theory thus showing mass movement to
an extent that makes it impossible to be sure that there is any sur¬
viving pre-valley topography. Cuestas are the dominant feature of
the landscape and examination of the backslopes fails to demon¬
strate two peneplain levels. The cuesta escarpments are sharp
youthful topography out of harmony with the idea that they sepa¬
rate peneplains of different ages. The ridge parallel to the Missis¬
sippi River which was supposed to connect Wo cuestas is in fact
no different from other ridges except that in it the weak St. Peter
sandstone is thinner than it is in other localities. Beveling of minor
faults and folds by the upland is an uncertain criterion of pene¬
planation because of not only the falibility of the human eye with
such small displacements but also the more rapid erosion of higher
places. Happy Hill on quartzite is plausibly accounted for by
marine erosion during Ordovician submergence. The terrace which
extends the Prairie du Chien upland along the flanks of the quartz¬
ite bluffs resembles a marine cliff formed during the deposition of
that formation, buried and later exhumed. The plain of central
Wisconsin was not used as a line of evidence although it was at one
time thought to be a modern undissected peneplain. It actually is a
lake plain. Entrenched (or intrenched) meanders are common in
the Driftless Area in medium-sized stream valleys. They appear to
indicate uplift, but it is not necessary to assume that they origi¬
nated on a peneplain. Size of meanders is related to total energy of
a stream although flat country fosters development of meanders.
The patchy Windrow gravels of the uplands do not prove either a
peneplain or a pediplain. These gravels may be as old as Cretaceous.
The pediplain hypothesis, although possible, is inadequately sup¬
ported by the known evidence. The bench on the resistant Fran¬
conia sandstone does not show the features of a dolomite upland. It
occurs both outside the Prairie du Chien cuesta and in valleys
within it in a manner that is wholly out of harmony with the idea
of successive uplifts. In accounting for discrepancies between the
courses of stream and bedrock structure the simple idea of super-
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area
47
position from formations which are now wholly eroded away ap¬
pears to have been neglected. The writer suggests that like the
lawyers we move that all the evidence on former peneplanation be
“stricken from the record as incompetent, irrelevant, and immate¬
rial.’' If this should be done, we are faced with the choice of either
turning to the theory of pediplanation which lacks evidence or re¬
turning to Martin’s explanation. The latter hypothesis attached
more importance to both the nature of the bedrocks and their
weathered residuum than was formerly given (Shaler, 1899). It
does not deny that possibly, indeed probably, there were many
changes in level of sea and land during the long erosional history
of the Driftless Area but simply that the evidence of either com¬
plete or nearly complete cycles of erosion in this area is not
convincing.
References Cited
Andrews, G. W., 1958. Windrow Formation of upper Mississippi Valley re¬
gion, a sedimentary and stratigraphic study. Jour. GeoL, 66:597-624.
Alden, W. C., 1918. The Quaternary geology of southeastern Wisconsin with a
chapter on the older rock formations. U. S. Geol. Survey, Prof. Paper
106:99-102, 104-105.
Bain, H. F., 1906. Zinc and lead deposits of the Upper Mississippi Valley.
U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 294:11-16.
Bain, H. F., 1907. Zinc and lead deposits of the Upper Mississippi Valley.
Wis. Geol. and Nat, Hist. Survey, Bull. 19:11-16.
Bates, R. E., 1939. Geomorphic history of the Kickapoo region, Wisconsin.
Geol. Soc. America, Bull., 50:819-879.
Cohee, G. V., 1948. Oil and gas investigations (of Michigan), chart 33.
Crickmay, C. H., 1933. The later stages of the cycle of erosion. Geol. Mag.,
70:337-346.
Chamberlin, T. C., 1874. On fluctuations in level of the quartzites of Sauk and
Columbia counties. Wis. Acad. Sci., Trans., 2:133-138.
Chamberlin, T. C., and Salisbury, R. D., 1885. Preliminary paper on the
Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley. U. S. Geol. Survey, Sixth
Ann. Rept., 199-322.
Chamberlin, T. C., and Salisbury, R. D., 1909. “College Geology.”
Flint, R. F,, 1941. Ozark segment of Mississippi River. Jour. Geol. 49:626-640.
Friedkin, J. F., 1945. A laboratory study of the meandering of alluvial rivers.
V. S. Waterways Exp. Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Geib, W. J., et al. Soil Survey of Sauk County, Wisconsin. U. S. Dept, Agr.,
Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, No. 29, series 1925; Wis. Geol. and Nat.
Hist. Survey, Bull. 60 C., 1928.
Gilbert, G. K., 1909. The convexity of hilltops. Jour. Geol., 17:344-350.
Grant, U. S., and Bain, H. F., 1904. A pre-glacial peneplain in the Driftless
Area. Science, 19:528.
Grant, U. S., 1906. Lead and zinc deposits of southwestern Wisconsin. Wis.
Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, Bull. 9, p. 11, 1903; Bull. 14, p. 11, 1906.
Grant, U. S., and Burchard, E. F., 1907. Geologic atlas of the U. S., Lancaster-
Mineral Point Folio, No. 145, p. 2.
Hershey, 0. H., 1896. Pre-glacial erosion cycles in northwestern Illinois.
American Geologist, 18:72-100.
Hershey, 0. H., 1897. The physiographic development of the Upper Missis¬
sippi Valley. American Geologist, 20:246-268.
48 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Horberg, Leland, 1946, Preglacial erosion surfaces in Illinois. Illinois Geol.
Survey, Rept Investigations, No. 118; Jour. Geol., 54:179-192.
Horton, R. E., 1945. Erosional development of streams and their drainage
basins, hydro-physical approach to quantitative morphology. Geol. Soc.
America, Bull., 56:275-370.
Hughes, U. B., 1916. A correlation of the peneplains in the Driftless Area.
Iowa Acad. Sci., Proc., 21:125-132.
Johnson, Douglas, 1916. Plains, planes and peneplanes. Geogr. Review, 1:
443-447.
King, L. C., 1949. The pediment landform: some current problems. Geol. Mag.,
86:245-250.
King, L. C., 1953. Canons of landscape evolution. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 64:
721-752,
Kummel, H. B., 1895. Some meandering rivers of Wisconsin. Science, 1:714-
716.
Lamar, J. E., and Reynolds, R. R., 1956. Notes on the Illinois “Lafayette”
gravel. Illinois Geol. Survey, Circular 179, 95-108. Illinois Acad. Sci.,
Trans. 44:95-108.
Leopold, L. D., and Wolman, M. G., 1957. River channels: braided, meander¬
ing and straight. U. S. Geol. Survey, Prof. Paper 282 B.
Martin, Lawrence, 1932. The physical geography of Wisconsin. Wis. Geol.
and Nat. Hist. Survey, Bull. 36:69-79.
Nevin, C. M., 1946. The competency of running water to transport debris.
Geol. Soc. America, Bull. 57:651-674.
Penck, Walther, 1953. Die morphologische analyses (English translation).
Potter, P. E., 1955. The petrology and origin of the Lafayette gravel. Jour.
Geol. 63:1-38, 115-132.
Rich, J. L., 1914. Certain types of stream valleys and their meaning. Jour.
Geol. 22:469-497.
Rich, J, L., 1938. Recognition and significance of multiple erosion surfaces.
Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 49:1695-1722.
Rich, J. L., 1935. Origin and evolution of rock fans and pediments. Geol. Soc.
Amer. Bull. 46:999-1024.
Salisbury, R. D., 1895. Preglacial gravels on the quartzite range near Baraboo,
Wisconsin. Jour. Geol. 3:655-667.
Salisbury, R. D., 1907. Physiography.
Salisbury, R. D., and Atwood, W. W., 1900. The geography of the region
about Devils Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin. Wis. Geol. and Nat.
Hist. Survey, Bull. 5:51,
Shaler, N. B,, 1899. Spacing of rivers with reference to the hypothesis of base*
leveling, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 10:263-276.
Shaw, E. W., and Trowbridge, A. C., 1916. Geologic atlas of the U. S. Galena-
Elizabeth Folio, No. 200:9-10.
Shipton, W. D., 1916. A new stratigraphic horizon in the Cambrian system of
Wisconsin. Iowa Acad. Sci., Proc., 23:142-145.
Shipton, W. D., 1917. Bibliography of the Driftless Area. Iowa Acad. Sci.,
Proc., 24:67-81.
Smith, G. H., 1937. Physiography of Baraboo Range of Wisconsin. Pan-
American Geologist. 56:123-140.
Steidtman, Edward, 1924. Limestones and marls of Wisconsin. Wis. Geol.
and Nat. Hist. Survey, Bull. 66.
Thwaites, F. T., 1928. Pre-Wisconsin terraces of the Driftless Area of Wis¬
consin. Geol. Soc. Amer., Bull. 39:621-641.
Thwaites, F. T., 1931. Buried Precambrian of Wisconsin. Geol. Soc. Amer.,
Bull. 42:719-750.
1960] Thwaites — Erosion Surfaces in Driftless Area
49
Thwaites, F. T., 1940. Buried Precambrian of Wisconsin. Wis. Acad. Sci.,
Trans., 32:233-242.
Thwaites, F. T., 1935. Physiography of the Baraboo District, Wisconsin. Kan¬
sas Geological Society, Guidebook, 395-404.
Thwaites, F. T., 1958. Landforms of the Baraboo District, Wisconsin. Wis.
Acad. Sci., Trans. 47:137-159,
Thwaites, F. T., and Twenhofel, W. H., 1920. Windrow Formation: an up¬
land gravel formation of the Driftless and adjacent area of the Upper
Mississippi Valley. Geol. Soc. Amer., Bull. 32:293-314.
Trowbridge, A. C., 1912, Some partially dissected plains in Jo Daviess County,
Illinois. Jour Geol, 21:731-742.
Trowbridge, A. C,, 1915. Preliminary report on geological work in the Drift¬
less Area. Geol. Soc. Amer., Bull, 26:75.
Trowbridge, A. C., 1917, History of Devils Lake, Wisconsin. Jour. Geol, 25:
344-372.
Trowbridge, A. C., 1921. The erosional history of the Driftless Area. Univ.
Iowa Studies, Studies in Natural History, voL 9, No. 3.
Trowbridge, A. C., 1935. Kansas Geological Society, Guidebook, pp. 62-75.
Trowbridge, A. C., and Shaw, E. W., 1916. Geology and geography of the
Galena and Elizabeth quadrangles, Illinois Geol. Survey, Bull. 26:136-146.
Van Hise, C, R., 1896. A central Wisconsin base level. Science, 4:57-59.
Weidman, Samuel, 1903. The pre-Potsdam peneplain of the pre-Cambrian of
north central Wisconsin. Jour. Geol. 11:289-313.
Wood, Allen, 1942. The development of hillside slopes. Geol. Assoc., Proc.,
53:128-140,
]
I
i
1
T
A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF DIVERTING THE
EFFLUENT FROM SEWAGE TREATMENT
UPON THE RECEIVING STREAM*
Kenneth M, Mackenthun, Lloyd A. Lueschow, and
Clarence D. McNabb**
Public Health Biologists
Wisconsin Committee on Water Pollution, Madison
The Madison Lakes problem at Madison, Wisconsin, has been a
subject of nationwide discussion, intensive investigation, and legis¬
lative and legal action for many years. In the early history of the
city, Lake Monona received raw sewage and later treated sewage
effluent from the City of Madison, In 1926, the Nine-Springs plant
was placed in operation and the effluent from this installation was
carried via Nine-Springs Creek to the Yahara River above Lakes
Waubesa and Kegonsa. The enrichment of these lower Madison
Lakes by the highly nutritious effluent produced nuisance algal
growths, offensive odors, and periodic fish kills. These conditions
led to innumerable complaints, much debate, and eventually legis¬
lative and legal action which forced the diversion of the effluent
from the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District's Nine-Springs
Treatment Plant around the lower Madison Lakes.
The route chosen for the diversion of the Nine-Springs effluent
necessitated five miles of 54-inch pipeline and nearly four miles of
open ditch which leads southward and enters Badfish Creek below
Oregon (Fig. 1). Badfish Creek was straightened and improved to
a width of at least' 16 feet for ten of its 14.5 miles of length. The
unimproved portion, after some meandering, enters the Yahara
River which, after six miles, discharges into the Rock River, Two
cascade-type aerators were placed in the ditch to improve the con¬
dition of the effluent prior to its discharge into Badfish Creek.
Badfish Creek is a small meandering stream which flows through
typical oak opening agricultural lands in Dane and Rock Counties.
Some years ago, the Dane County portion was straightened and
widened to serve as a drainage ditch. From the Dane-Rock County
line to its junction with the Yahara River, however, it has a sub¬
stantially larger natural flow and a correspondingly greater chan¬
nel capacity. Portions of the stream have had a history of being
marginal trout water,
* Paper read at the 90th annual meeting' of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters.
** Now Assistant Professor of Biology, Wisconsin State College, Whitewater.
51
52 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49,
Treatment Plant effluent. Sampling stations are indicated by number inside off,
small circles. ,
1960] Maekenthun^ et aL — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution 53
Near its headwaters, Badfish Creek receives the effluent from the
Oregon sewage treatment plant. This is a complete type treatment
plant, utilizing the trickling filter secondary treatment process. It
discharges about 65,000 gallons of effluent per day. The effluent is
not chlorinated. In December, 1958, the Madison Metropolitan Sew¬
erage District began pumping effluent from its Nine-Springs Sew¬
age Treatment Plant to the Badfish Creek, A pumping station was
made necessary because the effluent passes over a divide 80 feet
higher than the sewage treatment plant.
The Nine-Springs Sewage Treatment Plant provides primary
and secondary treatment for all wastes from the Madison Metro¬
politan area of 85 square miles and a population of about 135,000.
The flowage through the plant averages about 20 million gallons
per day. Primary treatment consists of screening, grit collection,
and sedimentation. About one-fourth of the sewage receives sec¬
ondary treatment by the trickling filter process, and about three-
fourths of the sewage receives secondary treatment by the activated
sludge process. The effluent receives chlorination.
Badfish Creek has an average slope of over six feet per mile.
There are no major stagnant water areas in either the Badfish
Creek, Yahara River, or Rock River downstream from the dis¬
charge of the Nine Springs effluent. It was, therefore, the purpose
of this study to determine the chemical and biological effects on a
flowing stream which might result from the discharge of an effluent
of considerable volume with a high nutrient composition.
Methods
The sampling stations for this study are indicated by number on
Figure 1. Badfish Creek is approximately 161/4 miles long, and for
the purpose of this study, three sampling stations were chosen.
Station 1 is approximately one mile below the confluence with the
ditch carrying the Nine Springs effluent. Station 4 is approximately
four miles downstream from Station 1 and is also located in the
improved section of the stream. It was so chosen because the U. S.
Geological Survey in cooperation with the Madison Metropolitan
Sewerage Commission and the Committee on Water Pollution estab¬
lished a gauging station at this point, the purpose of which was to
acquire continuous water level data. Station 8 is the farthest down¬
stream station on Badfish Creek and is approximately li/4 miles
above the confluence with the Yahara River.
Three stations were similarly chosen on the Yahara River, one
above the confluence with Badfish Creek (Station 10) and two be¬
low this confluence (Stations 9 and 14) . The distance of the Yahara
River which is now affected by the effluent is approximately 6.4
miles. On the Rock River, Station 15 is approximately two miles
54 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49 1
above the confluence of the Yahara and Rock Rivers, and Stations f
16 and 17 are located six and ten miles respectively downstream I
from the confluence with the Yahara River.
Water samples for chemical and phytoplankton determinations
were collected bi-weekly for a 26-sample period prior to diversion,
and a similar period subsequent to diversion. Chemical determina¬
tions were made in accordance with the procedures outlined in the >
Tenth Edition of Standard Methods of Water Analysis and Sewage.
Figure 2. Ditch immediately below 54" pipe outfall. Note foam on water -
surface.
The results of these determinations were considered on a paired-
date basis before and after diversion, and are tabulated in Table 1.
To concentrate the phytoplankton, 500 ml. of stream water were
placed in one-liter glass settling cylinders to which were added 20
ml. of commercial formalin to preserve the sample, and 10 ml. of a
detergent (Joy) to settle the sample. Sedimentation of the plankton
was complete in 24 hours, after which the supernatant was care¬
fully siphoned from the cylinder, and the concentrate was washed
into 100 ml, centrifuge tubes. These were spun at 2,000 r.p.m. for
six minutes. The supernatant in the tube was decanted and the con¬
centrate was washed into screw-capped storage vials and brought
to the nearest 5 ml, by the addition of 4% formalin and the use of ■
a volume standard.
1960] Mackenthun, et al. — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution 55
Enumeration of the phytoplankton was carried out according to
the procedures outlined by Prescott (1951). The concentrate in the
storage vials was thoroughly mixed. A large-pore dropper deliver¬
ing a known number of drops per c.c. was used to deliver one drop
of the concentrate on a glass slide. Five low-power fields and ten
high-power fields were observed on this slide, and the magnification
as well as number of each species of organisms was recorded. This
Figure 3. Ditch about IV2 miles below pipe
outfall. Roundstem bulrush can be noted in
some sections of stream.
procedure was repeated on three such mounts so that a total of 15
low-power fields and 30 high-power fields were observed. The num¬
ber of a particular type of organism in one liter of water was deter¬
mined by the following formula :
(Ave. No./field) (No. fields/co verslip) (No. drops/ml.)
No./L. = - ^ . . -
Concentration factor
The concentration factor
ml. of original sample
(ml. of concentrate) (0.94) ’
56 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences y Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
where 0.94 accounts for the dilution of the sample by the addition
of formalin and the detergent.
In converting to volumetric units, the average volume in cubic
microns of each species was obtained by measuring 20 individuals.
When it was observed that the species size was significantly differ¬
ent between two samples, a second set of measurements was made.
Figure 4. Station 1 on Badfish Creek before '
improvement. ;
The volume contributed by each species was expressed in parts per j
million by use of the following formula : !
Volume (p.p.m.) = (No. Org./L) (Ave. Species vol. in cu.
microns) X 10“®.
Bottom fauna were collected and examined at seven stations on
Badfish Creek. Collections were made on four different occasions, |
two of which were prior to diversion and two subsequent to diver-
1960] Mackenthun, et al. — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution 57
Figure 5. Station 1 on Badfish Creek following diversion.
Figure 6. A section of the lower Badfish Creek.
58 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
sion. The samples were collected with either a square foot sampler
or a Petersen dredge. In the latter case, the organisms were washed
from the rubble and retained in a U. S. Standard No. 35 screen.
Identification and enumeration of the organisms were completed,
and the number of each species was calculated on a square foot
basis.
The important chemical data and the phytoplankton were ana¬
lyzed statistically (Table 1). The mean and the 95 percent con¬
fidence interval were calculated on 26 paired dates prior and subse¬
quent to diversion for nitrogen, phosphorus, B.O.D., and phyto¬
plankton. The coefficient of variation on these data normally did
not appear excessive, especially when one considers the possibility
of climatic and seasonal influence.
Although phytoplankton was determined to the species level
wherever possible, no attempt has been made to consider any but
broad groupings in this paper. The volumetric concentration in
p.p.m. for each of those broad groups is shown in Figures 7, 8, and
9 for each of the stations studied.
Results
Physical Aspects
As the effluent leaves the 54" pipeline, it enters a rather straight
ditch with steep banks. The first approximately one-half mile of
this ditch often carries a blanket of detergent foam (Fig. 2). Ap¬
proximately one mile farther down stream, the banks of the ditch
become less steep, and as early as one year following the onset of
diversion, there was some evidence of vegetation encroachment,
principally round-stemmed bulrush (Fig. 3). Badfish Creek itself
was dredged to a bottom width of 16 feet for approximately four
miles, and a bottom width of 20 feet for the remaining six miles of
improved stream. This made a tremendous change as indicated by
the “before” (Fig. 4) and “after” (Fig. 5) at Station 1 which is
located a short distance down stream from the ditch entrance into
Badfish Creek. Along with the changes wrought by physical dis¬
turbance, there is a change in flow produced by the introduction of
approximately 20 million gallons per day of effluent. Prior to diver¬
sion, Badfish Creek at about its mid point between its origin and
confluence with the Yahara River had an average flow of 9.6 c.f.s.
for the 2% years in which records were kept. Following diversion,
the flow ayeraged 43 c.f.s. for the summer portion of the period of
study. In the unimproved portion of Badfish Creek there was little
gross physical change noted as a result of diversion (Fig. 6).
Badfish Creek originally contained many riffle areas with a bot¬
tom composed principally of small rock and gravel. The bottom
1960] Mackenthun, et aL — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution 59
was, of course, altered in the improved section, yet remains a coarse
gravel over much of the area.
Concurrent with the discharge of considerable quantities of sus¬
pended solids, a sludge deposit has built up over most of the up¬
stream portions of Badfish Creek. In some areas, especially in small
pockets along the side of the stream, this deposit approaches six to
ten inches in depth. In most of the upstream region, as well as the
ditch itself, the sludge is of sufficient thickness to produce a suit¬
able habitat for a bountiful population of midge larvae.
Chemical and Bacteriological Aspects
The organic nitrogen (Table 1) shows a sizeable increase at all
stations in Badfish Creek following diversion. At Station 1, the
mean concentration of organic nitrogen was 0.73 ±.16 p.p.m. prior
to diversion, and 4.13 ± 1.14 p.p.m. following diversion. This is
over a five-fold increase in concentration. At Station 4, the stream
was carrying 30 pounds per day of organic nitrogen prior to diver¬
sion, and 286 pounds per day following diversion. There is a pro¬
gressive decrease in concentration as one moves downstream on
Badfish Creek, both in 1956 and 1959. The early samples show some
effect of the discharge of effluent from the Oregon sewage treat¬
ment plant, whereas the later samples show the combined effect. In
the Yahara River, there appears to be no statistical difference he-^
tween either the stations located above and below the entrance of
Badfish Creek, or between the samples collected before or after
diversion. There is an indication, however, as shown at Station 10
for the 1959 samples that the organic nitrogen is somewhat less in
the Yahara River above the entrance of Badfish Creek, than it is
below this confluence. The decrease at this point may be a result of
diversion. Samples taken from the Rock River show no statistical
difference either between stations on the same river or between the
1956 or 1959 samples. Total organic nitrogen in a stream is a meas¬
ure of the nitrogen combined by biological processes, and in this
case, the increase in Badfish Creek is due to the addition to the
stream of the Nine Springs effluent.
The inorganic nitrogen as shown in Table 1 includes the sum
total of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate nitrogen. Here, again, there
is an indication of the effect of Oregon Sewage Treatment Plant
effluent on Badfish Creek in the 1956 samples. The 1959 samples,
however, indicate a five-fold increase in concentration and nearly a
30-fold increase in pounds per day over the 1956 data. Again, there
is a decrease in concentration as one moves downstream. The
Yahara River indicates no statistical differences between the three
stations in 1956, but does indicate a significant difference between
Station 10 above the confluence with the Badfish as compared with
TABLE 1
Summary of Biological and Chemical Data Before and After Diversion on Badfish Creek, Yahara River, and
Rock River — Based Upon 26 Bi-weekly Dates Extending From June 6, 1956 to May 22,
1957, AND March 4, 1959 to February 17, 1960
60
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Si u, o
LJ -
O cC
u <
00 00 00 — c
^ 2
< u
(/)Q
• fv. Tf '
OOO OO— r'l
lO — — o — o —
OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO
(^OO
OOO
<
>
O' 2:
Z z
|i
z
u
-H -H
xD
■H 41 -H
O O
fv.O vD
sO X> O
41 4i 41
rN,sDO
41 41 41
O
— (V) '
41 41 41
O'O'OO
41 41 41
41 41 41
41 41 41 41 41 41
O' •
'too^ O'^O' —
O rx l/x O O O 00 — ' o Vx (JN lyx
• • • • . . . . ■ ^ ^ (xj r<i
^ (XI — xt (x| rx 00 rx ^x .
4141^ 414141 414141 414141 414141 414141
rxoovx cxiOO rx — Tt — ' O ^ O' sO vD
Ijx On c<x ^ lyx wx vrs Tt< nO fx nO Wx I'x O' OO 00
vO \D O O'
(XJ (
I fX)
OOO — — -
tx O rx
rx (x| tx|
41 41 41
414141 414141 414141 414141
OOO OOO — OO
• OO
Otxlxx OOfxl !\fxl-x • ■
^ ^ Kx rx wx wx sO — O' fx
III III III III
rx>/x{X| „ O' ^ px XX rx px px XX
pxwxfx -X px — i/x o PX O' O
o4’o 4<4'4<
O O' nO O' fx OO
OOO OOO 0—0 — O— OOO OOO
— tx O
— 00
(X| — —
^ O fxl
PX O ^x
OWx<3'
0—0 OOO
(XI (X) (X|
' J '
rx Px — I
PX (XJ fx|
OOO OO— OOO
Xf (X^ pxi
0^0
'O'D'O
OOO
^ "Pp PX
777
OOO — —— OOO OOO OOO
— '(foo OljN^ (pnOPx —'^00 OO"^
^sDtx — Tt-oo OO"^
1960] Mackenthun, et al. — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution 61
62 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
Stations 9 and 14 below the confluence in 1959. The two latter sta¬
tions are much increased, demonstrating the influence of a heavy
concentration of inorganic nitrogen which is being transported by
Badflsh Creek. The Rock River demonstrates no statistical differ¬
ence between the mean data for the three stations in 1956, and be¬
tween the mean data for the three stations in 1959. The latter sam¬
ples are all considerably higher in concentration, but it is thought
that this is the result of factors other than the diversion.
The sizeable increase in inorganic nitrogen in Badflsh Creek, as
demonstrated by the post-diversion samples, is due primarily to an
increase in the ammonia nitrogen. There appears to be a slight in¬
crease in the nitrite nitrogen, particularly at Stations 4 and 8. How¬
ever, this is easily overshadowed by the large increases in ammonia
nitrogen. At Station 10, the slight increase in the 1959 data over
that which is presented for 1956 is due to an increase in nitrate
nitrogen, whereas at Stations 9 and 14, the increase is shared by all
three types with the greatest contribution being the ammonia nitro¬
gen transported from Badflsh Creek. The increases displayed by
the Rock River samples are due primarily to increases in all three
forms of nitrogen with some indication that increases in the am¬
monia and nitrite nitrogen might influence the total inorganic nitro¬
gen concentration to a greater extent in the samples collected from
the two down-stream stations.
Like inorganic nitrogen, soluble phosphorus is a nutrient mate¬
rial available for growth utilization by plant life. Soluble phos¬
phorus is characteristically high in sewage effluent as compared to
natural drainage. Badflsh Creek, prior to diversion, clearly shows
the effect of the Oregon Sewage Treatment Plant effluent through
an increased soluble phosphorus concentration. Station 1 was quite
high and decreasing amounts were found at Stations 4 and 8. Fol¬
lowing diversion, Badflsh Creek displayed a terrific increase in the
soluble phosphorus content. Although the variability between the
stations makes it impossible to determine the magnitude of the in¬
crease, it was in the neighborhood of 30 times. Consideration of
soluble phosphorus in pounds per day past Station 4 reveals nine
pounds in 1956 compared to slightly over 1,300 pounds in 1959. The
Yahara River samples were all quite high in 1956, and no doubt
indicated the concentrations which were being discharged from
Lakes Waubesa and Kegonsa. There was no statistical difference
between any of the three stations on the Yahara River in 1956. In
1959, after diversion, however. Station 10 above the confluence
with Badflsh Creek demonstrated about the same concentration of
soluble phosphorus as did this station in 1956. Stations 9 and 14
on the Yahara River below the confluence with Badflsh Creek indi-
1960] Mackenthun, et al. — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution 63
cated about a two-fold increase as compared to Station 10 above.
The Rock River indicated a similar differential between Station 15
above the confluence with the Yahara and Stations 16 and 17 below
the confluence. The waters discharging past the above station car¬
ried a lesser concentration of soluble phosphorus in both years.
This would be expected since the diversion route would exert no
change on the conditions which might be found in the Rock River.
Badfish Creek experienced some rather high B.O.D. (biochemical
oxygen demand) values and likewise some rather low D.O. (dis¬
solved oxygen) values during the post-diversion study. The maxi¬
mum B.O.D. found during the study, following diversion, was 55.8
p.p.m. at Station 4, but the highest sustained B.O.D, was a mean of
21.01 ± 8.13 p.p.m, found at Station 1. Similarly, the lowest D.O.
recorded at Station 1 following diversion was 0.1 p.p.m., at Sta¬
tion 4, 1.7 p.p.m., and at Station 8, 2.2 p.p.m. Considering the sum¬
mer period (June 1 to October 1) there were 75 pounds of B.O.D.
per day and 475 pounds of D.O. per day prior to diversion at Sta¬
tion 4. However, after diversion in 1959 for this same period, the
water at Station 4 was carrying 1,600 pounds of B.O.D. per day
and only 900 pounds of D.O. to satisfy this demand. Thus, there
was a deficit of 700 pounds of D.O. per day in this area. The
Yahara and Rock Rivers did not appear to be appreciably affected
by the B.O.D.-D.O. relationship. However, the two lower stations
on the Yahara did exhibit D.O. readings which are considered be¬
low normal for that stream. If one considers a D.O. of 3 p.p.m. or
below as presenting conditions critical for the survival of fish and
other desirable forms of aquatic life, the summertime D.O. levels
on Badfish Creek are of interest. For example, at Station 1, eight
of nine samples taken between the June 1-October 1 period con¬
tained less than 3 p.p.m. of D.O. At Station 4, four of nine sam¬
ples contained less than 3 p.p.m. D.O., and at Station 8, five of nine
samples displayed this condition.
The most probable number of coliform organisms per 100 ml.
was quite variable throughout the course of the study (Table 1).
As pointed out earlier, the effluent from the Oregon Sewage Treat¬
ment Plant was not chlorinated and did show an effect upon Bad¬
fish Creek prior to diversion with an above-normal concentration of
coliform organisms. Following diversion, the MPN determinations
for Badfish Creek were higher than those recorded for 1956. The
influence of the Nine-Springs effluent was perceptible also in the
Yahara River, The MPN determinations for the Rock River ranged
higher at all three stations than similar samples in 1956. This phe¬
nomenon was undoubtedly due to factors other than those of
diversion.
64 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Biological Aspects
The phytoplankton volume throughout the course of the study
displayed considerable variability as would be expected (Table 1).
However, the mean volume, although showing an increase for the
larger rivers, showed no statistical difference either between the
three stations on a given river or between the two periods of study
for the same station. It thus appears that a sizeable increase in
nutrients in a flowing water situation has no substantial effect upon
a volumetric production of phytoplankton.
The phytoplankton volume of Badfish Creek was generally lower
than that of the Yahara River or Rock River (Figs. 7, 8 & 9).
Although there was little change in phytoplankton volume evi¬
denced as a result of diversion, the change was most pronounced
at Station 1 on Badfish Creek. There was an indication of a volu¬
metric reduction following diversion which suggested inhibited
growth. The blooms of Euglena which were present before diver¬
sion at Station 1 did not appear in the 1959 samples. Oscillatoria
sp. did appear in the samples following diversion, and quite pos¬
sibly came from the rather extensive growth of this genus over the
bottom deposits. The principal diatoms occurring in the 1956 sam¬
ples consisted of Navicnla, Nitzschia, Gomphonema, and Synedra.
In the 1959 samples, populations were dominated by species of
Navicnla and Nitzschia with other genera appearing only occa¬
sionally and in very small numbers. On the occasions when green
algae appeared, these consisted of Chlamydomonas and Closterium,
both in the 1956 and 1959 samples. In general, the 1959 samples,
especially at Station 1, appeared more heterogeneous to class and
more homogeneous to genera than those collected in 1956.
The tendency toward inhibited growths was apparent although
much reduced at Station 4, following diversion. In 1956, the great¬
est diatom volume appeared in late summer, and consisted princi¬
pally of Navicnla with several other genera represented in varying
numbers. The 1959 samples did not reveal as great a volume, nor
as great a variety of species, but did indicate a more equal repre¬
sentation between the diatoms, blue-green algae, and green algae in
the phytoplankton.
At Station 8, the principal constituents of the diatom population
prior to diversion were Navicnla and Nitzschia with Synedra, Cy-
clotella, Gomphonema, and Cocconeis contributing to the total vol¬
ume regularly. In 1959, Navicnla and Nitzschia were the principal
constituents of the diatom population, with the other genera ap¬
pearing only occasionally and contributing less to the total volume.
Green algae and blue-green algae appeared occasionally in the 1959
samples and not in the 1956 samples, although the total plankton
volume was rarely affected by these occurrences. The Englena group
BADFISH CREEK PHYTOPLANKTON VOLUME
1960] Mackenthun^ et at. — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution
65
s
0
a>
g
Figure 7. Badfish Creek Phytoplankton Volume.
YAHARA RIVER PHYTOPLANKTON VOLUME
66
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
i\n
E/2
02/1
09/9/1
6S/22/2I
6/21
S2/II
ll/ll
82/01
t^l/OI
OE/6
91/6
2/6
61/9
S/8
22/Z
8/i
fr2/9
01/9
Z2/S
El/S
62/t»
Sl/tr
l/fr
8*/E
6S/V/E
£1/2
OE/I
91/1
ZS/2/1
61/21
S/21
12/11
- 2/11
fr2/OI
01/01
92/6
21/S
62/8
&I/9
1/9
91/2
S/2
61/9
9S/9/9
22/S
8/S
^2/fr
01/^
22/E
El/E
2S/22/2
I
UJ
§
i
yj
<
Q
CWdd) N0liVdlN3DN0D
□
O
3
m
5 3
^ %
Figure 8. Yahara River Phytoplankton Volume.
ROCK RIVER PHYTOPLANKTON VOLUME
1960] Mackenthun, et al. — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution
67
rwyd) NoiivyiMiONoo
Figure 9. Rock River Phytoplankton Volume.
68 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
appeared more often in the 1959 samples, but they, too, seldom
affected the total phytoplankton volume.
The phytoplankton volumes on the Yahara River stations reveal
little change subsequent to diversion. The diatom population at Sta¬
tion 10 above the confluence with Badfish Creek prior to diversion
was dominated by Melosira with species of Navicula, Nitzschia and
Cyclotella appearing regularly but in lesser numbers. After diver¬
sion, the same genera of diatoms were encountered, but the volume
became more equally proportioned among those present, and no
particular genus predominated. Blue-green algae appeared in both
the 1956 and 1959 samples with Anacystis and Aphanizomenon pre¬
dominating. The most commonly recorded genera of green algae
were Scenedesmus and Ankistrodesmus, Chlamydomonas, and Coek
astrum in both the 1956 and 1959 samples. On only two occasions
in the spring and early summer of 1959 did the green algae volume
exceed the diatom volume.
Stations on the Yahara River below its confluence with Badflsh
Creek generally revealed a greater proportionate volume of green
algae following diversion. Blue-green algae at these stations were
noted only occasionally and contributed little to the total volume.
The diatom population, especially in the summer months, appeared
similar both before and after diversion. In midwinter of 1959, a
bloom of Cyclotella approached a population of 7,000 organisms
per ml. and extended over a period of six weeks. The species were
very small and contributed little to the total volume.
The phytoplankton in the Rock River revealed no detectable dif¬
ference between stations in a given year. The prominent genera in
both 1956 and 1959 were Stephanodiscus, Melosira, and Cyclotella.
Navicula and Nitzschia appeared consistently scattered but rarely
exceeded one p.p.m, in volume. Cyclotella was a major constituent
of the population during the entire year. During December, 1958
and January, 1959, it was the principal genus found, and popula¬
tions at this time approached 30,000 organisms per ml.
All stations on the Rock River revealed a substantial volume of
blue-green algae during all except the winter months. This con¬
sisted principally of Anacystis, and Aphanizomenon. Green Algae
appeared more prominent in the 1959 samples, particularly in the
spring and summer months. Volumes of green algae exceeded 10
p.p.m. only rarely. The principal constituents were Closterium and
Coelastrum in 1956 and Coelastrum in 1959. Scenedesmus appeared
regularly but the volume seldom exceeded 2 p.p.m. in any particular
sample.
The organisms which dwell upon and within the bottom deposits
were studied at seven separate stations on four different dates in
1960] Mackenthun, et al. — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution 69
Badfish Creek. Pre-diversion surveys were conducted on August 1,
1956 and March 1, 1957, whereas post-diversion surveys were con¬
ducted on September 17, 1959 and December 1, 1959. Prior to diver¬
sion at Station 1, the stream was 3 to 6 feet wide and approxi¬
mately 6 inches deep. It gradually increased in width downstream
until a width of around 30 feet was attained before the confluence
with the Yahara River. The depth at this point, however, was still
relatively shallow, varying between 6 and 18 inches. The bottom
material at the sampling stations consisted principally of rock and
coarse gravel, and at some points gravel mixed with sand. Sub¬
merged aquatic vegetation was abundant prior to diversion, and at
some points, streamers of filamentous algae were attached to the
submerged vegetation. In September, 1959, following diversion, the
improved portion of Badfish Creek still maintained a coarse gravel
bottom, and in the Station 1 area, the stream was already choked
with submerged vegetation. In the downstream areas, this vegeta¬
tion appeared to be less dense than in 1956. Long streamers of fila¬
mentous green algae (Stigeoclonium and Rhizoclonium) , some of
which were estimated to be 50 feet in length, were attached to bot¬
tom materials at numerous locations. In the upper areas of the
stream, there was a green blanket of Oscillatoria covering the bot¬
tom. Sludge had deposited along the edge of the stream and cov¬
ered portions of the vegetation. A definite sewage odor was present
in the Station 1 area in September, and this odor extended the full
length of Badfish Creek in December, 1959. Much of the stream
bottom was covered with a slimy mat of the blue-green algae Oscil¬
latoria, and, especially in the December survey, much of the vege¬
tation was covered with a prolific growth of a stalked protozoa
belonging to the family Epistylidae. These formed a gray mass not
unlike a dense growth of fungus.
The degradation of the stream following diversion is apparent
when one examines the community of biological life living upon
and within the bottom materials. Prior to diversion, between 10
and 14 different invertebrate species were recovered from each of
the samples collected. Following diversion, the number of species
was reduced to about five.
Prior to diversion, also, a balanced community of intolerant and
tolerant organisms were observed. At nearly every station, caddis
fly larvae {Cheumatopsyche and Hydropsyche) , mayfly nymphs
(Baetis and Caenis) , and riffle beetle larvae were found in asso¬
ciation with cranefly larvae, horsefly larvae, scuds, and miscella¬
neous midges. Very tolerant forms such as sludge worms {Tubi-
ficidae) were also found, but occurred in very low numbers. In some
70 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
locations, the intolerant caddis fly larvae formed the bulk of the
total population.
Following diversion, all stations in the ditch and in the improved
portion of Badfish Creek supported a bottom-dwelling population
comprised of sludge worms (Tuhificidae) and at least three species
of very tolerant midge larvae {Tendipes plumosus, T. tendipedi-
formis, and T. decorus) . These are all considered to be very tol¬
erant organisms and were found to be living in the sludge deposits
on the bottom and along the sides of the stream. Near the lower end
of Badfish Creek in the unimproved portion, tolerant and very tol¬
erant bottom-dwelling organims predominated. Occasionally, an in¬
tolerant form was observed, but this was only one among many of
the more tolerant forms.
Summary
1. Studies have been conducted on the biological and chemical
effects resulting from the diversion of approximately 20 million
gallons a day of effluent from the Madison, Wisconsin, Metropolitan
Sewage Commission Treatment Plant upon a small stream which
originally had a flow of 9.6 cubic feet per second. This stream, Bad¬
fish Creek, discharges into the Yahara River, and the Yahara River
into the Rock River. The effects upon all three river systems were
investigated.
2. In addition to physical and biological observations, and bot¬
tom fauna studies made at intervals, 26 bi-weekly samples were
collected and analyzed from selected stations before and after di¬
version for chemical and phytoplankton determinations.
3. Considering that 10 of the 14.5 miles of stream were improved
to a bottom width of 16 and 20 feet, that the flow was increased
nearly five-fold, and that a deposition of solid materials created
substantial sludge deposits in some areas, a tremendous physical
change, especially in the upper regions, was exerted upon Badfish
Creek as a result of diversion.
4. The water chemistry of Badfish Creek especially responded to
diversion with substantial increases in organic nitrogen, inorganic
nitrogen (influenced principally by ammonia nitrogen) , phosphorus,
and B.O.D. The dissolved oxygen was reduced to a critical level
many times throughout the summer, and a D.O. deficit of 700
pounds per day existed at Station 4 during this period.
5. Phytoplankton populations were of substantially the same con¬
centration between the three stations on a given stream, and be¬
tween the two periods of study for similar stations on the same
stream, but were greater in the Yahara River than in Badfish
1960] Mackenthun, et al. — Sewage Effluent Stream Pollution 71
Creek, and greater in the Rock River than in the Yahara River,
There was an indication of a population depression following diver¬
sion at the upper stations on Badfish Creek, and a difference in
genera encountered between the pre- and post-diversion samples,
6. Submerged aquatic vegetation was abundant prior to diver¬
sion, and already in 1959 had become abundant in the dredged por¬
tion of the creek. Perhaps it is yet too early to judge, but the sub¬
merged plants do not now present a porblem. Long streamers of
filamentous algae were attached to plants and bottom materials at
numerous locations. A blanket of Oscillatoria covered much of the
bottom of the upper creek.
7. A study of bottom organisms indicated severe stream degra¬
dation following diversion. Stream biota changed from a balanced
population containing several species and many intolerant organ¬
isms, prior to diversion, to a population containing few species and
only very tolerant sludge worms and midge larvae following
diversion.
8. The benthos in Badfish Creek exhibited a much greater re¬
sponse than the phytoplankton to the addition of nutrients, sus¬
pended solids, and B.O.D. contained in the effluent of the Nine-
Springs Sewage Treatment Plant.
Acknowledgment
Grateful acknowledgment is extended to Theodore F. Wisniewski,
Director of the Committee on Water Pollution for his guidance and
encouragement throughout the course of this study, to Miss Doro¬
thy McNall, Chemist of the State Laboratory of Hygiene, for deter¬
mining the chemical results, to Lawrence A. Ernest and Floyd
Stautz, Basin Engineers of the Committee on Water Pollution, for
collecting the majority of chemical and phytoplankton samples, to
Miss Lorraine Jones, stenographer with the Committee on Water
Pollution, and to the many others who ‘‘became a part” of an
extended study of this type.
References Cited
Ernest, Lawrence A. 1957. A Sanitary Survey of the Badfish Drainage Ditch
and Creek, Masters Thesis. Univ. of Wis. Library, Madison, Wis.
Flannery, James J. 1949. The Madison Lakes Problem, Masters Thesis. Univ.
of Wis. Library, Madison, Wis.
Loeffler, R. J. 1954, A New Method of Evaluating the Distribution of Plank¬
tonic Algae in Freshwater Lakes. Ph.D. Thesis. Univ. of Wis. Library,
Madison, Wis.
Prescott, G. W. 1951. The Ecology of Panama Canal Algae. Amer. Micro. Soc.
70:1-24.
72 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
Sawyer, C. N., Lackey, J. B,, and Lenz, A. T. 1945. An Investigation of the
Odor Nuisance Occurring in the Madison Lakes, Particularly Lakes Mo¬
nona, Waubesa, and Kegonsa from July 1942-July 1944. 2 Vols, Report of
Governor’s Committee.
Snedecor, George W. 1956. “Statistical Methods.” The Iowa College Press,
Ames, Iowa.
Standard Methods for the Examination of Water, Sewage, and Industrial
Wastes. 1955. Amer. Public Health Assoc., Inc., 1790 Broadway, New York
19, N. Y., 10th Ed.
WooDBURN, James G. 1959. Outfall Around the Madison Lakes. Water and
Sewage Works 106(11) : 497-500.
A STUDY OF INSECT TRANSMISSION OF OAK WILT
IN WISCONSIN^
L. H. McMullen, R. D, Shenefelt and J. E. Kuntz-
The role of insects (chiefly Nitidulidae and Drosophila) in the
overland spread of the oak wilt organism, Ceratocystis fagacearum
(Bretz) Hunt, has been well established (Dorsey et at, 1953; Gris¬
wold, 1953; Himelick et al, 1954; Himelick and Curl, 1958; Jewell,
1956; Leach et al, 1952; McMullen et al, 1955; Norris, 1953;
Thompson et al, 1955). The work reported here consisted of: a)
studies of insects associated with mycelial mats, b) studies of in¬
sects associate with wounds in healthy trees and c) insect trans¬
mission studies. This paper includes the work of McMullen et al
(1955) with results that were not available at that time.
All trees used in the following experiments were northern pin
oaks (Quercus ellipsoidalis Hill) unless otherwise specifled.
Studies of Insects Associated with Mycelial Mats
Regular collceions of insects from mycelial mats were initiated
in September, 1953, and continued during 1954 from mid-April
(when new mats began forming) until November (when mats
were no longer forming) . Mat production ceased during the sum¬
mer about June 11 and began again about July 22. Most of the col¬
lections were made in areas adjacent to Griffith State Nursery in
Wood County, although on occasion, areas in Juneau and Adams
Counties were examined.
Mats which had caused the bark to crack and which were easily
reached from the ground were selected for examination. The bark
over the mat was removed and both sections of the mat (that on
the wood and that on the bark) were examined. Insects found were
transferred to vials and later sorted and recorded in the labora-
1 Approved for publication by the Director of the Wisconsin Ag-ricultural Experiment
Station. Results of a project sponsored by the National Oak Wilt Research Committee
in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin, Department of Entomology. Sup¬
ported in part by the Wisconsin Conservation Department. Based on part of a thesis
submitted by the senior author to the University of Wisconsin, Department of Ento¬
mology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy.
2 Respectively, Research Assistant (now Research Officer, Canada Department of
Agriculture, Forest Biology Laboratory, Victoria, B. C.), Professor, Department of
Entomology, and Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of
Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. The authors are very grateful to Mr. Y. S. Sedman
for his technical assistance during the progress of this work and to Mr. C. T. Parsons
and the U. S. National Museum for identification of many of the insects.
73
1
74 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
tory. The mats were removed from the trees, placed in metal con¬
tainers and re-examined in the laboratory.
Since the numbers of mats examined, their ages and conditions
varied greatly from one collection date to another, no criterion for
seasonal populations of the insects was established. However, dur-
Table 1 presents the species of Nitidulids collected during 1954
along with the total number of each species and an indication of
the periods of greatest abundance. The collections during the fall of i
1953 were very similar to those of 1954, with the exception that |
two specimens of a new species of Epuraea were taken on Septem- j
ber 14.
In addition to the Nitidulids, Drosophila sp. were nearly always
present on the mats but not in great numbers. A small black Sta-
phylinid was quite common. Three other species of Staphylinidae
were also occasionally taken. Cucujids were common in April and
May and again in August. The Histerid, Platysoma lecontei Mars., I
occurred occasionally in May and June and again in September. A
1960]
McMullen et al. — Oak Wilt Transmission
75
species of Orthoperidae was common in May and was taken occa¬
sionally in July and August. Collembola were common on over¬
mature, deteriorating mats.
Studies of Insects Associated ivith Wounds in Healthy Trees
The study of insects associated with wounds was initiated in
1953. During April, blazes were made on ten trees (2 to 4 inches
dbh.) and were examined at irregular intervals. Again in Septem¬
ber hatchet wounds were made in twenty-five trees (of the same
size) and examined at weekly intervals during the fall and again
the following spring.
During 1954 collections were made from trees wounded through¬
out the season. Ten trees were wounded on April 22, ten different
trees on April 29, and so on at weekly intervals, whenever possible,
through October 19. In each series five trees were large (5.5 to 22
inches dbh.) and five were small (2 to 4 inches dbh.) . Seven wounds
were made on the main trunk of each tree. Six were hatchet cuts
and the seventh was a T-shaped wound about 2 inches by 2 inches
in size. In all cases the wound extended into sapwood and the bark
was separated partially from the sapwood.
The wounds were examined one week after they were made
until May 29. After that date, examinations were made twice dur¬
ing the week (three to four days after wounding and again at the
end of the week). When the wounds were examined the bark had
to be lifted and usually broke off. For this reason, when two collec¬
tions per week were made, one-half of the T-wound and three of
the hatchet cuts were examined each time.
The insects were removed from the wounds with forceps, trans¬
ferred to vials, and taken to the laboratory for identification.
No insects were found in the wounds made in April or September
of 1953.
During 1954, the series of wounds made prior to May 22 did not
appear to be attractive to insects. After June 11 Colopterus trun-
'catus, C. semitectus, and Carpophilus sayi became quite common
for a few weeks. All three species were abundant on the large trees
for three weeks until June 26. C, truncatus however was found on
the small trees until August 30.
Table 2 presents a list of the Nitidulidae collected from the
wounds, along with the numbers collected on both the large and
the small trees. Many C. truncatus escaped and its occurrence was
much higher than the numbers indicate. In addition to the Nitidu-
lids an unidentified small black Staphylinid (apparently the same
species as that collected from the mycelial mats) and Drosophila
sp. were common on the wounds during the same period as the
three common Nitidulid species.
76 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
TABLE 2
Occurrence of Nitidulidae on Artificial Wounds in Healthy
Quercus ellipsoidalis Hill, Wisconsin, 1954
Of collections from natural wounds, one made on June 11, 1954,
is particularly noteworthy. The wound consisted of a small round
hole leading- to a larger cavity about % by inches on the main
trunk of a northern pin oak in Wood County. The outer hole was
covered by a flap of bark and sap was oozing from the wound. The
following insects (in the indicated numbers) were taken from this
wound: Colopterus maculatus — 2, Colopterus sp. — 1, Cryptarcha
ampla Erichs. — 2, S. strigatula Parsons — 2, Glischrochilus fasci-
atus — 20, and G. quadrisignatus — 4.
Oak Wilt developed subsequently in ten of the large trees and
two of the smaller ones. All unwounded trees in the test area re¬
mained healthy. Both small trees in which the disease developed
were wounded on the same date, but expressed symptoms about
one month apart, although they were within 15 feet of each other.
The possibility of root transmission of the disease in this case can¬
not be overlooked.
The incidence of wilting trees, expressed in percent infection,
occurring among the wounded trees is shown in Figure 1 along
with the occurrence of Nitidulids in the wounds. None of the trees
wounded on dates not included in Figure 1 wilted.
Insect Transmission Studies
In 1952 two experiments were carried out. On July 29 and
August 5 flve Cucujids, collected from a mycelial mat, and seven
Rhizophagus hipunctatus (Say), reared on cultures of C. faga-
cearum, respectively, were introduced into a wound in each of two
otherwise normal trees. The wound in each tree was made with a
i/4-inch bit and extended well into the sapwood. The external open¬
ing was tightly covered with plastic screen and tape,
NUMBER OF NITIDULIDS PER COLLECTION
1960]
McMullen et al. — Oak Wilt Transmission
77
In September of 1953 six tests were made with Nitidulidae col¬
lected from oak wilt mats. The insects were placed on perithecia-
bearing mats for approximately two hours and were then placed in
glass containers and transported to selected trees. A hatchet cut
was made on the main trunk of each of the trees. The insects were
transferred to cylindrical plastic cages, 4 inches by 5 inches in size,
with one end covered with muslin. The cages were fastened to the
trunk over the wounds, the open side of each cage being sealed
DATE OF WOUNDING
Figure 1. The relationship between time of infection in wounded trees and
time of insect visitation to the wounds.
tightly to the tree with a plastic sealing compound. The cages were
left in place over winter and those remaining the following spring
were removed.
During 1954, similar experiments were carried out from May 1
to October 15. The test insects, collected from both sporulating my¬
celial mats and banana baits, were exposed overnight to the mats
or to laboratory cultures of the fungus. The insects were then trans¬
ferred to glass containers and transported to selected trees. A
T-shaped wound (2 inches by 2 inches) was made on the main
trunk of each tree with a wood chisel and the bark partially sepa¬
rated from the sapwood. The insects were transferred to a plastic
PER CENT INFECTION
78 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
cage similar to that used in 1953 which was fastened over the
wound in the same manner. The inoculum to which the insects had
been exposed was sometimes placed in the cages with the insects.
When the cages were removed five to seven weeks later, the wounds
were covered tightly with masking tape to prevent the entry of
other insects. Trees with wounds over which empty cages were
placed served as checks. Mycelial mats (commonly infested by
mites) were placed in some of the check cages. The trees were ex¬
amined after testing at weekly intervals until November 1, and
again in May and August, 1955.
TABLE 3
Experiments in Which Ceratocystis fagacearum Was Transmitted to
Wounded Trees by Insects Exposed to the Fungus,
Wisconsin, 1953-54
^All dates 1954 unless otherwise indicated,
^Perithecia in inoculum.
3 Insects placed over same wound twice,
^Inoculum caged with insects.
1960]
McMullen et al, — Oak Wilt Transmission
79
Of a total of 138 tests (not including the checks), perithecia were
present in the inoculum used in 26 and the inoculum was placed in
the cages of 79. There were 41 check trees, on 14 of which inoculum
was placed in the cages.
Neither of the trees tested in 1952 developed oak wilt. Table 3
gives a summary of the positive tests of 1953-54. Table 4 provides
a resume of the experiments in which insects failed to transmit the
fungus. C. fagacearum was isolated from all diseased trees except
the two which wilted by August, 1955, and inoculations with twelve
of the isolates were positive.
TABLE 4
Experiments in Which Ceratocystis fagacearum Was not Transmitted to
Wounded Trees by Insects Exposed to the Fungus, Wisconsin, 1953-54
^One tree was Ouercus macrocarpa Michx.
2 Insects were placed over the same wound twice.
80 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
Of 32 tests in which perithecia were present in the inoculum,
five were positive; of 112 tests in which endoconidia only were
present in the inoculum, 24 trees wilted. None of the check trees
nor any untreated trees in the experimental area developed oak wilt
symptoms.
Figure 2 indicates the incidence of wilting which occurred in
trees wounded and caged on given dates throughout the 1954 sea-
Figure 2. The relationship between precipitation and the incidence of wilt
in the caging tests.
son. It is evident that there were two peaks in the incidence of wilt¬
ing trees, one in May and June and the other in August. Previous
reports had indicated positive results only in the spring.
In an attempt to explain the two peaks in the incidence of the
disease in the experiments, and more particularly the one in
August, precipitation records were obtained from Griffith State
Nursery, approximately three miles from the site of the experi¬
ments. Since wounds are susceptible entry points for the fungus
for a short time only (Zuckerman, 1954; Kuntz and Drake, 1957),
the total precipitation for three days following the date of caging
PRECIPSTATION (INCHES)
1960]
McMullen et al. — Oak Wilt Transmission
81
was used. This three-day total is shown in Figure 2 along with the
percent infection for each date the caging experiments were carried
out.
Discussion
Many insects, chiefly Nitidulidae and Drosophila, occur on both
mycelial mats and on wounds, where there is, in the former, a
source of inoculum and, in the latter, an infection court for the
fungus. Both locations also provide food for the insects involved.
It is logical to expect that these insects could carry spores of C.
fagacearum from the mycelial mats to the wounds.
In Wisconsin six species of Nitidulidae, Drosophila sp. and Sta-
phylinidae have been collected from both mycelial mats and wounds.
Of the Nitidulids, Colopterus truncatus, C. semitectus, Carpophilus
sayi and Glischrochilus fasciatus were the most common on wounds
and on mycelial mats. Without doubt further species could be added
to the list occurring in both locations with more collecting. That
these species are capable of carrying and placing inoculum in a
wound suitable for infection was demonstrated by the wounding
and insect transmission studies. The fact that Cucujidae, which are
predacious, were successful in transmitting the fungus in the one
test with them, indicates that such insects as these are also capable
of carrying the fungus. However, they are probably secondary and
would not be present if their hosts were not also present. The Sta-
phylinid species, common on both mycelial mats and on wounds,
may be predacious or attracted as are the Nitidulids and Droso¬
phila.
The time of insect visitation to wounds plays an important role
in the natural spread of the disease. As is indicated in Figure 1,
the insects visited the trees mainly in June, although on the smaller
trees the insects were present till the end of July. Trees that were
wounded at the time of greatest abundance of insect wound visitors
had the greatest incidence of wilting. This statement is particularly
true for the large trees, but there appears to be little relationship
between abundance of insects on the wounds and infection in the
series of wounded saplings. The high incidence of insects on the
wounds in these trees began about one week later and lasted about
three weeks longer than in the larger trees. Relatively few insects
were collected from the wounds in the small trees that subsequently
wilted. It is possible that the condition of the wounds at the time of
greatest insect abundance was not suitable for infection, or that
the insects which visited the wounds in the saplings did so at a time
when there was a scarcity of inoculum. As was noted earlier, mat
production had ceased about June 11 but the insects continued to
visit the wounds in the saplings until the end of July.
82 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49 ;
Morris et al (1955) found that Nitidulids tended to remain on
mats as long as they were suitable for the insects. Since wounds
are susceptible to infection for a relatively short period after they
are made Morris et al hypothesized that “if mats in the right stage
of decline are not available at the time wounds are made or shortly ■
thereafter, infection through these wounds is improbable”. The ;;
present evidence supports this theory. Mat production ceased by ||
about June 11 and at that time there was an abundance of deterio- }
rating mats. The trees in which wounds were made that week and J
the week following had the highest incidence of insects and the |
highest incidence of infection. Presumably, the insects, no longer |
finding the mats suitable, moved to the wounds which were now [
attractive and in so doing carried the fungus with them. Such a j
relationship would appear to be an important factor in the long- i
distance transmission of oak wilt and may explain why the inci- ^
dence of such transmission varies from year to year.
The relatively high percentage of trees which wilted subsequent
to the caging experiments made in August was surprising. The
majority of successful results from such transmission tests have
been reported as occurring in the spring. In addition, in the trees
in which wounds were left open for natural insect visitation, no
wilt occurred in the trees treated in August. The latter can be ex¬
plained by the fact that the incidence of insects on the wounds at
that time was very low. |
In caging tests such as those described here, the insects are J
given little opportunity but to enter the wounds. Since artificial |
inoculation gives good results at any time during the season (Kuntz
and Drake, 1957), it would seem surprising that when insects,
carrying the oak wilt fungus, entered wounds, the trees would not
wilt at any time during the season. Figure 2 indicates that there
was a close association between periods of high rainfall and peaks :
in the percentage of treated trees which wilted. It was also noticed
that moisture sometimes collected on the bottom of the cages.
Although no records of the latter feature were taken, it probably :
was associated with the rainfall. Even in the tests made in late May
and June the occurrence of rainfall may have enhanced the possi¬
bility of infection. However, the authors feel that, since at this time
the trees are in a state of rapid growth and high physiological
activity which would be conducive to the exudation of sap in the
wounds, there would be enough moisture in the wounds to enhance
the possibility of infection.
Successful transmission experiments occurred after the insects
were exposed to inoculum with both enodconidia and ascospores
1960]
McMullen et al. — Oak Wilt Transmission
83
and endoconidia alone. Norris (1953), Dorsey et al (1953) and
Himelick et al (1954) obtained infection when the insects they had
used had been exposed to perithecia. Craighead et al (1953) placed
mycelial mats bearing perithecia in two plots of wounded trees in
which they obtained infection. In another plot, in which no infec¬
tion occurred in wounded trees, mycelial mats bearing endoconidia
only were present. Jewell (1956) and Himelick and Curl (1958)
reported successful transmission in caging experiments in which
endoconidia only were used as inoculum. In the evidence reported
here positive results were obtained in approximately the same per¬
centage (18.5 percent for endoconidia and ascospores, and 21.4 per¬
cent for endoconidia alone) with both types of inoculum. Such re¬
sults indicate that the presence of ascospores in the inoculum does
not enhance the possibility of inoculation by insects. Although the
possibility that the insects used in the tests had been in contact
with ascospores prior to the time of their collection is realized, in
nine experiments which gave positive results, the insects were col¬
lected in banana bait traps north of the known range of oak wilt
and were exposed only to mats or cultures without perithecia.
Summary
Studies of insects associated with mycelial mats of the oak wilt
fungus and with wounds on healthy trees, and transmission tests
with insects support the theory that certain sap-feeding insects
play an important role in the long-distance spread of the oak wilt
disease. Six species of Nitidulidae, Drosophila sp., and one species
of Staphylinidae were collected from both mycelial mats on dis¬
eased trees and wounds on healthy trees. Infection by the fungus
occurred only from mid-May to mid-June in trees in which wounds,
made throughout the season, were left open for natural insect visi¬
tation. The incidence of infection was closely correlated with the
numbers of insects visiting the wounds. Evidence, which indicated
that the condition of myelial mats of the fungus at the time of
wounding is important, is presented.
In caging experiments carried out from May 1 to mid-October,
oak wilt developed in 29 of 144 test trees. Positive results occurred
during two periods ; one in May and June, and the other in August.
Precipitation was high during these periods and moisture may have
enhanced the possibility of infection, particularly in August. The
presence of ascospores in inoculum to which the insects were ex¬
posed did not increase the percentage infection as compared to
inoculum containing endoconidia only.
84 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
References Cited
Craighead, F. C., C. L. Morris and J. C. Nelson. 1953. A preliminary note
on the susceptibility of wounded oaks to natural infection by the oak wilt
fungus. [/. S. Dept. Agr., PL Dis. Rptr. 37 : 483-484.
Dorsey, C. K., F. F. Jewell, J. G. Leach and R. P. True. 1953. Experimental
transmission of oak wilt by four species of Nitidulidae. U. S. Dept. Agr.,
PI. Dis. Rptr. 37:419-420.
Griswold, C. L. 1953. Transmission of the oak wilt fungus by the pomace fly.
Jour. Econ. Ent. 46:1099-1100.
Himelick, E. B., E. a. Curl and B. M. Zuckerman. 1954. Tests on insect
transmission of oak wilt in Illinois. U. S. Dept. Agr., PI. Dis. Rptr.
38:588-590.
Himelick, E. B. and E. A. Curl. 1958. Transmission of Ceratocystis faga-
cearum by insects and mites. U. S. Dept. Agr., PI. Dis. Rptr. 42:538-544.
Jewell, F. F. 1956. Insect transmission of oak wilt. Phytopath. 46:244-257.
Kuntz, j. E. and C. R. Drake. 1957. Tree wounds and long-distance spread of
oak wilt. (Abs.) Phytopath. AT :22.
Leach, J. G., R. P. True and C. K. Dorsey. 1952. A mechanism for liberation
of spores from beneath the bark and for diploidization in Chalara quer-
cina. Phytopath. 42:537-539.
McMullen, L. H., C. R. Drake, R. D. Shenefelt and J. E. Kuntz. 1955. Long
distance transmission of oak wilt in Wisconsin. U. S. Dept. Agr., PI. Dis.
Dis. Rptr. 39:51-53.
Morris, C. L., H. E. Thompson, B. L. Hadley, Jr. and J. M. Davis. 1955. Use
of radioactive tracer for investigation of the activity pattern of suspected
insect vectors of the oak wilt fungus. U. S. Dept. Agr., PL Dis. Rptr.
39:61-63.
Norris, D. M., Jr. 1953. Insect transmission of oak wilt in Iowa. U. S. Dept.
Agr., PL Dis. Rptr. 37:417-418.
Thompson, H. E., B. L. Hadley, Jr. and A. R. Jeffery. 1955. Transmission of
Endoconidiophora fagacearum by spore-infested nitidulids caged on
wounded healthy oaks in Pennsylvania. U. S. Dept. Agr., PI. Dis. Rptr.
39:58-60.
Zuckerman, B. M. 1954. Relation of type and age of wound to infection by
Endoconidiophora fagacearum Bretz. U. S. Dept. Agr., PL Dis. Rptr.
38:290-292.
NOTES ON WISCONSIN PARASITIC FUNGI, XXVI
H. C. Greene
Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison
The collections referred to in this series of notes were, unless
indicated otherwise, made during the season of 1959 which was,
owing to a persistent combination of high temperature and high
humidity, the most favorable in many years in southern and central
Wisconsin for the development of fungi of all sorts.
Powdery mildews, unidentified as to species, have been noted on
the following hosts, not previously reported as bearing these fungi
in Wisconsin: Callistephus chinensis (cult.) Dane Co., near Cross
Plains, November 1, 1958; Rosa heliophila. Dane Co., Madison, No¬
vember 4, 1958 ; Amelanchier canadensis. Dane Co., Madison, Octo¬
ber 15, 1958; Asarum canadense. Sauk Co., Ferry Bluff, August 10.
Microsphaera alni (Wallr.) Wint. is quite common on Corylus
americana in Wisconsin, but a specimen on this host, collected in
Gov. Dodge State Park, Iowa Co., July 21, is highly atypical both
in its development on the host and in its microscopic characters. In
most of the Wisconsin specimens, which have usually been collected
in September or October, there is very little superficial mycelium
and the small cleistothecia are quite uniformly distributed over the
leaf surface. In the recent collection there is quite profuse and
noticeable, but highly localized, superficial mycelium, mostly in
areas spanning the principal veins, around and along which the
closely clustered fruiting bodies are developed. The specimen seems
well matured, insofar as production of asci and ascospores is con¬
cerned, for in fact most of the asci have broken down, freeing the
spores. The appendages are long and lax, with only the most rudi¬
mentary suggestion of the elaborate dichotomy so characteristic of
M. alni. Measurements of cleistothecia indicate that they run larger,
about on the order of 4 to 3, than in the typical specimens. J. J.
Davis placed in the herbarium, as questionable M. alni, a similar
specimen on Corylus americana, collected July 22, 1900 at Madison.
Mycosphaerella sp., collected at Madison, September 1, occurs
on dead distal portions of leaves of Andropogon scoparius that were
still green at the base. On the same leaves, mingled with the peri-
thecia, and of similar size and shape, are pycnidia of a Phyllosticta.
The Mycosphaerella perithecia are somewhat lenticular, opening
widely, about 65-75 p, in breadth, dark olivaceous, wall cells pseudo-
85
86 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
parenchymatous; asci hyaline, broadly clavate, often somewhat
curved, about 40 x 12 ju, ; ascospores hyaline, broadly f usoid, with a
submedian isthmus-like constriction, about 15-16 x 6-6.5/a. The
Phyllosticta pycnidia are about 55-65 /a wide, noticeably flattened,
fuscous, wall cells pseudoparenchymatous, conidia hyaline, ellipsoid,
broadly ellipsoid, or subfusoid, biguttulate, 9-14 x 4-5 /a. It seems
likely the Mycosphaerella and Phyllosticta are stages of the same
fungus.
Mycosphaerella sp. is amphigenous on tiny, angled, reddish
spots along the midribs of living leaflets of Desmodium canadense,
collected near Swan Lake, Columbia Co., July 2. The perithecia are
approx. 100 fx diam., somewhat flattened, widely ostiolate, deep
sooty gray, with the individual wall cells relatively thin-walled,
large and pseudoparenchymatous ; asci curved-obclavate, short-
stipitate, 35-42 x 10-12 /a; ascospores hyaline, slightly constricted
at the approximately median septum, with one cell slightly broader !
than the other, 11-13 x 4.5-5 /a. Perhaps parasitic. |
Mycosphaerella sp., appearing parasitic, occurs in small
amount on conspicuous, pale brown, orbicular lesions, about 1-1.5
cm. diam., on leaves of Helianthus strumosus, collected near Ve¬
rona, Dane Co., July 26. The epihyllous, globose, black perithecia
are about 125 /a diam., and scattered on the spots; ascospores
f usoid, hyaline with a faint greenish tinge, 11-13 x 3-4 /a; asci
clavate, 45-50 x 7-9 /a.
Leptosphaeria sp. occurred on living leaves of Muhlenbergia \
tenuiflora, collected at the New Glarus Woods Roadside Park,
Green Co., September 21. The ellipsoid spots are approx. 1-2 cm.
long, brownish-ashen with dark brown border. Perithecia scattered, ,
black, subglobose, slightly beaked, somewhat erumpent, about 125 /a i
diam. ; paraphyses hyaline, slender, thread-like ; asci clavate,
straight or somewhat curved, 48-50 x 11-13; ascospores f usoid,
olivaceous, 3-septate, 20-22 x 4 /a. Evidently not Leptosphaeria
muhlenhergiae Rehm, said to have asci 140 x 15 /a.
Leaves of Iris virginica var. shrevei, collected at Madison, Sep¬
tember 10, bear an interesting Ascomycete, so far unidentified as
to genus, which appears to belong in the Hemisphaeriales. The
almost completely superficial disciform to subglobose ascostromata
are blackish with a thin-walled, imperfectly closed, upper area. The
cells comprising the walls are pseudoparenchymatous in the central
portion and elongate and radiately arranged at the margins, as
shown when the rounded fruiting structures are crushed flat in a
microscopic mount. The ascostromata are amphigenous, scattered
to gregarious along the central portion of the elongate host leaves,
and are approx. 75-200 /a, Paraphyses are fairly numerous, hya-
, 1960] Greene— Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI 87
line, slender, flexuous, slightly capitate. The asci are broadly clavate
or subcylindric, straight or moderately curved, approx. 60-65 x 14-
16 /X, the ascospores hyaline, continuous, ellipsoid or verging on
allantoid, 20-22 x 5-5.5 /x. Although the host leaves were dead at the
; time of collection, there are no other fungi present, and it seems
quite likely the organism in question developed parasitically.
Cenangium acuum Cooke & Peck, which occurs on needles of
Pinus strobus, is perhaps correctly considered a saprophyte, but a
massive development of this fungus on a ten year old white pine in
a plantation in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum at Madison,
September 28, suggests a possible parasitic relationship. All the
terminal needle tufts were affected, with the upper two-thirds of
the individual needles dead and straw-colored and bearing the
innate-erumpent fruiting bodies, while the lower third remained
green and fresh.
Melampsorella caryophyllacearum Schroet., occurring on
Stellaria longifolm near Kempster, Langlade Co., June 9, had pro¬
duced the telial stage along with the uredia. G. B. Cummins, who
determined the presence of the telia, states that in his experience
they are very rarely collected, and that he had difficulty finding
telial material to use in illustrating his Illustrated Genera of Rust
Fungi. In the Wisconsin specimen the teliospores have germinated,
producing a fuzzy white overlay on the sori.
Phoma sp. (?) occurred on languishing twigs of Salix petiolaris,
collected at Madison, June 13. The twigs are blackened and buds
aborted for several inches below the tip on which there is often,
nevertheless, a terminal cluster of leaves. The black hue is owing
to closely crowded, black, applanate, widely ostiolate, rather imper¬
fect pycnidia, approx. 50-75 /x diam., which are quite superficial.
The pycnidia are composed of small, dark, angled, thick-walled
cells. The conidia are hyaline, short-cylindric, 3-4 x 1.5-2 ju,. Of un¬
certain status, but possibly parasitic. In any event it would seem
that the closely appressed fungus must be in some degree detri¬
mental to the host.
Phoma sp. (?) was collected on twigs of Celtis occidentalis at
Wyalusing State Park, Grant Co., May 12. The pycnidia are brown¬
ish, subglobose, about 80-100 /x diam., rather thin-walled, somewhat
erumpent, more or less closely clustered on the yellowish, dead tips
of otherwise living, foliage-bearing twigs. Conidia are very numer¬
ous, hyaline, biguttulate, cylindric, suballantoid, or subfusoid,
5-8 X 2.5-3 IX. Very conspicuous on the numerous small trees in¬
fected, where almost all the twigs were affected.
Phyllostictae undetermined as to species have been collected on
a number of hosts. Descriptive notes are as follows 1) On the
88 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49 i
spermogonial surface of aecia, presumably those of Uromyces ’
acuminatus, on Polygonatum hiflorum, collected near Cambria, Co¬
lumbia Co., July 2. The rather large and prominent pycnidia are
closely clustered, sordid pallid brownish, thin-walled, with hyaline
conidia about 12-18 x 4-5 ix. The conidia are in the approximate •
range of those of Phyllosticta cruenta (Fr.) Kickx., but the pallid
pycnidia do not seem characteristic. The relation, if any, to the rust ■
is obscure; 2) On Tradescantia subaspera (cult.) collected at Madi- -
son, August 29. Infection proceeds from the leaf tip inward until I!
the entire leaf becomes dead and brown. The pycnidia are numer- ^
ous, clustered or scattered, amphigenous, subglobose, pallid brown- ;
ish, ostiolate, approx. 90-150 fx diam. Conidia hyaline, cylindric to i:
subfusoid, frequently biguttulate, (10-) 12-15 (-20) x 3.5-5 /x, con¬
tinuous so far as observed. A number of mounts were examined,
but no septa were noted. Nevertheless, the aspect of the specimen
suggests Ascochyta, in the nature of the lesions and in the rela¬
tively large thin-walled pycnidia, as well as in relation of spore ■
width to length. 3) On Smilax herbacea collected at Gibraltar Rock
County Park, Columbia Co., July 31. This seems intermediate be¬
tween Phyllosticta pallidior Peck and P. cruenta (Fr.) Kickx,, with
a suggestion of Stagonospora smilacis (E. & M.) Sacc. The lesions
are orbicular to irregularly subdendritic, sordid whitish with nar¬
row dark brown margins, approx. 1-2 cm. diam., in contrast to the
sharply defined circular lesions characteristic of S. smilacis. The
conidia are spherical, broadly ovate to ellipsoid or occasionally sub-
cylindric, contents granular, 8-11 (-14) x 6-8 /x. A very few of the
subcylindric spores show an imperfectly defined median septum.
This seems to be but one more in the large and often puzzling series
of Phyllostictae on Liliaceae of the tribes Uvularieae, Polygonateae,
and Smilaceae. 4) On juvenile leaves of Populus grandidentata col¬
lected August 12 in the Aldo Leopold Memorial Tract, Sect. 1, Town
of Honey Creek, Sauk Co. The orbicular blackish-brown lesions are
large, up 4 cm. diam., and markedly zonate. Pycnidia are relatively
few, epiphyllous, clustered, fuscous, subglobose, approx. 150-165 /x
diam. Conidia are hyaline, fusoid, subfusoid, ellipsoid, or broadly
ellipsoid, (5.5-) 6.5-10 (-11) x 2-2.5 (-3) /x. This does not corre¬
spond well with any of the other species described on Populus. 5)
Sparingly on large, up to 2 cm., conspicuous, orbicular, blackish-
purple lesions on leaves of Ulmus rubra, collected September 1 near
Cross Plains, Dane Co. The epiphyllous, flesh-colored, scattered,
flattened pycnidia are mostly about 100 /x diam. by about 60 /x high.
The hyaline, short-cylindric conidia are 3-5 x 1.5-2 /x, borne on
slender, closely ranked conidiophores produced mostly from the
floor of the pycnidium. Possibly closely related to Phyllosticta ulmi-
cola Sacc., but certainly not typical of that species. 6) On Rumex
1960]
Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI
89
ohtusifolius, collected near Verona, Dane Co., May 24. The spots are
rather small, rounded or irregular, with narrow dark purple mar¬
gins. The pycnidia are sordid flesh-colored, very inconspicuous, epi-
phyllous and clustered, subglobose, approx. 100-150 /x diam., the
conidia hyaline, short-cylindric to broadly ellipsoid, (1. 5-) 2-2.5
(-3) X 3. 5-6.5 (-7.5) /x. A good many of the spots also bear the con¬
spicuous black fruiting bodies of a Discosia-tyge saprophyte. I have
found no report of any Phyllosticta on this host, nor does the
fungus in question correspond with any of the few Phyllostictae so
far described on Rumex. 7) In association with Phytophthora tha-
lictri Wils. & Davis on leaflets of Thalictrum dasycarpum collected
at Wildcat Mt. State Park, Vernon Co., August 5. The thin-walled,
translucent, subglobose pycnidia are pallid brown, rather widely
ostiolate with a ring of darker cells about the ostiole, scattered on
the Phytophthora spots, approx. 75-125 /x diam. The numerous hya¬
line conidia are broadly ellipsoid to cylindric, 3.5-5 x 1.5-2 /x.
Whether the Phyllosticta preceded the Phytophthora is unknown.
8) On Mitella diphylla, collected at the Marathon County Park at
the Dells of the Eau Claire River, Town of Easton, June 10. This is
evidently the same thing which Davis (Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts
Lett. 19(2) :711. 1919) assigned provisionally to Phyllosticta mitel-
lae Peck in a collection on the same host made at Melvina, Monroe
Co. The Davis specimen is not in the Wisconsin Herbarium, but
according to his note the pycnidia were light brown and the conidia
oblong to elliptical, 4-6 x 2-3 /x. In the Marathon Co. specimen the
conidia are of about the same size and the pycnidia are up to 125 /x
diam., as opposed to the minute black pycnidia, 60-75 /x diam. of
Peck’s description, together with subglobose conidia 5-6.5 /x. It thus
seems doubtful that the Wisconsin specimens are Peck’s P. mitellae,
although Seaver accepted the Davis report in his compilation of the
Phyllostictae for the North American Flora. 9) On Fragaria vir-
giniana, collected near Cross Plains, Dane Co., October 15. The
rounded or broadly elliptic lesions are most conspicuous, with zon-
ate banding in various shades of yellow or orange through reddish
to light brown to purplish-brown or deep purplish, from about 1-4
cm. diam. Pycnidia are erumpent, black, subglobose, markedly ros¬
trate, amphigenous but mostly epiphyllous, approx. 150-250 /x, tend¬
ing to be rather evenly and remotely scattered over the lesions. The
conidiophores are moderately crowded, approx. 20-25 x 1.5 /x, some¬
what wider at their bases and tapering at the tip, hyaline, and lin¬
ing most, if not all, the inner surface of the pycnidium. Conidia are
hyaline, subelliptic or short rod-shaped, indistinctly biguttulate,
4.5-6.5 X 1.5-2 fx. It may be that this is Phyllosticta fragaricola
Desm. & Rob., but such European exsiccati as are available for
study have proved to be sterile, so adequate comparison with
90 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
authentic material has not been feasible. 10) On Prunus virginiana,
at Madison, July 25. The conspicuous, orbicular, purplish-brown
spots are distinctly zonate, approx. .5-1.5 cm. diam., often conflu¬
ent; pycnidia epiphyllous, tending to be zonately arranged, sub-
globose, pale brown, erumpent and almost superficial, approx. 75-
125 p. diam., or rarely somewhat larger; conidia hyaline, ellipsoid
to cylindric, 5-7 x 2-2.5 (-3) p. This is definitely not P. virginiana
(Ell. & Halst.) Seaver, nor does it seem to match any of the other
species described on Prunus. What appears to be an immature
specimen of this same fungus was found on the same host near
Daleyville, Dane Co., in early June. 11) Epiphyllous and usually
solitary on small, angled, whitish spots on Ceanothus americanus,
from Blue Mounds State Park, Iowa Co., September 21. The smoky-
brown pycnidia are subglobose, about 125-150 p diam. The conidia
are hyaline, slender, rod-like or suballantoid, 4-5 x 1 /^i. Not P. cea-
nothi Miles which has globose conidia, 6-8 p. 12) On newly devel¬
oped leaves of Plantago rugelii at Madison, September 10. Tehon
and Daniels, in their notes on parasitic fungi, discuss several Phyl-
lostictae on species of Plantago, and offer a key in which the Madi¬
son specimen cannot be fitted. The spots are mostly rounded, 1.5-3
mm. diam., centers pallid brownish or ashen, very thin and trans¬
lucent, margins elevated, with the whole surrounded by a compara¬
tively wide dark purplish halo. The large, subglobose pycnidia, up
to 200 p diam., or perhaps slightly more, are scattered to gregari¬
ous, smoky yellowish-brown, the ostiole marked by a conspicuous
ring of darker cells, amphigenous, so far as can be judged on such
thin spots. The numerous hyaline conidia are ellipsoid or short-
cylindric, 3.5-5 x 1.5-2 p. Phyllosticta rugelii Tehon & Stout (My-
cologia 21 :184. 1929) has very small pycnidia, only 35-65 p diam.,
with a “long-papillate ostiole”. 13) On Helianthus strumosus at
Wildcat Mt. State Park, Vernon Co., September 9. This may pos¬
sibly be an immature development of Ascochyta rudbeckiae (Ell. &
Ev.) Greene, but does not correspond well with other specimens
that I have so referred. The conspicuous spots are reddish-brown,
orbicular to angled, subzonate, with imperfectly defined darker
margins, approx. ,5-1.5 cm. diam., occasionally confluent; pycnidia
epiphyllous, scattered, black, globose, approx. 100-140 p diam.,
almost completely superficial, but nevertheless quite firmly attached
to the substratum, the wall of small, more or less isodiametric,
thick- walled, dark cells; conidia hyaline, often biguttulate, broadly
ellipsoid to cylindric, 7-13 x 2.5-3 p. 14) In association with Sep-
toria nabali B. & C. on Prenanthes alba at Ferry Bluff, Sauk Co.,
August 10. The Phyllosticta seems to be present, principally at
least, on spots which are lighter in color than those bearing S.
nabali only. The Phyllosticta pycnidia are sooty-brown, about 80-
1960] Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi, XXVI 91
90 diam., the conidia are hyaline, subfusoid to cylindric, approx.
3-5 X 1.5-2 ju.
Phyllosticta bacterioides Vuill. was reported (erroneously as
P, bacteriospora Vuill.) by J. J. Davis as occurring on Tilia ameri-
cana from Mellen, Ashland Co. Vuillemin describes this species as
having pycnidia usually about 50 p. diam. (extremes 42-73 p) and
spherical. Conidial dimensions are given as 3.4-3.8 x 0.6 p. The
Mellen specimen does not correspond to this description, but does
match two so far undetermined specimens collected by the writer
in 1959. On the other hand, a specimen collected by Davis at
Haugen, Barron Co., August 28, 1923 does in the main correspond
to Vuillemin’s description and remains filed as P. bacterioides.
CONIOTHYRIUM sp., which may well have been parasitic, occurs
on leaves of Poa pratensis, collected near Cross Plains, Dane Co.,
September 1. The elongate lesions, mostly about 5-25 mm., are
whitish to straw-colored, involving the entire leaf width and usu¬
ally delimited at each end by a narrow, bright reddish-brown mar¬
gin, the whole strikingly conspicuous in contrast to the deep green
of the rest of the leaf, which is frequently strongly curved at the
point of the lesion. The pycnidia are scattered to gregarious, sub-
globose, approx. 90-150 p diam., under low magnification appear¬
ing blackish against the pallid lesion, but by transmitted light pale
brownish, except around the rather wide ostiole where the cells are
somewhat thicker and darker. The olivaceous conidia are narrowly
ellipsoid to ellipsoid or subfusoid, occasionally subcylindric, (5-)
6.5-8 (-8.5) X 2.2-3 /..
CONIOTHYRIUM ( ?) sp., which in its pycnidia simulates those of
Phyllosticta minima (B. & C.) Ell. & Ev., occurs with and outnum¬
bers pycnidia of the latter species, whose spores have been only im¬
perfectly differentiated, on spots characteristic for P. minima on
leaves of Acer saccharinum, collected at Wildcat Mt. State Park,
Vernon Co., September 9. In mass the conidia show considerable
color, but viewed individually they are subhyaline with a greenish
tinge, so that they might almost equally well be considered as be¬
longing to Phyllosticta. They are broadly ellipsoid, ovoid, or short-
cylindric, 4-5 x 2.5-3 p, as opposed to 8-9 x 5-6 for P. minima.
CONIOTHYRIUM sp. occurred in a possibly parasitic relationship
on leaves of Prunus virginiana, collected near Verona, Dane Co.,
August 23. The spots are rounded, (1.5-)2-3 (-5) mm. diam., with
rather wide dull purplish margins and paler centers. The epiphyl-
lous, black, subglobose pycnidia are scattered and are about 125-
150 p diam., the dilutely smoky conidia ellipsoid or short-cylindric,
4 -6.5 X 2.5-3 p.
92 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Ascochyta pycnidia are hypophyllous and scattered on rounded
to elongate, dead, purplish areas on leaves of Anemone cylindrica
collected at Madison, August 4. Relationship to the host is uncer¬
tain as Puccinia anemones-virginianae Schw. is also present on most
of the spots. The pycnidia are dark brown, subglobose, about 100-
125 IX diam., the conidia pallid greenish, 8-13 x 2.5-3, uniformly
septate.
Ascochyta aquilegiae (Rabh.) Hoehn., as it occurs on Euro¬
pean species of Aquilegia, both in Europe and cultivated in Amer¬
ica, has two classes of spores, typical Ascochyta about 10-15x3-5 /x,
and Phyllosticta-tyige about 5-8 x 2-3.5 /x. These evidently are pro¬
duced within the same pycnidia. In two specimens collected on the
native Aquilegia canadensis in Wisconsin, one by J. J. Davis at
Sturgeon Bay in 1929, the other by the writer near Jonesdale, Iowa
Co., in June 1959, only the Phyllosticta spores are present. As in¬
dicated in my Notes XV ( Amer. Midi. Nat. 48 :45. 1952) , the lesions
are so characteristically those of Ascochyta that there seems little
doubt of the identity or close connection of the forms on European
Aquilegia and on the native A. canadensis.
Solidago flexicaulis leaves, collected September 21 at Blue Mounds
State Park, Iowa Co., bear conspicuous, orbicular, zonate, grayish-
brown lesions on which large pycnidia (presumably), completely
reminiscent of those of Ascochyta compositarum, are sparingly
scattered. However, all that were examined were empty.
Fruiting structures which simulate those of Phyllachora and are,
perhaps, in some cases stages of it, are often found on various
grasses. Very commonly these bodies contain phragmospores of the
Stagonospora type, but in a specimen on Andropogon gerardi, col¬
lected near Swan Lake, Columbia Co., September 18, some of these
structures were found to be producing, in vast abundance, slender,
continuous, hyaline scolecospores, about 12-15 x .7 /x, which are per¬
haps microconidia connected with an ascigerous stage. Other such
structures contained phragmospores of the type mentioned. The
relationships remain obscure.
Septoria on Sporobolus asper, collected at Nelson Dewey Memo¬
rial Park near Cassville, Grant Co., June 23, was sent to R. Sprague
for determination. He has tentatively assigned it to Septoria andro-
pogonis J. J. Davis, although he states it is not typical. In mass the
spores are bright yellow-brown, but individually appear almost hya¬
line. It was thought the fungus was a species of Phaeo septoria, a
genus on which Sprague is the acknowledged authority, but as indi¬
cated he does not consider it so, and points out further that the
obviously parasitic nature of this specimen is in contrast to all spe¬
cies of Phaeoseptoria described up to now. He finds that the spores
1960]
Greene — -Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI
93
measure 48-68 x 3»3-4,l p., longer than for typical S. andropogonis.
Length of spores may, of course, be strongly influenced by environ-
mental conditions.
Septoria (?) sp. is present in large dead areas on leaves of Des-
modium acuminatum, collected near Verona, Dane Co., July 26. The
scattered to clustered pycnidia are thin-walled, pallid-brownish,
epiphyllous, subglobose, approx. 125-175 p. diam. The hyaline
conidia are long-clavate (subacuminate at one end, obtuse at the
other) , more or less curved and irregular, 1-3 (-4) septate, 20-37 x
(2.5-) 3-3.5 (-4) p. Very likely a parasite, but obvious saprophytes
are also present, so the relation to the host of the fungus described
is not clear. It could, without doing violence, be about as well
referred to Stagonospora.
Septoria sp. occurs in scanty amount on small, rounded, trans¬
lucent spots on leaves of Circaea latifolia, collected near Verona,
Dane Co., July 3. The single pycnidium examined is flesh-colored,
thin-walled but fully formed, narrowly ostiolate, subglobose, 150 /x
diam. The spores are obtuse at one end, tapering gradually to a
point at the other, from almost straight to curved or flexuous, hya¬
line, indistinctly 2-3 or more septate, (17-) 25-40 x (2-) 2,5-3 p (at
thickened end) . I have found no report of Septoria on Circaea.
Septoria sp. is present on dead areas on leaflets of Aralia race-
mosa collected near Verona, Dane Co., August 23, The pycnidia,
closely gregarious in small groups, are epiphyllous, black, globose,
about 55-65 p diam., thick- walled, widely ostiolate, with a definite
short beak. The hyaline spores are straight to slightly flexuous or
curved, appear continuous, and are approx. 13-20 x .8-1 p. Patho¬
genicity is uncertain, as the leaves also bear Ramularia repens Ell.
& Ev,
Septoria sp., collected on Aster laevis at Janesville, Rock Co.,
June 27, is centered directly on a lesion which also bears an aecial
fructification of Puccinia stipae Arth, The Septoria is obviously not
S. atropurpurea Peck, the only species up to now reported from
Wisconsin on Aster laevis. The fungus is amphigenous on a pallid
brownish area of the lesion, the pycnidia surrounding and among
the pore-like aecia of the rust. The pycnidia are light brown, thin-
walled, subglobose, about 100 p diam., and rather widely ostiolate
and imperfect. The spores are filiform-acicular, mostly strongly
curved, occasionally distinctly spirally so, hyaline, 30-45 x 1 /x. It is
taken for granted that rusts are parasitic, but the relation of Sep¬
toria and host here is unclear.
Gloesporium Desm. & Mont,, one of the longest-established and
most widely applied fungus generic names, is dropped by J. A, Von
94 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Arx in a monographic paper entitled “Revision der zu Gloeospo-
rium gestellten Pilze’' (Verh. K. Nederl. Akad. Wetensch. Natuurk.
Tweede Reeks, Deel LI, No. 3, 153 pp. 1957). Von Arx finds the
type species, Gloeosporium castagnei Desm. & Mont., to be identical
with Marssonina populi (Lib.) Magn. Marssonina is proposed for
conservation and the species of Gloeosporium are assigned to vari¬
ous genera, mostly erected by European authors, notably the pro¬
lific Fr. Petrak, in the fairly recent past. Von Arx is to be con¬
gratulated for his restraint in describing only the two new genera
of his own. The paper purports to list all hitherto described spe¬
cies of Gloeosporium, whether critically dealt with or not, but sev¬
eral omissions have been noted, as is probably inevitable in a work
of this magnitude. The author has obviously made a serious and
intensive effort and his work deserves careful attention and study.
It seems regrettable that it was not possible to preserve the name
Gloeosporium, in however restricted a sense.
CoLLETOTRiCHUM sp. on Smilax ecirrhata, from near Cross
Plains, Dane Co., July 20, appears strongly parasitic, but the cir¬
cular, pale brown lesions, with narrow darker brown border, are
similar to those produced by Stagonospora smilacis (Ell. & Mart.)
Sacc. and it may have been primary, although no pycnidia were
formed. The hyaline, cylindro-fusoid conidia of the Colletotrichum
are pinkish in mass, 14-17 x 3-4 /x,, while the setae are dark brown,
slender, subacute, variable in length from acervulus to acervulus,
and tend to be marginal. There is much uncertainty about Colleto¬
trichum on Liliaceae, both as to specific identities and as to para¬
sitism.
Colletotrichum sp., collected on leaves of Carya ovata near
Pine Bluff, Dane Co., July 24, is perhaps parasitic. The small acer-
vuli are epiphyllous, about 60-90 fx diam., clustered on small, im-
marginate, dull greenish-purple areas and are consistently present
on a number of leaves, but the picture is obscured by evidence of
insect activity on the reverse side of the leaves. The setae are few
per acervulus, dark brown, thick-walled, from almost straight to
slightly curved, acuminate, once or twice septate, 60-125 (-170) x
2.5-5 fx, the conidia hyaline, falcate, 17-20 x 3-3.5 /x.
Colletotrichum urticae H. C. Greene (Amer. Midi. Nat. 50:
507. 1953) was described on Urtica dioica and later collected on
Laportea canadensis. On both hosts the spots are small (1-2.5
mm.), rounded, ashen to grayish, and very sharply defined. On the
latter host, near Cleveland, Manitowoc Co., August 19, there was
collected an extremely inconspicuous fungus which may perhaps
be a manifestation of C. urticae. The lesions, however, are large
and conspicuous, blackish-brown, indeterminate, appearing to orig-
1960] Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI 95
inate at the leaf tip, and involving from the upper one- third to
almost the entire leaf. Epiphyllous on these lesions are tiny acer-
vuli, approx. 30-40 /a diam., with usually a single seta, occasionally
two, 40-65 X 3-4.5 /x, clear brown, continuous, apex subotuse to
acuminate, base somewhat inflated. The conidia are cylindric or
subfusoid, appearing at times to be produced several simultaneously
from a single condiophore, rarely showing a tendency to catenula-
tion, 13-18 X 3-3.5 The dimensions are not far from those of
C. urticae, but the gross aspect of the infection is completely
different.
Marssonia potentillae (Desm.) Magn. has been reported for
Wisconsin on Potentilla norvegica var. hirsuta {P. monspeliensis)
on the basis of two collections by J. J. Davis at Spooner, Washburn
Co., in 1911, identified at that time as Gloeosporium fragariae
(Lib.) Mont., which is now considered as synonymous with M. po¬
tentillae. A re-examination of these specimens raises doubt as to
their identity with M. potentillae. They are characterized by large,
orbicular, grayish-brown blotches, up to 2 cm. diam., on which the
acervuli are clustered, whereas in collections on other species of
Potentilla there is little or no spotting and the acervuli are scat¬
tered. The conidia in the specimens on P. norvegica var. hirsuta
are slender-cylindric or subfusoid and almost straight, with no
septation noted in any spores. In specimens on other hosts, how¬
ever, the conidia are strongly curved, boomerang-shaped, acute at
one end, blunt at the other, and distinctly uniseptate.
Marssonina sp. occurs consistently on gall spots on living leaves
of Acer negundo, collected at Madison, June 24, 1951. The orbicular
spots, about .2-5 cm. diam., are pallid with reddish borders, and
with considerable hypertrophy of vein tissue on the under side. The
acervuli are amphigenous, subcuticular, scattered to gregarious,
sordid carneous to pallid brownish, approx. 100-150 (-200) /x, diam. ;
conidiophores hyaline, closely ranked, simple, about 5-7 x 2 /x,;
conidia hyaline, straight to slightly curved, subcylindric, long-
obovoid, subfusoid, or occasionally definitely fusoid, 7-14 x 2.5-
4.5 fi. Parasitism is questionable, but it seems likely. The occurrence
of characteristic fungi on leaf galls is of considerable interest and
might well repay intensive study.
Quercus alba leaves, collected at Madison, September 28, and near
Verana, September 30, bear a fungus which it seems may possibly
be an imperfectly developed Marssonia, although it seems very dif¬
ferent from M. martini (Sacc. & Ell.) Magn., commonly found on
this host and characterized by very sharply defined, small, rounded,
pallid spots. In this specimen the hypophyllous acervuli are sub-
epidermal and moderately sunken, about 200-250 jx diam., scattered
96 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
to loosely clustered on immarginate, extensive, dull pinkish areas.
The conidia vary from rarely obclavate, to cylindric, broadly
cylindric, or ellipsoid, or occasionally curved Marssonia-lWe, hya¬
line, continuous so far as observed, 18-36 x 6.5-9 /a.
Botrytis, perhaps B. vulgaris Fr., occurred on the fruit, in all
stages of development, of red raspberry, Ruhus strigosus, observed
near Verona, Dane Co., July 26. Entire clones were devastated,
with almost no fruit escaping. At least a weak degree of parasitism
would seem indicated.
Anemone canadensis leaves in the fall are often closely studded
on the under surface with prominent, black, subgloboid, non-fruit¬
ing structures suggesting immature perithecia. Such leaves were
collected at the Faville Prairie near Lake Mills, Jefferson Co., in
September 1958, and overwintered out-of-doors in a wire cage.
When this material was examined in late May 1959, characteristic
conidia and conidiophores of Didy maria didyma (Ung.) Schroet.
were being produced in profusion from the apices of the above-
mentioned subgloboid black structures, providing another instance
of what seems to be a rather widespread type of adaptation to
overwintering of various fungi, with early infection of the emerg¬
ing shoots of the host plants. No evidence of an accompanying
perfect stage was detected.
Cladosporium sp., appearing parasitic, occurs on telia of Coleo-
sporium asterum (Diet.) Syd. on Solidago altissima, collected at
Madison, September 21, 1958. The scattered conidiophores are
dilute brown, several-septate, from simple and flexuous to mildly
geniculate and tortuous, about 65-100 x 3-4 conidia grayish-
olivaceous, smooth, subcylindric, broadly ellipsoid or subfusoid,
1-septate or continuous, catenulate, 10-13 (-20) x 4-5 /x.
Cladosporium sp. which appears definitely parasitic occurs on
leaves of Muhlenbergia frondosa, collected at Poynette, Columbia
Co., September 18. The sharply defined spots are narrowly elon¬
gate, mostly about .5-1 cm. long by .5-7 mm. wide, the central por¬
tion cinereous with relatively wide tan margins. The conidiophores
are amphigenous, scattered or very loosely clustered, clear brown,
ranging from almost straight and without geniculation to tortuous
and strongly geniculate, 1-5 septate, approx. 45-100 x 3.5-5 /x;
conidia pallid olivaceous-gray, subcylindric or subfusoid, apices
conic with noticeable scar, sometimes at both ends, indicating
catenulation, mostly appearing slightly roughened, 18-25 (-28) x
5-6 /X. A few of the longest spores have 3 septa, but the uniseptate
condition appears normal.
Heterosporium sp. occurs on leaves of Populus deltoides, col¬
lected at Madison, September 7, 1958. The orbicular spots, approx.
1960]
Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi, XXVI
97
.5 cm. diam, are dull cinereous to grayish-brown with very narrow
blackish-brown borders and the fungus is amphigenous on the cen¬
tral part of the spots. The cylindric conidia, when mature, are 3
septate, slightly constricted at the septa, closely and finely echinu-
late, smoky olivaceous, 14-20 x 5-7 /x. The clear-olivaceous conidio-
phores are fairly closely fascicled, continuous to 1-2 septate, simple
and straight, or mildly geniculate, short, approx. 25-50 x 4-5 /x. The
spots are somewhat reminiscent of those caused on this and related
host species by Septoria musiva Peck, and thus it seems possible
that they represent a suppressed development thereof, with the
Heterosporium secondary.
Cercosporella, collected on Eupatorium altissimum at Madison,
August 31, suggests, in its macroscopic aspect and in the nature of
its conidiophores, Cercosporella cana Sacc., common on species
of Erigeron. The conidia, however, are quite different. I find no re¬
port of Cercosporella on Eupatorium and this may be distinct, but
as the Cercosporellae on Compositae are in a state of considerable
confusion, for the present no formal description is offered. The
conidiophores are fascicled, amphigenous but mostly hypophyllous,
hyaline, septate, thick-walled, often curved below and diverging,
narrowing usually toward tip which is often noticeably geniculate-
denticulate, approx. 40-60 x 5-6.5 /x ; conidia hyaline, narrowly ob-
clavate to almost acicular, 4-6 septate, approx, 80-115 x 3-4 /x, base
obconic,
Cercospora sp. occurs on drab bluish areas, often involving en¬
tire leaves of Isopyrum hiternatum, collected near Antigo, Langlade
Co., June 9. The conidiophores are scattered to loosely fasciculate,
appearing continuous, grayish, mostly distinctly and rather closely
geniculate, about 40-55 x 4-6 ,/x. The conidia are hyaline, slender,
tapering obclavate, markedly flexuous, with subacute tip, base trun¬
cate with prominent scar, 8-10 septate, 150-175 x 5-6 /x. Cerco¬
spora merrowi Ell. & Ev., reported from Wisconsin on Isopyrum,
has, according to Chupp, conidia which are cylindro-obclavate to
cylindric, subhyaline to pale olivaceous-brown, plainly 1-6 septate,
straight to mildly curved, occasionally catenulate, subtruncate base,
tip obtuse, 20-60 x 4-7 ,/x. Cercospora isopyri Hoehn., the only other
species reported on Isopyrum, is considered to be probably a species
of Helminthosporium.
Cercospora sp. on Epilobium adenocaulum, collected at Blue
Mounds State Park, Iowa Co., September 21, is quite unlike Cerco¬
spora epilobii Schneider, the only species listed by Chupp as occur¬
ring on Epilobium, and which he considers to be actually a Didy-
maria. The current specimen has rounded pallid spots, somewhat
sunken, with narrow, brownish border, small, mostly not over 1
98 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
mm. diam. The fungus is epiphyllous, the fascicles few per spot,
rather compact, with half a dozen or so conidiophores which are
deep brown, several-septate, somevv^hat tortuous, several times
geniculate near the tip, 75-115 x 5 jm; conidia hyaline, subflexuous,
acicular to slender-obclavate, multiseptate, truncate at base which
is 3-4 ju wide.
Cercospora sp., present in small amount on dead areas on leaflets
of Aralia racemosa, collected near Verona, Dane Co., August 23,
does not correspond closely to any of the eight species listed in
Chupp’s key to Cercosporae on Araliaceae, but bears considerable
similarity to C. araliae-cordatae Hori, as described. In the Wiscon¬
sin specimen the hyaline, very slender-obclavate (almost acicular)
conidia are flexuous, obscurely multiseptate, about 5 /x wide at the
truncate base, and up to 325 /x in length ; conidiophores dilute clear
brown, straight, simple or once geniculate, often somewhat wider
at the blunt, truncate tip (up to 6 />(,), several times septate toward
base, diverging in loose fascicles of about 4-6, approx. 75-150 jx
in length.
Cercospora sp. occurs on Myosotis virginica, collected at Red
Rock, south of Darlington, Lafayette Co., June 4. There are no
sharply defined spots. The conidiophores are scattered over indeter¬
minate reddish-brown areas which often involve the entire leaf.
Conidiophores are mostly epiphyllous, scattered, as noted, mildly-
several-geniculate, 1-2 septate, with subconic tip, grayish, arising
from a small cluster of pseudoparenchymatous cells of similar hue,
mostly very short, but exceptionally up to 35 x 3 ja; conidia slender
and acicular, indistinctly multiseptate with contents somewhat
granulose, 30-75 x (2-) 2.5 (-3) jx. Chupp in his Monograph of Cer¬
cospora does not report anything on Myosotis. The present mate¬
rial, while seemingly quite distinct, is hardly profuse enough for
formal descriptive purposes.
Cercospora sp., collected in small quantity on Rudheckia triloba
at Madison, October 1, is not Cercospora tahacina Ell. & Ev., the
only species named by Chupp as occurring on Rudheckia. In C. taha¬
cina the fungus is in effuse patches, whereas in the present speci¬
men it is hypophyllous on small purplish spots. The conidia are
hyaline (colored in C. tahacina), slender-obclavate, multiseptate,
base truncate with prominent scar, approx. 75-115 x 4-4.5 /x. The
conidiophores lack the tortuous, constricted aspect of those of C.
tahacina. Those measured are about 90-175 x 3. 5-4. 5 jx, clear brown,
several-septate, once or twice geniculate, few in the fascicle and
tending to diverge widely.
Car ex alhursina leaves, collected July 9 near Albany, Green Co.,
bear an interesting and plainly parasitic sporodochium-producing
1960] Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI 99
fungus which I am unable to place as to genus. The spots are one
to several per leaf, where several, often clustered, small (1-) 1.5-3
mm., rounded, variously angled, or elongate, centers pallid brown¬
ish, margins relatively wide and reddish-brown. The spots are thin
and translucent, with the tissue often rupturing. Sporodochia one
to several per spot, amphigenous, mostly hypopyllous, pulvinate,
pale flesh-colored when freshly collected, later turning somewhat
darker, composed of closely compacted, but discrete hyphae which
are more or less vertically oriented to the substratum, 40-95 /i, wide
at base by approx, 25-50 /x in height above the substratum ; conidia
hyaline, broadly ellipsoid or subfusoid, 5-7 (-8.5) x 3.5-4 /x, pro¬
duced on the surface of the sporodochia without presence of differ¬
entiated conidiophores.
Muhlenhergia schreheri, collected near Cross Plains, Dane Co.,
October 15, bears a highly unusual fungus which appears super¬
ficial, but which may be parasitic. The general aspect is that of a
member of the Perisporiales, but microscopic examination belies
this. The conspicuous feature is the presence of numerous rounded,
disciform, black, perithecium-like structures, mostly about 150-
250 /X diam., from which are produced many radiating appendages.
The aforementioned structures are non-ostiolate and thick-walled,
the individual cells of the wall being in themselves thick-walled and
dark, rounded to squarish, approx. 8-10 /x diam. When crushed, the
fully developed bodies are seen to be filled with what appear to be
thick-walled, subglobose or broadly ovoid, hyaline chlamydospores,
7-17 X 8-14 /X, more or less readily separable from one another.
The hyaline walls are mostly about 2.5-3 /x thick. The profusely
produced appendages are deep brownish at the more or less bul¬
bous base, fading to almost hyaline at the long-attenuate apex,
multiseptate, about 5-6 /x at base and 3 /x wide throughout most of
their length, more or less fiexuous or tortuous, up to 525 /x long.
The whole appears attached to the host by a delicate subiculum, the
cells of which are organized into strands irregular in appearance
and difficult to describe satisfactorily. There are also present in
most of the mounts examined, brownish, coarsely echinulate, 1-3
septate, subcylindric phragmospores, about 18-30 x 7-10 /x and
reminiscent of Heterosporium. None have been seen attached, how¬
ever, so their possible connection remains conjectural.
SCLEROTIOMYCES COLCHICUS Woronichin, a probably non-para-
sitic, but still detrimental fungus, was collected on leaves of Pol-
ymnia canadensis at Wildcat Mt. State Park, Vernon Co., Septem¬
ber 9, adding another to the already large list of Wisconsin plants
observed bearing this fungus. As in all previous specimens, it is
strictly epiphyllous.
100 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Additional Hosts
The following hosts have not been previously recorded as bearing
the fungi mentioned in Wisconsin.
Albugo bliti (Biv.) 0. Ktze. on Amaranthus powellii. Dane Co.,
Madison, August 19, 1956. Also on Amaranthus powellii X retro-
flexus (det. J. D. Sauer). Sauk Co., Devils Lake State Park, Sep¬
tember 16.
Syzygites MEGALOCARPUS Ehrenb. ex Fr. (Sporodinia grandis
Link) on Calvatia gigantea. Dane Co., Madison, September 11. Coll.
R. Bere.
Microsphaera alni (Wallr.) Wint. on Cary a ovata. Dane Co.,
near Pine Bluff, September 23.
Uncinula salicis (DC.) Wint. on Salix cordata. Columbia Co.,
Poynette, September 18.
Phllactinia CORYLEA (Pers.) Karst, on Corylus cornuta {ros-
trata). Vernon Co., Wildcat Mt. State Park, September 9.
Phyllachora puncta (Schw.) Orton on Panicum ivilcoxianum.
Dane Co., near Cross Plains, September 1.
Cronartium ribicola Fisch. II, III on Ribes missouriense. Dane
Co., Madison, August 25.
COLEOSPORIUM VIBURNI Arth. II, III on Viburnium prunifolium
(cult.). Dane Co., Madison, October 18.
COLEOSPORIUM ASTERUM (Diet.) Syd. ii. III on Aster puniceus.
Columbia Co., Poynette, September 18.
Melampsora paradoxa Diet. & Holw. II, III on Salix babylon-
ica. Dane Co., Madison, September 28.
Melampsora abieti-caprearum Tub. II, III on Salix bebbiana.
Dane Co., Madison, October 13.
Tranzsghelia pruni-spinosae (Pers.) Diet. Ill on Prunus mari-
tima (cult.). Dane Co., Madison, October 19.
Phragmidium Americanum (Peck) Diet. Ill on Rosa heliophila
(pratincola) . Dane Co., Madison, November 4, 1958.
Phragmidium subcorticinum (Schr.) Wint. II, III on Hybrid
Tea Rose (Condesa de Sestago). Dane Co., Madison, October 1958.
Coll. D. L. Coyier. Although the taxonomy of Phragmidium as it
now stands leaves much to be desired, this specimen corresponds
quite closely to the description given in Arthur’s Manual.
PUCCINIA CARICINA DC. I on Ribes lacustre. Forest Co., near
Alvin, June 26, 1957. Coll. H. Gale and M. Christensen. On a phan¬
erogamic specimen in the LFniversity of Wisconsin Herbarium.
1960]
Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI
101
PUCCINIA DIOICAE P. Magn. I on Aster ericoides. Trempealeau
Co., Perrot State Park at Trempealeau, June 17. At same station on
Solidago sciaphila, June 16.
PucciNiA DIOICAE P. Magn. ii. III on Car ex assiniboinensis. Bay-
field Co., Mason, September 3. Coll. J. H. Zimmerman.
PUCCINIA ATROFUSCA (Dudl. & Thomp.) Holw. I on Artemisia
caudata. Burnett Co., Crex Meadows near Grantsburg, July 14.
PUCCINIA ASTERIS Duby on Aster lateriflorus. Iowa Co., Gov.
Dodge State Park near Dodgeville, September 11.
Uromyces perigynius Halst, III on Carex assiniboinensis. Bay-
field Co., Mason, September 3. Coll. J. H. Zimmerman.
CiNTRACTiA CARICIS (Pers.) Magn. on Carex emoryi Dewey.
Trempealeau Co., Perrot State Park at Trempealeau, June 16.
Ceratobasidium anceps (Bres. & Syd.) Jacks, on Galium tri~
florum. Vernon Co., Wildcat Mt. State Park, August 5. On Verbena
urticaefolia. Same station and date.
Phyllosticta pallidior Peck on Polygonatum biflorum. Colum¬
bia Co., near Cambria, July 2. So far as I am aware this is the first
collection of this globose-spored species on Polygonatum in Wis¬
consin. As I indicated earlier (Amer. Midi. Nat. 41:741. 1949)
Polygonatum usually bears Phyllosticta cruenta (Fr.) Kickx. which
has elongate spores on the order of 15-20 x 4-6 fx. There has been
much confusion concerning Phyllostictae on Polygonatum, Smila^
cina and Uvularia and my 1949 discussion was aimed at clarifica¬
tion of the situation. The conidia in the present specimen run
slightly smaller than the 10 jx diam. they often display in well-
developed specimens on Smilacina, but they are definitely larger
than the 5-7 p. diam. of Phyllosticta discincta J. J. Davis, occurring
on Uvularia.
Phyllosticta nebulosa Sacc. on Silene cserei. Green Co., near
Albany, May 30.
Phyllosticta succinosa H. C. Greene on Ribes missouriense.
Dane Co., near Pine Bluff, July 24.
Phyllosticta violae Desm. on Viola incognita. Iowa Co., Gov.
Dodge State Park near Dodgeville, June 2.
Phyllosticta solidaginis Bres. on Solidago sciaphila. Sauk Co.,
Ferry Bluff, Town of Prairie du Sac, August 10. The pycnidia are
quite inconspicuous,
Actinonema rosae (Lib.) Fr. {Diplocarpon rosae Wolf) on
Rosa blanda. Rock Co., Janesville, June 27.
Ascochyta silenes Ell, & Ev. on Silene cserei. Marquette Co.,
near Roslin, June 9.
102 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Ascochyta nepetae J. J. Davis on Leonurus cardiaca. Columbia
Co., Gibraltar Rock County Park, July 31. Also, two specimens
from Madison, August 7, 1952 and July 13, 1957, and a specimen
from near Poynette, Columbia Co., September 3, 1952. The 1952
collections were very small and inadequate, but the later specimens
are much more ample and seem referable to Davis’ species. Davis
based his description on a single rather small specimen and does
not specify the range of pycnidial diameter, which I find to be quite
variable, from about 80-150 /x or rarely more. He states the conidia
are 10-14 x 3 ^x, which, with extensions, is the general range of the
conidia on Leonurus and in other specimens on Nepeta, collected
by me.
Ascochyta compositarum J. J. Davis on Solidago ulmifolia,
Dane Co., Madison, August 26. On Aster azureus. Dane Co., near
Cross Plains, September 1. On Aster shortii. Green Co., New Glarus
Woods Roadside Park, July 21. On Helenium autumnale. Gov.
Dodge State Park near Dodgeville, July 21. (The specimen on
Helenium is the small-spored form originally designated as var.
parva by Davis, but later included under the species proper in his
emended concept). On Prenanthes alba. Dane Co., Madison,
August 25.
Darluca FILUM (Biv.) Cast, on Puccinia punctata Link var.
troglodytes (Lindr.) Arth. II on Galium triflorum, Columbia Co.,
Gibraltar Rock County Park, July 31. On Uromyces phaseoli
(Pers.) Wint. II on Phaseolus vulgaris. Dane Co., Madison, Sep¬
tember 8.
Stagonospora simplicior Sacc. & Berk f. andropogonis Sacc. on
Andropogon scoparius. Dane Co., Madison, September 1. There are
no sharply defined lesions, but the large phragmospores, about 40 x
10 /X, are characteristic.
Stagonospora albescens J. J. Davis on Carex grayii. Rock Co.,
Avon, September 3. Here the spores are about 9-11 /x, and mostly 7,
but occasionally 9 septate. On Carex interior. Langlade Co., near
Kempster, June 9. The spores run somewhat smaller than the 45-
65 X 10-13 /X of the original description, but otherwise seem char¬
acteristic. Also on Carex prairea Dewey. Dane Co., Madison, June
14. Here the spores are 45-55 x 10-12 /x and are uniformly 6 septate.
Associated with the Stagonospora on C. prairea is a mature Myco-
sphaerella with perithecia about 80 /x diam., broadly clavate asci
about 30 X 12 /X and hyaline ascospores about 13 x 5 /x with septum
median and lower cell slightly smaller. Spots may or may not be
well defined in specimens of Stagonospora albescens, tending not to
be on filiform leaves, such as those of C. prairiea and C. interior,
where the entire upper leaf is involved. It seems likely that S. albes-
1960]
Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI
103
cens and S. caricinella Brun. intergrade. Davis (Trans. Wis. Acad.
Sci. Arts Lett. 18:264. 1915) discusses the latter species at some
length.
Septoria caricis Pass, on Carex emoryi Dewey. Trempealeau
Co., Perrot State Park at Trempealeau, June 16.
Septoria nematospora J. J. Davis on Carex interior. Langlade
Co., near Kempster, June 9.
Septoria dentariae Peck on Dentaria diphylla. Marathon Co.,
County Park at Dells of Eau Claire River, Town of Easton,
June 10. The infected leaves also bear oospores of Albugo in aston¬
ishing profusion, with only slight evidence of the preceding conidial
stage.
Septoria crataegi Kickx on Crataegus mollis. Rock Co., Avon,
September 3.
Hainesia lythri (Desm.) Hoehn. on Oenothera rhombipetala.
Sauk Co., Spring Green, September 11.
COLLETOTRICHUM GRAMINICOLA (Ces.) Wils. on Agropyron
smithii. Iowa Co., near Arena, September 9.
COLLETOTRICHUM LUCIDAE H. C. Greene on shoot leaves of Popu-
lus tremuloides. Dane Co., Madison, July 5. The fungus is identical
microscopically with the type which occurred in the same locality
on Salix lucida (Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts Lett. 45:190. 1956)
and, with allowance for host difference, the lesions are very similar.
The fungus appears very strongly parasitic on both these sali-
caceous hosts.
Sphaceloma murrayae Jenkins & Grodsinsky on Salix alba var.
vitellina. Dane Co., Madison, September 14.
Cercoseptoria crataegi (Ell. & Ev.) Davis on Crataegus mollis.
Rock Co., Avon, September 3.
Ramularia variata j. j. Davis on Mentha spicata. Iowa Co.,
Gov. Dodge State Park near Dodge ville, June 2.
Ramularia minax J. J. Davis on Solidago gigantea. Vernon Co.,
Wildcat Mt. State Park, August 5. In the virtual absence of tri-
chomes on this host the fungus loses somewhat of its characteristic
appearance on other species of Solidago, where ascension of the
trichomes is a feature.
Cercospora caricis Oud. on Carex cephalophora. Trempealeau
Co., Perrot State Park at Trempealeau, June 17. On Carex spar-
ganioides. Iowa Co. Gov. Dodge State Park near Dodgeville, July 21.
Cercospora desmodiicola Atk. on Desmodium illinoense. Dane
Co., Madison, September 10.
104 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Tuberculina persicina (Ditm.) Sacc. on Puccinia atrofusca
(Dudl. & Thomp.) Holw. I on Artemisia caudata. Burnett Co., Crex
Meadows near Grantsburg, July 14. On the uredinoid aecia of Uro-
pyxis amorphae (Curt.) Schroet. on Amorpha fruticosa, Trem¬
pealeau Co., Perrot State Park at Trempealeau, June 16. Additional
evidence, if any is needed, of the truly aecial nature of these fructi- i;
fications, as I do not know of any case where Tuberculina has been i
reported on other than the aecial stage of a long cycle rust. \
PSEUDOCEOSPORA viTis (Lev.) on Vitis aestivalis, Dane Co., near
Verona, September 4. A very distinctive fungus with strikingly :
coremoid conidiophores. ^
!:
Additional Species
The fungi mentioned have not been previously reported as occur- r
ring in the state of Wisconsin. j
Albugo ipomoeae-panduranae (Schw.) Swingle on Ipomoea |
purpurea (cult.). Dane Co., Madison, June 25. 1
Nectria episphaeria (Tode) Fr. on Xylaria polymorpha. Dane '
Co., Brigham County Park near Blue Mounds, October 18. Coll. &
det. J. L. Cunningham. ;
Puccinia plumbaria Peck I on Phlox divaricata. Columbia Co.,
Muir Park near Poynette, May 8. i
SOROSPORIUM EVERHARTii Ell. & Gall, on Andropogon scoparius.
Sauk Co., near Spring Green, September 11. Also on Andropogon
gerardi. Dane Co., Madison, September 9, 1946. This was errone- ’
ously reported on A. gerardi as Sphacelotheca occidentalis G. P.
Clint which thus appears not to have been collected in Wisconsin
so far.
Phyllosticta eminens sp. nov.
Maculis orbicularibus, pallido- vel rufo-brunneis cum marginibus I
modice latis et fuscis supra, sordido-carneis cum marginibus dilutis
purpureis infra, conspicuis, confluentibus interdum, ca. .5-2 cm.
diam., plerumque ca. 1 cm.; pycnidiis nigris, subglobosis vel glob-
osis, ostiolatis, superficialibus vel fere, amphigenis, plerumque hy-
pophyllis, sparsis vel gregariis, ca. (60-) 100-200 p. diam.; conidiis
hyalinis, obtusis, cylindraceis vel ellipsoideis late, 3.5-5 x (1.5-)
2—2.5 jJL.
Spots orbicular, pallid- to reddish-brown with fairly wide fuscous
border on upper leaf surface, sordid pinkish with dull purplish
border below, conspicuous, some times confluent, approx. .5-2 cm.
diam., mostly about 1 cm.; pycnidia black, subglobose to globose.
1960]
Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI
105
ostiolate, superficial or nearly so, amphigenous but mostly hypo-
phyllous, approx. (60-) 100-200 jjl diam., scattered or gregarious;
conidia hyaline, obtuse, cylindric to broadly ellipsoid, 3.5-5 x (1.5-)
2-2.5
On living leaves of Salix (the host appears to be a hybrid of
Salix amygdaloides and some other species, perhaps S. fragilis).
Bank of Wisconsin River at Walnut Eddy, Wyalusing State Park,
Grant County, Wisconsin, U. S. A., September 24, 1959.
A very interesting species, in which the pycnidia vary from
almost entirely superficial and seated on an inconspicuous whitish
subiculum, to pycnidia in which, at most, the lower quarter is im¬
bedded in the substratum. The latter condition seems more fre¬
quent in epiphyllous pycnidia which are many fewer in number
than those on the lower surface.
Phyllosticta erysimi sp. nov.
Maculis parvis, 1.5-3 mm. diam., pallido-brunneis, depressis,
marginibus fuscellioribus, elevatis, suborbicularibus vel irregulari-
bus, confluentibus aliquoties, saepe marginatis; pycnidiis fuscis,
subglobosis vel planioribus nonnihil, erumpentibus, amphigenis,
ostiolis prominentibus, ca. 175-225 /x diam. sparsis vel gregariis;
conidiis numerosis, parvis, hyalinis, bacilliformibus, rectis vel
curvis leniter, 3-5 x 1-1.5 /x.
Spots small, 1.5-3 mm. diam., one to several per leaf, pallid
brownish, sunken with elevated margins, margins somewhat
darker, suborbicular to irregular in shape, sometimes confluent,
often marginal on the narrow leaves; pycnidia sordid blackish-
brown, subglobose or somewhat more flattened, erumpent, amphi¬
genous, ostiole prominently marked by a ring of darker cells, about
175-225 JO, diam., scattered to gregarious; conidia very numerous,
small, hyaline, rod-shaped, straight or slightly curved, 3-5 x 1-1.5 /x.
On living leaves of Erysimum inconspicuum (S. Wats.) MacMill.
{E. parvifiorum Nutt.). Prairie remnant along Wisconsin Highway
39, Sect. 4, Town of York, Green County, Wisconsin, U. S. A.,
June 4, 1959. I have not found any report of Phyllosticta on Erysi¬
mum or closely related hosts.
Phyllosticta dearnessii Sacc. on Rubus strigosus. Vernon Co.,
Wildcat Mt. State Park, August 5 and near Verona, Dane Co., Sep¬
tember 4. On this host the conspicuous reddish-brown orbicular
spots are about 1 cm. diam., with the pycnidia usually borne indi¬
vidually on tiny lighter areas within the spot. Pycnidia are from
about 125-160 ju. diam., the bacilliform conidia 3.5-5 x 1.2-1. 5 /x.
Also on Rubus parviflorus (cult.). Dane Co., Madison, October 15.
106 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Phyllosticta minor Ell. & Ev. on Vinca minor (cult.). Dane
Co., Madison, May 28. Apparently a well-marked species, with
globoid conidia about 5 /x in diam.
Phyllosticta tuberosa Ell. & Mart, on Asclepias tuberosa. Sauk
Co., Ferry Bluff, Town of Prairie du Sac, August 10. The specimen
corresponds closely with the description and with N. Amer. Fungi
No. 1161. Phyllosticta tuberosa, Septoria asclepiadicola Ell. & Ev.,
and Stagonospora zonata J. J. Davis all produce remarkably similar
lesions on this host.
Phyllosticta taraxaci Hollos on Taraxacum officinale. Dane
Co., Madison, July 8. Sufficiently similar to Hollos’ description to
warrant inclusion, in my opinion. In the Madison specimen the
spots are orbicular, .3-1 cm. diam., brownish, somewhat zonate
with wide purplish margins; pycnidia epiphyllous, brownish, sub-
globose, thin-walled, approx. 60-80 /x diam., scattered ; conidia hya¬
line, ellipsoid, 3.5-5 x 2-2.5 y. Hollos gives a pycnidial diameter of
80-90 y, and 5-6 x 1.5-2 y for the conidial dimensions.
Ascochyta solidaginis sp. nov.
Maculis orbicularibus, conspicuis, subzonatis, cinereis vel brun-
neo-cinereis obscuris, marginibus angustis, fuscis, .7-2.5 cm.;
pycnidiis epiphyllis, sparsis, fuscis, subglobosis, ca. 250-300 y
diam.; conidiis hyalinis, angusto-cylindraceis, guttulatis, (6-) 8-10
X 1.5-2 y, uniseptatis.
Spots orbicular, conspicuous, subzonate, cinereous to dull brown¬
ish-cinereous, with narrow dark margin, .7-2.5 cm. ; pycnidia
epiphyllous, scattered, fuscous, subglobose, about 250-300 y diam. ;
conidia hyaline, narrow-cylindric, guttulate, (6-) 8-10 x 1.5-2 y,
uniseptate.
On living leaves of Solidago altissima. Parfrey’s Glen, Town of
Merrimac, Sauk County, Wisconsin, U. S. A., September 16, 1959.
Because of the narrow leaves, not over half an inch wide, the
spots are seldom full orbs, but usually impinge on the margins and
occasionally occupy the full leaf width. The very large pycnidia
are a distinctive feature of this species. They are not translucent,
as are those of many Ascochytae.
Stagonospora cypericola sp. nov.
Maculis nullis, foliis pallido-brunneis superne; pycnidiis fuscis,
ostiolatis, globosis, immersis, sparsis, 90-125 y diam. ; conidiis hya¬
linis, obtusis, cylindraceis vel curvis leniter, guttulatis, (20-) 25-30
(-33) X 6-7.5 (-8) y, (l-)2-3(-4) septatis.
1960]
Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi, XXVI
107
No sharply defined spots, distal portions of leaves pale brownish
and dead ; pycnidia dark brown, ostiolate, globose, deeply imbedded
in leaf tissue, scattered, 90-125 /x diam. ; conidia hyaline, ends ob¬
tuse, cylindric or slightly curved, guttulate, (20-) 25-30 (-33) x 6-
7.5 (-8) /X, (l-)2-3(-4) septate.
On leaves of Cyperus filiculmis var. macilentus. University of
Wisconsin Arboretum at Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin,
U. S. A., July 30, 1959.
The fungus is in excellent maturity and seems distinct and well-
characterized. The basal portions of the host leaves are still green
and living and there appears to be no doubt as to active parasitism.
This is similar to, but does not seem to be identical with, an unde¬
termined Stagonospora reported on dead leaves of this host in my
Notes XVIII (Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts Lett. 42:71. 1953), since
the conidia of S. cypericola are wider and longer, and the pycnidia
of somewhat less diameter. Stagonospora cyperi Ell. & Tracy, as
described, has conidia 12-16 x 2.5-3 /x.
Stagonospora lactucicola sp. nov.
Maculis orbicularibus, rufo-brunneis, marginibus angustis fuscis,
conspicuis, .5-2.5 cm. diam., zonatis plus minusve; pycnidiis amphi-
genis, pallido-brunneis, muris tenuibus, ostiolatis, subglobosis, spar-
sis vel gregariis, ca. 125-180 /x diam.; conidiis hyalinis, obtusis,
cylindraceis, guttulatis, (12-) 15-20 x (4-) 5-6.5 /x, 1, 2, plerumque
3 septatis.
Spots orbicular, reddish-brown with narrow fuscous margin, con¬
spicuous, .5-2.5 cm. diam., more or less zonate; pycnidia amphi-
genous, pallid brownish, thin-walled, ostiolate, subglobose, scattered
or gregarious, approx. 125-180 /x diam.; conidia hyaline, obtuse,
cylindric, guttulate, (12-) 15-20 x (4-) 5-6.5 /x, 1, 2, or mostly 3
septate.
On living leaves of Lactuca biennis. Wildcat Mountain State Park
near Ontario, Vernon County, Wisconsin, U. S. A., August 5, 1959.
Earlier, smaller specimens were collected at Parfrey’s Glen, Sauk
Co., August 24, 1956, and at Gov. Dodge State Park, Iowa Co.,
July 24, 1957.
Septoria mississippiensis R. Sprague on Muhlenbergia tenui-
flora. Grant Co., Wyalusing State Park, September 24, Det.
Sprague, who states that the specimen appears somewhat stunted.
Septoria ampelina B. & C. on Vitis riparia. Dane Co., Madison,
July 27 ; Sauk Co., Ferry Bluff, August 10; Dane Co., near Verona,
August 23 ; Dane Co., near Pine Bluff, August 24. These specimens
all correspond closely with No, 1166, issued by the former Division
108 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
of Vegetable Physiology & Pathology of the U. S. D. A,, collected
on cultivated grape at Manhattan, Kas. in 1889.
Melasmia samaricola sp. nov.
Maculis nullis; fructificationibus intraepidermidibus, nigris, ap-
planatis, rotundis, plerumque .2-.6 mm. diam., saepe confertis et
confluentibus ; peridiis exilibus fragilibusque, brevi rumpentibus,
acellularibus, punctato-striatulis, fusco-olivaceis ; conidiophoris
virido-olivaceis, cylindraceis, confertis in ordinibus basilaribus,
plerumque simplicibus, ca. 15 x 3 /x, ramosis aliquoties et longiori-
bus nonnihil; conidiis hyalinis, late ellipsoideis, obovoideis, sub-
fusoideis, vel cylindraceis, 7-11 x 2.5-5 /x.
Spots none; fruiting bodies developing intraepidermally, black,
applanate, rounded, mostly about .2-6 mm. diam., frequently
crowded and confluent on both surfaces of fruits; peridium very
thin and fragile, soon rupturing, acellular, punctate-striatulate,
smoky-olivaceous by transmitted light; conidiophores greenish-
olivaceous, cylindric, closely compacted in a basal layer mostly sim¬
ple, about 15 X 3 /x, occasionally branched and then somewhat longer
overall; conidia hyaline, broadly ellipsoid, obovoid, subfusoid, or
occasionally cylindric, 7-11 x 2.5-5 tt.
On still green samaras of Ulmus carpinifolia Gleditsch (cult.)
University of Wisconsin Campus, Madison, Dane County, Wiscon¬
sin, U. S. A., May 19, 1959.
The spores of Melasmia ulmicola B. & C., occurring on the leaves
of various elms, are much smaller and of the micro bacilliform type.
Dr. J. A. Stevenson was kind enough to compare this specimen with
others in the National Fungus Collections and he informs me that
they have nothing like it, and it appears to be new and hitherto
undescribed.
Cylindrosporella conspicua sp. nov.
Maculis magnis et conspicuis, obscuro-brunneis supra, obscuro-
purpureis infra, cum acervulis hypophyllis, confertis, sordido-
fuscis; acervulis subcuticularibus, elevatis leniter, ca. 150-225 /x
diam. ; conidiophoris hyalinis, non ramosis, confertis prope, 10-12 x
1.5 /x; conidiis hyalinis, angusto-cylindraceis, subfusoideis, vel
allantoideis raro, 5-9 x 1.5-2 (-2.5) /x.
Lesions large and conspicuous, dull sordid brownish above, dull
purplish on the under surface which is thickly beset with the
sordid-fuscous acervuli ; acervuli subcuticular, only moderately ele¬
vated, approx. 150-225 /x diam, ; conidiophores hyaline, simple,
closely crowded, 10-12 x 1.5 /x; conidia hyaline, narrow-cylindric,
subfusoid, or rarely allantoid, 5-9 x 1,5-2 (-2.5) /x.
1960] Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI 109
On living leaves of Salix glaucophylloides Fern, (or a variety
thereof). On Milwaukee Railroad right-of-way, mi. N of Swan
Lake, Pacific Township, Columbia County, Wisconsin, U. S. A,,
September 18, 1959.
The lesions usually extend from margin to margin of the rela¬
tively wide leaves and frequently involve up to three-fourths of the
leaf. The leaf tissue adjacent to the numerous acervuli mostly has a
rusty-reddish cast, so that, although the lesion is basically dull pur¬
plish, as indicated, it has a reddish overlay.
A less well matured specimen of the same fungus on the same
host was briefly described as an undetermined Gloeosporium in my
Notes XXIV, and was collected in the same general area near Cam¬
bria, Columbia Co., September 10, 1957. The generic designation
here used follows the treatment of Von Arx in his revision of the
fungi assigned to Gloeosporium.
COLLETOTRICHUM PYROLAE (Trel.) Parmelee (Can. Jour. Bot. 36:
872. 1958) replaces Ovularia pyrolae Trel. for the fungus whose
type was collected in 1884 near Stoughton, Dane Co., with subse¬
quent Wisconsin collections at Manitowish, Iron Co., and near
Verona, Dane Co. Setae are absent, but Parmelee is following Von
Arx’s recent treatment, in which species assigned to Colletotrichum
may have setae or not.
Cercoseptoria andropogonis sp. nov.
Foliis sordido-brunneolis ; conidiophoris obsoletis vel fere, hypo-
phyllis ; conidiis ex pulvinulis substomatibus flavo-brunneis, ca. 20-
25 /A diam. ; conidiis hyalinis, flexuosis leniter, attenuatis, indis-
tincte 3-4 septatis, ca. 35-60 x 2-2.5 (-3) ju.
Leaves sordid brownish in affected areas which may be exten¬
sive; conidiophores obsolete or nearly so, hypophyllous ; conidia
essentially produced from compact yellow-brown substomatal tu¬
bercles about 20-25 /a diam. ; conidia hyaline, moderately flexuous,
tapered at both ends, indistinctly 3-4 septate, approx. 35-60 x 2-
2.5 (-3) /A.
On living leaves of Andropogon scoparius. Perrot State Park at
Trempealeau, Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, U. S. A., June 17,
1959.
Since there is some ambiguity in applying the terms '‘hypophyl¬
lous” and “epiphyllous” to grasses, it should be noted that the infec¬
tion in this case is on the abaxial side of the leaf. Numerous still
attached, more or less mature, conidia are present on the substo¬
matal tubercles and radiate out through the stomata, superficially
resembling conidiophores, but there are no scars marking points of
110 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
attachment of dispersed conidia, geniculations, or other character¬
istic features of conidiophores.
CURVULARIA SPICATA (Bainier) Boedijn on Triplasis purpurea.
Iowa Co., near Arena, September 11. Det. R. A. Shoemaker. The
fungus is on dead areas, but it seems likely it developed para-
sitically.
Cercospora pteridis Siemaszko on Pteridium aquilinum var.
latiusculum. Dane Co., near Verona, August 23. This fits Chupp’s
expanded conception of the species. The yellowish, obclavate
conidia, only moderately tapered, are multiseptate, 6-7.5 jx at the
base, which is often somewhat constricted and extended, approx.
140-165 fx long. The straight, simple, long-cylindric, rarely once-
geniculate conidiophores are fascicled, about 50-65 x 5-6 /x, con¬
tinuous to 1-2 septate.
Cercospora deutziae Ell. & Ev. on Deutzia lemoemoinei (cult.).
Dane Co., Madison, October 19.
Cercospora nyssae-sylvaticae sp. nov.
Maculis circulis vel elongatis nonnihil, 2-5 mm. diam., centris
cinereis, marginibus latis comparate, fusco-purpureis ; conidio-
phoris amphigenis, plerumque fasciculatis arete, stromatibus nullis
vel parvis; conidiophoris pallido-brunneis, 1-2 septatis, plerumque
geniculatis admodum, raro ramosis supra, ca. 65-100 x 4-5
conidiis hyalinis, angusto-obclavatis vel subacicularibus, multisep-
tatis, basibus truncatis, cicatricibus prominentibus, (65-) 80-165 x
3-4.5 IX.
Spots rounded or somewhat elongate, 2-5 mm. diam., centers
cinereous with rather wide dark purplish margins; conidiophores
amphigenous, mostly closely fascicled and tufted, stromata lacking
or only moderately developed; conidiophores pale brown, once or
twice septate, usually markedly geniculate throughout much of
their length, rarely branched near apex, approx. 65-100 x 4-5 /x;
conidia hyaline, narrowly obclavate to subacicular, long-tapering,
multiseptate, base truncate with prominent scar, (65-) 80-165 x
3-4.5 /X.
On living leaves of Nyssa sylvatica (cult.). University of Wis¬
consin Arboretum at Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, U. S. A.,
October 18, 1959.
The conidial tip is very narrowly tapered, as opposed to sub-
obtuse in Cercospora nyssae Tharp, which differs in many other
particulars from C. nyssae-sylvaticae and is, so far as I have been
able to determine, the only other species described on this host,
1960]
Greene — Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi, XXVI
111
Some of the conidia present in mounts of this fungus are rela¬
tively short and narrowly subcylindric. In line with observations
made in previous seasons on other Cercosporae, these short conidia
are believed to be due to the retarding effect of a brief period of
cold weather which occurred shortly before the collection was made.
Cercospora viburnicola Ray on Viburnum carlesii (cult.) . Dane
Co., Madison, September 13. Some of the hyaline, acicular conidia
measure as much as 170 /a in length. On this host the fungus is
mostly, if not entirely, hypophyllous and very difficult to detect
among the stellately branched hairs with which the host leaves are
thickly beset.
Petrakia echinata (Pegl.) Syd. on Acer saccharinum. Vernon
Co., Wildcat Mt. State Park, September 9. The Wisconsin specimen
corresponds closely to European material on Acer pseudoplatanus.
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN
NO. 43. PRIMULACEAE-PRIMROSE FAMILY
Hugh H. Iltis and Winslow M. Shaughnessy
Herbarium of the University of Wisconsin
The following notes and distribution maps of the species of
Primulaceae in Wisconsin are based on collections in the herbaria
of the Universities of Wisconsin (WIS), Minnesota (MINN), and
Iowa, the Milwaukee Public Museum (MIL), the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Beloit College, Eau Claire State College, and
Northland College, Ashland. Dots indicate the specific location
where a specimen was collected, triangles county records without
specific locality. Numbers within the enclosures in the lower left-
hand corner of each map represent the specimens used in this study
that were flowering or fruiting in respective months. These num¬
bers do not include specimens in bud, very young fruit, or in vege¬
tative condition. While, therefore, a small percentage of collections
was not counted, the addition of all the numbers gives a rough,
though low, estimate of the amount of herbarium material avail¬
able for this study. The individual monthly figures indicate when a
species is apt to flower or fruit in Wisconsin.
We wish to thank the curators, especially Drs. A. M. Fuller, Mil¬
waukee Public Museum, G. B. Ownbey, University of Minnesota,
R. Pohl, Iowa State College, P. J. Salamun, University of Wiscon-
sin-Milwaukee, and F. C. Lane, Northland College, for the loan of
their Wisconsin Primulaceae, James D. Ray, Southern Florida Uni¬
versity, Tampa, for checking the Lysimachia key, H. W. Vogel-
mann. University of Vermont, for his determination of Primula,
J. W. Voigt and A. J. Hendricks, Southern Illinois University, for
loaning a fine series of the rare Dodecatheon frenchii, Mrs. Kathar¬
ine S. Snell of the University of Wisconsin Herbarium, for meticu¬
lous aid in preparation of maps and manuscript, and Jacqueline
Patman for the construction of the Dodecatheon graph. Many of
the field trips and some of the herbarium work were supported by
grants from the Research Committee of the University of Wis¬
consin on funds supplied by the Wisconsin Alumni Research
Foundation.
113
114 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Dodecatheon amethystinum, the Jeweled Shooting Star, on
a vertical, north-facing, cool, and moist dolomite cliff in
the Scientific Area of Wyalusing State Park, Grant
County. With Cystopteris bulbifera. May 20, 1960; Photo¬
graph by H. H. litis.
KEY TO WISCONSIN GENERA OF PRIMULACEAE
[Adapted from Fernald, 1950 (pp. 1136-1143) and Gleason, 1952
(3:34-42)]
A. Leaves forming a basal rosette. Flowers in bracteate umbels,
white, pink, or purple, borne terminally on a leafless stem.
B. Corolla lobes about 1 mm. long, white, inconspicuous, shorter
than the calyx lobes. Delicate, wiry annuals or biennials
branching from the base, usually less than 6 cm. tall.
- 1. ANDROSACE
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora. No. US
115
BB. Corolla lobes 4-25 mm. long, showy, white to pink or purple,
longer than the calyx lobes. Perennials, with slender to ro¬
bust solitary scapes, these usually 6-50 cm. tall (sometimes
shorter in Primula) .
C. Corolla salverform, the lobes spreading. Corolla-tube
longer than calyx. Calyx lobed, the lobes ascending. Sta¬
mens inserted on corolla-tube, included. Leaves usually
less than 5 cm. long, shallowly dentate. Rare on cliffs and
behind dunes, _ 2. PRIMULA
CC. Corolla-lobes strongly reflexed from the base. Corolla-
tube shorter than calyx. Calyx deeply cleft, reflexed at
anthesis. Stamens inserted at the very corolla base, ex-
serted and forming a cone. Leaves usually more than 10
cm, long, usually entire. _ 3. DODECATHEON
A A. Stems leafy, the leaves various (alternate, opposite or
whorled). Flowers racemose, paniculate, or solitary, white,
yellow, orange, blue or red,
D. Leaves opposite or whorled (if alternate, plants robust
with dense terminal spikes or with yellow flowers).
E. Leaves opposite or in several whorls.
F, Flowers scarlet-red or blue. Small prostrate weedy
annuals with circumscissile capsules and opposite
leaves. _ _ 4. ANAGALLIS
FF. Flowers yellow or orange-yellow (rarely white).
Slender to robust perennial herbs with opposite or
whorled, very rarely alternate leaves.
_ 5. LYSIMACHIA
EE. Leaves in a single terminal whorl, the stem with sev¬
eral alternate, minute scale-leaves. Flowers white, 7-
merous, on slender peduncles from axils of the whorled
leaves. Common, in woods _ 6. TRIENTALIS
DD, Leaves alternate. Flowers white. Ovary adnate at base to
the base of the calyx. Slender herb with lax ehracteate
racemes. Rare in S, E. Wisconsin. _ 7, SAMOLUS
1. ANDROSACE, L.
[Robbins, G, T, North American Species of Androsace. Am. Midi,
Nat, 32:137-163. 1944]
ANDROSACE OCCIDENTALIS Pursh. Map 1
Diminutive annual, usually branched from the base, the umbels
supported by conspicuous bracts. Corolla very small, white, in¬
cluded in the calyx.
116 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Locally abundant in very few places, on open sandy hillsides,
shores, river terraces, roads, and on sandstone bluffs. On the high
and open glacial sand terraces of the Wisconsin River opposite
Sauk City, Androsace occidentalis is locally abundant together with
various other annuals, some of which are likewise rare or local in
Wisconsin, such as Dr aha reptans, Polanisia dodecandra, Arabis
lyrata, Myosotis virginica and Plantago purshii.
Flowering in April and May, and fruiting into June.
2. PRIMULA L. Primrose
PRIMULA MISTASSINICA Michx. Birds-Eye-Primrose Map 2
Small rosette perennials with spatulate, minutely dentate leaves
(these rarely yellow-farinose beneath), slender scapes 5-23 cm
tall, umbellate inflorescences with 2-15 wheel-shaped, pink flowers,
and delicate, elongate cylindrical capsules.
In Wisconsin either on rocky or sandy shores of the Great Lakes,
or on cliffs at the Wisconsin Dells and in St. Croix County. This
geographic division corresponds to a morphologic-taxonomic sepa¬
ration of the species into two fairly clearly characterized geo¬
graphic varieties, as interpreted by Dr. H. W. Vogelmann, who has
checked all our collections.
Var. mistassinica: leaves narrow, relatively thick, oblanceolate-
spatulate, pointed, 2-3 (-4) cm long and ca. 0. 5-1.0 cm wide; flow¬
ers with a conspicuous yellow eye at the corolla mouth.
On open rocky sandstone shores, ledges, wet cliffs and cracks in
pavement of red sandstone, on the Apostle Island and Squaw Bay,
Bayfield Co., both on Lake Superior; and locally abundant on lime¬
stone pavement, moist sandy ridges, shores, and beaches on Wash¬
ington Island and at the Ridges Sanctuary at Baileys Harbor, in
Door County on Lake Michigan. A collection from the Herbarium
of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (duplicate WIS) re¬
ports the species from “N. E. Two Rivers, May 16, ’84, F. Walsh”.
This could be near the present Point Beach State Park, Manitowoc
County, a well collected area with many rarities. Since the species
has not been collected there (excepting the above record), a careful
search for it should be made.
Flowering from May 16 to June 16 on Lake Michigan and in late
June and early July on Lake Superior; fruiting from late July to
late September.
Var. novehoracensis Fern. : leaves thinner than those of the typi¬
cal variety, oblanceolate to obovate-spafculate, generally rounded at
the apex, 2-5 cm wide; flowers {fide Fernald) supposedly without
the central yellow “eye” (though many of the Wisconsin specimens
do not seem to differ in this respect from the typical variety!) .
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora, No. JfS 117
At the Wisconsin Dells on cool, moist, vertical, sandstone cliffs, fis¬
sures, and ledges above or near the waters of the Wisconsin River,
at the Pines Hotel, the mouth of Coldwater Canyon and on Black-
hawk Island (there with Asplenium trichomanes, Sullivantia reni-
folia, Campanula rotundifolia, Dryopteris disjuncta, D. phegopteris,
and Cheilanthes feei), as well as on damp or wet sandstone cliffs
and ledges near the Boy Scout Camp below Houlton and near Som¬
erset, both along the St, Croix River, St. Croix County.
Flowering from April 21 to June 2 and fruiting from late July
to the end of August.
Though locally abundant. Primula is a plant whose rarity in most
of Wisconsin is no doubt due to the great scarcity of cool, rather
moist cliff habitats, where competition from other plants is low.
Many of our rarest plants, with similar relic distributions and
arctic or boreal affinities, are cliff plants also and several of their
classic stations more or less coincide with those of Primula. Thus
Asplenium viride occurs on Washington Island, Pinguicula vulgaris
on the Apostle Islands, Rhododendron lapponicum at the Wisconsin
Dells, and Arenaria dawsonensis on cliffs along the St. Croix River
near Houlton. Farther north, in Door County, Wisconsin or in
upper Michigan (Manistique) , Primula is not quite so specific as
to its habitat and may grow in sandy, moist, grassy depressions
(swales) behind the dunes, as well as on limestone pavements. The
only stations of Primula south of the Wisconsin Dells are in Apple
River Canyon of northwestern Illinois’ Driftless Area, whose ver¬
tical “Primrose Rocks” have been described so beautifully by
Pepoon (1917), and in Central Iowa, on rocks at Iowa Falls,
Hardin County {fide Robt. Davidson).
Though Dr. Vogelmann assures us that the two varieties remain
distinct in the greenhouse, it seems to us that the thinner, larger
leaves and more slender pedicels of var. noveboracensis are due, in
part at least, to the cooler, more shady and less extreme environ¬
ments of the shady cliffs, as compared to that of the more exposed
shores of the Great Lakes. In Door County populations there are
occasional specimens that in most every way agree with some from
the Wisconsin Dells, while among the very variable Wisconsin Dells
collections there are a few that are very close to those typical of the
Great Lakes shores.
In both varieties pale-flowered forms have been found (at Bail¬
ey’s Harbor, Door Co., and at the Wisconsin Dells) . Dr. Vogelmann
writes that the typical forma leucantha Fernald comes from Gaspe
and Newfoundland and is rather different from the white-flowered
Wisconsin collections, which to him seem just pale-flowered forms
of otherwise typical plants.
118 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
3. DODECATHEON L. American Cowslip : Shooting Star.
[Fassett, N. C. Dodecatheon in Eastern North America. Am. Midi.
Nat. 31:455-486. 1944; Thompson, Henry J. The Biosystematics of
Dodecatheon. Contr. Dudley Herb. 4:73-154. 1953.]
Glabrous perennials with solitary scapes from a cluster of basal
leaves, the showy nodding flowers with reflexed petals and a cone
of strongly exserted stamens; fruits stiffly-erect, valvate, cylindric
capsules. (The following key adapted from Fassett, loc. cit. p. 458.
1944).
A. Capsule stout, cylindrical but often ovoid, mostly less than
three times as long as broad, dark reddish brown, with walls
of firm, rather woody texture 130-325 microns thick, rarely
splitting to the base ; living flowers with corolla lobes ranging
from lilac to white with many pale intermediates; leaves
marked with red at base even in pressed specimens. Calyx-
lobes on expanding flowers 3-7 mm (mostly 4-5 mm) long,
and on fruits 4-9 mm (mostly 5.5-7. 0 mm) long; anthers
6.5-10.0 mm (mostly 7-8 mm) long; capsules 10.5-18.0 mm
long; flowers 4-125 on each inflorescence. Prairies and open
woods in Southern Wisconsin _ 1. D, meadia
AA. Capsule cylindrical-oblongoid, mostly more than three times as
long as broad, light brown to reddish brown or yellowish,
with thin walls often of almost papery texture 35-120 microns
thick, these rather easily bent inward with pressure from a
pencil, often splitting to the base; living flowers with corolla
lobes pink or deep wine- or rose-purple, or very rarely white,
but only rarely with a series of intermediates; leaves rarely
marked with red in living plants and without red markings
in pressed specimens ; calyx-lobes about % as long as the co¬
rolla (measuring each from the base of the calyx lobes) 2-5
mm (mostly 3 mm) long on expanding flowers, and on fruits
3-6 mm (mostly 4-5 mm) long; anthers 5. 0-7.5 mm long; cap¬
sules 8-14 (-16) mm long; flowers 2-10 (-24) on each in¬
florescence. Cliffs and bluffs along the Mississippi River
_ 2. D. amethystinum
1. Dodecatheon meadia L. ssp. meadia^ Shooting Star Map 3
Widespread and once common in moist, mesic, and dry '^high
lime’’ prairies (Curtis and Greene 1949:86), as well as in open
''■Dodecatheon frenchii (Vasey) Rydb. (Dodecatheon meadia L. var. frenchii Vasey ;
D. meadia L. ssp. memhranaceum Knuth), French’s Shooting Star, was reported for
Wisconsin by Fassett (1927 ; 1944) Thompson (1953), and Channell and Wood
(1959: 278), on the basis of two collections (both at WIS) : “Crawford Co. June 27,
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora. No. J^S
119
deciduous woods and “oak openings”, or on moist to dry bluffs or
sandstone cliffs, either wooded or open, now frequently collected
from prairie relics along railroads. Flowering from early May
through June.
2. Dodecatheon AMETHYSTINUM2 (Fassett) Fassett, Rhodora 33:
224. 1931. Jewelled Shooting Star Map 4, 5
Dodecatheon meadia L. var. amethystinum Fassett, Rhodora 31 :52.
1929.
[Type: Lightly wooded bluff. Prairie du Chien, Crawford Co.,
Wis., Fassett 75U8 (WIS)]
A. Corolla-lobes pale pink to deep red-purple
_ D. amethystinum f. amethystinum
AA. Corolla-lobes white _ D. amethystinum f. margaritaceum
1895, W. R. Schuman” and “Milwaukee, I. A, Lapham”. These two collections are
clearly collections of typical D. meadia, even if a little broader-leaved and more
abruptly narrowed than usual. Dr. Voigt, who knows D. frencMi better than anyone
else (cf. Voigt and Swayne, 1955), shares this opinion. Fassett, like some other bot¬
anists of that period, was apparently misled through “phytogeographic suggestion’’ by
Fernald’s Nunatack Hypothesis and its application to the Driftless Area and by the
fact that a number of other species of rocky habitats (e.g. Saxifraga forhesii), which,
like D. frenehii, occur in a very narrow belt in Southern Illinois, do indeed occur dis-
junctly in the “Driftless Area’’ of Wisconsin. A very similar error, made by Hopkins
(1937: 116, 122) for a species of Ay^abis, was later corrected by Rollins (1941: 325).
After viewing the fine series of D. frencMi specimens loaned us by Southern Illinois
University through the courtesy of Dr. Voigt, we share Dr. Voigt’s opinion that this
taxon, which is restricted to the Salem Hills of Southern Illinois and a few local
areas in Kentucky is indeed a distinct species. Despite its pale flowers, it seems in
many ways to have closer affinity to the D. ametJiystinum-D. pulchellum (D. radi-
catum) group rather than to D. meadia. Such a relationship is suggested by the gen¬
eral preference for moist, rocky habitat, its geographic distribution just south of the
glacial boundary, the more delicate habit, the few-flowered inflorescences, the much
thinner capsules ( !) and the very great similarity in general appearance, of pressed
specimens at least, to those of D. amethystinum. In fruit shape and sepal length it
resembles more D. meadia. Nevertheless, D. frenehii may represent a population
which, like D. amethystinum, migrated east from the western mountains under more
favorable (i.e. glacial?) conditions and has since become isolated and restricted to
local and specialized habitats. Despite the large amount of work published on Dode¬
catheon of the Eastern United States, it is clear that these taxa are as yet not well
understood. Cytogenetic and geographic-ecologic work is badly needed here.
2 Thompson (1953), without comment, reduced D. amethystinum to synonymy under
D. radicatum Greene, a widespread and polymorphic western species, whose correct
name according to more recent treatments appears to be either D. pauciflorum Greene
or D. pulchellum (Raf. ) Merr. However, while D. amethystinum and the western
taxon are no doubt closely related and several of the western plants in the Wisconsin
herbarium have leaves as large as those of D. amethystinum, the latter has on the
average much longer, broader, and more toothed leaves (see graph 5 next to map 4)
as well as longer pedicels and peduncles. In addition to quantitative morphological
differences, ecological ones exist as well, the western plants more generally preferring
damp or wet, alpine, subalpine, or montane meadows. D. amethystinum appears to be
an ecotype adapted to considerably more shade as well as to a more moderate climate.
In the western species independently evolved “homologous ecotypes’’ paralleling D.
amethystinum appear to occur rather rarely and then only in specially favorable
habitats. It seems clear that on ecological and morphological, as well as geographic
grounds the eastern population of this complex should be segregated from the western
population with at least subspecifle rank. In the present treatment the taxon is recog¬
nized as a full species, awaiting its reduction to a geographic subspecies until the
nomenclatorial confusion in the western group has been resolved.
120 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences ^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora. No. US 121
D. A. f. amethystinum. Restricted to the cliffs and high bluffs
along or near the Mississippi River, ^ from northernmost Illinois
north to Buffalo County ; most frequently on mossy damp rock out¬
crops or earth slopes in cool woods on north-facing bluffs or in
deep ravines, on cliffs of Ordovician limestone (or sandstone?), on
the edge of open woods, on top of steep bluffs, and sometimes on
the edge of, or on, small upland prairies. In the “East Wilderness
Scientific Area” of Wyalusing State Park, Grant Co., it grows on
the face of vertical, damp, north-facing cliffs, at the very base of
the cliff on mossy talus, on drier east-facing cliffs, and on the high
and rather dry sunny crests of the limestone outcrop, there in or
at the edge of open woods. Flowering from early May to early June,
preceding D. meadia by about two to three weeks.
D. A. f margaritaceum Fassett, in Am, Midi. Nat. 31 :475. 1944.
[Type: Wooded, north-facing bluff, McCartney, Grant Co., Wise.,
Fassett 10 3 IS (WIS)]
This is a rare white-flowered form.
Dodecatheon amethystinum is one of the most interesting as well
as beautiful species pf the Wisconsin flora. Its distribution is re¬
stricted to the unglaciated “Driftless Area” of Wisconsin and ad¬
joining Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota (indicated by a dash line on
map 4) and to a few unglaciated river bluffs in Missouri, central
Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. This highly disjunct distribu¬
tion, as well as the association of the species with unglaciated habi¬
tats, suggests that in pre- or inter-glacial times it was more wide¬
spread and that the present relic range is a consequence of the
glacial ice destroying plants as well as suitable habitat. A related
and equally feasible hypothesis might be advanced in favor of a
post-glacial eastward migration of a western montane species in
the “open” habitat along the retreating icesheet margin. D. radi-
catum is the possible montane original species which subsequently
underwent slight morphological evolution. Whether a pre-glacial
relic or a post-glacial immigrant, its present range seems to be in
either case determined by the availability of cool cliff habitats,
habitats which are all but absent in the glaciated territory. A good
photograph of this plant in the “wild”, in a typical mossy “rock
garden”, was published by Wherry (1943).
In studying the Wisconsin distribution of both D. media and D.
amethystinum one notes that their ranges do not overlap in any
®A specimen in the University of Oklahoma Herbarium (photo WIS), labelled as
coming from “near Lancaster (Grant Co.) Wise., Ann Fishman, June 6, 1935," is the
only collection of this species “inland” from the Mississippi River Valley. It has not
been mapped by us, since no other collections of the speces are known from this other¬
wise well-collected area, and since to a non-botanist “near Lancaster” could well
mean the Mississippi Bluffs only about 18 miles away.
122 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
way; the former is completely lacking from immediate vicinity of
the Mississippi River, the latter is restricted to it. While the ecology
of the two species differs (as do the flowering dates) , there would
seem to be abundant habitats for D. meadia in the prairie on top of
the Mississippi River bluffs. The absence of this species there, as
well as the total restriction of D. amethystinum to the immediate
vicinity of the river, is a mystery. Both Drs. J. T. Curtis and J. A.
Steyermark have informed us that D. amethystinum grows and
even seeds well under garden cultivation. Seedlings are commonly
found under natural conditions beneath cliffs in bare rocky soils.
One factor limiting the distribution of D. amethystinum in Wis¬
consin may well be lack of continuous springtime moisture in all
but the massive cliffs along the Mississippi River. It was observed
on a Plant Geography class field trip to the Wyalusing State Park
“East Wilderness Scientific Area” that the plants on strictly north¬
facing, very shady cliffs with seepage were in full bloom and had
fresh rosettes, while in an adjoining side valley, on a more exposed
east-facing cliff which lacked seepage, nearly all plants were badly
wilted or had dead, brittle leaves (this was in the particularly dry
spring of 1958) . Should the habitat dry out during the summer, the
plants go into dormancy. This was observed in Horsethief Hollow,
south of McCartney, in late July. Here in the shadiest dry portions
only the dried-up fruiting scapes were visible, while on the very top
bevel of the cliff, in a still green, sunny prairie patch, the rosettes
were fresh, though beginning to yellow. The few colonies from
somewhat inland, as on a “goat” prairie at Coon Valley, or on the
bluffs above Tamarack Creek Bog, are found on somewhat drier
habitats, and may be ephemeral colonies whose seed source was the
Mississippi River bluffs.
At Wyalusing State Park, as well as elsewhere, D. amethystinum
seems to be restricted to the Lower Magnesian and the Galena Dolo¬
mites, both of Ordovician age, and seems to be completely lacking
from the intervening thick layers of St. Peter sandstone. The shal¬
low soil of ledges and crevices in which this species grows is gen¬
erally rich in organic material, and has a slightly acidulous re¬
action, with a pH^ of 6.3, 6.4, 6.8, or 6.9, Dolomite immediately
underneath this soil had a pH of 8.2 to 8.65. Only one plant, grow¬
ing in nearly pure rock chips at the very base of an overarching
cliff, was found in alkaline “soil”, with a pH of 7.4. Dodecatheon
meadia was found NW of Middleton, Dane County, on dry, mesic,
and moist prairies, with soil pH of 5.7-7. 0, 6.8-7.0, and 7.0-7.3, re¬
spectively. In the case of the dry prairies, it is frequently found in
shallow soils underlain by dolomite.
* For the pH reading's (Beckman pH meter) we are indebted to Dr. Grant Cottam.
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora. No. US 123
While a very large number of typical prairie species are regu¬
larly associated with D. meadia, D. amethystinum has in many in¬
stances more specific and rarer associates, especially when growing
on cliffs. Thus, in the Scientific Area at Wyalusing State Park, on
one high mossy cliff it grew side by side with Camptosorus rhizo-
phyllus, and the Driftless Area endemic Solidago sciaphila, while
in the crevices of a vertical, moist cliff near the base of the bluff
Cystopteris fragilis, C. bulbifera, Mitella diphylla, Ribes missouri-
ensis, and Smilacina racemosa, as well as Sullivantia renifolia and
Solidago sciaphila, were its associates. On the other hand, on a steep
rocky slope near the very top of the bluff, at the eastern-most end of
the Scientific Area, shaded by Sugar Maple, Basswood, and Paper-
birch, hundreds of the Jewelled Shooting Stars grew intermixed
with a wide array of common and widespread species, including
Hepatica acutiloba, Aquilegia canadensis, Solidago flexicaulis, Mit¬
ella diphylla, Aster cordifolius, Cystopteris bulbifera, Aralia nudi-
caulis, Polygonatum canaliculatum, Claytonia virginica, and Par-
thenocissus vitacea. Certainly, similar habitants with nearly iden¬
tical plants are common in many parts of the Driftless Area as well
as other parts of Wisconsin, yet these are without D. amethystinum.
5. LYSIMACHIA L. (Including Steironema Raf.) Loosestrife.
[Ray, J. D. The genus -Lysimachia in the New World. Illinois Bio¬
logical Monographs 24:1-160. pi. 1-20. 1956.]
Leafy-stemmed perennials, with opposite or whorled, rarely alter¬
nate leaves, and 5-merous, yellow or orange-yellow, rarely white
flowers in racemes, panicles, or singly in the axils of leaves.
A. Flowers or fruits borne singly in the axils of leaves, the plants
often appearing paniculate because of the short floriferous up¬
per branches and reduced upper leaves; corolla lobes (except in
No. 3) over 10 mm long.
B. Plants evergreen with round leaves and creeping stems.
_ 7. L. nummularia.
BB. Plants not evergreen, with elongate leaves and erect stems.
C. Leaves villous, punctate; robust introduced herbs with
large yellow flowers and whorled or opposite middle
leaves _ 2. L. punctata. (See also No. 1)
CC. Leaves glabrous (or sparingly pubescent beneath in No.
3) ; plants native.
D. Middle leaves linear, rather firm, with re volute margins,
the lateral veins not evident; plants usually of low alka¬
line prairies _ 12. L. quadrifiora.
124 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
DD. Middle leaves elliptic to ovate^ rather thin, with flat mar¬
gins, the lateral veins evident.
E, Middle leaves whorled, (3-) 4-5 (-7) at a node, or
rarely alternate ; corolla lobes 6 mm or less long ;
_ 3. L. quadri folia.
EE. Middle leaves opposite; corolla lobes generally over 8
mm. long.
F. Median leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 3-6 cm
broad; petioles long-ciliate to the broad, obtuse to
subcordate leafblade base _ 9. L. ciliata.
FF. Median leaves narrowly lanceolate, generally less
than 3 cm wide ; leafblade base cunneate, attenuate
to obtuse.
G. Stems slender, usually (l-)2-4 mm in diameter
at base, with slender rhizomes ; basal leaves per¬
sistent ; medial leaves sessile or subsessile ;
blades bristly ciliate at base; petioles none;
leaves linear to elliptic (rarely lanceolate to ob-
lanceolate), green above and pale below; gen¬
erally of dry habitats, often in prairies or open
woods _ _ _ 11. L. lanceolata.
GG. Stems stout, (3-) 4-6 mm in diameter at base,
without rhizomes; basal leaves not persistent;
medial leaves petiolate; petioles ciliate at base,
only sparingly so to blade; leaves linear to
lanceolate, green above and below; plants of
moist habitats, often along rivers and lakes
_ 10. L. hybrida.
A A. Flowers or fruits in racemes or panicles, (occasional solitary
axillary flowers may also be noted) the corolla lobes (except
No. 1) less than 6 mm long.
H. Calyx lobes dark-glandular margined. Robust herbs with
corolla lobes 10 mm or more long
_ 1. L. vulgaris, (see also No. 2)
HH. Calyx lobes not dark-glandular margined.
I. Flowers yellow.
J. Inflorescences 1 to 10, pedunculate, very dense, head¬
like racemes borne in the axils of the middle leaves
_ 8. L. thyrsifiora.
JJ. Inflorescence usually a single terminal raceme, often
with subtending solitary and axillary flowers or
rarely with 1-2 smaller lateral racemes subtending
the main terminal one.
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora, No. kS 125
K, Plants exhibiting a transition from that of soli¬
tary and axillary flowers below to an elongated
open raceme above _ 4. X L. producta
KK. Plants with a dense terminal raceme with very
small bracts; leaves lanceolate to elliptic; inflor¬
escence glabrate ; corolla orange yellow
_ 5. L. terrestris.
II. Flowers white ; plants with a terminal spike-like raceme
and alternate leaves, rare adventive _ 6. L. clethroides.
Sect, Lysimastrum Duby
1. Lysimachia vulgaris L. Common Garden Loosestrife Map 6
Robust perennial to 1 m tall, with ovate-lanceolate, subsessile
leaves, 3-4 whorled at a node or leaves sometimes alternate or op¬
posite; flowers showy, yellow, in leafy panicles or whorled in the
uppermost axils of leaves. Calyx-lobes dark-margined, 5 mm long.
Introduced as a garden plant from Europe and occasionally
escaped, as along the railroad in East Madison, an extensive col¬
ony on a meadow 3 mi. SW from Kenosha, and sporadically else¬
where,
2, Lysimachia punctata L. Garden Loosestrife Map 6
Similar to the above, but with short-petioled leaves, more elon¬
gate inflorescences, flowers in a succession of whorls, and with
longer, linear calyx lobes that are green throughout.
Occasionally planted and probably only very rarely, if ever,
escaped. Goessl s.n. 1904, (WIS), from Sheboygan, is the only col¬
lection and may have originated in his garden.
3, Lysimachia clethroides Duby Map 6
Tall pubescent herb with alternate, lance-elliptic, punctate leaves ;
racemes elongate, dense, pointed and resembling those of L, terres-
tris, but with smaller, white flowers.
The two Wisconsin collections (WIS), one from near Poynette
and the other from a large colony near the Yerkes Observatory at
Williams Bay, represent naturalized garden escapes. Native to
China and Japan,
Sect. Nummularia (Gilib.) Endl.
4. Lysimachia nummularia L, Moneywort, Map 7
Low, creeping, glabrous perennial herb with opposite, orbicular
to broadly elliptic leaves 1-2 cm in diam., and large, yellow, soli¬
tary, long-pedicelled flowers.
126 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Locally abundant in the southern half of Wisconsin, in low damp
ground, along the major streams, in alluvial bottomland woods, in
thickets, marshes, mudflats, stream banks, pastures, and in dis¬
turbed, moist weedy areas.
Flowering from late June to mid- July.
Introduced from Europe, where it has been cultivated, sometimes
in '‘hanging gardens” and as a cover plant in shady places.
5. Lysimachia quadrifolia L. Whorled Loosestrife. Map 8
Erect, unbranched stoloniferous herbs 2-7 dm tall; leaves lanceo¬
late to lance-ovate, subsessile, punctate, whorled with (3-) 4-5
(-7) at a node (very rarely alternate) ; flowers rich orange-yellow,'
on very slender pedicels one-half to two-thirds the length of the
leaves, borne singly in the axils of the 3 to 7 uppermost leaf-whorls.
Throughout most of Wisconsin, but nearly completely lacking on
the limestones of the eastern third and southwestern corner, usu¬
ally in wooded or semi-wooded acidulous, mesic to moist, frequently
sandy or rocky habitats (quartzite, granite, sandstone) : in woods
of oak, oak-hickory. Black Oak-Sugar Maple, pine woods with
Birch, Aspen or Poplar, Basswood-Maple-Paperbirch, less fre¬
quently in sandy or moist prairies, edges of bogs, on beaver dams
(!), in open, poorly drained river-bottom woods, or along sandy
roadsides.
Flowering from early June to the end of July and fruiting from
mid- July into mid-September.
The mesophytic L. quadrifolia hybridizes with the hydrophytic
L. terristris to form X L. products (No. 6, which see).
6. X Lysimachia producta Fern. Hybrid Loosestrife.
Map 9, arrows
Lysimachia terrestris (L.) B.S.P. X L. quadrifolia L.
Resembling plants of L. terrestris, but with much more open and
elongate terminal racemes, longer pedicels (13-22 mm) and longer
bracts (1-2 cm), which grade imperceptibly into the foliage leaves,
and with the lowest flowers borne in the axils of full-sized leaves.
Rare in Wisconsin, known so far from only four collections, all
from the Wisconsin River Valley, and all but one from the vicinity
of the Wisconsin Dells, where both parental species are common:
Adams Co.: Near Elephant Back, n. of the Dells, Orport 5 (ILL-
cited by Ray l.c. p. 76) ; Juneau Co. : Wet sand near marsh by High¬
way 12-13 bridge, Lyndon Station, Zimmerman 315 Jp (WIS) ;
Oneida Co.: Newbold, Cheney 1572 (WIS) — mounted with 3 nor¬
mal plants of L, quadrifolia; Sauk Co. : Sauk City, T. J. Hale s.n.
(WIS) — mounted with a normal plant of L. terrestris.
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora. No. IfS 127
7. Lysimachia terrestris (L.) B.S.P. Swamp Loosetrife; Swamp
Candles, Map 9
Strict herbs 25-75 cm tall; leaves opposite or rarely alternate,
narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, strongly ascending (or elliptic and di¬
vergent in shade forms), punctate, the lowest scale-like; elongate
jointed reddish-brown bulbets occasionally conspicuous in the leaf
axils; inflorescence of unbranched plants a single terminal, many-
flowered, elongate and open raceme of orange-yellow short-
pedicelled flowers, as many as 10 racemes on a branched plant,
occasionally 1 or 2 small lateral racemes at the base of the terminal
raceme (see below under X L. conmixta Fern.) .
In open wet (acidulous?) habitats throughout most of Wiscon¬
sin, lacking in most of the well-drained Driftless Area and (except¬
ing stations on Lake Michigan) from the area underlain by Niag¬
ara Dolomite; in muddy or sandy lake-shores, marshes, low wet
prairies, sedge meadows, tamarack swamps, cranberry and leather-
leaf sphagnum bogs, roadside ditches, and rarely along rivers or in
woods. Flowering from mid- June to early September and fruiting
from late July to October,
The species is variable in Wisconsin in regards to leaf width and
amount of divergence of leaves, the ones collected in woods having
more broadly elliptic, and more divergent leaves.
X Lysimachia conmixta Fern. (L. terrestris (L), B.S.P. X L.
thyrsiflora L.) in Wisconsin?
In about 15% of the Wisconsin Lysimachia terrestris collections
we find one or two small, lateral, pedunculate racemes at the very
base of the terminal raceme. These lateral racemes do not differ
from the terminal one except by their generally smaller size and
that of the flowers and pedicels. Nearly identical specimens from
other states (e.g. Gleason 9736 from Michigan) have been consid¬
ered by Ray {loc. cit.) as hybrids between L. terrestris and L.
thyrsiflora, under the name of L. conmixta. With one or two excep¬
tions we do not believe these Wisconsin plants or many of those
cited by Ray to be hybrids.
Firstly, these plants, except for the extra inflorescence, do not
deviate in any apparent morphological way from typical single-
racemed plants of L. terrestris. Secondly, a tendency for lateral,
secondary inflorescences seems to be inherent in other racemose-
flowered Lysimachias. Thus, in L. thyrsiflora, it is relatively com¬
mon to find axillary racemes with small subsidiary lateral racemes
at or near their bases (a condition not mentioned by Fernald,
Gleason or Ray, though occurring in ca. 20% of all Wisconsin col¬
lections!) . As far as these “abnormak’ or “hybrid’' plants of L. ter¬
restris are concerned, they seem to us, therefore, simply plants that
128 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
LYSIMACHIA
LYSIMACHIA
i pf^ , QUADRIFOLIA
NUMMULARIA
LYSIMACHIA
THYRSIFLORA
LYSIMACHIA
TERRESTRIS
V- ARROWS -X PRODUCTA
//
.AuLANioii s
L LAnA|\ 4
LYSIMACHIA
HYBRIDA
LYSIMACHIA
CILIATA
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora, No, US 129
have an extra lateral inflorenscence or two, a condition which we
suppose to be within the normal variational amplitude of L. ter-
restris.
Of the two Wisconsin plants cited by Ray as L, conmixta (both
collected by Schallert and deposited in the Duke University Her¬
barium), one (#765), though slightly abnormal, is clearly L,
thyrsiflora. Its seemingly “terminal inflorescence is actually a lat¬
eral one, which, due to an old amputation of the main plant axis
(by a cow?) was nutritionally favored and subsequently increased
in length to becoming “terminaF" in position. The second specimen
(#7U)f with lateral inflorescences much like those of L, thyrsiflora
and a terminal one much like certain short-pedicelled forms of
L. terrestris, is intermediate enough to be considered a hybrid.
Though even here a word of caution, for Hansen s.n, (Rock Co.,
WIS) , has a short, bifid, terminal inflorescence, yet is in every other
way clearly L. thryrsiflora.
It is deplorable that there is not one clear description of a puta¬
tive hybrid plant. Fernald, who discussed this hybrid in 1910 and
twice in 1950, had hardly anything to say beyond that it was “in¬
termediate'' between the parents, while Ray, who followed Fernald,
evidently increased the concept of this “hybrid" to include, in addi¬
tion to intermediate plants, slightly abnormal plants of both spe¬
cies as well, so that his description is too inclusive to be meaning¬
ful. Despite questioning Ray in his interpretation of this hybrid,
we do not deny that the great variability of L, terrestris in raceme
and pedicel length, raceme density, and petal width may be indeed
due to introgression with L, thyrsiflora, though detailed studies on
this have never been made, or that perfectly good hybrid popula¬
tions exist in New England and Quebec. Fernald (1950:201) was
certainly right when he suggested the study of this hybrid as “an
alluring problem for some of the very modem students of evolu¬
tion".
Sect. Naumbergia (Moench) Duby
8. Lysimachia thyrsiflora L. Tufted Loosestrife. Map 10
Naumbergia thyrsiflora (L.) Reichenb.
Stems erect, 25-80 cm tall, thick and spongy at base, with long,
thick rhizomes ; leaves opposite, narrowly to broadly elliptic,
pointed at both ends and sessile, punctate, the middle ones bearing
1 to 10 short-peduncled, very dense, spike-like racemes, 1-4 cm
long, of small, cream-yellow to deep yellow flowers ; stamens long-
exerted; corrolla lobes narrow, black-dotted when dry.
Throughout most of the glaciated areas, in wet woods, marshes,
bogs and swamps, and lake and river shores ; e.g., in Black Spruce
or Tamarack (Larix) bogs, often with Poison Sumach (Rhus
130 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
vernix), Sphagnum-Ericaceae bogs, “quaking” sedge mats (with
Drosera rotundifolia, Chamaedaphne, Sarracenia purpurea, Are-
thusa, etc., — Oconto Co.), sedge meadows, Willow-Alder swamps
and thickets, wet woods with Aspen, Paper Birch, Red Maple, Bass¬
wood and Hemlock (Tsuga), wet lowland Black Ash-Thuja-elm-
yellow birch woods, in shallow water along lakes and streams, in
Cattail marshes and around cold springs, rare in southern flood-
plain forests (Grant Co.) and in the Driftless Area, excepting a
few bogs and spring holes in the La Crosse region (cf. Hansen,
1933).
Flowering from (early) late May to late July and fruiting from
late June to late August.
A very distinct species that may hybridize with L. terrestris to
form X L. conmixta (see note under L. terrestris) .
Sect. Steironema (Raf.) Gray
9. Lysimachia ciliata L. Fringed Loosestrife. Map 11
Steironema ciliatum (L.) Baudo
Tall, much branched, often robust herbs with slender rhizomes,
to 1 m tall; leaves ovate-lanceolate, 3-6 cm broad, obtuse to sub-
cordate at base, with elongate, pronouncedly long-ciliate fringed
petioles; corolla 2-3 cm in diam., the lobes fringed; seeds 1. 9-2.2
mm long (fide Ray).
Very common throughout (excepting about six of the northern¬
most counties), in a great variety of moist or wet, open or shady
habitats of both upland and lowland forests, especially in flood-
plain forest, along streams, rivers and lakes, in Aspen-Birch low¬
lands, Tamarack bogs, marshes, damp meadows and low prairies.
Flowering from late June into early August, and fruiting from
end of July to October.
10. Lysimachia hybrida Michx. Map 12
Steironema hybrida (Michx.) Raf.
Steironema lanceolatum (Walt.) Gray var. hyhridum (Michx.)
Gray
Lysimachia lanceolata Walt. ssp. hybrida (Michx.) Ray
Rather robust herbs (35-) 40-80 (-105) cm tall, with subsessile
basal offshoots or autumnal rosettes (no rhizomes!) ; basal leaves
not persistent; stems (3-) 4-6 mm in diam. near base, unbranched
or more usually with many elongate lateral branches from all but
the lowest nodes forming an open paniculate inflorescence, the
branches usually much longer than the subtending leaves; leaves
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora. No. US 131
longest near base of plant, more or less abruptly contracted to a
ciliate petiole; seeds 1, 2-1.8 mm long (/ide Ray).
Mostly in the Wisconsin and Mississippi River valleys, and in the
latter’s tributaries, and in the NW. Wisconsin lake region; in sea¬
sonally very wet herb communities, on wooded or open, often sandy
margins of rivers, streams, ditches, sloughs, swales, ponds, lakes,
mud flats, marshes, and wet, muddy soil of dried-up temporary
pools along the Wisconsin River, etc.
Flowering from the middle or end of July to the end of August,
and fruiting from the beginning of August through September.
According to Beam (FI. of Indiana, p. 749) the plant starts its
yearly growth under water, hence the lowest leaves decompose and
disappear. In Wisconsin, it is easily distinguished from L. lanceo-
lata to which it has been reduced as a subspecies by Ray, The only
difficulties are encountered in plants whose tops have been eaten by
animals and whose smaller lateral shoots mimic plants of L. lanceo-
lata. If in fruit, L. hyhrida may be told by the smaller seeds. It flow¬
ers about 3 weeks after L. lanceolata. The two species never grow
together (excepting a collection of each from “Witches Gulch”,
Wisconsin Dells?).
11. Lysimachia lanceolata Walt. Map 13
Steironema lanceolatum (Walt.) Gray
Slender herbs 10-35 (-40) cm tall, propagating by slender sub¬
terranean rhizomes; basal leaves orbicular to obovate, generally
persistent; stems 1. 5-2.0 (-2.5) mm in diam, near base, un¬
branched or with a few short branches above the 5th to 7th node;
longest leaves towards the top of the plant, gradually narrowed to
the base, sessile or subsessile or rarely short-petioled, the blades
ciliate at base; seeds 1.7-2.0 mm long (fide Ray).
In southwestern Wisconsin, in dry, mesic, or moist, more or less
sandy prairies or prairie openings, in very sandy prairies on edge
of Jack Pine-Black Oak scrub, on sandstone cliffs in Finns strobus
relics, on sandy roadsides, sand terraces, open dunes (along Missis¬
sippi R.) and in open to fairly dense, generally sandy and mesic to
moist woods of Aspen, Oak-Hickory, Oak-Pine, White Pine-Red
Oak— Red Maple, etc.
Flowering from the end of June to the middle of August, and
fruiting from the end of July to September.
Large specimens of this species resemble small plants of L. hy¬
hrida. However, L. lanceolata does not grow in as wet habitats. Its
range coincides well with the distribution of sandstones, and is
nearly exactly complementary to that of L. quadriflora which grows
in glaciated areas underlain by limestone.
132 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
1960] litis & Shaughnessy— Wisconsin Flora, No,
133
12. Lysimachia quadriflora Sims. Map 14
Steironema quadriflora (Sims) Hitchc.
Erect, slender, square-stemmed herbs, 3-7 dm tall, unbranched
or with few short, strongly ascending branches above; leaves
linear, somewhat stiff and revolute, sessile; flowers 15-24 mm in
diam., grouped at the tip of stems and branches.
Widespread from southeastern Wisconsin to Door County, ap¬
parently lacking (see below) in the well-drained “Driftless Area” ;
in wet, open, grassy, non-acid habitats, as sedge bogs, marshes, low
prairies (with Liatris pycnostachya, Cacalia tuherosa, Eryngium
yuccaefolium — Green Co.), and in marly, alkaline sedge-grass
meadows (= “Fens” of Curtis, 1959) (e.g., with Lobelia kalmii,
Gentiana procera, Solidago riddellii, Galium lahradoricum, Aster
junciformis, Dryopteris thelypteris, Hypericum kalmianum and
Potentilla fruticosa at Muir (Ennis) Lake, Marquette Co.) or occa¬
sionally around calcareous springs.
Flowering from early July to the end of August, and fruiting
from late July to October.
Two herbarium specimens report this species from deep within
the “Driftless Area”, apparently erroneously. The “La Crosse” col¬
lection (WIS) was made by L, H, Pammel, many of whose records
from this area were evidently mislabelled (Tom Hartley- — personal
communication). It has never been found there since. The Trem¬
pealeau County collection (WIS) is labelled as coming from “Ar¬
cadia” by Hansen, who published this record (as Steironema quad-
riflora, from “Tamarack Creek Bog”) in his study of the Tamarack
Bogs of the Driftless Area (Hansen 1933:292).
Though this station has been visited by the senior author, by
Hartley, who carefully searched for this plant, and by many other
botanists, the species has not been collected there since. Two fac¬
tors seem to indicate that this report is based on a mislabelled
specimen. The above bog appears to be in most portions a typical
acid Larix-Sphagnum bog (see list of species in Hansen, 1933 :292) ,
while L. quadriflora generally grows in calcareous habitats. Sec-
only, the specimen itself, apparently diseased shows a number of
round dots, which in the Wisconsin Herbarium collections occur in
this particular manner only in one other collection, namely one
made by the same collector (Hansen) in Sauk County and dated a
year later. It seems, therefore, that the Trempealeau collection may
well be part of the one made in Sauk County and inadvertently mis¬
labelled by Hansen. In general, the Wisconsin distribution of marly
sedge meadows and fens (and therefore the distribution of most
stations of this species) corresponds largely to glaciated areas
underlain by limestones, such as the Ordovician Galena and Lower
Magnesian Dolomites and the Silurian Niagara Dolomite.
134 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
5. ANAGALLIS L.
A.Arvensis L. Scarlet Pimpernel. Map 1
Low spreading, glabrous, annual herbs resembling common chick-
weed, with opposite, ovate sessile leaves, small bright red 5-merous
flowers (these blue in a form as yet not found in Wisconsin), and
small, round, many-seeded capsules on slender peduncles.
An Old World weed of fields and lawns, very sporadic and infre¬
quent in Wisconsin, flowering in July and August, and fruiting
from July to early September.
6. SAMOLUS L.
S. Parviflorus Raf. Map 15
S. fioribundus H. B. K.
Slender, branched herb less than 2 dm tall, with entire, obovate,
alternate leaves and terminal bractless racemes of small white flow¬
ers, the slender pedicels bracteolate.
Collected once in a ditch west of Reynold’s Woods, Town of
Greenfield, Milwaukee County, W. Finger, Sept. 11, 1903 (MIL),
here at the northern-most limit of its range.
7. TRIENTALIS L.
T. Borealis Raf. Chickweed- Winter green. Northern Star, Star-
flower. Map 16
T. americana Pursh.
Slender, glabrous, rhizomatous perennials, with (5-) 7 (-9)
lance-elliptic, slenderly pointed, unequal leaves borne in a single
rosette at the top of the 1-2 dm tall leafless stem; flowers 1-3, on
delicate stalks, usually 7-merous, the white petals fused into a
sharp-pointed, flat star 12-20 mm in diam. ; fruit a small spherical
capsule, its segments deciduous with age, exposing 6-8 (-12)
greyish-white, thin-coated seeds persistently attached to the
placenta.
Very common in all types of northern forests, from wet to xeric
(cf. Curtis, 1959), rather rare in SW Wisconsin, in a great variety
of wooded, often sandy habitats, especially in White Pine-Red Pine-
Hemlock-Northern Hardwoods and after cutting or fire, their suc-
cessional precursors (e.g., Aspen-Poplar-Balsam Fir-Red Maple-
Jack Pine (Q. hanksiana) -Elsiok or Hills Oak), in Sugar Maple-
Basswood, Beech-Hemlock- Yellow Birch-Sugar Maple, as well as in
wet woods and Tamarack (Larix) -Spruce (Picea mariana) -CedsLY
{Thuja) bogs, there often growing in sphagnum (in Hope Lake
1960] litis & Shaughnessy — Wisconsin Flora, No, U3
135
Bog. Jefferson Co., with Sarracenia purpurea^ Cypripedium acaule,
Menyanthes, etc.), in SW Wisconsin in Pine relics, these often on
top of high sandstone cliffs or bluffs.
Flowering from mid-May to the 3rd week of June and fruiting
from mid- June to early September.
Bibliography
Channell, R. B. and Wood, C. E. 1959. The genera of Primulales of the
southeastern United States. Journ. Arnold Arb. 15:268-288.
Curtis, J. T. 1959, “The Vegetation of Wisconsin.’’ 656 pp. Madison.
Curtis, J. T. and Greene, H. C. 1959, A study of relic Wisconsin prairies by
the species-presence method. Ecology, 30:83-92,
Fassett, N. C, 1927. Notes from the herbarium of the University of Wiscon¬
sin I. Rhodora 29:233.
- . 1929. Ibid IV. ie/iodom 21:52.
- . 1931. Ibid VII. Rhodora 33:224-228.
- . 1944. Dodecatheon in eastern North America. Am. Midi. Nat. 13:455-
486.
Fernald, M. L. 1950. “Gray’s Manual of Botany,” ed. 8. New York.
Fernald, M. L. 1950a. The hybrid of Lysimachia terrestris and L. thyrsiflora.
Rhodora 52:199-201.
Gleason, H. A. 1952. “The New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora.” New
York.
Hansen, H. P. 1933, The tamarack bogs of the Driftless Area of Wisconsin,
Bull. Public Museum Milwaukee 7 : 231-304.
Hopkins, Milton. 1937. Arabis in eastern and central north America. Rhodora
39:116, 122.
Pepoon, H. S. 1917. The primrose rocks of Illinois. Transact. III. Acad. Sci.
2:32-37.
Ray, j. D. 1944. The genus Lysimachia in the New World. III. Biol. Mono¬
graphs 24 (3-4) : 1-160.
Robbins, G. T. 1944. North American Species of Androsace. Am. Midi. Nat.
32:137-163.
Rollins, Reed C. 1941. Monographic study of Arabis in Western North Amer¬
ica. Rhodora 43:325.
Thompson, H, J. 1953. The biosystematics of Dodecatheon. Contr. Dudley Her¬
barium, Stanford Univ. 4:73-154.
- . 1959. Dodecatheon, in Munz, P. A., A California flora, p. 403.
Vogelmann, H. W. 1955. A biosystematic study of Primula mistassinica Michx.
Univ. of Michigan Ph.D. Thesis.
Voigt, J. W. and Swayne, J. R. 1955. French’s Shooting Star in southern Illi¬
nois. Rhodora 57:325-332.
Wherry, E. T. 1943. Dodecatheon amethystinum. Bull. Am. Rock Gard. Soc.
1:91-94.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREATER WAX
MOTH, Galleria mellonella (L.). (Lepidoptera :
Galleriidae) ^
Stanley D. Beck
University of Wisconsin, Madison
The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (L.), is of biological
interest because of its food habits, ecological adaptations, develop¬
mental patterns, and adaptability as an experimental form for a
variety of entomological investigations. It has been used in studies
of pathogens and antigens (Chorine 1929, Boczkowzka 1935,
Olivier 1947), comparative biochemistry (Crescitelli 1935, Nie-
merko 1950), comparative nutrition (Haydak 1940, 1941), diges¬
tive processes (Roy 1937, Waterhouse 1959), symbiosis and para¬
sitism (Florkin, Lozet, and Sarlet 1949, Lozet and Florkin 1949,
Sarlet and Florkin 1949), and comparative arthropod anatomy
(Metalnikov 1908, Borchert 1933, El-Sawaf 1950). It is an insect
of world-vdde distribution, and is occasionally a serious pest in
apiaries. The larvae feed on the waxy brood combs and pollen stores
of the honey bee, Apis mellifera L,
Although a number of developmental studies of the greater wax
moth have been published (Metalnikov 1908, Chase 1921, Andrews
1921, Borchert 1935, Schmelev 1940, Haydak 1940, El-Sawaf 1950),
most were conducted under suboptimal conditions of diet and tem¬
perature. In the interest of developing the insect’s potential as an
experimental organism for physiological investigations, a study was
undertaken to determine its growth and metabolic characteristics
under carefully controlled laboratory conditions.
Methods and Materials
Rearing and maintenance of stock cultures
Stock cultures of the greater wax moth were maintained in large
crystallizing dishes (190 x 100 mm.). The dishes were covered with
a circular piece of plate glass, 210 mm. in diameter, in the center
of which was a 15 mm. cotton-plugged hole. The glass cover was
held in place by means of a grease layer around the lip of the crys¬
tallizing dish. The center hole was necessary both for ventilation
and for the prevention of an accumulation of water condensate.
Dietary medium was added to form a loose layer of about 30 mm.
1 Approved for publication by the director of the Wisconsin Ag-ricultural Experiment
Station. This study was supported in part by a research grant from the National
Institutes of Health of the U. S. Public Health Service.
137
138 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
depth. Approximately 100 eggs were introduced into each culture
dish. The dishes were then maintained in total darkness in a 35° C.
incubator.
As the larvae matured and spun cocoons, they were removed
from the cultures and placed in cheese cloth-covered 2.5 liter bat¬
tery jars. Moth emergence, mating, and oviposition took place in
the battery jars. In order to obtain eggs, square pieces (100 x 100
mm) of waxed paper were pleated and fastened at one end to form
small fans, which were put into battery jars. The moths laid eggs
in the pleats, from which they were easily recovered. Eggs were
collected daily, and all rearing experiments were started with ran¬
domized mixtures of eggs collected on the same date.
Rearing experiments were conducted by methods similar to those
described above, except smaller containers were used. Cultures were
maintained in stender dishes (60 x 25 mm.), the covers of which
had cotton-plugged center holes. Each stender dish contained 17 g,
of diet and supported the growth of about 25 wax moth larvae.
TABLE 1
Artificial Dietary Medium for Laboratory Rearing of the Greater
Wax Moth, Galleria mellonella (L.)
The basal dietary medium (Table 1) was prepared as follows.
The pablum, yeast powder, and beeswax were mixed with sufficient
diethyl ether to dissolve the wax. After thorough mixing, the ether
was evaporated off, leaving the pablum and yeast evenly coated
with beeswax. The honey, glycerol, and water were mixed together
and then added to the dry ingredients and mixed thoroughly. The
resulting diet was friable and somewhat sticky. If refrigerated for
about 24 hours, it became slightly rubbery in consistency and lost
its stickiness.
Measurement of growth characteristics
Larval growth curves were obtained by weighing subsamples of
20 larvae periodically during the larval growth period. They were
1960]
Beck — Growth of Greater Wax Moth
139
weighed on a torsion balance (Roller-Smith) to the closest 0.1 mg.
They were then preserved in alcohol for head-width determina¬
tions. Head-width measurements were made under a binocular
microscope with a calibrated ocular micrometer. Head-width was
determined as the number of millimeters from side to side at the
widest point. Analytical treatment of the data was by standard
statistical procedures (Snedecor 1946).
Measurement of metabolic rates
Metabolism was measured in terms of oxygen consumption and
carbon dioxide production through the use of Warburg reaction
vessels and standard manometric techniques (Umbreit et al. 1957).
Calibration of flasks and manometers under conditions in which the
flasks contained nutrient media and living wax moth larvae of un¬
known total volume, required the use of a special gas calibration
method (Hoopingarner and Beck 1960). Twelve to 16 hours prior
to flask calibration and metabolic measurement, individual larvae
were placed on basal diet contained in Warburg vessels. After this
period of conditioning, only larvae which had constructed feeding
tunnels were used for determinations of metabolic rates. After res¬
piratory exchange measurements were completed, the larvae were
weighed, dried at 100° C. to a constant weight, extracted with ether
in a Soxhlet extractor for eight hours, and again weighed.
Results and Discussion
Preliminary experiments, in which the growth of wax moth
larvae on their natural diet of brood comb and pollen was compared
to growth on artificial diets, established that the diet shown in
Table 1 allowed optimum growth. Previous workers have reported
that the larvae are capable of utilizing beeswax as a source of diet¬
ary lipids (Dickman 1933, Waterhouse 1959). Beeswax was not
found to be a required nutrient, however, as larval growth and
maturation would occur in its absence (Hay dak 1941). In the pres¬
ent study, the inclusion of beeswax in the laboratory diet improved
larval growth to a highly significant degree (Table 2). It was ob¬
served that beeswax had an effect on the physical consistency of the
diet, rendering the diet somewhat less compressible. Paraffin wax
had a similar effect on the consistency of the medium, but had a
less stimulating effect on larval growth. Since paraffin is indigest¬
ible, its stimulatory effect was attributed entirely to the altered
physical properties of the diet. Larval growth was significantly bet¬
ter in the presence of beeswax than in the presence of paraffin, and
this effect was interpreted to indicate that the beeswax contributed
to the nutritional suitability of the diet. It was not determined
140 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
whether the beeswax contributed required nutrient factors or con¬
tained chemosensory feeding stimulants.
On the basis of these experimental results, the artificial diet was
routinely formulated to include 5 percent yellow beeswax. Brewers
yeast powder was added to the diet as a supplemental source of B
vitamins and protein. Larval growth was retarded only slightly in
the absence of yeast powder.
TABLE 2
Effects of Beeswax and Paraffin on Larval Growth of the
Greater Wax Moth
^Difference significant at the 0.05 level of probability.
**Difference significant at the 0.01 level of probability.
TABLE 3
Effect of Crowding on Larval Growth of the Greater Wax Moth
In some growth experiments it was desirable to rear the larvae
singly; whereas in other experiments large numbers were to be
reared in a single container. Because this species produces large
1960]
Beck — Growth of Greater Wax Moth
141
/
Figure 1. Larval growth curve of the greater wax moth at 35° C.
quantities of heat (Bell 1940, Smith 1941, Roubaud 1954), and dis¬
plays peculiar mass behavior, it was thought that mass and iso¬
lated rearings might yield different growth characteristics. This
hypothesis was tested in a series of rearings in which different
numbers of larvae were reared in small vials (23 x 85 mm), each
of which contained the same amount of diet. The results (Table 3)
142 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
demonstrated that the growth of isolated larvae was not signifi¬
cantly different from that of larvae reared in large groups. Within
the limits tested, over-crowding had little or no effect on larval
growth. As mortality was negligible in all replicates, it was appar¬
ent that cannibalism did not occur.
Using from 20 to 25 larvae per stender dish, larval growth char¬
acteristics were determined at an incubation temperature of 35° C.
<
h-
CO
Z
yj
O
<
QC.
yj
>
<
AGE IN DAYS
Figure 2, Larval growth of the greater wax moth, in terms of
instar progression.
and under continuous darkness. The body-weight growth curve
(Figure 1) shows that the larvae attained their maximum average
weight fifteen days after hatching. The slope of the growth curve
up to approximately 10 days was indicative of a daily doubling of
body-weight. Had this curve continued to the 15th day, the larvae
would have attained an average weight of 590 milligrams (dashed
line in Figure 1) . The growth rate declined after 10 or 11 days, and
the final larval weight approached an average of 200 milligrams.
Even among relatively fast growing insects, the growth rate dis¬
played by the wax moth larvae was fantastically high. The range
lines around the plotted points indicate the observed standard de-
1960]
Beck — Growth of Greater Wax Moth
143
viations. The average larval weights of one and two day old larvae
were obtained by weighing large groups simultaneously, and the
number of such mass weighings was insufficient to permit calcula¬
tion of standard deviations.
The average weight of the larvae did not increase after an age of
15 days, although they did not spin cocoons until about the 18th
day. From the 15th to 18th days the larvae spun tent-like masses
of silk and were in seemingly constant motion, crawling around the
insic 3 of the rearing dishes.
Figure 3. Frequency histogram of head capsule width of larvae of the greater
wax moth, showing seven larval instars.
The duration of the several larval growth stages is shown in
Figure 2. During the 15 day growth period, the larvae passed
through 7 larval instars, each representing a stadium of two to
three days duration. As was found when growth was measured in
terms of weight increase, growth in terms of advancing from in¬
star to instar was at an exceptionally high rate.
Larval instars were identified by measurements of the head cap¬
sule widths of population samples taken at different times during
the growth period. The head-width measurements were plotted as
a frequency histogram (Figure 3) . The distributions of head-width
measurements were taken as an indication of the number of dis¬
tinct growth-stages present in the population samples, (Petersen
144 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences ^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
and Haeussler 1928, Gaines and Campbell 1935). This technique
for determining the number of larval instars in the life cycle of
lepidopterous insects is based on the finding of Dyar (1890) that
the head- width of such larvae increases by a fairly constant ratio
at each larval molt. Certain limitations of the method have been
noted (Beck 1950), but it is reasonably accurate under constant
and approximately optimal rearing conditions. As shown in Fig¬
ure 3, the head-widths formed a series of seven normal distribu¬
tions which overlapped but very little. The arithmetic means of
these distributions were taken as the average head capsule widths
of separate larval instars. The first such distribution (I) was de¬
termined separately from the others, in that it represents the head
measurements of larvae known to be newly hatched and unfed;
these larvae were but an hour or two in age at the time of meas¬
urement. All of the other measurements were obtained from daily
samples of a large larval population, all members of which were of
an identical age, within an error of less than 24 hours. About 2100
larval head capsules were measured. The characteristics of the
seven larval instars are shown in Table 4. The growth ratios shown
were obtained by dividing the average head width of one instar by
that of the previous instar. Head-width range for a given instar
was predicted by multiplying the growth ratio observed by the ob¬
served head-width range of the previous instar. This calculation
provided a means of determining whether or not the range of meas¬
urements fell within the expected range of a similar normal dis¬
tribution. The close agreement between predicted and observed
head-width ranges, and the approximately similar growth ratios
found throughout the series indicate that the accidental omission
of an instar from the series was extremely unlikely. The possibility
of a sex difference in head-width was tested experimentally in the
last (7th) instar. The head-widths of full-grown larvae were meas¬
ured, and the larvae were then isolated for pupation and moth
emergence. The sex of the emerging moths was associated with the
measurements made. A T-test showed a highly significant differ¬
ence occurred, with mature female larvae averaging 0.12 mm.
greater than males in head capsule width.
Previous literature on the biology of the greater wax moth indi¬
cated the occurrence of 8 or 9 larval instars in the normal life cycle
(Chase 1921, El-Sawaf 1950). Chase (1921) found that a few
specimens completed their development in 7 instars. Milum and
Geuther (1935) reported that supernumerary molts could occur un¬
der unfavorable rearing conditions. It seems logical to interpret the
results obtained by previous workers as reflecting the different ex¬
perimental conditions employed. It is probable that seven instars
represents the minimum, typical number under optimal conditions
1960]
Bech — Growth of Greater Wax Moth
145
of temperature, humidity, and nutrition. That earlier workers
failed to use optimum rearing conditions is also indicated by the
slower growth reported.
TABLE 4
Larval Head Capsule Growth Characteristics of the Greater Wax Moth
Larval growth was somewhat variable, as indicated by the
standard deviations plotted in Figure 1. At the outset of this study,
it was hoped that larval growth rates could be used as the basis for
the assay of the biological activity of certain types of organic com¬
pounds other than insecticides. Although this proved possible, the
usefulness of wax moth larvae in such an application was greatly
reduced by the variability of growth rates. Genetic selection for
uniform growth was therefore undertaken. Sibling matings were
used, and the selected strain was perpetuated by mating the earliest
pupating individuals of each generation. Selection was also for size.
Several separate matings were effected at each generation, and the
selected strain was continued by rearing a randomly selected group
of eggs produced from one such mating. After four generations,
the standard deviation in larval weights was significantly smaller
than that of the parental generation. Still greater improvement was
observed in the generation. The Fg generation was used success¬
fully as a bioassay organism. The selection program is currently
continuing.
Some of the metabolic characteristics of the greater wax moth
were determined during the larval growth period. This phase of the
investigation involved respiratory measurements of over 200 indi¬
vidual larvae. Although there was more than a desirable variation
from one individual to the next, the salient trends are summarized
in Table 5. Dry matter and fat content determinations were not run
on the smaller (10 mg.) larvae. The results show that the water
146 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
content of the insects declined as the larvae matured, and the fat
content increased concurrently. Respiratory rates, expressed as
QO2 values, declined as the insects increased in weight. The declin¬
ing rates of oxygen consumption were not the result of the deposi¬
tion of increasing amounts of fat, as the decline persisted when the
respiratory rates were calculated on a fat-free, dry weight basis.
Respiratory quotients calculated from the respiratory measure¬
ments varied from 0.80 to 0.98, with no apparent systematic
changes as the larvae matured. It was observed that the insect’s
respiratory rate dropped sharply during periods immediately pre¬
ceding ecdysis. The nature of such a stadial cycle was not deter¬
mined, The respiratory measuurements shown in Table 5 were
made at 25° C. A number of determinations were also made at
35° C., and yielded Q^o values averaging 1.70, indicating that a rise
in ambient temperature resulted in a sharp increase in the rate of
respiratory exchange.
TABLE 5
Growth and Metabolism in Larvae of the Greater Wax Moth
The respiratory rates observed among the larvae tested were
much higher than those reported for other insect species (Prosser
1950), (Roeder 1953). The respiratory rates of feeding, growing
wax moth larvae weighing about 30 mg. were roughly comparable
to those reported for houseflies in full flight. The very high growth
rates found among wax moth larvae (Figure 1) would be expected
to entail a high metabolic rate, A number of previous workers have
observed that wax moth larvae produce appreciable amounts of
heat energy ; the temperature of a thriving culture may be as much
as 25° C. above the environmental temperature (Smith 1941, Rou-
baud 1954). Such unusual heat output would necessarily be indica¬
tive of a very high rate of respiratory metabolism.
1960]
Beck — Growth of Greater Wax Moth
147
Summary and Conclusions
1. The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (L.), was cultured
on a dietary medium composed of mixed cereal pablum, brewers
yeast powder, yellow beeswax, water, glycerol, and honey. Growth
on such a diet was at an apparently optimum rate.
2. At 35° C. under continuous darkness, larval weight increased
from an average of 0.02 mg. at hatching to an average of 200 mg.
at 15 days of age. Larval weights doubled daily during the first 10
days of larval life.
3. Seven larval instars were expressed under the rearing condi¬
tions employed. Characteristic head-widths and growth ratios were
determined for each instar. Female larvae of the seventh instar had
significantly wider heads than did male larvae of the same develop¬
mental stage.
4. During the larval growth period, the insects progressively in¬
creased in percent dry matter and percent fat. The rate of oxygen
consumption was extremely high among small larvae, but declined
as the larvae matured.
References Cited
Andrews, J. E. (1921). Some experiments with the larva of the bee moth,
Galleria mellonella L. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Arts, & Lett. 20:255-261.
Beck, S. D. (1950). Nutrition of the European Corn Borer, Pyrausta nuhilalis
(Hbn.) II. Some effects of diet on larval growth characteristics. Physiol.
Zool. 23:353-361.
Bell, J. (1940). The heat production and oxygen consumption of Galleria meh
lonella at different constant temperatures. Physiol. Zool. 13:73-81.
Boczkowzka, M. (1935). Contribution a Fetude de Fimmunite les chenilles de
Galleria mellonella L. les champignones entomophytes. C. R. Soc. Biol.
119:39-40.
Borchert, a. (1933). Zur Biologie der grossen Wachsmotte {Galleria mellon^
ella). I. liber morphologie und Entwicklungsdauer der larvae der grossen
Wachsmotte. Zool. Jahr. Abteil. Anat. u. Ont, 57 : 105-115.
Borchert, A. (1933). Zur Biologie der grossen Wachsmotte {Galleria mellon¬
ella). II. fiber den Frassschaden und die Ernahrung der larven der
grossen Wachsmotte, Zool. Jahr. Abteil. fur System., Okol. u. Geogr. dev
Tiere. 66:380-400,
Chase, R, W. (1921). The length of life of larvae of wax moth {Galleria met
lonella L.) in its different stadia. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Arts, & Lett
20:263-267.
Chorine, V. (1929). Immunite antitoxique chez les chenilles de Galleria mel-
lonella. Ann. Inst. Pasteur 43:955-958.
Crescitelli, F. (1935). The respiratory metabolism of Galleria mellonella (bee
moth) during pupal development at different constant temperatures. Jour
Cell. & Comp. Physiol. 6:351-368.
Dickman, a. (1933). Studies on the wax moth Galleria mellonella with par*
ticular reference to the digestion of wax by the larvae. Jour. Cell. & Comp
Physiol. 3:223-246.
Dyar, H. G, (1890). The number of moults of lepidopterous larvae. Psyche
5:420-422.
148 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
El-Sawaf, S. K. (1950). The life history of the greater wax moth {Galleria
mellonella L.) in Egypt, with special reference to the morphology of the
mature larva. Bull. Soc. Fouad. Ent. 34:247-297.
Florkin, M., F. Lozet, & H. Sarlet. (1949). Sur la digestion de la cire
d’abeille par la larve de Galleria mellonella L. et sur Tutilization de la cire
par une bacterie isolee a partir du contenu intestinal de cette larve. Arch.
Internat’l de Physiol. 57 : 71-88.
Gaines, J. C. & F. L. Campbell, (1935), Dyar’s rule as related to the number
of instars of the corn earworm Heliothis bseleta (Fab.), collected in the
field. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer. 28:445-461.
Haydak, M. H. (1940). The length of development of the greater wax moth.
Sci. 91:525.
Haydak, M. H. (1941). Nutrition of the wax moth larva: vitamin requirement
I. Requirement for vitamin Bi, Proc. Minn. Acad. Sci. 9:27-29.
Hoopingarner, R. and S. D. Beck. (1960). Manometric calibration for insect
respiration. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer. 53:697-698.
Lozet, F. and M. Florkin. (1949). Isolement a partir du contenu intestinal de
Galleria mellonella d’une bacterie attaguant la cire d’abeille. Exper. 5:403-
404.
Metalnikov, S. (1908). Recherches experimen tales sur les chenilles de Galleria
mellonella. Arch. Zool. Exp. Gen. 8:489-588.
Milum, V. G. and H. W. Geuther. (1935). Observations on the biology of the
greater wax moth Galleria mellonella L, Jour. Econ. Ent. 28:576-578.
Niemerko, S. (1950). Studies in the biochemistry of the wax moth {Galleria
mellonella) . Acta Biol. Exp. Varsovie 15:57-123.
Olivier, H. R. (1947). Antibiotic action of an extract of Galleria mellonella.
Nature 159:685.
Peterson, A. and G. J. Haeussler. (1928). Some observations on the number
of larval instars of the oriental peach moth, Laspeyresia molesta Busck.
Jour. Econ. Ent. 21:843-852.
Prosser, C. L. (ed) (1950). “Comparative Animal Physiology,” W. B. Saund¬
ers, Philadelphia,
Boeder, K, D. (ed.) (1953). “Insect Physiology,” John Wiley, New York &
London.
Roubaud, E. (1954). La thermogenese chez les mites de abeilles. C. R. Acad.
Sci. Paris 238:1086-1088.
Roy, D. N. (1937). On the nutrition of the larvae of the bee-wax moth. Galleria
mellonella. Zeit. very. Physiol. 24:638-643.
Sarlet, H. and M. Florkin. (1949). Attaque de la cire d’abeille par une bac¬
terie isolee a partir du contenu intestinal de Galleria mellonella. Exper.
5:404-405.
ScHMELEV, A. W. (1940). Duration of life of the wax moth {Galleria mellon¬
ella L.) at different air humidities. Soc. des Nat. Moscow Bull. 49:217-220.
Smith, T. L. (1941). Some notes on the development and regulation of heat
among Galleria larvae. Proc. Ark. Acad. Sci. 1:29-33.
Snedecor, G. W, (1946). “Statistical Methods.” Iowa State College Press,
Ames, Iowa,
Umbreit, W. W., R. H. Burris, and J. F. Stauffer, (1957). “Manometric
Techniques.” Burgess Publ. Co., Minneapolis.
Waterhouse, D, F. (1959). Axenic culture of wax moths for digestion studies.
Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 77:283-289.
FOOD INGESTION IN CRASPEDACUSTA SOWERBIP
Andrew McClary
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Introduction and Method
The hydroid stage of the fresh water coelenterate Craspedacusta
sowerbii consists of a colony of one to ten or more polyps, A typical
polyp (Fig, 1) may be divided into three areas; the main body por¬
tion, a thinner neck area and a terminal capitulum, on which nema-
tocysts are heavily concentrated and in the center of which is situ¬
ated the polyp's mouth. A typical polyp is, on maturity, about 0.8
mm. in length. Polyps may reproduce by forming any of three types
of bud. Frustule buds, elongated and sausage shaped in form, be¬
come freed from their parent polyp, creep along the substrate as
frustules and subsequently develop into new colonies. Polyp buds
resemble the head and neck of an adult polyp although reduced in
scale. Polyp buds remain attached to their parent and eventually
develop into adult polyps. Medusa buds begin as clear blisters which
become sessile medusae and then break free of the parent polyp.
Under favorable conditions, freed medusae will develop to matu¬
rity, attaining a diameter of one cm. or more, A mature medusa
will produce gametes and so initiate the sexual portion of Craspeda-
custa's life cycle. Under natural conditions, however, reproduction
by mature medusae appears to rarely, if ever, occur and effective
reproduction is asexual. The bud forms of Craspedacusta are shown
in Figs. 2-4.
This paper reports a study of the process of food ingestion by the
polyp stage of Craspedacusta, Particular emphasis in the study was
directed towards the influence of feeding on bud formation, A total
of 74 colonies was utilized in the study. These colonies averaged
2.4 polyps per colony, Craspedacusta colonies are easily cultured in
the laboratory (McClary, 1959). Cultures were started by pipetting
frustules into finger bowls filled with aged filtered tap water. The
finger bowls were maintained at 30"^ C, and kept in complete dark¬
ness to avoid algal contamination, Frustules typically developed
into young colonies within ten days. When colonies were between
18 and 25 days of age (as measured from time of initial frustule
seeding) they were removed from 30° C, to room temperature (19-
24° C.) and used for the experiments here described. In these ex-
1 Supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
149
150 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
periments polyps were fed brine shrimp nauplii. A feeding typically
consisted of a single shrimp nauplius, although large polyps were
given two nauplii. Only one polyp in each colony was fed. In cer¬
tain of the experiments the nauplii used were dyed with neutral red
to facilitate subsequent observation. The use of dyed food did not
appear to result in any measurable difference from the use of un¬
dyed food. Similarly, the use of more than one nauplius in some
feedings did not appear to cause results that were different from
the use of a single nauplius.
Previous work indicated that wounding a polyp tends to result
in the appearance of a polyp bud at the wound site (McClary,
1960). Wounds of this type (opening the side of a polyp’s body)
were carried out in some of the present experiments and were
accomplished by means of a micro-knife fashioned from a steel
needle. Polyp form was recorded in drawings made with the aid of
a binocular microscope fitted with an occular micrometer.
Results
Effect of feeding on general polyp form
The 74 polyps utilized in the present study were fed brine shrimp
nauplii immediately on removal from 30° C. to room temperature.
Stages in the ingestion and absorption of a brine shrimp nauplius
are shown in Fig. 5. Nauplii offered to a polyp were typically held
securely by nematocysts of the capitulum. After contact with food
the capitulum often bent against the body wall, further securing
the food. Widening of the mouth and subsequent ingestion usually
proceeded rapidly and nauplii were commonly ingested within 15
minutes. After ingestion of food a swelling in the neck area was
often observed. Ingested food was passed to the lower body region
of a polyp and, in addition, moved into adjoining polyps. When in¬
gested food was still largely concentrated in the coelenteron it was
clearly demarcated. As the ingested material became absorbed, this
demarcation was obscured. Careful observation indicated that food
material was absorbed into endoderm cells in the lower body region
of the polyp. After a period of about five days, this portion of the
polyp no longer appeared opaque, although it remained somewhat
denser than the rest of the polyp body. At no time did the neck area
of a polyp appear to concentrate food material as was the case with
the lower body region. Polyps observed in the present study often
showed characteristic markings one or two days after feeding.
Markings of this type consisted of linear and circular patterns of
very dense granular material. Although* very near the body sur¬
face, this material apparently was for the most part endodermal in
nature.
1960] McClary — Food Ingestion in Craspedacusta 151
Effect of feeding on bud formation
Frustule Buds
Before initial feeding, none of the 74 colonies used in the present
study had produced frustule buds. After the initial feeding the 74
colonies were observed for a period of six days. During this time 14
colonies each produced a frustule bud. These buds typically ap¬
peared about five days after feeding and were freed from their par¬
ent within 24 hours. All of the frustule buds appeared on polyps
which had been fed. None of the unfed polyps produced buds. In¬
gested food material appeared to become concentrated in the
developing frustule buds. In some of the buds observed, the devel¬
oping bud and the adjacent polyp tissue were equally concentrated
with food material. In other cases, the concentration was slightly
heavier in the bud. Although freed frustules show polarised mor¬
phology (Reisinger, 1957; Lytle, 1959), in the present study they
showed no differential concentration of food material. In some
cases, polyps carrying a developing frustule bud were fed a second
time. The second feeding consisted of a dyed nauplius, so that mate¬
rial from the second feeding could be distinguished from the first.
Material from the second feeding collected in both the developing
bud and in polyp tissue, as did the material from the initial feed¬
ing. The path of ingested food in relation to frustule bud appear¬
ance is shown in Fig, 6,
Medusa Buds
On removal from 30° C. to room temperature, the 74 colonies
were examined for the presence of medusa buds. Three polyps,
each on different colonies, were found to carry medusa buds in
early stages of development. One polyp on each of the 74 colonies
was then fed and observed for a six day period, as described above.
The three polyps carrying medusa buds were among those fed.
During this time a polyp in each of twelve other colonies developed
a medusa bud. Each of these polyps was one of those previously
fed. Of these latter twelve buds, five became arrested in develop¬
ment, not progressing beyond the stage shown in Fig. 7B. Tv^o
others were operated on, their distal portions being removed, and
they subsequently ceased development. The remaining five devel¬
oped normally. The five buds which spontaneously ceased develop¬
ment were first observed, on the average, about 30 hours after re¬
moval from 30° C, The time lapse in the case of the normally devel¬
oping buds was about ten hours. Portions of ingested food appeared
to be drawn both into the lower region of the polyp body and into a
ring of opaque material at the site of a developing medusa bud.
This area apparently consisted of endodermal cells and presumably
corresponded to the region which has been shown by histological
152 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
1960]
McClary — Food Ingestion in Craspedacusta
153
PLATE I
Figure 1. Polyps of typical colony, a = Polyp body, b = Polyp capitulum, c =
Polyp neck.
Figure 2. Typical f rustule bud. a = Frustule bud.
Figure 3. Typical polyp bud. a = Polyp bud.
Figure 4. Typical medusa buds, a = Young medusa bud. b = Mature medusa
bud.
Figure 5. Food assimilation by colony.
A-D. Ingestion of brine shrimp nauplius at intervals of 10 minutes.
E. Different colony four days after feeding. Note linear and cir¬
cular markings.
Figure 6. Effect of second feeding on colony carrying a developing frustule
bud.
A. Polyp taking brine shrimp.
B-F. Passage of food into polyp and frustule tissue. Time from
feeding to B, 30 minutes; to C, two hours; to D, six hours;
to E, 12 hours; to F, 22 hours.
Figure 7. Food assimilation by developing medusa bud.
A. Colony 16 hours after being fed. Note young bud.
B-D. Development of medusa bud.
E. Oral view of freed medusa. Note food material concentrated in
stomach and ring canal, a = Stomach, b = Ring canal.
Time from feeding to B, 23 hours; C, 44 hours; D, 80 hours;
E, 100 hours.
Figure 8. Development of polyp bud at site of wound on polyp body.
A. Wounded polyp, a = Wound.
Time from wounding to B, 16 hours; C, 25 hours; D, 40 hours;
E, 46 hours.
154 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
study to constitute the developing manubrium of the bud (Payne,
1924). Food material remained concentrated in the manubrium
area of the developing bud until the latter became freed of its par¬
ent polyp, three to four days after initial appearance. In the newly
freed medusa the opaque material apparently concentrated in the
stomach area and then moved into the manubrium wall and the ring
canal. Some material was also evident in the umbrellar tissue.
Eight of the polyps with medusa buds were fed a second, dyed
nauplius about 24 hours after the initial feeding. As was the case
with the second feeding of polyps carrying developing frustule
buds, material from the second feeding collected in both bud and
polyp tissue. Bud development was similar, whether parent polyps
were fed only once, or fed twice. The path of ingested food in rela¬
tion to medusa bud appearance is shown in Fig. 7.
Polyp Buds
After the above described observations were completed, one
polyp on each of 48 colonies was selected for a study of polyp bud¬
ding. An attempt was made to determine whether polyp bud pro¬
duction was influenced by feeding. Of the 48 polyps, twenty which
appeared to carry little stored food were divided into two groups,
ten being wounded, ten held as controls. In a three day period of
observation two of the wounded polyps produced polyp buds at the
wound site. One of these buds appeared one day after wounding,
the other two days. None of the controls produced a polyp bud dur¬
ing the three day period. Sixteen of the 48 polyps appeared to be
heavily food laden and these were similarly divided, eight being
wounded, eight held as controls. None of the sixteen polyps pro¬
duced a polyp bud during the observation period of three days. Of
the remaining 12 polyps, six were fed just after being wounded and
six were fed, but not wounded. One of the six wounded polyps pro¬
duced a polyp bud on the third day of observation. None of the six
controls produced polyp buds during the period. Food material did
not appear to concentrate in developing polyp buds. Instead, the
tissue of a developing polyp bud remained clear, resembling the
capitulum and neck area of an adult polyp. In one case, a polyp
carrying a polyp bud was given a second dyed nauplius 24 hours
after the initial feeding. Material from the second feeding followed
a path similar to that from the first feeding, concentrating in the
polyp tissue rather than in the bud. The relation of polyp bud
appearance to ingested food is shown in Fig. 8.
A polyp which had developed an arrested medusa bud later pro¬
duced one of the polyp buds described above. In no other case did
more than one bud appear on a given polyp during the study.
1960]
McClary — Food Ingestion in Craspedacusta
155
Discussion
Several workers (Fowler, 1890; Payne, 1924; Persch, 1933;
Dejdar, 1934) have postulated that the vacuolated cells which are
common in the endoderm of the polyp body function in the assimila¬
tion of food. The results of the present study, which indicate that
ingested food initially concentrates in the endoderm tissue at the
base of the polyp, confirm this.
The only experimental work known to the writer on the effect of
variable nutrition rates in Craspedacusta is that of Lytle (1959),
This worker has found that at high nutrition rates colonies tend to
channel food material into frustule bud production, at the expense
of medusa and polyp bud production. At low nutrition rates Lytle
has found medusa bud production to be reduced relatively more
than production of other bud types.
In the present study, no frustule buds were produced by colonies
prior to initial feeding. After colonies were fed for the first time a
considerable number of frustule buds were produced. Visual obser¬
vation showed that the ingested food concentrated in developing
frustule buds. These facts indicate that at least initially frustule
budding is dependent on, and a result of, food intake. Although in¬
gested food material did concentrate in the developing medusa buds,
the fact that some medusa buds were present before colonies had
been fed indicates that buds of this type may not be as directly re¬
lated to nutrition as is the case with frustule buds. In the experi¬
ments here described temperature appeared to be the controlling
factor in regard to medusa bud appearance, as medusa buds which
appeared more than a few hours after the removal of colonies to
room temperature tended to be arrested in development. Under
similar conditions a temperature of 27° C. or more has been found
necessary for polyps to develop medusa buds (McClary, 1959),
That this is not always the case is indicated by a study in which
polyps produced medusa buds at temperatures as low as 19° C,
(Lytle, 1959). Although the number of polyp buds produced in the
present experiments was limited, the pattern of their appearance
indicated that feeding, at least over a short time period, was not a
direct cause of the formation of polyp buds. Wounding, or opening
of a polyp’s tissue, on the other hand appeared to cause a tendency
for polyp bud appearance.
References Cited
Dejdar, E. 1934. Die Susswassermedusae Craspedacusta sowerhii Lankester in
Monographischer Darstellung. Zeit. Morph. OkoL Tiere, 28:595-691.
Fowler, C, H, 1890. Notes on the hydroid phase of Linmocodium sowerbyi.
Quart Jour. Microsc, Soc., 30:507, 514.
Lytle, C, 1959, Studies on the developmental biology of Craspedacusta. Doc¬
toral dissertation, Univ, of Indiana.
156 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
McClary, a. 1959. The effect of temperature on growth and reproduction in
Craspedacusta sowerbii. Ecology, 40:158-162.
- . 1960. Growth and differentiation in Graspedacusta sowerbii. Doctoral
dissertation, Univ. of Michigan.
Payne, F. 1924. A study of the fresh water medusa Craspedacusta ryderi.
Jour. Morph., 38:387-430.
Persch, H. 1933. Untersuchungen iiber Microhydra germanica Roch. Zeit.
IFm. Zool, 144:163-210.
Reisinger, E. 1957. Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte und Entwicklungsmechanik
von Craspedacusta. Zeit. Morph. Okol. Tiere, 45:656-698.
GROWTH OF TREE SEEDLINGS IN HYDROPONICS
D. E, Spyridakis and S. A. Wilde^
University of Wisconsin, Madison
“Hydroponics” or “soilless cultures” are terms which refer to
the production of plants in nutrient solutions. This method pro¬
vides a striking illustration of the far-reaching effect of nutrients
on the growth of plants. Under the influence of dissolved salts, field
crops and vegetables produce much greater yields than they do in
most fertile prairie soils (Laurie, 1940; Hewitt, 1952; Carleton and
Swaney, 1953).
Recent investigations have shown that trees possess a capacity
to respond to nutrients in solution not dissimilar to that of herba¬
ceous plants. During the past 15 years, the members of the Wiscon¬
sin Soils Department have achieved a gratifying success in the use
of hydroponics for the acceleration of the growth of deciduous and
coniferous seedlings (Olson, 1944; Spyridakis, 1959). In some in¬
stances, the stock raised in nutrient solutions attained within the
brief period of 7 months a size fully comparable to 3-year-old trans¬
plants raised in nursery soils (Figure 1), This rapid growth was
achieved in part through the proper adjustment of the content and
the ratio of nutrients, pH value, specific conductance and redox
potential of nutrient solutions.
Aside from the rapid growth, hydroponics offer several advan¬
tages in the production of nursery stock. The most important of
these is the possibility of closely controlling the morphological de¬
velopment of seedlings through regulation of the composition of
nutrient solution and a periodic pruning of root systems. With
proper handling, the problem of the control of parasitic organisms
and weeds is practically eliminated. In northern environments, the
use of hydroponics permits a considerable extension of the growing
season, and with artificial aeration of solutions, five to ten times as
many seedlings can be produced per unit area as in nursery beds.
Depending on the scope of production, hydroponic seedlings can
be raised in containers of any size, including small glazed jars. In
a mass production, however, seedlings of woody plants are usually
grown in metal tanks lined with plastic or asphalt to prevent dam-
1 Contribution from Soils Dept., Wis. Agr. Exp. Sta., in cooperation with Wis. Con¬
servation Dept. Publication approved by the Director of the Wis. Agr. Exp. Station.
Paper read at the 90th annual meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts,
and Letters.
2 Research Assistant in Soils and Professor of Soils, respectively.
157
158 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
age from toxic substances. The seedlings are supported by one-half
inch metal mesh screens, suspended about %" above the level of the
nutrient solution. The seed bed is made of a thin layer of vermicu-
lite placed on the screen over a layer of packed Excelsior. After the
tanks are filled with water, the seed is broadcast and covered with
a thin layer of vermiculite. The seed beds are kept moist, prefer¬
ably with distilled water, until the germination is completed. At
.
Figure 1. A comparison of hydroponic and nursery stock: A — Seedlings of
white cedar raised for four months in a nutrient solution and for one grow¬
ing season in a nursery bed; B — Three-year-old nursery transplants of the
same species.
this time, water is replaced by nutrient solution. During the first
ten days the solution is kept at one-third of the normal concen¬
tration.
Aeration is provided by an electrically driven pump and a com¬
bination of tygon and glass tubing placed on the bottom of tanks.
The air stream is broken into fine bubbles by means of carborun¬
dum thimbles. The aeration of cultures is regulated in accordance
with results of determinations of free oxygen and redox potential.
The composition of nutrient solutions is subject to a wide variation
depending on the species and the age of the stock, as well as light
and temperature conditions. However, during the period of Febru¬
ary to May, the following composition of solution for young seed¬
lings proved to be satisfactory under Wisconsin conditions:
1960] Spyridakis & Wilde — Growth of Tree Seedlings
159
Concentration,
Constituents of stock solution g/liter
NH4H0PO4 _ 0.200
KNO3 _ 0.200
Ca(N03)2 • 4H2O _ 0.225
MgS04 • 7H2O _ 0.175
NH4NO3 _ 0.150
FeCeHsOr • 3H2O _ 0.015
H3BO3 _ 0.003
MnCk • 4H.oO _ 0.002
ZnS04 • 7HoO _ 0.002
CUSO4 • 5H.oO _ 0.001
H2M0O4 • H2O _ 0.001
Nutrient solutions are usually prepared from U. S. grade chem¬
icals and are changed at about 2-week intervals. The level of the
solution is maintained by a periodic addition of water. To preclude
the growth of microorganisms, nutrient solutions are supplemented
with 37 % formaldehyde, applied at a rate of 0.01 ml per liter. As a
rule, it is desirable at the beginning of seedlings' growth to adjust
the reaction of the media to pH 4.5 by an addition of diluted hydro¬
chloric acid. However, an intensive feeding of stock causes a rapid
depletion of bases and may lower the reaction of the solution below
the critical limit of pH 3.5, thereby necessitating a replacement of
the solution. A decrease in the content of electrolytes is indicated
by values of specific conductance below 0.5 millimhos per centi¬
meter, corresponding to an electrolyte concentration of 0.6 g per
liter. The content of free oxygen of less than 2 ppm or a negative
redox potential at pH 7.0 indicates the need for additional aeration.
In the production of hydroponic stock for practical purposes, the
cultures are usually started in February. By May the plants attain
sufficient size and vigor to be transplanted into nursery beds for
inoculation with symbiotic fungi, further development and harden¬
ing. At the end of the growing season, the stock is available for
either fall or spring field planting.
The transplanting into nursery beds extends the period of stock
production to about 7 months. Nevertheless, past experience has
shown that this appreciably increases the field survival of seedlings.
According to the results of trials, conducted during the past three
years on cut-over areas and in partially cut forest stands, the hard¬
ened hydroponic stock showed an average survival of about 90
percent.
The production of tree seedlings in hydroponics is not without
certain economic and technical difficulties. In cold climates, this
practice requires heated and lighted growing rooms. The control of
the composition of nutrient solutions demands a constant attention
of a qualified technician. Considering these limitations, the use of
hydroponics is likely to be limited in the foreseeable future to the
160 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
production of tree seedlings for landscape plantings, A possible in¬
trusion of water cultures into forest nursery practice could be
expected only with regard to very slowly growing species which
attain plantable size in nursery beds in a period of not less than
five years.
References Cited
Carleton, E. and M. W. Swaney. 1953. “Soilless Growth of Plants.’^ Reinhold
Publ. Corp., New York.
Hewitt, E. J. 1952. “Sand and water culture methods used in the study of
plant nutrition.” Commonwealth Agr. Bureaux. Bucks, England.
Laurie, A. 1940. “Soilless Culture Simplified.” J. Wiley & Sons, New York.
Olson, R. V. 1944. The use of hydroponics in the practice of forestry. Jour.
For., 42:264-268.
Spyridakis, D. E. 1959. Growth of Tree Seedlings in Hydroponic Cultures as
Influenced by Reaction, Specific Conductance and Redox Potential. MS
Thesis, University of Wisconsin Library, Madison, Wis.
LIME AND FERTILIZER INCORPORATION FOR
ALFALFA PRODUCTION^
J. R. Love, A. E. Peterson, and L. E. Engelbert^
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Literature dealing with methods of applying lime and fertilizer
for alfalfa production indicates that very few lime placement
studies have been carried out with this important forage crop
where adequate amounts of lime were used, in spite of the fact that
alfalfa has long been known to be sensitive to acid soil conditions.
Equally incongruous is the fact that while the split application has
been most often recommended where heavy lime and/or fertilizer
applications are required (1, 5, 10, 11), no study has been reported
in which this method was compared with other methods of
placement.
The investigation reported herein was undertaken to compare the
effects of the split application method of applying lime and fertil¬
izer on alfalfa-brome hay with those where each material was
applied in a single application, either before or after plowing.
Experimental Procedure
A field experiment using farm machinery was established in the
spring of 1952 on a Spencer silt loam soil. Preliminary soil sam¬
pling in the fall of 1951 indicated the field to be uniform with re¬
spect to soil reaction, available phosphorus, and available potas¬
sium. The field was divided into 7 plots, each plot being 50 by 220
feet in size or approximately i/4 acre.
Treatments used in the experiment are shown in the accom¬
panying table.
All lime and fertilizer applications were made with a ten-foot
lime and fertilizer spreader and worked in to a depth of about 3
inches with a field cultivator. Regardless of the method of applica¬
tion each plot was cultivated the same number of times, namely,
once lengthwise and once crosswise both before and after plowing.
Following the lime and fertilizer applications the plots were seeded
with a mixture of 6 pounds of inoculated Ranger alfalfa, 6 pounds
of Canadian bromegrass, 2 pounds of red clover and 21/^ bushels of
Ajax oats per acre using a grain drill with grass seeder attach¬
ment. Soil samples were taken in the fall of the seeding year and in
1 Contribution from the Soils Dept., Univ. of Wis, Published with the approval of
the Director, Wis. Agr. Exp. Sta., Madison, Wis.
^ Associate Professors and Professor of Soils, respectively.
161
162 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
the fall of the first hay year. In each instance 16 random borings
to a depth of 8 inches were made in each plot and the correspond¬
ing one-inch segments of each of the 16 cores were composited and
oven-dried at 60° C. Each soil sample was analyzed for available
phosphorus (Truog method) ; exchangeable potassium, calcium,
and magnesium as determined with the Beckman Model DU Flame
Photometer using neutral, normal NH4AC for the extractant; and
soil reaction at saturation percentage by the glass electrode method.
In addition, tests for free carbonates were made with Patel-
modified, Collin calcimeter (7) on samples obtained in the fall of
the first hay year.
^All materials were worked in after each application.
25 tons Grade A dolomitic lime per acre (neutralizing value of 102% CaCO^ equiva¬
lent and sieve size of 92% through 8 mesh and 35% through 100 mesh).
3 1000 pounds 0-10-30 per acre
Yields and tissue samples were taken at early bloom stage shortly
before the first and second cuttings were made. The yield of hay
from each plot was calculated to 15% moisture. A sample of ap¬
proximately 50 alfalfa branches was taken at random from the
swath for chemical analysis.
Alfalfa tissue samples from both cuts of the first year hay were
analyzed for total nitrogen by the Kjeldahl method, phosphorus by
the Vanadate method, and potassium, calcium, and magnesium with
the Beckman model DU Flame Photometer. Prior to the phosphorus
and cation determinations, the tissue was digested by the perchloric
acid method and taken up in 0.4 N HCl. Alfalfa tissue samples from
both cuts of the second year hay were analyzed for total nitrogen,
potassium, calcium, and magnesium as above except that the tissue
was dry ashed at 450° C. after which the cations were taken up in
0.4 N HCl.
Alfalfa stand counts from each plot were taken at two different
dates (4/22/54 and 5/17/54) of the second hay year.
1960]
Love, et at, — Alfalfa Production
163
Results and Discussion
Effect of Method of Incorporation on Distribution of Lime
and Fertilizer in the Plow Layer
Figure 1 shows the change in soil reaction and the distribution
of phosphorus and potassium in the plow layer as influenced by the
method of fertilizer and lime incorporation. The high concentration
of potassium in the 0-1 inch depth irrespective of the method of
fertilizer application (lower graph Fig. 1) is thought to be the re¬
sult of potassium being returned to the soil surface through leach¬
ing of the mature oat plants (nurse crop) by rain and/or through
root excretion. Similar observations have been reported by Deleano
(2) and Halliday (3). That the accumulation of potassium at the
soil surface was not due to the lack of proper mixing during the
tillage operations is borne out by the fact that on the plot where
no fertilizer was used, and where an even distribution of available
potassium in the plow layer should be expected, the available potas¬
sium content of the 0-1 inch depth was more than twice that of the
next highest layer. Other evidence to indicate the upward transpo¬
sition of potassium is seen in the plots receiving fertilizer. Here it
will be noted that where all of the fertilizer was applied before
plowing there was half as much available phosphorus in the 0-1
depth as compared to the treatment where all of the fertilizer was
applied after plowing. In contrast, the method of application had
little effect on the available potassium content of the 0-1 inch layer
in these same plots. Since the phosphorus and potassium were ap¬
plied as a mixed fertilizer their distribution should have similar if
tillage and method of incorporation had been the determining
factors involved.
It will be noted that the method of applying and working in all
of the lime and fertilizer before plowing gives a fairly even distri¬
bution of the phosphate and lime (as indicated by pH) in the plow
layer. This might be expected since the furrow slice is not com¬
pletely inverted by the moldboard plow but rather leans up against
the preceding furrow. As a result when the lime and fertilizer are
plowed under they tend to be distributed somewhat vertically in
the plow layer. It is for this reason also that a disproportionately
higher concentration of lime and fertilizer is found in the upper
half of the plow layer when the application is split, since a portion
of the lime and fertilizer applied before plowing remains in the
upper part of the plowed layer when the furrow is turned. While
these data indicate that a more uniform distribution of lime and
fertilizer would result if two-thirds to three-fourths of the lime and
fertilizer were applied and worked in before plowing and the re¬
mainder after plowing, there is no data to show that this method
would be superior as far as alfalfa is concerned.
164 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Figure 1. Soil reaction and available phosphorus and potassium contents at
various depths in the plow layer as influenced by method of lime and fertilizer
incorporation. (Materials applied 4/28/52; soil sampled 10/4/52).
In addition to pH, a second method used for evaluating the dis¬
tribution of lime as influenced by the method of application was to
measure the amount of unreacted lime occurring throughout the
plow layer, (Table 1). It will be noted that the distribution of un¬
reacted lime resulting from different methods of incorporation
approximates the general pattern of lime distribution as deter¬
mined by pH measurements. These data also indicate the striking
1960]
Love, et al. — Alfalfa Production
165
influence of the method of placement on the effectiveness of the
applied lime in neutralizing soil acidity throughout the plow layer.
The 1.4 tons of lime per acre that reacted to produce an average
pH of 6.4 in the plow layer of the plot receiving the split applica¬
tion treatment is in close agreement with the laboratory results
obtained by Nimlos^ which indicate that at equilibrium 1.3 tons of
CaCOg per acre had reacted in raising the pH of Spencer silt loam
from 5.6 to 6.4, If these values are assumed to be reasonably accu¬
rate, it follows that the amount of unreacted lime obtained in the
plot where all of the lime was applied before plowing is much too
low. In this regard it should be pointed out that prominent lime
streaks were noted in the plow layer of this plot and it is believed
that this banding effect prevented representative sampling of the
unreacted lime.
TABLE 1
Effect of Method of Lime Incorporation on pH and Amount of
Unreacted Lime at Different Depths in the Plow Layer
5 tons lime per acre applied 4/28/52; soil sampled 8/28/53.
Effect of Method of Incorporation of Lime and Fertilizer
on Yield of Alfalfa-Brome Hay
The data in Table 2 indicate that it made little or no difference
in the yield of hay whether the lime and fertilizer were each ap¬
plied in one application, either before plowing (Plot 7) or after
plowing (Plot 2), or by spitting each application (Plot 3). Simi-
® Nimlos, T. J, Evaluation of the Patel and Woodruff methods of determining- the
lime requirement of a soil. M. S. Thesis, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin,
1955.
166 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
larly it will be noted that the application of 7 tons of lime per acre
(Plot 5) resulted in no additional increase in yield. The somewhat
larger 3-year total yield obtained from the treatment where the
lime was split and all of the fertilizer was applied after plowing
(Plot 1) is complicated by the fact that a shelterbelt of trees, 3
rows wide and 10 to 15 feet high, was located 50 feet from the
western border of the plot. It is believed that the higher yield from
Plot 1 is due to the entrapment of snow by the shelterbelt and the
consequent effect on the moisture supply. Alfalfa stand counts
were taken on two different dates in the spring of the second hay
year. The average of these counts revealed no difference in stand
of alfalfa due to the method of lime and fertilizer incorporation,
being an almost identical 4 plants per square foot for all of the
treated plots. The stand of alfalfa on the untreated plot averaged
1% plants per square foot. A very high percentage of the hay har¬
vested from the untreated plot consisted of quack grass and broad-
leaf weeds.
TABLE 2
Effect of Lime and Fertilizer placement on Yield of Alfalfa-brome Hay
*After = applied after plowing; Split = one-half applied before plowing and one-half
after plowing; Before = applied before plowing.
**A11 limed plots received 1,000 pounds 0-10-30 and 5 tons Grade A lime per acre
with the exception of Plot 5 where 7 tons of lime per acre were applied.
1960]
LovCy et al. — Alfalfa Production
167
Effect of Method of Incorporation of Lime and Fertilizer
on Chemical Composition of Alfalfa
The chemical composition of alfalfa in the first and second year
hay failed to indicate any difference due to method of lime and
fertilizer incorporation. The total nitrogen and base content of
alfalfa harvested from the untreated plot was less than that from
any of the treated plots. However, the application of 7 tons of lime
per acre did not increase either the nitrogen or base content over
that of the alfalfa harvested from the plots receiving 5 tons of lime
per acre regardless of the method of application.
In contrast to the correlation between soil pH and the nitrogen
content of alfalfa reported by other investigators (4), (6), the re¬
sults of this study show no such relationship in spite of differences
in the pH of the plow layer resulting from the various methods of
lime incorporation (Table 1). This disparity in the case where all
of the lime was applied after plowing (Plot 2), may be explained
by the fact that while the average pH of the plow layer was 6.1,
the pH of the upper 3 inches was 6.6. Thus it is believed that root
development and nodulation were stimulated sufficiently in the
higher pH regions to compensate for the lack of root development
in the more acid zone (8). In the treatment where all of the lime
was applied before plowing (Plot 7) some balling or banding of
the lime in the moist soil resulted and this did not give as good a
distribution throughout the plow layer as where the same amount
of lime was applied one-half before and one-half after plowing.
Although the pH of the plow layer where all of the lime was
plowed down was a very nearly uniform 6.1, it should be empha¬
sized that this represents the average value at any given depth.
This does not preclude more acid or basic zones at these depths as
has previously been reported by Purvis and Davidson (9), who also
found rather large pH differences of one unit within a radius of 1
to 2 cm. Consequently, it is thought that excellent nodule develop¬
ment occurred in the areas of higher lime concentration and
accounted for the consistently high nitrogen content of alfalfa
harvested from this treatment.
These results are somewhat in contrast to the commonly observed
fact that when the pH of a soil decreases to around 6.0 or below
alfalfa begins to lose some of its thriftiness even though phos¬
phorus and potassium may be adequate. Yet it would appear that
when sufficient lime is applied to an acid soil the alfalfa, because
of the local high pH zones, will not be adversely affected even
though the lime has not reacted sufficiently to raise the average pH
of the plow-layer above 6.0 to 6.1.
168 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
Summary
The application of one-half the lime and fertilizer before and
one-half after plowing has been considered the best method of ap¬
plying heavy amounts of lime and fertilizer to strongly acid, infer¬
tile soils prior to seeding alfalfa. However, the extra labor involved
for farmers and bulk vendors when the application of each mate¬
rial is split raises the questions of how successfully alfalfa can be
grown when all of the lime and/or fertilizer is applied at one time
and whether it is better to apply all of the lime and fertilizer be¬
fore plowing or after plowing in those cases where the applications
cannot be split.
The results obtained in a field study with alfalfa-brome grass
where 5 tons of Grade A lime and 1,000 pounds of 0-10-30 per acre
were applied by different methods to Spencer silt loam are as
follows.
All lime applied and worked in before plowing resulted in a dis¬
tribution of lime in the plow layer that more closely approximated
that of the split application than did the method of applying all of
the lime after plowing and working it in.
Regardless of the method of incorporation, the potassium con¬
tent of the surface two inches of soil sampled in the fall of the seed¬
ing year was two to four times higher than that in any succeeding
two inch depth of the plow layer. Phosphorus distribution through¬
out the plow layer was similar to that of lime.
Stand counts of alfalfa taken in the spring of the second hay
year showed no differences due to method of lime and fertilizer
incorporation.
Chemical analyses of alfalfa from both cuts of the first two years
of hay revealed no differences in composition due to method of lime
and fertilizer incorporation.
Total yields of alfalfa-brome hay for three years indicated that
it made no difference whether the lime and fertilizer were each
applied in one application (either before or after plowing) or in
two, half before and half after plowing.
Literature Cited
1, Axley, J. et al. 1951. One hundred questions and answers on liming land.
Maryland Agric. Exp, Sta, Bull, A-60 (Prepared jointly with N, J,,
N, Y, (Cornell), Ohio, and Pa, Agric, Exp, Sta,),
2, Deleano, N, T. 1952, (As quoted by E. J, Russell, Soil Conditions and
Plant Growth, p, 29, 8th Edition, Longmans, Green and Co,, N, Y.),
3, Halliday, D, j, 1948, A guide to the uptake of plant nutrients by farm
crops. Bull, 7, JealotPs Hill Research Station, England,
4, Joffe, j. F, 1920, The influence of soil reactions on the growth of alfalfa.
Soil Sci. 10:301-308,
1960]
Love^ et al. — Alfalfa Production
169
5. Johannes, R. 1951. Spencer soil can grow high quality forage. Wis. Agric.
Ext Ser, Cir. 396.
6. Lipman, J, G. and Blair, A. W. 1917. Influence of lime on yield of dry
matter and nitrogen content of alfalfa. N. J. Agric. Exp. Sta. Bull. 316.
7. Patel, D. K, and Truog, E. 1952. Lime determination of soils. Soil Sci. Soc.
Amer. Proc. 16:41-44.
8. Pohlman, G. G. 1946. Effect of liming different soil layers on yield of
alfalfa and on root development and nodulation. Soil Sci. 62:255-266.
9. Purvis, E. R. and Davidson, 0. W. 1948. Review of the relation of calcium
to availability and absorption of certain trace elements by plants. Soil
Sci. 65:111-116.
10. Thorne, D. W. and Seatz, L. F. 1955. Chap. 8, “Acid, alkaline, alkali and
saline soils, Chemistry of the Soil, Reinhold Pub. Corp., N. Y. (p. 237).
11. Whittacker, C. W., et al. 1951. Liming soils for better farming. U.S.D.A.
Farmers Bull. 2032.
DESCRIPTION AND EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF CHICK
SUB-MANDIBULAR GLAND MORPHOGENESIS^
Jack Eugene Sherman
University of Wisconsin, Madison
A number of experimental studies involving tissue interactions
during embryonic development of gland rudiments have been com¬
pleted in recent years (cf, Grobstein, 1956). Among these studies,
the embryonic sub-mandibular gland of the mouse has served to
demonstrate the importance of an epithelio-mesenchymal inter¬
action for epithelial morphogenesis (Grobstein, 1953c). With the
demonstration that certain inductive tissue interactions can cross
the class barrier between chick and mouse (Grobstein, 1955), it
seemed profitable to investigate the morphogenetic processes in the
salivary gland development of the chick embryo and the possible
relationship between components of the embryonic chick and mouse
salivary glands.
Before undertaking such an investigation, however, the descrip¬
tion of the embryonic chick sub-mandibular gland development in
situ required re-investigation. The embryonic development of the
chick salivary gland in situ is described in part I of this paper. Part
II will pertain to an experimental approach analyzing the char¬
acteristic in vitro morphogenesis and epithelio-mesenchymal inter¬
action of the embryonic chick sub-mandibular gland and the
epithelio-mesenchymal interaction resulting from the reciprocal
exchange of embryonic mouse and chick salivary components.
Part I
Development of the Embryonic Chick Sub-mandibular Gland
The only previous reference to the embryonic development of
this gland was that of Reichel (1883) who in his survey of the sali¬
vary gland of birds stated that the sub-mandibular gland of Gallus
domesticus forms on the eighth day as small spherical ingrowths
of oral epithelium into the mesenchyme of the lower jaw near the
back of the tongue and on either side of the tongue. Further de¬
scription on the embryonic development of the gland seems to be
lacking. In contrast to the dearth of information concerning the
lA thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science (Zoology), University of Wisconsin, 1960.
Supported by funds from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and in part
by research grant C— 3985 from the National Institutes of Health.
171
172 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
embryogeny of the sub-mandibular gland, considerable work has
been done on the adult sub-mandibular gland of the chicken. A
thorough histological study of the adult salivary glands of the
chicken has been completed by Calhoun (1933) who states that all
salivary glands of the fowl present the same general histological
structure. A cytological study of the adult salivary glands was
completed by Chodnik (1948) in which he discussed the relation¬
ship of Golgi material and mitochondria to the secretory activity of
the salivary epithelium. McCallion and Aitken (1953) by means
of histochemical studies have shown the distribution of basophilia,
mucus and muco-polysaccharides, acid and alkaline phosphatase,
lipase and glycogen in the anterior sub-mandibular gland of the
fowl.
Materials and Methods
Sub-mandibular glands for this study were obtained from chick
embryos produced by crosses of Bantress Cockrels with Arbor
Acre White Rock Pullets. The developmental stages examined were
Hamburger-Hamilton stages 35-46. In addition glands of four day,
three week, and adult chickens were examined. The head was re¬
moved and immersed in tyrode solution and the lower jaw and
tongue were removed to permit gross morphological observations.
Sub-mandibular glands of stages 35-42, and 44; 1 day, 4 day, and
21 day chicks; and adults were fixed in Bouin’s, serially sectioned
at 5-8 microns and stained with hematoxylin and eosin.
Results
The sub-mandibular gland of Gallus domesticus arises on the
eighth day as an invagination of the buccal epithelium into the
mesenchyme of the lower jaw. The adjacent mesenchyme has not
condensed to form the capsular structure that will eventually sur¬
round the epithelium. Simple cuboidal epithelial cells comprise the
solid invaginated structure at nine days and can be seen to possess
large nuclei which may contain several nucleoli (fig. 1, 2). By ten
days the design of growth is one of tubular elongation distally to
the mandibular symphysis and medially toward the midline of the
lower jaw. The tubular construction is a solid spherical mass of
cells with a large amount of intercellular material visible in the
central portion of the tubule (fig. 3). The epithelial cells in the
periphery of the mass appear more organized than the loosely
packed cells within the center of the mass. A concentric layer of
mesenchymal cells has begun to surround the tubular structure.
Beginning at about eleven days the tubules begin to undergo
cavitation. The lumen first appears in the older portion of the tubes
and then proceeds distally until it reaches the distal regions by fif¬
teen days. As can be seen in figure 4 the hollowing involves a more
1960] Sherman — Morphogenesis of Sub-Mandibular Gland 173
definite alignment in the cells of the tubule. Several layers of mes¬
enchymal cells now surround the tubular structures.
In late fourteen-day and early fifteen-day glands, an infolding of
the tubes takes place leading to the formation of peninsular-like
structures projecting into the lumen (fig, 5), By sixteen days this
process has produced a major change in the configuration of the
tubules leading to an increase in the area available for secretory
activity (fig, 6), The compound tubular structures now consist of a
single layer of tall prismatic cells (fig. 7) whose nuclei are oval,
darkly staining bodies located at the base of the cells. The cell size,
shape, and nuclear arrangement is very homogeneous in these late
embryonic stages.
Further development of the gland involves continued infolding
forming more tubular units whose secretions flow into a common
cavity which opens into a single common duct (fig. 8, 9), In the
adult gland the secretory cells vary in shape, size, and cell compo¬
nents, A more detailed description of the adult sub-mandibular
gland can be found in Calhoun (1933), Chodnik (1948), and Mc-
Callion and Aitken (1953),
The development of the chicken sub-mandibular gland may be
compared with the development of the sub-mandibular gland in
mammalian embryos. While both the mammalian and chick glands
arise as ingrowths of oral epithelium which subsequently become
surrounded by capsular mesenchyme, their further morphogenetic
patterns are distinctly different.
Previous comparisons of avian and mammalian glands based on
their adult structure and function have been unable to resolve the
degree of homology (cf. Heidrick, 1893). The comparison of the
embryogeny can be seen to be equally inconclusive, showing close
similarity in origin, yet drastic difference in morphogenetic pat¬
tern. An experimental approach to the question of avian and mam¬
malian salivary gland homology, based on analytical studies such as
those of Grobstein (1953c) and Borghese (1950b) on the develop¬
ing mouse sub-mandibular gland is indicated.
Part II
Experimental Analysis of Chick Sub-mandibular Morphogenesis
The tissue of the embryonic mouse and sub-mandibular salivary
gland has become a useful tool for experimental analysis of tissue
interaction. Borghese (1950a) found that the embryonic sub¬
mandibular gland of the mouse continued morphogenesis in vitro
in all but its earliest stages. He also investigated the question of
reciprocal influence of the epithelium and mesenchymal tissue on
the development of the gland (Borghese, 1950b),
174 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
3
1960]
Sherman — Morphogenesis of Sub -Mandibular Gland
175
PLATE I
Explanation of Figures
All figures are cross sections prepared
with hematoxylin and eosin.
Figure 1. Nine-day gland, x 464
Figure 2. Nine-day gland. X 1144
Figure 3. Ten-day gland, x 1144
176
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
1960]
Sherman — Morphogenesis of Sub -Mandibular Gland 177
PLATE II
Explanation of Figures
All figures are cross sections prepared
with hematoxylin and eosin.
Figure 4. Thirteen-day gland, x 1144
Figure 5. Fifteen-day gland, x 464
178 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
1960] Sherman — Morphogenesis of Sub-Mandibular Gland
179
PLATE III
Explanation of Figures
All figures are cross sections prepared
with hematoxylin and eosin.
Figure 6. Eighteen-day gland, x 120
Figure 7. Eighteen-day gland. X 1144
Figure 8. Four-day chick gland. X 120
Figure 9. Four-day chick gland. X 1060
1
1960] Sherman — Morphogenesis of Suh -Mandibular Gland
181
PLATE IV
Explanation of Figures
All figures are photographs of living cultures at the
glass-clot interface. All cultures X 50.
Figure 10. Intact portion of 12-day embryonic chick sub-mandibular gland.
Fourth day in culture.
Figure 11. Twelve-day chick sub-mandibular epithelium combined with 12-day
chick salivary mesenchyme. Fourth day in culture.
Figure 12. Twelve-day chick sub-mandibular epithelium combined with 13-day
mouse salivary mesenchyme. After four days in culture.
Figure 13. Intact 13-day embryonic mouse submandibular gland. Third day in
culture.
Figure 14. Thirteen-day mouse sub-mandibular epithelium combined with 12-
day mouse lung mesenchyme. Fourth day in culture.
Figure 15. Thirteen-day mouse sub-mandibular epithelium combined with 12-
chick salivary mesenchyme. Fourth day in culture.
182 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences ^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Grobstein (1953a) using a slightly different experimental tech¬
nique showed that the sub-mandibular gland of the mouse at the
earliest recognizable stage is capable of normal morphogenesis. By
treatment of the gland with trypsin, Grobstein (1953a) found it
possible to cleanly separate the mesenchymal and epithelial compo¬
nents of the gland. When the epithelia were cultured alone they
either spread into thin sheets or underwent swelling or cavitation
and produced cysts. Recombining the epithelium with capsular
mesenchyme allowed normal morphogenesis. In later work Grob¬
stein (1953c) demonstrated conclusively that characteristic mouse
sub-mandibular gland morphogenesis occurs only when the epi¬
thelial portion is in direct combination with living mouse sub¬
mandibular capsular mesenchyme. Combined with other mesen-
chymatous tissue the epithelium did not spread or undergo mor¬
phogenesis but remained as an inactive rounded mass or an inflated
cyst.
In part I of this paper it was demonstrated that the embryonic
chick sub-mandibular rudiment also consists of an epithelial por¬
tion surrounded by a zone of thickened mesenchymatous tissue
although the developmental pattern of the gland is different from
that of the mouse sub-mandibular gland. From these observations
certain questions were brought to mind. Would the embryonic chick
sub-mandibular gland cultured in vitro undergo characteristic
morphogenesis and could this be demonstrated to be dependent
upon epithelio-mesenchymal interaction ? This being true what mor¬
phogenetic pattern would result from the reciprocal exchange of
mouse and chick salivary mesenchyme?
It was felt that these studies might yield information concern¬
ing the intensity and gradation of response associated with the for¬
mation of an organized pattern within a tissue system. Such infor¬
mation may be useful in the quest of an analytical system relative
to the problem of tissue interaction in developmental processes.
Materials and Methods
Salivary glands for the experimental study were obtained from
10 and 12 day chick embryos from crosses of Bantress Cockerels
with Arbor Acre White Rock Pullets and from 13 day mouse em¬
bryos produced by crosses of BALB/c females with C3H males.
Rudiments were removed essentially according to the procedure
outlined by Grobstein (1953c) , Dissections were performed in horse
serum-tyrode solution (1:1) and tissues were stored in an atmos¬
phere of 5 percent CO2 in air during the operative procedures.
Salivary mesenchyme was obtained by cutting away the outer por¬
tion of the capsular mesenchyme ; the remaining mesenchyme was
removed from the epithelium by use of trypsin according to the
1960] Sherman — Morphogenesis of Sub -Mandibular Gland 183
procedures of Grobstein (1953a), These procedures allowed the
epithelium to be cleanly separated from the mesenchymal portion.
Culture procedures used were essentially those of Grobstein
(1955). Plasma clot cultures were made by orienting pieces of
mesenchyme around the epithelial portion of the gland in a clot¬
ting mixture of adult chicken plasma and nutrient medium (1:1),
The nutrient medium consisted of tyrode solution, horse serum, and
9"day chick embryo juice (2:2:1) to which antibiotics were added.
After clotting, one ml, of nutrient medium was added as a super¬
natant ; this was changed every other day. Cultures were incubated
at 37.5 C. in an atmosphere of 5 percent CO 2 saturated with water
vapor. Cultures were maintained for four days and only cases that
were healthy and scoreable at the end of the culture period were
included in the results.
Results
I, Investigations on the epithelial morphogenesis of
the chick salivary gland
Intact portions of 10, 12, and 14 day chick sub-mandibular
glands were cultured in vitro (fig. 10). The pattern produced in all
cases was elongation and increase in size of the epithelial compo¬
nent. The mesenchyme remained in close proximity to the epithe¬
lium and did not undergo abnormal spreading. All three stages
yielded a morphogenetic pattern similar to that seen in sitti (cf.
part I).
The isolated epithelium was explanted in combination with sev¬
eral pieces of capsular mesenchyme and by the first day in culture
the mesenchyme had fused to surround the epithelium. The activ¬
ity of the epithelium in recombination was compared with the epi¬
thelium cultured in isolation (Table 1). In 12 out of 15 cases in¬
volving the 10-day epithelia, characteristic morphogenesis was
demonstrated while in the three remaining cases the epithelia
spread between the pieces of mesenchyme before the mesenchyme
could surround them. Epithelia cultured in isolation spread rapidly
forming thin sheets. In the 12-day recombinations characteristic
morphogenesis was evident in all cultures (fig. 11) while the epi¬
thelia cultured in isolation underwent random spreading.
These results suggest that the mesenchyme plays an active role
in chick salivary epithelial morphogenesis in vitro,
II. Morphogenesis in vitro of mouse salivary epithelium (table 2)
The 13-day mouse sub-mandibular gland has been well analyzed
in vitro by Borghese (1950a and b) and Grobstein 1953a, b, and c) .
The results described here are merely confirmatory and are cited
only to serve as comparisons for the heterospecific exchanges dis-
TABLE 1
Effect of Mesenchyme From Various Sources on the Chick Sub-mandibular Epithelial Rudiment
184 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
o o o o
O O O
I
{
U]
u
CC
D
o
03
-OT! V
c/) CO " «
£ £ ^ CO ^
1 1 ? c
CO CO _D
O <D
^ ^ OT OT
O O O D p
O O
uuuSSu
t CO
O tu
. CO
O <
ZU
cXOOOrOOOO
roO'OooO'w-NCSOr^
O0'Oc30v£)r^00 00
r<i ' — '
'Partial morphogenesis
1960] Sherman — Morphogenesis of Sub -Mandibular Gland 185
cussed in section III. When the intact sub-mandibular gland of the
13-day mouse embryo is isolated in vitro the epithelium undergoes
characteristic morphogenesis consisting of epithelial elongation
and subsequent formation of branched adenomeres. The trypsin-
isolated epithelium recombined with its capsular mesenchyme ex¬
hibits characteristic morphogenesis (fig. 13). When trypsin-isolated
epithelial rudiments are recombined with non-salivary mesen¬
chyme e.g. mouse lung mesenchyme (fig. 14), mouse limb bud, or
chick limb bud, the epithelial rudiments round up and show no in¬
dication of morphogenesis. Epithelial rudiments cultured in isola¬
tion undergo random spreading or round up into inactive spherical
masses. These results confirm the findings of Grobstein (1953c)
that only mesenchyme from the same rudiment type as the epithe¬
lium appears to be able to support characteristic morphogenesis.
III. Investigation on the interaction between mouse
and chick salivary gland components
Twelve-day chick salivary mesenchyme was cultured in combina¬
tion with trypsin-isolated mouse salivary epithelium (Table 2). An
influence ranging from rounding to growth to partial morpho¬
genesis of the epithelium was observed. A general effect of round¬
ing up was exhibited in 9 of 26 cases. In 5 out of 26 cases the epi¬
thelium did not round up or demonstrate partial morphogenesis but
did elongate and increase in size. Partial niorphogenesis, the forma¬
tion and maintenance of one or more adenomeres that usually form
on the second day in culture and do not undergo further branch¬
ing, was illustrated in 12 out of 26 cases (fig. 15) . This effect of the
12-day chick salivary mesenchyme is rapidly lost when precultured
for 24 hours.
In additional experiments involving the combination of 10-day
chick salivary mesenchyme or 5-day chick limb bud mesenchyme
with mouse salivary epithelium different results were obtained. It
was found that these mesenchymes did not produce any degree of
morphogenesis but instead caused a rounding up of the epithelial
rudiments.
These experiments demonstrate that 13-day mouse salivary epi¬
thelium in combination with 12-day chick salivary mesenchyme
can result in partial morphogenesis, a result not duplicated by other
mesenchymes tested.
Twelve-day trypsin isolated chick salivary epithelium was cul¬
tured in combination with 13-day mouse salivary mesenchyme
(Table 1). The epithelium rudiments showed no sign of morpho¬
genesis but merely rounded up (fig. 12). A similar result was ob¬
tained when non-salivary mesenchyme of the mouse e.g. 11-day
lung mesenchyme or non-salivary mesenchyme of the chick e.g.
186 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
9-day bursae mesenchyme was cultured with the 12-day chick sali¬
vary epithelium.
Whether or not the mesenchymes tested have exhibited only a
general mesenchymal effect or if there is any further degree of
specificity involved is a difficult question to ascertain. The chick
salivary epithelium in its characteristic morphogenesis does not
demonstrate as dynamic a pattern as that seen in the mouse sali¬
vary epithelium but merely exhibits an increase in size and elonga¬
tion. An intermediate phase of such a pattern would be difficult to
detect.
Discussion
The data presented here demonstrate that the chick salivary
mesenchyme plays an active role in chick salivary epithelial mor-
progenesis in vitro. Apparently the interaction between the mesen¬
chyme and epithelium of the embryonic chick salivary gland is
operationally similar to that seen in the mouse salivary system (cf.
Grobstein, 1953c) i.e. an interdependency of the mesenchyme and
epithelium exists leading to a characteristic morphogenetic pat¬
tern. The pattern resulting from interaction of the two chick sali¬
vary gland components in vitro appears to be characteristic and
similar to that seen in the intact gland in situ. The properties that
are essential for permitting characteristic morphogenesis appar¬
ently are possessed only by the chick salivary mesenchyme since
heterogenous mesenchyme leads to rounding up and/or spreading.
The characteristic pattern exhibited by the chick epithelium is dif¬
ferent from that seen in the mouse in that there is no adenomere
formation and mainly involves tubular elongation. The interde¬
pendency of the epithelium and mesenchyme exhibited in the
chick salivary gland parallels to some extent other epithelial-
mesenchymalinteractions in the embryonic chick (e.g. Gruenwald,
1952; Zwilling, 1956; Saunders, Cairns, and Gasseling, 1957) and
in the embryonic duck (e.g. Gomot, 1958).
With the demonstration that chick and mouse tissues could in¬
teract in vitro (Grobstein, 1955) and that an intimacy at the cel¬
lular level could be established between chick and mouse cells (Mos-
cona, 1957), it seemed valid to analyze the in vitro morphogenesis
resulting from combinations involving the components of mouse
and chick salivary glands.
The experimental results suggest that epithelial morphogenesis
involves three relatively distinct phases: rounding, growth and
elongation, and specific patterning. The first phase of epithelial
morphogenesis could be thought of as an anti-spreading effect, sig¬
nificant in maintaining or establishing the organization of the epi¬
thelial component which is essential to morphogenesis (Grobstein,
1960] Sherman — Morphogenesis of Sub-Mandibular Gland 187
1953c) . This effect seems to be relatively non-specific in that it is
shared by mesenchyme in general and is even exhibited by killed
mesenchyme. The universality of this phase in situ as well as in
vitro as a preliminary to morphogenesis can not be overemphasized.
The second phase of morphogenesis, growth and elongation, is
demonstrated by the effect of 12-day chick salivary mesenchyme on
mouse salivary epithelium. In this situation the mesenchyme
allows more than a rounding up of the epithelium and in some
cases promotes a pattern which is similar to but not as distinct as
the characteristic morphogenetic pattern. This therefore represents
an intermediate phase of mouse salivary epithelial morphogenesis.
This pattern exhibited by the mouse salivary epithelium when com¬
bined with 12-day chick salivary mesenchyme is similar to that pro¬
duced when mouse salivary epithelium is combined with precul¬
tured mouse salivary mesenchyme (Grobstein, 1953c). Grobstein’s
description of the precultured mouse salivary mesenchyme also fits
the appearance of the 12-day chick salivary mesenchyme, both tis¬
sues being less dense and less cohesive than normal 13-day mouse
salivary mesenchyme. The fact that 10-day chick salivary mesen¬
chyme is even less cohesive than 12-day chick salivary mesenchyme
may, in this sense, account for its inability to do more than sup¬
port rounding of the epithelium. It is possible then, that the archi¬
tecture of the mesenchyme is important in determining the degree
of morphogenesis.
The third phase of morphogenesis is complete characteristic pat¬
terning resulting from the combination of epithelium with its spe¬
cific mesenchyme. This is a readily definable and recognizable
phase of development which has been analyzed in a large number
of epithelio-mesenchymal interactions (see review by Grobstein,
1956).
The effect of chick salivary mesenchyme on mouse salivary epi¬
thelium may be one involving intensity (quantity) and/or speci¬
ficity (quality) of morphogenetic factors. The chick salivary mes¬
enchyme may be able quantitatively to support morphogenesis of
mouse salivary epithlium to a certain point only, thus resulting in
partial morphogenesis. The similarity between chick salivary mes¬
enchyme and mouse precultured salivary mesenchyme is, in this
sense, highly suggestive. On the other hand it is possible that the
action of the 12-day chick salivary mesenchyme on mouse epithe¬
lium is qualitatively distinct from that of the mouse salivary mesen¬
chyme. That epithelio-mesenchymal interactions involve a great
degree of specificity has been amply demonstrated (see review by
Grobstein, 1956) , and the suggestion has been made that a variety
of mesenchymes may have differing effects on a given epithelium
(Auerbach, 1960) ; further, experiments involving exchange of
188 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
mesenchyme between species (Zwilling, 1956; Chen and Baltzer,
1954) demonstrate the possibility of an intermediate pattern.
The role of the epithelium in salivary gland morphogenesis must
also be considered. Clearly, the contribution is an active one, as
demonstrated by the differing morphogenetic responses of chick
and mouse epithelia to the same mesenchyme. The present study,
then, serves to emphasize the exceeding complexity of tissue inter¬
active processes.
Summary
1. The in situ development of the embryonic chick sub¬
mandibular gland has been described.
2. Twelve-day intact embryonic chick sub-mandibular gland
rudiments continue characteristic morphogenesis in vitro.
3. Trypsin isolated 12-day chick salivary epithelia when recom¬
bined v/ith autogenous mesenchyme demonstrate characteristic
morphogenesis.
4. The morphogenetic pattern resulting from the reciprocal ex¬
change of mouse and chick salivary mesenchyme has been described.
Twelve-day chick salivary mesenchyme exerts an effect on the
mouse salivary epithelium that is not readily duplicated by other
mesenchyme tested. The reciprocal combination involving mouse
salivary mesenchyme and chick salivary epithelium results only in
a generalized mesenchymal effect.
5. The results are discussed in relation to the possible phases
involved in epithelial morphogenesis and in terms of the nature of
the epithelio-mesenchymal interaction in general.
Acknowledgments
I wish to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to Dr.
Robert Auerbach for his patience and continued guidance in this
investigation and for giving so generously of his time and to Wil¬
liam D. Ball for his technical help.
I would also like to express my appreciation to the Wisconsin
Alumni Research Foundation for the financial support of this
research.
Literature Cited
Auerbach, R. 1960. Morphogenetic interactions in the development of the
mouse thymus gland, Dev. Biol., 2:271-284,
Borghese, E. 1950a. Explanation experiments on the influence of the connec¬
tive tissue capsule on the development of the epithelial part of the sub¬
mandibular gland of Mus musculus. J. Anat., 84:303-318.
- . 1950b. The development in vitro of the submandibular and sublingual
glands of Mus musculus. J. Anat., 84:287-302.
1960] Sherman — Morphogenesis of Sub -Mandibular Gland 189
Chen, P. S. and F. Baltzer. 1954. Chimarische Hatfaden nach Xenoplas-
tichem Ektodermaustausch zwischen Triton nnd Bombinator. Wilhelm
Roux’ Arch. Entwicklungsmech. Organ., 149:214-258.
Chodnik, K. S. 1948. Cytology of the glands associated with the alimentary
tract of domestic fowl (Callus domesticus). Quart. J. Microscop. Sci.,
89:75-87.
Gomot, L. 1958. Interaction ectoderme — mesoderme dans la formation des in¬
vaginations uropygiennes des Oiseaux. J. Embry ol. Exptl. Morphol., 6:162-
170.
Grobstein, C. 1953a. Analysis in vitro of the early organization of the rudi¬
ment of the mouse sub-mandibular gland. J. Morph., 93:19-44.
- . 1953b. Inductive epithelio-mesenchymal interaction in cultured organ
rudiments of the mouse. Science, 118:52-55.
- . 1953c. Epithelio-mesenchymal specificity in the morphogenesis of
mouse sub-mandibular rudiments in vitro. J. Exp. ZooL, 124:383-413.
- . 1955. Inductive interaction in the development of the mouse meta-
nephros. J. Exp. ZooL, 130:319-340.
— - . 1956. Inductive tissue interaction in development. Advances in Cancer
Research, 4:187-234.
Gruenwald, P. 1952. Development of the excretory system. Ann. N. Y. Acad.
Scl, 55:142-146.
Heidrich, K. 1905. Die Mundschlundkopfhohle der Vogel und ihre Drusen.
Morph. Jahrb., 37:39-43.
McCallion, D. j. and H. E. Aitken. 1953. A cytological study of the anterior
submaxillary glands of the fowl, Gallus domesticus. Canadian J. of ZooL,
31:173-178.
Moscona, a. 1957. The development in vitro of chimeric aggregates of disso¬
ciated embryonic chick and mouse cells. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. Wash.,
43:184-194.
Reichel, P. 1883. Beitrag zur Morphologie der Mundhohlendrusen der Wirbel-
thiere. Morph. Jahrb., 8:1-72.
Saunders, J. W., J. M. Cairns, and M. T. Gasseling. 1957. The role of the
apical ridge of ectoderm in the differentiation of the morphological struc¬
ture and inductive specificity of limb parts in the chick. J. Morph., 101:
57-88.
ZwiLLiNG, E. 1956a. Reciprocal dependence of ectoderm and mesoderm during
chick embryo limb development. Amer. Nat., 90:257-265.
- . 1956b. Genetic mechanisms in limb development. Cold Spring Harbor
Symposia Quant. Biol., 21:349-354,
THE SAXEVILLE METEORITE
William F. Read
Lawrence College, Appleton
Standard catalogs of meteorites list an ‘‘iron with silicate inclu¬
sions'' from the vicinity of Saxeville in Waushara County, Wiscon¬
sin. Slices and fragments are preserved in various major collec¬
tions, but no general description has hitherto been published. This
study is based on 236 grams in the collection at Lawrence College.
A brief history of the meteorite is given, followed by observations
on its composition and structure. The metallic portion consists
mainly of granular-octahedral Ni-Fe, with scattered blebs of
schreibersite and troilite. Stony portions show a crystalline mosaic
structure and consist of about 46% pyroxene, 32% olivine, 0.5%
plagioclase, and 21.5% Ni-Fe and troilite. No chondrules have been
observed. The metal seems to be in the form of a vein, or veins, in¬
truded along fractures in the stony material and to a limited extent
replacing it.
History
Prior's “Catalogue of Meteorites" (Prior, 1953) lists a specimen
from Waushara County, Wisconsin, known as the “Pine River", or
“Saxeville". It is described as an “octahedrite with silicate inclu¬
sions". The mass as found is said to have weighed 3600 grams (3.6
kg.), but only 687 grams are accounted for in major collections:
236 grams in the U. S. National Museum; 110 grams in the Chicago
Natural History Museum; 58 grams in the S. H. Perry collection;
and 283 grams in the H. H. Nininger collection.
This meteorite was found many years ago by Mr. D. M. Waid, a
farmer living about five miles southwest of Saxeville. According to
Mr. Alanson C. Kimball of Pine River (personal communication),
Mr. Waid, then a young man, was driving a team of horses along
the “Old Back Road" between Saxeville and Waupaca. He had
stopped to rest the team somewhere near the east end of Long Lake
(Section 8, T 20 N, R 12 E) when his attention was attracted by a
dark, rusty-looking rock lying beside the road. It was so unusual
in appearance, and so heavy for its size, that he put it on the wagon
and brought it back to the family farm. As a boy, Mr. Kimball fre¬
quently visited the Waid farm. He saw the meteorite lying in the
woodshed, where it was used as an anvil for cracking hickory nuts.
It was originally “about the size of a watermelon", but gradually
succumbed to oxidation and abuse, and crumbled into fragments.
191
192 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Mr. Glen D. Waid, a nephew of D. M. Waid who subsequently
inherited the farm, agrees in general with Mr. Kimball’s story but
says (in a letter to the writer dated March 3, 1960) that the mete¬
orite measured about 5x5x6 inches before it started to fall apart.
In 1932, Mr. Kimball was a student at Lawrence College and
attended a lecture on the subject of meteorites by Professor Rufus
M. Bagg of the Geology Department. What he heard reminded him
of the strange rock on the Waid farm, and he decided to go and see
if it was still there. All that could be found at this time were three
very rusty chunks, which were lying about the yard. These were
brought back to Professor Bagg, who identified them as fragments
of a meteorite.
One of these chunks, weighing 1166 grams, has remained in the
Lawrence College collection ever since. The other two were cut up
with a diamond saw and distributed to various museums and pri¬
vate collectors. A last remnant from the sawing remains in the
Lawrence collection. This is a piece of 220 grams bounded by saw
cuts on two sides. We also have ten small fragments amounting to
16 grams.
A number of points in the foregoing story merit further consid¬
eration. In the first place, if the locality of the find as given by Mr.
Kimball is correct, the appropriate name for this meteorite is
''Saxeville”, rather than “Pine River” — the Saxeville post office be¬
ing about three miles from the discovery site, whereas Pine River
is at a distance of five miles.
The latitude and longitude of the find as given in Prior’s Cata¬
logue (N 44° 8'; W 89° 5') is inexact. This is the location of a point
about five miles south and two miles west of Pine River. The lati¬
tude and longitude of the “Old Back Road” adjacent to the east end
of Long Lake is N 44° 13'; W 89° 6'.
The date of the find (1931) as given by Prior is more nearly the
date of recognition. The exact date of the find is unknown. How¬
ever, the finder, D. M. Waid, was about 80 years old in 1949 accord¬
ing to a letter received by the writer from Glen D. Waid in October
of that year. If D. M. Waid was “a young man” (say, 25 years old)
when he found the meteorite, as both Mr. Kimball and the nephew
agree, then the date of the find must have been around 1894. (Mr.
Waid himself died soon after 1949, so the exact date of his discov¬
ery — if he himself recalled it — will probably never be known.)
Prior’s data concerning the date and location of the find, and the
total weight of material collected, were presumably borrowed from
an earlier brief notice concerning this meteorite in A. D. Nininger’s
“Third Catalog of Meteoritic Falls” (1940). The information given
here was apparently obtained from the U. S. National Museum, and
it may reasonably be assumed that the National Museum was sim-
1960]
Read — Saxeville Meteorite
193
ply reporting information obtained, either directly or indirectly,
from Professor Bagg.
As regards the weight of material originally collected, it seems
probable that the figure ‘'3.6 kg.” represents the combined weight
of the three fragments brought in by Mr. Kimball. Unfortunately,
it now appears that two of these fragments were not pieces of the
meteorite at all. The large chunk (1166 grams) in the Lawrence
College collection was recently sectioned and found to consist
mainly of garnet and amphibole, with no visible particles of either
Ni-Fe or troilite. It seems likely that this is just a rusty piece of
metamorphic rock. Mr. R. N. Buckstaff of Oshkosh has in his col¬
lection a sawed fragment of the “Pine River meteorite”, received
from Professor Bagg, which is identical in appearance with the
garnet-amphibole rock in the Lawrence collection. Since the latter
was uncut, it appears that two of the three original fragments were
actually metamorphic rock, and only one a meteorite. The original
weight of this one genuine fragment is unknown — probably less
than two kilograms.
The present known distribution of the meteorite is as follows :
Lawrence College
220 g. Sawed block
16 Small, stony fragments
Buckstaff collection
275 Slice
30 Small, stony fragments
U. S. National Museum
182 Slice?
32 Slice?
22 Slice?
58 Slice?
H. H. Nininger collection
130 Slice
British Museum (Natural History)
140 Slice
Chicago Natural History Museum
102 Total — probably one slice
Milwaukee Public Museum
134 Slice
This gives a known total of 1341 grams. The “metamorphic” frag¬
ment in the Buckstaff collection has not, of course, been included.
Differences between the distribution shown above and that given in
Prior’s Catalogue are explained in part as follows : The 58 grams
listed in Perry’s collection by Prior went to the U. S. National Mu¬
seum, increasing their total from 236 to 294 grams. Nininger cut
in half the 283-gram specimen ascribed to him by Prior and traded
one piece (140 grams) to the British Museum, retaining 130 grams
for his own collection.
194 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Figure 1. Two polished surfaces of the Saxeville meteorite. In the diagrams at
the right, blank areas represent Ni-Fe; dots, stony material; vertical lines,
schreibersite; solid black, troilite; short diagonal lines, Ni-Fe with abundant
minute dark inclusions.
1960]
Read — Saxeville Meteorite
195
Description
Figure 1 shows details revealed by polishing the two sawed sur¬
faces of the 220-gram specimen in the Lawrence collection. These
two surfaces are at right angles to each other, with the right side
of surface A adjoining the left side of surface B.
The lower half of both surfaces is stony, with only minor seams
and patches of metal. The upper half shows angular fragments of
stone in a metallic matrix. From the statements made by Mr. Kim¬
ball and Mr. Glen Waid to the effect that the meteorite ‘'crumbled
away’’ as it lay exposed in the woodshed, it seems likely that the
metallic portion was originally enclosed in a considerably larger
mass of stony material, and so was vein-like in character. Smaller
veins may have been present in some of the fragments that
flaked off.
The stony material is heavily iron-stained and presents a uni¬
form dark brown color on sawed and polished surfaces. Thin sec¬
tions reveal a crystalline mosaic, made up mainly of very small
granules, but with occasional irregular patches of larger crystals.
Figure 2 is a tracing made from a photomicrograph. In this small
field, the mineral composition is :
Orthorhombic pyroxene _ — 45.6 percent
Olivine _ 32.1
Plagioclase feldspar _ .5
Opaques _ 21.8
Determination of grain boundaries, and in some cases identification
of the mineral present, is rendered difficult by the prevalence of
limonite stain. For this reason, Rosiwal analysis of larger areas of
thin section has not been attempted. The percentages given above
are probably fairly representative.
Grain boundaries shown in figure 2 are not necessarily the orig¬
inal crystal boundaries. In many cases, adjoining grains of the
same mineral show only slight differences in optic orientation and
are probably fragments resulting from the crushing of originally
larger crystals. Undulatory extinction is common.
The feldspar shows distinct polysynthetic twin lamellae of uni¬
form width. There is no evidence of zoning. So much material
would have to be crushed in order to obtain a sufficient quantity of
the feldspar for determination of its indices of refraction by immer¬
sion that this method of establishing its precise composition has not
been attempted.
The paragenetic sequence is obscure. Plagioclase grains are en¬
closed by pyroxene and are probably early. The wedging out of some
pyroxene crystals between rounded grains of olivine suggests that
the olivine is also early. The olivine-feldspar relationship is not
196 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Figure 2. Tracing of photomicrograph of stony portion of the Saxeville
meteorite, showing boundaries of silicate grains. White is pyroxene; grey,
olivine; parallel lines, feldspar; cross-hatched, a hole in the thin section; black,
opaque minerals. Area shown measures 1 x 1.4 mm.
Figure 3. Etched surface of Saxeville specimen at the Milwaukee Public
Museum, showing structure of the metal.
1960]
Read — Saxeville Meteorite
197
clear. Some of the opaque grains appear to be early, since they are
enclosed by single crystals of silicate minerals; others are appar¬
ently late, filling spaces between the olivine and pyroxene grains.
The opaques have not been studied in detail. They appear to be
Ni-Fe and troilite. No chromite has been noted.
No chondrules have yet been recognized, and evidence of original
fragmental structure is lacking. In general, the texture resembles
that of terrestrial periodotites,
A conspicuous feature of the metallic portion of the specimen
illustrated in figure 1 is the network of dark grey limonitic vein-
lets dividing the Ni-Fe into roughly ovoidal, or polyhedral grains.
This network shows most distinctly on surface A, The limonite
also has a tendency to form narrow borders along contacts between
metal and silicate masses. Occasional irregular veinlets run through
the silicates.
Figure 3 shows an etched surface of the 134-gram specimen at
the Milwaukee Public Museum — which happens to be dominantly
metallic. As suggested by the pattern of limonite veinlets in the
specimen shown in figure 1, most of the metal is in the form of
irregular granules half a centimeter or less in length. Locally, how¬
ever, there are distinct bands of kamacite arranged in an octa¬
hedral pattern. These bands are rarely more than three or four
millimeters long, and their width is less than a millimeter.
The small area of metal measuring 1.2 by .8 cm. at the top of
surface A, figure 1, was etched prior to final polishing and studied
in some detail. This shows octahedral structure with bands of kama¬
cite between .3 and .7 mm. in width (fine to medium octahedrite).
An irregular border of kamacite about .5 mm. wide separates the
metal with octahedral structure from adjoining masses of silicate.
Thin strips of taenite separate the kamacite bands. No plessite
fields were observed in the area etched.
S. H. Perry shows a number of interesting photomicrographs of
metallic portions of the Saxeville meteorite in his paper on 'The
Metallography of Meteoric Iron” (Perry, 1944). He remarks (page
127) that “This iron . . . might be provisionally designated as an
atypical coarsest octahedrite with accessory silicates.” Apparently
the octahedral structure in Perry's material is much coarser than
that described above. According to Dr. E. P. Henderson of the U. S.
National Museum (personal letter to the writer dated January 12,
1960), there are many more photomicrographs of this meteorite in
a 9-volume album of photomicrographs of meteoritic iron prepared
by Perry for various major museums. These the writer has not seen.
Figure 1 shows the presence of small, irregular patches of
schreibersite scattered through the metallic portion of the speci¬
men. Eight or nine such patches are readily seen on surface A, and
198 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
there are five or six on surface B. Almost invariably, the screiber-
site is outlined by a narrow border of limonite. Some cohenite may
be associated with the schreibersite ; no tests were made for this
mineral. Troilite also occurs in small patches about equal in num¬
ber, and similar in size and shape, to those of schreibersite. How¬
ever, the troilite patches are not limited to the metallic portion of
the meteorite, but occur also in a stony matrix.
Most contacts between silicate masses and metal are frayed and
highly irregular in detail. The impression given is that metal has
replaced silicate. This impression is strengthened by the form of
the metallic veinletwhich traverse the lower, stony portions of the
two polished surfaces shown in figure 1. Their uneven width cer¬
tainly does not suggest simple fracture filling.^
Acknowledgments
Dr. E. P. Henderson of the U. S. National Museum very kindly
read the first draft of the writer’s manuscript, checked his descrip¬
tion of the polished surfaces shown in figure 1, and made a number
of very helpful suggestions based on his knowledge of this and
other meteorites. Dr. A. L. Howland of Northwestern University
examined the thin sections of stony material, estimated the per¬
centages of various minerals present, and pointed out various cri¬
teria for identifying them. The writer’s indebtedness to both of
these gentlemen is gratefully acknowledged. However, they are by
no means to be held responsible for such errors and inadequacies
as this paper may now contain. Sincere thanks are also due to Mr.
John D. Hankey of the Institute of Paper Chemistry for the prepa¬
ration of a number of excellent photomicrographs, one of which
was selected as a basis for the writer’s figure 2.
References Cited
Nininger, a. D., 1940. Third catalog of meteoritic falls (SRM 183-321) re¬
ported to the Society for Research on Meteorites: Popular Astronomy,
vol. 48, p. 556.
Perry, S. H., 1944. The metallography of meteoric iron: United States National
Museum Bull. 184.
Prior, G. T., 1953. Catalogue of meteorites, 2nd ed., revised by M. H. Hey.
British Museum, London.
1 Since this paper was written, Dr. Brian H. Mason of the American Museum of
Natural History has examined the minerals in a frag-ment of stony material obtained
from Mr. Buckstaff in Oshkosh. Dr. Mason finds the pyroxene to be very nearly pure
enstatite, with a gamma index close to 1.664. The olivine is close to forsterite. (Per¬
sonal communication)
BIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL ASPECTS OF THE
DEVELOPMENT OF POLYARTERITIS
IN RATS*
Peter M. Sanfelippo, James C. Perry, Nancy B. Perry, and
John G. Surak
Marquette University, Milwaukee
It has been demonstrated by numerous investigators (1, 2, 3)
that estrogens exert a deleterious effect on the reproductive sys¬
tems of male vertebrates. Perry (4, 5) has demonstrated that treat¬
ment with follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) subsequent to the
estrogen treatment results in polyarteritis nodosa in six to twelve
months. Polyarteritis nodosa is an acute and sometimes recurrent
disease of unknown etiology which occurs in higher chordates and
man. It is frequently fatal and occurs at any age. The condition has
been considered as due to infections, toxins, viruses, and allergies.
It has been demonstrated that treatments which produce stress con¬
ditions result in the development of polyarteritis nodosa in labora¬
tory animals. Rich and Gregory (6) have produced polyarteritis in
rabbits after treatment with sulfanilamide. Selye and associates (7)
have produced polyarteritis nodosa in rats by employing unilateral
nephrectomy followed by high salt and protein diets and treatment
with certain pituitary and adrenal hormones. Zondeck and others
(8, 9) have demonstrated that treatment of rats with estrogen
results in production of pituitary neoplasms.
In this work, the biological and biochemical aspects of the devel¬
opment of polyarteritis nodosa produced by hormonal treatment
have been studied.
Methods
The animals used in this investigation were adult male rats of
the Holtzmann strain. They were divided into three groups. One
group was maintained as controls and placebos to be used in estab¬
lishing norms for the various studies.
Another group received 01. milliliter injections of estradiol pro-
prionate (Ovocylin-Ciba, 1 mg/ml) subcutaneously every other day
until ten injections had been received. These were immediately fol¬
lowed by 0.1 milliliter injections of FSH (Armour-300 gamma/ml)
every other day until a total of ten had been received.
* Paper read at the 90th annual meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters. This study was supported in part by a grant from the Committee
on Growth and Cancer, Marquette School of Medicine.
199
200 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Earlier studies (4, 5) indicated that an altered pituitary is the
site of the disease. The present work is, in part, concerned with
evidence in support of this hypothesis. Polyarteritis nodosa does not
develop in hypophysectomized animals treated with estrogen and
FSH either before or after pituitary removal. Therefore the third
group received homotransplants of pituitary tissue in which poly¬
arteritis was developing. The method employed was as follows:
pieces of pituitary tissue were excised from afflicted animals under
aseptic conditions and inserted into the cerebral hemispheres of
normal host rats by means of a trocar, which consisted of a large
needle and stilet.
All three groups were maintained on a commercial ration and
water, both ad libitum.
The criteria for the diagnosis of polyarteritis nodosa were as
follows. (1) The presence of grossly visible nodules along the
courses of greatly thickened arteries, particularly the mesenteric
and splenic arteries, was taken as positive evidence of the existence
of polyarteritis, provided that histologic sections revealed the char¬
acteristic pathology of the malady. (2) In the absence of grossly
visible appearances, skip serial microscopic sections stained with
hematoxylin and eosin were made from the testes, pancreas, thy¬
mus, and likely intestinal regions. The presence of numerous typi¬
cally polyarteritic arterioles in these organs was considered as
positive evidence of a response.
In addition to the previously mentioned histological studies, serial
sections of pituitary glands stained with hematoxylin and eosin
were made routinely and checked for the presence of neoplastic
alterations. Serial sections of one adrenal gland from each animal
were checked for the presence of adenomata. Alternate glands
were chromated and checked to determine whether the tumors were
of cortical or medullary origin.
Blood was obtained at sacrifice by rapid exsanguination from the
jugular vein. During the development of polyarteritis, blood speci¬
mens could be obtained without sacrificing the animals by bleeding
them from the caudal vein.
The relative serum protein fractions were determined by anal¬
ysis with the Spinco Model R Durrum type cell, Whatman 3MM
filter paper was used as the supporting medium. The buffer was
prepared from standard Veronal buffer of ionic strength 0.075 to
which NaCl was added to bring the total ionic strength to 0.10 and
the pH to 8.45. The buffer was also made 0.2% (v/v) with respect
to the non-ionic detergent Sterox SE. Ten microliter serum sam¬
ples were separated for 24 hours at a constant voltage of 120 volts.
The temperature of the cell was maintained at 10-15° C. during
the entire separation. Following the separation, the electrophoreto-
1960] Sanfelippo et al.— Polyarteritis Nodosa in Rats 201
grams were heated for 30 minutes at 120° C. to denature the pro¬
teins. A modification of the standard clinical bromphenol blue tech¬
nique, for the specific staining of the separated protein fractions,
was employed. Excess dye was removed by three washes in 5%
acetic acid, followed by a wash in a sodium acetate-acetic acid
buffer which restores the basic color of the bromphenol blue. The
strips are then scanned with the Spinco Model RA Analytrol which
photoelectrically scans the dye uptake along the length of the elec-
trophoretogram. Subsequent integration of the areas under the
peaks of the resulting curves permit the calculation of the relative
concentrations of the separated fractions. Serum lipoprotein
fractions were determined on 20 microliter samples of serum by
means of the same procedures of separation as outlined above. For
the identification of the separated lipoprotein fractions, the method
of Strauss and Wurm (10), which uses Fat Red 7B as a selective
stain for lipoproteins and lipids, was used. Photoelectric scanning
and integration of the areas under the curves were performed to
determine the relative serum lipoprotein fractions.
Total serum proteins were determined on 0.1 milliliter serum
aliquots using the Biuret reaction as routinely employed in clinical
laboratories.
Analyses of serum sodium and calcium were performed employ¬
ing standard clinical techniques which use the Coleman Model 21
flame photometer.
Standard clinical procedures were also employed for the analyses
of serum chloride and inorganic phosphate phosphorus using a
photovolt colorimeter.
Results
As early as four months and up to twelve months after comple¬
tion of treatment, the animals became afflicted with the disease.
Those that survived were sacrificed when they appeared to be near¬
ing the terminal stages of the disease. At autopsy there was noted
a definite testicular tubular atrophy. In addition there were noted
the existence of extensive nodulation of the arterioles of the testes,
alimentary canal, pancreas, and thymus. With the passage of time
the larger arteries of these organs became involved. Sections of the
spleen, lymph nodes, and even hypertrophied hemolymph nodes in
the animals revealed large numbers of macrophages laden with
brown staining granular pigment, which because of certain tests
for iron is tentatively considered to be hemosiderin.
The pituitaries of the animals developing even incipient poly¬
arteritis nodosa became hypertrophied and exhibited as much as
a ten-fold increase in weight and volume compared with normal
pituitaries. Approximately 50% of the animals had in their pitui-
202 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
taries tumorous cell with many of the morphological characteristics
of malignancy. To date there has been no observed metastasis of
the tumorous cells to the other organs.
A consistent and readily detectable indication of the onset of the
syndrome was found in the appearance of adrenal cortical ade¬
nomata. These tumors account for enlargement of the glands to
two or more times normal volume.
The study on the relative serum protein fractions is summarized
in table I. In the albumin values, the rats sampled during the devel¬
opment of the disease had 70% of the relative concentration of
albumin observed in the normal rats. The rats that had received
pituitary implants had 50% of the normal concentration of albumin
at sacrifice and rats in the terminal stages of the disease had 40 %
of the normal concentration of albumin.
TABLE 1
The alpha globulins of rats developing the disease were 115%
normal value. The rats in the terminal stages of the disease had
110% of normal and the rats with implants had 70% of the normal
value for alpha globulin.
Rats in the terminal stages of the disease had beta globulin values
120% of the normal value. The rats with implants and the rats
developing the disease had beta globulin values which were about
normal.
1960] Sanfelippo et al. — Polyarteritis Nodosa in Rats
203
P4-2 ESTROGEN AND FSH TREATMENT
Albumin
SERUM PROTEINS
Figure 1,
204 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Figure 2.
1960] Sanfelippo et aL— Polyarteritis Nodosa in Rats
205
X7.2 NORMAL P
SERUM LIPOPROTEINS
Figure 3.
206 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Both rats with implants and those in the terminal stages of the
disease had gamma globulin values 200% of normal. The rats devel¬
oping the disease had gamma globulin values 150% of normal.
Figures 1 and 2 are typical separations of normal serum and
sera from the three experimental groups.
Figure 3 indicates typical separations of lipoproteins from the
sera of these rats. The lipoproteins of the normal rat serum are
distributed among three electrophoretic fractions — the alpha, beta,
and neutral fractions. Rats developing the disease lack an alpha
lipoprotein fraction and possess only the beta and neutral fraction.
The same observation can be made for the rats with implants.
Rats in the terminal stages of the disease do not possess an alpha
or beta lipoprotein fraction. We found only a neutral lipid fraction.
In table I are also listed the values for the total serum protein
content in gm %. For rats in the terminal stages of the disease,
the mean value for the total serum protein content is about the
same as the value in the normal sera. Rats with implants had a
total serum protein value 115% of the normal. The rats in which
the disease was developing had a value 130% of normal value.
TABLE 2
Table 2 lists the results of the electrolyte studies. The rats in the
terminal stages of the disease had an increase of 7 % in their mean
serum sodium value. The rats in which the disease was developing
had 9% increase and the rats with implants had 15% increase in
serum sodium values from normal.
With regard to the serum calcium values, no significant varia¬
tions were observed among the rats in which the disease was devel¬
oping, those with implants, and the normal rats.
1960] Sanfelippo et at. — Polyarteritis Nodosa in Rats 207
The rats in which the disease was developing had an increase of
18% over the normal value for inorganic phosphate phosphorus.
There was an increase of 8% over the normal in serum chloride
values in rats in which the disease was developing and a decrease
of 8% compared with the normal in the rats in which pituitary
tissue had been implanted.
Discussion
With regard to the biological facets of this investigation, it is
first to be noted that the hormonal injection procedure, which
essentially sets up an endogenous stress situation, produces poly¬
arteritis nodosa in adult male rats in four to twelve months after
the completion of treatment. This lends strong support to the thesis
that polyarteritis is due to the existence of an endocrine stress
within the subject. Because of the observed increase in total serum
protein in rats in which the disease was developing, which increase
accompanies decreases in albumin concentration and increases in
the globulin concentrations, we should like to suggest that there is
occurring an antibody reaction to the administered FSH and/or
increased amounts of adrenalcorticotrophic factors of normal or
abnormal nature emanating from the neoplastic pituitaries.
The results of the lipoprotein studies suggest that the tumor cells
of the pituitaries and adrenals selectively metabolize lipoproteins.
Such selective metabolism parallels a similar observation by Kent
and Gey (11) that tumor cells growing in vitro selectively metabo¬
lize serum glycoproteins.
The results of the electrolyte studies parallel results obtained by
Friedman et al (12) which indicate similar abnormalities in ani¬
mals receiving cortisone. Such abnormalities have long been asso¬
ciated with pituitary adrenalcorticotrophic secreting pituitary
tumors. These results suggest that the polyarteritis nodosa may
very well be a reaction secondary to a primary reaction which is
the development of pituitary neoplasms.
Conclusions
1. Polyarteritis nodosa can be successfully induced in normal
male rats by treatment with estrogen and FSH.
2. Polyarteritis nodosa can be successfully induced in normal
male rats by the implantation into the hosts of pituitary tissue
from afflicted animals.
3. The serum protein distribution in the experimental animals
in which polyarteritis had or was developing was characterized by
decreased concentrations of albumin and increasing concentrations
of the globulins, particularly gamma globulin.
208 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
4. The serum lipoprotein distribution in the experimental ani¬
mals indicated a growing loss of lipoprotein fractions with the
development of the affliction.
5. The total serum protein content was elevated in the rats with
implants and the rats in which the disease was developing, but
unaltered from normal in the rats in the terminal stages of the
disease.
6. The serum sodium was increased in all experimental classes.
7. The serum calcium was unchanged from the normal values in
the groups studied.
8. The serum phosphate phosphorus was increased in the rats in
which the disease was developing.
9. The serum chloride was increased in the rats in which the
disease was developing and decreased in the rats with implants.
References
1. Zondeck, B. Clinical and Experimental Investigations on the Genital Func¬
tions and Their Hormonal Regulation. Williams & Wilkins Co., Balti¬
more, 1941.
2. Moore, C. R. and Price, D. Am. J. Anat. 50, 13 (1932).
3. Selye, H. and Friedman, S. Endocrinology. 28, 28 (1941).
4. Perry, J. C. Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 89, 200 (1955).
5. Perry, J. C. and Perry, N. B. Arthritis and Rheumatism. 1, 244 (1958).
6. Rich, A. R. and Gregory, J. E. Bull. Johns Hopkins U. 72, 65 (1943).
7. Selye, H. J. Clin. Endocrinol. 6, 117 (1946).
8. McEuen, C. S., Selye, H., and Collip, J. B. Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med.
40, 241 (1939).
9. Zondeck, B. Lancet, 230, 776 (1936).
10. Straus and Wurm. Am. J. Clin. Path. 29, 581 (1958).
11. Kent and Gey, Science. 131, 1040 (1960).
12. Friedman, S. M., Polley, J. R. and Friedman, C. L. J. of Exptl. Med.
87, 329 (1948).
ERRATA— VOLUME XLVIII (1959)
The following changes should be made in the article :
Fleas Collected from Cottontail Rabbits in Wisconsin
Glenn E. Haas and Robert J. Dicke
p. 129, first line of paragraph beginning Behavior on host — Insert
word “Not'' before word “unlike."
p. 131, fifth line of paragraph beginning Disease — change “(1949)
reported that fleas . . to read “(personal communica¬
tion, 1956) reported that our fleas . .
p. 131, eighth line of paragraph beginning “The spores . . de¬
lete the words “in ethenol."
209
ARTS AND LETTERS
211
CAMUS SPEAKS OF MAN IN PRISON*
Robert F. Roeming
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The accidental death of Albert Camus on January 4, 1960 at the
age of forty-seven defined the limits of his literary works, 'Tt is
from death that they receive their definitive meaning'' he wrote in
the ''Myth of Sisyphus"J Some manuscripts, unpublished and in¬
complete, remain to be incorporated in the total artistic creation of
this French author to whom the Nobel Prize was awarded in 1957.
The last complete literary work of Camus is the volume of six short
stories entitled "Exile and the Kingdom/' which was published in
1957. The first two stories had appeared singly, "The Adulterous
Woman" in 1954^ and "The Renegade" in 1956.3 The two lectures
delivered by Camus in Sweden in December, 1957, complement this
book by defining the responsibility of the artist in contemporary
society.^
In an earlier analysis of "The Fall," it was demonstrated that
the concept of the judge-penitent of Camus limits man, as the cause
of his own suffering and guilt, to judging the responsible exercise
of freedom in others only if he has completely denied his own self-
interest. "Humanity to move upward toward the summits must be¬
come its own judge-penitent. The democracy of guilt will engender
between men that solidarity which will enable them to continue the
quest for harmony with life,"®
This concept of the judge-penitent and its attendant stigma of
guilt postulates man as a prisoner who must come to terms with his
little-ease, his "malconfort". Camus regarded this "instrument of
torture of the Middle Ages, the cell in which a man could neither
stand nor lie down, as the restriction which encompasses man and
makes him realize his guilt."®
In spite of the opinion of M. Gaetan Picon that "Exile and the
Kingdom" does not emanate directly from "The Fall'V even though
* Paper read at the 90th Annual Meeting- of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts and Letters.
1 Albert Camus, “Le Mythe de Sisyphe” (Paris, Gallimard, 1942), p. 155,
2 Cf. Roger Quilliot, “La Mer et les prisons” (Paris, Gallimard, 1956), p. 271.
® Cf. John Cruickshank, "Albert Camus and the Literature of Revolt” (London,
Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 237.
^Albert Camus, “Discours de Sudde” (Paris, Gallimard, 1958).
® Robert P. Roeming, “The Concept of the Judge-Penitent of Albert Camus”, TRANS¬
ACTIONS of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, XLVIII (1959),
p. 148.
«Ibid., p. 147.
’Gaetan Picon, “Lettres”, MERCURE DE PRANCE, CCCXXX, (May, 1957), p. 129:
“ ‘L’Exil et le Royaume’ ne r^pond nullement a ‘La Chute,' ne s’ajoute pas a elle
213
214 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
the latter was originally conceived as a short story to be included
in this volume, each of the stories is a variation on this theme of
man accommodating himself to his little-ease. The prisoner of the
Middle Ages was isolated in his cramped cell not only to make resti¬
tution through punishment but also through enforced meditation
to gain a full realization of his guilt. Without hope of immediate
escape he was to bring his own life into meaningful harmony with
spiritual values which transcended the confines of his cell. The cell
itself was designed to distort man and divest him of his physical
dignity so that from such humility he could rise with transcendent
spiritual dignity. In the same manner man is portrayed in these
stories as a prisoner who must find the spiritual meaning of his
apparently hopeless confinement.® This paradox of despair as the
source of hope is the extension of Camus’ philosophy of the absurd
and its fundamental manifestation expressed in man’s aspiration
for the eternal and his subordination to duration and death.
As he did in previous works, especially in “The Fall”, Camus
continues by means of the stories in “Exile and the Kingdom” to
interpret Judeo-Christian concepts in terms of his liberal human¬
ism. As such these stories are parables, each of which adds to his
analysis of the state of man.^ The title of each story “The Adulter¬
ous Woman”, “The Renegade”, “The Silent Men”, “The Guest”,
“The Artist at Work”, and “The Growing Stone” is symbolic of
the exile to which man in various physical manifestations can be
candemned. Without referring to the detail of these six stories, the
outlines of the philosophy which unites them can be delineated.
Camus regarded any art form as a means of philosophical,
humanistic expression. “A profound thought”, he wrote, “is in a
continuous state of development, it is wed to the experience of a
life and is fashioned in it. Likewise, the unique creation of a man
fortifies itself in the successive and multiple appearances which are
his works. ... No doubt a series of works can only be a series of
approximations of the same thought.”^®
oomme le seg-ment au segment pour composer la ligne : mais oppose une tentative de
plenitude aux r^ussites de I’abstraction.” (“Exile and the Kingdom” in no way corre¬
sponds to “The Pall,” does not connect itself to it like one segment to another seg¬
ment in order to form a line : but opposes an attempt at completeness to the successes
of abstraction.)
8 Cf. Albert Camus, “L’ Artiste et son temps” in “Discours de Suede”, p. 70: Je crois
qu’il [I’espoir] est au contraire suscite, ranime, entretenu, par des millions de soli¬
taires dont les actions et les oeuvres, chaque jour, nient les frontieres et les plus
grossieres apparences de I’histoire, pour faire resplendir fugitivement la v6rite toujours
menaoee que chacun, sur ses souffrances et sur ses joies, Sieve pour tous. (I believe
that it [hope] is on the contrary roused, revived, maintained by millions of solitary
individuals whose actions and whose works, each day, deny the frontiers and the most
scurrilous appearances of history in order to have constantly menaced truth, which
each one on his sufferings and his joys raises up for all, shine forth brightly though
fleetingly.)
» Cf. Ibid., p. 64 : Chaque grande oeuvre rend plus admirable et plus riche la face
humaine, voil^ tout son secret. (Every great work renders the face of man more ad¬
mirable and more precious, that is its entire secret.)
^0 “Le Mythe de Sisyphe”, pp. 154 and 155.
1960]
Roeming — Man in Prison
215
Since a parable alludes to the truth rather than stating it in
finite terms, it is a most suitable art form for the probing intelli¬
gence of Camus. He believed that “truth is mysterious, elusive,
always to be won anew.'’^ Definitive truth is to him an instrument
of evil. In the story “The Renegade’’ the hate-filled priest who will¬
ingly became the servant of the tyrannical Fetish realized this when
in telling his story he states his conviction that “solely the reign of
malice is devoid of defects, I had been misled, truth is square,
heavy, thick, it does not admit distinctions, good is an idle dream,
an intention constantly postponed and pursued with exhausting
effort, a limit never reached, its reign is impossible. Only evil can
reach its limits and reign absolutely.’’^ As if, therefore, to empha¬
size his conviction that the ultimate truth of life is still to be won,
Camus has composed these stories in a manner which causes his
contemporaries to seek their meaning with effort equal to that with
which they were wrought.
“Exile and the Kingdom” reinterprets the fundamental concept
of the Old and New Testaments that man is an exile excluded from
the Kingdom of God because of his sinful nature and can only be
redeemed through the sacrifice of a blameless victim. Though he
denies the existence of God and through this denial the concept of
sinful nature, Camus, nevertheless, regards man as an exile, a pris¬
oner isolated and shut out from the community of man by his de¬
liberate or inadvertent cruelty. This cruelty may often be caused by
man’s inability or conscious refusal to accept responsibility for an¬
other human being or to take a positive action in his behalf when
the occasion to do so presents itself.^^ The latter is true in the case
of Daru, a schoolmaster alone on a winter enclosed plateau, who,
having been given custody of an Arab prisoner and not convinced
of his guilt, neither harbors him nor secures his freedom, but sets
him on the path that leads to the prison and then returns to his soli¬
tude. Similarly, the sullen and silent coopers forced to return to
work after their strike had failed could not find a word to comfort
the employer, whose child had just died.
The fundamental characteristic of human life in these stories is
solitude. All the protagonists are spiritually alone. Though they
may spend their days among other men, the presence of these in-
^ Albert Camus, “Speech of Acceptance upon the Award of the Nobel Prize for Lit¬
erature, December 10, 1957” (New York, Knopf, 1958), p. XII.
^Albert Camus, “Exile and the Kingdom,” translated by Justin O’Brien (New
York, Knopf, 1958), p. 54,
^ Again and again Camus emphasized the point that abstention is an exercise of
responsibility. In “The Fall” Clam§nce’s refusal to aid the drowning woman did not
relieve him of responsibility. In “L’ Artiste et son temps” he said, “A partir du moment
oh I’abstention elle-meme est consideree comme un choix, puni ou loue comme tel,
I’artiste, qu’il le veuille ou non, est embarque. Embarque me parait ici plus juste
qu’ engage.” (“From the very moment that abstention itself is considered as a choice,
criticized or praised as such, the artist, whether he wishes it or not, is embarked.
Embarked seems to me more correct than engaged.” “Discours de Suede”, p. 26.
216 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
creases this solitude. In fact in such cases it is forged from such
associations. The physical random juxtaposition of men in the daily
activities of life without spiritual communication is an aimless wan¬
dering among phantoms. These formless masses, whether they be
Arabs shrouded in their burnooses, Negroes operating a river
ferry in the heart of Brazil, or the numerous flattering disciples of
an artist, all pass through these stories accentuating the solitude
of the individual because he is excluded from an appreciation of
them as men and recognizes them only as “faces that seemed cut out
of bone and leather.”^^
The more intimate relationships of human beings do not miti¬
gate this solitude. Through them man only assumes the function of
a necessary mirror by which the ego of another can be identifled
and a constant awareness of it maintained. The wife of the artist
Jonas centered all her own interests around those she judged to be
his. Marcel, the husband of the adulterous woman, by a reverse
process considered his wife only from his own limited business in¬
terests and she assumed in his eyes the role of a business associate.
In both cases external evidence indicates that solidarity between
husband and wife had been achieved. Yet the maintenance of this
solidarity only accentuates the lack of fulflllment which the indi¬
vidual senses from the void within him. “Immense solitudes were
whirling within her”^® expresses the experience of all the
characters.
This solitude is a source of evil in two respects. It is a source of
power for man whose natural inclination is to enslave. The wife
reduces her artist husband Jonas to a state of incapacity to create
by being constantly solicitous about his well being. The solitude
which separates the condemned Arab from the schoolmaster Daru
gives the latter power to send him on his way to death.
This solitude is evil also because it is sterile. It reduces man to
impotence and deprives him of his freedom. This sterility is exem¬
plified by the city of salt in the story ‘The Renegade.'’ Without spir¬
itual contact with man the individual sees life only as black and
white. The city of salt has only these two colors accentuated by the
dazzling sun. But this truth like salt cannot be productive since it
is based on emotion not logic and can be dissipated like salt in the
rain when it is subjected to scrutiny. This sterility breeds cruelty
because it seeks to destroy the exercise of free minds, to cut out
tongues so that man, like the renegade, is reduced to servile actions
and bestial tongueless babblings.
Camus has thus established a thesis which is expressed in varia¬
tions in the six stories. Man is a prisoner of space and time. The
14 “Exile and the Kingdom”, p. 13.
JSIbid., pp, 26 and 27.
1960]
Roeming—Man in Prison
217
economic and social forces of his environment restrict his freedom,
which is the only power for good at his disposal. These restrictions
continue to intensify his self-interest, which in essence is a refusal
to accept responsibility in behalf of his fellowman. His desire to
make his own life meaningful in terms of the restrictions which his
environment imposes increases his solitude and deforms him as a
human being. He becomes cramped in his little-ease and yet cannot
escape its rigid walls. The solitude he has forged reduces his once
free mind to sterile activity like that of an automaton.
Camus evokes this sterile state of imprisoned and solitary man in
numerous images. When Janine entered the hotel room she “felt
the cold coming from the bare, whitewashed walls. She didn’t know
where to put her bag, where to put herself. She had either to sit
down or to remain standing, and to shiver in either case, . . . She
was aware only of her solitude, and of the pentrating cold, and of a
greater weight in the region of her heart.”^® In the heart of Brazil
the French engineer D’Arrast experiences the same solitude in a
contrasting environment. “This land was too vast, blood and sea¬
sons mingled here, and time liquefied. Life here was flush with the
soil, and, to identify with it, one had to lie down and sleep for years
on the muddy or dried-up ground itself. Yonder, in Europe, there
was shame and wrath. Here, exile or solitude, among these listless
and convulsive madmen who danced to die.”^^ The artist who built
a small loft in the hallway so that he could find a place to work
“was not painting, but he was meditating. In the darkness and this
half-silence which, by contrast with what he had known before,
seemed to him the silence of the desert or of the tomb, he listened
to his own heart. The sounds that reached the loft seemed not to
concern him any more, even when addressed to him,”^®
The schoolmaster Daru experiences the same indifference to man.
Forced to accept an Arab prisoner as his guest for the night he
must share his room with him, “In this room where he had been
sleeping alone for a year, this presence bothered him. But it both¬
ered him also by imposing on him a sort of brotherhood he knew
well but refused to accept in the present circumstances.”^®
The mind of man, however, revolts against this sterile confine¬
ment, the absurd prison of time and space. In the vast kingdom of
man the individual is but a small insignificant particle. Camus had
native roots in the infinity of space. In his Algerian homeland he
had the vast sea to the north and the boundless desert to the south.
The infinite is the source of his inspiration and his optimism.
Boundless space, the vastness of the starry night, the intensity of
“Ibid., p. 14.
17 Ibid., p. 198.
18 Ibid., p. 152-153.
1® Ibid., p. 102.
218 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
silence are the symbols of freedom, of the power of the mind to
unite with the universe.
The kingdom which man must seek in order to liberate himself
from his little-ease is without time and space. It is solidarity with
the whole human race. It is the realization of participating as a free
man in the quest for elusive truth. ‘‘Since the beginning of time,”
Camus says to imprisoned man, “on the dry earth of this limitless
land scraped to the bone, a few men had been ceaselessly trudging,
possessing nothing but serving no one, poverty-stricken but free
lords of a strange kingdom.”^^
This kingdom is open to man if he will sacrifice himself, which
is in essence his self-interest, accept responsibility for his fellow
and suffer with him. The solidarity of mankind is, therefore, ab¬
surdly forged by his own cruelty since he is the cause of his own
suffering.2^ 'YMs the engineer D’Arrast learned when he took on his
own head the heavy stone which the Brazilian had vowed to carry
in the religious procession but could not. In sharing this burden
after having tried to avoid responsibility in deciding the fate of the
drunken Chief of Police, he found a new kinship with the natives.
That he had been recognized as a brother is verified by the simple
command : “Sit down with us.”^^
This then is the exhortation that Camus addresses to man, with¬
out reference to time or space. “Cast off that hate-ridden face, be
good now, we were mistaken, we’ll begin all over again, we’ll re¬
build the city of mercy. . . . Yes, help me, that’s right, give me
your hand. . .
These words of Camus “give me your hand” and “sit down with
us” emphasize his consistent devotion to his humanistic ideals and
fulfill his definition of art. “No master work,” he said in a talk he
gave in Turin in 1954, “has ever been based on hatred or contempt.
On the contrary, there has never been a work of true art that has
not in the end added to the personal freedom of everyone who has
known and loved it.”^^
20 Ibid., p. 24.
21 Cf. Claude VigSe, “Albert Camus : I’Errance entre I’Exil et le Royaume,” La Table
Ronde (February, 1960) p. 125: Tel nous apparait done, dans son oeuvre, le mirage
du Royaume : lieu de la fraternite partagee entre les hommes et le monde, conquise
sur I’absurde par un sacrifice de soi redempteur, ou par une participation sans
reticence au sacrifice d’autrui, comme nous enseigne I’histoire de “La Pierre qui
pousse”. . . . (Such then the mirage of the Kingdom appears to us: a place of brother¬
hood [a brotherhood which is] shared among men and the world, won over the absurd
by a sacrifice of oneself as redeemer, or by participation without reservation in the
sacrifice of another, as the story of “The Growing Stone” teaches us. . . .)
22 “Exile and the Kingdom”, p. 213.
23 Ibid., p. 61.
21 Quoted from Albert Maquet, “Albert Camus: (New York, Braziller, 1958), p. 198:
The same sentence is repeated in “L’Artiste et son temps”, p. 58 : “Mais aucune oeuvre
de genie n’a jamais 6te fondee sur la haine et le mepris.”
CALM BETWEEN CRISES: PATTERN AND DIRECTION IN
RUSKIN^S MATURE THOUGHT*
Robert Kimbrough
University of Wisconsin, Madison
In the spring of 1870, after the excellent reception of his first
lecture as the first Slade Professor of Fine Arts at Oxford, John
Ruskin wrote to his mother, 'T really think the time has come for
me to be of some use.”^ Six months earlier, upon enthusiastically
accepting his appointment to the new chair, Ruskin had written to
his friend Sir Henry Acland, “The last ten years have ripened what
there was in me of serviceableness, and chastised much of my hasty
stubborn and other foolish, or worse, faults. . . . For instance, I
now recognize in Tintoret faults before entirely hidden from me,
because I can now measure him by standards I then [when finish¬
ing Modern Painters'] knew not, and because my own character is
more formed.''^
Such calm self-criticism would have seemed strange coming from
the still maturing, impetuous author of Modern Painters and The
Stones of Venice,^ However, Ruskin had turned fifty in 1869; his
famous books on art were ten years behind him ; and in the 1860’s
he had been busy forming his ideas on ethics and sociology. By
1870, his marriage was a thing forgotten; for a number of years
he had been reconciled to Rose La Touche’s refusal; and, although
his father was dead, his mother was still alive. After 1870 Ruskin
was to be distracted by his many and varied projects as well as to
be troubled by his frequent and prolonged mental breakdowns. But
coming just as his thought was reaching full maturity, the Oxford
appointment afforded Ruskin an opportunity to ‘sum-up’ before
an intelligent audience. It should not be surprising, then, that he
said his Inaugural Lectures on Art were “the most important piece
* Paper read at the 90th Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts and Letters.
1 Letter dated 16 February 1870, The Works of John Ruskin . . . , eds. E. T. Cook
and Alexander Wedderburn, 39 vols. (London, 1903-12), XX, xlviii. Further quota¬
tions are from this edition which will be cited as Works.
2 Letter dated 19 August 1869, Works, XX, xix-xx. See also Wm. Hardman, A
Mid-Victorian Pepys: the Letters and Memoirs of Sir William Hardman, ed. S. M.
Ellis (London, 1923), p. 95, and E. T. Cook, Works, XX, xlviii.
^ For an excellent account of the development of Ruskin’s maturing thought, see
Francis G. Townsend, Ruskin and the Landscape Feeling: a Critical Analysis of His
Thought During the Critical Years of His Life, 1843—56, Illinois Studies in Language
and Literature, XXXV, No. 3, Urbana, 1951.
219
220 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
of my literary work done with unabated power, best motive, and
happiest concurrence of circumstance/'^
A return to academe is not very dramatic. It is hardly^^bio-
graphically engaging as Ruskin's earlier turn from arC^^thics
after The Stones of Venice and the last volumes of Modern PMnters.
Yet for those whose interest is either in the main Victorian writers
as prophets and thinkers or in main Victorian habits of mind, this
later turning point in Ruskin's life ought to prove much more sig¬
nificant. Ruskin believed that the Slade Professorship was his first
responsible position ; hence, he wrote his Inaugural Lectures with a
new self-conscious care and seriousness.^ As a result here can be
found a convergence of the diverse movements of Ruskin's thought,
early and late; here more cogently than elsewhere he adjusted and
corrected previous ideas at the same time that he introduced new
ones. The lectures, thus, attained a consistency not usually asso¬
ciated with Ruskin and in them for the first time can be seen how
his ideas on morality, art, and ethics follow one upon another.
(This statement should not be taken to mean that Ruskin was
consistent in the way that a philosopher tries to be consistent, nor
does it imply that Ruskin was conscientiously any more logical than
is the average well-educated man. Yet it does rest on the assump¬
tion that a high native intelligence educated by experience brings
to a true maturity a sound basis upon which thought can be ana¬
lysed, refined, and built. Needless to say, insight and reflection can
work together productively without knowing how or caring why.)
This study, then, will attempt to show the general pattern and
overall direction of Ruskin’s mature thought as expressed in his
Inaugural Lectures on Art. Although it will emphasize his final
ideas on art and ethics, his basic philosophy of life will have to be
suggested first because for Ruskin art and ethics “are founded on
the same primal order."® Then, because Ruskin’s social schemes
simply did not work, it will be helpful to see where his ideas on
ethics went astray, so that we may view his last years of frustra¬
tion and distraction with somewhat fuller understanding. But above
all, analysis of the interrelationship of Ruskin's thought on man,
art, and ethics may stand as an exemplum to major ideas and moods
which run throughout the Victorian period.
4 Works, XX, 13. See also, pp. xviii-xlix for E, T. Cook’s account of Ruskin’s pleas¬
ant and dedicated first years at Oxford,
® See his comments, Works, XX, 47, 49, 60 n,, 61 n., et passim. Citations in the text
will be from Vol. XX which contains these lectures and Aratra Pentelici, the fall lec¬
tures, which will be used to clarify and support the spring lectures.
8 The Laws of Fesole (1879), Works, XV, 467.
1960]
Kimbrough — Ruskin’s Mature Thought
221
I
Ruskin’s general philosophy was ‘‘moral” ; his writings are
crowded, and perhaps clouded, by the repetition of the words
moral, morals, and morality. The NED attests that each of these
words has escaped, historically, constant or single definition, and
Ruskin’s writing is a perfect example of the fact because he, like
all of us, used the words loosely. But we can see that he understood
their basic significance when he said that morality is ''an instinct
in the hearts of all civilized men'' which enables them to “acknowl¬
edge, instinctively, a relation of better and worse, and a law
respecting what is noble and base.”^
The human ability to distinguish good from bad, and to choose
correctly or wrongly is, of course, the traditional humanistic con¬
cept which allows reason to become operative as the guiding force
in life. But Ruskin did not believe in the Aristotelian idea of war¬
ring passions or in the Christian idea of the recurring curse of
original sin. With him, as with Wordsworth and the intuitional
philosophers, man was born fundamentally good and pure: “There
is no black horse in the chariot of the soul. . . . They [the human
instincts] are all good” (88). Hence, goodness, not reason, was for
Ruskin the basic human attribute which gives meaning to and actu¬
ates morality. And it must be noted that for Ruskin who was no
professional philosopher the words good, noble, courageous, gentle,
and great were synonymous.^
With Ruskin as with Socrates and a myriad of others, the first
step in morality was to “know thyself.” However, because of his
basic assumption concerning the nature of man, he adapted that
humanistic dictum to : “the first thing we should want to know [is],
what stuff we are made of — how far we are . . . good, or good for
nothing.” And the way to find out is to apply this test : if you knew
beyond doubt that you would die in seven days and had no knowl¬
edge of, or belief in, an hereafter of any sort or condition, then,
“the manner in which you would spend the seven days is an exact
measure of the morality of your nature.” If your natural goodness
were strong, you would, first, “set your affairs in order” and, then,
provide “for the future comfort ... of those whom you loved,”
because, in support of goodness, man has two main instincts, pow¬
ers, or energies through which goodness is enlarged : “the energies
of Order and of Love.” This test, then, defines Ruskin’s basic phi-
'i Works, XX, 49, 268. See also Yal D’Arno (1873), Works, XXIII, 131, where Ruskin
repeats this view when summarizing his moral philosophy, and where he quotes Carlyle
and Kant on the “miracle” of man’s instinctive feeling for right and wrong. (The
italics here and throughout the quotations are Ruskin’s ; when revising his works, he
emphasized what he believed were his most important ideas.)
® Cf. the usage in Bertram Morris, “Ruskin on the Pathetic Fallacy, or How a
Moral Theory of Art May Fail,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art \Criticism, XIV
(December 1955), 248-266.
222 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
losophy of innate human goodness supported and enlarged by an
exercise of the instincts for order and love, for the test “will mark
to you the precise force, first of your absolute courage [i.e., basic
goodness] , and then of the energy in you for the right ordering of
things, and the kindly dealing with persons.’’
Because this definition of morality might seem abrupt and lim¬
ited, I should like to quote at some length what Ruskin said further
about the “energies of Order and of Love” in practice :
Now, where those two roots are set, all the other powers and desires
find right nourishment, and become, to their own utmost, helpful to others
and pleasurable to ourselves. And so far as those two springs of action
are not in us, all other powers become corrupt or dead; even the love of
truth, apart from these, hardens into an insolent and cold avarice of
knowledge, which unused, is more vain than unused gold.
These, then, are the two essential instincts of humanity: the love of
Order and the love of Kindness. By the love of order the moral energy
[of goodness] is to deal with the earth, and to dress it, and keep it; and
with all rebellious and dissolute forces in lower creatures, or in ourselves.
By the love of doing kindness it [goodness] is to deal rightly with all sur¬
rounding life. And then, grafted on these, we are to make every other
passion perfect; so that they may every one have full strength and yet be
absolutely under control.”
Thus Ruskin’s philosophy of life was : know that you are basically
good, pure, and noble and that, by following the laws of love and
obeying the laws of universal order, you may become Good, Noble,
and Great. As Ruskin said in 1883 in a sentence which he called the
heart of his moral philosophy, morality begins, and consists “to the
end, in truthful knowledge of human potver and human worth [i.e.,
the moral attribute of goodness] ; in respect for the natural claims
of others [i.e., love] ; and in the precision and thoroughness of our
obedience to the primal laws of probity and truth [i.e., order]
II
Ruskin’s philosophy of art follows easily from his general philos¬
ophy simply because an artist is a man. For Ruskin, the picture is
the measure of the artist, and to adapt Milton’s version of the
classical maxim, he who would be a great artist, ought himself to
be a true picture. That is, to be great, art must be “the work of man¬
hood in its entire and highest sense” ; it must be “the expression
of a mind of a God-made great man”^'^
But to be a good man is one thing and a great artist is another.
The connecting point, as Ruskin had early discovered, is the cre-
® Works, XX, 85-88. Ruskin said in 1877 that the passages here summarized and
quoted were central to all his writings on morality (Works, XVIII, 204).
10 The 1883 Preface to Modern Bainters, II, Works, IV, 6. See also, Works, XX, 91-93,
and The Bible of Amiens (1884), Works, XXXIII, 173.
The Stones of Venice, Works, XI, 201 ; Modern Painters, III, Wo7'ks, V, 189.
1960]
Kimbrough — Ruskin’s Mature Thought
223
ative imagination of the artist,^^ Hence his definition of the imagi¬
nation is just as basic to his philosophy of art as was his definition
of goodness to his moral philosophy. What ties the two areas of
inquiry together is the fact that the imagination is the “highest
faculty of the human mind” which sees “the eternal difference be¬
tween good and evil” (52-53). Because it is morally grounded in
goodness the imagination was to follow the moral energies of order
and love. The pull of order on the imagination leads to art created,
as Aristotle said, “in accordance with true reason” the pull of
love leads to harmony and beauty (55, 90, 207-209, and 298). Thus
the artistic imagination contains highly refined Aristotelian reason
which sees truth through order, and a sharply defined instinct for
beauty because “beauty is exactly commensurate with the imagina¬
tive purity of the passion of love” (90). Imagination, then, is both
“noble and truhtseeking” (242).
But how does an artist with a noble and truthseeking imagina¬
tion actually go about creating beauty and truth? Again with
echoes of “know thyself,” Ruskin said that “the first morality of a
painter, as of everyone else, is to know his business” (81). As a
result he naturally must first have the “skill” of painting what his
morally rooted imagination has seen in the order of life. Then he
must subdue subjective emotion to the discipline of external form,
because only through form can the “truth” of life be shown (95
and 265-271). The artist has to pierce through flux and appearance
to imitate the permanent order and essential forms of nature. Not
by proceeding now in the subjective manner of Modern Painters
but only by being guided by the Aristotelian principle of imitation
can the artist relate “the utmost ascertainable truth respecting
visible things” (46). Once truth is obtained, “the laws and forms
of beauty” will follow (55).
The law of beauty is “harmony” and comes into painting because
the artist has mastered total morality and the skill of orderly paint¬
ing (95-96 and 297-298). And the form of beauty takes its defini¬
tion from the natural result of a good man’s skillful and harmoni¬
ous creation ; that is, beauty “is what one noble spirit has created,
seen and felt by another of similar or equal nobility” but possibly
lacking the artist’s creative imagination (209). In summary, then,
fine art is that “which demands the exercise of the full faculties
of the heart and intellect”; for the heart with its energy of love
leads to beauty, and the intellect with its instinct of order leads to
^ See Van Akin Burd, “Ruskin’s Quest for a Theory of the Imagination,” Modern
Language Quarterly, XVII (March 1956), 60-72.
'^Works, XX, 45. Ruskin quoted the Greek from Aristotle’s definition of art in
Ethics, vi. 4 ; I have used the editors’ translation. Ruskin’s new respect for Aristotle
and imitation in contrast to his earlier contempt in Modern Painters is seen best in his
lecture on “Likeness,” Works, XX, 272-300,
224 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
truth (46). Such exercise of the moral energies of love and order
calls for imagination, but to have imagination the artist “must have
the right moral state first’' (73).
Ill
At the end of his work on The Stones of Venice Ruskin decided
that it was impossible for an artist to have the moral state con¬
ducive to the creation of art unless the nation in which he lived was
itself moral; by the time he had finished Modern Painters, he real¬
ized that the art of England was not so fine as he had first thought.
Hence, in 1860 he turned his attention to the ethical state of the
English people with the hope of correcting the cause of artistic
decadence, and by the time he had assumed his Oxford chair, he
had worked out his ethical philosophy.
In his moral philosophy Ruskin thought Everyman was basically
good ; in his ethical philosophy, he believed that all men had an in¬
stinct for work, which he called variously duty, industry, useful
energy, and useful action (40, 87, 93, 264) . Realizing that people
might doubt this ethical instinct, Ruskin asked, “Does a bird need
to theorize about building its nest? . . . All good work [i.e,, moral,
human work] is essentially done that way.”^^ Man can do good
work, or “noble deeds,” instinctively because along with the moral
attribute of goodness, God gave man the ethical attribute of indus¬
try (116). In fact He reinforced this instinct after the fall with
the commandment that man must work ; thus it is doubly true that
“life without industry is guilty” (93). But by obeying God’s will
men can ‘enlarge their instinct for industry, which in turn will
teach them the laws of eternal righteousness and mercy. As a re¬
sult, just as the end of morality was a man apt “for the right order¬
ing of things, and the kindly dealing with persons,” so also the end
of all men’s useful work will be a society full of justice and broth¬
erly love. Work is the way, for “all things lovely and righteous are
possible for those who believe in their possibility, and who deter¬
mine that, for their part, they will make every day’s work con¬
tribute to them” ; Ruskin’s credo led him to see in the future “an
Ecclesia of England” (117). But Victorian England was not a
“lovely and righteous . . . Ecclesia”; it was ugly and evil.
Surveying the scene, Ruskin concluded, as had Carlyle, that “ ‘the
triumphs of modern industry’ ... do not seem to produce nobler
[i.e., better, greater] men and women” (xxvii) because the indus¬
trial revolution had led some of the people to live in the folly of
‘‘imagining that they can subsist in idleness upon usury” (40). Be¬
lieving that the “general productive and formative energy, of any
Sesame and Lilies (1865), Works, XVIII, 167.
1960]
Kimbrough — Rushings Mature Thought
225
country, is an exact exponent of its ethical life” and that living on
capital income, or “usury,” was not productive, he was sure that he
had found the reason why the ethical state of England was not
good (39).
But Ruskin was Victorian enough to find hope for England in a
bit of dated racism. He believed that the “instinct for beauty” was
inherited, but only within races with a noble “ethic” (36, 79). Be¬
cause they have the instinct for beauty, these races show that they
are in some “kind of moral health” ; therefore, for them ''absolute
artlessness ... is impossible; they have always, at least, the art
by which they live — ^agriculture or seamanship ; and in these indus¬
tries, skillfully practiced, you will find the law of their moral train¬
ing” (84). Agriculture and seamanship skillfully practiced, in con¬
trast to “usury,” are “productive” ; hence, they reveal moral health
and contribute to the betterment of the ethical state of a nation.
Because the English was one of those races so blessed with the
“instinct for beauty,” there was hope for England (40-41) ; how¬
ever it lay not in the industrial revolution, but in the “elementary
practice of manual labor” (264). For Ruskin, then, the function of
ethics was to cultivate and nurse the basic ethical attribute of
industry in the English people.
Having no doubt in his ethical philosophy Ruskin set about to
put it into practice. By his test of morality, a man whose affairs
were in order, and who dealt kindly with others Vv^as moral. The
beginning of social morality, then, was simple; it lay “m getting
our country clean, and our people beautiful” (107). Ruskin was
sure that cleaning up the country would put order into English
society, and that giving the people beauty would teach them the
instinct of love (108-115). Once order and love were in society,
“agriculture by hand, then, and absolute refusal or banishment of
unnecessary igneous forces,” would insure the proper environment
for the instinct for industry to develop which, in turn, would lead
to fine art [i.e,, refined morality] and a just and merciful nation
(114 and 89-90). When the triumphs of the industrial revolution
were banished or curtailed, every man’s work would have to be
“productive,” and Ruskin’s ethical theory would become reality.
However, the industrial growth of England continued, and although
he never gave up his ethical scheme, Ruskin became more and more
disillusioned.
IV
Ruskin’s idea of work as a means of ethical salvation was as old
as Genesis and as new as Sartor Resartus. But Ruskin was frus¬
trated in his ideas for the same reason as was Carlyle. Neither had
a sense of history which was sufficient to cope with the fact and
226 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
reality of an industrialized England. But unlike Carlyle, Ruskin's
moral response to human suffering made him persist in his dreams.
Although his road building scheme and his St. George’s Guild could
not succeed in Victorian England, the moral and ethical thought
behind them is a tribute to Ruskin’s determination not to be caught
up in the philosophic relativism and economic rationalism of his
time.
The failure of his theories stems from the fact that, when Ruskin
started Modern Painters, he believed in the efficacy of the land¬
scape feeling, the Wordsworthian impulse from the vernal wood
which taught that each man was basically good. But, after finish¬
ing Volume V and The Stones of Venice, when he knew that there
was evil in society, he turned to ethics without looking back to in¬
dividual men as the cause of evil. Morally corrupting evil was an
external, and the way to destroy it was by external means. In it¬
self, his moral philosophy was not too “wrong-headed,” If each man
looks inward, believes he is good, and wills to improve his goodness
by following a positive, constructive discipline and by living in love
and charity with his neighbor, the end is no dfferent than if each
man finds both good and evil within his soul, but wills to follow
goodness only, by always choosing aright. However, not all men are
good, or choose to be good. Hence when Ruskin’s basic philosophy
is extended to the philosophy of art, it is only a partial, incom¬
plete theory simply because not all great painters have been good
men. When extended to ethics, it is mere fantasy.
The ethic of a country is the sum of the moralities of all men.
The populace is not a single, noble tabula which v\^ill be good if you
erase the evil impressions which it has received and give it only
kind and orderly impressions. The moral fibre of each man’s tabula
varies. All men may be capable of good, but not all men will be good
just because they work with their hands, and live in beautiful
houses and orderly towns. Because there is no single formula for
social salvation, ethics cannot be legislated. Progress to complete
social morality must be as slow as it takes to reach and teach each
man, first, individual morality, and, then, his ethical responsibility.
The heart of Ruskin’s fallacy is best seen when he discussed
Plato’s image of the chariot : “There is no black horse in the chariot
of the [individual] soul,” but when “Plato uses [the chariot] as an
image of moral government,” “it is among the most beautiful pieces
of mysticism to which eternal truth is attached” (88). How the
black horse appeared in society was, indeed, a piece of mysticism
for Ruskin, because there was no evil in the people who made up
society. If the people were good, then the evil horse in society which
Ruskin wished to whip away was made of straw.
1960]
Kimbrough — Ruskin's Mature Thought
227
Ruskin was frustrated in his ideals because he never saw the
basic contradiction in his jump from morality to ethics. Unfortu¬
nately, it is easier for us to see the frustration and contradiction
than it is to see the ideal for which Ruskin was aiming. We call him
inconsistent; yet few men have been more consistent in their love
of their fellow men and in their dedication to understanding and
correcting the evils that abound in modern society. His failings
were not a lack of intelligence and moral sensibility, even though
he may have lacked the rational objectivity to comprehend fully
what was going on around him. I think it not amiss to see Ruskin
caught in the rebound from Wordsworthian, intuitional romanti¬
cism that moves through the Victorian period and that leads to the
reawakened interest in classical humanism so clearly discernible in
the twentieth century, in France and America as well as in Eng¬
land. If we should ever make a full return from basically romantic
to basically classic premises of taste and judgment, Arnold may be
the most important writer in England advocating the change, but
Ruskin well may be the most important figure exemplifying the
transition itself. For example, we have already noted his final advo¬
cacy of Aristotelian imitation of external form as interpreted
through right reason. Furthermore, the disillusionment which
Ruskin experienced during the last quarter of the century is per¬
haps another instance of how he was a child of his period. Thus, if
we find that a major source of his dejection came from the philo¬
sophical dilemma which arose out of his switch from morality and
art to ethics, perhaps the present analysis of Ruskin’s attempt to
synthesize his ideas may shed light on a major source of the general
Victorian pessimism.
In any case the Inaugural Lectures on Art allow us to see for the
first time how Ruskin’s mature ideas on morality, art, and ethics
all follow one upon another. To overlook this period of calm between
crises needlessly complicates and confuses any study of Ruskin and
his ideas. Perhaps students of Ruskin would do well in the future
to keep in mind that he is reported to have said, ‘T have taken more
pains with the Oxford Lectures than with anything else I have ever
done, and I must say that I am immensely disappointed at their not
being more constantly quoted and read” (xxii).
THE CREATIVE WRITER AS POLYGLOT: VALERY
LARBAUD AND SAMUEL BECKETT
Melvin J. Friedman
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Twentieth century writers have instinctively felt the need to
express themselves in more than one language. Few writers before
1900 had achieved literary distinction in a second language; John
Gower, Chaucer’s contemporary, did his major work in English,
French and Latin, but he stands as a fairly isolated case.^ There is
certainly nothing to challenge the astonishing surge of modern
authors who have made polyglot tendencies an essential aspect of
their craft.
Rilke, Eliot and Pound, among the poets, have experimented
widely with foreign languages. Rilke, profiting from his stay in
France as Rodin’s secretary, turned out some late lyrics in French.
Eliot wrote four French poems for the 1920 collection of his verse ;
offered a loose translation of the final section of one of these, “Dans
le Restaurant,” as part IV of The Waste Land; and used foreign
language borrowings in all his major poetry. Pound is famous for
the Chinese ideograms and other obscure references in The Cantos
and for his “translations” from the Chinese, Cavalcanti, Fonte-
nelle, etc.
Among the novelists, James Joyce exhibits the most impressive
linguistic range. His life was divided among four European capi¬
tals— Dublin, Paris, Trieste and Zurich — which gave him fluency
in English, French, Italian and German. His last two works show
not only a competence with innumerable languages and dialects but
also an unmatched creative vigor which has given birth to the
portmanteau words and verbal plays of Finnegans Wake.
A more unusual case is Vladimir Nabokov who had a successful
literary career in Russian until about 1940 when he moved to
America and started writing exclusively in English. Works like
Pnin and Lolita convince us of his stylistic fluency in his adopted
language. He was forced to make virtually the same linguistic ad¬
justment as Joseph Conrad who was born of Polish parents in the
Ukraine, but unlike Conrad whose published works are exclusively
in English Nabokov not only changed language but readjusted lit¬
erary standards. The recent Invitation to a Beheading, Nabokov’s
1 There are, of course, writers like Dante who divided their talents between Latin
and the vernacular. Yet for Dante, the literary language was always Italian, the
“vulgar”, while Latin was saved for the more didactic works like his De Monarchia.
229
230 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
first Russian work to appear in English, ^ shows the remarkable
difference between the American and Russian phases of the same
literary personality.
We might endlessly multiply the number of contemporary writers
who either use their vast linguistic acquaintance as a literary de¬
vice or write in several languages. For the first group, cosmopoli¬
tanism seems a genuine concern ; linguistic and literary boundaries
have ceased to offer a serious challenge. Valery Larbaud has
echoed this feeling convincingly in a diary notation which dates
from 1912:
. . . Tout ecrivain frangais est international, il est poete, ecrivain, pour
TEurope entiere et pour une partie de PAmerique par surcroit. . . . Tout
ce qui est “national” est sot, archai'que, bassement patriot! que. . . . C’etait
bon dans des circonstances particulieres et a des epoques particuliores,
mais tout cela est revolu. II y a un pays d’Europe.®
Valery Larbaud was himself one of the most astonishing ‘‘litter¬
ateurs’’ of his time. This French writer who died in Vichy in 1957
was active as a novelist, poet, critic and translator. He deservedly
prided himself on reviving neglected literary reputations and in¬
troducing new talents. His biographer G.-Jean Aubry speaks of a
youthful translation of Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
published at the age of twenty and redone ten years later. We are
told also of Larbaud’s early devotion to Whitman which ended in
some translations and a preface.^ He may be said to have done for
Walt Whitman in France what the Symbolist poets of an earlier
generation had done for Edgar Poe.
Larbaud wrote an important preface to Faulkner’s As I Lay Dy¬
ing which accompanied Maurice Coindreau’s 1934 French transla-
tian of the novel (Tandis que j’ agonise). He made the same kind
of seminal observations about Faulkner’s technique as he had made
thirteen years earlier in his now-famous December 7, 1921 lecture
on James Joyce.
These translations and prefaces, however, do not stand as mere
exercises in technique. They are part of a skillful pattern which
runs through Larbaud’s work; the critic and translator always
make way for the creative writer. When Larbaud goes further
afield and uses his other linguistic accomplishments — he apparently
had mastered not only English but also Italian, Spanish and Por¬
tuguese — he seems to enrich his own novels and short stories. One
never ceases to be impressed by the number of writers Larbaud
2 This work was translated by Nabokov’s son Dmitri “in collaboration with the
author.”
3 Quoted in Saint-John Perse, “Valery Larbaud ou I’honneur litteraire,” La Nouvelle
Nouvelle Revue FranQaise, September 1957, p. 398.
4 See Georges May, “Valery Larbaud : Translator and Scholar,” Yale French Studies,
number 6, p. 86. I am indebted to this article for many of my remarks on Larbaud’s
translations.
1960] Friedman — Creative Writer as Polyglot 231
has translated into French. A partial list would include Samuel
Butler, Francis Thompson, Liam O'Flaherty, Robert Louis Steven¬
son, Arnold Bennett, Edith Sitwell, Archibald MacLeish, James
Joyce, Walter Savage Landor from the English; Bruno Barilli,
Ricardo Bacchelli, Gianna Manzini, Emilio Cecchi from the Italian ;
Ricardo Guiraldes, Alfonso Reyes, Ramon Gomez de la Serna,
Gabriel Mird from the Spanish.
But these are more than mere renderings from one language to
another. They are, in almost every instance, the work of a polyglot
endowed with a distinguished literary sensibility. The Samuel But¬
ler translations, which occupied five years of Larbaud's time and
prevented him from handling the translation of Joyce's Ulysses by
himself, were a herculean task and one of the most successful ren¬
derings of Butler in any language. “Valery Larbaud's translations
of Erewhon, The Way of All Flesh, Life and Habit, Erewhon Re¬
visited and the Note-Books appeared in the 20's : they stand as an
unmatched model of courage, energy, probity, love, intelligence and
ingenuity; they are the most eloquent reply to those who, emulat¬
ing La Bruyere or Montesquieu's geometer, still maintain that a
translator does not need to think."®
Larbaud's translations come very close to being “original" ver¬
sions. There are certainly Whitmanesque elements in Larbaud's
early collection of poetry, Les Poesies de Barnabooth; and in turn
the Whitman translations impress one as the closest French equiv¬
alent of the original verse — given the differing conditions of
French and English prosody. The mature style of Samuel Butler
blends in curiously with Larbaud's prose style of the 1920's and the
result is a Butler which reads almost as well in French as in Eng¬
lish. (The only French translation I know of which rivals its sym¬
pathetic understanding of the original is Proust's Ruskin.) Lar-
baud seems as much at ease with poetry as with prose ; one cannot
accuse him of favoring one medium over the other in his
translations.
This remarkable record points up the creative aspect of transla¬
tion. Larbaud has always remained faithful to De Sanctis' rule for
the translator: “A modo suo, e con tono e con accento suo,” His
large fortune which has permitted him the leisure of sustained
periods of travel and wide non-professional reading has helped sup¬
port his own image of the ‘‘riche amateur” and “Vhomme euro-
peen.” But with this seeming extravagance and lack of profession¬
alism has gone the sacred position Larbaud has always accorded
the translator. His Sous VInvocation de Saint Jerome (1946) is a
series of appreciative and interpretive essays on the role of trans¬
lation from the time of Saint Jerome's Vulgate through the present
s Greorges May, pp, 87-88.
232 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
day. Larbaud acknowledges the thankless task of a profession
which reproduces but which does not “create” in the accepted
sense. He asks for more sympathetic understanding for a “calling”
which deserves a position closer to the more creative disciplines.
He explains convincingly the difficulty of the translator’s task:
“. . . pour rendre ce sens litteraire des ouvrages de litterature, il
faut d'abord le saisir; et il ne suffit pas de le saisir: il faut encore
le recreer^^
Despite Larbaud’s singular dedication to translation, his career
does not stop here. As an occasional essayist he has also put to the
test his astonishing command of languages. Not only has he writ¬
ten widely about foreign literature and analyzed specialized prob¬
lems in English, Romance and Germanic linguistics, but has also
occasionally written in one or the other of his adopted languages.
Such articles as “La influencia francesa en las literaturas de lengua
castellana” which appeared in El Nuevo Mercurio (April 1907)
and “Figuras del simbolismo frances: Edouard Dujardin” which
appeared in La Nacion (March 15, 1925) attest to his written
knowledge of Spanish. His English seems even more natural, less
acquired than his Spanish if one reads his “Rebirth of American
Poetry” which appeared in Living Age (December 3, 1921) or any
of his Paris letters which appeared in The New Weekly (London)
between March 21 and August 8, 1914. In the two volumes of the
Journal inedit, which Gallimard brought out in 1954 and 1955, one
finds a great deal of English interspersed with the French and
occasional passages in other languages. Larbaud has appropriately
commented in the first volume : “. . . d force de lire V anglais, ma
pensee avait pris Vhahitude de s' exprimer spontanement dans cette
langue”
But these spurts of foreign-language writing are after all only
occasional and are mere mechanical evidences of Larbaud’s skill
as a polyglot. More genuine certainly are the numerous foreign
expressions which appear so functionally in his fiction. Larbaud
seems virtually incapable of relying wholly on his native French in
his stories and novels. For example, the dedication of the title story
of his volume of three novellas Amants, heureux amants . . .
(1923) gives us notice of its polyglot tendencies: “to James Joyce,
my friend and the only begetter of the form I have adopted in this
piece of writing.” “The form” obviously refers to the stream-of-
consciousness method which runs through Larbaud’s stories in this
collection. But it may also have some connection with Joyce’s reli¬
ance on foreign languages as a fictional technique, as a means for
expanding his literary point of reference.
« Valery Larbaud, Sous VInvocation de Saint Jerome, Paris, Gallimard, 1946, p. 70.
1960]
Friedman — Creative Writer as Polyglot
233
The final novella in the volume, Mon plus secret conseil, depends
a great deal on Larbaud’s knowledge of other languages. There is
almost a systematic plan at work which causes the narrator to use
Italian when he remembers a passionate embrace with one of his
lovers, English when the sophistication of another woman controls
the direction of his thoughts, Greek when his devotion to literature
seems more important than his liaisons."^ One characteristic passage
which exploits Larbaud's reliance on several languages is the fol¬
lowing which concludes Mon plus secret conseil:
Et vers Irene je vais . . .
M'endormir dans la pensee d’lrene.
Irene, ti voglio
tanto
tanto bene
moglie mia!
Comme on est bien seul et bien soi an seuil du sommeil
Comme
moi en ce moment, entrant
en moi-meme, sous le
voile . . . Le petit ani¬
mal inquiet rentrant sous
non, dans, son terrier. Ciao!
Cette espece de
petit renoncement au monde: pratique, quotidien, de poche:
le sommeil. Irene?
L’effort pour Poublier? pour renoncer aussi a
ga, a ces liens?
A Paris, je verrai . . .
J’aurais du
emporter le service a faire le the en voyage.
Cette petite flamme bleue dan
la boite propre, luisante,
(metal argente, Drew and Sons,
Piccadilly Circus)
“So when I am wearied . . you petite
flamme bleue dans le soir en voyage
quand la Face de la Terre palit. Ah ! . . .
Pouvoir renoncer a Irene serait bien. . . . Quelle ruse employer
envers moi-meme? La distance? Ne pas meme passer rue de Magde-
bourg voir sa maison. Entreprendre un long travail tres absorbant.
Kenforcer Pegoi'sme. Cultiver ma timidite ... ah ah! Oh, Dio! dor-
mire, dormire ... Si, gia. . . .
Passer le mois de mai en Sicile? . . .
Ou a Corfou? . . .
English and Italian blend in with the French here to reinforce the
multi-lingual sensibility on the verge of sleep. This is a good ex¬
ample of the instinctive readiness of the Larbaud character to think
in several languages and to reverse language as he reverses mood.
’ See Melvin J. Friedman, “Valery Larbaud : the Two Traditions of Eros,” Yale
French Studies, number 11, p. 97.
234 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
The Joycean strains are of course evident in this passage — both
the interior monologue technique and the polyglot tendencies. Lar-
baud’s background as first critic and defender of Ulysses and trans-
lator of certain sections of the work have been justly rewarded in
Larbaud’s own fiction. But Larbaud, unfortunately, took no part
in the French translation of the Anna Livia Plurabelle section of
Joyce’s Work in Progress, published in 1931 in the Nouvelle Revue
Frangaise.
Samuel Beckett, another polyglot, was on hand for this occasion.
Beckett, also a friend and critical defender of the Irish writer, be-
gan his literary career with an essay on Joyce which appeared in
Our Exagmination round his Factification for Incamination of
Work in Progress (1929). He helped with the 1931 translation of
“Anna Livia Plurabelle” and then remained virtually silent as a
translator until the 1950’s. Unlike Valery Larbaud, Beckett’s
achievement has never been principally measured by his transla¬
tions. He belongs to the second group of polyglots, those who write
in more than one language.
Beckett wrote most of his stories, novels and poems in English
until he published the first volume of the Molloy-Malone meurt-
Ulnnommable trilogy in 1951.® From then on he has written vir¬
tually everything in French, including his first attempts at play¬
writing, En attendant Godot (1953) and Fin de partie (1957). The
exceptions have been All That Fall, a radio drama which was
broadcast over the B.B.C. Third Programme in 1957, and the suc¬
cession of monodramas, including Krapp’s Last Tape and Embers,
which were originally published in Evergreen Review and have
since been collected in a volume by Grove Press.
As soan as Beckett took to writing in French he set himself up
as his own translator. (Perhaps Nabokov got the idea from him
when he assisted his son with Invitation to a Beheading.) He en¬
listed the help of Patrick Bowles with Molloy- — probably feeling
uncomfortable in his first attempt at translating a work of this
length into English — but has since relied on his own devices.®
Beckett’s bilingual facility, which has become apparent in the
Fifties, has allowed him to rely on the language which has seemed
most congenial in handling a given fictional situation. Few writers
have been “ambidextrously” suited to change language whenever
® One noteworthy exception is “Poemes 38-39”, a group of poems he published in
French in Les Temps Modernes in November 1946.
® Beckett has been less active in the task of translating his English work into
French. He performed admirably with his “self-translation” of Murphy. But in the
case of the recent translation of Krapp’s Last Tape (in French La Derniere Bande),
for example, the work was done by Pierre Leyris although as Guy Verdot wrote in
the March 12, 1960 Le Figaro Litteraire “I’auteur y revint jusqu’au bon a tirer.” (p. 3)
1960]
Friedman — Creative Writer as Polyglot
235
they have felt aesthetically disposed. As I have said before, Beckett
seems to be quite a different writer when he uses French from what
he had previously been when he relied solely on English.^® The
lighthearted, jovial qualities which abound in Murphy and Watt
are nowhere evident in the trilogy written in French. Likewise,
among the plays. All That Fall, despite its tragic overtones, thrives
an comic relief, while En attendant Godot and Fin de partie thrive
on the trapped and isolating ingredients of a Sartre or a Genet.
Beckett seems intent on changing literary personality as he changes
language.
The final proof that Beckett did not arbitrarily change language
in the Fifties is that he did revert to his native English for the
occasional monodramas and radio plays he wrote from 1957 on.
The Irish wit, recalling his Dublin youth, seems so much a part of
everything he has written in his native English, while the French
undercurrent of neo-existentialism and “absurdism” goes well with
the works written in his acquired French.
Beckett, unlike Larbaud, rarely uses more than a single language
in a given work. His knowledge of languages is perhaps quantita¬
tively more restricted than Larbaud’s, although he is surer in his
second language, French, than Larbaud is in his — whether it be
English or Spanish. It is not quite accurate to speak of Beckett as
being only bilingual as he has shown facility in Spanish through
his translation of a large number of Mexican poems into English
for inclusion in An Anthology of Mexican Poetry (1958). He has
apparently also supervised to some extent the translation of En
attendant Godot into German and Italian :
Godot a ete publie en turc, en hebreu, en persan, et Beckett ne laisse a
peraonne le soin de revoir les textes en allemand et en italien, deux langues
qu’il possede aussi bien que le frangais et I’anglaisd^
But still Beckett's type of the polyglot favors the profound im¬
mersion in two languages which can be used interchangeably. When
he translates from one to the other, even though the original seems
more suitable because Beckett has willfully chosen it the translation
is naturally a very apt substitute. However competent a translator
Larbaud is when he undertakes turning Samuel Butler into French,
however much he has mastered the theoretical code of the trans¬
lator, one must still prefer Beckett’s trilogy in Beckett’s own trans¬
lation. The idea of genuinely “original” versions in two languages
is quite intriguing.
See Melvin J. Friedman, “The Achievement of Samuel Beckett,” Books Abroad,
volume XXXIII, number 3 (1959), pp. 278-279; and “The Novels of Samuel Beckett:
An Amalgam of Joyce and Proust,” Comparative Literature, volume XII, number 1
(1960), p. 53.
^ Guy Verdot, “Beckett continue d’attendre Godot," Le Figaro Litt4raire, March 12,
1960, p. 3.
236 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Thus we have with Valery Larbaud and Samuel Beckett the two
types of the polyglot. Larbaud uses his knowledge of languages as
a literary device. His translations of other writers serve to enrich
his own work. Samuel Beckett, on the other hand, alternates be¬
tween French and English as the mood dictates. Although he knows
fewer languages than Larbaud and is infinitely less cosmopolitan,
Beckett has the more professional awareness of the writer who can
explain a literary situation equally well in two languages.
HENRY JAMES AND THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE
Donald Emerson
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
In The American Language and its Supplements, H. L. Mencken
derides Henry James’s opinions on American speech. It is true that
‘‘The Question of Our Speech,”^ which James delivered in June of
1905 as an address at Bryn Mawr College, was written in ignor¬
ance of scientific aspects of language study, and displayed snobbish
denigration of pronunciations of which James disapproved. One
remark so displeased Mencken that he quoted it scornfully three
times: James had referred to the sound of the American final r as
resembling “a sort of morose grinding of the back teeth.”^ But
Mencken disliked James heartily for his Anglophile sympathies and
in typical fashion labeled James’s remarks as “shrill complaints”
or “pronunciamentos.” He could find only one considerable state¬
ment to quote with approval, for it was a description of the migra¬
tion of English to America rather than a consideration of the
development of the American language :
Keep in sight the interesting historical truth that no language, so far
back as our acquaintance with history goes, has known any such ordeal,
any such stress and strain, as was to await the English in this huge new
community it was so unsuspectingly to help, at first, to father and mother.
It came over, as the phrase is, came over originally without fear and with¬
out guile — but to find itself transplanted to spaces it had never dreamed,
in its comparative humility, of covering, to conditions it had never
dreamed, in its comparative innocence, of meeting; to find itself grafted,
in short, on a social and political order that was both without precedent
and example and incalculably expansive.®
For James’s further remarks, Mencken had generally only contemp¬
tuous reference, with side glances at James’s supposed depreciation
of anything American. Mencken’s bias unfortunately prevented his
being accurate, either in interpretation or even in simple biblio¬
graphical reference.
He was unjust, for one thing, in failing to show that James had
expressed appreciation of the American language ten years before
William Archer published the article which he cites as the first
public recognition of American. According to Mencken,
1 Published, with inclusion of passages deleted at Bryn Mawr, in Appleton^s Book-
lover’s Magazine, August. James alternated this lecture with “The Lesson of Balzac,”
Atlantic, August. Both were issued under a combined title, Boston, 1905.
^ The American Language (New York, 1936), p, 349. Supplement II (New York,
1948), p. 24, p. 90, n.
® “The Question of Our Speech,” p. 38 f., cited in The American Language, p. 138.
237
238 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
The revolutionary theory that the American language actually has some
merit seems to have been launched by William Archer, a Scotsman, in an
article entitled “American Today,” printed somewhat prudently, not in
England, but in Scribner’s Magazine for February, 1899. “New words,” he
said, “are begotten by new conditions of life; and as American life is far
more fertile of new conditions than ours, the tendency toward neologisms
cannot but be stronger in America than in England. American has enor¬
mously enriched the language not only with new words, but (since the
American mind is, on the whole, quicker and wittier than the English)
with apt and luminous colloquial metaphors.^
Quite aside from Archer’s opinions, the passage bristles with
Mencken’s inaccuracies. The article was in fact entitled 'The
American Language,” and it was printed, whether prudently or not,
in the London Pall Mall Magazine for October, 1899,® and merely
given favorable notice in “The Point of View” section of the Ameri¬
can Scribner’s Magazine for December, not February, 1899. The
article received its first American publication in Archer’s volume
America Today (New York, 1899), “The American Language”
forming the concluding section of the book. In it, Archer took to
task extremists on both sides of the argument over language,
pointed out that pronunciation is a matter of habit regardless of
time or place, and praised America as “a great source of strength
and vitality” to English because it doubles or trebles the points of
contact with nature and life.®
But Archer’s comments came ten years after Henry James had
published “An Animated Conversation” in Scribner’s Magazine for
March, 1889, naming American as the language of the United States
and praising its possibilities. This piece was written during a period
of strained feeling between England and the United States, with
the general purpose of reminding James’s readers of the bonds
which transcend temporary differences between two countries, lan¬
guage being one of the greatest. In spite of growing differences be¬
tween English and American, James’s spokesman is made to say
that the work of association of the great English-speaking peoples
is going forward all the time and is forming an immeasurable pat¬
tern; when American is sufficiently cultivated, and when Ameri¬
cans have learned it themselves, it will be time enough to discuss
whether the English and the Americans will have to agree upon
their signs."^
The “conversation” form was not one James used frequently, and
it is to be distinguished from the farces which, like Howells, he
* The American Language, p. 45.
5 Vol. XIX, pp. 188-196, None of the misinformation of Mencken’s original passage
is corrected in the Supplements.
«p. 239. The letters which Archer included to form the bulk of the volume appeared
in the London Pall Mall Gazette and Pall Mall Magazine. Those to the Gazette
appeared also in the New York Times.
Essays in London (New York, 1893), 316 f. This widely-distributed book publica-.
tion of the “Conversation” antedates Archer by a number of years.
1960]
Emerson — James and American Language
239
occasionally published. Where the magazine farce is a short dra¬
matic piece generally void of ideas and intended only as light read¬
ing, the conversation has the simpler characteristics of dramatic
form but with exposition of points of view its chief object. Setting
is merely sketched; characterization is minimal; and there is a
complete absence of dramatic climax. The conversation permits the
author to present conflicting points of view in a way not usually
possible in the traditional critical forms; he can be persuasive,
through his characters, in a fashion which formal criticism does
not allow. As a modern development from Platonic dialogues, the
conversation is a very light-weight performance, relieved by persi¬
flage to the point where it is sometimes almost trifling in tone. Even
as a vehicle of ideas, it is primarily an entertainment.
“Daniel Deronda: A Conversation” {Atlantic, December, 1876)
shows what James could make of the form for purposes of criti¬
cism ; it also provides some useful parallels for the interpretation of
“An Animated Conversation.” In the earlier piece, three characters
of varying temperaments discuss the recent novel of George Eliot,
with the novelist-critic who approximates James himself holding
the balance of opinion. That Constantins presents James’s view¬
point is clear enough from other essays and reviews of George Eliot
in which James similarly discusses observation and invention in the
creating of character, and improvisation in fiction ; or in which he
compares George Eliot with George Sand and Turgenev. The con¬
versation form permits James a quasi-dramatic criticism of Daniel
Deronda which expresses opinions with which he does not agree,
but to which he can give adequate exposition while also setting
forth his own views. The advantages of the form are obviously
slight, and James resisted whatever temptation he might have felt
to use it in dealing with other works in the very large body of his
critical writing.
“An Animated Conversation” has somewhat better excuse, for
its purpose is to display feelings and points of view as they are
expressed by a group of English and American men and women
during the later stages of a social evening in London. There is not
so much an argument as an exchange, and while there are serious
considerations underneath the banter, the climaxing statement is a
matter of feeling rather than logic. The conversation gives the
reader the sense that he has participated in a social occasion with
people who have ideas but who are not bent on defending them
point by point ; or, at one greater remove, the reader can feel that
this is the only type of persuasion which appealed to a gifted author
who lacked the ability to write argumentative prose because, aside
from questions of his craft, ideas interested him primarily as they
were expressed through such and such characters.
240 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Darcy is the character of greatest interest, and he is clearly
James’s representative. He is specifically an expatriate American
who repudiates “rigid national consciousness” and who maintains
that insistence on national differences is stupid, as James had said
to his brother William only a few months earlier when he wrote,
“I can’t look at the English-American world, or feel about them,
any more, save as a big Anglo-Saxon total, destined to such an
amount of melting together that any insistence on their differences
becomes more and more pedantic.”^ Darcy develops the point on the
feminization of literature which James emphasized in his article on
Mrs. Humphry Ward two years later. It is Darcy, also, who
acknowledges that the position of the American language is not yet
clear, but that the evolution of the language was inevitable. His
remark is an anticipation of the passage from James’s lecture of
1905 which Mencken cited :
A body of English people crossed the Atlantic and sat down in a new
climate on a new soil, amid new circumstances. . . . They invented new
institutions, they encountered different needs. They developed a particular
physique, as people do in a particular medium, and they began to speak
in a new voice. They went in for democracy, and that alone would affect —
it has affected — the tone immensely. C^est hien le moins that the tone
would have had its range and that the language they brought over with
them should have become different to express different things. A lan¬
guage is a very sensitive organism. It must be convenient — it must be
handy. It serves, it obeys, it accommodates itself.®
Darcy, too, is made to express the concern for international copy¬
right which James felt keenly; after the pirating of earlier years,
he considers it time the money situation be worked out.
James even uses Darcy to defend his expatriate position as a
writer. Another of the American participants in the conversation
accuses Darcy of having become provincialized through “the fool¬
ish habit of living in England,” and he goes on, “He has lost all
sense of proportion and perspective, of the way things strike peo¬
ple on the continent — on the continents — in the clear air of the
world. He has forfeited his birthright.” Darcy defends himself.
“On the contrary, I have taken it up, and my eye for perspective
has grown so that I see an immensity where you seem to me to see
a dusky little cul-de-sac” To the question whether it’s not best to
observe one’s own people in one’s own country, he replies that there
are plenty of Americans in London, and they exist there in magnifi¬
cent relief; taken together with the English, they form a com¬
pendium.^® The “immensity” is of course the ‘‘big Anglo-Saxon
total” which James more and more considered a reality transcend-
» Letters, 1, 141 f.
^Essays in London, p. 316 f.
^ Ibid., pp. 307f, 312 f.
1960] Emerson — James and American Language 241
ing national differences, so that in terms of his own craft he delib¬
erately sought to destroy distinctions. “I am deadly weary of the
whole hnternationar state of mind/’ he wrote to William. “I have
not the least hesitation in saying that I aspire to write in such a
way that it would be impossible to an outsider to say whether I am
at a given moment an American writing about England or an Eng¬
lishman writing about America.” And far from being ashamed of
this ambiguity he would be proud of it, for it would be “highly
civilized.”^^
The discussion of the American language in “An Animated Con¬
versation” must be considered within this general context of
James’s attitudes. For the language is not the chief subject; it is
considered in relation to the problem of international differences.
Disputes over fisheries are passing things, and Darcy finds insist¬
ence on differences merely stupid. Of greatest importance is the
formation of the great Anglo-American world, “I don’t say we are
all formed — the formation will have to be so large . . . but we are
forming. The opportunity is grand . . . the opportunity for two
great peoples ... to unite in the arts of peace — by which I mean
of course in the arts of life. It will make life larger and the arts
finer for each of them.”^^ jt will be an immense and complicated
problem, but such an opportunity has never before existed. One of
the women suggests that for each of them there is the personal solu¬
tion of social intercourse and association, and Darcy takes this up ;
the modern intimacy has so multiplied contacts that the problem is
no longer academic and official, but practical and social. Everyone
is involved in the creation of a great harmony which Darcy
expresses in almost ecstatic tones :
We are weaving our work together, and it goes on forever, and it’s all
one mighty loom. And we are all the shuttles directed by the master-hand.
We fly to and fro, in our complicated, predestined activity, and it matters
very little where we are at a particular moment. We are all of us here,
there and everywhere, wherever the threads are crossed. And the tissue
grows and grows, and we weave into it all our lights and our darkness,
all our quarrels and reconciliations, all our stupidities and our strivings,
all the friction of our intercourse and all the elements of our fate. The
tangle may seem great at times, but it is all an immeasurable pattern, a
spreading, many-coloured flgure. And the figure, when it is finished, will
be a magnificent harmony.^®
To the question whether the differences between English and
American don’t strike an odd note in this harmony Darcy replies
that they provide amusement and prevent tameness. “Amusement”
is a term which James uses with great seriousness for anything
^Letters, 1, 141 f.
^Essays in London, p. 290 f.
^Ibid., p. 314 f.
242 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
which provides an intellectual springboard for reflection and imagi¬
native insights. “We shall never do anything without imagination —
by remaining dull and dense and literal,” Darcy remarks;^^
To Darcy, the differences of language are a small matter in the
cultivation of the general harmony. When one of the Americans
reminds him that he has criticized the American idiom, he points
out that his criticism has been of its incomplete formation.
You have heard me criticise it as neglected, as unstudied; you have never
heard me criticise it as American. The fault I find with it is that it’s
irresponsible — it isn’t American enough ... it has grown up roughly, and
we haven’t had time to cultivate it. That is all I complain of, and it’s awk¬
ward for us, for surely, the language of such a country ought to be
magnificent.^^
To the Englishman who remarks that Americans have come so late
that they have not fallen on a language-making age, Darcy points
out that though this may be true, the Americans have always had
the resource of English. “Our great writers have written in Eng¬
lish. That's what I mean by American having been neglected.”^®
James made an exception for Lowell, however, in the laudatory
essay published less than two years later (Atlantic, January, 1892)
and also included in Essays in London. Together with the “Conver¬
sation”, this helps to define his position. James obviously does not
speak as a trained linguist or phonologist ; his chief concern is with
Lowell's contribution to Anglo-American understanding in his offi¬
cial capacity as Ambassador, and in personal, individual relation¬
ships such as James spoke of in the “Conversation”. The remarks
on American come in James's praise of “The Biglow Papers,”
which he greatly admired. And he praised Lowell's linguistic sense,
with its outcome in style, as perhaps the thing on which his repu¬
tation would chiefly rest.^^ Lowell had “put his finest faculty for
linguistics at the service of the Yankee character,” and James based
his praise on his feeling that Lowell knew more about rustic Ameri¬
can speech than all others together who claimed to know anything
of it; he honored it with a scientific interest.^® Lowell strove to
show that New England speech was not English corrupted but
English conserved, the speech of an older England than the con¬
temporary nation which found it queer. Lowell “was capable of
writing perfect American to bring out this archaic element,”
though generally he kept the two tongues apart.^^ James found
“The Biglow Papers” delightful, but could conceive nothing less
like them than American newspaper style, which he later claimed
p, 306.
p. 317.
^^Ibid., p. 319.
^'flbid., p. 43.
^^Ibid., p. 45.
^*Ibid., p. 46.
1960] Emerson — James and American Language 243
had contributed to the “bastard vernacular” of communities unable
to distinguish it from the speech of the soil.
A short story of this same period also demonstrates James’s con¬
cern for the development of a civilized harmony and civilized rela¬
tionships transcending differences of language and nationality.
“Collaboration” appeared in 1892, and in the context of the “Con¬
versation” and the essay on Lowell has almost the force of a dem¬
onstration by crucial experiment. For if the arts of civilization in¬
volve creative activity which takes no account of national animosi¬
ties or differences of language, what could be more forceful than
an example of such collaboration between a Frenchman and a
German so short a time after the Franco-Prussian war.
The important characters are Herman Heidenmauer, a German
composer whose facility with English frequently causes him to be
mistaken for an Englishman, and Felix Vendemer, a Frenchman of
modern views who maintains that art is art in any country and that
classifications of art as English, French or German are catalogers’
and reviewers’ names only. Vendemer feels that the very respecta¬
bility of national prejudices is what makes them so odious. The
narrator and observer is a Jamesian representative, like Darcy of
the “Conversation”, who gives Heidenmauer the book of Vende-
mer’s verses which leads to their collaboration on an opera. The
narrator sees that each man pays a personal price for this joint
effort of art (the German loses the financial support of his step¬
brother; the Frenchman loses his fiancee because of her mother’s
violent opposition to his working with the German), and that the
French and German publics will reprobate the result. But he reflects
that the collaboration has “. . . something in it that makes for civ¬
ilization. In their way they are working for human happiness.
It is apparent that for James questions of language were sub¬
sidiary to the problem of civilized relations among the sensitive and
perceptive in any society. It was a point he emphasized again when
writing the Prefaces to the New York edition between 1905 and
1908 after his last extended American tour. He conceded that the
general “international” label might be applied to much of his work,
but pointed out that in his later productions, for example The
Wings of the Dove or The Golden Bowl, international contrasts
were not their subject; it was not his purpose to exhibit Americans
as Americans or English as English, but to show Americans, Eng¬
lishmen, or Romans as agents or victims “in virtue of an associa¬
tion nowadays so developed, so easily taken for granted as to have
created a new scale of relations altogether, a state of things from
which emphasized internationalism has either quite dropped or is
^English Illustrated Magazine, September. Reprinted in Novels and Stories, Vol.
XXVII.
^Novels and Stories, Vol. XXVII, p. 182.
244 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
well on its way to drop”^^ Contrast may serve the end of the nov¬
elist, but James maintained that his real subjects could perfectly
have been expressed had all the persons been only American or
English or Roman. One group of earlier stories depended on the
explicit contrast of national traits, and James freely acknowledged
the appeal of the contrast to his imagination at a given time. But
the latest of the tales included in the volume for which he wrote
the Preface containing these remarks was published in 1884. James
considered himself well-advised to have gathered his ‘‘interna¬
tional” subjects when he might, for by the time he made this com¬
ment on them he was far more possessed with the sense of the mix¬
ture of manners gradually taking place, “the multiplied symptoms
among educated people, from wherever drawn, of a common intelli¬
gence and a social fusion tending to abridge old rigours of separa¬
tion.” The imagination in future would be struck, James felt, less
by restrictions in relations than by the expansion of opportunity
and communication.
Behind all the small comedies and tragedies of the international, in a
word, has exquisitely lurked for me the idea of some eventual sublime
consensus of the educated; the exquisite conceivabilities of which . . . con¬
stitute stuff for such “situations” as may easily make many of those of a
more familiar type turn pale. There, if one will — in the dauntless fusions
to come — is the personal drama of the future.^
The sense of the common intelligence and social fusion made it in¬
evitable that when James delivered “The Question of Our Speech”
at Bryn Mawr, or observed the speech habits of immigrants on New
York’s East Side, or composed his articles on “The Speech of
American Women” after his return to England, he should speak
not as a linguist or phonologist but as an observer concerned with
“tone,” and its relation to civilization.
Addressing the Bryn Mawr graduates, James urged them to
cherish a “tone-standard,” by which he seems to have meant a com¬
bination of the accent, intonation, and idiom to which he was accus¬
tomed, in a defense of “culture” against the influx of elements
threatening the Anglo-Saxon preponderance in America. For he
regarded speech as “a virtual consensus of the educated” involving
the communication and response which makes the process of im¬
parting culture possible.^^ Language is a living organism, respond¬
ing to new circumstances and conditions, but the conservative
interest should predominate. James exhorted the young ladies to
awareness of the problem, together with imitation and emulation
of good speakers, and he warned them against “the shouts, shrieks
^ The Art of the Novel, Critical Prefaces by Henry James, ed. R. P. Blackmur (New
York, 1947), p. 199.
p. 202 f.
The Question of Our Speech; The Lesson of Balzac (Boston, 1905), p. 6.
1960] Emerson — James and American Language 245
and yells” of the American press, and against the appropriation of
the language by hordes of aliens while the educated neglect it. He
was far from the realities of language when he went on to discuss
vowels and consonants and made that unfortunate remark about
the tooth-grinding r which earned Mencken’s derision. He voiced a
then-popular fallacy when he remarked that '‘there are . . . sounds
of a mysterious intrinsic meanness, and there are sounds of a mys¬
terious intrinsic frankness and sweetness. . . But his descrip¬
tion of the migration of English to American seemed to Mencken
worth approving quotation, and there is a generally disregarded
passage in the address which relates his ideas of language, however
mistaken in detail, to his great sense that fineness of consciousness
promotes fineness of life, and that the “consensus of the educated”
may overcome difficulties of relation within “the big Anglo-Saxon
total.”
All life . . . comes back to the question of our speech, the medium through
which we communicate with each other; for all life comes back to the
question of our relations with each other. These relations are made pos¬
sible, are registered, are verily constituted, by our speech, and are suc¬
cessful ... in proportion as our speech is worthy of its great human and
social function; is developed, delicate, flexible, rich. . . . The more it sug¬
gests and expresses, the more we live by it — the more it promotes and
enhances life.^®
Thus its quality, authenticity and security are supremely important
to the dignity and integrity of existence, and James, innocent of
scientific linguistics then scantly known, could exhort to a conser¬
vatism which he hoped would promote the consensus of the edu¬
cated that was to provide the personal drama of the future.
He experienced misgiving, however, when he visited the cafes
of the East Side. Beneath their bedizenment, they appeared to him
“torture-rooms of the living idiom,” in which the Accent of the
Future as heard there was merely a portent to the lacerations to
come. He had protested alien influences in his address at Bryn
Mawr, but here he conceded possible defeat for the language he had
treasured.
The accent of the very ultimate future, in the States, may be destined to
become the most beautiful on the globe and the very music of humanity
. . . but whatever we shall know it for, certainly, we shall not know it for
English — in any sense for which there is an existing literary measure.^^
He does not speak of American. As when Darcy referred to Ameri¬
can writers having written in English, James in his later years
frequently equated the literary language with “English,” whoever
wrote it. He might have harkened to the accent of the future with
p. 29.
^Ibid., p. 10.
2'^ The American Scene (New York, 1907), p. 135.
246 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
some composure had he distinguished functional varieties and levels
of usage and had he not, with age, become increasingly resentful
of Americanisms in speech.^®
Writing of ‘‘The Biglow Papers,’’ James had praised Lowell for
using “perfect American,” but he was evidently reluctant to regard
other dialects as properly American, and absolutely unwilling to
use dialect himself. Two considerations were involved: He had
stated that the language of “The Biglow Papers” was not English
corrupted, but English conserved; other dialects had suffered “the
sophistication of schools . . . the smartness of echoes and the taint
of slang” and had thus become “the bastard vernacular of commu¬
nities disinherited of the felt difference between the speech of the
soil and the speech of the newspaper, and capable thereby ... of
taking slang for simplicity, the composite for the quaint and the
vulgar for the natural.” And it seemed to him that all the sup¬
posedly “unconventional” American subject matter from which
ignorance barred him was marked with “the birthmark of Dialect,
general or special — dialect with the literary rein loose on its agi¬
tated back and with its shambling power of traction . . . trusted
for all such a magic might be worth.” He was repelled, and to the
raised literary monument to dialect refused to contribute a stone.-®
James’s last considerable word on the subject of language was a
series of four papers on “The Speech of American Women” in
Harper's Bazar from November, 1906, to February, 1907. If the
series immediately seems less a discussion of its announced subject
than a consideration of manners and the position of women in
society, the fact is not surprising when James’s earlier discrimina¬
tions are kept in mind. He has gone on from the Bryn Mawr
address to review the position of the American woman, the effects
of democracy and freedom upon her, and her lack of an established
standard such as guides a European. Speaking only of those who
have been schooled, he notes the social pre-eminence of American
women “entrenched behind their myriad culture clubs,” but con¬
cludes that the freedom and the lack of standards have produced
only “a tone without form and void, without charm or direction.”^®
By “tone” he refers to the idea of ''secure good manners” which he
had commended to the Bryn Mawr ladies. He can announce absurdi¬
ties such as that New England speech represents “the highest type
of utterance implanted among us” despite its want of “distinction”
or “the finer charm.”^^ But in his conclusion he returns to his sense
28John S. Sargent once told Hamlin Garland that James reproved his niece when
she said, “Uncle Henry, if you will tell me how you like your tea I will fix it for you.”
James replied : “Pray my dear young lady, what will you fix it with and what will
you fix it to?” Garland, Afternoon Neighbors (New York, 1934), p. 43.
29 The Art of the Novel, p. 279.
^Harper’s Bazar, Dec. 1906, p. 1105-6.
^^Jbid., Jan., 1907, p. 20.
1960] Enter son— James and American Language 247
that there is no isolated question of speech, the position which was
evident in his earlier statements. “Everything hangs together . . .
and there’s no isolated question of speech, no isolated application
of taste. . . . The interest of tone is the interest of manners, and
the interest of manners is the interest of morals, and the interest
of morals is the interest of civilization.”^^
James’s interest in language is thus ultimately not a matter of
linguistics but of non-technical concern for communication among
the educated and the intelligent who are capable of participating
in the “sublime consensus” of his vision. Whenever he deals with
details of language he repeats popular misconceptions of his time.
He had a sound sense of the inevitable development which in the
United States would produce a distinguishible American language
out of transplanted English, however uninformed he may have been
of particulars of the change ; but advancing years made him fussily
impatient with the Americanisms he encountered. His notions of
dialect were vague, and he wisely refused to attempt its use, even
when, as in his early productive years, he would have had a limited
familiarity with New England varieties. James’s views on language
are primarily interesting as a sidelight on his literary career. He
has been regarded as a great worker in the international field, even
with productions in which international contrasts have no bearing
on his real subject, and his readers should more frequently realize
that by the mid-80’s he was weary of the whole “international”
subject and actively sought to contribute to a consensus from which
insistence on differences would largely disappear.
Feb., 1907, p. 115.
*
i
t
i
c
i
,<
J
I
V
FENIMORE COOPER AND SCIENCE
PART IP
Harry Hayden Clark
University of Wisconsin, Madison
4, Heredity and Environment and the Doctrine of '‘Gifts’’
The question of the respective roles of heredity and environment
in conditioning human thought and activitiy is of importance in
illustrating how Cooper’s thought paralleled scientific ideas. In gen¬
eral, he illustrates how nineteenth-century ethnological ideas were
combined with late eighteenth-century environmentalism. As a reli¬
gious man and as an aristocrat Cooper acknowledged the unchange¬
able in man, that "this natur’ never can be changed in the main,
though it may undergo some increase or lessening.”®^ But he also
recognized the changeable. Men are different. This difference could
have arose, say, after the dispersion following the Tower of Babel
debacle, and become increasingly unpliant under the unremitting
influence of heredity. In this sense. Natty Bumppo’s constant ref¬
erences in the early books of the Leatherstocking Series to God-
given gifts assumes some meanings. But the speculative Cooper did
not place complete faith in heredity alone. There was the matter of
immediate external influences. He had after all read Charlevoix,
Colden, Elliot, Heckewelder, MacKenzie and Major Stephen H.
Land and found there a great concern with climate and other con¬
ditioning factors. He also knew Buffon. Like Crevecoeur he saw
that the American was something unique, despite the fact that the
American was descended from European stock. So there were both
hereditary gifts and environment-caused gifts, which served either
to advance or to restrict the individual. Mediating between the two.
Cooper saw that the supposed rigidity of hereditary conduct was
not really so, and that actually man’s nature was flexible to the
extent that environment also went to form the human character.^®
* Part I was published in Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts,
and Letters, volume 48: 179-204. 1959.
The Deerslayer (Lovell-Coryell ed., New York), p. 409, Chap. 25.
®®The various interpretations of Cooper’s doctrine of gifts may stem from this dual
view of Cooper. Wagenknecht, for instance, stresses the hereditary side in Cavalcade
of the American Novel, p. 28. when he says that “Confronting the Indian, Cooper
[saw] . . . these men were God’s children, God had given them their own ‘gifts.’ But
theirs were not the white man’s ‘gifts.’ The Indians’ ‘gifts’ please God — in an Indian —
but He will not accept them in a white man. For the future belongs to the white man,
with all his sins — to civilization, to Christianity. The Indian is doomed. And the
romantic glamor with which Cooper has invested him is the by-product of his doom.
249
250 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
On this topic the key passage is in Deerslayer (1892 ed., p. 234) :
“A natur’ is the creatur' itself ; its wishes, wants, ideas, and feelin’s
as all are born in him. This natur’ can never be changed in the main
though it may undergo some increase or lessening. Now gifts come
of sarcumstances. Thus, if you put a man in a town, he will get
town gifts ; in a settlement, settlement gifts ; in a forest, gifts of the
forest. A soldier has soldierly gifts, and a missionary preaching
gifts. All these increase and strengthen until they get to fortify
natur’ as it might be, and excuse a thousand acts and ideas. Still the
creatur^ is the same at the bottom. . . . Herein lies the apology for
gifts ; seein’ that you expect different conduct from one in silks and
satins from one in homespun. . . In short, with some very minor
exceptions, to Cooper nature involves heredity and gifts come of
circumstances or the environment.
Cooper^s emphasis on man’s selfishness and imperfectibility came,
in part, from the kind of Episcopalian Christianity he learned from
the sermons of his fellow member of the Bread and Cheese Club,
Bishop Hobart of New York. But The Monikins, in which Brigadier
Downright says that selfishness “is incorporated with the very
for the Indian is not responsible for his tragic fate.” Roy H. Pearce, “Civilization and
Savagism: The World of the Leatherstocking Tales,” English Institute Essays, 1949
(New York, 1950), pp. 92-116, treats Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales as a cultural
history attempting to define and solve the problem of civilizing a new world posed by
the contemporary American westward movement. Like Wagenknecht, Pearce defines
Cooper’s Indians as symbolic of the savage and non-civilized falling before the in¬
exorable movement of civilization rather than as noble primitives, but Pearce’s inter¬
pretation is in the main environmental. “Cooper defines Leatherstockng’s character as
one who shares savage ways but is not a savage. His radical inadequacy for civilized
life derives from the portion of savagism he shares. So it is that the savage furnishes
the primary dimension of meaning in the Tales exactly as he symbolizes at once what
Leatherstocking is and is not. Cooper, if we take to the Leatherstocking Tales a
knowledge of received ideas of the nature of ‘savagism,’ is here virtually scientific,
certainly explicit. Leatherstocking is forever finding it necessary to explain the savage
man to the civilized and the civilized man to the savage. What we must remark is
that Leatherstocking’s explanations are always in terms of savage life taken in the
context of savage environment. In the Tales the explanation most often comes as part
of a discussion of Indian and white ‘gifts’. . . . This, with its cultural relativism and
moral absolutism, is virtually a summary of received understanding of the nature of
savage and civilized society; it would come, particularized in this form, only when
that theory had been completely worked out and found to apply to the particular
conditions of savage and civilized life as they were known to exist,” Allan Nevins
( LeatherstocJcing Saga, New York, 1954, p. 18), quotes Natty on town, settlement, and
forest gifts, and concludes : “Different environments, said the scout, produce special
traits.” Thus Nevins sees Cooper’s and Crevecoeur’s positions as similar. One should
note too. Cooper’s comment (Eathfinder, Lovell-Coryell ed., p, 138, Chap. 10), “In
truth, while all men act under one common law that is termed nature, the varieties in
their dispositions, modes of judging, feeling, and selfishness are infinite,” And E. H.
Cady, The Gentleman in America (Syracuse, 1949), p, 125, uses the environmentalist
gift notion to explain one aspect of Cooper’s social thought : “The main significance of
the ‘gift’ to the concept of the gentleman is the importance it gives to his rearing, edu¬
cation, and associations. To validate his political ideas, Cooper had to get away from
the old notion of hereditary gentility. His ‘gift’ psychology creates a new basis for
exclusiveness which is to be reconciled with democracy only in his own highly tech¬
nical sense. Only life-long association with members of the class of gentlemen can
produce their gifts. And if the perfection of all the qualities which make gentility pos¬
sible must await the slov/ acquisiton of such environmental gifts, then the perfect
weapon has been forged with which the encroachments of the leveller can be beaten
back by gentlemen of good conscience.”
1960] Clark—Fenimore Cooper and Science — 11 251
monikin nature,”®^ suggestes that this emphasis may well have
come also from Cooper’s knowledge of the pre-Darwinian struggle
for existence so fully shown in this book. Thus The Monikins, while
seeing hope in our dependence “on the moral interference of the
great superior power of creation,” stresses the belief that men “are
a miserable post set of wretches,” who are so debased by nature, so
eaten “up by envy, uncharitableness, and all other evil passions,
that it is quite impossible they can do any thing that is good of
themselves. . . .” (p. 282) Dr. Reasono sums up the state of the
animal world prior to the coming of the “monikin” species by not¬
ing that “the strong devoured the weak, until the most diminutive
was reached, when these turned on their persecutors, and profiting
by their insignificance, commenced devouring the strongest.” (p.
164) And Downright, when anticipating the moral “eclipse,” actu¬
ally shuddered at the “moral perspective” of selfishness unre¬
strained by Principle, (p. 402) If the reader imagines that these
are the utterances of fictional characters with whom Cooper did not
agree, it should be recalled that in the non-fictional Switzerland,
Part Second (II, 189) Cooper stresses “the indomitable selfishness,
in which nine men in ten, or even a much larger proportion, are
entrenched.” In censuring the concept of free trade in the same
book (II, 216) he viewed it as being perilously close to “a state of
nature,” which he thought was a return to “the condition of the
savage.” In 1842, in The Two Admirals (Lorvell-Coryell ed.) he
used biological analogy to reinforce his idea of an inherent selfish¬
ness in man’s nature: “. . . the physical constitution of man,” he
wrote, “does not more infallibly tend to decrepitude and imbecility,
imperiously requiring a new being, and a new existence, to fulfill
the objects of his creation, than the moral constitutions which are
the fruits of his action, contain the seeds of abuses and decay, that
human selfishness will be as certain to cultivate, as human indul¬
gence is to aid the course of nature, in hastening the approaches
of death.” (Chapter V, p. 69) Stimson in The Sea Lions concludes
that living only for worldly interests is “being but better than the
brutes.”®® Indeed, Sea Lions as a whole emphasizes man’s precari¬
ous position in the great chain of being between that of angels and
brutes and stresses the evils that environment can sometimes
cause.®® Natty’s picture in The Prairie of life as a ruthless struggle
The Momkins (Townsend-Darley ed., New York, 1859-61), p. 347.
In “No Steamboats — A Vision,” The American Ladies’ Magazine, VII (1834), pp.
71—79, which was a translation of a short story Cooper wrote for the French magazine
Le Livre Des Cent-et-un, Cooper answered European ideas of inferiority, citing Buffon,
Balbi, Basil Hall, Saulnier, Jeffrey, the British Review and the Quarterly Review.
Like other Americans, Cooper defended the American environment as a young one, -
and consequently not liable to produce the inferior species cited by Buffon.
^ Even Cooper's Indian Chief asks, “Why hath the JVEanitou made thy race like
hungry wolves?” (Nevins, Leatherstocking Saga, 1954, p, 33).
252 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
for existence^®® is paralleled when Eve Effingham remarks that the
birds and beasts “prey on each other . . . just as the worst of our
species prey on their fellows.”^®^ Thus while Cooper apparently pre¬
ferred a nature that was serene and providentially organized, he
did note that there was the bestial in man as well as the rational,
and that this bestial aspect of man was responsible for much of the
struggle and suffering in the world.
As Cooper continued writing, his views on race and environment
became even more channeled. In general, unchanging aspects of
human nature were attributed to race while differences were attrib¬
uted to the conditioning effects of environment. Natural talents
were variously ascribed, sometimes to environment, sometimes to
heredity. Thus in describing the protagonist Wilder in The Red
Rover, Cooper borrows from nineteenth-century ethnological views
to explain personality by appearance, that Wilder’s projecting
brows gave “to the whole of the superior parts of his face that de¬
cided intellectual expression which is already becoming so common
to American physiognomy.’’^^^ Heredity had so molded Jason New-
come and Guert Ten Eyck that neither could be converted into the
other: “All the wildness of Guert’s impulses could not altogether
destroy his feelings, tone, and tact as a gentleman; while all the
soaring, extravagant pretensions of Jason never could have ended
in elevating him to that character.”^®^ With four distinguished gen¬
erations behind Miles Wallingford, he was eminently fitted, accord¬
ing to Marble, to be captain of the ship : “when natur’ means a man
for anything particular, she doesn’t set him adrift among human
beings, as I was set adrift.”^®^ Miles, in comparing and contrasting
Emily Merton and Lucy found “one peculiar charm was common
to both” which was peculiar to the “Anglo-Saxon race,” that of
“feminine purity and feminine tenderness united. . . Because
Emily had been educated in the niceties of “respectable” society
she was in a position to refine the dross of Miles’ character and give
PraArie (Illustrated Library ed., New York), p. 235, Chap. 18.
^^Home as Found (1859-61 ed.. New York), p. 152, Chap. 9. The same idea is in
Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief (Chapel Hill, 1949), p. 46. In Paris a starv¬
ing’ seamstress finds the June landscape is out of keeping with her destitution and
despair: “Nature does not stop to lament over any single victim of human society.
When misery is the deepest, there is something awful in this perpetual and smiling
round of natural movements. It teaches profoundly the insignificance of the atoms of
creation.”
“2 TTie Red Rover (Lovell-Coryell ed.. New York, 16 vols.), p. 18, Chap. 2. Unless
otherwise specified, all further references to Cooper’s novels which contain chapter
listings refer to this edition.
Satanstoe 1939 ed., p. 414, Chapter 30.
Afloat and Ashore, “Illustrated Library Edition,” p. 326, Chap, 19.
Ibid., p. 313, Chap. 18. Cooper speaks of the Anglo-Saxon propensity to be¬
lieve the worst of one’s enemy when Marble thinks the French Captain will leave him
destitute. Later, in telling how the boat-folk laugh at a Dutch name. Cooper remarks
that “the Anglo-Saxon race” has a “singular aptitude to turn up their noses at every¬
thing but their own possessions, and everybody but themselves.” (p. 452, Chap. 30).
1960]
Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — 11
253
him “some small portion of the gentler qualities of the salon.’’^°®
On Miles' return to New York from his around the world trip, he
is struck by the “beauty of the younger females" who made up, as
opposed to “the throng from Ireland and Germany," the “native
portion of the population."^®^ Cooper himself saw “national char¬
acteristics" in Gleanings Europe: France, noting that “the races
of Saxon root fail in the chin, which wants nobleness and volume"
while the profiles of French women “would seem in their proper
places on a Roman coin."^®® And describing a young girl and boy on
the English Isle of Wight he remarks that such faces are “quite
peculiar to the Anglo-Saxon race."^®® It was the fatal position of
Aristabolus Bragg that although he was endowed with the good
hereditary native endowments of shrewdness, aspiration, intelli¬
gence and self-possession he was born in a place out of joint and
could not realize the full capabilities of his being: “Had it been his
fortune to be thrown earlier into a better sphere, the same natural
qualities . . . would have conduced to his improvement. . .
Both heredity and environment provided grounds for a defense of
inequality. Different stock provide different natures, while “habits,
education, association, and sometimes chance and caprice, drew dis¬
tinctions that produced great benefits, as a whole. . . In No¬
tions of the Americans, Cooper, praising the American respect for
hereditary position, claimed, “It is useless to dwell on those secret
and deep-rooted feelings by which man, in all ages, and under every
circumstance, has been willing to permit this hereditary reflection
of character. . . ^^d so it went. While Cooper was willing to
admit the immediate impress of environment on personality, he
went beyond to assert that such personality-conditioning was some¬
times passed on to the progeny. This idea in essence was never
abandoned. The ability of Miles Wallingford to be correct in gen¬
tility was in part “obtained from education, but far more from the
inscrutable gifts of nature,"^^^ and “Nature had done more toward
making Mr. Howel a gentleman than either cultivation or associa-
tion."^^^ And in Cooper's definition of a gentleman the stress he
p. 288, Chap. 20.
p. 300, Chap. 21.
Gleanings in Europe: France (Spiller ed.), pp. 240-241.
^^lUd., p. 26.
Home as Found (1892 ed.. Works), p. 113.
Afloat and Ashore, p. 326, Chap. 22. The dashing- Dutchman, Guert Ten Eyck -was
not quite a gentleman although he should have been, for “nature intended Guert Ten
Eyck for better things than accident and education, or the -want of education, have
enabled him to become.” (Satanstoe, 1892 ed., Works, p. 229). Cooper’s Heidenmauer
(1859-61 ed.. New York, p. 326), says that conscience is more apparent in “the guile¬
less and untrained child than in the most practised man and in The Deerslayer
(1841 ed., p. 346), he spoke of conscience as the monitor which “receives its more
general growth from the training bestowed in the tillage of childhood.”
Notions of the Americans (1839 ed.), I, p. 156.
Miles Wallingford (1892 ed.. Works), p. 328.
^^Home as Found (1892 ed.. Works), p. 86.
254 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
placed on both race and environments is readily apparent: ‘The
word ‘gentleman' has a positive and limited signification. It means
one elevated above the mass of society by his birth, manners, attain¬
ments, character and social condition. As no civilized society can
exist without these social differences, nothing is gained by denying
the use of the term."^^^
In The Water-Witch, Cooper had claimed it was only necessary
for a man to exercise his inherited “natural faculties" to become a
“reflecting, and, in some degree, an independent being."^^® When he
came to write Home as Found he had adopted a semi-Lockian posi¬
tion. “There are limits to the knowledge and tastes, and habits of
every man," he wrote, “and as each is regulated by the opportuni¬
ties of the individual, it follows of necessity that no one can have a
standard much above his own experience."^^^ No amount of argu¬
mentation could have convinced him that men, made by God and
inheriting the common heritage left by Adam, could differ in other
than accidental characteristics. It was to Mr. HoweFs disadvantage
that ‘*he had gradually, and unknown to himself, in his moral nature
at least, got to be a mere reflection of those opinions" to which he
had exposed himself by reading English books and periodicals."^^*
And certainly Cooper had little sympathy for Aristabulus Bragg, a
transplanted native of Massachusetts and an unprincipled oppor¬
tunist, who has some good qualities and “much penetration in prac¬
tical things;" but is “a creature of circumstances" who has taken
on too easily the characteristics of his age and environment.^^® Nor
could Cooper be much in sympathy with the conditioning action of
“exaggerated religious opinions" which the different sects had
caused to be imprinted on the American social consciousness.^^® He
himself admitted that he was “not a believer in the scheme of rais¬
ing men very far above their natural propensities,"^-^ particularly
since men were so patently limited not only by their heritage and
surroundings but by their fall from grace.
Clearly current ideas on race led Cooper to see that certain facets
of human personality might be interpreted in terms of hereditary
causative factors, as when in The Pioneers Cooper wrote that the
German Frederick Hartmann could be better understood when con¬
sidered as “an epitome of all the vices and virtues, foibles and
excellences, of his race."^22 Environment also played its part in
Cooper's fiction, as when he has his sopkesman, the cultured Mid-
iis The American Democrat, 1838 Ed., p. 120.
The Water-Witch, p. 168, Chap, 17.
Home as Found, p. 295, Chap. 21.
^^Home as Found (1892 ed.. Works), p. 86.
^^Home as Found, pp. 15-16. Chap. 1.
^20 The American Democrat, p, 74.
Ihid., Introduction, p, 5.
122 The Pioneers, p. 88, Chap. 8.
1960] Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — 11 255
dleton, ascribe Leather-Stocking’s limitations to the fact that he
was ‘‘a noble shoot from the stock of human nature which never
could attain its proper elevation and importance for no other rea¬
son than becaause it grew in the forest, This is a key passage
and should be kept in mind as explaining why Cooper, proud of
being college-bred, should not (in the light of environmentalism)
be interpreted as regarding the illiterate Leather-Stocking, pictur¬
esque as he is, as representing mankind’s potential ‘‘proper eleva¬
tion and importance.” Judge Temple, for example, recognizes the
limitations of the forest environment when he tells Natty that
young Oliver Effingham “is made of materials too precious to be
wasted in the forest,” even if the forest does represent such mat¬
ters as freedom, purity, and a testing ground for physical courage
and manliness. However, in spite of the hereditary factors which
differentiated the white man and the black man, it was Cooper’s
religious belief, as well as Natty’s, that both would be on the same
footing before a merciful God on Judgment Day.^24 while
Cooper attributed the Indians’ habits and “their very existence, as
a distinct nation, to the doctrinal character of their ancestors,
in discussing the white man’s religion he felt that the “lapse of
ages” had “obscured” the pristine doctrine, for a variety of sec¬
tarian creeds had sprung up as a result of the environmental influ¬
ences of education and opportunity as well as the hereditary influ¬
ences of “the physical and moral conditions of the creature.
When Cooper wrote The Last of the Mohicans his views regard¬
ing heredity had become more concrete, with the result that refer¬
ences to hereditary conditioning become more numerous. Almost
everyone speaks in terms of race. The Indians “believe in the
hereditary transmission of virtues annd defects in character,
and Hawkeye, who grew up amongst the Indians and who has
adopted many of their ways (thereby unconsciously affirming the
environmentalist position), says the Hurons “are a thievish race,
nor do I care by whom they are adopted ; you can never make any¬
thing of them but skulks and vagabonds, Later he says that “A
Mingo is a Mingo, and God having made him so, neither the Mo¬
hawks nor any other tribe can alter him.”^^® Even his “natural turn
with a rifle” Natty thinks to be an hereditary gift, having been
“handed down from generation to generation, as our holy com¬
mandments tell us all good and evil gifts are bestowed, . .
^ The Prairie (1892 ed., Works), p. 278.
^ The Pioneers, p. 425, Chap. 41.
p. 119, Chap. 11.
p. 116, Chap. 11.
The Last of the Mohicans, p. 263, Chap. 24.
^Ibid., p. 37, Chap. 4.
Ibid., p. 39, Chap. 4.
'^Ibid., p. 30, Chap. 3.
256 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
When Munro meets the French Montcalm to hear the terms of sur¬
render he feels “a distrust, which he derived from a sort of heredi¬
tary contempt of his enemy And an insight into Cooper's own
nascent speculations regarding the role of the gentleman is pro¬
vided when Montcalm (who has been highly praised by Cooper the
previous page) says in the surrender interview with Hayward that
‘'all the nobler qualities are hereditary."^^^
Further references to race occur when Hawkeye refuses to kill
Magua when the latter stands unarmed at the council meeting be¬
cause, as Hawkeye says, “the gifts of my color forbid it."^^^
wise old Tamenund calls the “pale-faces ... a proud and hungry
race" who not only claim the earth but who maintain “that the
meanest of their color is better than the Sachems of the red
man,"^3^ and Uncas, standing proudly in the council of the Dele-
wares, proclaims his race to be “the grandfather of nations."^®®
The current nineteenth-century notion that the Indians had their
origin in Asia and migrated to America across a land bridge in
the Bering Sea finds its way into a story via a footnote but is quali¬
fied when Cooper admits that “great uncertainty hangs over the
whole history of the Indians."^^® Yet at the funeral of Uncas the
theory is seemingly accepted when an Indian girl “commenced by
modest allusions to the qualities of the deceased warrior, embellish¬
ing her expressions with those oriental images that the Indians
have probably brought with them from the extremes of the other
continent, and which form of themselves a link to connect the
ancient histories of the two worlds."^®^
Conditioned behavior, particularly to the Indian, thus means that
one standard of judgment for all was not feasible. In the preface to
Wyandotte, Cooper states that he aimed at “sketching several dis¬
tinct varieties of the human race, as true to the governing impulse
of their educations, habits, modes of thinking and natures. The red
p. 173, Chap. 16.
p. 163, Chap. 15.
533 Ibid., p. 317, Chap. 29.
p. 325, Chap. 29.
535 Ibid., p, 329, Chap. 30.
585 7bicZ., p. 29, Chap. 3, n. 2.
537 Ibid., p. 364, Chap. 33. Considerable light is cast on Cooper’s supposed primitivism
and the limitation of his doctrines of social justice by his non-fictional statement of
his attitudes toward the American government’s actual obligations toward and treat¬
ment of the Indians, If in his fiction Cooper appears to glorify some Indians such as
Uncas as naturally good, in his Notions of the Americans (II, pp. 281-285), he finds
the Indians “all alike, a stunted, dirty, and degraded race,’’ and he thought that
“neither the United States, nor any individual State, has ever taken possession of
any land that, by usage or construction, might be decreed the property of the Indians,
without a treaty and a purchase.’’ Cooper announced that “a good deal is endeavoured
to be done in mitigating the sufferings and in meliorating the conditions of the In¬
dians’’ through the “office of Indian affairs ... at the rate of a little more than a
million of dollars a year.’’ In fact, according to Cooper, “The Indians have never been
slain except in battle, unless by lawless individuals, ... or in any manner aggrieved,
except in the general, and, perhaps, in some degree, justifiable invasion of a territory
that they did not want, nor could not use,’’
1960]
Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — II
257
man had his morality as much as his white brother.’^^^® While it is
well to note that Cooper's only good Indians are the Delewares, who
have been largely Christianized and who have had long contact
with the White man, they still had what in the white man's eye
were revolting habits — like scalping. To the imperturbable Natty
Bumppo such habits were not the occasion for moral obloquy. Cap's
curiosity as to what Serpent will do with his scalps in church
(Chingachgook has become a pious Moravian) draws this explana¬
tion from Natty: “These things are only skin-deep, and all depend
on edication and nat'ral gifts."^=^^ “No, no," he goes on to say, “each
colour has its gifts, and its laws, and its traditions ; and one is not
to condemn another because he does not exactly comprehend it."^^°
Such cultural relativism does not of course extend to the after life.
Christ died for all colors and “each will be judged according to his
deeds, and not according to his skin."^^^ There was still the moral
law immutably rooted in nature, having, as we have seen, all the
permanent features of Newtonian law in the physical universe. In
this respect, it is wise to remember that gifts — environment-caused
and providing group uniqueness — make no difference before God,
and that Cooper still recognizes basic nature, the wishes, wants,
ideas and feelings to which a man is born.^^^
The effects of environment are seen again in the case of the spir¬
itual Hetty and her sister the vanity-stricken Judith in The Deer-
slayer, evidenced in the “great differences between those who were
nursed at the same breast, slept in the same bed, and dwelt under
the same roof."^^^ Yet Cooper did not neglect hereditary-racial fac¬
tors. Robert Hardings in Afloat and Ashore is said to resemble his
mother, and in The Chainbearer, Jason Newcome's descendants
“are the legitimate heritors of their ancestor's vulgarity of mind
and manners — of his tricks, his dissimulations, and his frauds. This
is the way in which Providence ‘visits the sins of the fathers upon
the children unto the third and fourth generations.’
In Cooper's anti-rent trilogy, the negro Jaap (who appears in all
three novels under various names) is described as having various
racial “peculiarities" — such as kinkly hair, white teeth, large and
colored lips — ^which prove him an inferior. His intellect, Cooper
comments, had “suffered under ... (a) blight" since his removal
to America.^^® And Cooper regards as “exceptional" the fact that
between the negro Jaap and the Indian Sureflint the “known antip-
138 Preface to Wyandotte (Lovell-Coryell ed. ), P. 4.
The Pathfinder, p. 398, Chap. 27.
110 Idem.
111 The Deerslayer, p. 49, Chap. 3.
Ibid., see Chap. 26 and 27.
113 The Deerslayer (Paine ed., New York, 1927), I, p. 490, Chap. 17.
^The Chainbearer, p. 403, Chap. 30.
The Redskins (Illustrated Library ed., Boston), p. 472, Chap. 27.
258 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
athy” of the two races did not exist.^^® Cooper’s most important and
admirable negro character, Scipio, in The Red Rover is said to owe
his superior stature (‘‘animal force”) to heredity: “While nature
had stamped on his lineaments those distinguishing marks which
characterize the race from which he sprang, she had not done it to
that revolting degree to which her displeasure against the stricken
people is sometimes carried. But even here Cooper goes on to
describe Scipio’s idly throwing pebbles in the air and catching them
as “an amusement which betrayed alike the natural tendency of his
mind to seek pleasure in trifles, and the absence of the more elevat¬
ing feelings which are the fruits of education. When Scipio
fights and dies with great bravery. Cooper explains this by saying
that natural instinct takes the place of rational process in the case
of the negro.^^^ In Afloat and Ashore, the reactions of the negro
Neb are supposed to be conditioned by “tradition or instinct, or
some latent Negro quality.”^^® And when the ship’s cook gives Neb
a box on the ear that “would have set a white man reeling” it pro¬
duces no effect, “falling as it did on the impregnable part of his
system.”^®^ Neb himself was the “oddest mixture of superstitious
dread and lion-hearted courage ever met,” completely conscious of
his inferiority ; Cooper petulantly comments that in his own era the
“word [inferiority] is proscribed even in the State’s Prisons.
. . .”^^2 And Miles Wallingford (N. Y., G. P. Putnam’s Sons ed.),
p. 9, Chap. I, has Miles speak of Negroes as “a class sealed by
nature itself, and doomed to inferiority.” For Cooper there was no
inconsistency in being a Christian and a slave-holder; in fact, it
was really Christian charity of heart to hold slaves, for “the Afri¬
can is, in nearly all respects, better off in servitude in this country,
than when living in a state of barbarism at home.”^®^ Cooper was
ready to admit that the institution of slavery was doomed to ex¬
tinction and he bemoaned the absence in his own day of “the care¬
less, good-natured, affectionate, faithful, hard-working, and yet
happy blacks” that had been in practically every family forty years
before.^®^ While the negro had an “extraordinary aptitude for
love,”^^^ Cooper imagined that if the negro were freed and given
political equality, an “inextinguishable hatred” would arise between
149 The Chainhearer (Illustrated ed. ), P. 225, Chap. 15. Examples of the “natural
antipathy” between negro and Indian may be found in Satanstoe, pp. 390-399, and
424, Chaps. 23, 24, and 25; and in Wyandotte (Illustrated ed.), pp. 228-229, Chap. 13;
370-372, Chap. 23.
Red Rover (Illustrated ed. ), p. 31, Chap. 2.
148 Idem.
-^Ihid., pp. 186-189, Chap. 12.
Afloat and Ashore (S. A. Maxwell and Co., Chicago), p. 36, Chap. 3.
Ibid , p. 52, Chap. 4.
^^^Ibid., p. 309, Chap. 21.
11^ The American Democi'at, p. 174.
'^Afloat and Ashore (S. A. Maxwell and Co.), p. 438, Chap. 29.
^^lUd., p. 417, Chap. 28.
1960]
Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — 11
259
the ''two races’" living side by side and carrying “on their faces,
the respective stamps of their factions.”^^® ''The evil day may be
delayed,” he wrote, ''but can scarcely be averted.
Since Cooper continually assumed the racial superiority of the
white man, it is interesting to note that in the sympathy with which
he presents the mulatto Cora Munro he rebukes race-prejudice and
shows a bit of liberalism. Major Duncan Heyward, although from
the South, treats her with respect, and Hawkeye (who is scornful
of Vv^hite prejudice against the Indians) is willing to give his life
for the mulatto. Cora herself is made to rebuke distrust of Indians
because of their race. Her first speech voices her liberalism in oppo¬
sition to her companions’ fears about the integrity of their Indian
guide: “Should we distrust the man because his manners are not
our manners, and that his skin is dark?”^°® Actually, however, this
guide does betray them. Later, when the Mohican joins them and
Heyward expresses the hope that he may prove “a brave and con¬
stant friend,” Cora comments “Now Major Heyward speaks as
Major Heyward should , . . who that looks at this creature of
nature, remembers the shade of his skin.”^^^ Cora is presented as
admirable in her unselfish attitude toward her sister, and in her
courage during the forest adventures and during her party’s cap¬
ture by the Hurons. After returning from Montcalm with an invi¬
tation to Munro for a parley, Heyward tells Munro that he loves
his daughter. Munro, a Scot, supposes Heyv/ard refers to Cora
(whereas Heyward actually is asking for the hand of the half-sister,
Alice) and tells him that she is part negro, the daughter of a West
Indian woman. Munro accepts Heyward’s denial of race prejudice
and his assertion that such prejudice is in the South “unfortunate.”
But Cooper himself remarks that Heyward’s later inquiry as to
whether Alice’s mother was white “might have proved dangerous
at a moment when the thoughts of Munro were less occupied than
at present.”^®® Cora’s view does not represent Cooper’s own over¬
all attitude. It is well to realize that his hero Hawkeye constantly
insists on distinctive racial “gifts,” and that Tamenund talks of the
whites as believing in the master-race concept. The whole tenor of
one part of Cooper’s introduction to his proposed study entitled
The Towns of Manhattan^^'^ indicates that he felt white people supe-
153 The American Democrat, p. 175,
157 Idem.
The Last of the Mohicans, p. 20, Chap. 2.
^Ibid., p. 55, Chap. 6.
^^Ihid., pp. 168-169, Chap. 16.
isiiVeu; York, Being an Introduction to an Unpublished Manuscript, by the author,
entitled The Towns of Manhattan, edited with an Introduction by Dixan Ryan Fox
(New York, 1930). With regard to the Indian, it is worth noting that Cooper’s views
did not wholly coincide with the scientific views of men like Schoolcraft and Catlin.
Nevins (Leatherstocking Saga, 1954, p. 33), notes that such men “must have regretted
that the novelist dealt so unscientifically with the Indian. Theirs was a deeper sym-
260 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
rior to the dark. He ridiculed the South for trying to continue the
practice of slavery, saying that in terms of economic productivity
“a single white man’’ would be “of more importance to them than
that of a dozen negroes.” (p. 62) He noted that nearly one-half of
the South’s property lay in its slave holdings, “a race so different
from our own as to render any amalgamation to the last degree
improbable, if not impossible.” (p. 30) At the same time, however,
he had little use for abolitionists, whose actions he called “the mach¬
inations of demagogues and the ravings of fanaticism.” (p. 33) It
must be recalled that Cooper wrote a long article on slavery in
which he himself accepts the racial inferiority of the negroes and is
scornful about the idea of inter-marriage of negroes and whites.
This non-fictional article seems a sure guide to his own views af
racism and hence suggests his own accord with the views expressed
by Heyward and Hawkeye. This belief in racial differences also
accords with Cooper’s general political and social conservatism and
his lack of exclusive reliance on environmental explanations of
character, as well as his Christian paternalism toward those whom
he regarded as the less fortunate races. But if Cooper is reaction¬
ary in many ways, we should give him credit for being liberal in
having created one of the very first^®- mulatto women in American
fiction who is made heroic and admirable : she braves the perils of
the wilderness and of savage war to guard her sister and to be re¬
united with her father; and she wins the love of Cooper’s most
gallant Indian hero, Uncas, and the admiration of Hawkeye. Yet
her murder relieves Cooper from dealing with the complications
which might have resulted had Cora and Uncas lived and married.^®^
Combined with this hereditary outlook. Cooper realized the fact
mat the Indians through contact with the whites were rapidly be¬
coming civilized.^®^ Birth, he felt, “should produce some advantages,
in a social sense,” both because the son inherits “a portion of the
intelligence, refinement and habits of the father and because the
pathy with the aborigine.” And Nevins points out (p. 26), that really Cooper lived too
soon to know the “really scientific studies of the ethnologists” like those of Lewis
Henry Morgan. See too Gregory L. Paine, “The Indians of the Leatherstocking Tales,”
Studies iu Philology, XXIII (Jan. 1926). pp. 16-39.
See, for orientation, John H. Nelson, The Negro Character in American Fiction
(Lawrence, Kansas, 1926) ; Sterling A. Brown. The Negro in American Fiction (Wash¬
ington, 1937) ; Penelope Bullock, “The Mulatto in American Fiction,” Phylon, VI (1st
Quarter, 1945), pp. 78—82. Also “Fenimore Cooper’s Defense of Slave-Owning America,”
edited by R. E. Spiller, American Historical Review, XXXV (April, 1930), pp. 575-582.
Cooper’s squeamishness was not wholly shared by his contemporaries. The United
States Literary Gazette (Vol. IV), May, 1826, p. 90), a Boston publication, in its re¬
view of the novel expressed disappointment that Cora and Uncas weren’t saved for
marriage and in doing so probably expressed the opinion of the majority of the readers.
Racism and aversion to miscegenation appear in Cooper’s Wept of the Wish-ton-Wish.
An Indian boy, Conanchet, who has grown up among his white captors, is recaptured
by his fellow Indians together with a white girl who becomes his wife. Eventually,
however, Conanchet brings the girl back to her mother, since he feels that “The Great
Spirit was angry when they grew together.”
184 Oak Openings, passim.
1960] Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — II 261
surroundings enable the son to participate in the ‘‘associations” of
the father.^®^
In general, Cooper’s ideas on heredity and environment, seem¬
ingly ambiguous on the surface, do fall, with some reservation,
into a pattern. In his early work the chief emphasis is placed on
heredity as explaining human conduct, although isolated instances
of a regard for environment crop up. As Cooper continued writing,
features of human conduct which bore resemblances to the parent’s
or which appeared to follow contemporary ethnological ideas were
attributed to heredity.^®® Conduct which seemed to depart from
precedent was thought to be due to more immediate causative fac¬
tors in the environment. This was pretty much Cooper’s final posi¬
tion. Properly mixed and judiciously used, it allowed Cooper some
measure of tolerance without in any manner endangering his own
stand in favor of God, moral law, and the paternalistic natural
aristocrat.
Leslie Fiedler (in Love and Death . . . , 1960, p. 170) claims
that Cooper’s “primitives resemble more closely than the wild
clansmen of Scott the version of the Noble Savage proposed by the
rudimentary anthropology of the (French) Encyclopedists, and
used by them as controls against which the corruption and effemi-
nancy of the civilized European could be defined.” If Cooper derived
some of his attitudes toward the Indian tribes such as the Dela¬
wares contrasted with the Mingoes from Henry R. Schoolcraft, one
should recall that H. R. Hays’ From Ape to Angel calls Schoolcraft
“our first field worker in social anthropology” and “the first applied
anthropologist.”
5. The Practical Utility of Science
It is important to balance both sides of Cooper’s view or science.
The theoretical side he deemed important as justifying his own
peculiar concept of society, religion, and the cosmos. But he eulo¬
gized as well those aspects of applied science which had obvious
utility in facilitating such interests as navigation and commerce- —
in so far as they did not interfere with piety and Episcopal ortho¬
doxy. He distrusted those schools which were “merely schools or
metaphysical and useless distinctions.”^®^ While Cooper disliked
1*® The American Democrat, p. 82.
168 Where human conduct was not concerned, Cooper invariably admitted the impact
of environment in changing- the organic composition of bodies which could be passed
on to the offspring. Thus in The Chronicles of Cooperstown ( Cooperstown, 1838), p. 97,
he wrote that the “salubrity of the climate” appeared “to favor the development of
. . . the forms and constitutions” of young women. And in Notions of the Americans
(1839 ed. ), I, p. 137, Cooper noted “that the canvas-back of the Hudson, which in the
eyes of M. de Buffon, would be precisely the same bird as that of the Chesapeake, is
in truth endowed with another nature,” due to the “freshness of the soil” and the
“genial influence of the sun.”
The American Democrat, p. 189.
262 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
ostentatious fortunes and a pseudo-aristocracy based on Wall Street
speculation and its consequent instability as opposed to inherited
landed estates, as a country squire devoted to gracious living he did
recognize that if one’s income could be augmented in a decent way
by applied science, it was not to be neglected/®^
In his own day he savv^ the United States as “prospering beyond
all precedent, everything is thriving, commerce, manufactures,
agriculture. . . He thought the “scientific progress” or the
young men of West Point was so “admirable” that “no similar in¬
stitution in the world is superior.”^’® In the War of 1812, Cooper
thought the United States had been handicapped by its defective
“scientific knowledge, but it had become “formidable” by its
scientific improvement of “facilities of intercommunication.”^^^
Every day was “exhibiting improvements in machinery” and farm-
ing.^^3 Cooper’s History of the Navy has many passages showing
that as an experienced seaman^"^ and a rich man who had invest¬
ments in commercial vessels he recognized and praised scientific
efforts such as the expeditions led by Parry and later by Wilkes to
chart safe navigation courses, to locate new islands of commercial
value, and to make navigation in general less of a hazardous gamble
and more lucrative. Cooper was not hesitant, as many now are, in
thinking that the national government was the fit instrument for
promoting “scientific discovery” and fitting out expeditions “for
the purpose of exploring those seas in which the whale-fisheries, as
well as other branches of commercial enterprise, were pursued.”^^^
For the Wilkes expedition he had the utmost praise, not only be¬
cause it furthered “the great interests of commerce and naviga¬
tion” but because it went beyond “to extend the bounds of science,
and to promote the acquisition of knowledge.”^^® In reviewing a
book on Sir William Edward Parry’s Northern Expedition in search
of a northwest passage, his enthusiasm crossed national boundaries.
“Scientific facts,” he wrote, “are so intimately blended, that it is
168 It should be noted that Cooper felt that caste depended partly on industrialism,
that the mechanic was elevated over the day laborer and the slave as a result of “in¬
equalities of condition, of manners, (and) of mental culture.” Of course the “man of
refinement,” with all his superiorities, was on the highest rung of the ladder. See The
American Democrat, p. 82.
Correspondence of JFG (New Haven, 1922), I, p. 320.
no Notions of the Americans (1839 ed.), I, p. 223.
171 /bid., I, p. 232.
n^iud., I, pp. 232-234.
ns Ibid., I, p. 202, see footnote.
174 For orientation on Cooper’s own connections with the Navy, see Louis H. Bol-
ander, “The Naval Career of James Fenimore Cooper,” U. 8. Naval Institute Proceed¬
ings, LXVI (April, 1940), pp. 541-550.
History of the Navy (New York, 1854), III, pp. 38-39.
noj})id., Ill, p. 39. “The scientific corps,” wrote Cooper, “were on all occasions dili¬
gent and enthusiastic, and theii labors are attested by the large collections which they
have made, illustrating the natural sciences, and by the observations and examinations
on all subjects intrusted to them, which they have patiently accomplished.” Ill, p. 52.
1960]
Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — 11
263
impossible to predict what a flood of light may not burst upon us by
the possession of a single fact.”^^^
While the Navy was primarily a “military organization/' Cooper
felt that “its incidental services to science, or to any of the arts that
facilitate human intercourse and promote human improvement, are
without doubt Vv^orthy to be chronicled in its history/'^^® The Wilkes
expedition especially had done work of a “brilliant character" in
helping to promote “the substantial improvement of the condition
of mankind,"^^^ Cooper also had words of praise for the Lynch ex¬
pedition, which explored the course of the rivier Jordan and sub¬
stantiated the findings of Lieutenant Symonds, an English officer
who had calculated the difference in levels between the Red and
Mediterranean Seas. He similarly praises the expeditions which
were surveying and charting the China Seas, the north Pacific and
Bering Strait. Such work, in the immediate benefits felt by com¬
merce from this “notable scientific achievement," was meritorious
and “augmented" the reputation of the American Navy.
As a naval historian and patriot. Cooper was grateful to science
and scientific inventors for improving not only the construction of
ships and navigation instruments ; he relates science to other prob¬
lems connected v/ith the sea, “With Bowditch and Vattel," says
Captain Truck, “a man might sail round the globe, and little fear of
a bad landfall, or a mistake in principles."^®® The plot of Jack Tier
partly hinges on navigational science, since after the villain. Cap¬
tain Spike, hides the instruments in his cabin, Rose Budd manages
in the Captain's absence to get the sextant (which the first mate
Mulford had taught her to use) and to determine their longitude
and latitude. Part of the humor of Jack Tier centers in confusing
the roles of the barometer and chronometer, and Cooper, in orient¬
ing his reader to appreciate the fun, provides several long passages
explaining their use. Mrs. Budd, always making absurd mistakes,
asks Mulford to see how his chronometer agrees with her watch :
“Here was a flight in science and nautical language that poor Mul¬
ford could not have anticipated," Cooper comments. A chronom¬
eter after all was meant to keep the time of a particular meridian ;
his was set for Greenwich time and hers for New York time, the
difference being some five hours. Elsewhere, Cooper v/rote of com¬
passes as “faithful but mysterious guides" whose “sources of
power" were continually baffling man, but always serving him accu-
rately.^®2 his preface to The Sea Lions, Cooper lauded “the recent
F. Cooper, Early Critical Essays: 1820-1822 (Gainesville, Florida, 1955), p. 95.
History of the Navy (New York, 1854), III, p. 94.
Ill, p. 51.
Homeward Bound, p. 60, Chap. 5.
^Jack Tier, p. 182, Chap. 7.
Homeward Bound, p. 301, Chap. 25.
264 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
attempts of science’' in rendering the ‘‘polar circles much more
familiar to this age than to any that has preceded it. . .
The same book brings together the two uses of science as a tool and
as a means of glorifying God when he remarks that if the explorers
imprisoned in the Arctic were not found, “their names must be
transmitted to posterity as victims to a laudable desire to enlarge
the circle of human knowledge, and with it, we trust, to increase
the glory due to God.”^®^ Cooper was interested too in naval weap¬
ons of utility in national defence. Thus in Jack Tier when a United
States revenue steamer shells the treasonable Captain Spikes’ ship
which has just transferred gun-powder (disguised in barrels of
flour) to the Mexicans, Cooper remarks on the improved length of
the trajectory. The “monster cannons” bore the name of a “dis¬
tinguished French engineer,” but, says Cooper, the real credit
should go to “the ingenious officer who is at the head of our own
ordnance, as they came originally from his inventive faculties,
though somewhat improved by their European adopter. . . Re¬
cent improvements, he goes on to say, “have made ships of this
nominal force formidable at nearly a league’s distance ; more espe¬
cially by means of their Paixhans and their shells.”^®® Cooper felt
there were many things that a nation could further in times of
peace so as to be better prepared in times of war. He advocated the
governmental use of a cruiser to ascertain facts about whether or
not there is a shoal and a reef near “the tail of the Great Bank”
where six ships had apparently floundered and never been heard
from again.^®^ A “great maritime state” could best protect itself by
“expending its money freely, to further the objects of general sci¬
ence, in the way of surveys and other similar precautions. . . .”^®*
The superiority of his own knowledge regarding the sea caused him
to look with cavalier humor at those who, like Mrs. DeLacey, osten¬
tatiously attempted to show their own knowledge of “naval science”
and only succeeded in making themselves look ridiculous.^®®
Another primary concern with Cooper, along with matters naval,
was the scientific cultivation and improvement of the soil. He dis¬
liked the “trade-talking, dollar-dollar set” in American commercial
towns. Born and reared in an aristocratic, agrarian community of
feeling, and continuing for the better part of his life to play the
part of a gentleman farmer. Cooper would naturally have been in¬
terested in anything that promised to improve the quality of his
own holdings as well as promising to advance the welfare of the
383 Preface to The Sea Lions (Lovell-Coryell ed. ), p. 5.
p. 6.
Tier, p. 161, Chap. 6.
p. 163, Chap, 6.
187 Gleanings in Europe: France (Spiller ed.), o. 10.
Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers (Phila., 1846), I, pp, 44-45.
180 The Red Rover, p. 46, Chap. 4.
1960]
Ckirk — Fenimore Cooper and Science — 11
265
country as a whole.^^® He looked for an advanced, economical man¬
ner for improving on nature. Accordingly, soon after his marriage
and settling at Fenimore Farm in New York State, he joined the
Otsego Agricultural Society and shortly became its secretary and
in “joint effort’' with his wife designed a flag for the annual fair
picturing “a black plough and the words 'West Chester Agricul¬
tural Society,’ in large black letters on the white ground,. .
Here he studied crop improvement and introduced Merino sheep
for the first time to the area.^^^ Cooper had the propertied man’s
interest in the rationalistic exploitation of utilitarian scientific in¬
vention. No matter that America had created no worthwhile paint¬
ings. They would come with time. But it had more and better
ploughs than the Vv^hole of Europe, and in “this single fact,” he felt,
“may be traced the history of the character of the people, and the
germ of their future greatness.”^®^ Here was pictured “the Ameri¬
can sanguine, aspiring and confident in his anticipations. He sees
that his nation lives centuries in an age, and feels no disposition
to consider himself a child, because other people, in their dotage,
choose to remember the hour of his birth.”^®^
Cooper’s friendship with Samuel F. B. Morse prepared him, if
indeed preparation was necessary, to hail the invention of the tele¬
graph as contributing to the advancement of the nation in the
realms of information, trade, and personal communication.^®^ As a
man in similar difficulties. Cooper could wholly sympathize with
Morse’s running feuds with the newspaper press,^®® and with
Morse’s inability to realize any great financial gain from his
invention.^®^ And he could sympathize too with Morse’s “earnest-
Sometimes these two interests became inextricably mixed. Oak Openings, for In¬
stance, with its scene the Kalamazoo Valley, is in part a palpable attempt to stimulate
settlement of this area of Michigan and to thus increase the possible profits of the
land speculators — of which Cooper at this time (c. 1848) was one.
Susan F. Cooper, “Small Family Memories,” ^Correspondence, I, p. 37.
Susan F. Cooper, “A Glance Backward,” Atlantic Monthly, LIX (Feb., 1887),
p. 199.
Notions of the Americans, II, p. 115.
II, p. 332.
In fact. Cooper’s over-zealous anxiousness to defend his friend Morse, once caused
the latter to lose the promise of a job. When J. Q. Adams offered his opinion that
America had no artist good enough to do some capitol mural paintings. Cooper wrote a
letter, published in the Evening Post, in rebuttal. Adams thought Morse had written
the letter and refused to give him the commission. Cooper had little sympathy for
Adams, although Adams was for a policy of internal improvements, but he did write
that Adams as President was a “prudent and zealous patriot” whose “intelligence or
intentions” there was no reason to distrust. (Notions of the Americans, II, p. 219).
Cooper wrote his wife May 10, 1849: “I met Morse just now, looking like a bride¬
groom, and full of law suits. He groans over the press worse than I ever did, and
seems to imagine justice deaf as well as blind. Still he is a great man, and will so
stand in history; and so deserves to stand.” (Correspondence, II, p. 626).
“7 In 8ea Lions, p. 128, Chap. 10; Cooper takes the occasion of Roswell GaA-diner’s
difficulty in communicating with Deacon Platt to allude to Morse’s invention of the
telegraph and to use the attempts of his rivals to rob him of its rewards as an illus¬
tration of the dangers of democracy. Cooper’s dating of the invention was questioned
by Morse, was later substantiated as correct, and Cooper’s deposition before the New
York Commission enabled Morse to successfully prosecute his lawsuit. See Correspond¬
ence of JFC, II, p. 620 ; II, pp. 633-638.
266 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
ness and single-minded devotion to a laudable purpose”^®® in spend¬
ing years on experiments to perfect an instrument calculated to
advance man’s well-being. If Cooper continually saw the problem
of man to lie in the perfecting of moral self, he did not hesitate to
recognize that man’s nature was dual, and that one must consider
the material as well as the spiritual.
Cooper’s interest in the utilitarian application of science was
far-ranging. In Gleanings in Europe: France, although he said that
of Gothic architecture he ‘'knew nothing except through the prints,”
he gave a fairly detailed and not uncritical analysis of Westminster
Abbey.^^^ In the matter of the rapid building up of coral isles in the
Pacific, his “theory of geography” led him to speculate that “a
railroad may yet run across that portion of our globe connecting
America with the old world. . . For America he felt no fear
of foreign competition in manufacturing: “The exceeding ingenuity
and wonderful aptitude of these people will give them the same
superiority in the fabrication of a button or of a yard of cloth, as
they now possess in the construction of a ship.”^®^ When speaking
of a plan to connect Havre with Paris by a ship-channel as likely
to fail. Cooper extolled America as opposed to France by virtue of
the fact that “the average practical intellect of the country” sus¬
tained well the plannings of “men of science.”^®^ general. Cooper
saw that such projects were for the benefit of all classes of citizens
and that the state’s sponsoring of these projects was consequently
preferable.^®^ He praised the British Isle of Wright roads made by
“the practical good sense and perseverance of Mr. McAdam,” add¬
ing that “there is not, in fact, any very sensible difference between
the draft of a really good McAdamized road and of a rail-road.”^®^
And Cooper’s daughter, Susan, tells us that he was “much inter¬
ested in the great engineering work of Napoleon, which crossed
the Simplon with such a fine broad road.”^®®
While science could contribute to the prosperity of man, its con¬
tributions were welcomed by Cooper. His fear of the tyranny of
public opinion was based on the fact that the increased facility of
information offered by the printing presses and newspaper manu¬
facturing could pervert the moral character. Inventions injudi¬
ciously used could serve no good purpose. Thus Cooper’s eternal
emphasis on education.^®® In medicine too a code should be used.
Sea Lions, p .128, Chap. 10.
Gleanings in Europe: France (Spiller ed. ), pp. 45-47.
Afloat and Ashore, p. 229, Chap. 16.
Notions of the Americans (1839 ed. ), II, p. 330.
202 Gleanings in Europe: France (Spiller ed. ), p. 69.
2<^Ibid., p. 70.
20i Cooper would have been prejudiced. Mrs. Cooper’s sister, Anne, a “fierce Tory”
in England, became in 1827 the second wife of John McAdam, the “Colossus of roads.”
203 Susan F. Cooper, “Small Family Memories,” in Correspondence of JFG, I, p. 71.
203 Cooper’s distrust of “general systems and comprehensive theories” of education is
illustrated in “Imagination” (originally published in 1823, in Tales for Fifteen and
1960]
Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science— II
267
Captain Wallingford cannot bring himself to believe that “a phy¬
sician of Doctor Hosach’s eminence and character would speak
openly of the diseases of his patients’" when gossips claim that
Doctor Hosack had told someone that Mrs. Bradford has a cancer ;
Wallingford is partially mollified when the gossips claim that a
friend got the secret out of him “by negations.”^®’^ The sympatheti¬
cally portrayed physician Dr. Edward McBrain, “a man of very
handsome estate, the result of a liberal profession steadily and in¬
telligently pursued,”^®® is not “a man to press a fact . . . without
sufficient justification,” and is hesitant about identifying the skele¬
tons found in the ash ruins of the Goodwin’s house as those of two
women.^®^ And of course Cooper, being of a strict propriety, could
not have sympathized with Dr. Powers of Cooperstown, who was
convicted “of mixing tartar emetic with the beverage of a ball given
at the 'Red Lion.’
No moderate in his personal tastes. Cooper so disliked New Eng¬
land, that even Boston biscuits kept him awake at night For him
it was no matter for levity; Cooper liked his food — there was a
science in its preparation. Bad cooking and hasty eating, he
thought, “are the causes of the diseases of the stomach so common
in America.” Americans had no idea about how to prepare vege¬
tables and meat and still retain their nutriment, a matter of serious
concern, for “national character is, in some measure, affected by a
knowledge of the art of preparing food, there being as good reason
to suppose that man is as much affected by diet as any other animal,
and it is certain that the connection between our moral and physi¬
cal qualities is so intimate as to cause them to react on each
other.”2^2 In both Notions of the Americans and The American
Democrat, Cooper enjoys discussing the implications of what he
calls “the science of the table” in a vv^ay that would delight a mod¬
ern dietitian. Of the science of cookery he finds that Americans, as
compared to Europeans, are “singularly and unhappily ignorant.”
The Americans “are the grossest feeders of any civilized nation
known,” their food being “heavy, coarse, ill prepared and indi-
gestible.”^^® The result was certainly not conducive to the forma¬
tion of an American superman. For Cooper, seldom unpatriotic, the
prospect looked forbidding. He did think that “the empire of gas¬
tronomy will, sooner or later, be transferred to this spot,” but he
later reprinted in Robert’s Semi-Monthly Magazine, Feb., 1841), where Katherine’s
mother carefully supervises her daughter’s reading and education.
Afloat and Ashore, p. 367, Chap. 25.
208 Ways of the Hour, p. 61, Chap. 5.
209/&id., p. 52, Chap. 4.
The Chronicles of Cooperstown (Cooperstown, 1838), p. 31.
211 Cooper’s Journal for 1848, in Correspondence, II, p, 731.
212 The American Democrat, p. 165.
Ibid., p. 164. The Indians were in even worse straits, often obliged to eat raw
meat “without any aid from the science of cookery.” (Last of the Mohicans, p. 105,
Chap. 11).
268 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
thought that ''at present it must be confessed that the science is
lamentably defective.''^^^ In truth, the Americans were too content
to depend upon the "bounties of nature/' Moral individualism was
needed here also, "without which no perfect enjoyment in any
branch of human indulgence can exist."^^^
Cooper’s interest in utilitarian science, many-faceted, was not
always consistent, particularly when humor was at bay. Essentially
Cooper favored men like young Wallingford, with their ability at
"figures and calculations.”^^® He could write very unchivalrously,
however, about that "very learned sort of individual, the American
antiquarian,” who, in exploring an early abandoned mill in "ruin¬
ous condition,” resembled "the renowned knight of La Mancha
tilt(ing) against . , . other windmills. . . Yet Susan is our
authority that Cooper, laying "no claim to the honor of scholarship
in the field of antiquity,” was greatly interested in the ancient ruins
of Rome,^^® and that he greatly enjoyed riding over the Campagna,
occasionally dismounting "to examine more closely a statue or frag¬
ment of ancient days.”^^® He knew that to wish the steamboat out
of existence was contrary to all the principles of political economy,
but he was quite certain "that the world is less moral since steam¬
boats were introduced than formerly.”22o world was too busy
to pray. And it pained him to see the "rustic virtues” of the coun¬
tryside thrust aside by a piping, whistling railroad trailing "a sort
of bastard elegance.”--^ These inventions, he thought, when mis¬
used, coupled "with the gregarious manner of living that has
sprung up in the large taverns, (were perhaps) 'doing wonders for
the manners of the people’; though . . . the wonder is that they
have any left.”^^^
Yet it was man who ultimately determined the rightness or
wrongness of scientic discoveries, not the discoveries themselves.
The "arcana of nature,” properly inquired into and properly used,
could prove of immense benefit. Dr. Todd, the "man of physic” in
The Pioneers, who knew eighty Indian remedies and had studied
"Denman’s Midwifery,” was, says Cooper, "on a level with his com¬
peers of the profession.”223 Hawkeye, learned in the secrets of
nature, comments that "a little bruised alder will act like a charm”
in curing the "deep flesh wound” incurred by the Indian boy in
Notions of the Americans (1839 ed.), I, P- 141.
215 Idem.
Afloat and Ashore, p. 264, Chap. 18.
211 The Red Rover, p. 39, Chap. 3.
218 Susan P. Cooper, “A Second Glance Backward,” Atlantic Monthly, LX (Oct.,
1887), p. 481.
2i» Idem.
Homeward Bound, p. 205, Chap. 18.
221 Sea Lions, p. 11, Chap. 1.
Afloat and Ashore, p. 450, Chap. 30.
22* The Pioneers, pp. 64-65, Chap. 6.
1960]
dark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — II
269
recovering Killdeer.-^^ Cooper himself deliberated on the “hotly con-
tested'^ question of whether yellow fever was or was not contagious
and came to the conclusion that “a sort of middle course'' was to be
preferred.225 when a rash of small-pox appeared in the Mema-
roneck area, Cooper financed the vaccination of a number of people
and saw to it that his children were inoculated.--® Conservation-
wise, Cooper appears to have advocated a policy which took cog¬
nizance of nature's ways. Richard Jones in The Pioneers is sati¬
rized for proposing “efficient scientific" means for slaughtering
wild ducks and “the wastefulness of the settlers" in clearing the
forests is condemned. Cooper's attitude is that of the Judge, who
wishes to utilize and conserve our natural resources.
Young America was a nation on the go; science and the products
of science were a major desideratum. There was absolutely no rea¬
son “why science and all the useful arts should not be cultivated
here. . . “It is probable," Cooper rejoiced, “that the amount
of science in the United States, at this day, compared to what it
was even fifteen years ago, and without reference to the increase
of the population, is as five to one, or even in a still greater propor¬
tion."--® And so he practiced his animal husbandry, praised the
combine as “an instrument of the most singular and elaborate con-
struction,"^^^ studied crop development, and forever gave his atten¬
tion to the practical products of science at the same time that theo¬
retical science gave him a rationale for the worship of an infinitely
wise God.
6. Use of Science in the Art of Fiction
Cooper, who was so vitally interested in the role of science in
relation to our material and spiritual selves, could hardly have
failed to realize its fictional value. Of course, as an artist he con¬
sciously worked with materials that had been traditional in the
writing craft. Many of his statements regarding science occur at
what might be called stop-points in his narrative, where Cooper
breaks in with an aside that can only be taken as representing his
own view. But there are a surprising number of times that Cooper
employed either men of science or some science byplay directly in
his writing. And once, in The Crater, science provided the entire
sub-structure of the plot.
In many ways Cooper's Leatherstocking epic could be related to
the vogue of epic painting in the Hudson River School, described
221 The Last of the Mohicans, p. 332, Chap. 31.
Notions of the Americans (1839 ed. ), I, pp. 114-119.
Correspondence (New Haven, 1922), I, p. 28. See Susan F. Cooper’s "Small Family
Memories."
Notions, II, p. 115.
^Notions, II, p. 217.117.
229 See Mentor L. Williams, "Cooper, Lyon, and the Moore-Hascall Harvesting Ma¬
chine,” Michigan History, XXXI (March, 1947), pp. 26-34.
270 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
by Oliver Larkin. Thomas Cole (Cooper's close friend) provided
him with his artistic technique in The Crater, And Wilson's Pedes¬
trian Tour to Niagara^^^ (given much contemporary notice), has
been pointed out as an influence on Cooper's landscape treatment.
But it is well to remember that Cooper was as well a friend of
S. F. B. Morse and of Dr. DeKay, and he was familiar with Hum¬
boldt's and Gilpin's writings. Morse was a painter before he turned
his attention to more scientific and utilitarian pursuits and he con¬
tributed his share to the romantic, large canvasses that pictured
nature in all its grandeur and largeness. Dr. DeKay's Anniversary
Address on the Progress of the Natural Sciences in the United
States, Vv^here he advocated a closer inquiry into nature and its
processes, was given in 1826, the same year as Cooper published
The Last of the Mohicans. In many ways DeKay's interests, as seen
in this paper, and Cooper’s coincided. Both were interested in geol¬
ogy and associated scientific fields, and both saw the manifestation
of God in the phenomena of nature. It perhaps was no coincidence
that Cooper speculated about the origin of Uncas and Chingachgook
the same year that DeKay pointed out that the history of the In¬
dians was a fit subject for scientific study. Von Humboldt's Kosmos,
which urged landscape painters to study the topography of large
and distant scenes, was not published until 1845, but what was
said in the Kosmos, Humboldt had adumbrated earlier in different
words. No direct connection can be established betv/een Cooper and
Humboldt other than a few scattered references which Cooper
made, but that Cooper would have agreed with Humboldt and that
both were in accord with the main current of theories of art and
letters there can be little doubt. Cooper's ideas of landscape treat¬
ment as they occur in The Last of the Mohicans, for instance, could
have been and probably were partially derived from Scott, but for
the whole picture it is necessary to achieve a larger perspective.
In The Last of the Mohicans, Natty shows a true scientific regard
for proper classification when he refuses to answer to the name of
La longue Carabine, because the “title is a lie, ‘kill-deer' being a
grooved barrel and no carabyne."^^^ Earlier he had mentioned the
gunsmith’s art and had observed that “of all we’pons the long-
barrelled, true-grooved, soft-metaled rifle is the most dangerous in
skillful hands. . . In The Pathfinder Muir discussed with the
hero the “science of gunnery." Bose Budd shows the same esteem
"31 Sug'g-ested by G. H. Orians, “Censure of Fiction in American Romances and Maga¬
zines,” PMLA, LII (Mar., 1937), pp. 195-214. On “Cooper and Thomas Cole: An
Analagous Technique,” see Donald Ringe’s study in American Literature, XXX, 26-36
(Mar. 1958).
^'■Literature of the American People, edited by A. H. Quinn (New York, 1951), p.
552. See also Albert T. Gerdner, “Scientific Sources of the Full-length Landscape;
1850,” Buletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October, 1945.
232 The Last of the Mohicans, p. 315, Chap. 29.
233 j&id., p. 73, Chap. 7.
1960] Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — II 271
for scientific naval language as does Natty in saying that her wish
“is not to parade sea- talk, but to use it correctly when I use it at
all2’^^^ After the pursuing group loses the trail of Magua and the
kidnapped sisters and Uncas turns the water out of the brook to
reveal Magua's moccasin track, Cooper pictures “Hawkeye regard¬
ing the trail with as much admiration as a naturalist would spend
on the tusk of a mammoth, or the rib of a mastodon/'^ss Path¬
finder abounds in similes like pivots, siphons, two negatives repuls¬
ing one another, and compasses, all suggestive of elementary sci¬
ence. To raise a sunken schooner “mechanical principles” are util¬
ized : the doors and hatches are sealed and holes bored in the hull
to let the water out.^^® In Afloat and Ashore, Cooper has a long
passage on steamers, which he calls “vast machine [s],” where he
states that “Erricson’s screw, and Hunter’s submerged wheels,
[were] rendering steamships, in my poor judgment, the safest
craft in the world.”^®’^ And in Autobiography of a Pocket Handker¬
chief, Cooper’s sketch of contemporary New York social life con¬
tains several references to the then popular subject of mesmerism.^®®
For some reason. Cooper pictured his physicians as men of sci¬
ence carried away with their learning to the point where they
aspired to be gods. There are doctors like Battius and Sitgreaves.
Dr. Sitgreaves begins by describing himself in depreciating terms
as “a poor humble man of letters, a mere Doctor of Medicine, an
unworthy graduate of Edinburgh, and a surgeon of dragoons ; noth¬
ing more, I do assure you.”^®® Although an efficient military prac¬
titioner, Sitgreaves is made ludicrous by his repeated references to
the “lights of science,” by his continued attempts to teach the Vir¬
ginian dragoons to use their sabres “scientifically” in cutting up
their victims, and by his repeated desire to attempt the experiment
of resuscitating a patient who had his brains dashed out. In conver¬
sation with Miss Peyton he attributes polygamy to the ignorance of
the ancients which has happily been eradicated by “the increase of
science.” The crushing rejoinder delivered by Miss Peyton is, “I
had thought. Sir, that we were indebted to the Christian religion
for our morals on this subject.”^^® Lionel Lincoln (chapter XVII)
has a two page satire on a doctor probing for bullets and so caus¬
ing his patients to die, and in The Crater, only one doctor is brought
to the colony because it is better to die under one theory than two.
Duncan Heyward is disguised and painted as an Indian physician
in The Last of the Mohicans, and is warned to be “prepared to per-
^Jack Tier, p. 71, Chap. 3.
^ The Last of the Mohicans, p. 229, Chap. 21.
^^Jack Tier, p. 134, Chap, 5.
Afloat and Ashore, pp. 373-374, Chap. 25.
^Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief (Chapel Hill, 1949), pp. 101 and 105.
239 The Spy, p. 214, Chap. 20.
^^Ihid., p. 232, Chap. 22.
272 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
form that species of incantation, and those uncouth rites under
which the Indian conjurors are accustomed to conceal their ignor¬
ance and impotency.’'^^^ If judged by the examples just cited,
Cooper apparently thought that the physician as a type to afford
comic relief had definite fictional value. Yet this is not to state the
whole case. Mark Woolston in The Crater is the son of a Philadel¬
phia physician who gave Mark a fairly good education and v/ho was
apparently made of sturdy stuff. Dr. McBain in The Ways of the
Hour represents the sterling qualities of a positive kind which
Cooper admired in a physician, and his technical ability is used to
unravel the complications of the plot. Young Wallingford, in need
of the best physician available for his dying sister Grace, lists in
order of preference, the actual contemporary physicians Hosack,
Post, Bayley, M'Knight, More, “and even thought of procuring
Rush from Philadelphia,'' but Rush was too far away.^^^ The case
of Grace points up an interesting anticipation by Cooper of psycho¬
somatic medicine, just as the split-personality theme in Wyandotte
antedates modern psychology. Grace, her heart broken by Rupert's
neglect, is slowly v/asting away, prompting Wallingford to com¬
ment that though he is unskilled “in the theories of science" he
feels his sister's mind is responsible for her condition.^^^ “Dr. Post,"
Wallingford states later, “must know that the mind is at the bottom
of the evil. . . The remedies proposed by Dr. Post serve to indi¬
cate that he is fully aware of the delicate relationship between mind
and body, for they are meant in the main to divert her from her
fixation.
It was in The Crater, however, that science may be said to have
come into its own and provided the framework for his story. Cooper
had before, in Home as Found and Afloat and Ashore, speculated
on how “not only islands, but whole archipelagos are made an¬
nually by the sea insects."^^® “The gigantic works completed by
these little aquatic animals are well known to navigators, and give
us some tolerably accurate notions of the manner in which the face
of the globe has been made to undergo some of its alterations."^^®
The Crater carries this reflection of a “scientific nature" about vari¬
ous geological and botanical phenomena right into the fabric of the
tale.-^^ Cooper's theme is not scientific. He had an allegorical pur¬
pose to serve, but the geological processes — the rise and sinking
of the island — ^serve to keynote the twin theses that God governs all
^ The Last of the Mohicans, p. 272, Chap. 25.
Afloat and Ashore, p. 422, Chap. 28.
248 /bid., p. 423, Chap. 28.
244 /bid., p. 444, Chap. 29.
^ Home as Found, p. 262, Chap. 19.
243 Afloat and Ashore, p. 214, Chap. 15.
247 For the following parallels between Lyell’s Principles of Geology and Cooper’s
The Crater concerning geologic factors, I am indebted to Miss Vivian Hopkins.
1960]
Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — II
273
and that religion must be prior to politics. For his descriptions of
the cataclysmic actions of nature, Cooper looked to what scientific
inquiry, particularly the researches of Sir Charles Lyell, had pro¬
vided, with the result that his story had a probity it otherwise
might have lacked.
The volcanic eruption which forces to the surface of the water a
large area of land corresponds rather closely with reports that had
been carefully brought together by scientists. Lyell records the
Chilean earthquake of 1822,^48 in terms not dissimilar to Mark’s
observation : the wheeling flights of the birds ; the “lurid light” of
the sunset the night before the eruption ; the hissing sounds and the
jetting out of fire, smoke and ashes; the feeling of suffocation
caused by mephitic vapors.^^® A “new outlet to the pent forces of the
inner earth” Mark knew to be somewhere in the area of the erup¬
tion, the prodigious pressure of the gasses forcing “open crevices
at the bottom of the ocean” and the resulting steam pushing vol¬
canic rock steadily up through the depths.2^<> If Cooper’s eruption
is milder than those described by Lyell, it should be remembered
that Mark was stationed on a reef some fifty miles from the point
of action.
When Mark’s ship is wrecked, he finds himself on a low-lying
reef that has a circular mound in its center rising to a height of
from sixty to eighty feet, composed of “a soft or friable rock, . . .
a stone that is called tufa,”-^^ which suggests that the mound is an
extinct volcano v/hich had been rendered inactive by the superior
activity of its neighbor. This of course is in line with Lyell’s belief
that if the action of one volcano becomes very great for a century
or more, the others assume the appearance of spent volcanos.^®^
Actually, the reef upon which Mark is situated has many of the
features which in Lyell are associated with coral formation, while
his description of the land newly created as “completely altering
the whole appearance of the shoal”^^^ agrees with Lyell who noted
that on a “few occasions the gradual formation of an island by a
submarine eruption [could be] observed.”-'^^
Mark’s further invesigations of the island have references to
Lyell. When he climbs the Peak to the south of the Reef, he dis¬
covers that previous to the eruption about only one-fourth of the
Principles of Geology (London, 1835, Fourth ed.), II, pp. 231-232.
Crater (New York, 1859), pp. 160-162.
pp. 163-164. Lyell’s accounts are very similar. He speaks of vents in the
ocean bottom induced by the tremendous heat which is sufficient to “reduce to a
gaseous form a great variety of substances” and which then causes a consequent up¬
heaval of “solid masses to immense heights in the air.” See Principles of Geology
(London, 1835), II. p. 211.
251 The Grater f Illustrated Library ed.), p. 68, Chap. 4.
252 See Lyell’s Principles of Geology, II.
^The Crater (New York, 1859), p. 162.
Principles of Geology (London, 1835), II, pp. 198-199.
274 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Peak had been above water, and deduces that since the land to the
southward has a greater elevation than that to the north, the erup¬
tion had caused the land to project itself “on an inclined plane/’
“This might account, in a measure,” he thinks, “for the altitude of
the Peak. . . .”255 Lyell too had observed such phenomena. He
found that strata have, in many situations, originally accumulated
on an inclined plane, wherever sand, mud, and gravel are thrown
into deep water by rivers and torrents. 2°® The process is continually
taking place all over the globe, dry land sinking under the ocean to
rise again some subsequent day. Throughout Cooper’s book what
on the surface might be taken as the token of a novelist’s imagina¬
tion is, upon investigation, seen to rest on a strata of scientific fact.
In his account of the cause of the eruption, the details accompany¬
ing it, the rise of the land, and the “inclined plane” which resulted.
Cooper is squarely in agreement with what the geologists of his
day had discovered.
This parallel extends even to the denouement, to which many
have objected as violating the canon of probability. In the continu¬
ous shifting of the earth’s surface in the Pacific, islands continually
are appearing and disappearing, the despair of lexicographers and
the awe of navigators. Cooper’s purpose is of course a novelist’s
purpose; he had no need for the “gradual development” theory
ventured by Lyell. Scientific fact was to subserve moralistic alle¬
gory, not to replace it. The cataclysm which overtakes the island
during Mark’s absence is meant to be poetic justice. It is a utiliza¬
tion of science for novelistic ends. Cooper was therefore faithful to
his scientific sources in picturing the appearance and disappearance
of his island and thus retained that verisimilitude which in the
preface to The Bravo he had proposed as one of the novelist’s main
considerations.
Cooper’s The Monikins also has a great deal to say, in a left-
handed way, about science. But we must be careful not to take it
too literally, since it is based on the literary conventions of Swift
which were generally hostile to science. Just as the satire on the
social institutions of the United States constitutes no downright
denial of them, so the references to science that one discovers do
not mean an absolute dismissal of all that science has contributed
to man’s physical well-being up to Cooper’s time. The book should
be taken for what it was meant to be : an indictment of the extrava¬
gancies to which man is heir. At the same time it gives us an admir¬
able opportunity to measure the breadth of Cooper’s views, his
peculiar attitudes, and his considerable acquaintance with the
The Crater (Illustrated Library ed. ), p. 197, Chap. 12.
253 See Lyell’s Principles of Geology, II.
1960] Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — II 275
popular, scientific, and technical thought and controversies prior to
1835.
We have seen that Cooper was acquainted with the great chain
of being concept held by his friend and personal physician. Dr.
DeKay. In The Monikins, Cooper burlesques in the vein of Swift,
the current controversies that were going on between those who
debated whether species were immutable. It had long been debated
in Leaphigh, according to Dr. Reasono, whether all animals belong
to the same genus (being subdivided into varieties or species) or
whether ‘'they are to be divided into the three great families of the
improvables, the unimprovables, and the retrogressives.’^^^^ “They
who maintain that we form but one great family, reason by certain
conspicuous analogies, that serve as so many links to unite the
great chain of the animal world.''^^® But, says Dr. Reasono, this was
not the most popular thought in Leaphigh at the moment, adding
that the great Monikin triumph had been attained when they rec¬
ognized that “truths, physical as well as moral, undergo their revo¬
lutions, the same as all created nature.’'^^® The division of “ani¬
mated nature’^ into improvable, the unimprovable, and the retro¬
gressive, aside from its implicit Manicheanism (the Monikins hold
that only when they are purged of material dross do they enjoy the
highest state of being), has many surface similarities to the sci¬
entific arguments of Jean Baptiste Lamarck, whom Cooper could
have known through Lyelhs discussion of him in the Principles of
Geology, and Buffon, with Vv^hose work Cooper was personally
familiar. To the Monikins, “The improvable embraces all those spe¬
cies which are marching, by slow, progressive, but immutable muta¬
tions, toward the perfection of terrestrial life, or to that last,
elevated, and sublime condition of morality, in which the material
makes its final struggle with the immaterial — mind with matter.’'^®®
In this order the sponge is on the bottom of the evolutionary ladder,
with man as intermediate, and the Monikin occupying the top rung,
an order which in a sense reverses Buffon, who had held that just
as asses were inferior horses, so apes were inferior men. And in
fact, Sir John cites Buffon as the authority that Monikin historians
were possibly wrong in asserting that monkeys were first men : “no
human historian, from Moses down to Buifon, has ever taken such
a view of our respective races.”^®^
But Dr. Reasono continues to hold that monkeys and men, in the
same improvable class, are different in degree of intelligence, that
“monkeys . . . were once men, with all their passions, weaknesses,
257 The Monikins, p. 113, Chap. 11.
2B8 Idem.
259 Idem.
^^IMd., p. 114, Chap. 11.
^^IMd., p. 117, Chap. 11.
276 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
inconsistencies, modes of philosophy, unsound ethics, frailties, in¬
congruities and subserviency to matter; that they passed into the
monikin state by degrees, and that large divisions of them are con¬
stantly evaporating into the immaterial world . . . final mutations
which transfer us to another planet, to enjoy a higher state of be-
ing/»262 quite impossible for human historians to detect this
mass evolutionism, because as yet no man being a Monikin, he
could not know the future, and one must therefore depend on Moni¬
kin records. And Dr. Reasono points out a human philosopher —
who could be either Lord Monboddo or Buffon — who had discov¬
ered, “as incontrovertible, that men once had caudaef' establishing
it ‘‘by pointing to the stumps.''-®^ Further references to the environ¬
mentalism of Erasmus Darwin and Buffon occur when Dr. Reasono,
in his address before the Leaphigh “Palais des Arts et des Sci¬
ences,'' reasons that the monkeys on St. Helena might “have had a
common origin with the monikin species." “The vicissitudes of cli¬
mate, and a great alteration of habits, had certainly wrought some
physical changes ; but there still remained sufficient scientifi identity
to prove they were monikins."^®^ He thinks they might be used as
menials in Leaphigh. And Lamarck's famous “law of use and dis¬
use" is recalled when a member of the Leaphigh Academy reads a
paper on an unknown fluid which had been “rendered subject to
the will" and which furthered Monikin happiness.^®^
There are further references to the fossil discoveries of Buffon
and the current vogue of phrenology in Cooper's time. The retro¬
gressive class which goes in a “false direction" — animals like
whales, elephants, hippopotami, Congo humans and Eskimoes,
baboons and commo.n monkeys — become in the course of time, by
their downward progress, part of the four Greek elements: “the
bones become rocks, the flesh earth, the spirits air, the blood water,
the gristle clay, and the ashes of the will are converted into the
element of fire."^®® Dr. Reasono, who holds satirically that the “most
infallible sign of the triumph of mind over matter, is in the devel¬
opment of the tail,"^®^ points to the elephane as a case of down¬
ward progress whose trunk is an aberration or abortion, and says
that whereas “your geologists and naturalists speak of the remains
of animals" (the mastodon, megatherium, iguanodon, plesiosaurus)
as significant discoveries, in reality “these fossil remains of which
your writers say so much, are merely cases that have met with
accidental obstacles to their final decomposition."^®® As to where
282 Idem.
263 p. 121, Chap. 11.
p. 186. Chap. 16.
^^Ibid., pp. 179-180, Chap. 16.
^^^Ibid., p. 115, Chap. 11.
Ibid., p. 116, Chap. 11.
^^Ibid., p. 120, Chap. 11.
1960] Clark— Fenimore Cooper and Science — II 277
the seat of intelligence is, there is much controversy between
Sir John and Dr. Reasono. Sir John as a human being of course
holds out for the head: just as sap in a tree brings life-giving
fluids to the uppermost branches, so the brains ascend from the
tail to the head and not vice-versa. And because the head is the
“more honorable member, . . . [men] have made analytical maps
of this part of our physical formation, by which it is pretended to
know the breadth and length of a moral quality, no less than its
boundaries.”-"^® But to this phrenological notion, Dr. Reasono op¬
poses the Monikin superiority in arts, philosophy, and the “system
of caudology” or “tailology” as greater than the human science of
phrenology. Nor does Sir John’s analogy with the sap of the tree
achieve any resounding victory, for, taking a different tack on the
same subject. Dr. Reasono points out that the greatest intelligence
must necessarily lie in the tail, for just as the sap of a tree receives
its nourishment from the roots so the lowest extremity (the tail)
must furnish direction to the rest of the body.^'®
Dr. Reasono’s discourse on the origins of the earth and the begin¬
nings of life seems to be Cooper’s own genial spoofings of the con¬
troversies that raged during the early nineteenth century among
the geological schools. Thus Dr. Reasono purports to offer “geo¬
logical proofs” that the earth for many years “was placed in
vacuum, stationary, and with its axis perpendicular to the plane of
what is now called its orbit. Its only revolution was the diurnal,”
and there were no changes of the seasons.^'^ There was at this time
“no other machinist than nature,” who used her “own established
laws.”^'^ Eventually, says Dr. Reasono, the friction generated by
the earth in its diurnal passage culminated in interior fire, and this
in turn, by a “great, salutary, harmonious, and contemplated altera¬
tion,” resulted in the land of the south pole becoming habitable. By
virtue of the diurnal roll, matter was pushed toward the equator,
and the thin crust left at the pole allowed the steam from the in¬
side to push out and act like a safety valve, meanwhile producing
vegetation.-'^ Allowing for Cooper’s burlesque. Dr. Reasono’s ex¬
planations parallel the theory of evolutionary geology propounded
by Sir Charles Lyell, who was the leading exponent of the Uni-
formitarians, followers of the Scottish geologist James Hutton. The
essential position is that all natural geological phenomena was the
result of the same processes that had acted for all time and which
could be observed today.
But tied to the Uniformitarian position is the theory promul¬
gated by Georges Leopold Cuvier, whom Cooper had met at a din-
^Ibid., p. 116, Chap. 11.
^oibid., p. 120, Chap. 11.
^-^Ibid., p. 124, Chap. 12.
^>^Ibid., p. 127, Chap. 12.
^Ibid., pp. 124-127, Chap. 12.
278 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [VoL 49
ner and of whom he had expressed disapproval. Cuvier v/as opposed
to the Lamarckian school of gradual evolutionary development. In¬
stead, he held that a number of vast cataclysms had interrupted
the more steady geological formations, that the earth’s strata gave
evidence of different forms of animal life which in its progression
resulted in man (but Cuvier saw no reason to believe that one spe¬
cies evolved from another), and that geological patterns went to
bolster the Biblical account of catalysmic actions such as the
Deluge. Cooper parodies this theory by describing an early sect of
Monikins possessed of “religious fanaticism and philosophical
sophisms” who determined that the safety valve for steam (of
uncounted beneficence before) was bad for the Monikins. Gaining
power and having acquired “perfection in the mechanic arts,” they
were enabled to “heremtically seal” the safety-valve. The result
was snow, a scarcity of fruits, privation. Finally, the pressure built
up under the thin crust at the pole, caused a titanic explosion, and
40,000 square miles of territory flew off to form the “western
archipelago,” as evidenced by “various geological proofs. The
blow also caused a shift in the earth’s axis, inclining it 23° 27' and
causing the earth to make its annual revolution, which will con¬
tinue for all time because “it is proved [by Newton] that all bodies
in which the vis inertia has been overcome will continue in motion
until they come in contact with some power capable of stopping
them.”2^® The huge steam explosion also caused the land to give
way so that the polar region had a sea that was uniformly four
fathoms deep, preventing icebergs from reaching there by ground¬
ing them.^^^ Discoursing on his trip to the outside world before the
Leaphigh Academy, Dr. Reasono in the course of “a long scientific
talk” on the island of St. Helena finds the Monikin accounts sub¬
stantiated. “It was reported to be volcanic, by the human savans,
he said, but a minute examination and a comparison of the geo¬
logical formation, etc., had satisfied him that their own ancient
account, which was contained in the mineralogical works of Leap-
high, was the true one; or, in other words, that this rock was a
fragment of the polar world that had been blown away at the great
eruption. . . And he produces “certain specimens of Rock”
to enforce his argument.
pp. 128-133, Chap. 12.
p. 134, Chap. 12. The law cited is, of course, popularly known as Newtonian
law.
p. 159, Chap. 14.
Ibid., p. 185, Chap. 16. Portions of the argument given by Dr. Reasono would
seem to be a reflection of the nineteenth century geological controversy between the
Plutionists and the Neptunists. The Plutionists, or Vulcanists, were followers of James
Hutton, a Scottish geologist who in 1785 published his Theory of the Earth, where
he held that present day rocks had evolved from rocks which had been deposited under
the sea and then subsequently projected upward by intense subterranean heat. Hut¬
ton’s views, labored and difficult, were considerably popularized by his biographer,
John Playfair. This theory that the earth’s internal heat was responsible for much
1960]
Clark — Fenimore Cooper and Science — II
279
Among other references to science are the Leaplow descriptions
of the gyrations of patriots and the odd satirical mixture of astrol¬
ogy and astronomy. Patriotic gyrations are explained in the light
of Newtonian principles; they '‘are much the same as the eccentric
movements of the comets, that embellish the solar system without
deranging it by their uncertain courses/’ while the gyrations of the
perpendicular and horizontal lines, which denote public opinion,
"are quite as imperceptible , . , as are the revolutions of our
planet to its inhabitants/’^"® And the "great rotary principle” of
the most patriotic patriots consists of a "centripetal counterpoise”
to their "centrifugal force,” and prevents them "from bolting out
of the political orbit,”^^® As for the astrology-astronomy anomaly,
the "moral mathematicians” of Leaplow calculate that a moral
eclipse will take place whereby Principle will be obscured by Inter¬
est. This "precision” in calculating the "terrible circumstances”
awes Sir John and he begins "to perceive the immense difference
between living consciously under a moral shadow, and living under
it unconsciously.”^®®
It is probably safe to say that Cooper’s Monikins is more per¬
meated with ideas associated with the science he is satirizing than
any other novel in the first half or perhaps all of the nineteenth
century.
Finally, to conclude this section on Cooper’s use of science in the
art of fiction attention should be called, on the negative side, to his
delight in the fact that many writers even before Scott had "eradi¬
cated the sickly sentimentalism of the old school” of novelists.
Cooper also disliked (as he said in The Pilot , Chapter IX) Gothic-
ism and its "spooks and witchery.”) In his long and hostile review
of Lockhart’s biography of Scott (Knickerbocker Magazine, Oct.
1838) Cooper sharply questioned the claim that Scott was first to
eradicate sentimentalism. "To say nothing of twenty others, Miss
Edgeworth alone supplanted the sentimentalists, before Scott was
known, even as a poet. This whole school, which includes Mrs. Opie,
Mrs, More, Miss [Jane] Austin (sic) , and Mrs. Brunton, not to say
Madam D’Arblay, was quite as free from sentimentalism as Scott,
and because less heroic, perhaps more true to everyday nature,”
Since Cooper is presently regarded by hostile critics as a sentimen¬
talist in his love stories, his anti-sentimental ideal as here expressed
J&M., p. 203, Chap. 17.
present day g-eolog-ical phenomena was strongly opposed by the teachings of Abraham
Gottlob Werner. Werner and his followers (the Neptunists), held that the earth’s
rocks had been formed by chemical precipitation in the ocean. Volcanoes were an essen¬
tially modern feature of the earth, they held, and thus were discounted as contributing
to the formation of the earth’s rocks. For orientation, see C. C. Gillespie, Genesis and
Geology, Cambridge, 1951.
2™ /did., p. 320, Chap. 28.
Ibid., p. 309, Chap. 27.
280 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
is significant as paving the way for a partially scientific kind of
fiction.
Especially significant, however, is Cooper’s acceptance of the
aesthetics of the psychology of associationalism then prevalent (cf.
Irving and Bryant) and which may be traced back through Words¬
worth (from whom he used nearly twenty quotations to adumbrate
the action of various chapters) to Hartley and to Newton’s Optics
and his scientific theory of vibrations. See H. C. Warren, A His¬
tory of the Association Psychology from Hartley to Lewes, 1921,
and Arthur Beatty, William Wordsworth . . . , 1925). The asso-
ciationalists argued that we find certain places or objects beautiful
or appealing, but not others, because historically certain ideas,
patriotic or pleasurable or inspiring, have been repeatedly asso¬
ciated with these specific places, the repeated experience providing
a '‘bond” which helps to recall a train of associated ideas. Thus in
his essay on Lockhart’s Scott Cooper said Scott’s much-praised
"powers of imagination . . . were subordinate rather than inven¬
tive, requiring to be quickened by associations, and depending as
much on memory (the past) as on any other faculty,” — i.e., de¬
pending on "legend and traditions,” on the use of historic places
"he could see, or read of.” In The Heidenmauer the long Introduc¬
tion tells how Cooper recognized that his story showing the Cath¬
olic "monk and [Lutheran] baron ... in collision” took its start
from his loitering as a tourist in a German village, Duerckheim,
and viewing actual historic sites such as a ruined abbey, a deserted
castle, a Roman fortification, and a "Devil’s Stone” where he
perched and day-dreamed. "At every step,” Cooper says, "we felt
how intimate is the association between the poetry of nature and
that of art; between the hillside with its falling turret, and the
moral feeling that lends them interest. Here Caesar had led his
legions to the stream and there Napoleon threw his corps-d'armee
on the hostile bank. Time is wanting to mellov/ the view of our own
historical sites ; for sympathy can be accumulated only by the gen¬
eral consent of mankind (cf. Francis Jeffrey on associations focused
on universals), and has not yet [in America] clothed them with
the indefinable colors of distance and convention.”
Yet Cooper in his preface to Lionel Lincoln on the American
Revolution showed how he tried to make fictional and associational
use of American historic places such as Lexington and Bunker’s
Hill and Prospect Hill, saying that in his researches "no pains were
spared in examining all the documents, both English and Ameri¬
can, and many private authorities were consulted, with a strong
desire to ascertain the truth. The ground was visited and examined.
. . .” Occasionally, as in the preface to The Prairie, he paid tribute
to the theory of associationalism by deploring the difficulties of
1960] Clark— Fenimore Cooper and Science— 11 281
describing a setting that had so few ^‘poetical associations,” a view
of ^'scenic representation” elaborated in Letter XXIII of Notions.
In Cooper’s preface to The Deerslayer, commenting on the Leather-
Stocking Series as a whole, he says of his hero, ‘'Removed from
nearly all the temptations of civilized life, placed in the best asso¬
ciations of that which is deemed savage, and favorably disposed by
nature to improve such advantage, it appeared to the writer that
his hero was a fit subject to represent the better qualities of both
[nature and civilization], without pushing either to extremes. . . .
There was no violent stretch of the imagination, perhaps, in sup¬
posing one of civilized associations in childhood, retaining many of
his earliest lessons amid the scenes of the forest.” The boundless
virgin wilderness is used to parallel the largeness and magnamity
of Leather-Stocking’s own spirit, like that of Adam before the Fall.
(See Pathfinder, Modern Library Edition, pp. 121-23.) But it
should be noted that this wilderness was veraciously based on sci¬
entific reports including those of Lewis and Clark and of Edwin
James’ compilation. (See E. S, Muszynska- Wallace, “The Sources of
Cooper’s Prairie'' American Literature, XXI, 191-200, May, 1949.)
Thus Cooper combined associationalism and the use of scientific
reports of actual places, as a means of evoking aesthetic appeal.
7. Conclusion
The key to Cooper’s attitude toward science is found in his oscil¬
lation between two opposite poles, represented by 1) his attack in
The Prairie (on Dr. Battius as supposing science can eradicate the
evil principle in man) ; and 2) his defence of science against super¬
stition (in Mercedes of Castile) and as advancing utilitarian ends
while also confirming the eternal glory of God. In relation to the
first pole, one associates his atacks on Deism (in Precaution and
Wing and Wing) , on Voltaire, and on the implications of the ration¬
alistic French Revolution. In relation to the second, one associates
his practical interests as a rich and deeply pious man interested in
utilitarian matters furthered by science, such as the Erie Canal
(advanced by engineers, new scientific methods of hardening
cement under water, and labor-saving scientific devices), scientific
naval-exploring expeditions such as that by Wilkes and Parry, and
his admiration for astronomy as inspiring a religious sense of
divine design in The Crater and his passages on La Place in Glean¬
ings in Europe: France. His attitudes are thus complex and re¬
quire caution on the part of any interpreter. And however unsat¬
isfactory they may be to logicians enamored of consistency, Coop¬
er’s attitudes are significant as being in a large measure repre¬
sentative of the majority of Americans who in the early nineteenth
century were reluctant to surrender to science their traditional reli-
282 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
gious presuppositions, and yet are sympathetic to it in so far as it
makes money and saves time and pain and life.
From this it is evident that Cooper’s knowledge of ideas asso¬
ciated with science was no idle thing and that it paralleled or rein¬
forced many of his attitudes which gained immense vogue not only
in this country but in Europe. From his education at Yale under
Silliman,^®^ through his years in the Navy, to his friendship with
or reading of scientists such as Morse, Lyell, Laplace, etc. etc..
Cooper conceived of science as one of the agents of man’s material
advancement. For himself at any rate he partially succeeded in
resolving what to many men were conflicts between religion and
the newly-found knowledge, and in this he is akin to the Knicker¬
bockers such as Irving and Bryant who used science as an ally of
orthodoxy to inspire reverence and humility. He rejoiced that sci¬
ence helped advance man’s health and wealth and that it imple¬
mented Christian charity. And he used psychological theories such
as associationalism to evoke powerful aesthetic appeals from both
European and American historic places and from primaeval forest
and sea. Occasionally, like Swift concerned with the virtuosi.
Cooper could use the extremists among scientists for comic relief.
Like Melville in his concern with the mystery of iniquity. Cooper
centered much of his religious thought on ‘‘the great struggle of
the conflicting egotisms v/hich comprises, in a great degree, the
principle of most of the actions of this uneasy world.” (Heiden-
mauer, Routledge ed., p. 333). And thus when a fictional scientist
such as his Dr. Battius made the extravagant claim that science
could eradicate the principle of evil itself from the heart of man.
Cooper regarded that as a symptom of sheer arrogance and pride.
In his later work, when his religious convictions impelled him to
adopt a more or less quietistic position, he saw science still as help¬
ing to mitigate much of the evils of man’s terrestrial condition, and
to this extent contradictions are to be found in his thought. But
even here he sees “the hand of God instead of the solution of a
problem” ; as a man of humble piety he concluded that the ways of
God are a mystery, that God effects his purposes through material
agents, one of which is science.
281- The recently published first two volumes of Letters and Journals of James Feni-
more Cooper (Cambridge, Mass., 1960) show (I, 218) that “Cooper attended his [Silli-
man’s] first course of lectures in 1804 and was, indeed, Silliman’s laboratory assistant.”
See also his long letter to Silliman in II, 94-100. In general these letters up through
the early thirties relate more to Cooper’s travels and social affairs than to science,
although there are references to it of a tangential kind as foUows: I, 36-7, 56, 125,
217-18, 221, 199-200, 202, 204, 216, 229-30, 288, 371, 272, 375. Typical of such passing
references is that of 1827 (I, 229-30) to the episode of Cooper’s receiving from Dr.
DeKay a zoological specimen (a “double-breather”) which he passed on to the famous
Cuvier. It is quite possible, of course, that the many volumes of letters yet to appear
will be more illuminating regarding his interest in the various aspects of science,
after 1832.
WILLIAM H, LIGHTY, RADIO PIONEER*
Roger W. Axford
University of Wisconsin, Madison
'The thing that I will miss most is WHA/’ said eighty-three year
old Professor William H. Eighty in 1949, after forty-three years
in the University community at Madison, Wisconsin.
Studies in wireless telegraph transmission had been in operation
before the birth of broadcasting as we know it. Experiments in
wireless telegraph transmission were conducted at the University
of Wisconsin, and weather reports were sent out regularly by 1915.
But 1917 marked the beginning of telephonic transmission from
the University of Wisconsin.^ Thus, Radio Station WHA is reputed
to be “the oldest Radio Station in the nation,'’^ in continuous
operation,
Lighty's Beginning Interest in Radio
Eighty was aware of radio and its early developments and
watched with interest its experimentation in Sterling Hall at the
University.^ His attention had been drawn to the new gadget by
his two sons, Russell and Paul. In 1919 during this experimental
period Eighty and his sons went to see a set built by a Wisconsin
student, Malcolm Hanson, at the University, and questioned him
about the wisdom of investing money in a set for the boys to use
and study.^ Eighty noted that through radio building the boys had
a chance to learn something about science and physics, as well as
about the communicating of ideas. The boys got their set and be¬
came active in the American Radio Relay League, which was com¬
posed of “ham” operators. They and their friends communicated
with people in almost all parts of the world. Later, because of Pro-
* Paper read at the 90th annual meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts,
and Letters.
1 Harold B. McCarty, “WHA, Wisconsin’s Radio Pioneer," Wisconsin Blue Book
(Madison, Wisconsin: Published by the State of Wisconsin, 1937), p. 195.
2 McCarty, ibid., p. 197.
^Lighty Interview, Lafayette, New Jersey, December 6, 1958.
4 “The student whom we visited was undoubtedly Malcolm Hanson. I think that we
regarded him with aw’e, and accorded him the appropriate hero worship. He was not
only the master of a most noisy and fearsome four kilowatt rotary spark gap trans¬
mitter, but through the mysterious black art of a set of vacuum tubes, made by the
Physics Department glass blower, J. B. Davis, was able to project his voice over the
air waves. More as a hobby, and an excuse to operate the apparatus, Malcolm got hold
of the daily weather and market reports, which he broadcast on a fairly regular
schedule, every noon.” (Paul Lighty to R. Axford, July 13, 1959). The set owned by
the Lighty boys and their father is now a part of the permanent collection of the Com¬
munications Center of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.
283
284 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
William H. Lighty
1866-1959
Photograph provided by The State Historical
Society of Wisconsin.
1960]
Ax ford — W, H. Lighty, Radio Pioneer
285
lessor Lighty's interest and help to the League, he was made an
honorary member of the Wisconsin American Radio Relay League
in 1925.
Of this early beginning in radio Lighty said, “I felt then that
radio communication would some day be one of the great factors in
human communication and progress.”®
The Early Days of Radio at the University of Wisconsin
Professor Earle M, Terry, physicist, is credited with the earliest
experimentation with radio at the University of Wisconsin. It was
Terry who first made a transmitter available. He designed equip¬
ment, constructed tubes, and built apparatus. Since tubes and
equipment could not be bought commercially, Terry and his assist¬
ants fashioned their own. In 1915 a government license was issued
for the University transmitter and the call 9XM was assigned.® It
was not until 1922 that the University received the call letters
WHA.
It was because of the need for materials for broadcasting that
Lighty became active in radio, according to Professor Edgar B.
Gordon of the Music Department of the University. He recalls that
Terry needed educational material and entertainment, and, there¬
fore, asked Lighty to do the programming.'^
Another person with whom Lighty worked very closely was
physicist Malcolm Hanson, a student of the above-mentioned Terry.
Hanson was obsessed with the new gadget of radio, and would work
far into the night on experiments.® It was Hanson who in 1919 had
first reported hearing several telephonic broadcasts from the Uni¬
versity of Wisconsin while on duty at the Great Lakes Training
Post. Following his naval training, Hanson came to the University
and devoted himself to radio experimentation. Hanson became
WHA’s first radio operator. While Hanson worked with the me¬
chanical difficulties, Lighty worked with the programming prob¬
lems. Each of the men seemed to have seen the social possibilities
of radio, though this was Lighty ’s primary consideration. Lighty
and Hanson were close friends, as is evidenced by their letters.
Lighty wrote Hanson recalling those early days :
I shall always have the ineradicable ima^e of a square set young man
in a dark suit with thin light stripes in it, in the midst of all sorts of
strange wires, coils, switches, bulbs, etc., in the basement of the physics
building, where I first saw you. You were the inspiration of a group of
SLig-hty Interview, Lafayette, New Jersey, December 7, 1958.
® McCarty, op. cit. pp. 195-6.
Interview with Professor Emeritus Edgar B. Gordon, Music Department, Univer¬
sity of Wisconsin, July 28, 1958, Madison, Wisconsin.
® This is the same Malcolm Hanson of later fame with Admiral Byrd’s Expedition
on which Hanson was a radio operator. Hanson Papers, Wisconsin State Historical
Society.
286 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
young boys, among whom was one of mine — Russell. He was interested
and knew a little about it. I too was interested, but knew nothing about
it technically. I don’t now. But my interest in its beneficent possibilities
has constantly increased, as my participation has lessened.
You and Terry, who approached the problems basically from the tech¬
nical side, also, had the uncommon insight into its social potentialities.®
In his short history of Station WHA, Director Harold B. Mc¬
Carty points out, “With his foresight and eagerness for university
extension it was natural that Professor Lighty should become the
station’s first program director.”^® Although Lighty had been serv¬
ing in this capacity, President E. A. Birge officially appointed him
“program director” and gave him a committee of twelve faculty
members. Some of Lighty’s associates and supporters felt that he
was spending too much time on this experiment of radio, but no
doubt the president’s appointment gave him official sanction,
encouragement, and the backing of the University administration.^^
Radio as the Wings for Education
Lighty saw the possibilities for radio to take education not only
to the boundaries of the state, but as far as the ether would carry
it. But, although Lighty had the vision, educational broadcasting
at the University of Wisconsin had its inevitable growing pains.
As might be expected, there were mechanical difficulties encoun¬
tered. On one occasion Hanson had to erect a patchwork-quilt tent
for the speaker in order to deaden the echoes in the concrete walled
room in the Physics Building, which was then the studio.^^ Unfor¬
tunately for the historian, the record of the mechanical problems
are very limited, for the papers of Professor Terry were destroyed.
Once WHA tried to rebroadcast Clemenceau’s address given at the
University of Chicago, but very little could be heard. At another
time, the technician, Malcolm Hanson, had to pretend that a broad¬
cast was an experiment when a cello player who was appearing at
a concert, when he observed the microphone, suddenly moved to the
other side of the stage so that he could not be heard. It seems that
without informing the station, the musicians had formed a union,
and it was against their rules to broadcast without extra
compensation.
Besides the mechanical difficulties of the early broadcasts, there
was the problem of engaging the necessary persons from the fac¬
ulty to participate. Lighty was responsible for getting the faculty
^ The Story of Malcolm Hanson (privately printed, 1946), on file in the State His¬
torical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
3® McCarty, op. cit., p. 199.
n Interview with Professor Henry L. Ewbank, Speech Department, Chairman, Radio
Committee 1928-. at Madison, Wisconsin. June 4, 1958.
12 “Extension Division Professor Recalls Early Day» of WHA,” Daily Cardinal,
Madison, Wisconsin, January 9, 1934, p. 8.
1960]
Ax ford — W, H. Eighty, Radio Pioneer
287
to take part in the broadcasts. He gave first consideration to mak¬
ing the radio broadcasts represent the many departments of the
University. But, not a few faculty members thought radio was a
gadget, a fad, an activity below their professional dignity. Still
Lighty persisted until he got faculty participation.
Many of the professors remember Lighty as the person who
“wheedled out of them’' their services to radio. Sprightly Miss Lelia
Bascom, whose career in the Extension English Department paral¬
leled Lighty’s, tells of his tenacious leadership in radio:
He worked with it consistently, and he got people to talk over the radio.
For example, that’s where I come in. He would say to me, ‘'Now, Miss
Bascom, will you go to Miss so and so and ask her to give a series of eight
lectures on history.” She immediately said, “I can’t.”
I said, “We must hang on to our wavelength; we have only two or
three hours a day. We need this, because we need to expand. The thing
won’t go over unless we do. We want to reach all the state. Mr. Lighty
finds it worthwhile, and always pushes it hard.”
So I would entreat Miss so and so, and finally she would agree to do it.
She kicked about it, but she did it just the same. When Mr. Lighty was
not present at a committee meeting I often went down to represent him.
So I heard something about the inner-workings, which were daily diffi¬
culties in getting the government to give us a longer wavelength, to get
us longer hours, etc. Mr. Lighty and Mr, Hanson worked together on these
problems, but Lighty’s particular field was in getting people to talk over
the radio and do their fair share.^^
By 1924 the difficulty of getting faculty to broadcast must have
lessened, for we find Lighty writing F. B, Swingle, of the Wiscon¬
sin Agriculturist, that “about three hundred faculty members have
participated in the University broadcast programs.”'^^
Miss Bascom related that one year President Frank would not
appropriate any money for the radio programming. As a result,
Mr. Carl Hills, head of the Agriculture Commission, made the
money available to run the Extension radio service.
Eighty' s Purposes in Radio
Lighty’s interest in radio was from the standpoint of .university
service. Miss Bascom emphasized Lighty’s social service approach
in contrast to the interest of the engineering department which
was primarily in the physical aspects of early radio. She said that
Lighty ViTas interested in bringing cultural programs to the people
of the state, “for example, good music, not jazz; talks on political
questions; lectures and university events.”^^ She pointed out that
the Extension Division began the radio service, an undertaking of
which other departments were wary.
^Interview, Miss Lelia Bascom, June 21, 1958, Madison, Wisconsin.
^^Lig-hty to F. B. Swingle, November 21, 1924 (Lig-hty Papers).
Lelia Bascom, op. cit.
288 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Lighty wanted to reach as many persons as possible with educa¬
tional programs. Therefore, to assist in program planning, Lighty
wanted to know more about the number of receiving sets in each
community, and whether they were being used. In a letter to Terry
he suggested a technique of which he was fond, the inclusion of a
questionnaire from time to time in letters sent to students in radio.
It would include questions pertaining to the instruction in Code,
and also questions regarding the number of homes in each commu¬
nity in which there were receiving sets. In this way Lighty
learned a little more about the listening constituency of the station.^®
Lighty wanted to let the people of the state know about the serv¬
ices of the University, the public schools, and state government.
He made radio time available to various University and state de¬
partments. Debating societies and musical groups from schools
outside the city broadcast from the University station. In 1921
basketball games and musical concerts were broadcast directly
from the University Armory. Special programs, such as the Farm
and Home Week, and lectures by visiting dignitaries, were broad¬
cast directly from their points of origin.^^
Agricultural facts and the latest discoveries of the experiment
stations were broadcast each noon on the farm half-hour, the oldest
farm program in America, This was developed under the leader¬
ship of Professor Andrew W. Hopkins to meet the needs and inter¬
ests of the Wisconsin farmers. Radio made possible first-hand in¬
formation from the College of Agriculture for farmers living in
remote areas. Hopkins was on Lighty’s Radio Committee, and was
Chairman of the radio committee for the infiuential College of Agri¬
culture. Of Lighty’s purposes in radio, Hopkins had the following
to say:
I was always impressed that he had a great vision of the possibilities
of adult education. He was enthusiastic about people, and he had a great
belief in people. He believed that tremendous things could come out of
education, and of course we found Lighty a most enthusiastic supporter
of the use of radio in education. He was interested in any means of pro¬
moting education.^®
Lighty saw in radio an instrument for furthering the idea of
university extension as set forth by President Van Hise, who said,
‘T shall never rest content until the beneficent influences of the
University of Wisconsin are made available in every home of the
state.”^^
18 Lighty to Terry, October 21, 1924 (Lighty Papers).
1'^ McCarty, op. cit., pp. 200-1.
18 Interview, Andrew Hopkins, Professor Emeritus, Agricultural Journalism, Univer¬
sity of Wisconsin, June 10, 1958, Madison, Wisconsin.
i» Lighty, WHA-FM Inaugural Broadcast (Tape), March 30, 1947.
1960]
Axford — W, H, Lighty, Radio Pioneer'
289
Wisconsin School of the Air
Lighty helped to start what is today the ‘‘Wisconsin School of the
Air.” Professor Gordon, with the encouragement and assistance of
Lighty, organized in 1922 what McCarty says is “without doubt
the first music appreciation course ever to be heard on the air.”
People listened with earphones, in those early days, and Gordon
reports that he encouraged listeners to sing along with him while
listening to the program.^® Today through the “Wisconsin School
of the Air” thousands of school children still sing, and once each
year busloads of children come to the University to participate in
the traditional Radio Music Festival,
In a letter to the high schools of the state in 1924 Lighty brought
to the attention of the school administrators that “already a num¬
ber of high schools in Wisconsin have radio telephone receiving
equipment,” and Lighty mentions that other schools were contem¬
plating installations. He told the school men about a course, “Ap¬
preciation of Music,” directed by Professor D. D. Gordon. This
course which Lighty mentioned brought Professor Gordon national
recognition for more than a quarter of a century. Through it chil¬
dren in country schools and grade schools all over the state were
taught to appreciate good music. Lighty stated that the purpose
of his letter was to inquire of the high schools about what equip¬
ment they now had, and whether they were interested in receiving
such broadcasts for the school and the community. “It is contem¬
plated,” wrote Lighty, “that the radio broadcasting shall serve the
state in much the same way as the circulating motion picture films
and lantern slides of the Visual Instruction Bureau,”^^ and he
urged school men to express their opinions and make use of the
service.
The Nature of the Early Programming
Although space does not permit a detailed listing of the many
programs that were produced in the early broadcasting, it is inter¬
esting to note the variety offered during a week as a sample. The
Daily Cardinal, July 30, 1923, carries the following: July 30, “Elec¬
tions and Voting” by Miss Sophie Hall, Librarian, Municipal Infor¬
mation Bureau, University Extension Division; August 1, “Sum¬
mer Dresses and Health” by Miss H. T. Parsons, Assistant Pro¬
fessor Home Economics ; August 3, “Reading from Literature” by
Mrs. Elizabeth Parker Hunt, Wellesley College, Lecturer in Speech
20 Letter from Theodore H. Schaefer, Sling-er, Wisconsin, to Professor Edgar D. Gor
don, July 5, 1922 (Lighty Papers). “Put me down as one of the participants in the
‘Radio Chorus’ singing ‘America’ last night. As I was alone in the house at the time my
intention at first was to merely listen in, however, after it got underway I could not
resist rising on my feet and singing.’’
21 Lighty to Wisconsin High School Principals, May 1924 (Lighty Papers).
290 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
at University Summer Sessions* The variety in offerings was no
doubt an attempt by Lighty to make the programming representa¬
tive of the total University.
It was fortunate for the historian that Lighty was concerned
about the content of the lectures going out over the air, for many
have been preserved.^^ (Joubt, being responsible for the pro¬
grams, he had the usual fear that the comments of the speakers
might not represent the official views of the University. Therefore,
Lighty asked that manuscripts be submitted a week in advance and
that the speeches be kept on file, '‘just in case.”
Our uniform rule in broadcasting from the University radio station is
to broadcast from previously prepared manuscripts so that the record of
the exact broadcast may be filed in the President’s office for the purpose
of comparison should anyone at any time question any statement made or
make exception to any statement.^
Federal Regulation of Radio and N.U.E.A.
As the airlanes have become regulated by the federal government
for airplanes, so in the early years of radio the ether gradually
came under the control of the federal government. Lighty took a
vital interest in regulations put on radio and corresponded with
Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, regarding this.
The first well planned regulations of radio were not enacted
through passage of laws, but by a series of conferences called by
Mr. Hoover. Up until the creation of the Federal Radio Commis¬
sion on February 23, 1927,^^ regulation was maintained through
such conferences.
When writing Mr. Hoover, Lighty reminded him of the educa¬
tional and social role of radio. He expressed appreciation for the
inclusion of C. M. Jansky, of the University of Minnesota, as a
representative of the National University Extension Association.
The inclusion of Jansky did not happen by chance. Lighty had
written the directors of the extension divisions throughout the
country urging them to support the appointment of Jansky to the
conference in 1925. Jansky, a close friend of Lighty, had entered
the University of Wisconsin in 1913 and had built the first radio
set there for sending code. Always interested in the public service
aspect of radio, Lighty told Hoover that “the association feels pecu¬
liarly grateful for the broad and farseeing policies which have laid
the foundations for safeguarding and conserving public utility
rights in the ether.”^^ Jansky had given an address entitled “The
22 Birge Papers, President’s Files, University of Wisconsin Memorial Library
Archives, Madison, Wisconsin, Boxes 128-29, 1923.
23 Letter from Lghty to Miss Emily R. Kneubuhl, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 14,
1923.
2^ U. S. Government Organization Manual, 1957—58, p. 638.
26 Lighty to Herbert Hoover, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Washington, D. C.,
May 13, 1925.
1960]
Axford — W, H. Lighty, Radio Pioneer
291
Future of Radio’" at the Third National Conference. Jansky wrote
Lighty in April of 1925 when he was attending the National Uni¬
versity Extension Association meeting at the University of Vir¬
ginia, urging a consideration by the universities of their educa¬
tional role in radio. Pointing up the rich resources of the universi¬
ties for programming, Jansky wrote: ‘Tn view of the increasing
interest of educational institutions in radio broadcasting I believe
that a careful consideration of all phases of the subject at your
conference would be highly desirable.” He recommended that it
would be highly useful if representatives of all educational institu¬
tions could get together at a conference for the exchange of ideas
to answer collectively the question, “What should be the relation¬
ship of educational institutions to the broadcasting field and what
consideration should be given these institutions by those vested
with the authority of regulating radio communication?”^®
At the Seventh Session of the N.U.E.A. Conference at the Uni¬
versity of Virginia, on Lighty’s recommendation, Mr. W. D. Hen¬
derson, Director of the University Extension Division of the Uni¬
versity of Michigan, moved that Professor C. M. Jansky be
requested to act as the official representative of the N.U.E.A. in
connection with the Fourth National Radio Conference which was
to be held in September 1925 in Washington, D. C. The resolution
was unanimously adopted and sent to Herbert Hoover. Mr. J. W.
Scoggs, Director of University Extension of the University of
Oklahoma, moved that W. H. Lighty be appointed as chairman of
a committee of three named by the N.U.E.A. president “to repre¬
sent this Association in all matters pertaining to radio-casting dur¬
ing the next year.” This was passed, and Lighty became the mov¬
ing spirit for educational radio broadcasting for the Association
for many years to come.^^
Lighty Helped Other Stations Begin
During the early years in the development of radio other edu¬
cational institutions contemplating beginning a station looked to
the University of Wisconsin for help in getting started.
B. C. Riley, Director of Extension, became interested in radio at
the University of Florida, and wrote Lighty inquiring as to what
state colleges and universities were using radio regularly, how
many were using radio for extension instruction, and how many
are under the control of extension divisions.^® Lighty wrote out the
names of colleges and universities where stations were established,
and the names of the persons who directed the programs. Lighty
kept an active hie on this for N.U.E.A. Riley’s response to Lighty’s
20 C. M. Jansky, Jr., to Lighty, April 28, 1925.
^N.U.E.A. Proceedings, April 30-May 2, 1925, Charlottesville, Virginia, p. 128.
28 B. C. Riley to Lighty, October 28, 1924 (Lighty Papers).
292 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
answers was, '‘It is always a pleasure for me to ask a Wisconsin
man for information when I really need it, because I know that I
will get a reply ‘plus.’
Maurice H. Wessen, of the University of Nebraska, heard about
Lighty’s survey of the use of radio in schools, and inquired about
access to his findings and conclusions.®® Lighty took great pains to
give him the details of his findings, as he did in answer to all such
inquiries.
Another inquiry came from Professor H. F. Mallory, Secretary
of the Home Study Department of the University of Chicago. Of
the Wisconsin experiment in radio Lighty warned, “Our work here
has been so much a matter of gradual evolution that it would be
impracticable for a new enterprise at the present time to go through
the same procedures.” He suggested that Chicago follow the pattern
of others that were operating state stations, including Missouri and
the University of lowa.®^
Lighty Retires as Radio Committee Chairman
At the University of Wisconsin
Although Lighty worked on the national level for educational
radio through the N.U.E.A., his interest continued on the local level
at the University of Wisconsin. He retained his interest in radio
programming even after the chairmanship of the Radio Committee
was taken over by Professor H. L. Ewbank of the Department of
Speech at the University in 1928. At this time President Glenn
Frank appointed a smaller group to investigate the problems and
further possibilities for university broadcasting services. After
1929 when Professor Terry died. Professor Edward Bennett, chair¬
man of the Department of Electrical Engineering took Terry’s
place on the committee.
In February 1931 the committee chose H. B. McCarty, instructor
in speech, as WHA program director on a part-time arrangement.
McCarty had been the announcer for the station since September
1929, and Vv^as well acquainted with its needs. At that time the sta¬
tion was broadcasting less than two hours per day. If the station
license was to be retained they were informed that more of the
available time must be used. Immediately the programming was
expanded and by March 1931 the total weekly broadcasts increased
from nine and one-half to seventeen. In 1932 it increased to twenty-
seven, and later doubled to fifty-four.®^ McCarty continued to serve
as program director and does to this day. He was a close friend of
Lighty’s and conferred with him often.
29 B. C. Riley to Lighty, November 12, 1924 (Lighty Papers).
99 Maurice H. Wessen to Lighty, November 18, 1924 (Lighty Papers).
91 Lighty to H. P. Mallory, December 17, 1924 (Lighty Papers).
99 McCarty, op. cit., p. 202.
1960] Axford — W, H, Lighty, Radio Pioneer 293
Education Vs. Propaganda
An account of Lighty’s career in radio would not be complete
without mention of his continuing interest in the use of radio for
education, as opposed to radio for profit and propaganda. Even
though no longer actively engaged in radio work, as late as 1936
Lighty was still hammering away at the important responsibility
of those in the communications field. He felt that educators hold a
trusteeship for social enlightenment. Even after his retirement in
1937 Lighty continued his interest in radio. He saw financial sup¬
port as the basic problem for educational radio if it were not to be
crowded out by commercial radio.^^
Lighty was very critical of commercial broadcasting, and con¬
tinually pressed for the special role of educational radio.^^ Lighty
wrote a memorandum just shortly before his retirement castigating
Mr. John W. Studebaker, then United States Commissioner of Edu¬
cation. This memo was no doubt for the benefit of the University
of Wisconsin committee on radio, and the N.U.E.A. radio commit¬
tee, although the manuscript does not say. Lighty referred to a
speech which Studebaker had made in St. Louis, to the N.E.A. in
which Studebaker equates the “broadcaster” with teaching. Lighty
emphasizes that “the broadcaster, as Studebaker uses the term, has
little to pool with the trained teacher or educator,” and that “it is
not true that the job of educating over the air in terms of effective¬
ness is comparable to the broadcasters job of entertaining. Educa¬
tion is not business. Education must be free so long as it is educa¬
tion, When not free, it is propaganda.”^®
WHA Begins FM
Lighty had the pleasure of seeing another milestone in the suc¬
cess of WHA. He participated in the inauguration of WHA-FM
broadcasting from the University station on March 30, 1947.
Lighty, the octogenarian, saw in frequency modulation great poten¬
tials for adult education. On this occasion he said, “Just imagine
what can be done for that whole new audience — the things that
they can be given for a better life — the way in which they can be
helped to grow and appreciate what is good and worthwhile
®*W. H. Lig-hty, “Educational Radio Communication,” Education by Radio, Vol. VI,
No. 6 (June, 1939), p. 17.
Lig-hty to McCarty, April 24, 1936 (Lig-hty Papers). Writing thanking McCarty for
letting him read a paper by a Dr. Crane, Lighty says : “It seems to me Dr. Crane
misses his chance when he only praises the meritorious programs and wholesome in¬
fluences and gives so small consideration to the shameful, the vulgar, and the near
vicious lying and misrepresentation which commercialism forces upon us unless we
stand continuously at the ‘valve’ to shut out this spot blah, blah, until we get the next
newer program we wish to listen to.”
“Studebaker Memorandum,” December 10, 1936, pp. 1-2 (Lighty Papers).
33 “Lighty, WHA Go Pioneering Again,” Wisconsin State Journal, March 23, 1947.
294 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Lighty Recognized as Radio Pioneer
Unlike many other pioneers, Professor Lighty was recognized
and honored during his lifetime for his leadership and service in
radio. At a WHA dinner, attended by one hundred and fifty per¬
sons, held on May 24, 1956, in Madison, he received a special cita¬
tion inscribed as follov/s:
Radio’s pioneer program planner, whose vision and leadership gave
impetus, high purpose and direction to the development of the Wisconsin
State Broadcasting Services.
In an account of the recognition the press records that “looking
back. Professor Lighty thinks of the extension courses and the
radio station as his greatest landmarks, and the things he is proud¬
est of having been associated with.''^^
Lighty saw radio as a medium for further social enlightenment
and enrichment, and seeing the vision he “etherized’^ education to
make it available to the greatest number of people. Perhaps Lighty
will be remembered best as a trail-blazer in educational radio, the
man who “broadcast a university,'' and the first program director
of WHA, “the oldest station in the nation."^®
37 “Friends Hail Professor Lighty, Extension and WHA Pioneer,” Madison, Wiscon¬
sin, Capital Times, June 7, 1956.
®8W. H. Lighty passed away on May 19, 1959, at the home of his son Paul, Lafay¬
ette, New Jersey, at the age of 93.
DANIEL H, BURNHAM AND THE ^‘RENAISSANCE”
IN AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE*
Robert Spence
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Say not, “Greece is no more/'
Through the clear morn
On light wings borne
Her white-winged soul sinks
on the New World’s breast.
Ah! happy West — •
Greece flowers anew,
and all her temples soar!
In these florid verses, with more fervor than accuracy, Richard
Watson Gilder celebrated the opening (May 1, 1893) of the World's
Columbian Exposition at Chicago.^ Other commentators were no
less enthusiastic. W. H. Gibson of Scribner's rejoiced that a “Heav¬
enly City,” a “New Jerusalem,” had settled upon the shores of Lake
Michigan.2 “The fair! The fair!” cried Candace Wheeler of Harp¬
er's: “Never had the name such significance before. Fairest of all
the world's present sights it is.”^ “All the descriptions in the world
and the most faithful illustrations will give no idea of the great
beauty and the grand proportions of the buildings, and the charm
of the surroundings,” added Francis D. Millet, a spokesman of the
vested interest (he served as Director of Painters for the Exposi¬
tion).^ In the popular journals everybody, it seemed, was singing
the praises of the Fair, urging the public to proceed posthaste to
Chicago.
To see what? In part, at least, to see the impressive “White City”
which a corps of architects, sculptors, and painters had erected in
the reclaimed bog, Jackson Park. Under the general supervision of
that master organizer and dynamic administrator, Daniel Hudson
Burnham, sand and marsh had been transformed by Frederick Law
Olmsted and his assistants into reflecting basin and quiet lagoon,
and the nation's most illustrious architects had run up the neces¬
sary buildings. And such buildings ! Monumental structures of self-
assured majesty in the Renaissance and Baroque modes, arcaded
* Paper read at the 90th annual meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts,
and Letters.
1 XLVI, 22 (May, 1893).
Scribner’s Magazine, 'XIY, 29 (July, 1893).
^Harper’s Magazine, LXXXVI, 833 (May, 1893).
*‘Ibid., LXXXV, 875 (November, 1892).
295
296 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [VoL 49
facades gleaming white by day and by night under summer sun
and batteries of electric lights. Here was bodied forth in plaster,
fibre, and paint a vision — a vision which seems first to have existed
in the imagination of Burnham only. It was that of the City Beau¬
tiful, and it was to have an influence on American architecture far
out of proportion to its brief life span or its inherent aesthetic
merit.
From the beginning Burnham ran the show. He was Director of
Works, he selected the artists who designed and decorated the
buildings, and after consultation with his Board of Architects he
made decisions such as those v/hich established a “classic style” for
the principal structures, set the cornice lines at a uniform height
of sixty feet, and proclaimed white as the dominant color-theme.
Because his partner, John Root, died of pneumonia before the work
was far advanced, it may be assumed that the form which the
Exposition grounds and buildings finally took represents largely
his own ideal. ^ To be sure, artists such as Henry S. Codman, Olm¬
sted's Paris-trained assistant, Richard M. Hunt, dean of American
architects, and Charles F. McKim, leading light of the most suc¬
cessful firm in the East, made their presence felt. Toward these
men, conservatives who approved the “wisdom of the Classic pol¬
icy,”® the Director showed great deference (Louis Sullivan charged
that he toadied to them outrageously) , and they and other Eastern
architects such as Post, Peabody, and Stearns were awarded the
architectural plums — the buildings comprising the Court of Honor.
To Hunt went the Administration Building, a pretentious structure
with massive dome surmounting a colonnaded drum, which formed
the western terminus of the east-west axis. From its steps one
looked down the length of the basin, past the Columbian fountain
of MacMonnies to the colossal Bartholdi-like Republic of Daniel
French, standing imperiously in golden draperies upon a high
pedestal set in the water near the eastern (lake-front) terminus.
To the right lay the spired and domed Machinery Building designed
by the Boston partners, Peabody and Stearns; beyond, McKim’s
pedimented Agricultural pavilion postured proudly, the Diana of
St. Gaudens (borrowed from Madison Square Garden) astride its
Pantheon-dome. Opposite, in west to east course, stood the Elec¬
tricity Building of Henry Van Brunt, a New Englander with offices
in Kansas City, and George B, Post's Manufactures and Liberal
® Root apparently envisioned a colorful and sumptuous ensemble, with classicism
subordinated to Romanesque, Moorish, Asian, and other motifs. See Harriet Monroe,
John Wellborn Root (Boston, 1896), pp. 242-47.
« McKim to Hunt. March 3, 1893, quoted in Charles Moore, Life and Times of Charles
Fallen McKim (Boston. 1929), p. 122. Although Sullivan, Wright, and many subse¬
quent critics have assailed this use of classic, one could argue that the Burnham
scheme was defensible in view of the magnitude of the project and the limited time
(about two years) in which to complete it.
1960] Spence — Burnham and American Architecture 297
Arts Building, with its parade of white bays marching decorously
to the end of the vista. A tall quadriga-crowned peristyle, with a
triumphal arch in the center, closed the composition at lake’s edge.^
From the Administration plaza northward ran a bisecting axis,
its spine a lagoon extending from an obelisk at the south to the
Fine Arts Palace at the north. The latter structure, a blatant bit of
pseudo-classicism, was the handiwork of Charles B. Atwood of New
York, an accomplished adapter of other men’s ideas who had been
selected by Burnham to assume the mantle of Root. During the
months in which the Exposition buildings took shape, Atwood was
much in evidence as administrative assistant to the Director, and
it was he who was chiefly responsible for the sixty-odd subsidiary
buildings put up by the Burnham office. It was he who did the tri¬
umphal arch and peristyle for the Court of Honor. It was he more
than anyone who strove to bring to fruition the ideal propounded
by the Director in the early days of preparation: “Make no little
plans ; they have no magic to stir men’s blood, and probably them¬
selves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and
work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded
will never die. . . Let your watchword be order and your beacon,
beauty.”®
Burnham and Atwood’s notion of beauty was not quite that of
Louis Sullivan, the Chicago “radical” whose Transportation Build¬
ing stood to the north of the Administration Building on the west
side of the lagoon, Sullivan had scant opportunity to follow his own
bent, however, and his building— one of the largest in the Fair,
with four great train-sheds and a front block covering five and a
half acres- — displayed the required sixty-foot-high cornices, the
Roman arcades, and the classical detail. He expressed such inde¬
pendence as he could, simplifying entablatures and arches, elimi¬
nating keystones, and coloring soffits. His triumph was the cele¬
brated Golden Door — a large flat panel of gold leaf and warm colors
within v/hich five receding orders spanned the main entry. Large
form and intricate detail were combined with a Richardsonian
finesse, and the effect, if somewhat unrelated to the general scheme,
seems to have been majestic. The French Union Centrale des Arts
Decoratifs, adjudging Sullivan’s achievement the finest decoration
of the Fair, awarded him three medals.® Interestingly, American
critics, who outdid one another in glorifying the work of Burnham
and his cohorts, were mostly noncommittal on the Transportation
The fullest pictorial record of the Exposition is The Art of the World: Painting,
Sculpture and Architecture at the World’s Fair, ed. R. Hitchcock. 2 vols. (Chicago,
1896).
® Quoted by Thomas E. Tallmadge, The Story of Architecture in America. Rev. ed.
(New York, 1936), p. 290.
®Hugh Morrison, Louis Sullivan (New York, 1935), pp. 134-37. Sullivan was the
only architect to receive a foreign testimonial.
298 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Building. Only Montgomery Schuyler, writing for the Architectural
Record in 1894, praised Sullivan's work without serious reserva¬
tion (he admired the ‘‘honesty" of the construction and was much
impressed by the Golden Door) , and he rapped the knuckles of his
peers for failing to acknowledge its merit. Other Western archi¬
tects, W. L, B. Jenney (Horticultural Building), S. S. Beman
(Mines and Mining Building), and Henry Ives Cobb (Fisheries
Building), whose buildings were relegated to the north lagoon,
were also given short shrift, and perhaps that was as it should be.
Their work was in the prescribed mode, completely perfunctory,
though Cobb in the Fisheries Building enlivened the inert formal¬
ism with a Romanesque enrichment, including molded decorations
in the shape of fish, sea horses, lobsters, and other marine life.
The lagoon, of course, was a concession to the devotees of the
“picturesque," but its informality was so slight as to reinforce by
mild contrast the “sublimity" of the Court of Honor. That was the
intention, and it worked perfectly. The one feature of note was an
artificial “Wooded Island" which rose from the water near the Sul¬
livan Building, and which Burnham wisely designated as the set¬
ting for the Japanese pavilion. Here it was that the young Frank
Lloyd Wright, fresh from work on the Transportation Building,
learned at first hand of Japanese design and principles of building.
Other men were struck by other things, though recorded observa¬
tions leave no doubt that the pavilions of Japan and other countries,
as well as those of the several States— consigned as they were to
the perimeter of the White City — made little impression amidst
the incandescent glitter of the central court. As a matter of fact,
these structures, thrown up independently of the rules established
for the principal buildings, were for the most part a “higgledy-
piggledy," as Schuyler called them, with Greek temples rubbing
elbows with Tudor mansions, Italian villas with German castles,
French chateaux with California Spanish missions, and so on.^^
Small wonder that the Court of Honor, with its monumental
scale, its adroitly calculated disposition of parts, its reflecting pools,
its symbolic statuary and mural paintings, and its exploitation of
the new electric lighting, beguiled most visitors. Even that Worldly
Wise Man, Henry Adams, was impressed (“As a scenic display,
Paris had never approached it"), though he recognized it for what
it was, a “product of the Beaux Arts artistically induced to pass
the summer on the shore of Lake Michigan." The question which
occurred to him — it v/as precisely that which Sullivan and his asso¬
ciates hammered at — was whether it could be made to seem at
home there. “That the Exposition should be a natural growth and
1® “Last Words About the World’s Pair," Architectural Record, III, 291—301
( January-March, 1894).
Ill, 56 (July-September, 1893).
1960] Spence — Burnham and American Architecture
299
product of the Northwest offered a step in evolution to startle Dar¬
win, . . .”^2 Yet Americans came by the thousands, like pilgrims
to a new shrine, and to the surprise of Adams gave the illusion of
having passed their lives among planned landscapes and imperial
buildings. If some of them (like the parents of Hamlin Garland)
were overwhelmed by the sumptuousness of it all, they evidently
went away converts to the Grand Manner.^^ Louis Sullivan, in
bitter retrospect, said that they went av/ay
carriers of contagion, unaware that what they had beheld and believed to
be truth was to prove, in historic fact, an appalling calamity. For what
they saw was not at all what they believed they saw, but an imposition
of the spurious upon their eyesight, a naked exhibitionism of charlatanry
in the higher feudal and domineering culture, conjoined with expert sales¬
manship of the materials of decay.^^
In sum, averred Sullivan, Burnham and his accomplices from the
East had sold the country on '‘bogus antique.’' Why? Chiefly for
pecuniary gain. How? By means of “skillful publicity and propa¬
ganda.”
Probably there is a modicum of truth in this charge, though Sul¬
livan characteristically overstates his case. Granted that Burnham,
the chief offender, was possessed of but a modest talent, there is
little reason to abuse his motives or impugn his character. Doubt¬
less he was a better organizer and administrator than architect
(Wright said with some truth that he would have been “equally
great in the hat, cap or shoe business”), and the Fair gave him an
unexampled opportunity to show what he could do. He labored tire¬
lessly to get the buildings and grounds ready for the opening, try¬
ing (successfully) to avoid the experience of Philadelphia in 1876.^^
He supervised the work of architects, painters, and sculptors with
zestful inspiration, praising, prodding, and cajoling. Regarding the
Exposition as a showpiece, a salute to four hundred years of Ameri¬
can progress, he had favored the use of traditional modes because
they v/ere readily accessible to the artist and easily intelligible to
the layman, and because he sincerely believed them to be aestheti¬
cally legitimate and pleasing. In 1890, when Modern architecture
still was gestating, such an attitude was acceptable and defensible.
13 The Education of Henry Adams (Boston. 1918), pp. 339—40.
13 "... I observed,” says Garland, "that the farther they [his parents] got from the
Fair the keener their enjoyment of it became ! , . . Scenes u^hich had worried as well
as amazed them were now recalled with growing enthusiasm, as our train, filled with
other returning sight-seers of like condition, rushed steadily northward ...” (A Son of
the Middle Border, New York, 1923, p. 461).
The Autobiography of An Idea (New York, 1924). pp. 321-22.
16 William Dean Howells visited the Centennial Exposition a week after it had opened
and was struck by the apparent chaos : "the first impression was certainly that of dis¬
order and incompleteness.” "The paths were broken and unfinished, and the tough, red
mud of the roads was tracked over the soft asphalt into all the buildings. ... At many
points laborers were digging over the slopes of the grounds . . . and ironical sign¬
boards in all directions ordered you to keep off the grass. . .” See "A Sennight of the
Centennial,” Atlantic Monthly, NXKYIII, 92-107 (July, 1876).
300 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Before the Fair he had worked chiefly in Richardsonian Roman¬
esque, but the experience of the White City converted him to classic,
particularly as it was associated with formal treatment of environs.
He railed at what he termed the ‘‘disgusting and disorderly” in
contemporary work, and proclaimed that only the “logical” is beau¬
tiful. “The monuments of Pericles, reared in the zenith of Attic
supremacy, are logical. The pilgrims of twenty-four centuries say
that they are also beautiful.”^®
There were no Periclean monuments at Chicago in 1893, though
the comments of some critics would lead one to believe that there
were. Nearly everyone agreed, however, that the Fair was consid¬
erably more than the “cattle-show on the shore of Lake Michigan”
which one Eastern newspaper had smugly predicted.^^ The growl¬
ing of Sullivan was lost in a swelling chorus of praise. Even Mont¬
gomery Schuyler, who in orientation was closer to Sullivan than
to Burnham, commended the “unity” and “majesty” of the Court
of Honor while expressing the hope that it would have no impact
upon subsequent American architecture.^® The Encyclopaedia
Britannica gave the imprimatur of authority to the opinions of
popularizers by adjudging the White City “an artistic and educa¬
tional triumph of the first order.”^^ Burnham himself could not
have put it more agreeably. When one enthusiastic observer wrote,
at the closing of the Fair, that “Here were made visible our
[American] beginnings, our achievements, our hopes, our dreams,”
the Director undoubtedly would have agreed. And when the same
writer added that here “The nation became conscious of itself, and
was strong, beautiful, proud,” he would have urged that such, pre¬
cisely, was the sentiment which the White City was intended to
convey.^® For America at the end of the nineteenth century had
come of age, or so she believed. Vigorous in her young strength,
rich in material things, she had begun to move upon the world
stage, and to play the exciting game of empire. In the eyes of men
like Henry and Brooks Adams she was fast becoming a new Rome,
and as such she needed an architecture commensurate with her
station — an imperial architecture. That is what the artists at Chi¬
cago attempted to produce: the White City was a little Rome,
though Rome, to be sure, by way of the Italy of the Renaissance
and the France of Louis XIV-XVI and Napoleon III,
America loved it. If the country was “sold” on “bogus antique,”
as Sullivan charged, the architects of the Fair were not alone cul-
Century, LXIII, 620 (February, 1902).
1'^ Quoted by Harriet Monroe, John WeVhorn Root, p. 218. See also Will H. Low, “The
Art of the White City,” Scribner’s, XIV, 504-12 (October, 1893) and Alice F. Palmer,
“Some Lasting Results of the World’s Fair,” Fo'y'um, XVI, 517-23 (December, 1893).
^Architectural Record, III, 55 ( July-September, 1893), 301 ( January-March, 1894).
'^Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., VI, 125.
20 Forwm, XVI, 519 (December, 1893).
1960] Spence — Burnham and American Architecture 301
pable; the public were willing victims. Burnham was shrewd
enough to recognize a good thing when he saw it, and he threw his
weight behind a rolling snowball which gained size and momentum
at an astonishing rate. He was quoted widely in the press, he was
wined and dined in New York, Boston, and other Eastern cities, he
was awarded honorary degrees by Harvard and Yale, and in the
end he was called to Washington to assist in the renovating of the
capital city. Wherever he went he disseminated the gospel of classi¬
cism : American architects should “abandon their incoherent origi¬
nalities and study the ancient masters of building. ... It will be
unavailing hereafter to say that great classic forms are undesir¬
able. The people have the vision [of the White City] before them
. . . and words cannot efface it.”^^
Publicists such as Mariana G. van Rensselaer took up the cry.
Mrs. van Rensselaer, first biographer of Henry Hobson Richard¬
son, approved the turn from Romanesque to Renaissance, discov¬
ering in the latter a “practical as well as aesthetic plasticity,” an
“essential dignity,” and a “truly modern spirit.” The buildings of
the Exposition, she told the readers of Forum, “ought to prove that
Renaissance forms of art are the best for current use.”-- A good
many architects seem to have agreed with her, and to have heeded
Burnham’s advice. McKim, Mead, and White, those masters of the
art of refined quotation who had been using classical motifs for
nearly fifteen years, continued designing in the recommended man¬
ner, and dispatched from their office a battalion of carefully indoc¬
trinated disciples, among them Thomas Hastings, John M. Carrere,
and Henry Bacon. The New England firm of Shepley, Rutan, and
Coolidge, the successors to Richardson who before Chicago had
worked mostly in the rough-textured, asymmetrical, picturesque
manner of their master, put on formal dress to turn out preten¬
tious Italianate palazzos. And there were others — men like George
B. Post of New York, who designed the pedimented Stock Exchange
in Wall Street, the baroque Cook County Court House in Chicago,
and the grandiose pile which serves as a capitol building for the
State of Wisconsin. Most of them were cosmopolites (“too-well-
educated,” in Wright’s opinion) who knew the monuments of
Europe at first hand and had no qualms about appropriating from
them whatever they pleased for their own designs.
Stanford White defended this practice by contending that Rome
had plundered Greece, that every renaissance had its beginnings
in the past, that America had its roots in Europe and therefore
was entitled to draw upon the cultures of Greece and Italy, Egypt,
21 Burnham, quoted by Montgomery Schuyler from a Chicagio newspaper, Architec¬
tural Record, III, 292 ( January-March, 1894).
22 iTorwm, XIV, 531-32 (December, 1892).
302 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Spain, and France.^^ All of which may be true, but it was com¬
pletely beside the point to a man like Wright. Rail as he would,
however, the plundering of Europe continued, as the proliferating
constructions of McKim, Mead, and White (to look no further)
demonstrated. The Boston Public Library (1887-95), for example,
seems to have been derived principally from Labrouste’s Biblio-
theque Ste. Genevieve, the Columbia University Library (1893)
from the Pantheon, the Herald Building in New York (1894) from
the Palazzo Consiglio in Verona, the Tiffany Building (1906) from
the Vendramini Palace in Venice, the Pennsylvania Station
(1906-09) from the Baths of Caracalla, and so on. The less preten¬
tious domestic work of the day also came from Europe, as it had
always done, but Europe at one remove — the American colonies of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Here, too, McKim, Mead,
and White led the way. In 1877 the three of them, accompanied by
their early associate, William B. Bigelow, made their celebrated
trip up the Atlantic Coast to examine houses at Salem, Newbury-
port, Portsmouth, and other towns. On their return to New York
they launched a Colonial revival, using native materials such as
Harvard brick or Pennsylvania ledgestone which they embellished
with classical detail.-^ Perhaps the Colonial style, with its quasi-
indigenous flavor, gratified the burgeoning nationalist impulse
which the Expositions of 1876 and 1893 did much to stimulate;^®
perhaps it seemed an easy and coherent corrective to the excesses
of nineteenth century eclecticism; at all events, after the Chicago
Fair it became — ^^in a spic-and-span white version— the favorite
domestic style of the time.^®
Wright had only contempt for these houses (‘‘Colonial wedding
cakes,’’ as he called them), choosing to create his own style in his
own way. His strength of purpose was immediately put to a severe
test when Burnham, perceiving the merit of his early work such
as the Winslow House in River Forest, proposed most insistently
(in 1893) to subsidize the struggling young architect in elaborate
study abroad: “he would take care of my wife and children if I
would go to Paris, four years of the Beaux Arts. Then Rome — -two
23 Charles C. Baldwin, Stmiford White (New York, 1931), p. 2.
Tallmadg-e, Story of Architecture in Americaj p. 251; Moore, Life and Times of
McKim, pp. 41-42.
25 Cf. Howard C. Butler, “An American Style of Architecture,” The Critic, n.s. XX,
203 (September 30, 1893). Butler makes an ardent plea for Colonial because it is “all
our own.” See also “The Contemporary Suburban Residence,” Architectural Record,
XI, 69-81 (January, 1902).
28 McKim, Mead, and White were of course architects to the wealthy. On the more
plebeian level the Colonial style was promoted by men like Eugene Clarence Gardner,
one of the last major “pattern book” authors. See Gardner’s “Colonial Architecture,”
New England Magazine, n.s. XIX, 499—514 (December, 1898), where he takes pains to
demonstrate that “there was much true and simple architecture in the early [i.e„
Colonial] time, much refined and noble work to which we may well turn today for
profitable lessons” (p. 514).
1960] Spence — Burnham and American Architecture 303
years. Expenses all paid, A job with him when I came back.^'^T it
was not easy for a neophyte to resist the importunings of a man
whose genius was at that moment being loudly acclaimed, but
Wright had courage and a vision, and he declined the proposition.
Burnham, vexed, warned him that Sullivan (whose independent
questing the young man desired to emulate) was a good decorator
on a bad tack, that eventually “all America” would be “constructed
along the lines of the Fair.”^®
He knew whereof he spoke, and before many months had passed,
budding architects who lacked Wright’s fortitude and self-
assurance, or his genius, found themselves pushed willy-nilly into
classicism. Russell Sturgis, a perceptive architect-turned-critic who
watched this development with growing displeasure, recorded at
the end of the century that one would “have to be among the
younger architects and head draughtsmen to realize how strong
this [classical] tendency is.” He placed the blame more upon Mc-
Kim, Mead, and White than upon Burnham, and in a long letter
to Peter B. Wight (1897) he assailed their philosophy of building.
That firm is deliberately working — and has been for three years — in the
direction of square, bare, blank, unvaried, unmodified boxes, with holes
cut in for light and air, except where a Roman colonnade is introduced.
They seem to choose deliberately the no-style which consists in following
the least interesting Italian work of the seventeenth century, merely
reducing it to a still blanker and barer monotony. . . This s\;yle they
would be wholly unable to recommend and foist upon their clients but for
that good taste which is the unquestionable gift of the designers of the
firm. I cannot but suppose that McKim, Mead and White resort to this
style because it is easy to work in. However that may be, it is most de¬
pressing to see the willingness with which millions are given to such
fatuous designing.^
Henry Van Brunt, an important if less forceful commentator than
the other anti-traditionalists, also declared himself in opposition to
such “conventional quotations from the classics.” As befits the
translator of Viollet-le-Duc’s Discourses on Architecture — that
treatise so highly esteemed by Wright and other progenitors of
Modern — he questioned the virtue of setting up old forms in new
places and demanded an architecture “belonging to our times and
to our people.”^*’ He didn’t get it. Like most of his fellows he was
inundated by the tidal wave of classicism which swept over the
country after 1893.
To be sure, Burnham, McKim, Post, and like-minded men did
not regard the use of classical motifs as a “senseless reversion,” as
2^^ Wright, An Autobiography (New York, 1932), p. 123.
28 Quoted by Wright, ibid., p, 124.
29 Quoted by Baldwin, Stanford White, pp. 354-55.
^ Greek Lines and Other Architectural Essays (Boston, 1893), pp. 62, 70, 89. Van
Brunt’s partner, William Robert Ware, sometime professor of architecture, had been
Sullivan’s teacher at M.I.T. in the 1870’s.
304 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 49
Wright called it. They believed, or professed to believe, that it was
the essence of modernity. Thomas Hastings spoke for them when
he wrote in 1894 that America was perpetuating the renaissance
in art and life which had begun in Italy five centuries earlier, and
that the architectural style which had prevailed at that time was
precisely that which should be used today. By some sleight of hand
logic he deduced that ‘‘whatever we now build, whether church or
dwelling, the law of historic development requires that it be Renais¬
sance.’'^^ Wright, while he believed that the “law of historic devel¬
opment” worked in quite another direction, shared the conviction
that America of the 1890’s was involved in an aesthetic renaissance
—at least he did until events seemed to him to demonstrate that
the renaissance was merely a “rebirth by a special kind of abor-
tion.”^2 ]^is disillusionment, like that of his Lieber Meister,
seems to have been exceptional. The painter Abbott Thayer, for
instance, pretended to see in turn-of-the-century America a rein¬
carnation of fifteenth century Italy. “You and I,” said Thayer to
Royal Cortissoz in a droll moment, “are Mantegnas and Gozzolis,
not Yankees.”^^
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, whom Henry Adams described as “a
child of Benvenuto Cellini, smothered in an American cradle,”
spoke to the same purpose, and it was he who brightened a meet¬
ing (February 24, 1891) of the Board of Architects and the
Grounds and Building Committee of the Columbian Exposition by
exclaiming that “this is the greatest meeting of artists since the
fifteenth century.”®^ In view of Saint-Gaudens’s innate good taste
and modesty, it is probable that the statement was inspired not so
much by smugness (as charged by some anti-“Renaissance” critics)
as by pleased surprise and satisfaction in achievement, and one is
likely to be disposed to charity if he reflects that those present in¬
cluded Hunt, McKim, Jenney, Burnham, Olmsted, Beman, Schwab,
Van Brunt, Codman, Whitehouse, Saint-Gaudens, Post, Gage, Cobb,
Peabody, Adler, and Sullivan. In hammering out solutions to major
problems of design and construction, these men seem to have been
struck anew by the advantages of close cooperation among all
artists — architects, painters, sculptors, and landscape-designers —
and in major projects undertaken later many of them tended to
exploit the collaborative effort. Public buildings such as those
erected in Washington, D. C. after the turn of the century by Burn-
81 “The Relations of Life to Style in Architecture,” Harper’s Magazine, LXXXVIII,
957-62 (May, 1894). For a brief account of the factors underlying the concept of an
American Renaissance, see Oliver Larkin, Art and Life in America (New York, 1949),
pp. 294-96.
S3 A Testament (New York, 1957), p. 33; Genius and the Mobocracy (New York,
1949), p, xii.
8* Quoted by Larkin, Art and Life in America, p. 296.
81 The Education of Henry Adams, p. 387 ; Larkin, Art and Life in America, p. 311.
1960] Spence— Burnham and American Architecture 305
ham and Company or by Carrere and Hastings or by other firms
of like persuasion are illustrations in point. The Boston Public
Library (begun before the Fair but not completed until 1895) rep¬
resented in its finished form the work of McKim, Mead, and White
(the building proper), Puvis de Chavannes, John Singer Sargent,
and E. A. Abbey (murals), Augustus Saint-Gaudens (medallions
over entry) and his brother Louis (two lions for main staircase),
Daniel Chester French (bronze doors), and Frederick MacMonnies
(fronting statuary). Richardson had demonstrated the usefulness
of such pooling of talent in his great Trinity Church project of the
1870’s, but the men of classical predisposition who flourished after
1893 looked not to him but to the example of sixteenth-century
Rome or nineteenth-century Paris,^^ Indeed, F. D. Millet, the
unctuous apologist for the art of the Fair, looked no further than
Chicago: ^‘There first in this country, on a reasonably large scale
at least, have the allied arts worked together and in harmonious
proportions. The immediate fruits of this union, even if it be but
temporary, are incalculable; of the final result there can be no
doubt. It means the dawn of a real art in this country.’'^®
To assist in the birth of this “real’’ art, Burnham and McKim
stood by as eager midwives. The Fair would do much to turn the
country to classicism, and there would be great demand for young
artists adequately schooled in the correct way of working. Burn¬
ham might offer to finance the preparation of a Wright, but many
proselytes would be needed, and a European training seemed desir¬
able. During evenings before the fire in the Director’s office on the
Fair grounds, the two men discussed the matter and decided to set
up in Rome a counterpart to the long-established French school. In
1894, after much difficulty, the American Academy at Rome came
into being, and in January, 1895, instruction began. Wealthy entre¬
preneurs were asked to underwrite the cost, Burnham securing
subscriptions from Chicagoans such as C. H. McCormick, Marshall
Field, G. M. Pullman, J. J. Glessner, and Franklin MacVeagh, and
McKim inducing J. P. Morgan and Henry Walters to provide gen¬
erous endowments.^^ Within a decade the Academy was flourishing,
and at its commodious quarters in the Villa Mirafiori bright-eyed
young men submitted gladly to the regimen that Wright had
spurned, savoring the glory that v/as Greece and the grandeur that
was Rome, and learning to design by recipe. At Washington, Chi¬
cago, Cleveland, and many other American cities, the twentieth
century would have work for them to do.
Cf. Hasting-s, Harper’s Magazine, LXXXVIII, 957-62 (May, 1894) and E. H. Blash-
fleM, Mural Painting in America (New York, 1913), pp. 311—12.
“The Designers of the Fair,” Harper’s Magazine, LXXXV, 883 (November, 1892).
®'^For details see Moore, Life and Times of McKim, pp. 128-81.
306 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
For the masters, McKim and Burnham, the job lay at hand. It
was to renovate the nation’s capital. As the Centennial year ap¬
proached (i.e., 1900, commemorating the removal of the capital to
Washington in 1800), members of Congress and sundry private
citizens began to advocate ‘‘the improvement of the District of
Columbia in a manner and to an extent commensurate with the
dignity and the resources of the American nation. Commentators
such as George B. Post expressed revulsion at the “disgraceful
character of the architecture of the Government” (usually they ex¬
cepted the White House, the Capitol, and the Treasury Building)
The White City, after all, was still fresh in mind, and the example
of this “dream of Ionian seas” seemed to foster dissatisfaction with
the eclectic potpourri which was nineteenth century Washington.'^®
The call went out not merely for monumentality but for order,
unity, harmony, homogeneity — in short, for plan. There had once
been a plan — that of L’Enfant — and the articulate men of the
American “Renaissance” v/ould have it dusted off and dressed up
for contemporary use. The American Institute of Architects, which
devoted its annual meeting of 1900 wholly to the subject of “The
Improvement of the City of Washington,” strongly favored this
course of action.^^ Chicago had produced a new L’Enfant, an
American Haussmann, and the Institute (dominated at this time
by classicists such as Peabody, Post, and McKim) recommended
to the Senate that Burnham be invited to direct the improvement
project. The Senate acceded, and in March, 1901, Burnham rode
into Washington in triumph. His appointment to the new Park
Commission seemed to him complete vindication of the course
which he had pursued for a decade. The people had spoken, he
said, and they had decreed that the national capital should demon¬
strate the “sense and soul of landscape art, so magnificent that the
capitals of Europe shall confess it; so simple that the rawest
county-seat in the newest State, having seen the vision of the
World’s Fair, shall grasp and apply.”^-
The Park Commission as finally established was composed of
Burnham, McKim, Saint-Gaudens, and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.,
with Charles Moore, Clerk of the Senate Committee on the District
of Columbia, acting as secretary. These men actually served in a
^Senate Reports, 57th Cong-., 1st Ses., 1901-1902, vol. 3, no, 166, p. 8.
“Federal Architecture,” The Critic, n.s., XXIII, 205 (March 16, 1895).
Senate Documents, vol. 21, 60th Cong., 2d Ses., 1908-1909, doc. 665. The quotation
is from an address by Secretary of State Elihu Root at the annual dinner of the Ameri¬
can Institute of Architects, January 11, 1905. Root voiced a common sentiment in
official circles when he declared that “It was reserved for the great city of the Middle
West, by the example of that fair White City by the lake, which remains with us a
dream of Ionian seas, to lead our people out of the wilderness of the commonplace to
new ideas of architectural beauty and nobility” (p. 32).
The papers read at the 1900 meeting are printed in Senate Documents, vol. 5, 56th
Cong., 2d Ses., 1900-1901.
^ “White City and Capital City,” Century, LXIII, 620 (February, 1902).
1960] Spence — Burnham and American Architecture 307
quasi“Official or advisory capacity, making their recommendations
to Congress through the District Subcommittee headed by Sen.
James McMillan (R, Mich.), but the proposals which they submit¬
ted after nearly a year of study were pretty largely honored. It is
characteristic of their orientation that their first step was to go to
Europe. Saint-Gaudens did not make the trip, but the others, with
their cameras and sketching pads, traversed the Continent in the
summer of 1901, visiting Paris, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Budapest,
Munich, London, and other cities. A good deal of time was spent
examining parks and formal gardens, and at Olmsted’s insistence
they searched out all the work of Andre Le Notre which lay within
reach. Their purpose was to gain some clue as to how best to treat
the Mall, that long plot extending west of the capitol which had
been the piece de resistance of L’Enfant’s scheme, but which Down¬
ing at mid-century had converted into a picturesque park, with
winding roads and trees now grown tall. According to Moore, it
was chiefly Paris which provided the solution. Standing on a ter¬
race overlooking the Place de la Concorde, exulting in the “glories
of a city designed as a work of art,” the Commission conjured up
certain American equivalents —
the Palace of the Tuileries as the Capitol, the Tuileries Gardens as the
Mall, the Obelisk in the crossing of two Paris axes as the Washington
Monument . . . and then a Lincoln Memorial as a national monument in
location at the termination of the composition, and also as a center of
distribution comparable to the Arc de Triomphe de PEtoile.^
Thus the solution, like the form of the public buildings subsequently
erected on the perimeter of the Mall, came straight out of Europe,
a fact which much irritated the highly vocal Sullivan-Wright wing
of American designers.
Though the Lincoln Memorial was still a dream (construction
did not begin until 1914), its Grecian peripteral form and its place¬
ment at the western terminus of the Mall followed the recom¬
mendation laid down in the Commission report long before Henry
Bacon set up his first Doric column beside the Potomac.^^ As envi¬
sioned, it serves as a distribution point for vehicles in the Potomac
Park area and for those moving to and from Arlington across Mc-
Kim, Mead, and White’s Memorial Bridge. As a southern terminus
to the White House-Washington Monument cross-axis, the Commis¬
sion proposed a monument to the Founding Fathers ; but this, after
Life and Times of McKim, p. 198. The fullest discussion of the renovation of Wash¬
ington is to be found in Moore’s Daniel H. Burnham, 2 vols. (Boston, 1921), I, ch.
10, 11, 15. Notice that Moore’s own modest reputation as a monitor of public taste
dates from this service with the Park Commission (he had no training in the fine
arts). Later he served as chairman of the Fine Arts Commission for many years
and wrote the standard biographies of Burnham and McKim.
'‘^The report (with drawings, photographs, and maps) which the Burnham Com¬
mission submitted in 1902 is printed in Senate Reports, 57th Cong., 1st Ses., 1901-
1902, vol. 3, no. 166.
308 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 49
many years of delay, gave way in the 1930’s to a memorial to Jef¬
ferson alone — a diminutive Pantheon which had a certain aptness
because of Jefferson’s great admiration for its prototype. Designer
was John Russell Pope, a product of the American Academy at
Rome who also assisted with the designs of the temple-fronted
National Archives Building and the saucer-domed National Gallery
of Art on the north side of the Mall. At the Capitol-end of the long
axis the Burnham group hoped to sustain the Roman flavor of the
architecture by working the west face of Capitol hill into a series
of fountain-bedecked terraces descending to the level of the Mall.
This scheme, however, was subsequently dropped in favor of a more
modest embellishment of plantings in semi-formal disposition.
The greatest challenge was the Mall itself. The Commission’s
proposal to supplant the picturesque with the formal aroused the
ire of a number of Congressmen, most notably the cantankerous
Speaker of the House, “Uncle Joe” Cannon of Illinois, who was not
easily placated. The local press rushed to the defense of the trees
which Burnham and McKim avowedly intended to “butcher.” Worst
of all, the railroads had to be reckoned with, for in the years
following the Civil War, Congress had permitted the Pennsylvania
and the Baltimore and Ohio lines to lay tracks across the Mall and
to locate a depot (Potomac Station) squarely between the Washing¬
ton Monument and the Capitol. But the indefatigable Burnham was
equal to the challenge, shouldering aside all opposition and persuad¬
ing the leader of the railroad interests, Alexander Cassatt (Mary’s
brother), to vacate the Mall. He capped his triumph by obtaining
the commission to do the new Union Station, which after 1907 was
to flaunt its arcaded Roman facade upon the broad plaza north of
Carrere and Hasting’s Senate Office Building.^®
And so classicism returned to Washington on a grand scale, set¬
tling comfortably about the Mall in anticipation of long tenancy,
with only the red sandstone eccentricities of James Renwick’s
Smithsonian Institution to ruffle the calm. The Senate Park Com¬
mission died after reporting in 1902, but interested groups such as
the American Institute of Architects and the “Committee of One
Hundred” (Washington residents concerned about the development
of the capital) kept pressure upon Congress until a permanent Fine
Arts Commission was established by law in 1910. The first chair¬
man of the new group was (need one say?) Daniel Hudson Burn¬
ham. Members included such traditionalists as Henry Bacon, John
Russell Pope, John Mead Howells, Daniel Chester French, Herbert
Adams, Dorado Taft, J. Alden Weir, Francis D. Millet, E. H. Blash-
field, and F. L. Olmsted, Jr. (Saint-Gaudens, McKim, and White
45 Piske Kimball, American Architecture (Indianapolis, 1928), pp, 171-87; Carroll
Li. V. Meeks, The Railroad Station (New Haven, 1956), p. 129.
1960] Spence — Burnham and American Architecture 309
were dead by 1910.) Charles Moore assumed the chairmanship in
1915, and for twenty-two years perpetuated the cause of the Ameri¬
can “Renaissance.’'^® From White City to Capital City to all Amer¬
ica went the gospel of the City Beautiful, as Burnham had pre¬
dicted.^^ A Thorstein Veblen might shudder at “conspicuous waste,”
a disillusioned Louis Sullivan might find solace in the bottle, but
most Americans evidently liked “Renaissance” architecture, espe¬
cially if harmoniously integrated with formal environs. For v^hat-
ever reason, it embodied their notion of the ideal in public building :
it was monumental, dignified, handsome, perdurable.
To Wright it was none of these things, and by the 1950’s he pro¬
fessed to have evidence that discriminating Americans were begin¬
ning to share his opinion, were beginning to recognize that these
quasi-classic agglomerations were not only deadly but dead. The
fact is, he added, they were “killed for us by cold steel” long ago.
“And though millions of classic corpses yet encumber American
ground unburied, they are ready now for burial.”^® Possibly Wright
was right; he was always an optimist. Through a long career he
remained true to his ideals, damning the “Renaissance” at every
opportunity. But countless structures presently going up — city
halls, court houses, banks, libraries, public buildings of every sort —
offer evidence that there remains much life in the “corpses.” They
have been “disinfected,” to be sure, stripped of pediments, columns,
coffered vaults, domes, and other Graeco-Roman encumbrances, but
they are “classical” in their solemn strength, their cubic regularity
and symmetry, their monumental repose. In the field of domestic
architecture Wright has not fought in vain, but in the realm of
public building the spirit of Burnham marches on. The message of
the White City rings less stridently than once it did, but it still
sounds across the land.
^ See Forty Years of Achievement, National 'Commission of Fine Arts 1910-1950,
Senate Document 128, 81st Cong-., 2d Ses. (Washington, 1950).
For details as to ways and means, consult Maurice Neufeld, “The White City :
The Beginnings of a Planned Civilization in America,” Journal of the Illinois State
Historical Society, XXVII, 71—93 (April, 1934), and Larkin, Art and Life in America,
p. 337.
-18 The Natural House (New York, 1954), p. 55.
i
'i
■'i
I
'j
TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
WISCONSIN ACADEMY
OF
SCIENCES, ARTS, AND LETTERS
VOL. L
NATURAE SPECIES RATIOQUE
MADISON, WISCONSIN
1961
OFFICERS OF THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,
ARTS, AND LETTERS
President
Carl Welty, Beloit College, Beloit
President-Elect
J. Martin Klotsche, University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee
Vice-President (Sciences)
Cyril Rabat, Lori Circle, Madison
Vice-President (Arts)
G. W, Longenecker, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Vice-President (Letters)
Roe-Merrill S. Heffner, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Secretary
Ted J. McLaughlin, University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee
Treasurer
David J. Behling, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Milwaukee
Librarian
Roy D, Shenefelt, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Editor, Wisconsin Academy Review
Walter E. Scott, Wisconsin Conservation Department, Madison
Editor, Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters
Stanley D. Beck, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Chairman, Junior Academy of Science
Jack R. Arndt, University of Wisconsin, Madison
The Academy Council
The above named officers and the past presidents:
Paul W. Boutwell
A. W. Schorger
H. A. Schuette
L, E. Noland
Katherine G. Nelson
Ralph N. Buckstaff
Joseph G. Baier, Jr.
Otto L. Kowalke
E. L. Bolender
Stephen F. Darling
Robert J. Dicke
Henry Meyer
Merritt Y. Hughes
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Page
An Academy ... of Arts and Letters? Merritt Y. Hughes _ 3
SCIENCES
Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wisconsin. No. 44. Cruciferae — Mus¬
tard Family. Jacqueline P. Patman and Hugh H. Iltis _ 17
Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wisconsin. No. 45. Amaranthaceae —
Amaranth Family. Jonathan Sauer and Robert Davidson _ 75
Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wisconsin. No. 46. Caryophyllaceae —
Pink Family, Robert A. Schlising and Hugh H. Iltis _ 89
Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVII. H. C. Greene _ 141
A Five-Year Survey of Oat Seed Quality in Wisconsin, Dwight D. Forsyth 163
Hemlock Reproduction and Survival on Its Border in Wisconsin. Har¬
old A. Coder _ 175
Characteristics and Genesis of a Podzol Soil in Florence County, Wiscon¬
sin. Shankar T. Gaikawad and Francis D. Hole _ 183
The Geologic Material: Its Impact on Soil Profile Characteristics in West-
Central Wisconsin. E. Wurman _ 191
The Base of the St. Peter Sandstone in Southwestern Wisconsin. F. T.
Thwaites _ 203
Water Temperatures in a Well Near Wild Rose, Wisconsin. W. K. Summers 221
Nitidulidae Collected from Banana Bait Traps in Wisconsin. L. H. Mc¬
Mullen and R. D. Shenefelt _ 233
Fading Fins, George Becker _ 239
ARTS AND LETTERS
Hawthorne’s Literary and Aesthetic Doctrines as Embodied in His Tales
and Sketches. Harry H. Clark _ 251
‘The Actual and the Imaginary” : Hawthorne’s Concept of Art in Theory
and Practice. Robert Kimbrough _ 277
The Protestantism of the Abbe Prevost. Berenice Cooper - 295
Existential Nihilism and Herman Melville. J. J. Boies _ 307
American Protestantism and the Higher Criticism, 1870-1910. Walter F.
Peterson _ 321
Patterns of Observation: A Study of Hamlin Garland’s Middle Border
Landscape. Kathryn Whitford _ _ 331
Illustrating Political Theory Through Speech — Charles Kendall Adams’
“Representative British Orations.” Goodwin F. Berquist, Jr, _ 339
The Background of the Adult Education Movement. Roger W. Axford _ 345
Etruscan and Tuscan Parallels, A Study of the Etruscan Civilization and
of the Florentine Renaissance. Corinna Lobner _ 353
INDEX
Subject and Author Index to the Papers Published by the Academy,
1945-1960, compiled by Kenneth R. Mahony _ 363
The Transactions welcomes sound original articles in the sciences, arts, and
letters. The author or one of the co-authors must be a member of the Academy.
Manuscripts must be typewritten, and should be double-spaced throughout,
including footnotes, quotations, and bibliographical references. Footnotes
should be numbered consecutively and compiled at the end of the manuscript.
The name and address to which galley proofs are to be sent should be typed in
the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Manuscripts should be mailed
flat or rolled, never folded. They should be addressed to Stanley D, Beck, 100
King Hall, University of Wisconsin, Madison 6. Papers received prior to
July 31, 1962 will be considered for inclusion in the Transactions, volume 51.
•I
A
iG.l 3
qV\l(a3
TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
WISCONSIN ACADEMY
OF
SCIENCES, ARTS, AND LETTERS
VOL. L
NATURAE SPECIES RATIOQUE
MADISON, WISCONSIN
1961
The publication date of Volume 50 is
February 26, 1962
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
1
AN ACADEMY ... OF ARTS AND LETTERS
Merritt Y. Hughes
President, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters,
May 7, i960 to May 6, 1961
Our name declares a triple faith which we share with only one
other academy in this country, the Michigan Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters. In our early Transactions little space may have
been given to Arts and Letters, and in that space there may have
been much candid doubt about the purpose and even about the
meaning of the words themselves. Though like other state acade-
mies, ours owed its birth to its founders' confidence in Science as
the servant, if not the saviour, of the commonwealth, its founders
gave it a name which implies that man does not live by bread alone.
Were the founders trying to save our young economy from ever
needing the warning which those words carry in the title of a recent
Russian novel? It would be pleasant to think of them as trying to
forestall the cultural “imbalance" which is now puzzling our efforts
to overtake the Russians in scientific education. In the early Trans¬
actions there are indications of such foresight. Though they may not
indicate much anxiety about the future, they do suggest wisdom in
interpreting the past. Our founders may have regretted the grow¬
ing imbalance in the Anglo-American tradition — the attitude to-
v/ards science for which Bacon's Advancement of Learning has
been principally blamed. Our founders seem to have shared Bacon’s
understanding of the importance of the imagination in both science
and literature. They were not deceived by his narrowly utilitarian
interpreters.
Perhaps the founders remembered that when the Royal Society
was chartered by Charles II in 1662, although the “glory of God"
was one of its avowed objects, the humanities were ignored in the
charter. Its purpose was starkly declared to be to “promote by the
authority of experiments the sciences of natural things, and of use¬
ful arts." Of course it is a mistake to regard the founders of the
Royal Society as enemies of the fine arts or of literature. With a
dramatist like the Duke of Buckingham, a scientific romancer like
John Wilkins (later bishop of Chester), an architect like Sir Chris¬
topher Wren, an antiquarian and essayist like John Evelyn, and an
astronomically-minded Christian apologist like Bishop Seth Ward
among them, the founders might assume that they themselves were
* Address of the retiring president, delivered at the 91st annual meeting- of the
Academy, May 6, 1961.
3
4 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
the great white hope of English literature. In their routine reports
they expected to set that literature an example that would firmly
correct its faults of style.^ But of its patronage they washed their
hands. When a visiting member of the Academie Francaise hinted
to the first historian of the Royal Society that it had a poor library,
he was ready with the reply that ‘-With Books they meddle not
. . . ; their Revenue they designe for Operators and not for Lec¬
turers.”- And when later their historian proposed that they might
set up a literary academy something like the Academie Frangaise,
they turned him down. Being both more modest and more ambitious
than those confident Englishmen, our founders proposed to meddle
with books and to make Arts and Letters a part of their business.
With the Arts it must be confessed that they meddled very little,
so little indeed as to make it a question whether our Academy has
ever taken the Fine Arts seriously or ever clearly discriminated
between the Useful Arts and Applied Science. From the beginning
there has never been any doubt of our passionate interest in the
sciences, or that we have tried hard to be interested in Letters. But
in our history the record of the Arts — aside from Letters, which is
an art both useful and fine — has hardly corresponded with the honor
that we do them by electing a vice-president to represent them. In
our original “Plan of Operations”^ Departments of the Fine and
Useful Arts were projected, but the former was abandoned to a
patron who could hardly be expected to take any but the most prag¬
matic interest in them. The “Plan” expressed" the pious hope “that
such relations may be established with the State Agricultural So¬
ciety as, without changing . . . the independence of that organiza¬
tion, will constitute said Society the proposed Department of the
Useful Arts: leaving the field of the Fine Arts to be filled by a
newly-created Department of the Fine Arts, which it is thought
may be formed very soon.
The pious hope bore withered fruit. The report of our first Presi¬
dent to Governor Washburn® easily demonstrated the living interest :
1 Enough has been written about the determination of the founders of the Royal
Society to chasten English writing on all its levels, including those of syntax and
metaphor, and to “beat the mythologists out of the republic of letters.’’ The matter is ■
well summed up by Jackson I. Cope and Harold Whitmore Jones in their Introduction '
(p. XXV ) to their edition of The History of the Royal Society, by Thomas Sprat. (St.
Louis, Missouri: Washington University Studies, 1958.) If the founders could rise to
read The Origin of Species, they would be delighted to find Darwin ranked by Sir
Arthur Keith (in his new Introduction to its sixth Everyman edition [1928], p. xix)
“with that small select group of great Englishmen which holds Shakespeare.’’
2 This reply of Sprat to Samuel Sorbiere is quoted by Dorothy Stimson in Scientists i
and Amatetirs: A History of the Royal Society (New York: Henry Schuman, 1948),
p. 75.
^Bulletin of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, No. 1 (1870),
4 Ihid., p. 25.
p. 20.
^ Transactions of the Wisconsui Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, Vol. I
(1872). President Hoyt’s Report contained a list of 141 articles on scientific subjects
by residents of the state which were known to be in print in 1870 (pp. 17-25).
1961]
Hugfies—An Academy of Letters
5
of our founders in the natural sciences, but nothing was said about
any response by the Agricultural Society to its appointment as
patron of the Useful Arts. The best that President Hoyt could say
about them® was that in the past they had generally been “culth
vated with considerable success/^ Of the Fine Arts he confessed
that 'They had made little impression upon the life and character
of the people. Architecture,” he mourned, "both in the construction
of private dwellings and buildings for public use, gave here, as
elsewhere in our country, painful proof of a prevailing ignorance
of the principles of the art,”
Though a "Department of the Arts” figured in the Transactions
of our first decade, it never contained more than three articles as
against a score or more on the natural or social sciences. Peaks of
three articles pretending to deal with the Arts, either Useful or
Fine, were achieved in 1872 with the help of history and ethnog¬
raphy, and in 1873 entirely with the help of engineering. The first
of the three titles under "Arts” in 1872 headed a two-page article
on "The Production of Sulphide of Mercury by a New Process and
its Use in Photography.” It was followed by two papers totalling
seventeen pages on "The Rural Population of England as Classified
in Domesday Book” and "On the Place of the Indian Languages in
the Study of Ethnology.” In 1873 the now uncompromisingly use¬
ful "Department of the Arts” consisted of speculations "On Wis¬
consin River Improvement,” "On the Strength of Materials as
Applied to Engineering,” and on "Railway Gauges.”
In spite of an attempt^ to draw the attention of the annual meet¬
ing of 1876 away from "the mechanic arts, admirable as are their
results,” to "those arts which are called par eminence Fine Arts, or
more commonly 'Art,' ” the Academy could not be interested either
in the Fine Arts as a part of education or in the "Mechanic Arts”
from any point of view except their utility. Thirty-four years later,
when President Davis® analyzed the distribution of articles among
what seemed to him to be the distinct fields of interest in the first
thirty-six years of the Transactions, only .07 % of the titles belonged
under "Art,” Unless we except Letters, which seem always to have
been regarded by our founders as outside the "Department of the
Arts,” by 1907 it was submerged and forgotten. Wisely perhaps,
we have resigned painting and sculpture to strong, local groups
like the Madison Art Association (now over sixty years old) and
the Milwaukee Friends of Art. In the years while we have been
diligently developing the Junior Academy of Science under the di¬
rection of Professor John Thomson — and now under that of Pro-
pp. 25-26.
By Alford Payne, S.T.D., in a paper on “Art as Education” (Trmisactions, IV, 32).
®J. J. Davis in “The Academy, its Past and Future/-' Transactions, XV, ii (1907),
891.
6 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
fessor Jack Arndt — the mysteriously named and brilliantly suc¬
cessful “music clinics” have grown up independently of us on the
University campus in Madison. Without serious help from us
parallel services to artistic high school students have been emerg¬
ing on the Madison campus and at many of the State Colleges.
Perhaps it is too late for the Academy to think of justifying its
profession of interest in the Fine Arts by trying to set up organi¬
zations on the levels of the municipal art associations or of the
“clinics” for students on the Madison campus. It may be too late
for us to think of any over-all service to the arts throughout the
state such as is being rendered by the Wisconsin Arts Foundation
and Council from its offices in Milwaukee and Madison.
The time for leadership in the arts by the Academy may indeed
be past. Independent action on our part now might well seem to
be — and actually be — intrusion upon the work of the Wisconsin
Arts Foundation and several other organizations. Perhaps in a
society where local choruses, local semi-professional theatres, and
local private exhibitions of painting, photography, and sculpture
are widespread spontaneous growths, central support and leader¬
ship in the arts may be less and less needed. It is hard to imagine
anything that the Academy could do to improve the symphonic tech¬
nique or the morale of the orchestra which is one of our hosts here
in Waukesha. And yet as long as there is no truly professional
symphony orchestra anywhere in Wisconsin, and as long as almost
all our cities lack even, the meanest public art displays, the Academy
can hardly be at ease with its record of indifference to the Fine
Arts.
II
On the junior level in the field of Letters it may also be true that
there is now no room for service of any kind by the Academy. In
all the eighteen years of the life of the Junior Academy of Science
no one seems to have dreamed of a Junior Academy of Letters. If
by a miracle we were to receive an endowment fully sufficient to
finance such a Junior Academy — headed by a member of the De¬
partment of English or of Speech at one of the private or State
Colleges or at the University — could a leader be found to try to
build up interests in reading and writing among adolescents in num¬
bers justifying regional meetings rivalling the seven established
regional meetings of the Junior Academy of Science? Could such a
leader possibly contrive programs excelling or supplementing the
existing pyramid of regional and state-wide forensic meets which
are sponsored by the Department of Speech in the University Ex¬
tension? With no broader base than the Academy affords, will it
ever be possible to challenge or even in a modest way to supplement
1961] Hughes — An Academy ... of Letters 7
such developments in the field of “Letters’" as the Speech Institute
and the Summer High School Journalism Workshop which are to
be launched in a few weeks on the Madison campus? In the neg¬
lected center of the field of “Letters” should the Academy attempt
any initiative apart from the now vigorous Wisconsin Council of
Teachers of English? On the level of a Junior Academy of Letters
it is hard to imagine any work being done which is not already
being better done by specialists. This is most obviously true in His¬
tory, for our Academy itself is younger than the State Historical
Society.^ In numbers our Junior Academy of Science falls far short
of the nearly twenty-two thousand Young Historians who subscribe
to The Thirtieth Star and are challenged to compete in regional
essay contests that culminate in the award, at the annual banquet,
of prizes really commensurate with the hard work of both the con¬
testants and the judges.
Policy and decency alike forbid the Academy to trespass in re¬
gions which belong to the established educational agencies in a state
whose boundaries were long ago declared by the President of its
University to be no wider than those of the campus. If the Univer¬
sity were to propose a literary partnership with us on the lines of
the Junior Academy of Science, we might not decline; but no such
initiative seems probable on either side. Partnership on that level
with institutions like the Historical Society and other Wisconsin
organizations awarding prizes for compositions of various kinds in
English or other languages is also hardly likely. Perhaps it might
take the form of recognition in some way by us of a few of their
top contestants. Something of that kind flanking the awards of our
Junior Science Academy at our annual meetings might help to
redress an imbalance which many of our scientific members have
long been chivalrously regretting.
Ill
If then we are to become in any effective way an Academy of
Letters, it must be on an adult level and in ways distinct from the
adult education which is being constantly broadened by the Uni¬
versity Extension and many other agencies, private as well as pub¬
lic. It must be done — I believe — on a basis of three principles. One
of them is the principle that, at least in modern times, the main
^ Tlie senior position of the Historical Society was recognized in the Academy’s orig¬
inal Plan of Operations, pp. 20-21, by a suggestion that, “with mutual advantage,’’ the
Academy’s Department of Letters might “be formed about the State Historical So¬
ciety, should that useful and prosperous institution favor the establishment of a rela¬
tion of that sort ; said Society maintaining its . . . independent existence and yet ful¬
filling the office of the proposed Department by an enlargement of its scope, so as to
embrace investigations in the branches properly included, and by concentrating in its
library all the works that may be accumulated by the Academy in whatever
Department.’’
8 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
function of literary academies is the recognition of literary achieve¬
ment. Another emerges from the fact that in the Transactions we
have a small but sound inheritance of literary scholarship. The third
emerges from the need in Wisconsin — as everywhere else — to create
a working alliance between Science and Literature. The extraordi¬
nary thing about the three principles is that they can be put into
effect without any addition to our budget or any change in our
organization. They need only to be kept firmly in mind by the edi¬
tors of the Transactions and the Revietv, and to be worked more
and more effectively into the programs of our meetings and into the
imagination of many people who ought to be interested in the
Academy and perhaps have not even heard of it.
Recognition of literary achievement by prizes is beyond our
resources and would hardly be possible even if we had an endow¬
ment equal to the Nobel funds in Stockholm. It would, of course, be
a great pleasure if we could help serious young writers by “crown¬
ing’' their really outstanding work as the Academic Frangaise does
in about a score of cases year by year. To undertake anything of
the kind would require both a formidable tradition like that which
is maintained by the French Academy and a force of technical
assistants costing much more than the value of the awards that
would be made. To be of any real importance the awards would
have to be absolutely distinct from the scholarships which are made
in ever increasing numbers by schools and Foundations to encour¬
age young writers of “promise.” Even if awards were restricted
to authors having some vital connection with Wisconsin, the stand¬
ard would have to approximate that of a national literary Hall of
Fame. Whether we liked it or not, in awarding them we should be
setting ourselves up as a kind of literary tribunal dedicated — as
Matthew Arnold said in “The Literary Influence of Academies”^'’ —
to maintaining standards giving “the law, the tone to literature,
and that tone a high one.”
The responsibilities and pretensions of a literary tribunal may
be unavoidable by any official organization calling itself an Acad¬
emy of Letters. Certainly we ought not to try to avoid them. Yet
we are in no position to assume them with an authority even re¬
motely resembling that of the French Academy, of the Royal Society
of Literature; or of the Royal Society of Canada. If ever we are in
such a position, it can only be by some almost unimaginable change
in the level of culture throughout the state. But at our annual meet¬
ings it is easily within our power as ive are to add to the critical
reputation of writers of real worth, minor as well as major, living
as well as dead. It is strange that August Derleth’s Still Small Voice
Essays TAterary and Critical by Matthew Arnold. (London and Toronto: J. M.
Dent & Sons, 1900 ; reprinted 1914), p. 28.
1961]
Hughes — An Academy of Letters
9
was not anticipated by any criticism of Zona Gale in our Transac¬
tions. Stranger still is the silence there about the Son of the Middle
Border, though it may be no stranger than the facts that his manu^
scripts are in the Doheny Library at the University of Southern
California, and that our two biographies^^ of Hamlin Garland
should both have been published by University Presses outside of
Wisconsin. Yet in the Transactions we have had analyses of some
minor Wisconsin writers, such as the study of Margaret Ashmun
by Julia Grace Wales
IV
In a multi-national world any limitation of interest to the litera¬
ture of an area no larger than our state is impossible for a publica¬
tion of world-wide exchange like that of our Transactions. And in
a society with as much interest as ours has had, and with changing
motives still has, in the literature of the past and its interpretation,
an Academy of Letters is naturally concerned — perhaps too much
concerned-— with antiquity. At the outset the ‘'Department of Let¬
ters’’ in the Transactions typically consisted of only one or two
"Studies in Comparative Grammar” like the short paper on "Some
Weak Verbs in the Germanic Dialects”^^ which alone represented
it in Volume 11. That little investigation of the development of a
few Gothic strong verbs into weak ones did well if it got as large
an audience as presumably listened to the most specialized of the
twenty-three scientific papers in that Volume, Dr. P. R. Hoy’s
description of the water puppy Over-specialized and remote from
the larger issues of life though the little study in comparative gram¬
mar may have been, it represented a valid curiosity about language
which incidentally linked the author to philologists in all the great
universities of the world. For him and for them it had a beauty no
less lovely than Dr, Hoy saw in his water puppy-— "a most beautiful
object, as it appears in its favorite surroundings, with the long
scarlet plumose gills, continually waving backwards and forwards.”
The slow relaxation of the grip of historical philology upon the
"Department of Letters” in our Transactions betrays its depend¬
ence upon the men teaching languages in the University and upon
the fashions of scholarship in the late nineteenth century. Mis¬
guided though the fashions may seem to us now, they helped to
keep the Academy aware of widening horizons in literary history.
Donald Pizer’s Early Life of Hamlin Garland (Los Angeles: University of Cali¬
fornia Press, 1961) and Jean Holloway’s Hamlin Garland: A Biography (Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1960).
Transactwys.-KK-KIY (1942), 221-30.
By J. B. Fueling, Professor of Comparative Philology, in the University of
Wisconsin.
’■‘“Water Puppy (Menobranchus lateralis say).” By P. R, Hoy, M.D. Pp. 248-50.
10 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
The progress is hard to chart because the papers published in that
“Department” were either very few, or — with increasing num¬
bers — they became miscellaneous and remote from any literary or
philological interest. The few with a fair claim to be printed there
Aeyojaem of Shakespeare”^^ and, in an article on “The Vocabulary of
show philology chaperoning literature in studies like “The Airal
Shakespeare”^® by the same writer twenty-five years later, being
lured within distant sight of modern esthetic studies of the vocabu¬
laries of the poets.
Still moving in traditional channels of academic literary scholar¬
ship in the first quarter of the twentieth century, and still almost
monopolized by men from the modern language departments at the
University, the little current of literary studies became less spe¬
cialized as it slowly broadened on its way through the sea of in¬
creasingly specialized scientific articles in the Transactions, In many
of our papers in all fields over-specialization may have been a vice.
But charges of that kind are most readily made by audiences whose
interests are themselves too narrow. A glance back at the series of
medieval and Chaucerian studies which Karl Young contributed to
the Transactions before his translation from our University to Yale
shows not merely a national scholarly reputation in the making
but also a foundation being laid for our most recent illuminations
of Chaucer’s poetry against its whole literary and cultural back¬
ground.
On the basis of Karl Young’s papers it would be absurd to boast
that in the twenties the Transactions made a major contribution to
American scholarship. So on the basis of Ruth Wallerstein’s study
of “Cowley as a Man of Letters”^'^ it would be absurd to think that
in the thirties the Academy took a leading part in the extension of
interest in the “Metaphysical Poets” to their heir who narrowly
missed being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. The important
thing for the Academy is the fact that its programs have often in¬
cluded literary studies which were scholarly by the strictest aca¬
demic standards and at the same time had an obvious bearing on
the main developments in the literature of the past.
The literature of the past has had at least its full share of atten¬
tion from the Academy. For this the influence of the universities
has been partly responsible, but to that same influence our recent
programs owe dissections of the plays of two prominent American
dramatists, Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams,^® essays on con-
15 By Professor J. D. Butler, LL.D., of Madison. Transactions, V (1877-1881), 161-76.
^■^Transactions, XIV. i (1902), 40-55.
Transactions, XVI (1932), 127-140.
^ “Memory and Desire and Tennessee Williams’ Plays,’’ by John J. Enck, in Trans¬
actions, XLII (1953), 249-56, and “Arthur Miller: An Attempt at Modern Tragedy,’’
by Alvin Whitley, in Transactions, XDII, 257—62.
1961]
Hughes — An Academy ... of Letters
11
temporaries like Camus/® Valery Larbaud and Samuel Becket/®
and at least one discussion of a debatable aspect of modern poetry/^
In recent volumes of the Transactions the increasing majority of
studies of contemporary writers seems to show that our liveliest
interest is in the literature of the present.
The only literature that we neglect is that of the future, which
in the past it has been the professed purpose of the great literary
academies to foster and mould. That task the Academy has never
seriously considered. On the level of help to writers young or old by
prizes or scholarships the way is not open. On that of guidance for
amateur writers we can only leave the responsibility to the creative
writing seminars. In their encouragement we cannot compete with
the poetry societies or offer a medium of publication that could
possibly serve them as well as do the better poetry magazines, one
of the best of which is published no further away than Beloit.
The best service within our power to the literature of both the
present and the future lies most surely in more criticism of con¬
temporary writers like that which has been slowly emerging in the
Transactions. More and more of it is likely to seek us out. Three or
four newspapers in the state are extending the audience for such
criticism and helping to raise its standards. Rising enrolments in
the University and State Colleges are fast increasing the staffs of
modern language teachers eager to write such criticism. With the
multiplication of advanced courses in literature in the hands of
young men in the State Colleges in ranks often superior to those
of men of comparable training in the University, critical scholar¬
ship of the best kind in many fields should be increasingly offered
to us from all over the state. The amount may force us to find a
literary assistant for the Editor of the Transactions. If the final
results are not good, we shall have only ourselves to blame.
V
The great problem, of course, is to redress the imbalance between
our interests in Science and Letters. It has always existed — less
because the planners of our programs have been partial than be¬
cause for many years practically no papers were offered for the
“Department of Letters/’ Only by extension to offerings from soci¬
ology, anthropology, political science, and ethics could the caption
be justified, and before the turn of the century it was dropped. In
his analysis^® of everything which had been published in the Trans-
Robert F. Roeming-, “Camus Speaks of Man in Prison,’’ in Transactions , XLIX
(1960), 213-218.
Melvin J. Friedman, “Valery Larbaud and Samuel Becket,’’ Transactions, XLIX
(1960), 219-28.
21 Haskell M. Block, “Furor Poeticus and Modern Poetry,’’ Transactions, XLV (1956),
77-90.
22 By J. J. Davis in Transactions, XV, ii (1907), 891.
12 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
actions down to 1906 President Davis found that only 13% could
be classed under ‘‘Letters/' By including papers in “Social and Po¬
litical Science" the percentage rose to 33%. It became customary
to lump those sciences with Letters under the term “Humanities."
Some hardly humane wars were fought between partisans of the
remote antiquity and the almost immediate contemporaneity of the
Indian mounds. Some strange appeals to physiology and chivalry
were made by both sides in the battle over women’s rights. The
problems of control of the railways and the “trusts" were solved
more by faith than by knowledge of law or economics, and the
state’s obligations to its schools, its criminals, and the insane were
treated with a speculative assurance that seems sadly unscientific
today.
In spite of the embarrassing rhetoric and confused thinking on
some of the pages dealing with what President Davis called “Social
and Political Science," there were some solid papers on ethics. From
an early discussion^^ of the mind’s constraints upon its own liberty
by the President of the LFniversity to Professor Frank Sharp’s
analysis-" of “The Personal Equation in Ethics" the approach was
psychologically realistic. On the level of public morals it often was
learnedly and earnesty realistic in articles like Charles N. Gregory’s
on “Political Corruption and English and American Laws for its
Prevention.
In the studies which President Davis roughly described as '‘hu¬
manistic’’ a kind of true civic humanism was being worked out. Its
effect upon our programs was felt first in the matter of forest con¬
servation but — as President Davis sadly remarked — with no visible
effect upon public policy. Some of its features were to emerge later
in the noble but vague “Wisconsin Idea." In the Transactions it
sometimes had Utopian overtones, but it was chastened by the
standards of the scientific articles. Even in the wishful realm of
geology those standards never fell, though a geologic survey of the
state was the Academy’s first enterprise. They stood firm from our
earliest, unhopeful reports of precious metals to the grimly humor¬
ous treatment of the record of die-hard faith in them by our lately
lost State Geologist, Ernest F. Bean. In the philosophy of our civic
humanism the natural sciences have been a discipline quite as much
as they have been a Baconian genie promising that by hitching our
wagons to stars we can squeeze unlimited wealth out of nature.
If in reading old volumes of the Transactions we are sometimes
puzzled by the confused roles of Sciences and Letters, there may be
23 “Freedom of Will Empirically Considered” in Transactions, VI (1885), 2-20.
Transactions, -K (1894), 310-326.
Transactions, X (1894), 262-297.
1961]
Hughes — An Academy of Letters
13
comfort for us in looking back for a moment at their confusion by
the ancestor of all modern academies, the French Academy which
flourished in the reign of Henri III under the leadership of the poet
Jean-Antoine de Baif, nearly a century before the founding of the
Royal Society. Its philosophy was Platonic and owed much to the
Neo-Platonic academic tradition in Italy. Its doctrine was the belief
that poetry, the queen of all sciences and arts, could be cultivated
only by men of universal knowledge. One of its manifestoes-® de¬
scribes a symbolic Temple of the Arts where Aristotle displays them
all to the patroness of the Academy, Marguerite of Savoy. Though
Poetry is their queen, the seven arts are led by Military Science.
Rhetoric comes third and Grammar only fifth. Between them march
Medicine and Architecture. The last is Agriculture. Though in this
strange hierarchy the sciences do not seem to rank high, the interest
in them was great. In the correspondence of some of the leaders —
all of them poets — scientific interests constantly emerge. Their
great concern was with cosmography or astronomy, and the main
weight of evidence-^ shows pretty clearly that they were on the side
of Copernicus in the debate in which so many Englishmen — includ¬
ing Francis Bacon — were against him.
In naming their Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, our
founders preserved more than a trace of the belief of Henri IIPs
academicians that the disciplines are mutually indispensable. That
faith forever needs reaffirmation. In a specialized world where sci¬
entists in different subdivisions of their fields cannot always under¬
stand one another, the reaffirmation of that faith is more and more
necessary. James Bryant ConanPs book On Understanding Science-^
might well be prescribed reading for scientists as well as for human¬
ists. The response of the humanities to science in poetry and fiction
might also be the basis of some widely prescribed reading of pri¬
mary and secondary material. Of the latter Marjorie Hope Nicol-
son’s The Breaking of the Circle^^ might be suggested for scientists.
An example in our Transactions is Harry H, Clark’s “The Role of
Science in the Thought of W. D. Howells.”'^® The situation is not
helped by the revolt against the scientists and their “myths” by
several only too representative living poets who have suffered con-
2® Civitas veri sive morum Bartholmei Delbene Patricii Florentini Ad Ghristian-
issimum Henricum III Francorum et P'oloniae Regem Aristotelis de Morihus doctrinam,
carmine et picturis complexa et illustrata Comment arils Theodorn Marcilii, Professoris
Eloquentiae Regii, Paris, 1609. The grand pictorial plan of the City of Truth is repro¬
duced by Frances A. Yates in The French Academies of the Sixteenth Century (Lon¬
don; The Warburg- Institute, 1947), opposite pag-e 112.
2- As presented by John C. Lapp in his Introduction to his edition of The Universe
of Pontus de Tyard (Ithaca; Cornell University Press, 1950), pp. xliii-xlvi.
New Haven; Yale University Press, 1947.
29 Evanston; Northwestern University Press, 1950.
so Volume XLII (1953), pp. 263-304.
14 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
dign punishment in Joseph Warren Beach's Obsessive Images.^^
What is needed is an initiation for all of us in both Science and
Letters. To that good end the programs of our annual meetings can
help in a small way — but only if we succeed much better than our
founders and leaders have yet done in trying to make the Academy
justify its name.
SL Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1960; pp. 286-98.
SCIENCES
16
I
I
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN
NO. 44 CRUCIFERAE— MUSTARD FAMILY*
Jacqueline P. Patman and Hugh H. Iltis
Herbarium of the University of Wisconsin, Madison
There are few families in the Wisconsin flora that are as easy to
recognize as the Cruciferae. In the course of its evolution an ances¬
tral type hit upon a ‘‘streamlined” flower model, characterized by
4 sepals, 4 petals, and 6 stamens, of which two are shorter than the
rest. The great success of this flower is attested by the large num¬
ber of species and individuals in the family, and by the uniformity
of floral structure. From genus to genus flower differences in the
Cruciferae are often as small as the distinctions generally found in
other families between species of the same genus. Thus, while it is
easy to recognize a plant as belonging to the Cruciferae, the genera
and species are often very difficult to tell apart. Fortunately for
the taxonomist, however, natural selection did produce a highly
varied assemblage of fruits of many shapes and types of dehiscence.
Our interest in the Cruciferae also stems from economic consid¬
erations, for aside from its many useful members such as cabbage,
kale, brusselsprouts, cauliflower, radish, mustards and horse-radish,
the family in Wisconsin contains many introduced garden plants as
well as farm weeds, some of which, like the Yellow Rocket and
Hoary Alyssum, are serious agricultural pests. And yet even the
weeds, with their many bright flowers and large populations of indi¬
viduals so characteristic of the group, help to give this family its
special charm.
This treatment of the Cruciferae of Wisconsin is based on speci¬
mens in the herbaria of the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
(WIS), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public
Museum (MIL), the University of Minnesota (MINN), Northland
College, Ashland, Eau Claire State Teachers’ College, and Beloit
College.
Dots on the maps represent specific locations, triangles county
reports only. Numbers in the enclosures on the maps indicate the
number of specimens in flower and fruit. Specimens in a vegetative
condition are not included. These numbers indicate when the spe¬
cies is likely to flower and fruit in Wisconsin, and give a rough,
though low, estimate of the amount of material that was available
for this study.
* A thesis submitted by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Science (Botany) at the University of Wisconsin, Madi¬
son, 1960. Published with aid of the Norman C. Bassett Memorial Fund.
17
18 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
The order of the genera is according to Gray’s Manual of Botany,
ed. 8 (Fernald, 1950). In the general descriptions, liberal use was
made of the above work, as well as of the Neiv Britton and Brown
Illustrated Flora (Gleason, 1952) , and the Flora of the British Isles
(Clapham, Tutin, and Warburg, 1952.)
Grateful thanks and acknowledgment for the loan of their Wis¬
consin Cruciferae are due to Drs. G. B. Ownbey, University of
Minnesota, A. M. Fuller, Milwaukee Public Museum, A. L. Throne,
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, F. C. Lane, Northland Col¬
lege, H. C. Greene, curator of the Cryptogamic Herbarium, Univer¬
sity of Wisconsin, and Tom Hartley, Iowa State University, Iowa
City.
We also wish to thank Drs. J .W. Thomson and J. D. Sauer for
their constructive criticism, Mrs. Katharine S, Snell for her encour¬
agement and invaluable assistance in the preparation of the manu¬
script, and Mr. J. E. Dallman for the execution of the Cakile
drawings.
This project, both in the laboratory and in the field, was sup¬
ported during 1958-1960 by the Research Committee of the Uni¬
versity of Wisconsin on funds from the Wisconsin Alumni Research
Foundation.
CRUCIFERAE OF WISCONSIN
Annual, biennial or perennial herbs, with alternate or opposite,
estipulate, simple, often lobed, or compound leaves. Flowers gen¬
erally in various types of ebracteate racemes, regular, perfect,
hypogynous; sepals and petals 4 (or rarely the latter lacking);
stamens 6, with the two outer shorter than the 4 inner, all usually
with nectariferous glands at their bases; pistil 2-carpellate, the
ovary usually 2-celled by a thin partition, the septum, with many
to as few as 1 ovule in each cell, or sometimes only one-celled with
a single ovule. Fruit basically a capsule, though very variable, if
elongate called a silique, if short a silicle, usually dehiscent with the
2 valves (ovary wall) deciduous, leaving the placenta (replum) and
the intervening septum attached to the pedicel, or less commonly
transversally septate with indehiscent segments ( Cakile, Raphanus,
Erucastrum, or Brassica) or completely indehiscent (Neslia).
ARTIFICIAL KEY TO GENERA
1. Cauline leaves compound or pinnately dissected more than half¬
way to the midrib, or at least the upper- or lowermost leaves pin-
natifid _ 2
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
19
2. Plants aquatic, with finely dissected, submerged leaves; fruit
a silicle; flowers white _ 2*3. ARMORACIA.
2. Plants terrestial or semi-aquatic, the leaves not finely dis¬
sected; fruit usually a linear silique, more than three times as
long as broad, shorter in the yellow-flowered Rorippa _ 3
3. Leaves few (2-3), palmately compound, the leaflets three or
appearing as five or seven, the margins serrate or laciniate;
flowers white to pink or pale purple _ 25. DENTARIA.
3. Leaves generally numerous, pinnately dissected _ 4
4. Fruits indehiscent, with a stout beak, often corky inside,
(3~) 4-10 mm broad; leaves coarse with simple hairs, rough
to the touch; petals 13-20 mm long, white, pink-purple or
pale yellow _ 11. RAPHANUS.
4. Fruits usually dehiscent (indehiscent in Diplotaxis) , non-
corky, up to 4 mm broad _ _ 5
5. Leaves, especially of the basal rosette, lyrate-pinnatifid,
the margins entire; petals white, 5-8 mm long; siliques
2-4 cm long; plants small, slender, much branched
_ 27. ARABIS (A. lyrata).
5. Leaves pinnate or pinnatifid _ 6
6. Seeds of ripe fruits arranged in two (often irregular)
columns in each locale _ 7
7. Plants free-floating or creeping aquatics; petals
white ; leaves pinnate with rounded or elliptic leaflets
_ 22. NASTURTIUM.
7. Plants erect; petals yellow; leaves pinnatifid, not
bearing distinct leaflets _ 8
8. Fruits linear, 2-5 cm long, with a prominent
midnerve, indehiscent ; leaves mostly at the base of
the stem _ 14. DIPLOTAXIS.
8. Fruits globose to oblong, plump, to 2 cm long,
but mostly less than 1 cm, nerveless, dehiscent;
stem leafy throughout _ 21. RORIPPA.
6. Ripe seeds (through elongation of their seed stalks)
arranged in a single column in each locale _ 9
9. Leaves two or three times pinnate, sometimes
once-pinnate ; plants canescent or with glandular
hairs _ 18. DFSCURAINIA.
9. Leaves once pinnate or pinnatifid; plants neither
canescent nor with glandular hairs _ 10
10. Petals white; leaves normally thin, pinnately
divided with equal, linear, rounded or elliptical seg¬
ments, the margins entire or wavy
— _ 26. CARDAMINF,
20 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
10. Petals yellow; leaves often coarse, pinnatifid
with segments of unequal size, the margins serrate
or cleft _ 11
11. Uppermost leaves strongly clasping; stem
and leaves glabrous above _ _ 12
12. Uppermost leaves usually coarsely dentate,
sometimes palmately lobed, broadly obovate to
rounded _ 24. BARBAREA.
12. Uppermost leaves entire or dentate, lanceo¬
late to oblong _ 12. BRASSICA.
11. Uppermost leaves petioled or sessile; plants
hispid throughout or at least at the base (except
Brassica juncea, which is glabrous) _ _ 13
13, Petals up to 4 mm long; fruit strictly ap-
pressed, sharp-pointed _ 17. SISYMBRIUM.
13. Petals 5-13 mm long _ 14
14. Cauline leaves pinnatifid with long lin¬
ear segments, the uppermost feathery _
_ 17. SISYMBRIUM.
14. Cauline leaves pinnatifid, not feathery 15
15. All but the uppermost fruits leafy-
bracted at the base, 4-angled _
_ 13. ERUCASTRUM.
15. Fruits not leafy bracted, round in
cross-section or nearly so _
_ 12. BRASSICA
1. Cauline leaves simple, not cleft or pinnatifid (or if pinnatifid
below, then perfoliate and simple above) _ 16
16. Fruit a linear silique, more than three times as long as
broad _ _ 17
17. Plants with a basal rosette, or bearing numerous distinct
basal leaves; flowers white to pink or purplish, rarely pale
yellow _ 18
18. Fruits oblong or oval, inflated or flattened and twisted,
to 1.5 cm long _ _ 1. DRABA.
18. Fruits linear, 1.5-12.0 cm long _ 19
19. Plants arising from a knobby tuberous base; pubes¬
cence of simple hairs or plants glabrous 26. CARDAMINE.
19. Roots non-tuberous, pubescence of simple, forked, or
stellate hairs often only at base of stem, or plants glabrous
_ 27. ARABIS.
17. Plants without a basal rosette or distinct basal leaves 20
20. Flowers white, pink, or purple _ 21
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. kU
21
21. Leaves obovate to oblanceolate, the margins sinuate
toothed; petals 6-8 mm long; siliques indehiscent and
transversely jointed; succulent beach plants of the Lake
Michigan strand _ 10. CAKILE.
21. Leaves lanceolate or deltoid-ovate, not fleshy, the mar¬
gins dentate or minutely toothed _ 22
22. Petals white, about 4 mm long__ 16. ALLIARIA.
22. Petals pink or purple, rarely white, 10-20 mm long,
showy _ 19. HESPERIS.
20. Flowers yellow _ 23
23. Plants glabrous; leaves elliptic, auriculate-clasping
_ 15. CONRINGIA.
16. Fruit a silicic, less than three times as long as broad, tri¬
angular, oblongoid, or rounded _ 24
24. Fruits strongly flattened at least in the upper half, notched
at the summit _ 25
25. Pods triangular-obcordate ; flowers white 7. CAPSELLA.
25. Fruits circular or elliptic, when viewed from the flat
side, strongly flattened ; flowers white or greenish _ 26
26. Seeds one per locule ; fruits 2-4 mm broad
_ 5. LEPIDIUM.
26. Seeds on per locule; fruits 8-15 mm broad _
_ _ _ 4. THLASPI.
24. Fruits various, flattened or not, often inflated or with a
winged margin, not notched at summit _ 27
27. Pods pear-shaped, tapering to the base _ 28
28. Flowers white or purple; fruits 3-4 mm long; plants
lov/, bushy perennials _ LOBULARIA (see genus 3.).
28. Flowers yellow; fruits 5-12 mm long; plants stiffly
erect annuals _ 8. CAMELINA.
27. Pods nearly globose or ellipsoid, rounded or cordate at
the base ; petals white _ 29
29. Margins of cauline leaves wavy to entire; plants
annual _ 30
30. Fruits 5-8 mm long, elliptic, closely appressed to
the stem; petals deeply 2-parted; plants densely white-
hoary _ _ 2. BERTEROA.
30. Fruits to 3 mm long, circular, on divergent pedicels
_ 31
31. Fruit dehiscent, with a narrow winged margin;
seeds generally 4 per pod; low annual 3. ALYSSUM.
31. Fruit indehiscent, globose, not winged, the sur¬
face wrinkled ; seeds one or two per pod ; erect, strict
annual _ 9. NESLIA.
22 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
29. Margins of cauline leaves serrate or crenate; plants
perennial from a deep taproot _ 32
32. Petals 5-7 mm long; silicles to 3 mm long, dehiscent
though seeds never maturing ; large-leaved, robust herb
from a thick tap root _ 23. ARMORACIA.
32. Petals about 2 mm long ; silicles 2-3 mm long, inde-
hiscent, with 1 seed in each half; leaves small, auricu-
late-clasping ; slender weeds _ _ 6. CARDARIA.
1. DRABA L.
[Hitchcock, C. L. 1941. A Revision of the Drahas of Western North
America, University of Washington Publ. in Biology 11.]
Low slender annuals or perennial from a basal rosette, often
stellate-pubescent throughout. Leaves small, simple, entire to den¬
tate. Petals white or rarely pale yellow, the sepals ascending. Sili-
ques flattened, often twisted; seeds numerous, red-brown, in two
columns in each locule.
Key to Species
1. Fruits twisted, lanceolate, acuminate, the style elongate; plants
perennial _ _ 2
2. Pedicels and siliques glabrous or with a few simple hairs;
seeds 1.0-1. 7 mm long _ _ 1. D. arabisans.
2. Pedicels and siliques heavily stellate-pubescent; seeds 0. 8-1.0
mm long _ 2. D. lanceolata.
1. Fruits straight and flat, narrowly oblong, rounded at the apex;
style lacking ; plants annual or winter-annual _ 3
3. Plants 4-8 (-15) cm tall; leaves mainly basal, the cauline
leaves few or lacking; raceme corymbiform, few-flowered; pedi¬
cels equalling or shorter than the fruits _ 3. D. reptans.
3. Plants (5-) 8-30 cm tall; cauline leaves present; inflorescence
a loose raceme; pedicels longer than the fruit- _ 4. D. nemorosa.
1. DRABA ARABISANS Michx. Map 1.
Erect perennial, sparingly branched above, to 5 dm tall. Basal
leaves oblanceolate, tapering to the base; cauline leaves oblanceo-
late to obovate, 5-45 mm long, broadly serrate, evenly but not heav¬
ily stellate-pubescent. Petals white, 3-4 mm long. Siliques lanceo¬
late, acuminate, flattened and much twisted, glabrous or with very
few simple hairs. Seeds oval, 1.0-1. 7 mm long.
Rare, on shaded cliffs of Niagara Dolomite, in Door and Fond
du Lac Counties. Flowering from mid- June through early July and
fruiting from late June through July,
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No, kU
2?>
2. Draba lanceolata Royle Map 1.
Similar to B, arabisans. Stellate throughout. Basal leaves ob-
lanceolate to spatulate, 7-30 mm long; cauline leaves lancelate to
ovate. Petals white, 3-5 mm long; racemes leafy-bracted at base.
Pods 4-14 mm long, densely and evenly stellate-pubescent. Seeds
very small, ovoid, 0. 8-1.0 mm long.
One collection. Door Co. : from summit of limestone cliff, Fish
Creek, June 14 [in fruit], Fassett 16216 (WIS), 16217 (MIL).
3. Draba reptans (Lam.) Fern. Map 2.
Dr aha caroliniana Walt.
3a. Draba reptans forma reptans
Minute annuals, 4-15 cm tall, branching from the basal rosette
or slightly above. Stem sparingly pubescent with stellate and forked
hairs. Basal leaves ovate, entire or nearly so, densely stellate-
pubescent; cauline leaves few or lacking, usually entire. Inflores¬
cence corymbiform, few-flowered; petals white, 4-5 mm long. Sili-
ques glabrous, narrowly oblongoid, 0.8-1. 3 cm long, slightly flat¬
tened. Seeds rounded, about 0.5 mm broad.
Frequent in sandy or gravelly places, especially in southern Wis¬
consin, on sandstone (sometimes limestone) cliffs, rocky hillsides,
in sandy prairies, open sandy river terraces, often along sandy
roadsides, gravel pits, cultivated fields and pastures. Flowering from
mid-April through late May, being among our earliest flowering
species, and fruiting from early May through early July.
3b. Draba reptans forma micrantha (Nutt.) Hitchc.
Siliques hispidulous; upper surface of leaves with mostly simple
hairs; otherwise as f. reptans.
Dane Co. : crumbling sandstone, Fassett 9881^ (WIS) ; Dodge Co. :
prairie relic along R.R., Skinners U252 (WIS).
4. Draba nemorosa L. var. lejocarpa Lindbl. Map 1.
Widely branched slender annual, (5-) 8-30 cm tall, pubescent
throughout with forked and stellate hairs. Basal leaves obtuse ; cau¬
line leaves oblong to ovate, acute. Petals pale yellow to white, about
2 mm long. Mature racemes very long with fruits nearly to the
base of the plant. Siliques elliptic, 3-13 mm long, glabrous, the
pedicels longer, slender, divergent.
Rare in Wisconsin, and doubtfully native, the two collections
seemingly weedy: Marinette Co.: Marinette, June 25, 1916 [in
fruit], Goessl Jpl97 (MIL), s.n. (WIS) ; La Crosse Co.: dry sandy
plain, Upper French Island (in Mississippi River), June 7, 1956
[in fruit], Hartley 2U2 (WIS).
24 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Aids and Letters [Vol. 50
2. BERTEROA DC.
1. Berteroa incana (L.) DC. Hoary Alyssum Map 3.
Erect, often much branched, to 1 m tall, gray-green throughout
with dense, stellate pubescence. Leaves entire, lanceolate. Petals
ivhite, deeply cleft, 4-6 mm long. Silicles 5-8 mm long, inflated,
ellipsoid, the style persistent. Seeds dark brown, 4 per locule.
A very common weed throughout the state, mostly on sandy or
gravelly soil, along roadsides, railroads, in cultivated fields, pas¬
tures, sandy prairies, open woods and waste ground. Naturalized
from Europe. Flowering from late May through early October and
fruiting from mid-June through late October,
3. ALYSSUM L.
1. Alyssum alyssoides L. Small Alyssum Map 4.
Small annuals 7-25 cm tall, simple or branched from the base
with several arched-ascending stems, whitish stellate-pubescent
throughout. Leaves linear-spatulate, 8-15 mm long. Petals white
or pale yellow; sepals persistent. Silicles round, lens-shaped with
a winged margin, 2. 5-3. 5 mm in diameter, the valves smooth and
nerveless, the style persistent. Seeds red-brown, generally 4 per
fruit.
Locally abundant in sandy places, in prairies, sand dunes,
beaches, along roadsides, and most often along railroads. Natural¬
ized from Europe. Flowering from late May through early June
and fruiting from early June through mid-July.
Lobularia maritima (L.) Desv., “Sweet Alyssum”, a low peren¬
nial with narrow leaves and white or purple petals, resembles Alys¬
sum, though differing in having pyriform silicles. Introduced from
Europe. Commonly cultivated as an ornamental and occasionally
escaping : Ozaukee Co. : strand of Lake Michigan, probably escaped,
litis 8292; Dane Co. : along highway, 1958, Pirone, s.n.; waste field,
1958, Klisiewig (all WIS).
4. THLASPI L.
1. Thlaspi arvense L. Penny Cress Map 5.
Erect glabrous annual, 1-5 (-8) dm tall. Leaves oblong to obo-
vate, the upper sagittate-clasping, entire or with few teeth. Petals
white, 2. 5-4.0 mm long. Silicles much flattened, oblong to circular,
broadly winged, 10-15 mm long, notched at the apex to about 3 mm.
Common weed of open, waste places, along railroads and road¬
sides, in cultivated fields, moist ground in pastures, and near
marshes or streams. Naturalized from Europe. Flowering from late
April through July and fruiting from late May through September
(November) .
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. kU
25
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
5. LEPIDIUM L. Peppergrass
[Hitchcock, C. L. 1936. The genus Lepidium in the U, S, Madrono
3:265-320.]
Petals small, white or greenish, or lacking. Racemes slender,
elongate; pedicels divergent. Silicles small, dehiscent, rounded or
obovate, usually much flattened contrary to the partition, notched
at the apex, with one seed per locule.
Key to Species
1. Upper leaves perfoliate and entire, the lower dissected; fruits
3. 5-4. 2 mm long; rare in Wisconsin _ 1. L. perfoliatum.
1. Leaves similar throughout, not perfoliate; fruits 2-6 mm long 2
2. Fruits inflated, 4-6 mm long, broadly winged in their upper
half ; leaves auriculate-clasping, often closely appressed, imbri¬
cate _ _ 2. L. campestre.
2. Fruits flattened, 2--4 mm long; leaves sessile and attenuate
at base, spreading and not imbricate _ 3
3. Petals present, exceeding sepals ; silicles orbicular or nearly
so, 2. 5-3. 3 mm long; cotyledons within the seed acumbent _
_ 3. L. virginicum.
3. Petals absent, if present minute and narrower and shorter
than the sepals; siliques mostly elliptic or obovate, 1. 8-3.0 mm
long; cotyledons within the seed incumbent_4. L. densiflorum.
1. Lepidium perfoliatum L.
Erect, 1-7 dm tall, branching above. Upper leaves rounded, per¬
foliate, the middle leaves strongly cordate, acute at the apex, the
lower leaves dissected. Petals white, to 1 mm long, slightly exceed¬
ing the sepals. Silicle rhombic-ovate, 3. 5-4. 2 mm long.
A weed of railroad stations and rights-of-way, naturalized from
Europe. Walworth Co. : Delavan, June 9, 1934 [in fruit], Wadmond
1033 Jf (WIS) ; May 30, 1936 [in flower and fruit], Wadmond s.n.
(WIS) ; Sheboygan Co.: July 1933 [in fruit], Goessl s.n. (WIS).
2. Lepidium campestre (L.) R. Br. Field Peppergrass Map 6.
Simple or branched, 1-6 dm tall. Stem densely pubescent with
simple hairs. Leaves numerous, imbricate, lance-ovate, auriculate-
clasping, entire to irregularly serrate; lower leaves with rounded
apices, the upper ones acute. Petals white, 1.8-2. 5 mm long, slightly
exceeding the sepals. Silicles oblong-ovate, 4. 0-6. 5 mm long, papil¬
lose, swollen at base, the apex ivith a broad flat wing.
Frequent in southern Wisconsin in disturbed sandy places, culti¬
vated fields, roadsides, railroads, waste places, grazed hillsides,
1961]
Patman & litis — -Wisconsin Flora No, Uh'
21
and pastures. Naturalized from Europe. Flowering from mid-May
through mid" July and fruiting from early June through August.
3, Lepidium virginicum L. Peppergrass Map 7.
Stems erect, glabrous to minutely pubescent, usually much
branched, 2-9 dm tall. Basal leaves dissected or pinnatifid. Cauline
leaves linear to lanceolate, incised to entire. Petals white, about 1
mm long and exceeding the sepals. Silicles much flattened, nearly
orbicular, 2. 5-3. 3 mm long; cotyledons acumbent (see drawing on
map 7) .
Common and weedy, mainly in southern Wisconsin, in dry places,
along railroads, city streets, waste places, quarries, roadsides, open
fields, pastures, open sand bars along streams and borders of open
oak woods. Flowering from mid-May through mid-July and fruit¬
ing from mid- July through late November.
Easily confused with L. densiflorum, but distinguished by the
white petals and acumbent cotyledons.
4. Lepidium densiflorum Schrad. Peppergrass Map 8.
Lepidium apetalum of Auth., not Willd.
Stem erect, much branched. Sepals with thin white margins;
petals lacking or minute and smaller than the sepals. Silicles 1. 8-3.0
mm long, mostly elliptic to obovate, though sometimes nearly orbic¬
ular and broadly rounded at apex much as in L. virginicum. Coty¬
ledons incumbent; when fruits are mature this is a most reliable
character (see drawing with map 8).
Very common throughout the state, particularly in dry sandy
places, roadsides, railroad embankments, city streets, waste places,
fields, pastures, and common in native communities such as sandy
prairies, borders of Jack Pine or Oak woods and on beaches and
riversides. Flowering from early May to mid- July and fruiting
from early June through October.
While this paper was in galley proof, the following notes were
added as a result of Dr. G. A. Mulligan’s studies of our Lepidium
collections (cf. The genus Lepidium in Canada. Madrono 16:77-90.
1961). To Dr. Mulligan, of the Plant Research Institute, Canada
Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, we extend our sincere thanks.
3a. Lepidium densiflorum var. densiflorum. Nearly all of our
collections fall into this variety. Mulligan (loc. cit.) states that it
is an annual or winter annual with fruits averaging 2.5 mm long
and 2 mm wide.
28 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
3b. Lepidium densiflorum var. macrocarpum Mulligan (loc. cit.
16:86. 1961).
Lepidium densiflorum var. hourgeauanum sensu Hitchcock
1936, not Lepidium hourgeauanum Thellung.
Eight Wisconsin specimens have been assigned by Mulligan to
this variety, who states in the original description that var. macro¬
carpum is a biennial distinguished by larger capsules (3. 0-3. 5 mm
long and 2. 0-2. 5 mm wide) occurring naturally in Alberta, British
Colombia and Saskatchewan. The Wisconsin records, from Adams,
Barron, Dane, Marinette, Marquette, Polk, and Portage Counties,
extend the known range of this variety from SW Saskatchewan to
Southern Wisconsin. The introduction must have been very recent,
for all but the 1928 Polk County and 1956 Dane County collections
have been made since 1957.
Lepidium densiflorum var. densiflorum X Lepidium
viRGiNicuM Hybrids
A score or more of either of these two species have been anno¬
tated by Mulligan as containing genes of the opposite species, while
a few populations were shown by Mulligan to represent hybrid
swarms, consisting of both parents and intermediates. Judging
from this, as well as their frequent joint occurrence, hybridity be¬
tween these two species appears to be quite common in Wisconsin.
Lepidium bourgeauanum Thellung
Lepidium fletcheri Rydb.
The one specimen of this mainly western Canadian species so
named by Mulligan was collected in ‘‘Sheboygan, common. Sept.
1918’' by Chas. Goessl, a retired railroad man, whose collections
are generally considered by us with suspicion, for he seemed to
have been very careless in labelling his specimens. It is likely that
this collection was not made in Wisconsin. The species is slenderer
than L. densiflorum, and resembles L. ruderale, except that the
leaves are only incised, and the sepals more robust and hairy.
According to Mulligan, the species is supposed to have short petals,
which are not evident in the Goessel specimen.
Lepidium ruderale L. is very similar to L, virginicum, differing
by the silicles gradually narrowed to the apical teeth, and by the
bipinnatifid lower leaves. Milwaukee Co. : Railroad tracks, Gordon
Park, Milwaukee, 1940, Skinners 2176 (WIS) ; vacant lot, Fair¬
mont Ave. on Green Bay Road, Milwaukee, 1938, Skinners s.n,
(WIS).
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
29
30 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
6, CARDARIA Desv,
[Rollins, R. C. 1940. On two weedy crucifers. Rhodora 42 :302-326.]
Perennials similar in appearance to Lepidium, Cauline leaves
serrate-dentate, sessile or clasping. Flowers small, white. Silicles
ovoid to cordate, somewhat inflated, indehiscent, the style and
pedicel slender.
1. Cardaria draba (L.) Desv. Hoary Cress
Silicles glabrous, broader than long, cordate and notched at the
base.
One collection : Waukesha Co. : E. Millers farm, Big Bend [flower
and young fruit] June 3, 1931, Fuller JfOSSB (MIL), Adventive
from Europe; a troublesome weed in the western U.S.
2. Cardaria pubescens (C. A. Mey.) Whitetop
Silicles pubescent, longer than broad, more or less globose, not
notched at the base.
One collection: Walworth Co.: on sandy soil at edge of held.
Crane Farms, Williams Bay, July 1, 1941 [hower and young fruit]
Thomson s.n. (WIS). Adventive from Europe.
7. CAPSELLA Medic.
1. Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medic. Shepherd’s Purse Map 9.
Erect annual, often much branched, to 4 dm tall, glabrous to
somewhat hirsute. Rosette leaves highly variable, serrate or cleft
to deeply pinnatihd. Cauline leaves sagittate-clasping, entire to ser¬
rate. Petals white, 2-4 mm long. Silicles oh cor date-triangular, bat¬
tened contrary to the partition.
Very common and exceptionally weedy throughout the state,
along roadsides, waste places, city streets, cultivated helds, open
woods, pastures, etc. Naturalized from Europe. Flowering from
late April through July, occasionally into October, and fruiting
from mid-May through October.
8. CAMELINA Crantz. False Flax
Slender erect annuals, with simple stellate pubescence. Leaves
linear to lanceolate, sagittate-clasping. Petals small, yellow; sepals
erect. Silicles obovoid to pyriform, pointed, one-nerved, keeled at
the sutures. Seeds numerous, small, elliptic to oblong.
Key to Species
1, Base of stem densely pubescent, the simple hairs projecting be¬
yond the stellate hairs; silicles 5-7 (-8) mm long, about twice the
length of the style _ _ _ 1. C. microcarpa.
1961] Patman & litis— Wisconsin Flora No. kk 31
1. Pubescence at the base of the stem appressed or lacking, or with
few long simple hairs; silicles 7-12 mm long, about 3-4 times as
long as the style _ 2. C. sativa.
1. Camelina microcarpa Andrz. False Flax Map 10.
Erect, simple or branching above, to 7 dm tall, rough-pubescent
throughout with both simple and stellate hairs, the base of the stem
with long simple hairs projecting beyond the stellate ones. Fruits
about twice as long as the slender style, 5-7 (-8) mm long, 4-5 mm
broad. Seeds brown, less than 1 mm long.
Occasional in waste places and along railroad embankments. Ad-
ventive from Europe. Flowering from mid-May through mid-June
and fruiting from late June through mid-August,
Very similar to the following species, but separated by the
smaller fruit size and the dense simple pubescence at the base of
the stem. C. sativa may have a few simple hairs at the base, but
these are neither dense nor spreading.
2. Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz Gold-of-Pleasure Map 11,
Stems to 9 dm tall, glabrous or with appressed stellate pubes¬
cence, occasionally with a few long simple hairs at the base. Silicles
about 3-4 times as long as the style, 7-12 mm long, 5-7 mm broad.
Seeds yellow-brown, 0.9-1. 5 mm long.
Occasional in waste places and along railroads. Adventive from
Europe. Flowering from mid-May through mid- July and fruiting
from mid- June through early September.
Bunias orientalis L. is a tall, robust biennial, with simple upper
leaves and lyrate-pinnatifid lower leaves, bright yellow flowers in
slender glandular racemes, and ovoid, beaked, indehiscent silicles.
One collection : Green Co. : In field along highway M, 1959, Richards
s.n. (WIS). Adventive from Europe.
9. NESLIA Desv.
1. Neslia PANICULATA (L.) Desv. Ball Mustard Map 12.
Slender erect annuals or biennials, to 6 dm tall. Leaves oblong
to lanceolate, sagittate-clasping, the margins entire, wavy, or re¬
motely serrate. Flowers pale yellow, in long racemes ; petals 2-3 mm
long. Silicles indehiscent, globose, very slighty flattened, 2-3 mm in
diam. ; style slender, 1 mm long; pedicels slender, divergent, 4-13
mm long. Seeds 1-2 per pod, nearly round.
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
SHEBOYGAN CO-
V£»r. edcn+ula
Cck\\c cdcn+ula
FASSETT: SEPT.29,1940
var. lacusfng
Figure 1. Fruits of Cakile: shaded drawings of fresh, line
drawings of dried specimens.
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No, UU
5
10
15
34 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Occasional in Wisconsin from waste places in cities. Adventive
from Europe. Flowering from late May through early July and
fruiting from late June through early August.
10. CAKILE Hill Sea Rocket
1. Cakile edentula (Bigel.) Hook. Sea Rocket
Map 13 ; figs. 1 & 2.
Erect, glabrous annuals, simple or much branched above, 5-60 cm
tall. Leaves fleshy, obovate or oblanceolate, wavy-toothed and quite
variable. Petals pale purple to nearly white, 6-8 mm long. Fruit a
jointed, fleshy indehiscent transversally septate silique, the upper
portion 6-15 mm long, 3-8 mm wide, often beaked, ovoid to lanceo¬
late, the lower portion 2-8 mm long, 2-6 mm wide, often sterile
and very small. Seeds elongate, red-brown, usually only one per
joint.
A characteristic species of the Lake Michigan strand, especially
on the upper sandy or gravelly beach (stormbeach) , occasionally
on dunes, often associated with the annual Chenopodiaceae Salsola,
Coriospermum, and Cycloloma, as well as with Potentilla anserina,
Euphorbia poly goni folia, etc., and at the base of dunes with Ammo-
phila, Calamovilfa, Agropyron, and Lathyrus maritimus. A pioneer
on the lower beaches, this is often the only species able to withstand
the frequent disturbances due to rough waters. Flowering from
early July through early September and fruiting from mid- July
through late September.
Key to Varieties
1. Upper portion of silique broad, lance-ovoid to ovoid or sub-
spherical, 7-10 (-12) mm long, 4-8 mm wide; pedicels 2-3 (-4)
mm long _ 9a. var. edentula.
1. Upper portion of silique narrowly lanceolate, 9-16 mm long,
(3-) 4-5 mm wide; pedicels (4-) 5-7 (-8) mm long _
_ 9b. var. lacustris.
The Great Lakes population was segregated from the typical
East Coast variety by Fernald (cf. 1950) as var. lacustris Fern.,
“by the upper joint of the silicle ovoid-lanceolate, long beaked, its
articulating surface with 2 deep and 4 shallow pits; articulating
summit of lower joint with 2 long and 4 short subulate processes”.
The differences in the articulating surface appear to be very
slightly if at all developed, and seem to be of next to no value in
distinguishing the two varieties. Furthermore, contrary to Beam,
and others, both varieties occur in Wisconsin, occasionally grow-
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
35
ing together (see insert, map 13), yet remaining very distinct mor¬
phologically (cf. fig. 2, graph 1).
Var. EDENTULA, the rarer of the two varieties in Wisconsin, has
short, lance-ovoid to ovoid or even subspherical (!) siliques, while
var. LACUSTRIS has elongate lanceolate fruits (fig. 1). When length
and width of the upper silique joint are plotted on a graph (fig. 2),
Lake Michigan plants show a clear morphological separation into
tivo taxa, which in Wisconsin at least seem to behave as two good
species. The taxa look different in the field, not only because of their
distinctive fruits, but also because of inflorescence differences, var.
edentula having fruits on shorter pedicels arranged in more con¬
gested racemes. The flowers and leaves seem identical. However,
exploratory study has shown that when fruits of collections from
along the St. Lawrence River and the East Coast are plotted on a
graph, the position of the symbols falls approximately intermediate
between those of the two Wisconsin varieties, these plants thus not
separable into two clear-cut groups. The Cakile problem, currently
under consideration, is certainly a fascinating one, whose solution
will shed some light on the post-glacial migrations of vegetation
from the eastern seabord to the Great Lakes.
11. RAPHANUS L. Radish
Coarse herbs with simple pubescence, the lower leaves pinnatifid.
Petals large, broadly obovate. Silique cylindric, long-beaked, inde-
hiscent, the stigma broad. Seeds spherical, in a single row.
Key to Species
1. Silique linear, 4-5 mm broad, constricted around the seeds at
maturity _ 1. R. raphanistrum.
1. Silique lance-oblong, 6-10 mm broad, not constricted around the
seeds _ 2. R. sativus.
1. Raphanus raphanistrum L. Jointed Charlock; Wild Radish
Map 14.
Erect annual, often much branched above, to 10 dm tall. Stem
somewhat pubescent, rough at base, from a non-tuberous tap root.
Leaves pinnatifid, variable, rough to the touch. Petals white or pale
lemon yellow,^ often dark veined, to about 2 cm long. Siliques to 5
cm long, strongly constricted around the seeds at maturity. Seeds
oval, red-brown.
iBoth colors may occur in the same population (fide R. Schlising 1518 [WIS]).
Contrary to Gleason (1952), the color differences in some populations appear to be
g’enetic, and not due to fading with age.
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Aids and Letters [Vol. 50
1961] Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. hh 37
Occasional along roadsides, railroads, cultivated fields and waste
places, in sandy or gravelly soil. Naturalized from Europe. Flow¬
ering from mid-June on, and fruiting from late June through
September.
2. Raphanus sativus L. Radish Map 15.
Erect, much branched above, from a tuberous tap root. Leaves
pinnatifid, the basal ones long-petioled. Petals white to pink-purple,
not dark veined, to 13 mm long. Silique lance-oblong, spongy within,
not constricted around the seeds.
Occasionally escaping from cultivation, along roadsides and in
waste places. Native of Europe. Flowering from late June through
late July and fruiting from late July.
Raphistrum rugosum (L.) ail is a slender annual or biennial
weed with the siliques transversely two-jointed, their upper portion
8-ribbed, globose, and with a slender beak. One collection : Milwau¬
kee Co. : Milwaukee, Courthouse Square, Sept. 5, 1939 [in flower
and fruit], Skinners 11^78 (WIS). Adventive from Europe.
12, BRASSICA L. Cabbage; Mustard; Turnip
Erect annuals, the lower leaves often incised, pinnatifid or lyrate.
Petals yellow, spatulate, 6-15 mm long. Siliques round to four¬
sided, with a stout, seedless or one-seeded, indehiscent beak, the
valves 1- to 5-nerved. Seeds usually globose, in a single row in each
locule. Including Sinapis L. All species are highly variable due to
their long history in cultivation and as weeds.
Key to Species
1. Leaves all clasping; stems of mature plants glabrous _ 2
2. Root thick and fleshy; young buds slightly overtopping the
open flowers; petals generally bright yellow, 6-11 mm long
_ 1. B. nap-us.
2, Root slender; young buds below the open flowers; petals pale
yellow, 12-15 mm long _ _ 2. B. rapa.
1. Lower leaves petioled, the upper sessile to somewhat clasping;
stems glabrous to hispid throughout _ 3
3. Uppermost leaves entire or occasionally serrulate, oblong to
lance-linear; beak of silique slender, 4-angled to round in cross-
section, not 2-edged, 1-nerved or nerveless on each side, seedless-4
4, Fruits, 8-22 mm long, appressed to the stem ; plants more or
less hirsute, green _ 3. B. nigra.
4. Fruits 30-50 mm long, the pedicels ascending-divergent ;
plants mainly glabrous and glaucous _ _ _ 4. B. juncea.
38 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
3. Uppermost leaves pinnatifid or toothed, often ovate to lanceo¬
late ; the beak of the silique stout, flattened and 2-edged, 3-nerved,
often with one seed in the indehiscent locule _ 5
5. All leaves strongly pinnatifid ; fruits not ridged, constricted
around the seeds the very long flat beak longer than the densely
bristly body of the silique; rare in Wisconsin _ 5. B. hirta.
5. Only lower leaves pinnatifid or all the leaves toothed ; fruits
with longitudinal ridges, not strongly constricted around the
seeds, the short 4-angled flattened beak about half as long as
the glabrous or slightly hairy body of the silique ; very common
in Wisconsin _ 6. B. kaher,
1. Brassica napus L. Turnip Map 16.
Brassica rapa L. of Gleason (1952), Bailey (1949), and other
authors.
Erect, robust, often branching above; stems glabrous, arising
from a thickened tuber-like base. Leaves clasping, entire to remotely
toothed. Petals generally bright yellow, 6-11 mm long. Young buds
above the open flowers, the inflorescence convex in outline. Siliques
4-8 (-10 ?) cm long, on widely divergent pedicels.
A rare weed of waste places, occasionally persistent after cultiva¬
tion. Adventive from Europe. Flowering from earliest June through
mid-August and fruiting from late June through September.
2. Brassica RAPA L. Field Mustard; Navette; Rape Map 17.
Brassica campestris L. of Gleason (1952), and other authors.
Brassica campestris L. var. rapa of authors.
Very similar to and easily confused with B. napus. Young stems
with scattered hairs; roots neither swollen nor fleshy. Petals pale
yellow, 12-15 mm long, about twice the length of the sepals. Young
buds below the open flowers, the inflorescence thus concave in
outline.
A rare weed of fields and waste places. Adventive from Europe.
Flowering from late April through June.
3, Brassica nigra (L.) Koch Black Mustard Map 18.
Erect, widely branching, to 15 dm tall. Stems hirsute, especially
below, often glaucous above. Lower leaves with a large terminal
lobe and several smaller ones, the upper leaves lance-linear, entire
or minutely serrulate; all leaves petioled. Petals yellow 6-8 mm
long, with well-marked strong veins. Siliques 8-22 inm long, square
in cross section, closely appressed to the stem, often somewhat over¬
lapping ; pedicels short. Seeds globose, dark brown.
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
39
A weed of waste ground, roadsides, cultivated fields, railroad
embankments, farm yards, often in moist soil near disturbed
streams. Naturalized from Europe. Flowering from late May
through mid-October and fruiting from early June through
October.
This species, in young fruit, is easily confused with B. kaher,
from which it may be separated by the linear, entire upper leaves ;
and with B. juncea, which is nearly glabrous and which has long,
divergent pedicels when in fruit,
4a. Brassica juncea (L.) Goss. var. juncea
Leaf Mustard ; Brown Mustard ; Indian Mustard. Map 19.
Erect, simple or branched above, to 12 dm tall. Stems glabrous
to somewhat hispid below, often glaucous above. Lower leaves
lyrate-pinnatifid, petioled, irregularly toothed or serrate, the upper
leaves oblong to linear, entire. Petals pale to deep yellow, 5-10 mm
long. Siliques 3-5 cm long, 5-angled at maturity, the valve midrib
prominent, the valves somewhat constricted around the seeds, the
beak slender. Seeds globose, red-brown, somewhat ridged.
An occasional weed of waste ground, fields, and railroad embank¬
ments. Adventive from Europe. Flowering from mid- June through
mid-September and fruiting from late Jime through September.
4b. Brassica juncea var. crispifolia Bailey Curled Mustard.
Leaves deeply laciniate and curled. This variety is occasionally
cultivated for greens.
Sauk Co.: Prairie du Sac, Smith 53871 (MIL). Milwaukee Co.:
Milwaukee, 1941, Goessl s.n. (WIS) ; Milwaukee, cultivated, 1842,
Coll, unknown (WIS). Introduced from Europe.
5. Brassica hirta (L.) Moench. White Mustard Map 17.
Brassica alba Gray
Widely branching, to 9 dm tall. Stems ridged, lightly pubescent
with simple hairs. Leaves lyrate-pinnatified, pubescent along the
veins. Petals generally pale yellow, about 1 cm long. Fruits 25-35
mm long, the valves constricted around the seeds at maturity, the
body heavily pubescent with long stiff white hairs, about half as
long as the very long flattened beak; pedicels horizontally divergent.
Seeds pale brown.
A rare weed of waste places. Adventive from Europe. Taylor Co. :
Rib Lake, waste ground, Sept. 27, 1915 [in flower with immature
fruits]. Goessl 37669 (MIL). Waukesha Co.: along R.R. between
Hartland and Pewaukee, July 4, 1947 [in fruit]. Cull 892 (WIS).
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
41
6. Brassica kaber (DC.) Wheeler var. pinnatifida (Stokes)
Wheeler Crunch Weed; Charlock Map 20.
Sinapis arvensis L.
Brassica arvensis (L.) Rabenh., not L.
Erect, simple to somewhat branched, to 9 dm tall, coarse, the
lower stem heavily pubescent with stiff ivhite hairs. Lower leaves
obovate, lyrate-pinnatifid, or more often with margins only irregu¬
larly serrate to dentate; upper leaves oblong to ovate or rhombic,
nearly sessile. Petals yellow, 9-12 mm long. Fruiting pedicels thick,
2-5 (-6) mm long. Mature fruits 2-4 cm long, with strong longi¬
tudinal ribs, not much constricted around the seeds, the short
4-angled beak flattened, 3-nerved, about half as long as the glabrous
or slightly bristly body of the silique. Seeds red-brown.
A common weed of cultivated fields, pastures and waste places.
Naturalized from Europe. Flowering from mid-May through mid-
October and fruiting from mid-June through October.
At any given locality, Barbarea vulgaris flowers earlier, coloring
the fields golden yellow. Later in the season, from late spring to
the middle of the summer, the same fields may still be yellow, but
then with Brassica juncea, or, more commonly, B. kaber.
13. ERUCASTRUM Presl
1. Erucastrum GALLicuM (Willd.) 0. E. Schulz Map 21.
Erect, simple or branching annual or biennial, to 8 dm tall. Stems
pubescent with simple hairs. Leaves rough-textured, oblong, pin-
natifid with deep, rounded sinuses. Petals pale yellow, 7-8 mm
long, the sepals about 5 mm long. Siliques 2-3 cm long, 1-2 mm
broad, ascending on widely divergent pedicels. Seeds ellipsoid, red-
brown, less than 1 mm long.
Scattered, though locally abundant especially in SE Wisconsin,
in waste places, railroad yards, along roadsides, and on sandy
beaches, especially of Lake Michigan. Naturalized from Europe.
Flowering from late June through early September, and fruiting
from early July through late October,
14. DIPLOTAXIS DC.
1. Diplotaxis MURALIS (L.) DC. Map 22.
Erect annual, branching from the base, 1-5 dm tall, hispid below.
Leaves near the base only, toothed to pinnatifid, 3-8 cm long. Petals
pale yellow, 5-6 mm long, about twice the length of the acute, green
sepals. Siliques 2-4 cm long, 2-4 mm broad; pedicels divergent.
42 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
1-2 cm long; stigma broad. Seeds rounded, red-brown, in a double
column in each locule.
A rather rare weed of railroad yards and city streets. Naturalized
from Europe. Flowering from early July though August and fruit¬
ing from early August through September.
15. CONRINGIA Link
1. CONRINGIA ORIENTALIS (L.) Dumort. Hare’s-ear Mustard
Map 23.
Erect annuals, to 6 dm tall, glabrous and glaucous, sometimes
branched above. Leaves elliptical, strongly auriculate-clasping , sim¬
ple, entire to slightly wavy. Petals cream or pale yellow, 6-10 mm
long, the sepals 4-6 mm long. Siliques 4-11 cm long, four-angled,
erect, on divergent pedicels 5-20 mm long. Seeds elliptic, deep
brown.
Occasional in waste places, along railroads, on borders of culti¬
vated fields, and on beaches of Lake Michigan. Naturalized from
Europe. Flowering from mid-May through mid-July and fruiting
from early June through July.
This species has been confused with Brassica rapa and B, napus,
but may be separated by the oblong, broadly rounded, entire leaves,
and the absence of basal rosettes.
16. ALLIARIA B. Ehrh.
1. Alliaria petiolata Cav. & Grande Garlic Mustard Map 24.
Alliaria officinalis Andrz.
Erect, simple branched, robust annuals to 12 dm tall, glabrous
or with simple pubescence at the base. Leaves cordate, deltoid-
ovate, with regularly dentate margins. Petals white, 3-4 mm long.
Siliques 3-5 cm long, spreading ; pedicels short, thick. Seeds brown,
elongate, 10-18 in a single row.
Occasional in southeastern Wisconsin, in sand or gravel, at the
base of bluffs, along roadsides, or on sandy beaches. Naturalized
from Europe. Flowering from mid-May through early June and
fruiting from late May through mid- July.
17. SISYMBRIUM L.
Erect annuals, glabrous or with simple hairs; leaves pinnatifid.
Petals yellow, small. Siliques linear, cylindric or long-subulate;
valves nerved; stigma 2-lobed. Seeds oblong, in one row in each
locule, smooth.
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No, Uk
43
Key to Species
1. Leaflets of upper leaves linear^ rarely more than 2 mm broad;
fruits widely divergent^ 6-10 cm long; petals pale yellow
_ _ _ 1, P. altissimum.
1, Leaflets of upper leaves angularly toothed, the terminal segment
ovate or elliptic; fruits closely appressed to the stem, 1--2 cm long;
petals deep yellow _ 2. S, officinale,
1, Sisymbrium altissimum L, Tumble-Mustard Map 25.
Loosely branching, to 10 dm tall. Leaves pinnatifid with long
linear segments. Petals 5-8 mm long, pale lemon yellow ; sepals 3-5
mm long. Fruits widely divergent, 6-10 cm long.
Common throughout the state, along roadsides, waste places, in
cinders along railroads, borders of and in cultivated fields and in
sandy prairies. Naturalized from Europe. Flowering from mid-May
through early September and fruiting from late June through late
September.
2. Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop. Hedge-Mustard
Erect from a taproot, loosely branched above, to 12 dm tall. Stem
pubescent with simple hairs. Leaves pinnatifid, the terminal seg¬
ment ovate or elliptic and toothed. Petals to 4 mm long, deep yel¬
low ; sepals less than one-third the length of the petals. Fruit 10-17
mm long, closely appressed to the stem; pedicels 2-3 mm long.
2a. Sisymbrium officinale var. officinale Map 26.
Racemes, pedicels and fruits with dense, soft pubescence.
Less common than the following variety, mainly in southern
Wisconsin. A weed of waste places and pastures. Introduced from
Europe. Flowering from early July through mid-August and fruit¬
ing from early July through August.
2b, Sisymbrium officinale var. leiocarpum DC. Map 27,
Racemes, pedicels and fruits glabrous or ivith fetv scattered
hairs; plants somewhat greener.
A common weed throughout Wisconsin in waste places, along
railroads, roadsides, and in pastures and borders of cultivated
fields. Naturalized from Europe. Flowering from late May through
mid-September and fruiting from early June through late October.
Sisymbrium loeselii L., a to 1 m tall, often robust herb with
pilose-hirsute stems, deeply lyrate-pinnatifid essentially glabrous
leaves, greatly elongating inflorescences with yellow petals about
6 mm long, and narrowly linear widely divergent siliques 17-28 mm
long and about 2 or 3 times as thick as the pedicels (and thickest
44 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
1961] Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU 45
near the base), has been collected once as a weed in cold frames
behind the Horticulture Greenhouses, University of Wisconsin,
Madison, August 6 [fl. & fr.], 1961, litis s.n. (WIS). This Eurasian
weed, common in Canada and the western U.S. and occasionally in
the NE U.S., can be expected to spread in Wisconsin.
18. DESCURAINIA Webb. & Berthelot Tansy Mustard
[Detling, L. E. 1939. A revision of the North American species of
Descurainia. Am. Midi. Nat. 22 :481-520.]
Erect annuals, the stems canescent or with distinct glandular
hairs. Leaves unL, *bi-, or tri-pinnate. Petals yellow, about 2 mm
long. Fruit a straight or clavate silique, the valves faintly one-
nerved. Seeds elliptic or oblong, in one or two rows in each locule.
Key to Species
1. Stems pubescent and glandular; siliques 6-10 mm long, club
shaped; leaves once or twice pinnate
_ 1. D. pinnata var. b7^achycarpa.
1. Stems lightly appressed pubescent to canescent, but never glan¬
dular; siliques linear, 12i~21 mm long; leaves twice or three times
pinnate _ 2. D. sophia.
1. Descurainia pinnata (Walt.) Britt, var. brachycarpa (Rich¬
ards) Fern. Tansy Mustard Map 28.
Sisymbrium canescens Nutt. var. brachycarpa (Richards)
Fern.
Erect, to 7 dm tall, often branched above; stems glandular
throughout, often also appressed pubescent. Leaves pinnate or bi-
pinnate. Petals pale yellow. Siliques 6-10 mm long, narrowly cla¬
vate; pedicels slender, divergent. Seeds small, red-brown, ovoid, in
two rows in each locule.
Frequent, mainly in southern Wisconsin, in sandy places, along
beaches and waste places, most commonly along railroad embank¬
ments. Flowering from early May through early July and fruiting
from mid-May through September.
2. Descurainia sophia (L.) Webb. Herb Sophia Map 29.
Similar to D. pinnata; stems lightly appressed pubescent to canes¬
cent. Leaves twice to three times pinnate. Siliques 12-21 mm long,
1 mm wide, linear. Seeds in one row.
Occasional as a weed of farmyards, railroad embankments and
roadsides. Naturalized from Europe. Flowering from mid-June to
mid-July and fruiting from late June through early September.
46 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
19. HESPERIS L.
1. Hesperis matronalis L. Dame’s Violet; Dame’s Rocket;
Mother-of-the-Evening Map 30.
Erect perennials or biennials, pubescent throughout, generally
rough to the touch, leaves simple, lanceolate, sessile or short-
petiolate, the margins nearly entire or minutely toothed. Petals
purple to pink, sometimes white, showy, to 2 cm long ; sepals elliptic
with watery margins. Silliques to 14 cm long, constricted between
the elliptic dark brown to black seeds.
Frequently cultivated for its showy flowers and evening fra¬
grance, and escaping along roadsides, railroads, fields and city
streets, and occasionally in woods. Introduced from Europe. Flow¬
ering from late May through mid- July (one specimen September
20), and fruiting from mid-June to August.
Malcolmia maritima R. Br., the ‘‘Virginia Stock”, is a low an¬
nual, to about 2 dm tall, pubescent throughout with appressed
forked and stellate hairs, with petiolate leaves and white or purple
flowers. It is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental and has
escaped in Dane Co. : roadside, Steinhoff 50 (WIS) ; streambank,
Manitou Way, Madison, 1958, Stromherg s.n. (WIS).
lODANTHUS PINNATIFIDUS (Michx.) Steud. is a tall, robust, gla¬
brous annual with auricled, serrate cauline leaves and purplish flow¬
ers. There is one, doubtfully native, collection from Wisconsin:
Waukesha Co. : Hunters Lake, vicinity of Dousman [in flower and
young fruit], 1942, Schenk s.n. (WIS). This may have been intro¬
duced from Illinois where it is frequent, from the central part south¬
ward, along river banks and in alluvial soils.
20. ERYSIMUM L. Treacle Mustard
Erect weedy annuals or perennials, simple to much branched,
pubescent with closely appressed, stellate or two-parted hairs.
Leaves simple, linear to lanceolate, entire or nearly so. Petals yel¬
low or orange ; ovary pubescent, the style short. Fruits linear, four-
angled, with a strong midvein. Seeds numerous, oblong, in a single
row in each locule.
Key to Species
1. Petals 15-23 mm long, bright yellow or orange; fruits 4-10 cm
long; rare _ 1. E. asperum.
1, Petals 3-8 mm long; fruits 1-4 cm long _ 2
2. Pedicels slender, widely diverging; petals bright yellow to
orange ; leaves lance-linear to broadly lanceolate, green, minutely
stellate-pubescent _ 2. E. cheiranthoides.
1961] Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU 47
2. Pedicels, when mature, stout and stiff and nearly as broad as
the fruit, strongly ascending; petals lemon-yellow; leaves linear,
gray-green with appressed, mostly two parted hairs _
_ 3. E. inconspicuum.
1. Erysimum asperum (Nutt.) D.C. Western Wallflower
Map 31.
Erect, 2-4 dm tall, appressed-pubescent nearly throughout. Cau-
line leaves linear to lance-linear, entire to repand toothed. Petals
bright yellow to orange, 15-23 mm long; pedicels 5-7 mm long. Sili-
ques linear, strongly keeled and 4-angled.
Rarely introduced in Wisconsin from the western U.S. Bayfield ^
Co.: headwaters of the Marengo River, Knoivlton 72197 (MIL).
Grant Co.: along railroad embankment, Wyalusing, 1958, Hartley
W9 (WIS). Waupaca Co.: Marion, along railroad, Goessl s.n,,
1915 (WIS). Flowering in early June and fruiting in mid-July.
2. Erysimum cheiranthoides L. Wormseed Mustard Map 32.
Erect annual or winter annual, simple to much branched above,
to 10 dm tall; stems appressed-pubescent. Leaves lance-linear to
broadly lanceolate, entire to repand-toothed, minutely stellate-
pubescent. Petals bright yelloiv to orange, 3-5 mm long; pedicels
slender, widely diverging, 5-13 mm long. Siliques linear, 1-2 (-3)
cm long; stigma only slightly notched.
Very common throughout the state, mainly in sandy places, along
shores of lakes and rivers, on sand bars and islands, often in
prairies, less commonly on sandstone or limestone cliffs, wooded
slopes, marshes, often weedy along roadsides, railroads, waste
places, farmyards, pastures, and in cultivated fields. Adventive
from Eurasia. Flowering from early May through mid-October and
fruiting from early June through early November.
3. Erysimum inconspicuum (Wats.) MacMillan Map 33.
Erect, appressed-pubescent perennial, often branched above, to
6 dm tall. Leaves linear, mostly entire. Petals lemon-yellow, 5-7
mm long, the sepals about 4 mm long, stiffly erect. Siliques 2-4 cm
long, heavily appressed-pubescent; stigma conspicuously capitate,
two-parted; pedicels nearly as broad as the fruits, about 4-6 (-8)
mm long.
Frequent in dry open places, often on cinders and ballast along
railroad embankments, occasionally on bluffs and in waste places.
Flowering from early June through mid-July and fruiting from
mid- June until early August.
48 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
49
21. RORIPPA Scop. Yellow Cress, Yellow Watercress
Annuals or perennials. Leaves pinnate or pinnatifid. Petals yel¬
low, small; pedicels divergent, generally short and slender. Fruit a
short silique or silicle, terete or nearly so. Seeds numerous, small,
wingless, in two rows in each locule ; Radicula Hill ; Nasturtium of
many authors, not R. Br,
Key to Species'
1. Petals 4~6 mm long, exceeding sepals _ 2
2. Plants much branched, 1-2 (-3) dm tall; stem with oblongoid
to subspheroid hairs; all leaves with rounded sinuses, none cleft
to the rachis (rare) _ 1. R. sinuata.
2. Plants often simple, slender, 2-5 (-6) dm tall; stem with
slender or only slightly inflated hairs; leaves deeply pinnatifld,
often to the rachis, the lateral leaflets of upper leaves linear
_ 2. R. sylvestris.
1. Petals 1-2 (-3) mm long, equalling or shorter than the sepals 3
3, Pods, except the lowermost, sessile or nearly so; style short,
knobby; leaves mostly oblong-ovate; stem glabrous; only along
Mississippi River _ 3. R. sessiliflora.
3. Pods on filamentous and divergent pedicels; style slender;
leaves mostly lance-ovate _ 4. R. islandica.
1. Rorippa sinuata (Nutt.) Hitchcock Map 35.
Perennial with underground rhizomes, much branched and
spreading ascending, 1-3 dm tall. Stem pubescent with oblongoid
to subspheroid hairs. Leaves oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, 2-5 cm
long, with regularly sinuate margins like an oak leaf. Petals pale
yellow, 4-6 mm long, exceeding the sepals. Fruit cylindric to lanceo¬
late, curved at maturity, 7-15 mm long, the style and pedicels both
quite slender.
Only two collections (MIL) from Wisconsin from near the Mis¬
sissippi River in Pierce County. Introduced from the western U.S.,
where it is widespread in bottomlands, roadsides, fields, and along
sandy or rocky shores. Flowering and fruiting in July and August.
2. Rorippa sylvestris (L.) Besser Creeping Yellow Water Cress
Map 34.
Perennial with underground rhizomes. Stems erect, slender, often
weak and branched, to 5 (-6) dm tall, with scattered short stiff
hairs mostly near the base. Leaves oblong-elliptic, pinnatifld to the
rachis; leaflets generally toothed or serrate, the lateral ones of the
1 Rorippa austriaca (Crantz) Besser is reported from Wisconsin by Fernald (1950),
Gleason (1952), and C. L. Wilson (1927). There are no voucher specimens for these
reports, and this species apparently does not occur in Wisconsin.
50 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
upper leaves mostly linear. Petals yellow, 4-5 mm long, exceeding
the sepals. Pedicels slender, divergent, 5-10 mm long. Fruits linear,
5-13 mm long.
Occasional, in moist places in the southern part of the state, along
sandy or gravelly shores of lakes or rivers, often weedy in ditches,
low fields and waste places. Introduced from Europe. Flowering
from mid- June, fruiting from July through September.
3. Rorippa sessiliflora (Nutt.) Hitchcock
Sessile-Flowered Watercress Map 35.
Annual or biennial, glabrous, often much branched from the base,
10-35 cm tall. Leaves oblong-ovate, crenate to pinnatifid, but rarely
cleft to the rachis. Petals pale yellow, to 1 mm long, shorter than
sepals. Fruits 'plump, 5-12 mm long, 1-3 mm broad, sessile except
for the lowest; style capitate; seeds minute, ca. 200 per fruit, red
brown.
Mud flats of the Mississippi River, from Grant to La Crosse
Counties. Flowering and fruiting from mid-August to mid-October.
This species is here at the northern limit of its range. In Grant
County it is fairly common, occurring continuously to the Illinois
state line. There seems every reason to believe that the lack of speci¬
mens from northern Illinois, which results in a 100 mile disjunction
(cf. Jones and Fuller, 1955), is due to lack of collecting, and not
due to some “historical factor” related to glaciation and the ungla¬
ciated “Driftless Area.”
4. Rorippa islandica (Oeder) Borbas Marsh Cress, Yellow Wa¬
tercress Maps 36, 37
Rorippa palustris (L.) Bess.
Annual or biennial, simple or widely branching, to 10 dm tall.
Leaves quite variable, mostly lance-ovate, pinnate or pinnatifid,
variously toothed. Petals yellow, 1-2 mm long, shorter than the
sepals. Fruits ellipsoid to sub-globose, inflated, 2^5 (-7) mm long,
on slender divergent pedicels ; seeds ca 40-60, small.
Key to Varieties
1. Stem glabrous or occasionally hispid below
_ 4a. R. islandica var. fernaldiana.
1. Stem hispid nearly throughout with stiff spreading hairs
_ 4b. R. islandica var. hispida.
4a. Rorippa islandica var. fernaldiana Butters & Abbe Map 36.
Rorippa hispida (Desv.) Britt, var. glabrata sensu Fernald
(1928), not Lunell (1908).
Stems glabrous throughout or somewhat hispid below only. Fruits
slightly larger than in var. hispida, 3. 0-6. 4 mm long, averaging
4.3 mm long (fixle Butters & Abbe, 1940).
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
51
Common throughout the state in moist or wet places, on sandy,
rocky, or muddy river and lake shores, in mucky sloughs, sedge
meadows, wet prairies, marshes with Sagittaria and Typha, often
weedy along wet roadsides, railroads, old fields and in waste places.
Flowering in the southern part of the state in late May, northward
from mid- June through July and fruiting in late May in the south,
mostly from mid- June to October in the north.
4b. Rorippa islandica var. hispida (Desv.) Butters & Abbe
Rorippa hispida (Desv.) Britt. Map 37.
Stem hispid throughout with simple, stiff white hairs. Fruits 2.2-
4.6 mm long, averaging 3.4 mm long {fide Butters & Abbe, 1940).
Infrequent but widespread throughout the state, in open, sandy
or mucky, wet soil, particularly in sedge meadows, borders of bogs,
wet marshy places, often along the muddy shores of lakes and riv¬
ers. Flowering from mid- June through August and fruiting from
early July into October.
22. NASTURTIUM R.BR. Water Cress
1. Nasturtium officinale B.Br. Water Cress Map 38.
Free-floating or creeping emergent aquatic, glabrous to sparingly
pubescent with simple hairs. Leaves pinnate, the leaflets narrowly
elliptic to rounded. Petals tvhite, 3-5 mm long. Pedicels widely
divergent, to 25 mm long; fruits ascending 10-27 mm long, linear,
plump, often curving. Seeds in a double row in each locule.
Mainly in southern Wisconsin, most frequent in or along springs,
and shallow, clear running streams, in roadside and drainage
ditches, cattail marshes, sloughs, and less commonly along lake
shores, often forming extensive and pure colonies. Flowering from
late May through mid-October and fruiting from earliest July
through mid-October,
23. ARMORACIA Gaertn.
Perennials with deep tap roots or with rhizomes. Flowers white.
Silicles subglobose, obovoid or ellipsoid, the valves nerveless. Seeds
Avingless, in two rows in each locule.
Key to Species
1. Plants aquatic; submerged leaves finely dissected
- 1. A. aquatica.
1. Plants terrestial ; basal leaves oblong-ovate, long-petiolate
- 2. A. rusticana.
52 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
1. Armoracia aquatica (A. Eaton) Wieg. Lake Cress Map 39.
Neoheckia aquatica (A. Eaton) Greene
Radicula aquatica (A. Eaton) Robinson
Aquatic with the appearance of Proserpinaca or Myriophyllum.
Submerged leaves finely pinnately divided into linear or filiform
segments; upper leaves lanceolate, the margins serrate. Petals
white, 5-7 mm long ; sepals 5 mm long. Silicles somewhat flattened,
to 1 cm long, 3-4 mm broad ; beak slender ; pedicels slender,
divergent.
Only three specimens from Wisconsin: Brown Co.: Green Bay,
1891, Schuette 38887 (WIS). Green Lake Co.: in 15 ft. of water.
Green Lake, 1921, Rickett s.n. (WIS). Lincoln Co.: submersed in
quiet water. Tomahawk, 1915, Goessl 2651 (MIL) ; to be expected
elsewhere, since its rarity may be due to the difficulty with which
this species is collected.
2. Armoracia rusticana Gaertn. Horse-Radish Map 39.
Erect robust annual, 5-10 dm tall, from a thickened and deep tap
root. Stems glabrous or hispid below. Basal leaves to 3 dm long;
cauline leaves numerous, with crenate margins. Petals white, 5-7
mm long. Silicles elliptic, 3-4 mm long, with swollen bases ; pedicels
slender, spreading, 5-8 mm long.
A weed of waste places, often in moist ground in dumps and
along railroads, escaped from cultivation. Native of Europe. Flow¬
ering from late May through late June and fruiting from mid- June
through early July.
24. BARBAREA R.BR. Yellow Rocket
1. Barbarea vulgaris R.Br. Yellow Rocket; Winter Cress
Maps 40, 41.
Erect, often robust biennials or perennials, simple to much
branched, 3-9 dm tall. Basal leaves deeply pinnatifid with a large
elliptic to nearly orbicular, often cordate terminal lobe, the lower
cauline leaves pinnatifid to lyrate, the upper rounded or obovate to
elliptic, coarsely dentate to palmately dissected, the base sessile or
clasping. Petals pale to bright yellow or yellow-orange, 4-8 mm
long. Fruits appressed or ascending to arched-ascending on hori¬
zontally divergent pedicels, 18-40 mm long; style 0. 5-3.0 mm long.
Common, especially in southern Wisconsin, in moist places, along
the banks of streams rivers and lakes, borders of woods, in dis¬
turbed places in oak and maple woods, in low prairies and sedge
meadows ; and very frequent in waste places, along railroads, road-
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No, A A
53
54 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
sides, and often a pernicious weed in cultivated fields and pastures.
Flowering from earliest May through mid- July and fruiting from
mid-May through September.
Several of the Wisconsin specimens (Map 41) have short thick
styles, small pale flowers, rather strict fruits and somewhat dis¬
sected cauline leaves. These plants, using the petal and style length
as criteria, would ''key’’ to B. orthoceras Ledebour in both Fernald
(1950) and Gleason (1952). Very similar, but with somewhat
longer petals and styles, are a small number of specimens which
may belong to B. vulgaris var. vulgaris. However, Barbarea stricta
Andrz, (—B. orthoceras) , according to Clapham, et al. (1952), has
"hairy buds.” Pubescence is not present on the buds of any of the
Wisconsin specimens. In the European and Alaska material of the
University of Wisconsin Herbarium, curved bristles are present on
the sepal margins, and are especially visible in the bud stage. On
the basis of this and other more minor characters, it seems to us
that the true B. oidhoceras does not occur in Wisconsin despite the
report of Fernald (1950:717). Incidentally, neither Fernald (1950)
nor Gleason (1952) mention this "hairy bud” character.
The greater percentage of our specimens have large, deep yellow
flowers, arched-ascending fruits on slender pedicels, and long slen¬
der styles, and have been called var. arcuata (Opiz) Fries. Only
those with mature and clearly arcuate-ascending siliques are in¬
cluded on Map 41. When in flower or even young fruit, the varieties
of B. vulgaris are nearly indistinguishable.
25. DENTARIA L. Toothwort
[Montgomery, F. H. 1955. Preliminary studies in the genus Den-
taria in eastern North America. Rhodora 57 : 161-173.]
Slender, glabrous, erect, spring-flowering woodland perennials
from horizontal rhizomes. Leaves palmately or compound dissected.
Petals white to pale pink or pale purple. Siliques linear-lanceolate,
erect or nearly so, the seeds wingless, flattened, in a single row in
each locule.
Sexual sterility is very common in Dentaria in Wisconsin, as
elsewhere, and plants with fruits are rarely found. This condition is
no doubt related to the remarkable high polyploid levels within the
genus, the 2n numbers for our species reported by Montgomery
(1955) as ±240 for D. diphylla, ±208 for D. maxima, and 96 for
D. laciniata.
Key to Species
1. Leaves divided into 4-7 linear to lanceolate segments ; rhizome of
fusiform, easily separable segments _ 1. D. laciniata.
1. Leaves divided into 3 ovate segments; rhizome continuous and
toothed _ _ 2
1961]
Patman & Iltis — Wisconsin Flora No. hk
55
2, Hairs on the leaflet margin 0.1 mm long, appressed; diameter
of the rhizome uniform; leaves usually 2; Eastern Wisconsin
_ 2. B. diphylla.
2. Hairs on the leaflet margin 0.2-0. 3 mm long, spreading; diam¬
eter of rhizomes reduced at regular intervals ; leaves usually 3 ;
very rare. Northern Wisconsin (Ashland County) 3. D. maxima.
1. Dentaria laciniata Muhl. Cut Toothwort Map 42.
Rhizome constricted, the segments 15-30 mm long. Stems 1-3 dm
tall. Leaves palmately divided into 4-7 linear to lanceolate seg¬
ments, these entire to sharply toothed or laciniate. Petals pale pink
to pale purplish, 10-15 mm long; sepals 4-8 mm long. Siliques
linear-lanceolate, 30-45 mm long with a long and slender style, not
commonly collected in fruit in Wisconsin and then when the leaves
are nearly withered, the elastically rapidly coiling valves like those
of Impatiens, the Jewel-weed.
Widespread throughout the state, mainly in the southern mesic
deciduous forests (Curtis, 1959), in rich Sugar Maple, Maple-
Basswood, Oak-Hickory and bottomland forests, often with Tril¬
lium, Podophyllum, Claytonia, Uvularia, etc. Flowering from early
April to the end of May, and fruiting from late May through June.
Plants soon withering.
2. Dentaria DIPHYLLA Michx. Toothwort; Crinkleroot Map 43.
Rhizome continuous, with uniform diameter, as much as 40 cm
or more long; stems to 35 cm tall. Leaves two, occasionally three,
opposite or nearly so, the 3 leaflets ovate and toothed, the terminal
leaflet broader than the lateral ones, the hairs along the leaflet mar¬
gins 0.1 mm long, appressed (fig. 3). Petals white, 8-14 mm long;
sepals 4-6 mm long. Siliques straight, lanceolate, rarely maturing
in Wisconsin.
Eastern Wisconsin, in deep humus of rich Maple-Beech or Maple-
Basswood forests, one collection from a White Cedar bog (Fassett
1824-1 [WIS] ), in Florence Co. on steep, wooded slopes with Tsuga,
Maple and Basswood, at nearby Lost Lake very abundant in a
Sugar Maple-Basswood forest with a rich herb layer of Caulophyl-
lum, Viola canadensis, Adiantum pedatum, Trillium grandiflorum^
Sanguinaria, etc. Flowering from mid-May through early June, the
fruits appearing in late May, rarely maturing.
3. Dentaria MAXIMA Nutt. Toothwort Map 43; Fig. 3.
Very similar to D. diphylla; rhizome interrupted by abrupt con¬
strictions. Leaves commonly 3, alternate, the 3 leaflets more sharply,
56 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
deeply, and irregularly toothed than those of D. diphylla; hairs on
the leaflet margin 0.2-0. 3 mm long, spreading (fig. 3).
The only Wisconsin station is in Ashland Co. : river bottom for¬
ests, about 3.5 mi. south of Ashland along Wis. 13, near crossing
of White River, April 22, 1958, Lane 3132 (WIS) ; White River
Bottoms, May 16, 1931, Bohh 561 (WIS) , May 28, 1931, 122 (WIS) ,
Rowland and Arnson, May 28, 1930 (Northland College Herb.).
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. 4-4
57
Dr. F. C. Lane of Northland College writes that in this mesic
river bottom elm forest D. maxima is very abundant, forming large
clones, and is associated with Erythronium americanum, and Viola
spp.
26. CARDAMINE L. Bitter Cress
Slender perennial herbs; petals white to pink or pale purplish.
Siliques linear, usually flattened, tipped with a persistent style, the
valves nerveless; pedicels divergent. Seeds flattened, wingless, in a
single row in each locule.
Key to Species
1. Stem leaves simple _ _ _ 2
2. Flowers usually pink to purplish, rarely white, nodding; stem
often minutely hirsute with slender straight hairs throughout,
rarely glabrous throughout; stem leaves 2-4 (-5) ; plants 1-2
(-3) dm tall _ _ 1. C. douglassii.
2. Flowers white, erect or ascending; stems densely puberulent
with small incurved hairs on lower % of stem, glabrous above
(very rarely glabrous throughout) ; stem leaves (4-) 5-12 ; plants
2-5 (-6) dm tall _ 2. C. hulbosa.
1. Stem leaves pinnately divided _ _ 3
3. Petals 7-14 mm long; leaflets of the basal leaves nearly circu¬
lar; cauline leaves 2-5 (-6) ; stems simple _ 3. C. pratensis.
3. Petals 2-4 mm long; leaflets of the basal leaves irregular, not
circular ; cauline leaves few to numerous ; stems generally branch¬
ing _ _ _ _ 4
4. Lateral leaflets of the cauline leaves oval or oblong, decur¬
rent on the rachis; plants 1-7 dm tall; stems often hirsute;
mature siliques with style 0. 5-2.0 mm long 4. C. pensylvanica.
4. Lateral leaflets of the cauline leaves linear, not decurrent on
the rachis ; plants 1-3 dm tall ; stems glabrous ; mature siliques
with style 0.2-0. 9 mm long _ 5. C. parvifiora.
1. Cardamine DOUGLASSII (Torr.) Britt, Pink Spring Cress ; Pink
Bitter Cress Map 44.
Cardamine hulbosa (Schreb.) B.S.P. var. purpurea (Torr.)
B.S.P.
Similar to C. hulbosa, but only 1-2 (-3) dm tall. Stems usually
minutely or sparsely hirsute throughout, the hairs longer than in
C. hulbosa and divergent, if sparsely pubescent or glabrous above,
then glabrous also to the very base. Cauline leaves 2-4 (-5), the
lower one or two often deeply cordate and with petioles, the upper
58 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [VoL 50
often coarsely- toothed. Sepals purple-tinged ; petals pink-purple to
white or nearly so (in forma alhidula Farw.), 10-20 mm long, the
flowers generally nodding. Siliques rarely maturing in Wisconsin,
linear, 22-35 mm long (including the filiform style).
Occasional, though locally abundant, in low or moist, rich woods
in the southern mesic forests (Curtis, 1959) and in wooded boggy
places underlain by dolomites, mainly in eastern Wisconsin. Flow¬
ering from mid- April until early June and fruiting from mid-May
on, about 2 to 3 weeks earlier than C. bulbosa.
Field observations on this species were made in the spring of
1960, in a White Cedar (Thuja) and Yellow and Paper Birch
(Betula lutea, B. papyrifera) woods, about 100 yards from the
strand of Lake Michigan, 1 mile SE of Lake Church, Ozaukee
County. Here the soil varied from sandy loam on higher ground to
black wet humus in the depressions, and was only a few feet above
the bedrock of the Niagara Dolomite. The rich herb layer included
Skunk Cabbage (Symphcarpus foetidus), Marsh Marigold (Caltha
palustris), Small Ginseng (Panax trifolia), Trillium (Trillium
grandiflorum and T. cernuum macranthum) , Yellow Dogtooth Vio¬
let (Erythronium americanum) , and many shrubs of several spe¬
cies of Gooseberries (Ribes triste, R. americanum, R, cynosbati) ,
all growing with Cardamine douglassi, which, in full bloom on
May 15th, was particularly common in the moister area. Its
showy petals ranged from an occasional white^ to the more com¬
mon pale lilac-purple. Several of the plants examined, perhaps 10%,
were either glabrous throughout (!) or with only 2 or 3 slender
hairs on the whole plant. They were in every respect typical for the
species, however : small, few-leaved, and with colored, nodding flow¬
ers. The remaining specimens showed the characteristic pubescence
all the way to the inflorescence.
The isolated collection in Vernon County (cf. Map 44) is from a
mature and wonderfully preserved Red Oak-Sugar Maple forest in
the Champion Valley area, to which the second author was taken by
Drs, J. T. Curtis and G. Cottam. Here a densely forested ravine is
banked by steep slopes, where spring seepage produces some local
wet areas. Cardamine douglassii is abundant here, with Galium
aparine, Floerkia proserpinacoides, Poa alsodes, and other interest¬
ing species. These Cardamine plants were more robust than the
ones from Lake Michigan and had very large, deeply cordate, basal
leaves. By May 20, all plants were past flowering. The Sauk County
collection is from a Sugar Maple forest with seepage similar to the
above.
1 The white petals chang-ed to a pale purple on drying-!
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. kU
59
2. Cardamine bulbosa (Schreb.) B.S.P. Spring Cress; Bitter-
cress Map 45.
Stems erect from a short tuber, 2-6 dm tall, glabrous above,
usually with very short, dense, fine appressed puberulence on the
lotver Leaves (4-) 5-12, simple, the 2 to 5 lowest ones petioled,
cordate-ovate or reniform to obovate, the upper sessile, entire to
remotely dentate, rarely coarsely toothed. Sepals green with white
margins; petals white, 7-15 mm long, smaller than in C. douglassii,
the flowers generally erect. Siliques linear lanceolate, rarely reach¬
ing maturity in Wisconsin, 18-24 mm long.
Frequent, mainly in the southern part of the state, in open, moist
or wet places, especially in marshes with Iris, Caltha, etc., wet
sedge meadows, damp prairies, swales, sloughs, along muddy shores
of lakes and streams, dense thickets near water. Thuja or Tama¬
rack (Larix) bogs with Rhus vernix and Salix, bottomland forests,
damp spots in Maple-Basswood forests, rarely in sandy places,
moist talus slopes, dripping wet limestone cliffs (Grant Co.), and
in pastures or along railroad embankments. Flowering from early
May through mid- June, the fruits, which appear in mid-May,
rarely maturing in Wisconsin in June and July.
Sometimes confused with the earlier flowering C. douglassii, but
may be differentiated by the glabrous upper stems and minute in¬
curved puberulence on the lower stem, more numerous, less coarsely
toothed stem leaves, and smaller, generally erect (not nodding)
white flowers, as Avell as by the rather different ecology and later
flowering period.
3. Cardamine pratensis L. var. palustris Wimm. & Grab.
Cuckoo Flower Map 46.
Stem erect, glabrous, simple, arising from a short rhizome. Leaf¬
lets of basal leaves nearly orbicular ; cauline leaves 2-6, the leaflets
elliptic to linear. Petals white to pinkish, 7-14 mm long, about three
times the length of the sepals. Fruits rare, often aborted, Avhen
present 1-3 cm long; style short.
Occasional, mostly in the eastern part of the state, in wet open
places, marshes, swampy areas, along lakes, springs, wet sedge
meadows, rarely in quaking or Alder bogs, and open White Cedar
(Thuja) hardAvoods. Flowering from late May through mid- June,
the fruits first appearing in late May.
The isolated station in Polk County is from Cedar Lake (Moyle
2688 [MINN]).
60 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
61
1961] Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. Uk
4. Cardamine pensylvanica Muhl. Pennsylvania Bittercress
Map 47.
Cardamine hirsuta L. var. pensylvanica Muhl. ex Willd.
Stems hispidulous at least at the base, often throughout, except
when submerged or decumbent, then often glabrous, simple to much
branched, to 1-5 (-7) dm tall. Leaves pinnate; lateral leaflets of
cauline leaves linear to obovate, the terminal leaflets (except of
uppermost leaves) broader than the lateral leaflets, their bases de¬
current on the rachis. Petals white, 2-4 mm long, more than half
the length of the sepals. Siliques 10-27 mm long ; style 0. 5-2.0 mm
long.
Common throughout Wisconsin, mostly in moist or wet places :
bottomland forests and rich wet woods, moist ravines, along the
shores of lakes, rivers and streams, on open sand flats, in springs,
marshes, wet meadows, and occasionally weedy in cultivated fields
and along roadsides. Flowering from early May through July and
fruiting from late May through October.
5. Cardamine parviflora L. var. arenicola (Britt.) Schulz
Cardamine arenicola Britt. Map 48.
Stems simple to much branched, glabrous, to 3 dm tall. Leaves
all pinnate ; leaflets of basal rosettes ovate to suborbicular, the ter¬
minal leaflets of cauline leaves only slightly broader than the linear
lateral leaflets, these not decurrent on the rachis. Petals white,
2.5-4. 0 mm long, the sepals about half as long. Siliques linear, 1-3
cm long; style 0,2-0. 9 mm long; fruiting pedicels 6-10 mm long.
Occasional, especially in central Wisconsin, in dry or damp
rocky woods, sandstone or quartzite bluffs or hillsides, and in moist
sand, sandy muck, willow thickets along rivers, or roadsides. Flow¬
ering from early May through June (one specimen July 22), and
fruiting from late May through July.
Very easily confused with C. pensylvanica, but separated by the
total absence of stem pubescence, by the narrower leaflets, smaller
size, shorter styles, and by the generally drier habitats in which it
occurs. Xeromorphic extremes of C. pensylvanica, however, are
(nearly?) indistinguishable from this species.
27. ARABIS L. RocK Cress^
[Hopkins, M., 1937. Arabis in eastern and central North America.
Rhodora 39:63-98; 106-148; 155-186. Rollins, R. C. 1941. Mono¬
graphic study of Arabis in western North America. Rhodora
43 :289-325 ; 348-411 ; 425-481.]
Perennials or less often biennials from a basal rosette, the leaves
simple, mostly entire. Petals white to yellowish or pale purplish.
^We are very grateful to Dr. Reed C. Rollins, of the Harvard University Herbarium,
Cambridge, Mass., for checking the identification of most of the specimens of tliis
difficult genus on which the following treatment is based.
62 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Siliques linear, flattened or terete, with several to many seeds in
each cell, the valves usually one-nerved. Seeds flattened, often
winged at the margin.
A. Key to Flowering Material
1. Stem leaves attenuate to a narrow base, not clasping or
auriculate _ 2
2. Plants 1-3 (-4) dm tall, often with many slender branches;
stem leaves mostly linear, 1-5 mm wide; petals 5-8 mm long
- 1. A, lyrata.
2. Plants (3-) 4-11 dm tall, erect and strict, generally un¬
branched ; stem leaves oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 6-50 mm
wide; petals 3-5 mm long _ 8. A. canadensis.
1. Stem leaves, at least the lowermost, strongly clasping or
auriculate _ 3
3. Pedicels 1-4 mm long; petals 2-4 mm long; plants 2-5 (-6)
dm tall, weak-stemmed and much branched from the base, usu¬
ally stellate-pubescent throughout ; leaves oblanceolate to oblong-
ovate _ _ 9. A. shortii.
3. Pedicels (5-) 6-15 mm long; petals (4~) 5-10 mm long;
plants simple, erect and strict, generally unbranched, glabrous
or pubescent _ 4
4. Plants glabrous throughout (the basal rosette leaves rarely
pubescent in No. 4) _ 5
5. Basal rosette leaves normally lacking at anthesis ; largest
stem leaves (except in depauperate plants) (5-) 8-20 cm
long; pedicels divergent; sepals nearly equalling the length
of the petals _ 7. A. laevigata.
5. Basal rosette leaves lanceolate, usually ascending, entire
to shallowly serrate; largest stem leaves 2-5 (-9, rare) cm
long; pedicels generally appressed to subappressed ; sepals
about half the length of the petals _ 4. A. drummondi.
4. Plants pubescent, at least at the very base of the stem, the
stem leaves and upper stem often glabrous _ 6
6. Leaves of basal rosette often lyrate-pinnatifid, glabrous
except for few, simple, stiff hairs on the margin (these often
only at the tip of each tooth or laciniation) _
_ 6. A. missouriensis.
6. Leaves of basal rosette entire or serrate, stellate-pubes¬
cent on both surfaces _ 7
7. Pubescence at base of stem spreading, mostly of sim¬
ple, hirsute hairs _ 8
8. Plants robust, glaucous above, the stems hirsute
only at the base; stem leaves 2-12 cm long, strongly
sagittate-clasping _ 2. A. glabra.
1961]
Patman & litis— Wisconsin Flora No. UU
63
8, Plants often slender, not glaucous, the stems hirsute
to above the middle p stem leaves 1-4 cm long, sessile to
slightly auriculate _ 3a. A. hirsuta var. pycnocarpa.
7. Pubescence at the base^ of the stem mostly of appressed
stellate or forked hairs _ 9
9. Petals white, 3-6 mm long; fruits at maturity erect;
seeds of young fruits in a single row ; stems sparsely to
densely pubescent on at least the lower third, often
throughout (only rarely the stem nearly glabrous
throughout) _ 3b. A. hirsuta var. adpressipilis.
9. Petals whitish-pink to purple, 5-8 mm long ; fruits at
maturity widely spreading; seeds of young fruits in a
double row; stems glabrous except for the lowermost
5 cm’s _ 5. A. divaricarpa.
B. Key to Mature Fruiting Material
1. Fruiting pedicels erect or strongly ascending; fruits not curved,
straight or nearly so, erect and closely appressed to the stem _ 2
2. Fruits somewhat quadrangular to terete at maturity ; base of
stem hirsute with stiff, spreading hairs ; style rather broad, often
somewhat capitate; plant glaucous, often robust- _ 2. A. glabra.
2. Fruits flattened; hairs at the base of the stem, if present,
spreading or appressed; style much narrower than the fruit- _ 3
3. Fruits 0.7-1. 1 mm broad; seeds broadly winged, in a single
row in each locule; stem often pubescent throughout, or at
least the lower % (rarely glabrous, except at very base) ;
plants generally slender _ _ 3. A. hirsuta.
3. Fruits 1. 2-2.1 mm broad; seeds not winged, in a double
row in each locule; stem glabrous (or rarely with a few scat¬
tered hairs at the base only) ; plants generally robust _
_ _ _ 4. A. drummondi.
1. Fruiting pedicels ascending to diverging; fruits straight to
strongly arched, erect to divergent or recurved, not closely ap¬
pressed to the stem _ _ 4
4, Fruits strongly curved and much flattened 1.2-3. 3 mm wide 5
5. Fruits pendulous, 2. 5-3. 3 mm broad ; seeds broadly winged ;
leaves with a narrow base, often slightly petiolate, never clasp¬
ing _ 8. A. canadensis.
5. Fruits recurving, 1. 5-2.0 mm broad; seeds narrowly
winged ; leaves sagittate- or auriculate-clasping _ 6
6. Largest cauline leaves 1-5 (-7) cm long; stems with 19-
50 nodes (leaves) to the lowest fruiting pedicel ; base of stem
1 Collections of Arahis hirsuta var. adpressipilis may be hirsute, but then only at
the very base, the remainder of the stem clothed with more or less appressed, forked
hairs.
2 Often only at the very base.
64 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
pubescent with short simple hairs ; rosette leaves often
lyrate-pinnatifid, glabrous, except for a few stiff hairs on
the margin _ _ 6. A. missouriensis.
6. Largest cauline leaves 8-20 cm long; stems with 8-16
(-19) nodes to the lowest fruiting pedicel; plants glabrous
even at base; rosette leaves serrulate _ 7. A. laevigata.
4. Fruits straight or nearly so, terete to flattened, 1-2 mm
broad _ 7
7. Cauline leaves auriculate-clasping at the base ; fruits diverg¬
ing or ascending _ 8
8. Plants usually unbranched and strict, robust, glabrous
except at the base; pedicels 5-13 mm long; basal leaves ob-
lanceolate to spatulate, stellate-pubescent on both surfaces
_ 5. A. divaricarpa.
8. Plants much branched from the base, slender and weak¬
stemmed, stellate-pubescent throughout; pedicels 1-4 mm
long; basal leaves long-petiolate, spatulate _ 9. A. shortii.
7. Cauline leaves sessile, spatulate to linear, or the lowest
lyrate-pinnatifld ; fruits ascending to erect; plants slender.
much branched, 1-4 (-5) dm tall _ 1. A. lyrata.
1. Arabis lyrata L. Lyreleaf Rock Cress Map 49.
Slender and much branched, 1-4 dm tall. Stem usually pubes¬
cent at the base. Rosette leaves 2-4 cm long, lyrate-pinnatifld to
dentate. Cauline leaves spatulate to linear, mostly entire. Petals
showy, white (rarely cream or pale pink), 5-8 mm long. Siliques
erect or ascending, on divergent pedicels, 20-45 mm long, 1 mm or
less wide. This species is quite variable, reflecting the diversity of
habitats in which it occurs.
Very common, particularly in the “Driftless Area”, in a large
number of communities (Curtis 1959), most abundant in open,
very sandy and sunny places, on beaches and dunes, sand flats,
sandy, gravelly, or rocky dry prairies, in open, dry Pine or Oak
woods, on sandstone cliffs and rocky slopes, less commonly on lime¬
stone cliffs and quartzite outcrops, frequently weedy in pastures,
gravel pits, railroad embankments and roadsides, essentially lack¬
ing from the eastern Wisconsin Niagara Dolomite formation, and
from the Northern Highlands except along roadsides, railroads and
lake shores. Flowering from late April through September and
fruiting from mid-May through September.
2. Arabis glabra (L.) Bernh. Tower Mustard Map 50.
Stiffly erect, to 9 dm tall. Stem with stiff, spreading, simple hairs
at the base, glabrous and often glaucous above. Leaves lanceolate.
1961]
Patman & litis— Wisconsin Flora No. UU
65
strongly sagittate-clasping, strictly appressed, only the basal ones
hirsute. Petals white to yellowish, mostly 4 (-5) mm long, slightly
longer than the sepals. Siliques sub-terete, (5-) 8 (-11) cm long,
1.0-1. 5 mm broad, strictly appressed; stigma broad, often some¬
what capitate. Seeds in one or two rows in each locule, very nar¬
rowly or not at all winged.
Widespread throughout the state in dry, well-drained, often open
places, especially common in sandy fields, prairies and ''bracken
grassland” (Curtis 1959) , in open, sandy Jack Pine or Aspen woods
with Bracken Fern, Comptonia (Sweet-fern) and Blueberry under¬
story, less common on sand dunes or beaches, gravelly or rocky
places as streambeds, railroad embankments, gravel pits, etc., fre¬
quently weedy along roadsides or in pastures, and rarely on sand¬
stone (Richland Co.) or limestone cliffs [Racine Co., Wadmond
21A5 (WIS)]. Flowering from late May through mid-July, and
fruiting from mid- June to late September.
This species is often confused with the more slender A, hirsuta,
which has winged seeds, and when in young fruit Avith A. drum-
mondi, which lacks the distinctive hirsute pubescence at the stem
base.
3. Arabis hirsuta (L.) Scop. Hairy Rockcress Maps 51, 52.
Slender, erect, sometimes slenderly branching above, 6-60 (90)
cm tall, pubescent at least at the very base. Rosette leaves stellate-
pubescent on both surfaces. Cauline leaves 1-5 (-7) cm long,
auriculate-clasping. Petals white, 3-6 mm long. Flowering pedicels
diverging, becoming ascending or appressed. Siliques ascending and
more or less appressed to the stem, flattened, 3. 0-6. 5 cm long, 0.7-
1.1 mm broad. Seeds rectangular, broadly winged, in a single row
in each locule.
Key to Varieties
1. Stem pubescence mostly of simple, spreading, hirsute hairs; cau¬
line leaves often heavily pubescent _ 3a. var. pycnocarpa.
1. Stem pubescence (except sometimes at the very base) mostly of
appressed forked hairs; cauline leaves often glabrous or nearly
so _ 3b. var. adpressipilis.
3a. Arabis hirsuta var. pycnocarpa (Hopkins) Rollins Map 51.
In the western, southern, and eastern parts of the state, almost
exclusively on ridges or in crevices of vertical, dry to moist or
rarely wet limestone or dolomite cliffs (these usually in the open,
sometimes in Maple-Basswood forests), rocky limestone shores of
lakes, and rarely on dunes (see notes after var. adpressipilis) .
Flowering from mid-May to early July and fruiting from late May
until September.
66 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, A7‘ts and Letters [Vol. 50
67
1961] Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
3b. Arabis hirsuta var. adpressipilis (Hopkins) Rollins Map 52.
Slightly wider-ranging than var. pycnocarpa and occasionally
tending to be weedy, in rich, rocky, dry woods (Oak-Hickory, Wau¬
kesha Co.), on wooded, pastured hillsides, occasionally on moist or
dry, open or shaded limestone cliffs, along railroad embankments,
and in sandy or gravelly fields and shores, with one specimen from
“Muckwonago Swamp” [Fassett 20627 (WIS)]. Flowering from
about May 20 through early July, and fruiting from mid- June
through September.
Hopkins (1937 :116) cites Fassett 13Jp57 and 13869, (both WIS),
both from damp cliffs in Grant Co., as A. pycnocarpa var. glahrata.
Rollins (1941) restricts the name var. glahrata only to the “large
flowered plants with diverging pedicels and somewhat saccate outer
sepals from the northwestern U. S. and adjacent Canada,” and
states that this variety does not occur in Wisconsin. While these
two plants, which both fall within var. adpressipilis , are perhaps
somewhat more glabrous than usual, the fact that they were col¬
lected in the “Driftless Area” very possibly influenced Hopkins’
taxonomic judgment, who, as a student of Fernald in the early
1930’s, must have been strongly exposed to the “Nunatack Hypoth¬
esis” of his teacher [See litis & Shaughnessy (1960:118-119) for a
nearly identical error due to “Phytogeographic Suggestion,” in this
case in Dodecatheon, Primulaceae] .
The two varieties may grow very close together. Thus, along the
Kinnickinnic River in Pierce County (E and NE of the County
Trunk F bridge), we find var. adpressipilis in crevices of limestone
boulders on a sunny, steep south-facing dry prairie, growing with
Campanula rotundifolia, Pellaea- glabella, Aquilegia canadensis, and
Muhlenhergia cuspidata. Looking south across the valley, we see a
very high, vertical, N-facing limestone cliff. At its base, on the
moist open ledges and cliffs right above the river, there is abundant
var. pycnocarpa, in association with Erigeron philadelphicus ,
V eronicastrum virginicum, Cystopteris hulhifera, C. fragilis, Aqui¬
legia canadensis, Lycopus americanus, L. uniflorus, Mitella diphylla,
Arabis lyrata, and Besseya Bullii. Between Hager City and Bay
City, in the same county, var. pycnocarpa grows in a nearly pure
Juniperus virginiana stand on a steep south-facing talus slope be¬
neath a dolomite bluff. Within a few yards grow Artemisia frigida,
Chrysopsis Ballardii, and Symphoricarpus occidentalis, attesting to
the xeric nature of this woods. In contrast, on the massive, vertical,
NW-facing St. Croix River bluffs just below Osceola in Polk
County, var. pycnocarpa grows in moss cushions on shaded sand¬
stone rocks densely covered with deciduous mesophytic forest vege-
68 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
tation, sharing this niche with Cryptogramma stelleri and other
ferns, with Taxus canadensis and Acer spicatum in the immediate
vicinity.
4. Arabis drummondi Gray Drummond Rockcress Map 53.
Erect, unbranched, glabrous, to 10 dm tall. Leaves of the basal
rosette narrowly oblanceolate, glabrous (rarely with a few hairs,
especially at their very base), generally ascending, the cauline
leaves auriculate-clasping. Petals white to pale purple, 5-10 mm
long, exceeding the sepals. Siliques erect and appressed, (6~) 7-12
cm long, 1.2-2. 2 mm broad, the valves with a strong midvein. Seeds
in a double row in each locule, 1. 1-1.5 mm long, 0.8-1. 1 mm broad,
narrowly winged.
Locally abundant, in a Juniper woods on dolomite talus in Pierce
Co. ; at Devil’s Lake on rocky east-facing cliffs; along the Wisconsin
River in sandy, open flood plain woods, sand bars, and pastures;
and on bluffs and talus slopes following the western border of the
Niagara Dolomite, from lower Fond du Lac Co. to Washington
Island, Door Co. Flowering from early May to mid- June and fruit¬
ing in June and July.
This species in young fruit may be confused with A. divaricarpa
or A. glabra, but can be separated by the lack of pubescence at the
very base of the stem. In some collections (Zimmerman 1180,
Devil’s Lake, Sauk Co. ; Fassett 1 6225, High Cliff, Calumet Co. —
both WIS), the basal rosette leaves are slightly pubescent on the
margins and under surfaces.
5. Arabis divaricarpa A. Nelson Map 54.
Arabis brachycarpa (T.&G.) Britton
Erect, often somewhat branched from the base, to 9 dm tall.
Stems with stellate pubescence at the base. Basal leaves oblanceo¬
late to spatulate, stellate-pubescent on both surfaces. Cauline leaves
glabrous, oblong to linear lanceolate, auriculate or sagittate-clasping
at the base, entire. Petals pale pink-purple or nearly white, 5-8 mm
long. Siliques straight, 2. 5-8.0 cm long, 1. 2-2.0 mm broad, on widely
diverging pedicels. Seeds narrowly winged at the top, 1 mm in
diameter, in two rows in each locule in young fruit, becoming some¬
what uniseriate.
In dry, well-drained, rather open wooded places, in rocky or
sandy soil, frequently on limestone or dolomite cliffs, outcrops,
bluffs, and talus slopes, rarely on granite outcrops (basic lava
flows), on the inner strand and on dunes of the Great Lakes, and
occasionally along railroad embankments and roadsides. Flowering
from late May to mid-June (rarely in early July) and fruiting
from mid- June through August.
1961]
Patman & litis— Wisconsin Flora No. kU
69
6. Arabis missouriensis Greene, var. deamii (Hopkins) Hopkins
Arabis viridis Harger, var. Deamii Hopkins Map 55.
Erect, with one main stem, to 6 dm tall; stem slightly hispid at
the base, glabrous above, with 19-50 nodes to the first flower or
branch. Basal leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, serrulate to lyrate-
pinnatifid, glabrous except for a fetv marginal hairs, these singly
at the tip of each tooth or laciniation. Cauline leaves sagittate-
clasping, imbricated, the upper narrowly lanceolate and entire, the
lower broadly lanceolate, and serrulate to laciniate. Petals white to
cream, 6-8 mm long, about twice the length of the sepals. Siliques
flattened, at first erect, becoming arched and recurved, 6-9 cm long,
1. 5-2.0 mm broad. Seeds in a single row, 1.4-1. 8 mm long, 1 mm
wide.
Occasional, mainly in the northern half of Wisconsin, usually in
dry, sunny, sandy, gravelly or rocky (acidic?) places, often on the
border of rocky, open oak woods, with six of the central and north¬
ern Wisconsin specimens on Pre-Cambrian granite or quartzite out¬
crops. Flowering from earliest June to earliest July and fruiting
from late June through August.
When in fruit, this species is very similar to A. laevigata, but is
easily separated by the much larger number of nodes to the first
flower, and by the distinctive basal rosettes.
Hopkins (1938) cites, in error, a Wisconsin collection of this
species (Hermann 8760, Sauk Co. (WIS)) as typical A. viridis.
This plant was found on “mossy granitic boulders, in a wooded
ravine at Parfrey’s Glen’b It is perhaps significant that this, the
southernmost station in Wisconsin and a rather isolated one, is in
one of the most unusual habitats in the state — a deep, cool, dark
gorge which harbors many rare plants (e.g. Aconitum novebora-
cense).
7. Arabis laevigata (Muhl.) Poir. Smooth Rockcress Map 56.
Stem glabrous throughout, even at the very base, to 10 dm tall,
ivith only 8-16 nodes (leaves) to the first flotver or branch. Cauline
leaves clasping, linear to oblong-lanceolate, not imbricated, to 2 dm
long. Lower leaves serrate-dentate, the upper entire. Petals equal¬
ling or only slightly exceeding the sepals. Fruits similar to those of
A. missouriensis.
Frequent in the southern part of the state, north to the “tension
zone’’, in moderately damp or moist wooded places, mostly on or at
the base of more or less wooded sandstone cliffs, and, in eastern
Wisconsin, on wooded limestone cliffs and ledges, often in sandy or
gravelly, mesic, generally rocky and steep Oak or Sugar Maple-
Basswood woods (on very rocky, wet talus, with understory of
70 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Taxus — Grant Co.), on pine relics on sandstone bluffs in southern
Wisconsin, on damp, rocky cliffs in Northern Hardwoods of Tsuga
— White Pine, Yellow Birch, Circaea alpina, Streptopus roseus,
(Vernon Co.) and occasionally on sand flats (with Hypoxis, Sisy-
rinchium, Castilleja coccinea, Pedicularis canadensis — Juneau Co.)
and stream or river banks. Flowering from May through June (oc¬
casionally in August) and fruiting from June through September.
8. Arabis canadensis L. Sickle-Pod Map 57.
Erect biennial, often unbranched, hispid at base, glabrous above,
4-9 (-13) dm tall. Cauline leaves oblong-lanceolate, 3-13 cm long
and 0. 5-4.0 cm broad, entire or with small remote serrations, the
pubescence mostly of simple hairs. Petals white to yellowish-green,
3-5 mm long, less than twice the length of the sepals, the racemes
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
71
long and loose. Siliqnes much flattened, slightly curved, 2. 5-4.0 mm
broad, 6-10 cm long, divergent to deflexed,^ the valves with a con¬
spicuous midvein. Seeds broadly winged, 3 mm long, red-brown, in
a single row in each locule.
Frequent in the southern part of the state, mainly in dry oak for¬
ests (Curtis, 1959), mostly Oak-Hickory, Bur Oak-Black Oak, some¬
times in mesic woods, with Maple, Basswood, and Ash, on rocky or
gravelly, wooded, north-facing sandstone hillsides, on rocky bluffs,
talus slopes, wooded borders of xeric prairies and occasionally on
them, often on the wooded banks of streams or rivers, with one
collection on limestone {Fassett 15250, Fond du Lac Co. (WIS)].
Flowering from late May into early July and fruiting in July
through August.
9. Arabis shortii (Fern.) Gl. Shorts Rockcress Map 58.
Arahis perstellata E.L.Br. var. shortii Fern.
Arabis dentata T.&G.
Slender and weak-stemmed, much branched from the base, to 5
dm tall, stellate-pubescent throughout. Rosette leaves long-petioled
and spatulate (a good character for vegetative recognition). Cau-
line leaves oblanceolate to oblong-ovate, clasping, wavy to dentate,
2-7 cm long, with simple hairs above and stellate only along the
midrib, densely stellate-pubescent below. Petals white to pale pink,
2-4 mm long, rarely exceeding the sepals. Pedicels 1-3 (-4) mm
long, divergent. Siliques linear, widely spreading 1. 5-3.0 cm long,
1 mm broad.
On sandy alluvial soil in southern Wisconsin; rare, but locally
abundant in river bottom forests or rich, damp, deciduous woods
near streams or lakes, occasionally weedy (Park Hq., Wyalusing
St. Pk.) ; in the ‘‘Avon Bottoms’’ in the Sugar River Valley abund¬
ant in stands of Silver Maple, Elm (Ulmus americana) , Swamp
White Oak (Quercus bicolor), Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) , Syc¬
amore (Platanus occidentalis) , Basswood, Diarrhena americana,
Arisaema dracontium, Cephalanthus occidentalis, Chaerophyllum
procumbens and Euonymous atropurpureus ; formerly in the woods
at Picnic Point, Lake Mendota, Madison; the isolated Wood Co.
collection (Fassett 14125) from near Little Bull Falls of the Yellow
River; along the St. Croix R., often in extensive colonies, some¬
times the only species growing in bare leaf mulch, or with Galium
aparine. Ranunculus abortivus, Menispermum, Phlox divaricata
etc., in Acer saccharinum-Ulmus-Fraxinus flood plain forest. Flow¬
ering from early to late May and fruiting in late May and June.
1 Plants projecting- horizontally from steep banks have fruits at right angles to the
peduncle, but in relation to the horizon fruits are always vertical.
72 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Bibliography
Bailey, L. H. 1930. The Cultivated Brassicas II. Gentes Herbarum 2:211-267.
Bailey, L. H, 1949. Manual of Cultivated Plants. Macmillan Co. New York.
Butters, F. K. and E. C. Abbe. 1940. The American varieties of Rorippa
islandica. Rhodora 42:25-32.
Clapham, a. R., T. G. Tutin and G. F. Warburg. 1952. Flora of the British
Isles. Cambridge Univ. Press.
Curtis, J. T. 1959. The Vegetation of Wisconsin. Univ. of Wis. Press, Madison.
Beam, C. C. 1940. Flora of Indiana. Dept, of Conservation, Indianapolis.
Detling, L. E. 1939. A revision of the North American species of Descurainia.
Am. Midi. Nat. 22:481-520.
Fassett, N. C. 1940. Manual of Aquatic Plants. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Fassett, N. C. 1957. Spring Flora of Wisconsin. Univ. of Wis. Press, Madison.
Fernald, M. L. 1930. Arabis drummondi and its eastern relatives. Rhodora
5:225-231.
Fernald, M. L. 1920. Some varieties of Cardamine pratensis. Rhodora 22 ill-lA.
Fernald, M. L. 1928. Rorippa islandica and Rorippa hispidia. Rhodora 30:131-
133.
Fernald, M. L. 1934. Draba in temperate northeastern America. Rhodora 36:
241-261; 353-371.
Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray's Manual of Botany, ed. 8. Am. Book Co., New
York.
Gates, R. R. 1950. Genetics and taxonomy of the cultivated Brassicas and
their wild relatives. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 77:19-28.
Gates, R. R. 1953. Wild cabbages and the effects of cultivation. Journ. of Gen¬
etics 51:363—372.
Gleason, H. A. 1952. The New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora, vol. 2.
Lancaster Press, Lancaster, Pa.
Hegi, G. Illustrierte Flora von Mittel-Europa. Crucife^ae by A. Thellung. Vol.
4L 51-482. J. F. Lehmann, Miinchen.
Hitchcock, C. L. 1941. A Revision of the Drabas of Western North America.
Univ. of Washington Publ. in Biology 11.
Hitchcock, C. L. 1936. The genus Lepidium in the United States. Madrono
3:265-320.
Hopkins, M. 1937. Arabis in eastern and central North America. Rhodora 39:
63-98; 106-148; 155-186.
Hopkins, M. 1938. Arabis viridis in Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Rhodora 40:
431-432.
Hopkins, M. 1943. Notes from the Bebb Herbarium of Oklahoma II. Rhodora
45:269.
Iltis, H. H. and Shaughnessy, W. M. 1960. Preliminary reports on the flora of
Wisconsin No. 43. Primulaceae-Primrose Family. Transact. Wis. Acad.
Arts, Sci. Letters 49:113-135.
Jones, G. N. and G. D. Fuller. 1955. Vascular Plants of Illinois. Univ. of Ill.
Press, Urbana.
Martin, L. 1932, The Physical Geography of Wisconsin, ed. 2. Wis. Geol. and
Nat. Hist. Survey, Madison.
Montgomery, F, H. 1955. Preliminary studies in the genus Dentaria in east¬
ern North America. Rhodora 57 : 161-173.
Payson, E. B. 1922. Species of Sisymbrium native to America north of Mex¬
ico. Univ. of Wyoming Publ. in Sci. 1:1-27.
Rollins, R. C. 1941. Monographic study of Arabis in western North America.
Rhodora 43:289-325; 348-411; 425-481.
Wheeler, L. C. 1938. The names of three species of Brassica. Rhodora 40:
306-309,
1961]
Patman & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UU
73
ERRATA
PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN
No. 43 — Pfinnulaceae
Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and
Letters 49:113-135, 1960
The following errata all involve change in numbers, both of genera and
species, in two of the main keys.
page 115. The numbers with the last four genera in generic key should read:
_ 5. ANAGALLIS
_ 4. LYSIMACHIA
_ _ 7. TRIENTALIS
_ 6. SAMOLUS
page 123. generic heading, middle of page, should read :
4, LYSIMACHIA, etc.
10th line from bottom: — . ' _ _ 4. L. nummularia
page 124. 5th line from top: - 5. L. quadrifolia.
page 125. 3rd line from top. _ 6, X L. producta.
7th line from top: _ 7. L. terrestris.
9th line from top : _ 3, L. clethr aides.
■I
-1
(
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN.
NO. 45. AMARANTHACEAE— AMARANTH FAMILY^
Jonathan Sauer and Robert Davidson
University of Wisconsin, Madison and Catholic University
of America, Washington, D. C.
Distribution maps are based on specimens in the herbaria of the
University of Minnesota (MINN), the Milwaukee Public Museum
(MIL), and the University of Wisconsin, including hosts of fungi
in the cryptogamic collection (WIS). Type material discussed for
some of the species was examined in the British Museum of Natural
History (BM), the Linnaean Society of London (LINN), and the
Museum Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris (P). We are in¬
debted to the curators for making this material available for study.
AMARANTHACEAE OF WISCONSIN
Annual herbs, with simple, entire, estipulate leaves cuneate or
attenuate at the base and decurrent on the petioles. Flowers very
small, subtended by scarious, acuminate bracts, crowded in axillary
or terminal inflorescences. Perianth uniseriate, the petals and sepals
alike and designated as tepals. Stamens 3-5. Ovary superior, 1-
celled, ripening into a membranaceous circumscissile or indehiscent
utricle containing a single seed.
All the species begin flowering in summer and continue until
frost. Flowering and fruiting specimens are not distinguished on
the tables accompanying the maps, because all stages from new
flower buds to ripe fruits are present on each plant after the first
weeks of the season.
All members of the family found growing spontaneously in Wis¬
consin belong to the two genera treated below. Three common gar¬
den ornamentals belonging to other genera are often planted within
the state: Gomphrena globosa (globe-amaranth), Iresine Herhstii
(blood-leaf) and Celosia cristata (cockscomb).
KEY TO GENERA
A. Leaves alternate, green or reddish, glabrous or slightly pubes¬
cent. Flowers unisexual. Tepals free, neither lanate nor winged.
Stamens free _ 1. AMARANTHUS.
AA. Leaves opposite, grayish-green, conspicuously pubescent. Flow¬
ers perfect. Perianth tube lanate, with longitudinal spiny
wings. Stamens united into a tube _ _ 2. FROELICHIA.
1 Published with the aid of the Norman C. Passett Memorial Fund.
75
76 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
1. AMARANTHUS L. Pigweed, Amaranth
Prostrate or erect annual herbs, with simple, alternate, entire,
long-petioled leaves. Plants generally tinged with reddish antho-
cyanin pigment, some cultivated forms intensely colored. Flowers
unisexual, monoecious or dioecious, in dense, cymose clusters located
in leaf axils and, in some species, in dense leafless, terminal thyrses ;
each dichasium (group of 3 flowers) subtended by a spiny-tipped,
persistent bract. Tepals free, 3-5 in staminate flowers, 0-5 in pis¬
tillate flowers. Stamens free, 3-5. Style-branches 3, plumose. Utri¬
cle circumscissile or indehiscent. Seed lenticular, dark brown or
white, the embryo coiled around a starchy “endosperm’b
Key to Species
A, Plants diffusely branched. Inflorescences wholly axillary. Leaves
small, more or less spatulate. Stamens 3.
B. Prostrate carpet-plants. Bracts and tepals approximately
equal in length. Tepals 4-5, with conspicuous, branching
venation. Seed about 1.5 mm in diameter _ 1. A. hlitoides.
BB. Bushy tumbleweeds. Bracts much exceeding tepals. Tepals
3, with simple midveins. Seed less than 1 mm in diameter
_ 2. A, alhus,
AA. Plants normally with a dominant erect main stem. Terminal,
spike-like or panicle-like thyrses present. Leaves generally
medium to large, ovate to lanceolate or elliptic to oblong. Sta¬
mens generally 5 (3-5 in No. 8).
C. Plants dioecious. Tepals generally 0-2, if more, then with
conspicuous, branched midveins.
D. Bracts about 1 mm long, with very slender midribs.
Pistillate tepals absent or rudimentary, lacking mid¬
veins. Utricle indehiscent _ 3. A. tuherculatus.
DD. Bracts about 2 mm long, with stout midribs. Pistillate
tepals present. Utricle circumscissile.
E. Pistillate tepals 1-2, lanceolate, with simple mid¬
veins. Outer staminate tepals much long and more
acute than inner _ 4. A. tamariscinus,
EE, Pistillate tepals 5, spatulate, with branched mid¬
veins. Staminate tepals approximately equal, ob¬
tuse _ _ 5. A. arenicola.
CC. Plants monoecious. Tepals 3-5, with simple midveins,
F. Upper cymes staminate, lower cymes pistillate. Rigid
needle-like axillary spines present _ 6. A. spinosus,
FF. Initial flower of each cyme staminate, the others pis¬
tillate, Spines absent,
1961] Sauer & Davidson — Wisconsin Flora No. Jf5
77
G. Utricle exceeded by bract and longer tepals.
Coarse, weedy plants, generally dull green with
slight red pigmentation.
H. Tepals reflexed, obtuse or emarginate _
_ 7. A. retro flexus.
HH. Tepals straight, acute.
I. Terminal inflorescence stiff, simple or
with a few widely spaced, long, lateral
branches. Bracts very large, the lamina
equalling utricle and with a very thick,
excurrent midrib. Tepals and stamens
3-5. Style-branches spreading from base
_ _ 8. A. Potvellii.
II. Terminal inflorescence lax, with many
crowded, short, lateral branches. Bracts
moderately large, the lamina shorter
than utricle, and with a moderately thick
and excurrent midrib. Tepals and sta¬
mens 5. Style-branches erect _
_ 9. A. hybridus.
GG. Utricle equalling or exceeding bract and tepals.
Ornamental, domesticated plants, often brightly
colored.
J. Shorter tepals less than 2 mm long, about %
as long as utricle. Style-branches erect _
_ 10. A. cruentus.
JJ. Tepals all over 2 mm long, nearly equalling
utricle. Style-branches spreading from base.
K. Tepals all lanceolate, acute. Inflorescence
stiff _ 11. A. hypochondriacus.
KK. Inner tepals spatulate, emarginate. In¬
florescence lax _ _ 12. A. caudatus.
1. Amaranthus blitoides S. Wats, Map 1.
Prostrate, slightly succulent herbs, much branched, the fully de¬
veloped leaves often crowded near tips of branches. Leaves usually
very small, seldom over 4 cm long, spatulate, obtuse with shortly
mucronate tips. Flowers monoecious, in axillary clusters. Bracts
scarcely exceeding longer tepals, with slender, shortly excurrent
midribs. Tepals 4-5, those of pistillate flowers variable, the larger
almost as long as the utricle and with conspicuous, branching, green
veins, acuminate, not recurved. Stamens 3. Style-branches short,
recurved. Utricle smooth, circumscissile. Seed ca. 1.5 mm in diam¬
eter, black, rather glossy.
78 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
The species presumably originated in western North America as
a pioneer of streambanks, talus, and other naturally disturbed habi¬
tats. A few Wisconsin collections are from such places, including
the earliest, from Green Bay [Fox River banks at Fort Howard,
1881, Schuette s.n. (WIS).]. Conceivably, the species was a rare
member of the aboriginal pioneer flora of this area. However, the
bulk of its present populations in Wisconsin and in eastern North
America in general are growing in artificially disturbed places. It
is most abundant in trampled yards, along pathways, roads, and
railroad tracks.
This species is named A. graecizans L. in the 8th edition of
Gray’s Manual and in some other floristic works, following Fern-
aid’s conclusion that it matches the type of a Gronovian name, cited
by Linnaeus as a synonym of A. graecizans (Fernald 1954, pp. 139-
140). Fernald identified Gronovius’ specimen from a photograph on
which the critical flower characters are not discernible. Examina¬
tion of the actual specimen (BM!) together with another Linnaean
specimen of A. graecizans (1117.3 LINN!) indicates that Fernald
was mistaken and supports the contrary conclusion of Thellung
(1914, pp. 285-286, 307) and Dandy and Melderis (Fernandes
1957). They found that Linnaeus’ material of A. graecizans is dif¬
ferent from material of A, blitoides and that the name A, graecizans
properly belongs to an Old World species otherwise known as A.
angustifolius. Thellung, however, believed that A. graecizans should
be rejected as a nomen confusum.
An apparent hybrid with the next species is noted below.
2. Amaranthus albus L. Map 2.
Low, stiff, bushy herbs, much branched, with fully developed
leaves mainly towards the bases of the branches. Leaves usually
very small, seldom over 5 cm long, narrowly spatulate, obtuse, with
conspicuously mucronate tips. Flowers monoecious, in axillary clus¬
ters. Bracts more than twice as long as tepals, with very narrow
laminas and stout, long excurrent midribs. Tepals 3, those of pis¬
tillate flowers shorter than the utricle, with simple midveins, acut-
ish, not recurved. Stamens 3. Style-branches very short, erect.
Utricle rugose, circumscissile. Seed 1 mm or less in diameter, dark
brown, shiny.
The species is a native North American tumbleweed, widely dis¬
tributed as a pioneer of naturally and artificially disturbed habitats.
It was reported as a common weed in Wisconsin on the earliest col¬
lections, made in the early 1860’s [Madison, Racine, Lead Mines,
without dates, T. J. Hale s.n., (all WIS)]. Most Wisconsin collec¬
tions are from fields, gardens, roadsides, and railroad tracks, but a
1961] Sauer & Davidson- — Wisconsin Flora No.
79
few are from natural habitats : sandy lakesiiores, streambaiiks, and
talus slopes.
Like the preceding, this species has been erroneously identified
with A, graecizans L. in many floristic works. It agrees well with
Linnaeus' specimens of A. albus (1117.1 LINN!).
Occasional individuals are known that appear to be hybrids be¬
tween this and the preceding species, including one from Wisconsin
[Waukesha Co. : along railroad near Waukesha, 12 Aug. 1939, Oppel
& Skinners 1337 (WIS)],
3, Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) Sauer, Map 3.
Acnida tuherculata Moq.
Acnida altissima (Riddell) Moq. ex Standi,
Prostrate, ascending, or erect annual herbs. Smaller leaves ob¬
long to spatulate, obtuse; larger leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute.
Flowers dioecious, in lax, terminal, spike-like or raceme-like
thyrses. Bracts about half as long as utricles or staminate tepals,
with slender, long-excurrent midribs. Pistillate tepals lacking or
rudimentary; staminate tepals 5, nearly equal, midveins not ex¬
current, Stamens 5, Style-branches short, erect. Utricle smooth or
rugose, indehiscent. Seed 1 mm or less in diameter, dark brown,
shiny.
The species is native to lakeshores, stream banks, and marshy
places in a wide region of the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi;
collected widely in Wisconsin since the mid 19th Century, Most of
the collections from Wisconsin, as from the rest of the range, are
from natural habitats. However, the species has become locally
abundant as a weed, especially along wet ditches and in lowland
fields.
Populations often grow where falling water levels expose a strip
of bare sand or mud along a stream or lake. Such places offer highly
variable lengths of the vegetative period, between germination and
onset of the critical photoperiod for flower initiation. Consequently
the species appears very heterogeneous vegetatively, although the
taxonomically critical flower characters are quite constant. The
Wisconsin specimens agree well with Moquin-Tandon's original
material (Hort. Genev., Oct, 1847~P!),
Mixed populations of A, tuberculatus and weedy monoecious
amaranths are common, yielding occasional sterile hybrids. In Wis¬
consin, the monoecious parent is usually A, retro flexus [Brown Co. :
river banks below shanty town, Green Bay, 27 Sept, 1881, Schuette
s.n. , Dane Co, : Madison, 14 Aug. 1890, Cheney s.n. . Sheboygan
Co, : Sheboygan, 2 Aug, 1922, Goessl s.n. . Iowa Co. : Arena, 3 Oct.
1925, Fassett 2633. Pierce Co, : sandy river shore, Prescott, 30 Aug.
1927, Fassett 531Jf (all WIS) ]. Recently A. Powellii has also begun
80 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
hybridizing with A. tuherculatus [Dane Co. : lowland cornfield by
University Bay, Madison, 27 Sept. 1951, Sauer 1592 (WIS)]
4. Amaranthus tamariscinus Nutt. (See note below No. 6)
Acnida tamariscina (Nutt.) Wood.
5. Amaranthus arenicola I. M. Johnston. (See note below No. 6)
6. Amaranthus spinosus L.
These three species are not treated in detail here, as they have
not established themselves within the state, although they may be
expected occasionally as ephemeral, adventive waifs. The first two
are common riverbank pioneers and weeds in a wide belt between
the Mississippi River and the Rockies. Amaranthus spinosus is .a
world-wide weed of tropical and warm temperate regions. Amar¬
anthus tamariscinus has been found in two areas in Wisconsin
[Milwaukee Co.: Milwaukee, no date, Sartwell s.n. (GH). Sheboy¬
gan Co. : railroad yards, Sheboygan 28 Aug. 1903, 9 Sept. 1914, one
perhaps a hybrid with A. tuberculatus, Goessl s.n. (both WIS)]. A
single plant of A. arenicola was found [Rock Co. : along railroad,
Beloit, 16 Aug. 1942, Shinners U6U7 (WIS)] and the collector of
A. spinosus noted only three plants present [Jefferson Co.: along
railroad near Fort Atkinson, 31 Aug. 1949, Anthes s.n., (WIS].
7. Amaranthus retroflexus L. Rough Pigweed. Map 4.
Erect coarse herbs, sometimes much branched. Leaves medium
sized, generally at least 15 cm long when mature, ovate, rhombic-
oval, or lanceolate, usually obtuse. Flowers monoecious, in thick,
stiff, panicle-like terminal thyrses, with many short, crowded lat¬
eral branches. Bracts far exceeding tepals and utricles, with thick,
shortly-excurrent midribs. Tepals 5, those of pistillate flowers ex¬
ceeding the utricle, with simple midveins, obtuse or emarginate,
recurved. Stamens 5. Style-branches medium long, erect or slightly
recurved. Utricle slightly rugose, circumscissile. Seed 1 mm in
diameter, dark brown, shiny.
One of the commonest temperate-zone pigweeds, now spread
around the world but probably originally native to eastern North
America. It was already widespread in Wisconsin during the last
half of the 19th Century, A small part of the Wisconsin populations
occupy natural habitats, especially sandy lakeshores, but the spe¬
cies is usually found as a weed in gardens, fields, dumps, and road¬
sides. The Wisconsin specimens agree well with Linnaeus’ original
material (1117.22 LINN!).
Hybrids with A. tuberculatus occur, as noted above. Recently,
A. Powellii has begun mixing with A. retroflexus, and some sterile
hybrids have resulted (map 5). All of these were collected since
1922 in artificially disturbed sites.
1961]
Sauer & Davidson— Wisconsin Flora No.
81
82 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [VoL 50
8. Amaranthus powellii S. Wats. Map 5.
Erect, coarse, much branched herbs. Leaves rather small, gener¬
ally under 10 cm long, ovate, rhombic-oval, or lanceolate, usually
obtuse. Flowers monoecious, in long, thick, stiff, spike-like, terminal
thyrses, some with a few, long, widely-spaced lateral branches.
Bracts far exceeding tepals and utricles, with thick, moderately ex¬
current midribs. Tepals 3=-5, the longer ones of pistillate flowers
exceeding the utricle, with simple midveins, acute, nearly straight.
Stamens 3-5. Style-branches long, recurved from base. Utricle
slighly rugose, circumscissile. Seed about li/4 mm in diameter, dark
brown, shiny.
The species is apparently native to desert washes, mountain can¬
yons, and other open habitats in western North America and the
Cordillera of Central and South America. It has long been a com¬
mon weed in the western U. S., particularly in irrigated land, and
has recently been migrating eastward along roadsides and in culti¬
vated ground. There were a few isolated collections of the plant
from Wisconsin before 1939 : Sheboygan Co. : Sheboygan, 28 July,
1903, perhaps cultivated, Goessl s.n. Grant Co. : Blue River, 24 Aug.
1927, Davis, s.n. (both WIS). The species has been found with in¬
creasing frequency since 1939, over two-thirds of the present col¬
lections dating from after 1955, It is now abundant in many locali¬
ties and as mentioned above, is hybridizing with two older residents,
A. tuherculatus and A. retroflexus.
9. Amaranthus hybridus L. Map 6.
Erect, coarse herbs, sometimes much branched. Leaves medium
sized, generally at least 15 cm long when mature, ovate, rhombic-
oval, or lanceolate, usually acute. Flowers monoecious, in slender,
lax, terminal, panicle-like thyrses, with many short, crowded, lat¬
eral branches. Bracts slightly exceeding tepals and utricles, with
medium thick, long-excurrent midribs. Tepals 5. those of pistillate
flowers about equalling utricle, with simple midveins, acute,
straight. Stamens 5, Style-branches rather short, erect. Utricle
rugose, circumscissile. Seed about 1 mm in diameter, dark brown,
shiny.
Aboriginally, this species was presumably a river-bank pioneer
in tropical America and the warmer parts of eastern North Amer¬
ica. As a weed of artificial habitats, it has migrated around the
world and become one of the commonest amaranths. It is a con¬
spicuous weed of cornfields and soybean fields through most of Illi¬
nois and established populations extend barely across the border
into Wisconsin [Rock Co.: cornfield near Edgerton, 5 Sept. 1952,
Sauer 1597 (WIS)], Occurrences farther north in Wisconsin may
represent only ephemeral adventives [Sheboygan Co. : Sheboygan,
1961] Sauer & Davidson- — Wisconsin Flora No. Jf5
83
5 Aug. 1914, Goessl s.n. (WIS) ; Milwaukee Co.: heaps of top soil
brought in for grading, waste ground, Milwaukee, 15-20 Aug. 1939,
Skinners, 983, 985 (MIL)].
10. Amaranthus cruentus L. (See note heloiv No. 12)
A. paniculatus L.
11. Amaranthus hypochondriacus L. Prince’s Feather.
(See note heloiv No. 12)
A. flavus L.
A. leucocarpus S. Wats.
12. Amaranthus caudatus L. Love-lies-bleeding.
A. sanguineus L.
These three species are not treated in detail here, because they
have not established themselves within the state. All three are an¬
cient cultigens, domesticated as grain crops in the highlands of Cen¬
tral America, Mexico, and South America, respectively. Each spe¬
cies has both dark and light seed color forms and a variety of plant
leaf color forms, some of which have been given Latin names,
although they are simple Mendelian variations that segregate
within progenies. These species are now grown as ornamentals
around the world and often sold in commercial flower seed packets.
All three have undoubtedly been repeatedly planted and occasionally
escaped in Wisconsin, although rarely collected. There is only one
known collection of A. cruentus [Dane Co. : along railroad track,
Madison, Oct. 1938, Skinners s.n. (WIS)]. Amaranthus hypo¬
chondriacus has been collected 10 times, beginning late in the 19th
century, always in urban areas in the southeastern part of the
state; only one of these specimens is known to have been a volun¬
teer [Dane Co. : dump near Madison, 22 Aug. 1945, Hale & McCabe
s.n. (WIS)]. There is only one known collection of A. caudatus
[Dane Co.: Madison, Oct. 1924, Davis s.n. (WIS)].
The Wisconsin material agrees well with Linnaeus’ specimens
(A. cruentus: 117.24; A. paniculatus: 117.20; A. kypockondriacus :
117.24; A. flavus: 117.23; A. caudatus: 117.26; A. sanguineus:
117.21— all LINN!).
2. FROELICHIA Moench Cottonweed
Erect to procumbent, hairy annual herbs with simple, opposite,
entire, sessile or petiolate, apiculate leaves from often swollen
nodes, the stems sometimes squarish. Flowers perfect, each sub¬
tended by two deciduous scarious bracteoles and one persistent
scarious bract, densely spiral in spicate, paniculate inflorescences.
Perianth tube woolly, apically 5-lobed, in age becoming strongly
indurate and bearing two longitudinal irregularly toothed wings as
84 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
well as (usually) a single tubercle on one face and a pair of tuber¬
cles on the other. Staminal tube membranaceous, the 5 oblong
1-locular anthers alternating with the 5-ligulate lobes. Pistil ovoid ;
style elongate; stigma capitate. Utricle membranaceous, indehis-
cent. Seeds smooth, tan to dark red-brown, ovoid, with annular em¬
bryo and farinaceous endosperm, usually germinating while still
encased within the mature perianth.
Key to Species
A. Mature fruiting perianths 5. 0-5. 5 mm (rarely less) high,
flask-shaped, the neck rising more or less straight above the
basal portion ( Fig. 1 ) , The larger of the 2 bracteoles gener¬
ally 3 mm or more long. Flowers arranged in a 5-rowed spiral
(twist until 5 rows come into line). Seeds mostly over 1.5 mm
high, dark reddish-brown; larger leaves mostly 10-30 mm
wide _ 1. F. floridana.
AA. Mature fruiting perianths rarely over 4 mm high, conic, the
neck portion usually rising in a more or less asymmetrical
“lop-sided’h fashion above the basal portion (Fig. 1). The
larger of the two bracteoles rarely more than 2 mm long.
Flowers arranged in a 3-rowed spiral (twist until 3 rows come
into line). Seeds mostly under 1.5 mm, tannish; larger leaves
mostly 5-10 mm wide _ 2. F. gracilis.
The species appear to be distinct with no known evidence of hy¬
bridization or other taxonomic complexity. Confusion in their iden¬
tity usually is a result of over-reliance on unstable characters, espe¬
cially the nature of the mature perianth wings, whose expression
depends primarily upon relative maturation. Differences in habit
(mentioned below) are relatively constant except in the case of
young plants which, apparently under the primary influence of
short photoperiods, may commence flowering while vegetatively
quite different from normal.
1. Froelichia floridana (Nutt.) Moq. Cottonweed
Map 7 ; fig. 1.
Erect or ascending tomentulose herbs with usually stout, mostly
quadrangulate stems, simple to sparingly branched at base, (3-)
4-8 dm tall. Leaves thickish, papillose-puberulent above, sericeous-
tomentose beneath, the larger mostly 10-27 mm wide, short-
petiolate, typically elliptic-oblanceolate with obtuse apices and taper¬
ing bases, the uppermost reduced, subsessile and linear- to elliptic-
oblong. Flowers 5-ranked (which may be seen by twisting inflores¬
cence until 5 straight rows come into line), the mature spikes 11
(8-12)^ mm in diameter, averaging 17 flowers/cm. Bracts acumi-
1 The first number indicates the mean, the parenthetical numbers the size range in
Wisconsin.
1961]
Sauer & Davidson — Wisconsin Flora No. Jf5
85
nate, stramineous to blackish-brown. Bracteoles slightly unequal,
the larger 3.4 (3. 0-3.7) mm high. Mature perianth indurate, 5
(4. 0-5. 6) mm high, cottony, the neck symmetrically erect. Lobes of
the staminal tube 1.0 (0.7-1. 5) mm long. Anthers 0.8 (0.6-09) mm
long. Seeds 1.6-1. 8 mm high, dark reddish-brown and rather glossy.
Though the variational patterns within this range are not yet
clearly defined, the range of the species usually is considered to ex¬
tend from Delaware to Colorado, southeastward to Texas and Flor¬
ida. The Wisconsin plants may be designated as var. campestris
86 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
(Small) Fern, with probable validity, inasmuch as they do vary
considerably from the more southern typical variety. It is known
(Davidson, unpublished) that these differences (mostly size dis¬
tinctions) are maintained under greenhouse conditions. The species
throughout its range seems restricted to sandy soil conditions and
is often a prevalent pioneer in disturbed areas, in SW Wisconsin,
south of the Tension Zone, in dunes, sandy prairie remnants, fields,
and sand terraces along major rivers and in the central Wisconsin
sand plains; near Arena, Iowa Co., or in SW Jackson Co., in ‘‘sand-
blows” with Polygonella articulata, Oenothera rhombipetala, Aris-
tida tuberculosa, and Hudsonia tomentosa, with Pinus banksiana
nearby. Flowering and fruiting from mid- July to mid-September
(October) .
2. Froelichia gracilis (Hook.) Moq. Slender Cottonweed.
Map 8 ; fig. 1.
Slender, erect to procumbent annual tomentulose herbs with
stems usually terete and divergently branching at base, 2-4 dm
tall. Leaves thickish, mostly papillose-puberulent above, sericeous-
tomentose beneath, linear to lanceolate or lance-elliptic, the largest
with mostly acute apices, 5-10 mm wide, the uppermost reduced.
Flowers 3-ranked (which may be seen by twisting inflorescence
until 3 straight rows come into line) , the mature spikes 8 (6-9) mm
in diameter, averaging 8 flowers/cm. Bracts acuminate, stramineous
to blackish-brown. Bracteoles slightly unequal, the larger 2 (1.1-
2.3) mm high. Mature perianth indurate, 4 (3. 4-4.3) mm high, sil¬
very sericeous, the neck oblique. Lobes of the staminal tube 0.5
(0.4-0. 6) mm long. Anthers 0.5 (0.4-0. 6) mm long. Seeds 1. 2-1.4
mm high, tan to yellowish brown, rather dull.
This species usually is considered indigenous west of the Missis¬
sippi River from Iowa or Nebraska to Colorado, southward to
Texas, Arizona and Chihuahua. Its range has expanded eastward
in recent years, having been reported since 1924 as adventive in
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New
York and Virginia (Blake, 1956). Although F. floridana has been
known in Wisconsin since at least 1861 [Pepin Co, : Pepin, 1861,
Hale s.n. (MINN, WIS)] and was collected several times during
the late 19th century, F. gracilis apparently was not known in
Wisconsin until 1927 [Sheboygan Co.: coal yard, Sheboygan, Aug.
1927, Goessl s.n. (WIS) ]. In this state, as in others east of the Mis¬
sissippi River, the species occurs in sandy, gravelly, or cindery soil,
mostly along railroads, less frequently along roads, and in adjacent
waste places. Flowering and fruiting from late June to early Sep¬
tember (October).
1961]
Sauer & Davidson — Wisconsin Flora No.
87
Bibliography
Blake, S. F. 1956. FroelicJiia (jrarilis in Maryland. Rliodoixi 58:35-38.
Fernald, M. L. 1945. Botanical specialties of . . . Virginia. Rhodora 47:93-142.
Fernandes, R. 1957. Notas sobre a flora de Portugal. Boletirne da Sociedade
Broteriana, 2d. ser., 31:183-217.
Sauer, J. D. 1950. The grain amaranths: a suj’vey of their history and classi¬
fication. Annals of the Missouri Botanicai Garden 37:561-632.
Sauer, J. D. 1955. Revision of the dioecious amaranths. Madrono 13:5-46.
Sauer, J. D. 1957. Recent migration and evolution of the dioecious amaranths.
Evolution 11:11-31.
Standley, P .C. i.917. Amaranthaceae, in North American Flora 21(2) :95-129.
Thellung, a. 1914. Amarantus, in Ascherson & Graebner, Synopsis der mit-
tel-europdischen Flora 5(1) :225-356. Leipzig.
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN
NO, 46. CARYOPHYLLACEAE— PINK FAMILY^
Robert A. Schlising and Hugh H. Iltis
Herbarium of the University of Wisconsin
This treatment of the Caryophyllaceae of Wisconsin is based on
specimens in the following herbaria : University of Wisconsin, Mad¬
ison (WIS) ; Milwaukee Public Museum (MIL) ; University of Min¬
nesota, Minneapolis (MINN) ; Chicago Natural History Museum
(F) ; Northland College, Ashland; University of Wisconsin — Mil¬
waukee ; Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa ; Eau Claire State Teach¬
ers College; Platteville State Teachers College; and Saint NorberPs
College, De Pere.
Dots on the maps represent specific locations of collections, and
triangles represent county records. The numbers in the map corner
insets list the amount of flowering and fruiting material studied,
and indicate approximate flowering and fruiting seasons for the
species. The manuscript text is based in part on The Netv Britton
and Brown Illustrated Flora (Gleason, 1952), and on Gray’s Man¬
ual of Botany, Ed. 8 (Fernald, 1950). County records for Illinois,
where given, are based mostly on the maps of Jones and Fuller
(1955) and Winterringer and Evers (1960), those for Minnesota
on preliminary maps prepared by Dr. Max Partch (St. Cloud,
Minn.), to whom we extend our thanks.
Thanks and acknowledgment for loans of Wisconsin Caryophyl¬
laceae are due Drs. Henry C. Greene, Curator of the Cryptogamic
Herbarium, University of Wisconsin; M. J. Fay, Eau Claire State
Teachers College; Eugene Hsi, Northland College; Emil P.
Kruschke, Milwaukee Public Museum; John R. Millar, Chicago Nat¬
ural History Museum, Gerald B. Ownbey, University of Minne¬
sota; Richard W. Pohl, Iowa State College; Alvin L. Throne, Uni¬
versity of Wisconsin — Milwaukee; and Russell D. Wagner, Platte¬
ville State Teachers College. Thanks are also due Dr. Carroll E.
Wood, Jr., Harvard University, Cambridge, for information on
Wisconsin Herniaria; Mr. Max A. Gratzl, for the excellent photo¬
graphs of Scleranthus ; Mr. Donald Ugent, for critically reading
parts of the manuscript ; Mrs. Russell Rill, for use of her excellent
private herbarium of the Waupaca region ; Mrs. Katherine S. Snell,
Herbarium Assistant, for ready, cheerful assistance in the course
of this study; and Miss Kathryn L. Wollangk and Mr. Stephen W.
Gilson, for aid in the preparation of the maps.
1 Published with the aid of the Norman C. Passett Memorial Fund.
89
90 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
This study, in laboratory and field, was supported during 1960-
1961 by the Research Committee of the University of Wisconsin,
on funds from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, as were
many of the field trips over the past twenty years, on which the
herbarium material for this study was collected.
CARYOPHYLLACEAE OF WISCONSIN
Annual to perennial herbs, with stems often stvollen at the nodes.
Leaves simple, entire, opposite or rarely whorled, often narrow and
small. Inflorescence of bracteate cymes. Flowers mostly perfect,
hypogynous or rarely perigynous, regular, (4-) 5-merous. Sepals
free, or fused and forming a tube, persistent in fruit. Petals free,
usually 5, (or cleft to the base and appearing as 10) , or rarely lack¬
ing. Stamens usually twice the number of petals. Styles 2-5 (rarely
1, 2-parted). Ovary 1-3-celled (or 5-celled in Lychnis alba), with 1
to many ovules on basal or free-central placentae. Fruit a 1-seeded
utricle or a few- to many-seeded capsule. Seeds usually with curved
embryo surrounding a mealy albumen (perisperm).
The Wisconsin Caryophyllaceae, or Pinks, are predominantly a
group of weedy species of open and disturbed places. Fewer than
half of the species of Wisconsin Caryophs are native to the state
and occur mostly as members of distinct plant communities with
only several in weedy habitats. The majority of the Caryophs in
Wisconsin are not native to the state or to North America, but are
introduced and naturalized from Europe and Asia. Included here
are many pestiferous weeds, which may have been inadvertently
introduced, such as the “chickweeds” and Cockle or White Cam¬
pion, as well as a number of showy garden species brought from
the Old World, such as Maiden and Cottage Pinks, Carnations, and
Catchflys. Some of these have escaped from cultivation and have
become established locally as members of the Wisconsin flora, in¬
cluding Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila) and Sweet William. All spe¬
cies of Caryophyllaceae known to be growing without cultivation
in Wisconsin have been listed in this treatment of the family, one
of which (Scleranthus perennis) is here reported for the first time
for North America.
KEY TO GENERA
A. Sepals free from each other the entire length (in genera 1 and
2 only slightly fused at base or forming a perigynous calyx-
tube around the ovary, with stamens inserted on the tube and
with the free calyx-teeth longer than the calyx-tube) ; flowers
generally less than 1 cm long.
B. Fruit an indehiscent 1-seeded utricle; petals lacking; styles
1 or 2.
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No.
91
C. Leaves with scarious stipules; sepals free their whole
length to slightly fused at base; style 1, at tip 2-parted
(PARONYCHIEAE) _ 1. PARONYCHIA.
CC. Leaves without stipules; sepals fused into a perigynous
calyx-tube at base; styles 2 (sclerantheae) _
_ _ 2. SCLERANTHUS.
BB. Fruit a several- to many-seeded capsule, opening by valves
or teeth; petals 4 or 5, rarely 1-3 or lacking; styles 3-5;
mostly weak-stemmed or small herbs (alsinoideae) .
D. Styles 5; capsule with 5 or 10 valves or teeth.
E. Leaves filiform, appearing whorled, with minute
scarious stipules; petals entire, shorter than the
sepals or slightly longer _ 3. SPERGULA,
EE, Leaves with flat blades, opposite, without stipules;
petals notched at tip or cleft nearly to base (thus
sometimes appearing as 10), equalling to longer
than the sepals.
F. Capsule ovoid, with 5 often bifid valves ; leaves
ovate, the larger 3-6 cm long and 2-3 cm wide
_ 4. MYOSOTON.
FF. Capsule cylindrical, often curved at end, with
10, often twisted teeth ; largest leaves smaller,
if ovate 1.5 cm or less wide 5. CERASTIUM.
DD. Styles 3 or 4 (rarely 5) ; capsule with 3, 4, or 6 (rarely
8) valves or teeth.
G. Leaves filiform, appearing whorled, with scarious
stipules ; petals pale rose ; rare weed _
_ 6. SPERGULARIA.
GG. Leaves Aliform to ovate, oblong, or elliptic, oppo¬
site, without stipules ; petals white.
H. Sepals usually 4 (sometimes 5) ; styles as
many as, and alternate with the sepals; cap¬
sule with 4 teeth ; small, tufted plant, with lin¬
ear, mucronate leaves; northern Wisconsin;
very rare weed _ 7. SAGINA.
HH. Sepals 5; styles 3, rarely 4; capsule with 3 or
6 (rarely 4 or 8) valves or teeth.
I, Petals 5, entire or rarely emarginate ; styles
3 _ 8. ARENARIA.
11. Petals 5, but deeply cleft (often almost to
the base) and sometimes appearing as 10;
styles 3 or 4 _ 9. STELLARIA.
AA. Sepals fused into a definite calyx-tube, the 5 free calyx-teeth
less than half as long as the tube, or, if longer than the tube.
92 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
over 1 cm long; flowers usually over 1 cm long, showy; small
or large herbs (silenoideae) .
J. Flowers subtended at base or on pedicel by 2-6 appressed
bracts lying flat against the calyx.
K, Calyx many-nerved; petals dentate or lacerate; flowers
over 1 cm long; leaves linear to ovate_ 10. DIANTHUS.
KK. Calyx with 5 major ribs ending in teeth; petals with a
shallow notch; flowers under 1 cm long; leaves linear-
filiform; small, wiry herb _ 11. TUNICA.
JJ. Flowers on naked pedicels, or the bracts not immediately
below the calyx and not appressed.
L. Capsule 4-toothed; styles 2; calyx strongly 5-ribbed or
only obscurely many-nerved.
M. Calyx strongly 5-angled, with green, winged ribs _
_ 12, VACCARIA.
MM. Calyx tubular or broad-campanulate, obscurely
nerved.
N. Calyx over 1.5 cm long, 2-lipped, 5-toothed;
leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate or elliptic _
_ 13. SAPONARIA.
NN, Calyx under 1 cm long, not lipped, but with 5
prominent teeth ; leaves mostly linear _
_ 14. GYPSOPHILA.
LL, Capsule with 5 or more teeth; styles 3 or more; calyx
10- or 20-nerved or ribbed (this often most noticeable
near the base of the calyx).
0. Calyx teeth 1.5-5 cm long, longer than the petals;
flowers magenta purple _ 15. AGROSTEMMA.
00. Calyx teeth to 10 mm long, shorter than, or rarely
equalling the petals.
P. Capsule normally with 5 or 10 teeth; styles (of
female flowers) normally 5 (3-9) ; flowers red
or magenta-purple and perfect, or white and im¬
perfect (if white-flowered, plants never with
styles or capsules as well as stamens visible on
the same plant) _ 16. LYCHNIS.
PP. Capsule with 6 teeth; styles 3; flowers pink or
white, all perfect (if white-flowered, plants
sometimes with styles or capsules as well as
stamens visible on the same plant) _17. SILENE.
1, PARONYCHIA Mill. Whitlow-wort.
[Core, E. L. The North American species of Paronychia. Amer.
Midi. Nat. 26:369-397. 1941.]
1961]
Schlising & litis— Wisconsin Flora No. UQ
93
Erect slender annuals, dichotomously branching, the minute flow¬
ers in the axils of branches or in cymes. Leaves opposite, often
white- or black-dotted ; stipules scarious, subtending the leaves and
the bracts of flowers. Sepals 5, often fused slightly at base, when
mature with cucullate, mucronate tip. Petals lacking. Stamens 2-5.
Styles 1, 2-parted at the apex. Fruit a globose utricle containing a
single, dark, shiny, round seed.
Key to Species
A, Upper branches of inflorescence puberulent; at least some up¬
per leaves minutely ciliate with short, antrorse hairs; sepals
usually with 2 or 3 longitudinal ridges, and with obsolete or
very narrow white margins _ 1. F. fastigiata.
AA. Upper branches of inflorescence glabrous; leaf margins
smooth; sepals smooth or with one central ridge (this rarely
with lateral ridges), and with well-defined, whitish, papery
margins _ 2. P. canadensis.
1. Paronychia fastigiata (Raf.) Fern. Forked Chickweed;
Whitlow- wort. Map 1.
Anychia polygonoides Raf.
Stems 5-28 cm tall, erect or reclining, always puberulent on the
upper branches, often throughout. Main stem-leaves oblanceolate or
narrowly elliptic, mostly acute, 10-23 mm long, 2-5 mm wide;
bracts always, and lower and middle stem leaves often very mi¬
nutely antrorsely ciliate. Stipules lanceolate, papery, those of the
bracts shorter than to several mm longer than the sepals. Sepals
linear-lanceolate, 1. 1-1.4 mm long, with 2 or 3 prominent longi-
tzidJnal ridges (lOX). Utricle shorter than the sepals.
Native, but rather rare and sporadic in Wisconsin, mainly in the
'‘Driftless Area’’ in the Black, Chippewa, Wisconsin, and Missis¬
sippi River valleys, on sandstone ledges, bluffs, and in thinly wooded
to open, sandy places, such as lake shores and roadsides ; on top of
sandstone bluffs on sterile sand under scattered Pinus resinosa.
Long Bluff, Camp Douglas (Juneau Co.) ; dry sandstone ledge, up¬
land woods on Trempealeau Mountain, Perrot State Park (Trem¬
pealeau Co.) ; sand bar, Dells of the Wisconsin River (Sauk Co.) ;
and moist sandy beach, Eau Claire Lake (Eau Claire Co.). Flower¬
ing and fruiting from July to late September (October).
Key to Varieties
A, Upper stipular bracts lanceolate, equalling or shorter than the
calyx ; flowers much crowded on the ultimate branches ; plants
usually reddish or brownish when mature _
- la. P. fastigiata var. fastigiata.
94 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
AA. Upper stipular bracts lanceolate-attenuate, equalling or longer
than the calyx ; flowers generally not crowded on the ultimate
branches ; plants usually greenish when mature _
_ lb. P. fastigiata var. paleacea.
Although var. paleacea Fern, is distinguished by Fernald (1936,
1950) from var. fastigiata solely on the stipular bract character,
the other differences listed in the key have been noted in Indiana
by Beam (1940) and generally apply to the Wisconsin specimens
as well. Beam also noted that in Indiana var. paleacea has an earlier
flowering season. This is true in Wisconsin as well, where most of
the collections were made from early July to mid- August, while
collections of var. fastigiata were made from late August to Octo¬
ber. One collection (Peterson 152, 25 September, Onalaska, La
Crosse Co. [WIS] ) contains one reddish plant of var. fastigiata
and two greenish plants of var. paleacea, which were apparently
growing together at the same station. On the other hand, 50 indi¬
viduals from the same population, collected on a sand bar at Tower
Hill State Park, Iowa Co., were all var. fastigiata. Although these
varieties are usually distinct, several of the collections ( e.g., Schlis-
ing & Musolf 1795, Gr ether 6651, and Peterson 710) seem to be in¬
termediate in stipular bract length.
Paronychia fastigiata var. paleacea often somewhat resembles
P. canadensis in its greener aspect and less densely-flowered
branches.
2. Paronychia canadensis (L.) Wood. Forked Chickweed ; Whit¬
low-wort. Map 2.
Anychia canadensis (L.) Ell.
Similar to P. fastigiata in size and branching, but with upper
branches more delicate, leaves less acute and broader, and the in¬
florescence more open. Glabrous throughout. Main leaves obovate,
oblanceolate, or elliptic, 10-21 mm long, 3-9 mm wide, entire, ecili-
ate. Stipules of inflorescence ovate-lanceolate, shorter than the
sepals. Sepals oblong-ovate, 0.8-1. 3 mm long, with prominent,
white, scarious margins, often with a central rib (rarely with 2
lateral ones). Utricle longer than the sepals.
Native, mainly in the “Briftless Area” of southern Wisconsin,
here reaching its northern limit; in dry, bare and sterile soil, on
slopes and cliffs, especially common on sandstone ledges, occasion¬
ally on limestone ; in Red Oak- White Oak woods and on wooded dry
sandstone ledges, top of Trempealeau Mountain (Trempealeau
Co.) ; soil pocket on Niagara Bolomite boulders. Blue Mounds State
Park (Iowa Co.) ; and rarely on xeric prairie. Flowering and fruit¬
ing from the first of July through September.
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. US
95
Herniaria cineria DC., Rupture-wort, a native of Europe some¬
what resembling Paronychia or a creeping Euphorbia, is a spread¬
ing, grayish, short-hispid annual with tiny, ciliate stipules and
opposite, oblong leaves, the 5-parted calyx enclosing the 1-seeded,
indehiscent nutlet. The sole specimen, annotated by L. C. Wheeler
in 1937, is labelled: ‘‘Green Bay, 1870, reed. May, 1871, Dr. J. M.
Antoine, Brussels, Door County,’’ and is in the Gray Herbarium,
Harvard University. The collector, a Belgian botanist, wrote to Asa
Gray in an undated letter (ca. 1871) that he collected the species
in sandy terrain in the vicinity of Green Bay, and points out that
the species was not included in Gray’s Manual. Herniaria has not
been recollected here, and Antoine himself (1871) did not include
it in his note on the flora of Wisconsin. (Information courtesy of
Carroll E. Wood) .
2. SCLERANTHUS L. Knav^el
Low herbs with forked, pubescent, wiry stems and numerous
minute greenish flowers in tight cymes. Leaves minute, estipulate.
Sepals fused at base to form a perigynous calyx tube, becoming
thick and hard in fruit. Petals lacking. Stamens (1-) 10, inserted
on calyx tube below the calyx teeth. Styles 2, distinct. Fruit a hard,
one-seeded utricle, persistently enclosed by the calyx. Old World.
Key to Species
A. Calyx teeth acute, with a narrow scarious border at the tip;
subtending bracts usually equalling or longer than the flowers ;
annual (Fig. 1-3.) _ 1. S', annuus.
AA. Calyx teeth elliptic, blunt or rounded, and with a conspicuous
white scarious border at the tip; subtending bracts shorter
than the flowers; perennial (Fig. 1-3.) _ 2. S. perennis.
1. SCLERANTHUS ANNUUS L. Annual Knawel. Map 3 ; Figs. 1-3.
Small annual or biennial, much branched from the base, with
branches ascending or reclining, 3-14 cm long. Leaves linear-
subulate, the larger 5-25 mm long, the connate bases ciliate. In¬
florescence bracts usually equalling or longer than the flowers.
Calyx mostly 2.4-4 mm long, the teeth acute, bordered at the tip
with a narrow scarious margin. Calyx teeth in fruit erect or slightly
spreading, free from each other most to all of their length. Stamens
half as long as the calyx teeth or shorter.
Naturalized from Europe. A rare weed in Wisconsin : Manitowoc
Co.: roadsides, sandy soil, Cleveland, 1907, Goessl s.n. (WIS). She¬
boygan Co. : sand dunes, 3 miles south of Sheboygan on Lake Michi¬
gan, 1927, Wadmond s.n. (MINN, WIS). Barron Co.: sand delta.
96 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Prairie Lake, Cameron, 1938, Fassett 19927 (WIS). Douglas Co.:
firelane road near Stone’s Bridge, 1942, Thomson 509Jp (WIS). Lin¬
coln Co.: sandy roadside, 1950, Seymour 11650 (WIS) ; and sandy
shore of Lake Nokomis, 1950, Seymour 12406 (MIL, WIS). Flow¬
ering and fruiting from July to September.
2. SCLERANTHUS PERENNis L. Perennial Knawel.
Map 4; Figs. 1-3.
Small perennial, 3-10 cm tall, often with dead leaves at the base.
Similar to S. annuus, but stems usually more ascending and less
branched at base, with numerous, short internodes below the major
branching. Larger leaves 5-12 mm long. Bracts of inflorescence
shorter than the flowers. Calyx mostly 2.5-4 mm long, with blunt
or rounded elliptic teeth, with wide, white, scarious border at the
tip. Calyx teeth usually bending together in fruit, over-lapping one
another and in contact for much of their length. Stamens nearly as
long as the calyx teeth.
A Eurasian weed, occurring from Europe to Asia Minor, the
Caucasus, Armenia, and Siberia (Hegi, 1908), established in south-
SCLERANTHUS
annuls
PERENNIS
Figure 1. Sclerantlius perennis (Fassett 21635), S. annuus (Fassett 19927).
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UtS
97
Figure 2, Scleranthus annuus (top), S. perennis (bottom). Same
plants as in Figure 1. Scale on left in mm.
98 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
SCLERANTHUS
Dot Indicates measurement average
of 5 flowers/individual .
Greatest and smallest measurements
on each individual are indicated
by horizontal and vertical lines.
ANNUUS
FIG. 3
PERENNIS
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6 0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
WIDTH OF CALYX TEETH IN Jfo MM
Figure 3.
central Wisconsin in sandy, disturbed areas: Juneau Co.: Camp
Douglas, 1928, Davis s.n. (WIS) ; prairie along county trunk H,
Camp Douglas, Wills s.n, (WIS) ; abundant mat-forming weed in
sandy lawn, Mauston, 1958, Curtis & Greene s.n. (WIS). Marquette
Co.: sandy pasture, Montello, 1937, Fassett 20Jfl8 (WIS) ; sandy
roadside, abundant in pastures, Montello, 1942, Fassett 21635
(MIL, MINN, WIS). Sauk Co.: Lake Delton, 1941, Schorta s.n.
(WIS) . Columbia Co. : sand dunes near Fox River, Fort Winnebago,
1948, Seymour 10313 (WIS). Flowering and fruiting from late
June to September.
Scleranthus perennis is listed here for the first time as occur¬
ring in Wisconsin, and it appears, for the first time in North Amer¬
ica as well.
All fourteen collections of Wisconsin Scleranthus studied were
labelled aS. annuus. Since taxonomic manuals and floras all list
S. annuus as having very narrowly bordered calyx teeth, the broad.
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. 4-6
99
white, scarious borders of the calyx teeth in part of the Wisconsin
collections readily indicated an unusual variant. It was not diffi-
cult to demonstrate that not only S. annuus, but also the Eurasian
S. perennis listed in European floras (Hegi, 1908; Karsten, 1895;
Clapham, Tutin, and Warburg, 1952) does occur in Wisconsin.
Measurements were taken of 19 plants from the 14 Wisconsin col¬
lections labelled S. annuus. Width of calyx teeth (0.5 mm from tip
of the tooth) was plotted on the horizontal axis of a scatter dia¬
gram, and length of bracts subtending upper flowers on the vertical
axis. The resulting Figure 3, where averages as well as extremes
of measurements for any one individual are indicated, shows tivo
clearly separated groupings of individuals. The wider-toothed,
shorter-bracted individuals do have all the characters listed in Euro¬
pean floras for S. perennis, and compare very well with European
collections such as Mattisson S751 from Skane (Sweden), or Kids-
tersky s.n., 1938, from Bohemia (both WIS), except that the Wis¬
consin collections seem smaller. The other group on the scatter dia¬
gram contains individuals bearing all the characters listed for
S. annuus.
The Wisconsin collections of S. perennis, although made over a
thirty-year period (with the first collection in 1928), all came from
a comparatively small area in the central Wisconsin '‘sand coun¬
ties.’^ All the plants here may very probably be the progeny of one
original introduction of S', perennis.
3. SPERGULA L, Spurrey
1. Spergula arvensis L. Spurrey; Corn Spurrey. Map 5.
Annual with flowering stems 1-6 dm long, simple or with 2-18
weak ascending branches from the base, nearly glabrous below to
glandular-hairy in the inflorescence. Leaves filiform, in opposite
clusters at the nodes, often glandular-hairy, mainly 1-5 cm long,
with tiny scarious stipules. Inflorescence cymose, dichotomous.
Sepals 5, ovate, blunt, scarious or scarious-margined, 1.5-4 mm
long, often glandular-hairy. Petals 5, white, entire, to sometimes
longer than the sepals. Stamens 10 or 5. Styles 5. Capsule 5-valved,
longer than the sepals. Seeds 1-1.5 mm wide, black with white
papillae and with a very narrow white concentric wing-margin.
Naturalized from Europe, a weed of sandy areas in northern and
central Wisconsin, mainly in cultivated or neglected fields, road¬
sides, and lake shores, locally abundant in Marathon County in pea
and potato fields, the one collection from southern Wisconsin from
a strawberry patch in Dane County, 1953, where in subsequent
years it did not persist (Thomson s.n. [WIS]) ; in dry, sandy field
with Comptonia peregrina, Hieracium aurantiacum and Rohinia
100 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
I
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. Jf-6
101
pseudo-acacia (Lincoln Co.) ; in sandy roadside with Linaria cana¬
densis and Paronychia fastigiata (Juneau Co.) ; and in a cranberry
marsh (Jackson Co.). Flowering and fruiting from mid-June until
mid-September.
4, MYOSOTON Moench. Giant Chickweed
1. Myosoton aquaticum (L.) Moench. Giant Chickweed.
Stellaria aquatica (L.) Scop. Map 6.
Reclining or upright perennial, glabrous at base to densely
glandular-hairy above. Flowering stems weak, from 1-6 (-10) dm
long, often much branched in the cymose inflorescence. Larger
leaves na7TOwly to broadly ovate or elliptic, 3-7 cm long, 1.5-3. 5
cm tvide, often cordate at base, sessile, the lower sometimes peti-
oled. Flowers long-pediceled, in the axils of reduced foliage leaves.
Sepals ovate-lanceolate, 5-9 mm long. Petals 5, ivhite, deeply
notched, longer than the sepals. Stamens 10. Styles 5. Valves of
capsule 5, often bifid. Seeds orbicular-reniform, brown, rough-acute-
warty, 0.8-0. 9 mm wide.
Naturalized from temperate to arctic Eurasia, occurring mainly
in southwest Wisconsin but also scattered in other areas, usually in
moist situations, especially on rocky, gravelly and shady stream-
sides, in roadside ditches, pastures, abandoned old fields, seepage
bogs, alder thickets, sedge meadows, and shady wood borders, or in
oak or maple woods; on damp or wet sandstone cliffs along and
above streams in open sun, with Sullivantia and Mimulus glabratus
(Grant Co.) ; in moist, lowland floodplain forest of Acer nigrum,
Quercus bicolor, Ulmus, and Tilia (Vernon Co.) ; on steep, damp,
densely wooded limestone slope with maple, basswood, and oaks
(Lafayette Co.) ; first collected in the state in 1910, with most of
the early collections from weedy habitats, since then often col¬
lected, especially in southwest Wisconsin, in native communities,
where often it seems very much at home. Flowering from the last
week of May to the first week of October, and fruiting from mid-
June to early October.
Extreme variation occurs in this species, and small or depauper¬
ate specimens are sometimes confused with Stellaria media. They
may be distinguished as follows :
Myosoton aquaticum
1. Upper stem pubescent with
scattered hairs.
2. Petals longer than sepals.
3. Styles 5.
4. Mature capsule 5-valved.
Stellaria media
1. Upper stem pubescent in
lines.
2. Petals shorter than sepals
or none.
3. Styles 3.
4. Mature capsule 6-valved.
102 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
5. CERASTIUM L. Mouse-ear Chickweed
[Fernald, M. L., and K. M. Wiegand. Studies of some boreal Ameri¬
can Cerastiums of the section Orthodon. Rhodora 22 : 169-179.
1920.]
Low, generally pubescent herbs with opposite, estipulate leaves.
Sepals 5, scarious-margined. Petals 5, white or pale pink, the apex
notched or cleft to the middle. Stamens 10 or 5. Styles 5. Mature
capsule cylindrical, usually upward-curved at the end and exceed¬
ing calyx, scarious, with 10, often twisted teeth.
Key to Species
A. Inflorescence bracts subtending pedicels green and leaflike
throughout, not scarious on the margin, ciliate; teeth of
opened (mature) capsule 0. 5-0.9 mm long; viscid annual,
often with very weak stems _ 1. C. nutans.
AA. Inflorescence bracts subtending pedicels scarious, or green
with scarious margin especially near the apex (the lowermost
bracts often leaflike), ciliate or eciliate; teeth of opened (ma¬
ture) capsule 0.9-1. 6 mm long; perennials generally with up¬
right habit, but often with stems decumbent at the base.
B. Petals showy, 8-12 mm long, 3-7 mm longer than the
sepals ; axils of stem leaves with sterile leafy short-shoots,
the plants therefore very leafy; plants of sandy areas
_ 2. C. arvense.
BB. Petals 3-8 mm long, shorter than to rarely longer than the
sepals; sterile shoots rarely present in the leaf axils;
ubiquitous weed _ 3. C. vulgatum.
1. Cerastium nutans Raf. Nodding Chickweed. Map 7.
Rather weak annual, 1-4 dm tall, often viscid with glandular
hairs. Main stem leaves acute, 1.4-5. 4 cm long, 0.3-1. 3 cm wide,
ovate to lanceolate or oblanceolate, nearly glabrous to heavily viscid-
pubescent on both surfaces. Bracts of inflorescence herbaceous,
tvithout translucent margins. Sepals 4-6 mm long, shorter than the
5-7 mm long white petals. Capsule curved, 6-12 mm long, with
teeth 0.5-0. 9 mm long. Pedicels in fruit typically 1-5 cm long, usu¬
ally curved downward at the tip.
Native, mostly south of the Tension Zone, occasional, most often
in dry or mesic oak or maple woods, in moist areas of sand or
gravel such as creek beds and tops or bases of limestone or sand¬
stone bluffs, and sometimes weedy along railroads and roadsides.
Flowering from about the second week of May through the first
third of June.
1961]
Schlising & litis- — Wisconsin Flora No. US
103
104 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
2. Cerastium arvense L. var. arvense. Field Chickweed.
Map 8.
Matted perennial with tufts of leaves (short-shoots) in axils of
most stem leaves, giving plants a bushy appearance, the branch
bases decumbent. Stems pubescent, 10-26 cm tall. Leaves linear to
narrow=lanceolate or oblanceolate, acute, 10-33 mm long and 1-5
mm wide, sparingly to densely pubescent, sometimes glandular. In¬
florescence rather stiff and erect, pubescent throughout, the bracts
and sepals scarious-margined, the sepals acute, 5-7 mm long, pubes¬
cent, sometimes glandular. Petals 8-12 mm long, ivhite and rather
showy, with a 2-3 mm deep cleft. Capsule 6-9 mm long, 2-2.5 mm
wide, the elongate teeth about 1.5 mm long.
Native, mainly in west-central Wisconsin and along the Lake
Michigan shore, in dry, open, usually sandy places such as river
banks, sand dunes, and open woods; sandy prairies at edge of
scrubby Pinus hanksiana-Quercus velutina woods, with Trades-
cantia ohiensis, Lithospermum croceum, and Selaginella rupestris
(NW Monroe Co.) ; and rarely weedy in old fields and roadsides.
Flowering from early May through mid- June, and fruiting from
June to September.
All Wisconsin individuals are densely leafy, and belong to var.
arvense. However, two old and somewhat incomplete collections
from Beloit are more loosely branched, have larger leaves somewhat
farther upward on the stems, and are probably referable to Var.
OBLONGIFOLIUM (Torr.) Holl. & Britt.: Rock Co.: Beloit, May 22,
1875, Sivezey s.n. (WIS), May 29, 1895, G. B. Olds s.n. (WIS).
3. Cerastium vulgatum L. var. hirsutum Fries. Common Mouse-
ear Chickweed. Maps 9 & 10.
Hirsute perennial of extremely varied habit and appearance.
Leafy shoots often present at the base. Stems 4-45 cm tall. Leaves
5-30 mm long, 2-12 mm wide, ovate or lance-ovate to oval or ob¬
long, the lower often spatulate, hirsute on both surfaces. Inflores¬
cence forking, with scarious-margined bracts, only the lowermost
herbaceous. Sepals scarious-margined, 4-7 mm long, usually hir¬
sute, sometimes glandular. Petals slightly shorter than to rarely
longer than the sepals. Pedicels mostly 5-13 mm long in fruit, bear¬
ing curved capsules 7-11 mm long, 2-3 mm wide.
Naturalized from Eurasia, very abundant throughout Wisconsin
in a great variety of disturbed or open habitats, such as sandy
roadsides, lawns, gardens, pastures, cultivated fields, waste places,
and along railroads, frequent on sandy lake shores and stream
banks, the Lake Michigan sand dunes, and on bluffs; occasionally
in a number of forest types : aspen-spruce-fir, oak-basswood-cherry.
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No.
105
oak-hickory, basswood-elm-maple, and mature hemlock-sugar ma¬
ple. Flowering from latest April through the first third of July
(October), with a flowering peak in mid- June. Fruiting from late
May through July (October),
Key to Forms
A. Upper branches of the inflorescence hirsute, with none of the
hairs bearing glands _
_ 3a. C. vulgatum var. hirsutum forma hirsutum.
AA. Upper branches of the inflorescence hirsute, with all of the
hairs bearing glands
_ 3b. C. vulgatum var. hirsutum forma glandulosum.
The non-glandular forma hirsutum (Map 9) is more common in
Wisconsin than the glandular forma glandulosum (Boenn.) Druce
(Map 10), which, though widely distributed in the state, is most
common in the north. Both glandular and completely non-glandular
plants have been observed in the same population.
Cerastium viscosum L., reported for Wisconsin by Fassett
(1957), is a more southern species with smaller flowers. No collec¬
tions have been seen from the state.
Cerastium tomentosum L., Snow-in-Summer, a white-tomen-
tose, mat-forming perennial to 40 cm tall, with leaves 3-5 cm long,
is frequently grown in gardens in Wisconsin, the two collections
evidently representing escapes : Milwaukee Co. : spreading from
garden, lake shore south of Atwater Beach, Shorewood, Skinners
s.n. (WIS). Kewaunee Co.: weedy open sandy places, dump along
Lake Michigan, litis & Buckmann 10826 (WIS).
6. SPERGULARIA J. & C. Presl. Sand Spurrey
[Rossbach, R. P. Spergularia in North and South America. Rho-
dora 42:57-70, 105-143. 1940.]
Small annuals with decumbent or erect stems, to 15 cm long.
Leaves filiform, opposite, the secondary shoots at the nodes making
leaves appear whorled. Stipules scarious, prominent, 1.5-4 mm long.
Flowers small. Sepals 5, ovate, blunt, scarious-margined, longer
than the 5 dull pink, entire petals. Stamens 2-10. Styles and valves
of capsule 3. Seeds minutely papillate.
Key to Species
A. Stipules triangular-acuminate, markedly longer than broad;
capsule about as long as calyx; stamens 6-10 _ 1. S. rubra.
AA. Stipules triangular, almost as broad as long; capsule longer
than calyx ; stamens 2-5 _ 2, S. marina.
106 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
1. Spergularia rubra (L.) J. & C. Presl.
Tissa rubra (L,) Brandegee.
Red Sand Spurrey.
Map 11.
Stems several to many times branched at base, decumbent. Plants
nearly glabrous to densely glandular-hairy, especially in the inflo¬
rescence. Main leaves 0.6-2 cm long, 0.4-1 mm wide, mucronate.
Stipules conspicuous, triangular-acuminate, 1.5-k wm long. Sepals
2.5-4 mm long, longer than the petals and about as long as the cap¬
sule. Stamens 6 (-10). Seeds about 0.5 mm long.
Naturalized from Eurasia, in Wisconsin a rare weed of sandy
areas, with only three collections (all WIS) : Oneida Co.: Hugo
Sauer Nursery near Rhinelander, 1958, Weber 69. Vilas Co. : Trout
Lake State Forest Nursery, in seed bed and lawn, 1959, litis 1307 Jf
(persisting and abundant in 1961!). Lincoln Co,: sand of fire lane.
Town of Harding, 1952, Seymour & Schlising lUUM. Flowering all
summer.
2. Spergularia marina (L.) Griseb.
Tissa marina (L.) Britton.
Salt-marsh Sand Spurrey
Map 11.
Stems simple or with 2-6 branches from base. Plants glabrous,
especially in the lower portions, to densely glandular-hairy in inflo¬
rescence. Leaves mostly 1.5-3. 5 cm long, about 1 mm wide, often
slightly mucronate. Stipules deltoid, mostly 2-3 mm long, clasping
(sometimes encircling) node. Sepals 2. 8-3. 5 mm long, shorter than
the capsule. Stamens (2-) 3 (-5). Seeds 0. 6-0.7 mm long.
Native of Europe, probably introduced in America; collected in
only one locality in Wisconsin, at abandoned Soo Line Railroad sta¬
tion in Westfield, Marquette Co. : sand and cinders, 1941, Shinners
Jp006 (WIS), and sandy roadsides and edges of vacant lots, 1960,
Schlising & Musolf 1771 (WIS).
7. SAGINA L. Pearlwort
1. Sagina procumbens. L. Pearlwort; Birdseye. Map 12.
Tiny matted or tufted perennial (somewhat resembling Arenaria
stricta), to 10 cm tall, glabrous throughout. Leaves linear, mucro¬
nate, 3-18 mm long, often with short-shoots in their axils, estipu-
late. Pedicels capillary, often hooked or recurved at the summit.
Sepals normally 4, sometimes 5, oval or oblong, with rounded apex,
1.8-2. 5 mm long. Petals the same number as sepals, entire, shorter
than sepals, or sometimes absent. Stamens 4 or 5. Styles 4 or 5,
alternate with the sepals. Capsule 4-valved, equalling or longer
than the sepals.
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. US
107
A circum-boreal species, possibly native to northern Wisconsin,
but here mainly from weedy habitats, with all but one collection
made in 1929 and 1930 from near Hurley, Iron County: woods and
pasture, Bohh 225 (WIS, NORTHLAND), roadside ditch, Fassett
95Jfl (WIS), roadside, base of bluff near Lake Lavina, Fassett
10761 (WIS), and 2 miles west of Hurley, Knowlton s.n. (WIS).
Goessl s.n. (WIS), from “Lawn city park,” sine, loc., probably
came from Sheboygan.
8. ARENARIA L. Sandwort
[Maguire, B. Studies in the Caryophyllaceae V. Arenaria in Amer¬
ica North of Mexico. Amer. Midi, Nat. 46:493-511. 1951]
Delicate small herbs with sessile estipulate leaves. Inflorescence
1 to many-flowered. Sepals 5. Petals 5, luhite, entire (rarely emar-
ginate). Stamens normally 10. Styles 3. Capsule ovoid or conic,
splitting into 3 valves, in some species each valve 2-cleft and split¬
ting nearly to base.
Key to Species
A. Leaves with expanded, ovate to lanceolate blades ; capsule with
6 teeth; plants pubescent and leaves ciliate (pubescence reduced
to minute knobs and ciliation essentially lacking in No. 3).
B. Leaves broadly ovate, not over 6 mm long; sepals usually
with minute, white, stalked glands; petals shorter than
sepals; plants creeping; eastern Wisconsin _
_ _ _ 1. A. serpyllifolia.
BB. Leaves oblong or elliptic to lance-ovate or lanceolate, over 6
mm long; sepals without glands, glabrous, pustulate, or
sparsely pubescent; petals longer than or (rarely) shorter
than sepals.
C, Leaves oblong to elliptic or lance-ovate ; usually blunt,
ciliate, the midrib pubescent beneath ; sepals obtuse,
shorter than the petals; common, southern Wisconsin.-
_ 2. A. lateriflora.
CC. Leaves lanceolate or lance-ovate, acute, nearly eciliate,
the midrib glabrous beneath; sepals acuminate, longer
than the petals; rare, northern Wisconsin _ _
_ 3. A, macrophylla.
AA. Leaf blades linear or linear-subulate, entire; capsule with 3
teeth; plants glabrous, mat-forming _ 4. A. stricta.
1, Arenaria serpyllifolia L, Thyme-leaved Sandwort. Map 13.
Pubescent annual with weak, often decumbent stems, simple or
much branched, sometimes to 30 cm tall. Leaves ovate, ciliate, the
108 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
larger 3-6 mm long, often pustulate. Sepals with whitish pubes¬
cence (hairs usually hearing minute whitish glands) , in fruit 2.4-
3.6 mm long, longer than the petals. Capsule elongate-ovoid, with
6 teeth. Seeds black, about 0.5 mm long, tuberculate.
Naturalized from Europe, in eastern Wisconsin west to Dane
County, in disturbed, rocky, sandy, mostly calcareous places, such as
roadways, ridges, pastures, quarries, gravel pits, on calcareous
cliffs, shores and beaches, and in thin soil pockets on Niagara
Dolomite.
Some of the specimens studied (e.g., Rogers s.n., from Ephraim,
Door Co,, [WIS] ) have long internodes and a diffuse, spreading
habit, and suggest the variety tenuior Mert. & Koch as described in
Gleason (1952) and Fernald (1950). However, these plants seem
more like shade forms hardly warranting varietal distinction.
2. Arenaria lateriflora L. Grove Sandwort; Side-flowering
Sandwort. Map 14.
Perennial from slender creeping rhizomes, with upright, simple
or branched, retrorsely puberulent stems 10-25 cm tall. Leaves ob¬
long or elliptic to lance-ovate or lanceolate, mostly 1.5-3 (3.8) cm
long, 0.4-1. 5 cm wide, narrowed at the base, acute to obtuse or
sometimes rounded at the apex, ciliate, the midrib pubescent, often
puberulent or pustulate throughout. Inflorescence (1-) 2-S (-5)
flowered, on long and slender terminal pedicels or from the leaf
axils. Sepals blunt, entire, glabrous, or with few hairs in lines, 2-4
mm long, shorter than the petals. Capsule with 3 deeply cleft valves,
longer than the sepals. Seeds with an appendage (strophiole) at the
hilum.
Native and common in southern, and occasional in western and
central Wisconsin, in densely wooded to open, mesic to damp situa¬
tions, most common in southern floodplain forest, oak, oak-hickory,
oak-maple and other deciduous woods, on limestone, sandstone,
loam, and sand, as well as on low moist prairies, pastures, river
banks, sand bars, thickets, and roadside ditches. Flowering from
the second week of May through mid- June (September).
Although Arenaria lateriflora is generally thought of as an arctic
and boreal species, in Wisconsin it occurs mostly south of the Ten¬
sion Zone, being absent from a broad region in northern Wisconsin,
and from there north to Hudson Bay (Raup, 1947 : plate 23) ! In
Wisconsin it seems to behave more like a southern than a northern
species, and one wonders if not two taxa might be involved here.
3. Arenaria macrophylla Hook. Map 14.
Similar to A. lateriflora but much less pubescent, the stem hairs
minute and barely noticeable with a lOX lens. Leaves larger, lanceo-
1961]
Schlising & litis— Wisconsin Flora No. 46
109
late or lanceolate-elliptic, generally sharply acute and more pointed
than those of A. lateriflora; margins and midrib smooth. Sepals
acuminate, longer than the petals and longer than the 64oothed
capsule.
Native, but very rare in Wisconsin, on cliffs of the igneous Peno-
kee Range (outlined on Map 14), with only two collections known:
Ashland Co. : Mossy crevices in bluff, Voght Knob, Foster Junction,
Fassett 5794 (WIS). Iron Co.: basalt cliff west of Hurley, Fassett
9454 (WIS).
Arenaria macrophylla is a widely disjunct species (Fernald,
1925: Map 31.) with a main range in the northwestern United
States, and with localized colonies around Lake Superior, the Gulf
of St. Lawrence and in Labrador.
4. Arenaria stricta Michx. Rock Sandwort, Map 15.
Glabrous perennial, often much branched from basal prostrate
stems, growing in dense tufts or mats 3 or 4 cm high, the basal
shoots persistent. Main stem leaves linear-subulate, stiff and with
sharp tips, the lower mostly, bearing dense, leafy short-shoots in
their axils. Upright branches (10-=) 15--20 (-30) cm tall, bearing
much-forked, slender cymes of delicate white flowers.
A native species of Wisconsin, represented here by two sub¬
species, one a common plant of dry habitats in the southern and
eastern parts, and a second, similar one, rare on a few bluffs in the
western and central parts of Wisconsin.
Key to Subspecies
A. Petals longer than sepals, usually from 1 mm longer to two
times the length of sepals ; sepals sharply lance-ovate or acu¬
minate, with 3 ribs of about equal prominence ; capsules mostly
shorter than sepals ; southern and eastern Wisconsin, common
_ 4a. A. stricta ssp. stricta.
AA. Petals shorter than to equalling sepals; sepals blunt or acute,
but not long-acuminate, the two lateral ribs usually not as
prominent as the midrib; capsules about equalling sepals or
longer ; western and central Wisconsin, rare
- 4b. A. stricta ssp. dawsonensis.
4a. Arenaria stricta spp. stricta. Rock Sandwort. Map 15.
Sepals lance-acuminate or sharply lance-ovate, 3,4-5. 5 mm long,
strongly 3 -ribbed. Petals at least 1 mm longer, to sometimes twice
as long as the sepals. Capsule about equalling or shorter than sepals,
with 3 entire valves.
110 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Eastern and southern Wisconsin within the “Region of Lime¬
stones/’ mostly in dry, open, rocky or sandy places, such as tops of
calcareous sandstone (i.e., sandstones overlain by dolomites) or
(less often) limestone bluffs, as well as on rock outcrops in the very
steep, very dry prairies beneath them, on sandy and gravelly hill¬
sides, sand prairies or open woods, sand dunes along Lake Michi¬
gan, rarely on rock outcrops in woods or in woods recently con¬
verted from prairie. Flowering and fruiting mainly from the last
third of May through June (July).
4b. Arenaria stricta ssp. dawsonensis (Britton) Maguire
Northern Rock Sandwort. Map 15.
Arenaria dmvsonensis Britton.
Similar to ssp. stricta, but somewhat smaller, with the leafy
short-shoots somewhat more in the leaf axils of the lower half of
the plant. Sepals blunt to acute, but not long -acuminate, 2.3-4. 0 mm
long, the midrib often much more prominent than the lateral ribs.
Petals shorter than to equalling sepals. Capsule usually longer than
the sepals.
Collected in only four localities : La Crosse Co. : cliff top. Timber
Coulee, 1958, Peterson 608 (WIS). Vernon Co. : rich “goat” prairie,
Coon Valley, 1939, Marks s.n. (WIS). St. Croix Co.: top edge of
enormous sandstone cliff along the St. Croix River, Boy Scout Camp
north of Houlton, 1929, Fassett 16929 (WIS), and 1960, Schlising
& Musolf 1835 (WIS) . Waupaca Co. : dry, rocky bluff south of New
London, 1961, Rill s.n. (WIS, Private Herbarium K. Rill). A small
specimen collected late in the season, apparently from the last local¬
ity (Seymour & Rogers 10397 [WIS]), probably belongs to this
subspecies.
In the second St. Croix County collection, some sepals have lat¬
eral ribs as prominent as the midrib and are acuminate rather than
obtuse; the capsule length is variable, with some capsules longer
than the sepals and some shorter. However, the petals are all
shorter than the sepals. The 1929 collection from the same locality
more completely meets the key characters of ssp. daivsonensis. The
La Crosse, Vernon, and Waupaca County collections are more
clearly distinguishable from ssp. stricta on the basis of the key
characters than are either of the St. Croix collections.
These four localities of ssp. daivsonensis are among the most
southern stations of this taxon, the range extending far into the
Arctic. Maguire (1951) does not list ssp. dawsonensis as occurring
in Wisconsin. Fernald (1950) gives the range as from southern
Labrador to Yukon, and south to Newfoundland, eastern Quebec,
Ungava, western Ontario, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Alberta.
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UQ
111
112 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
9. STELLARIA L. Starwort; Chickweed
Usually glabrous, delicate herbs, with frequently weak and re¬
clining stems and with estipulate leaves» Sepals (4-) 5. Petals
white, usually 5, sometimes 1-4 or lacking, deeply cleft, often nearly
to base, the flowers therefore appearing as if 10-petaled. Stamens
10, 8, or fewer. Styles 3 or 4. Capsule ovoid to globose, opening
with as many or twice as many valves as styles.
A difficult genus, its great variability in habit often depending on
season and habitat. Specimens bearing plentiful flowers or fruit are
needed for determination.
Key to Species
A. Flowers solitary or in few-flowered terminal cymes, in the
axils of foliage leaves or leaflike bracts ; petals shorter than the
sepals or lacking.
. B. Stems pubescent in lines; middle stem leaves with distinct
petioles; sepals pilose at base; seeds tuberculate; common
weed _ 1. S. media.
BB. Stems glabrous; middle stem leaves sessile or tapered to
base, without distinct petioles; sepals glabrous at base;
seeds essentially smooth; uncommon, northern Wisconsin
_ 2. S. calycantha.
AA. Flowers few to many in cymose inflorescences, with scarious
bracts subtending the pedicels ; petals mostly longer than the
sepals.
C. Middle leaves lanceolate to lance-linear or oblanceolate
(mostly at least 3 mm wide or wider at widest point) , ses¬
sile, or narrowly elliptic and attenuated to base; inflores¬
cence clearly terminal and much exceeding the lateral leafy
shoots (if any) at its base.
D. Petals shorter than sepals or lacking; sepals 1.5-3. 5
mm long; capsule straw-colored or brown to purple-
black; uncommon _ 2. S. calycantha.
DD. Petals exceeding (equalling) sepals; sepals mostly over
4 mm long.
F. Sepals acute, usually ciliate and strongly 3-ribbed;
inflorescence many-flowered; capsule pale brown to
straw colored ; common _ 3. S. yraminea.
FF. Sepals blunt or subacute, eciliate, without prominent
ribs ; inflorescence few-flowered or flowers solitary ;
capsule dark brown to black; rare, northern Wis¬
consin _ _ 4. S. longipes.
CC. Middle stem leaves linear (0.4-) 1-3 (-4) mm wide, often
slightly tapered at both ends ; inflorescence (especially with
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. 6
113
age) often appearing lateral, and shorter than to only
slightly longer than the prominent leafy shoots at its base,
or (in No, 5) inflorescences terminal or on few=flowered
lateral branches.
F, Sepals (3.2-) 4.0-6, 1 mm long, eciliate; petals usually
much exceeding sepals; leaves 0.4-1. 2 (-2) mm wide;
slender plants, uncommon in central and western Wis¬
consin _ 5. aS. palustris.
FF, Sepals 2.3-4 (-4.4) mm long, eciliate or ciliate; petals
equalling or slightly longer than the sepals ; leaves 1-4
(-5) mm wide; slender or much-branched, reclining or
upright plants common throughout Wisconsin _
_ 6. S. longifolia.
1. Stellaria media (L.) Cyrillo. Common Chickweed. Map 16.
Upright, reclining, or creeping annual or perennial, very vari¬
able, with weak stems 5-33 cm long, pubescent in lines. Leaves
broadly ovate to obovate or elliptic, the lower long-petioled, the up¬
per sessile, the blades 5-25 (-35) mm long, 4-20 mm wide, bearing
small white blisters (pustules) on surfaces. Flowers solitary in
axils of foliage leaves or in few- flowered cymes, the bracts leaf-like.
Sepals pilose, at least at base, longer than the watery-white petals.
Capsule 4. 5-6.3 mm long, the 6 straw-colored valves separating to
the base. Seeds orbicular or squarish, tuberculate, 0.9-1. 3 mm long.
Naturalized from Eurasia, common in southern Wisconsin, but
apparently occurring throughout the state, especially as a weed of
lawns and gardens, railroad yards, roadsides and other open or
shady disturbed areas as well as in open areas in moist, low woods
and on stream banks, occasionally in oak-mixed hardwood forests,
on rock outcrops, limestone cliffs, clay, or black loam. Flowering
and fruiting from early May through August (October) . Specimens
bearing flowers are on hand from 31 January and 1 February,
1890, from Madison I
2. Stellaria calycantha (Ledeb.) Bong. Northern Starwort.
Stellaria borealis Bigel. Map 17.
Perennial from slender rhizomes, the stems branched, upright to
weak and reclining, 5-35 cm long, glabrous. Leaves narrowly ovate
to elliptic, lanceolate or oblanceolate, or lance-linear, acute, often
slightly ciliate, 1-5 cm long. Flowers very small, solitary in the leaf
axils or in branched cymes, subtended by reduced foliage leaves or
by minute, scarious bracts. Sepals 1.6-3. 2 mm long, ovate or lance-
ovate, blunt or acute, scarious-margined, weakly veined. Petals 1-5,
shorter than the sepals, or lacking. Styles 3 or 4. Capsule straiv-
114 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
colored or dark brown to purplish-black, to 5.2 mm long. Seeds
essentially smooth.
A polymorphic and difficult, rather rare species, native of north¬
ern Wisconsin, Flowering from late May through July, and fruiting
in July and August,
Three weakly defined varieties, which grade into one another, dif¬
fering primarily in leaf characters, have been recognized by Fern-
aid (key modified from Fernald, 1950) , They are listed here without
real understanding of whether genetic or environmental factors are
primarily responsible for their slight morphological distinctions.
Key to Varieties
A, Leaves ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic-lanceolate, the pri¬
mary ones 0,7=2. 5 cm long; flowers often solitary, or in few-
flowered cymes _ 2a. S. calycantha var. calycantha.
AA. Leaves lanceolate to lance-linear, the primary ones (2.-) 2.5=5
cm long ; flowers mostly in several- to many-flowered cymes.
B. Upper bracteal leaves reduced, but herbaceous throughout;
flowers few to many, terminal and axillary _ _ _ _
_ 2b. S. calycantha var. isophylla.
BB. Upper bracteal leaves much reduced to minute scarious-
margined bracts; flowers numerous in terminal cymes _
_ 2c, S. calycantha var. floribundn.
2a. Stellaria calycantha var. calycantha. Map 17,
Leaves narrowly ovate to elliptic or oblanceolate, the largest to
2.5 cm long. Flotvers usually solitary in leaf axils, sometimes in 2-
to 5-flowered cymes.
Rare; in fir-white birch-aspen woods, Apostle Islands (Ashland
Co.) ; north-facing clay bank (in shade), edge of fir-spruce-yellow
birch forest, shore of Lake Superior (Bayfield Co.) ; shore of Lake
Bellvue, Delta (Bayfield Co.) ; and woods, Mosinee Hills, Wausau
(Marathon Co.).
Some plants keying out to var, calycantha (e.g., Lane 218If,
North Twin Island, Ashland Co. [NORTHLAND]), could conceiv¬
ably be young stages of the next two varieties.
2b. Stellaria calycantha var. isophylla Fern, Map 17.
Leaves lanceolate or lance-linear, the larger 2.5-5 cm long. Flow¬
ers few to many, in cymes, in axils of reduced leaves or subtended
by leaflike non-scarious bracts.
Uncommon; Thuja-Abies-Betula lutea deer yard lowland (north¬
east Forest Co.) ; basalt cliff west of Hurley (Iron Co.) ; on mud
and debris of abandoned beaver dam, in full sun, Siphon Creek
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. ^6*
115
(Vilas Co.) ; wet Mnium moss cushions, with Mitella nuda, in open
Thuja-Sphagnum-Ledum bog (Vilas Co.).
Duplicate collections of Schlising & Schlising 1950 (Siphon Creek,
Vilas Co. [WIS] ) , all from one colony of plants, contain individuals
with small leaves and young, unbranched inflorescences that easily
key out to var. calycantha, while other, older plants from the same
collection, with leaves over 2.5 cm long and branched inflorescences,
key to var. isophylla. It seems, then, that young plants of this vari¬
ety (as well as of the next) may easly pass for var. calycantha on
the basis of the listed varietal differences.
2c. Stellaria calycantha var. floribunda Fern. Map 17.
Leaves lanceolate or lance-linear, the larger 2.5-3.5 cm long.
Flotvers numerous, in cymes, subtended by minute scarious bracts.
Rare, with three collections : Clark Co. : wet places, Abbotsford,
1890, Sandberg s.n. (F, MINN). Marathon Co.: Granite Heights,
1894, Cheney s.n. (WIS) ; Edgar, 1915, Goessls.n. (WIS).
A young individual of this variety cannot be told from var.
isophyllia or var. calycantha, for the lotvermost flowers are in the
axils of foliage leaves. A mature specimen, with many-flowered in¬
florescences can be readily distinguished from the other varieties
on leaf and bract characters, and from S. longifolia or from S'.
graminea by leaf, sepal, petal, and seed characters.
3. Stellaria graminea L. Grass or Common Stitchwort.
Map 18.
Perennial with a weak slender, glabrous, four-angled stem, com¬
monly 2-4 (-6) dm tall. Leaves narrotvly lanceolate or linear-lanceo¬
late, usually broadest a little above the base, or sometimes (espe¬
cially late in the season) narrowly elliptical or ovate and petioled.
Inflorescence large and sometimes half the length of the plant, ter¬
minal, mostly without leafy lateral branches from its base, many-
flotvered, the bracts scarious, ciliate, and small. Sepals scarious-
margined, lanceolate, acute, or acuminate, (2.5-) 4. 0-6.2 mm long,
often ciliate, usually with three distinctly raised ribs. Petals longer
than sepals, the flowers rather showy. Capsule pale brown or straw-
colored, exserted, its valves splitting to the base. Seeds rugose-
tuberculate ivith fine, sharp ridges, orbicular-subreniform, 0.8-1. 2
mm long.
Naturalized from Europe, most common in the '‘Northern High¬
lands’" and occasional in southern Wisconsin, in grassy areas, such
as moist fields, meadows, pastures, and roadsides, and, less com¬
monly, in tall herbs along streams, gravelly shores of lakes, in sedge
meadows, and in mesic to moist, rich Northern Hardwoods. Flow-
116 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
ering from early June through July (September), with a flowering
peak in the last third of June. Fruiting from mid- June to
September.
Late specimens (e.g., Fassett, Uhler, & McLaughlin 96S8 [WIS],
Dells of the Wisconsin River, Adams Co.; Peroutky & Seymour
12971 [WIS], town of Corning, Lincoln Co.) mimic S, calycantha
in habit and leaves, but may be distinguished by the sepal, petal
and seed characters.
4. Stellaria longipes Goldie. Map 19.
Glabrous perennial from slender rhizomes, with stems (0.5-)
1.5- 2 (-3) dm tall. Leaves narrowly lanceolate-acuminate, sessile
and rounded at base, stiff and ascending, 15-20 (-30) mm long, 2-3
mm wide. Inflorescence terminal, (1-) 3-9 flowered, with scarious
bracts. Sepals ovate to elliptic, acute, or sometimes blunt, eciliate,
3. 5- 4,5 (-5) mm long, usually weakly 3-nerved. Petals longer than
sepals. Capsule exserted, black. Seeds oblong to oval, 0. 8-1.0 mm
long.
A circum-boreal species, very rare in Wisconsin, the two speci¬
mens from Oneida Co. : one colony, moist, gravelly bank, Rhine¬
lander, 19 June, 1915, Goessl 532 (MIL) ; east N. Log. RR, Rhine¬
lander, 16 June, 1915, Goessl s.n. (WIS) [possibly the same
station] .
Stellaria holostea L., Easter-bells or Greater Stitchwort, is a
cultivated Eurasian perennial with ciliate, narrowly lanceolate
leaves tapered to base, and large white flowers 1.5-2 cm across, the
one collection from Milwaukee County : a weed about gardens, Mil¬
waukee, in flower March 16, 1854, Lapham s.n. (WIS).
5. Stellaria palustris Retz. Marsh Stitchwort. Map 19.
Stellaria glauca With.
Slender glabrous perennial, 2-4 dm tall, very similar to S, longL
folia, but usually less branched. Leaves very narrowly linear, 1.5-
3.5 cm long, OA-1,2 (-2) mm wide. Inflorescences terminal and axil¬
lary (only infrequently overtopped by lateral shoots from their
bases), the bracts scarious and eciliate. Sepals lanceolate, acumi¬
nate, (3.2--) 0-6.1 mm long. Petals conspicuously exceeding sepals,
5. 2-8. 5 mm long. Capsule pale. Seeds brownish, with low papillae.
Native to cold-temperate Europe and Asia, locally established in
south-central and northwestern Wisconsin in wet places : Marquette
Co. : drainage ditch in tamarack bog, Endeavor, litis & Buckmann
11285 (WIS) ; wet Carex-Glyceria meadow (once a Larix-Rhus
vernix bog) , black muck soil, southwest shore of Ennis Lake, litis
et al 6305 (WIS) ; Cornus stolonifera river sand flat. White 792
1961] Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. 4^6 117
(WIS) ; sedge meadow, with Campanula aparinoides , Porter, And¬
erson, & Post, s.n. (WIS). Burnett Co.: Searles Cranberry Marsh,
Lake Pokegama, Hertel, Dana s.n. (WIS). Dane Co.: Carex fil-
formis society, University Bay, Madison, Heddle 2T177 (WIS).
Flowering from mid- June through July.
This taxon is tentatively listed as S. palustris, to which it keys
out in Gleason (1952.) and P'ernald (1950) mainly because of its
large petals and sepals. However, the several collections of Euro¬
pean S. palustris in the University of Wisconsin Herbarium gener¬
ally have larger flowers, as well as wider and more lanceolate
leaves than do the Wisconsin collections. Extremely variable in the
Old World, Ascherson and Graebner (1929) list no fewer than 14
subspecific taxa within iS. palustris. In contrast, the Wisconsin
specimens are remarkably uniform in their slender habit and very
narrow leaves and may perhaps belong to forma angustifolia
Marsson.
Wisconsin S. palustris differs from S. graminea mainly in the
very narrowly-linear leaves, as well as generally more weakly-
nerved and eciliate sepals and smaller inflorescences. Stellaria palus¬
tris differs from S. longifolia in Wisconsin by having larger flowers,
with petals exceeding the sepals by several mm, narrower leaves,
and fewer-flowered inflorescences.
6. Stellaria longifolia Muhl. Long-leaved Starwort.
Maps 20 & 21.
Perennial with weak, usually ascending, 4-angled, glabrous
stems, (1~) 1.6-4 (-5.5) dm tall, the angles sometimes scabrous.
Leaves linear or narrowly lance-linear to elliptic, often acute at
both ends, mostly 1.5-5 cm long, 1-4 (-5) mm wide, sometimes
ciliate at the base. Inflorescence few- to many-flowered, usually with
leafy lateral branches from its base, these nearly equalling or over¬
topping it. Bracts scarious, eciliate. Sepals lanceolate, acute,
scarious-margined, mostly eciliate, 2.3-4 (-4.4) mm long, often
weakly 3-nerved, rarely 3-ribbed. Petals equalling or longer than
the sepals. Capsule straw-colored to dark brown or black, well ex-
serted. Seeds oblong, 0.7-1 mm long, essentially smooth.
A native circumboreal species, fairly common in Wisconsin,
where strikingly variable and seemingly consisting of two entities,
one found throughout the state but most common in the southern
part, and the second essentially north of the Tension Zone. These,
here listed as varieties, seem to have frequent intermediates which
are difficult or impossible to distinguish. Further study of this
taxon is certainly needed, the present treatment of this ‘^species”
to be considered tentative. It is likely that with better material and
118 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
more field study the varieties will be recognized as species or geo¬
graphic subspecies. When a combination of characters is used, as
in the following key, most specimens, especially the mature ones,
can be assigned to a variety.
Key to Varieties
A. (1) Mature capsule straw-colored to brownish; (2) plants
with leaves mostly over 1.5 mm wide; (3) plants mostly dark
green; (4) middle nodes frequently as long as or longer than
the leaves; (5) inflorescence few- to many-flowered, but often
with comparatively few flowers on long pedicels; (6) plants
upright, but often frail and reclining on surrounding vegeta¬
tion; (7) throughout the state, more common in southern Wis¬
consin _ 6a. S. longifolia var. longifolia.
AA. (1) Mature capsule dark pigmented, purple brown to brown¬
ish-black; (2) leaves generally smaller and more narrow,
mostly 1.5 mm wide or less; (3) plants usually yellowish-green
or light green; (4) middle nodes frequently mostly shorter
than the leaves; (5) inflorescence few- to many-flowered but
frequently many-flowered, with flowers on short pedicels;
(6) plants upright, most often rather stiff and not decidedly
sprawling or reclining; (7) mostly north of the Tension
Zone _ 6b. S. longifolia var. atrata.
6a. Stellaria longifolia var. longifolia. Map 21 ; Fig. 4.
This variety has been rarely collected with mature fruit, so few
of the Wisconsin specimens have the pale capsules. However, it is
recognized by the larger leaves and the often spreading reclining
habit. On Map 21, the hollow circles represent this variety, those
with short, horizontal lines being collections with pale capsules,
while those without representing collections placed here on the basis
of vegetative characters.
Variety longifolia occurs throughout the state, though most com¬
mon in southern Wisconsin, in moist places such as low woods,
marshes, sedge meadows, swamps, bogs, lake shores, and roadside
ditches; e.g., marsh on Hwy E, with Cicuta maculata, Anemone
canadensis, Thalictrum dasycarpum (Trempealeau Co., Schlising
1572 [WIS]) ; wet sand along Hwy 12-16, Lyndon Station, with
Drosera, Xyris, Spiraea tomentosa, Eleocharis, J uncus, Aletris,
Viola lanceolata (Juneau Co., Zimmerman 3135 [WIS] ; damp,
grazed low prairie in valley along stream, Governor Dodge State
Park, with Lilium michiganense, Cacalia tuherosa, Crataegus, and
Lobelia spp. (Iowa Co., litis 9691 [WIS] ) ; open, wet sedge meadow,
edge of West Salem Larix bog (La Crosse Co., litis 5823 [WIS]) ;
and densely wooded seepage at base of Black River bluff in bottom-
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. Ji-6
119
land forest (La Crosse Co., litis 5998 [WIS] ) . Flowering from mid-
May through July, with a flowering peak in mid- June. Fruiting
from mid-June to September.
6b. Stellaria longifolia var. atrata Moore. Map 21 ; Fig. 4.
Stellaria atrata (Moore) Boivin.
This variety is usually more yellow-green than var. longifolia,
more delicately branched, shorter-leaved and more upright. A
50
40 -
< 30
UJ
20
10
FIG, 4 STELLARIA LONGIFOLIA
t
9
i 4
OVAR LONGIFOLIA
• VAR. ATRATA
Line an top of dot indicates
collection north of Tension Zone,
Line on bottom of dot indicates
collection south of Tension Zone,
LEAF WIDTH IN )fo
Figure 4.
MM
120 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
1961] Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. Jj-6 121
greater proportion of the collections of this variety have dark cap¬
sules, On Map 21 dark circles with short horizontal lines represent
collections bearing dark capsules, while dark circles without lines
are collections without capsules. In Wisconsin, this variety seems
to come south only as far as the Tension Zone.
The habitats for var. atrata seem to be similar to those of var.
longifolia, occurring mainly in moist places, though perhaps more
commonly in Sphagnum bogs; e.g, roadsides in open sedge marsh
southwest of Oconto (Oconto Co., litis & Buckmann 109 8 Jf [WIS] ) ;
wet cedar bog, with birch and alder, southeast Forest County, (Pat¬
man, Noller, Christensen s.n. [WIS] ) ; moist, shady hummocks,
High Lake Bog (Vilas Co., Potzger 8629a [WIS]) ; wet sedge
meadow on La Crosse River, Sparta (Monroe Co., litis & Neess
8951 [WIS]) ; and sandy, grassy roadside near Lake Evelyn (Polk
Co., Schlising & Musolf 1630 [WIS]). Flowering and fruiting sea¬
sons are similar to those of var. longifolia.
The dark capsuled, northern plants (atrata) were first recog¬
nized as a variety by Moore (1950) and later elevated to the spe¬
cies level by Boivin (1953). However, most characters that Boivin
lists to distinguish S. longifolia from S. atrata are practically use¬
less when applied to the Wisconsin specimens. Boivin (loc. cit.)
furthermore distinguished two varieties : var. atrata, with ciliate
sepals, and var. eciliata, with eciliate sepals. In Wisconsin, how¬
ever, while both the northern atrata and southern longifolia sensu
stricto usually do have eciliate sepals, there are a good many plants
of both taxa that have ciliate sepals ! Boivin’s varieties do not seem
tenable here.
All collections of S. longifolia are included on Map 20, those that
could be assigned to varieties on Map 21. The dots on Map 21 with
horizontal lines represent the fruiting specimens plotted on the
scatter diagram in Figure 4. The horizontal axis gives the leaf
width (in 1/10 mm) of the largest stem leaf of the 2nd or 3rd node
below the inflorescence, while the vertical axis plots the measure¬
ment of the same leaf’s length. Solid circles represent plants bear¬
ing dark-colored capsules, and hollow circles, plants with straw-
colored capsules. A short vertical line on the top of the dot indi¬
cates a collection from north of the Tension Zone, and a vertical
line on the lower side of the dot indicates a collection from south
of the Tension Zone. While the diagram does separate the varieties,
the overlap is considerable. Immature specimens, in most instances,
can not be assigned to a variety.
10. DIANTHUS L. Pink; Carnation
Showy Old World herbs. Calyx cylindrical, 5-toothed, many-
nerved, subtended by 2-6 appressed bracts. Petals dentate to lac-
122 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
erate, longer than the calyx. Stamens 10. Styles 2. Capsule dehis¬
cent by 4 teeth. A very large genus with many cultivated species,
including D. caryophyllus, the Carnation, and D. chinense, the Rain¬
bow Pink.
Key to Species
A. Bracts at base of calyx lanceolate, over half as long as to ex¬
ceeding calyx; flowers solitary and short-pedicelled or sessile
and in clusters.
B. Bracts and calyx pubescent throughout; leaves linear to
lance-linear _ 1. D. armeria.
BB. Bracts and calyx glabrous, with ciliate margins; leaves
ovate to lanceolate or oblanceolate _ 2. D. harhatus.
AA. Bracts at base of calyx ovate, less than half as long as calyx;
flowers usually solitary and long-stalked.
C. Main leaves 3-9 cm long; bracts abruptly acuminate,
as long as calyx _ 3. D. plumarius.
CC. Main leaves 1.5-2. 5 cm long; bracts long-tipped, about half
as long as calyx _ 4. D. deltoides.
1. Dianthus armeria L. Deptford Pink. Map 22.
Simple-stemmed or branched biennial, 3-5 (-8) dm tall, pubes¬
cent in the inflorescence. Leaves linear to lance-linear, 3-10 cm long.
Flowers sessile, borne in tight clusters of 2-10, or the lower ones
solitary. Bracts subtending calyx lanceolate, pilose, over half as long
as calyx. Calyx 12-20 cm long, pilose. Petals purple-red, white-
dotted, dentate, exceeding calyx by 2-5 mm, the flowers about 1 cm
in diameter. Capsule about equalling calyx.
Naturalized from Europe, sporadic in Wisconsin, mainly along
roadsides, with one collection each from the edge of a cranberry
marsh and a woods, with all the collections made since 1951, except¬
ing those from Manitowoc of 1913 and 1916 (these cultivated in a
garden?), more common south and southeastward of Wisconsin.
Flowering from late June to earliest September.
2. Dianthus barbatus L. Sweet William. Map 22.
Perennial with unbranched, essentially glabrous stems 3-7 dm
tall. Leaves ovate to lanceolate, those at base sometimes oblanceo¬
late, 4-10 cm long. Inflorescence a dense, terminal cyme of short-
stalked or sessile flowers. Bracts lanceolate, ciliate, with scarious
margins at base, usually exceeding calyx. Calyx 15-20 mm long.
Petals very showy, red, pink, or white, dentate, longer than the
calyx, the flowers 2-3 cm in diameter. Capsule included.
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UQ
123
Introduced from southern Europe. Commonly cultivated and occa¬
sionally escaped from gardens, becoming established, especially in
the Apostle Islands and vicinity, in old logging roads and clearings
in woods (Ashland Co.), on conglomerate ledges (Bayfield Co.),
and along a railroad (Grant Co.). Flowering from mid- June
through August.
3. Dianthus plumarius L. Grass, Garden, or Cottage Pink.
Map 23.
Perennial forming large loose mats, with linear glaucous leaves
3-9 cm long. Flotvers single or in groups up to 5, the pedicel about
1 cm long or longer. Calyx about 2 cm long, subtended by scarious-
margined abruptly pointed bracts up to % long as the calyx.
Petals fringed, very showy, red, pink, or white, often with darker
transverse bands, longer than the calyx, the flowers 3-4 cm across.
Capsule exserted.
A garden flower from southeast Europe, often grown in rock
gardens, adventive in vacant lots and roadsides in Door, Lincoln,
and Rock counties. Flowering from late June to August.
4. Dianthus deltoides L. Maiden Pink. Map 23.
Perennial ivith basal leafy shoots forming low mats. Similar to
D. plumarius, but with stem leaves less than 2.3 cm long, the smaller
flowers 1-1.5 cm across. Calyx about 1.5 cm long, with acuminate
bracts to as long. Petals dentate, purple-red, lavender, or rarely
white.
A European rock garden flower, escaped in Bayfield, Oneida,
Rock, and Vilas Counties. Flowering from June to October.
11. TUNICA Scop,
1. Tunica SAXiFRAGA (L.) Scop. Tunic Flower ; Coat Flower,
Map 24.
Much-branched, loosely mat-forming low perennial, with narrowly
lance-linear, connate leaves. Flowers borne singly or in diffuse, open
cymes. Calyx 5-ribbed and 5-toothed, U-5 mm long, subtended by
5-6 scarious-margined bracts. Petals pink, 1 or 2 mm longer than
the calyx. Stamens 10. Styles 2. Capsule longer than the calyx and
dehiscent by 4 teeth.
Introduced as a garden plant from Europe, commonly cultivated,
and occasionally escaped : Sheboygan Co. : roadside, Sheboygan,
1912, Goessl s.n. (WIS). Sawyer Co.: Hayward, 1924, Davis s.n.
(WIS). Lincoln Co.: roadside, Hwy. 107, along Wisconsin River,
1954, Seymour 15811 (WIS). Flowering in July and August.
124 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
12. VACCARIA Medic. Cow-herb
1. Vaccaria SEGETALIS (L.) Garcke. Cow-Herb; Cow-cockle.
Saponaria vaccaria L. Map 25.
Glabrous annual 2-7 dm tall. Stem simple to a much-forked
cymose inflorescence. Leaves lance-ovate, clasping at base, the
larger ones 4-8 (-12) cm long, reduced upwards in the inflores¬
cence. Calyx inflated, 1-1.6 cm long, with 5 prominent, usually
green, winged ribs. Petals showy, rose, 1.8-2. 5 cm long and exceed¬
ing calyx, the flower 1.5-2 cm across. Stamens 10. Styles 2. Cap¬
sule included in the inflated calyx, dehiscent by 4 teeth.
A native of southern Europe and Asia, apparently once a com¬
mon weed of dry, sandy waste places, railroad embankments and
grain fields in scattered locations in Wisconsin, now rare or absent,
the last collection in 1947, and all others either from the 1880’s or
1890’s or from 1907 to 1922. Flowering and fruiting from late June
to early September.
13. SAPONARIA L. Bouncing Bet; Soapwort
1. Saponaria officinalis L. Bouncing Bet; Soapwort. Map 26.
Showy perennial, with simple, upright stems from rhizomes, to
9 cm long, glabrous or minutely pubescent above. Leaves 5-9 cm
long, ovate to ovate-lanceolate or elliptic, tapered to base, promi¬
nently 3-veined, often brown-spotted, bearing axillary shoots. Flow¬
ers in tight cymes or in open cymose clusters. Calyx cylindrical,
weakly 20-nerved, 1. 6-2.4 cm long, 5-toothed and 2-lipped. Petals
pale rose to pink or whitish, with definite claw and blade, the flow¬
ers 2-3 cm across (sometimes double in var. caucasica Hort.).
Stamens 10, exserted. Styles 2. Capsule 4-toothed, about length of
calyx or shorter.
Naturalized from Eurasia and found throughout Wisconsin, espe¬
cially common in the southern part in open disturbed habitats,
such as sandy roadsides, stream banks, beaches, railroad embank¬
ments, and waste places. Flowering from the last week of June to
mid-October, and fruiting from mid- July through October.
14. GYPSOPHILA L.
Glabrous and glaucous much-branched herbs with numerous
minute flowers on filiform pedicels in cymose inflorescences. Calyx
5-toothed, weakly nerved. Stamens 10. Styles 2 .Capsule 4-toothed,
longer than sepals.
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. 4^6
125
Key to Species
A, Annual, much branched from base, about 2 dm or less tall;
stem-leaves linear-filiform, under 3 mm wide__ 1. G. muralis.
AA. Perennial, with stout base and tall stems; stem leaves linear-
lanceolate, tapered at both base and apex, at least some 3-10
mm wide _ 2. G. paniculata.
1. Gypsophila muralis L. Map 27.
Frail, finely and diffusely branched annuals to 2 dm tall. Leaves
linear- filiform, 1-2 cm long. Sepals mostly 2-3 mm long, shorter
than the pink-purple petals.
A garden plant naturalized from Europe, adventive in two loca¬
tions in Wisconsin, in one evidently persisting for the past 11 years :
Marathon Co. : sandy soil on top of a bank along Wisconsin River,
edge of Country Club grounds, in Schofield 1949, Wilson s.n. (WIS) ,
and Schofield, 1960, Kennedy s.n. (WIS) . Sheboygan Co. : old house
site, 1903, Goessl s.n. (WIS). Flowering from June to earliest Oct.
2. Gypsophila paniculata L. Baby’s Breath. Map 27.
Robust perennial to 1 m tall, abundantly and finely branched
from a stout central stem, commonly forming dense “bushes,” with
showy many-flowered, beautifully cymose inflorescences ; leaves lin¬
ear-lanceolate. Sepals mostly 1.5-2 mm long, tvith prominent white
margins. Petals white, about 4 mm long, longer than the sepals.
Native of arid Eurasia, much planted in gardens, recently becom¬
ing naturalized in a few places, where now well established and
locally very abundant ; Adams Co. : with prairie species, abundant
for 500 yards in fields, pastures, and roadsides, 1959, litis 13355
(WIS). Marinette Co.: large colonies in sand along Hwy 141 and
in sandy, grassy fields with goldenrods, 1960, Schlising 1690 (WIS) .
Sauk Co. : rocky exposed situations. Devil’s Lake, 1944, Sivink s.n.
(F). Waupaca Co.: observed 2 miles SSW of Rural, abundant on
roadsides and in fields (fide litis, 1960). Flowering from early July
and probably throughout the summer.
Gypsophila acutifolia Fisch., resembling G. paniculata, but
with broader leaves, longer sepals, and glandular-pubescent pedi¬
cels, was collected in 1941 along the C & NW railroad tracks, at
North Fond du Lac (Fond du Lac Co., Shinners 3778 [WIS,
MINN] ) .. This garden escape is native to the Caucasus.
Gypsophila ELEGANS Bieb., a glaucous flower-garden annual
from the Caucasus, has open corymbiform panicles, the longer pedi¬
cels 1.2-3. 5 cm long, and showy petals twice to thrice as long as the
calyx. The one collection was made in 1915 in a vacant lot in Rhine¬
lander (Oneida Co., Goessl s.n. [WIS]).
126 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
1961] Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. ^6' 127
15. AGROSTEMMA L. Corn Cockle
1. Agrostem MA githago L. Corn Cockle; Purple Cockle.
Map 28.
Pilose, feW"branched, strictly erect annual, to 8 dm tall. Leaves
linear or lanceolate, 8-12 cm long, 1 cm wide. Flowers showy, sin¬
gle on simple stems, or to 11 in branched plants. Calyx-tuhe 10-
ribbed, ivith linear-lanceolate teeth 1.5-5 cm long, surpassing the
showy, red-purple, oblanceolate, emarginate petals. Stamens 10.
Styles ‘5. Capsule 5-toothed.
Naturalized from Europe, now very rare, or perhaps absent from
Wisconsin, though once common in disturbed or waste places, fields,
roadsides, and railroad embankments; Superior dock (Douglas
Co.) ; Menominee tramway (Dunn Co.) ; in a wheatfield (Vernon
Co.) ; in a grainfield, Ephraim (Door Co.) ; and at Lake Mendota
marshes (Dane Co.). Flowering mainly from the middle of June
through July (September) and fruiting from early July to early
September.
This species has been collected in scattered localities over most
of Wisconsin, but most collections are from the southern half of
the state. The earliest collections date from 1885, at Madison (Dane
Co.) and Two Rivers (Manitowoc Co.), while the last date from
192;9 and 1944, with 26 additional collections between 1885 and
1929. It has been suggested that this species was associated as a
weed with agricultural rye, for the acreage of rye grown in Wis¬
consin was greatly increased and expanded in the period 1880-1924,
and much decreased by the 1940’s (Packard, 1958), the rye acre¬
age roughly corresponding with the occurrence, or at least the col¬
lections, of corn cockle. Hegi (1908) lists this species as a weed of
grain fields in Europe.
16. LYCHNIS L. Campion
Robust herbs with slightly to strongly clasping, entire leaves.
Inflorescence cymose, forking or densely compacted. Flowers showy,
perfect or unisexual. Calyx-tube hairy, well-ribbed. Petals exceed¬
ing calyx, with claw and blade, and usually with auricles and with
appendages at base of blade. Stamens 10. Styles normally 5, less
often 3-9.
Key to Species
A. Plants densely white-wooly ; petals magenta-purple _
- 1. L. coronaria.
AA. Plants green, glandular-pubescent to hirsute or pilose, not
white-wooly; petals white or red.
128 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
B. Flowers white, unisexual, solitary in a forking inflores¬
cence; calyx tubular, cylindrical, or ovoid, inflated; very
common weed _ 2. L, alba.
BB. Flowers red, perfect; densely aggregated in a terminal in¬
florescence; calyx clavate (especially in fruit), not inflated;
rare escape _ 3. L. chalcedonica.
1. Lychnis coronaria (L.) Desr, Map 29.
Rose Campion; Mullein Pink; Dusty Miller.
Tall, densely white-ivooly perennial, with stiffly forked inflores¬
cence bearing large, shotvy, magenta-purple, perfect flowers.
A native of southern Europe, this commonly-grown garden
flower has escaped from cultivation in Dane, Door, and Racine
Counties.
2. Lychnis alba Mill. White Campion; White Cockle; Evening-
Lychnis. Map 30.
Melandrium album (Mill.) Garcke.
Dioecious pubescent biennial or perennial 2-11 dm tall. Leaves
oblanceolate or lanceolate to oval or elliptic, 5-12 (-14) cm long,
acute, narrowed at base, the lower petioled, the upper sessile. In¬
florescence forking, usually glandular-pubescent. Floivers unisexual,
opening in the evening, bracteate. Calyx 1.5-2. 6 cm long, cylindri¬
cal, inflated, especially in fruit, the narrowly-lanceolate teeth 2-6
mm long, pilose and usually with some glandular hairs, 20-nerved
in pistillate flowers, 10-nerved in staminate, the nerves often pur¬
ple (especially in the staminate flowers). Petals showy, ivhite, bi-
lobed, 1.5-3 cm across. Styles usually 5, often 3-9, or even 0-13
(see discussion below). Capsule ovoid, about length of calyx. When
flower has 5 styles, capsule opening with 10 (sometimes with only
5) erect or slightly spreading teeth. (Easily confused with the
rarer Silene noctiflora [which see], which has 3 styles, 6 capsule
teeth and perfect floivers.)
Naturalized from Eurasia and exceedingly abundant through
Wisconsin in any disturbed or open habitat, one of the most per¬
nicious weeds of cultivated fields, pastures, and gardens, less often
in woods (especially at the edges, and in portions grazed by cattle
or deer) , in prairies, meadows, swamps, marshes, and at edges of
bogs. Flowering from (early) late May through early October, with
a flowering peak the last week of June. Fruiting from late May
through October.
Variations in style number has been studied in Iowa and Minne¬
sota plants (Dean, 1959). Of 21,669 Lychnis alba flowers studied,
Dean found 66.9% bearing the typical 5 styles and 33.1% bearing
from 0 to 4 or from 6 to 10 styles. Dean (personal communication,
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. UQ
129
1961) has since found flowers bearing as many as 13 styles. He in¬
dicates that he believes some of these style variations perhaps are
“not as abnormal as some regard them but may be actually
typical.’’
Although hermaphrodite (bisexual) flowers do rarely occur,
Lychnis alba, as well as the red-flowered L. dioica of gardens, is
noted for its strict separation of the sexes. Both are diploid, with
2N — 24. Male plants have 22 autosomes and X and Y sex chromo¬
somes, while female plants have 22 autosomes and XX sex chromo¬
somes (a mechanism similar to that found in man).
3. Lychnis chalcedonica L. Map 29.
Scarlet Lychnis ; Maltese Cross ; London Pride.
Perennial with erect pilose stems to 8 dm tall. Leaves ovate or
lance-ovate, acute, the larger 6-9 cm long. Inflorescence terminal,
compact, and many -flowered. Floivers perfect. Calyx clavate, 11-18
mm long, with 10 pilose ribs, and 5 acute teeth about 3 mm long.
Petals brick-red, bilobed. Capsule 5-toothed, included in calyx.
Native to Russia and Siberia, commonly cultivated in Wisconsin,
and rarely escaped, mainly in sandy roadsides, along streams, and
in fields. Flowering and fruiting from early July to early August.
17. SILENE L. Catchfly; Campion
[Hitchcock, C. L., and Bassett Maguire. A revision of the North
American species of Silene. Univ. Wash. Pub. Biol. 13:1-73. 1947.]
Annuals to perennials with opposite or whorled leaves. Flowers
perfect. Petals with narrow claw, expanded blade, auricles, and a
pair of appendages at the junction of claw and blade, longer than
(or rarely equalling) the calyx, emarginate to bilobed or fringed.
Stamens 10. Styles 3. Ovary usually stipitate (with a stalk between
its base and base of the calyx) . Capsule dehiscent by 6 teeth.
Key to Species
A. Middle cauline leaves in whorls of 4; petals fringed with sev¬
eral deep cuts; prairies and woods, southeast and western
Wisconsin _ 1. S. stellata.
AA. Middle cauline leaves opposite; petals once cut, bilobed, or
emarginate.
B. Flowers in very leafy cymes, i.e., solitary in the axils of
large leaves; native of woodlands and thickets, southern
Wisconsin _ 2. S. nivea.
BB. Inflorescences bracteate, cymose or racemose, few- to many-
flowered, congested to open; garden escapes and weeds,
disturbed habitats throughout Wisconsin.
130 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
C. Stems hairy throughout; calyx hairy, at least on the
nerves.
D. Calyx with glandless hairs ; inflorescence a one-sided
raceme; flowers sessile or short stalked, each sub¬
tended by two bracts _ 3. S. dichotoma,
DD. Calyx with glandular hairs; inflorescence not one¬
sided; flowers pedicelled, in forking cymes (uncom¬
mon, See also Lychnis alba.) _ 4. S. noctifiora.
V.C. Stems, or at least branches of inflorescence, glabrous;
calyx glabrous (sometimes calyx teeth pubescent).
E, Calyx with 10 prominent nerves; petals emarginate,
pink or lavender, or petals lacking; annuals or bi¬
ennials, often with glutinous bands on the upper
internodes.
F. Calyx ovoid, green-nerved, often with purple
teeth; stalk of capsule (within calyx) about 1
mm long; petals minute and inconspicuous, rose
or pink, or lacking _ 5. S. antirrhina.
FF. Calyx strongly clavate, often purplish; stalk of
capsule (within calyx) 6-8 mm long; petals
showy, lavender-purple, the flowers about 1 cm
in diameter _ 6. S. armeria.
EE. Calyx with 10 or 20 nerves, branching or inconspicu¬
ous ; petals deeply notched, white ; perennials, with¬
out glutinous bands on the internodes.
G. Calyx subspherical to ovoid (in pressed speci¬
mens campanulate, widest at the summit),
rounded or umbilicate (invaginate) at base, in
fruit papery and inflated, not appressed to the
included capsule; uppermost bracts of inflores¬
cence usually entire _ 7. S. cucubalus.
GG. Calyx oblong-ovoid or ellipsoid, widest at or near
the middle, narrowed to the base or attenuate to
the pedicel (not umbilicate), in fruit firm and
appressed to the slightly exserted capsule; up¬
permost bracts of inflorescence minutely ciliate
_ S. S, cserei.
1. SiLENE STELLATA (L.) Ait. f. var. SCABRELLA (Nieuw.) Palm. &
Stey. Starry Campion; Widow's-frilL Map 31.
Puberulent perennial with several stiff stems 6-13 dm tall. Leaves
lanceolate or lance-ovate, long acuminate, the major ones 4-10 cm
long and in whorls of 4. Inflorescence a stiff paniculate cyme, with
branches and pedicels puberulent. Calyx campanulate, inflated, 9-14
1961]
Schlising & litis— Wisconsin Flora No, 46
131
mm long, at summit often about as wide as long, with triangular
teeth, 2-5 mm long. Petals white, prominently fringed. Capsule
shorter than the calyx. All our plants are of the pubescent more
western variety.
Native, locally frequent in southeastern Wisconsin and occasional
in western Wisconsin, but essentially lacking from the ''Driftless
Area” except in the river valleys of the western part, in open up¬
land oak woods, mesophytic or sandy woods, and wood borders,
river banks and sand terraces (Pepin Co.), occasionally along road¬
sides and railroads, fence rows, grassy ditches and moist meadows ;
prairie borders and deep-soil prairies, e.g., near Albany and Brod-
head (Green Co,), with Liatris pycnostacha, Cacalia tuherosa,
Eryngium yuccaefolium, Silphium, Helianthus, Solidago and Aster
spp., Dodecatheon meadia, Sporobolus heterolepis, Amorpha canes-
cens, and Car ex spp. Flowering and fruiting from (June 8?) early
July to mid- August (September).
2. SiLENE NIVEA (Nutt.) Otth. Snowy Campion; White Campion.
Map 32.
Tall perennial with glabrous or pubescent, simple or sparingly
branched stems from 6-9 dm tall. Leaves opposite throughout,
lanceolate to lance-elliptic, . densely puberulent to glabrous, 4-11
(-13) cm long, and mostly 1-2 (-2.5) cm wide. Flotvers in very
leafy cymes, appearing axillary, or sometimes solitary. Calyx tubu¬
lar, somewhat inflated, weakly green-nerved, glabrous to densely
hirsute, 12-18 mm long. Petals white, notched. Capsule about length
of calyx.
Occasional in southwestern Wisconsin, from Rock to Pierce
Counties, typically a woodland species, in Wisconsin collected in
alluvial woods (“Southern Floodplain Forest”), roadside thickets,
grassy places along roadsides and rivers, sedge meadows, and rarely
on wet cliffs, e.g,, on sunny, very steep seepage slope on Grant River
with Sullivantia renifoUa and Mimulus glahratus (Grant Co.).
Flowering and fruiting the last third of June through July
(August) .
SiLENE VIRGINICA L., the Fire Pink, a perennial with large,
crimson-red flowers, is shown by Hitchcock and Maguire (1947;
Plate 1, Map 2) to occur in southern Wisconsin (Madison?). How¬
ever, the species is unknown here, no specimen of it has been seen,
and the collection upon which the report was based has not been
relocated (fide Hitchcock, personal communication, 1961-WIS).
This species does come to within about 80 miles of Wis. in NE Illi¬
nois (Jones & Fuller, 1955).
132 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
1961] Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. Ud 133
3, SiLENE DICHOTOMA Ehrh. Forking Catchfly. Map 33.
Hirsute, often robust biennial, 3-10 dm tall. Leaves oblanceolate
to elliptic or lanceolate, the lower petioled, the upper sessile, 3-11
(-13) cm long. Inflorescence dichotomously forked, with one to sev¬
eral elongate, one-sided, strict racemes of sessile or short-stalked
tvhite floivers, each flower subtended by ttvo narroiv bracts. Calyx
oblongoid, 10-15 mm long, thin and slightly inflated, with 10 promi¬
nent rib-like, hirsute nerves. Petals deeply bilobed. Capsule about
9-11 mm long, 4-5 mm thick.
Naturalized from Europe, in Wisconsin locally abundant in
sandy, open situations such as roadsides (where collected with
Comandra richardsiana. Lychnis alba, Melilotus and Trifolium
spp.), road cuts, railroads, in old fields, and as a weed in fields of
sweet and red clover. Flowering from the last week of June (occa¬
sionally earlier) to about mid-August (earliest September), with
the flowering peak in mid- July. Fruiting from late June through
September.
It seems that this species is becoming more common in Wiscon¬
sin. The first collection was made in 1915, along a railroad track,
town of Greenfield, Milwaukee County, Heddle 32586 (MIL). Sub¬
sequently several collections were made between 1916 and 1930,
all in the four northwesternmost Wisconsin counties, where the
species still seems to persist. In southern Wisconsin this species
did not become well established until the 1940's and 1950's.
SiLENE GALLICA L., an adventive from Europe and very similar
to S. dichotoma, has smaller leaves, glandular hairs on upper por¬
tions of the plant and on the smaller, 8 mm long calyces, and red¬
dish petals. The one collection, Goessl s.n., August, 1919, Sheboy¬
gan (WIS) , could well represent a cultivated plant.
4. SiLENE NOCTIFLORA L. Night-flowering Catchfly ; Sticky Cockle.
Melandrium noctiflorum (L.) Fr. Map 34.
Somewhat viscid annual, 2-8 dm tall. Stems villous-pubescent,
at least the upper portions glandular. Lower leaves spatulate, obo-
vate, or broadly oblanceolate, 4-10 cm long, pubescent on both sur¬
faces, pustulate, the upper elliptic, ovate, lanceolate or lance-linear.
Inflorescence cymose, forking, usually few-flowered. Calyx 19-26
! mm long, ellipsoid-tubular, narrowed at base and apex, tvith 10
' green, clearly -defined, villous and glandular-hairy nerves, 5 thick
I and prominent ones alternating with the 5 thinner ones, these anas-
; tomosing up near the apex. Calyx teeth 5-10 mm long, lance-linear
; or linear, up to about 1 mm ivide in the middle. Petals white, bi-
: lobed, the flowers perfect, opening in the evening. Capsule ivith 6
I strongly recurved teeth, shorter than calyx.
134 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Naturalized from Europe, occasional in Wisconsin in weedy hab¬
itats, as in yards, fields, gardens, along roads and railroads, and in
other disturbed areas, including edges of woods, e.g., near Fifield
(Price Co.), in disturbed Finns strohus-Picea-Acer spicatum grove
with Aster macrophyllus and Oryzopsis asperifolia. Flowering and
fruiting from about the last third of June through early September,
and fruiting to late September.
Silene noctiflora, now rare in Wisconsin, with only 7 of the 31
Wisconsin specimens collected since 1919, was formerly common as
a weed, mainly in grainfields, especially in eastern Wisconsin (Wad-
mond, 1909; Russell, 1907). It is a species easily confused with the
ubiquitous Lychnis alba. The following key will help separate the
two species:
A. Flowers perfect (rarely unisexual) ; styles usually 3; calyx
with 10 prominent, green nerves and 10 prominent white in¬
terstices; calyx ellipsoid, pointed at both ends, widest in the
middle, only slightly inflated in fruit, the calyx teeth lance-
linear, 5-10 mm long, less than 1 mm wide at the middle;
capsule with 6 strongly recurved teeth _ Silene noctiflora.
A A. Flowers unisexual; styles usually 5 (3-9) ; calyx irregularly
10-nerved in staminate flowers, irregularly 20-nerved in pistil¬
late ; calyx widest at or near base, ovoid in the female flower,
tubular in the male, inflated in fruit (female flowers), with
narrow triangular-lanceolate calyx teeth 2-6 mm wide or
wider at the middle; capsule with (usually) 5 or 10 erect or
slightly spreading teeth _ Lychnis alba.
5. Silene antirrhina L. Sleepy Catchfly; Sticky Catchfly.
Map 35.
Annual or biennial (1-) 2-8 dm tall, polymorphic, the plants
simple-stemmed and upright, or with numerous stiffly-ascending
branches from the base, or lax and divaricately branched, puberu-
lent below to scabrous or glabrous above. Upper internodes often
ivith dark, glutinous bands. Leaves linear or lanceolate to oblanceo-
late, 2-8 cm long, ciliate-margined near base, often with tufts of
smaller leaves in their axils. Inflorescence usually paniculately
branched and many flowered. Calyx U~9 mm long, ribbed ivith green
nerves, the often purple-tipped triangular teeth about 1 mm long.
Petals pink or rosy, inconspicuous, equalling to barely exceeding
calyx, or petals lacking. Capsule 4-9 mm long, 2-5 mm thick.
Native, though somewhat weedy, occurring over most of the
state, especially in southern Wisconsin and the central sand plains,
and along rivers and the Lake Michigan shore, generally in open,
sandy or gravelly habitats, such as fields, roadsides, railroads, sand-
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. 4-6
135
stone and limestone cliffs, on Lake Michigan sand dunes, and in
dry prairies; in dry, steep shallow-soil prairie near Cassville (Grant
Co.), with Bouteloua curtipendula, B. hirsuta, Silphium laciniatum,
Scutellaria leonardii, Andropogon gerardi and Castilleja sessili-
flora; dry prairie on railroad near Black River Falls (Jackson Co.) ,
with Tradescantia ohiensis, Rhus radicans, Coreopsis palmata, and
Asclepias tuherosa; and thin soil on granite near Grantsburg (Bur¬
nett Co.) with Campanula rotundifolia, Opuntia fragilis, Rhus radi¬
cans, Xanthoxylum, and Selaginella rupestris. Flowering from
latest May through July (August) and fruiting from the third week
of June to September.
This species seems to respond readily in its growth habit to envi¬
ronmental differences. Thus many of the most robust individuals
come from open, sandy situations, while those from cliffs are very
lax and frail, with smaller leaves and capsules.
Three minor forms have been reported from Wisconsin. Since
some of their characters are ephemeral, their occurrence is based
on information supplied by the collector :
SiLENE ANTIRRHINA forma DEANEANA Fern, has no glutinous
bands on the internodal areas (e.g., Lafayette Co., Red Rock
Quarry, Darlington, Nelson s.n. [WIS] ) . In the specimens studied
the prominence of the glutinous bands on the upper internodes
varies greatly. The bands range from dark, viscid areas around the
stem that are several cm long to barely noticeable areas a few mm
long, or, in the form, are completely lacking. Blowing debris and
seeds from the plants’ own capsules are often found adhering to
the sticky bands.
SiLENE ANTIRRHINA forma BICOLOR Farw. has petals ventrally
white and dorsally pink. It has been collected in Waupaca County
near Clintonville (Rill s.n. [WIS]).
SiLENE ANTIRRHINA forma APETALA Farw. has the petals lacking.
It has been collected in Lincoln County on a river bluff in the town
of Pine River (Seymour 15955 [WIS]).
6. SiLENE ARMERIA L. Garden- or Sweet William-catchfly ; None-so
pretty. Map 36.
Annual with glabrous stems, simple or branched above, with or
without glutinous internodal bands, 6-45 cm tall. Leaves oblong,
ovate or obovate, glabrous, 1-8 cm long, (0.3-) 1-2 (-4) cm wide,
clasping. Floivers solitary on small plants or 2-20 or more in con¬
gested cymes. Calyx slender, cylindrical-clavate, purplish, 12.-16
mm long, 2-4 mm wide, the teeth minute. Flowers pink or purple,
9-13 mm in diameter, the petals with wavy margin or emarginate.
136 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
with 2 linear appendages at base of blade. Capsule on a 6-8 mm
stalk (carpophore), the two about length of calyx.
Introduced from Eurasia, common in cultivation, and perhaps
locally established in Wisconsin; driveway. Point Beach State For¬
est (Manitowoc Co.) ; vacant lot, Milwaukee, with Datura, Kochia
(Milwaukee Co.) spontaneous in a lawn. Tomahawk (Lincoln Co.) ;
the earliest collections dated 1861 from Milwaukee and St. Croix
(both Hale, s.n. [F, WIS]). Flowering the last week of June
through mid-September.
7. SiLENE CUCUBALUS Wibel. Bladder Campion; Maiden’s Tears.
Silent latifolia (Mill.) Britt. & Rendle, Map 37.
Glabrous and glaucous iveedy perennial similar to S. cserei
(which see) 3-8 (-10) dm tall. Leaves usually lanceolate to ovate
or elliptic, sometimes oblong or oblanceolate, acute, mostly 3-8 cm
long. Cymes loose and paniculate; uppermost inflorescence bracts
scarious, usually glabrous. Calyx subspherical to ovoid, rounded to
umbilicate (invaginate) at base, 9-17 mm long, with branching and
anastomosing nerves, greenish, or often purplish, in fruit papery
and much inflated, not appressed to the much smaller capsule.
(Calyx, when pressed, often campanulate, with wide open apex.)
Petals white, deeply bilobed.
Naturalized from Eurasia, locally common, but largely missing
from western and central Wisconsin, in disturbed, open habitats,
mainly on roadsides, roadcuts, old fields, waste places, and along
railroads; near Cleveland (Manitowoc Co.) in a grassy field with
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, and Linaria vulgaris; near Custer
(Portage Co.) weedy along roadside and in thickets of Prunus and
Quercus macrocarpa. Flowering from mid- June through August
(mid-October) and fruiting from late June through mid-September
(October) .
It seems that this species is becoming more common in Wiscon¬
sin. The first published record (as S. vulgaris) is from Milwaukee
County (Russell, 1907), while the first collection was made in 1912
in Delavan, Walworth County (Wadmond s.n. [MINN] ) . Only spo¬
radic collections were made through the 1940’s, with more collec¬
tions since 1949 than during all the years before. The great in¬
crease in the number of herbarium specimens of Silene cucubalus
in the past decade, while no doubt partly due to the more intensive
collecting activity, may be best explained by an increase in abund¬
ance and range of this weedy species.
8. Silene cserei Baumg. Bladder Campion. Map 38.
Very similar to Silene cucubalus, but commonly taller (to 1 meter
tall), and often with larger leaves (to 11.5 cm long). Cymes more
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. 4-6
137
narrow and racemose, with the uppermost inflorescence bracts mi¬
nutely ciliate. Calyx narrowly ovoid-oblong to ellipsoid, constricted
at summit, often narrowed at base and attenuate to the pedicel
(not umbilicate), 8-13 mm long, with nerves not evidently anas¬
tomosing, glaucous, greenish, slightly inflated and papery in flower,
becoming firmer in fruit and appressed to capsule. Capsule ovoid,
slightly exserted, longer than in S. cucubalus (the calyx however,
smaller). Petals white.
Naturalized from the Balkans and Asia Minor and found
throughout most of Wisconsin, though not as common in central
and northern parts, in disturbed habitats, mainly on roadsides and
roadcuts, in ballast, cinders, sand, or gravel of railroad tracks; in
Shorewood (Milwaukee Co.), in cinders and gravel along railroad
tracks, with Plantago major, P. indica, Chaenorrhinum minus,
Oenothera biennis, Saponaria, and Linaria; west of Doylestown
(Columbia Co.) on grassy banks and in gravel along railroad
tracks, with Lychhis alba, Mirabilis nyctaginea, Descurainia pin-
nata, and Erysimum inconspicuum.
Silene cserei, like S. cucubalus with which it may grow, seems to
be increasing its range in Wisconsin. Infrequent collections were
made following 1915, the year the first collection was made (Rhine¬
lander, Oneida Co., Goessl 2497 [MIL] ) . More frequent collections
have been made in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and over 40% of the total
number of specimens date from after 1955. Spreading very freely
along railroad tracks, large colonies of S. cserei — often extending
for miles — can be found in many places in Wisconsin. Apparently
S. cserei is much more “at home’’ on railroad ballast than S. cucu¬
balus, the latter preferring roadsides and fields.
138 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Bibliography
Antoine, J. M, 1871. Petite note sur la flora du Wisconsin. Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot.
Belg. 10:212-215.
Ascherson, P. and P. Graebner. 1929. Synopsis der Mitteleuropdischen Flora,
Gebriider Borntraeger, Leipzig. 5(1) :446-942, 5(2)1-503.
Bailey, L. H. 1949, Manual of Cultivated Plants. The Macmillan Company,
New York. pp. 368-381.
Baker, H. G. 1950. Dioecious Melandrium in western North America. Madrono
10:218-221.
Baker, H. G. and W. Jackson. 1951. Cytology of the ecotypes of dioecious
Melandrium dioicum (L. emend.) Coss. & Germ. Nature 168:747.
Boivin, B. 1953. Le group du Stellaria longifolia Muhlenburg (Caryophyl-
laceae). Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift 47:43-46.
Britton, N. L. and P. A. Rydberg. 1901-1903. Contributions to the botany of
the Yukon Territory 4. Bull. NY. Bot. Gard. 2:169. "^Arenaria stricta].
Cheney, L. S. and R. H. True. 1892. On the flora of Madison and vicinity — a
preliminary paper on the flora of Dane County, Wisconsin. Trans. Wis.
Acad. Sci, Arts & Let. 9:58-59.
Clapham, a. R., T. G. Tutin, and E. F. Warburg. 1952. Flora of the British
Isles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 269-336,
Core, E. L. 1941. The North American species of Paronychia. Amer. Midi.
Nat. 26:369-397.
Curtis, J. T. 1959. The Vegetation of Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin
Press, Madison.
Deam, C. C. 1940, Flora of Indiana. Department of Conservation, Indianapolis,
pp. 436-450.
Dean, H. L. 1959. Variations in style number and other gynoecial structures
of Lychnis alba. Science 130:42-43.
Deane, W. 1910. Some facts relating to Silene antirrhina. Rhodora 12:129-131.
Farwell, 0. A. 1928. Botanical gleanings in Michigan V. Amer. Midi. Nat.
11:55. [Silene antirrhina']
Fassett, N. C. 1934. Notes from the herbarium of the University of Wis. XI.
Rhodora 36:349-352. [Silene cserei]
Fassett, N. C. 1957. Spring Flora of Wisconsin, Ed. 3, University of Wis¬
consin Press, Madison, pp. 49-54.
Fernald, M. L. 1914. The American variations of Stellaria borealis. Rhodora
16:144-151.
Fernald, M. L. 1915. Two varieties of Silene antirrhina. Rhodora 17:96-97.
Fernald, M. L. 1925. Persistence of plants in unglaciated areas of boreal
America. Mem. Amer. Acad, Arts & Sci. 15:239-342.
Fernald, M. L. 1936. Plants from the outer coastal plain of Virginia. Rhodora
38:416-321, [Paronychia fastigiata]
Fernald, M. L. 1940, Some spermatophytes of eastern North America. Rho¬
dora 42 : 254-259. [Stellaria calycantha]
Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray's Manual of Botany, Ed, 8. American Book Com¬
pany, New York. pp. 611-636.
Fernald, M. L. and K. M. Wiegand. 1920. Studies of some boreal American
Cerastiums of the section Orthodon. Rhodora 22:169-179.
Gleason, H. A. 1952, The New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora. Lan¬
caster Press, Lancaster, Pa. 2:118-145.
Hegi, G, 1908, Illustrierte Flora von Mittel-Europa. J. F. Lehmann’s Verlag,
Miinchen, 3:271-437.
Hitchcock, C. L. and B. Maguire. 1947. A revision of the North American
species of Silene, Univ, Wash. Pub. Biol, 13:1-73.
1961]
Schlising & litis — Wisconsin Flora No. kH
139
Hollick, a. and N. L. Britton. 1887. Cerastium arvense L., and its North
American varieties. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 14:45-51.
Jones, G. N. and G. D, Fuller. 1955. Vascular Plants of Illinois. The Uni¬
versity of Illinois Press, Urbana. pp. 196-204.
Karsten, H. 1895. Flora von Deutschland, Oesterreich, und der Schweiz. Fr.
Eugen Kohler’s Botanischer Verlag, Gera-Untermhaus, Reuss. 2:60-61.
Love, D. 1944. Cytogenetic studies on dioecious Melandrium. Botaniska Notiser.
pp. 125-213.
Maguire, B. 1951. Studies in the Caryophyllaceae V. Arenaria in America
North of Mexico. Amer. Midi. Nat. 46:493-511.
Matzke, E. B. 1929. A morphologic study of the variations in Stellaria aquat-
ica, with special reference to symmetry and sterility. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club
56:471-534.
Moore, J, W. 1950. Studies of Minnesota flowering plants with notes on addi¬
tions to the flora. Rhodora 52:54-60. [Stellaria longifolia var. atrata']
Packard, Ross L. 1958. The history of rye in Wisconsin from 1850 to 1955.
Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts & Let. 47 : 173-180.
Pennell, F, W. 1930. Gn some critical species of the serpentine barrens. Bar-
tonia 12:3-12. [Cerastium arvensel
Raup, H. M. 1947. The botany of southwestern Mackenzie. Sargentia 6:1-262.
Rossbach, R. P. 1940. Spergularia in North and South America. Rhodora
42:57-70, 105-143.
Russell, H. 1907. Check list of the flora of Milwaukee County. Bull. Wis. Nat.
Hist. Soc. 5:167-250.
Rydberg, P. A. 1904. Studies on the Rocky Mountain flora XI. Bull. Torr. Bot.
Club. 31:407-408. [Silene antirrJiina]
St. John, H. 1917. Arenaria lateriflora and its varieties in North America.
Rhodora 19:259.
Seymour, F, C. 1960. Flora of Lincoln County, Wisconsin. Published by the
author. P. F. Nolan, Taunton, Mass. pp. 227-233.
Wadmond, S. C. 1909. Flora of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin; a
list of fern and seed plants growing without cultivation. Trans. Wis.
Acad. Sci. Arts & Let. 16:833-134.
Warmke, H. E. 1946. Sex determination and sex balance in Melandrium. Am.
Jour. Bot. 33:648-660.
Warmke, H. E. and A. F. Blakeslee. 1940. The establishment of a 4N dioe¬
cious race in Melandrium. Am. Jour. Bot. 27 : 751-762.
Winterringer, G. S. and R. A, Evers. 1960. New records for Illinois vascular
pl.'^nts. Illinois State Museum, Scientific Papers Series 11:40-42.
NOTES ON WISCONSIN PARASITIC FUNGI. XXVII
H. C. Greene
Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison
The collections referred to in this series of notes were, unless
indicated otherwise, made during the season of 1960.
Undetermined powdery mildews in the Oidium stage have been
collected on 1) Cornus rugosa. Columbia Co., Gibraltar Rock
County Park, June 20; 2) on the inflorescence of Cornus femina,
with various collections in the Madison area from 1946 to the pres¬
ent, a very striking early season manifestation which it seems quite
certain cannot be Phyllactinia corylea (Pers.) Karst., the only de¬
termined species reported on this host from Wisconsin; 3) on Val¬
eriana edulis. Jefferson Co., near Waterloo, July 28; 4) on Aronia
melanocarpa and 5) on Amelanchier laevis. Sauk Co., Devils Lake
State Park, September 15; and 6) on Chrysanthemum coccineum
(cult.), Dane Co., near Cross Plains, August 26. In general, the
development of powdery mildews was very limited in southern
Wisconsin in 1960.
Perisporium wrightii B. & C. collected on Opuntia macrorhiza
near Pine Bluff, Dane Co., by D. Ugent, July 17, is immature, as
are most specimens I have seen of this fungus, but the perithecia
here contain large numbers of hyaline, rod-shaped microconidia.
Leptosphaeria sp., on the dead tips of otherwise green and vig¬
orously growing leaves of Carex vulpinoidea, was collected at Madi¬
son, July 6, The falcate, olivaceous, triseptate ascospores, 22-25 x
5-6 jLt, have, as is often the case in this genus, one of the central
cells slightly enlarged. This would seem close L. earicicola Fautr.
(ascospores triseptate, 18-21 x 4 /x) or to L. caricina Schroet. (asco¬
spores triseptate, 20 x 5 ju.) which for their part would seem to be
probably identical.
Leptosphaerulina sp. appears parasitic on dark brown lesions
on leaves of Lactuca biennis, collected at Madison, June 28. The
thin-walled, pale brown perithecia are gregarious, subglobose,
about 150 fx diam. The asci are broadly ovoid to almost subglobose,
approx. 40-45 x 50 /x. There is no evidence of paraphyses or para-
physoids. Ascospores are subhyaline to yellowish, broadly clavate,
28-30 X 9.5-11 /X, indistinctly muriform, perhaps slightly immature.
This might almost as well be referred to the hyaline-spored Pleo-
sphaerulina Pass, which, according to v. Hoehnel, should be re¬
placed by Pringsheimia Schulzer.
141
142 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Asterina rubicola Ell. & Ev. is fairly common on leaves of
Rubus strigosus in the fall in southern Wisconsin. As a general
thing, the small shining-black ascomata, usually clustered in groups
on small but well-defined spots, contain no spores of any sort at this
season, but in a collection made near Verona, Dane Co., Septem¬
ber 28, a small percentage of the fruiting bodies contain numerous
ConiothyriumAyge conidia which are brownish-olivaceous, globoid,
subgloboid, or broadly ellipsoid, 2-3 x 2.5-3. 5 jx. The ascomata with
the spores differ in no external respect from their sterile neighbors,
so their detection is a hit or miss affair.
Phyllachora graminis (P.) Fckl. fruiting bodies (presump¬
tive) on Elymus canadensis, collected at Madison, October 12, con¬
tain very large numbers of laxly curved, slender, hyaline scoleco-
spores, about 12-17 x .8-1 /x. There is some evidence of an accom¬
panying incipient ascigerous stage.
Chrysomyxa pirolata Wint. (C. pyrolae (DC.) Rostr.) is rep¬
resented by a number of uredial specimens in the University of
Wisconsin Herbarium, but telia have been unreported until now.
Re-examination of duplicate material of a specimen on Pyrola ellip-
tica, collected near Verona, Dane Co., May 3, 1948, shows germi¬
nated telia in some abundance, which were, inexplicably, overlooked
at the time.
Melampsora abietis-canadensis (Earl.) Ludw. I on Tsuga can¬
adensis, so far as Wisconsin material is concerned, has been repre¬
sented up to now by three scanty specimens on leaves, all from
the far northern part of the state. In June at a station near La-
Valle, Sauk Co., there was observed a massive infection of large,
old trees with the rust strictly confined to the cones, so far as noted.
Perhaps as many as a fifth of the large crop of young cones were a
bright orange-yellow hue from the exposed caeomoid spore masses,
a most striking sight.
Uromyces sp., on a phanerogamic specimen of Carex richardsoni
in the University of Wisconsin Herbarium, was submitted to G. B.
Cummins who states that he is unable to identify it and that it is
not the usual sort of rust encountered on North American Carices.
Since the specimen was collected in 1879 in the environs of Green
Bay, Wis. it seems quite certain the habitat has long since been
destroyed. The urediospores are light cinnamon-brown, globoid,
broadly ellipsoid, or obovoid, with wall about 1.5-2 jx thick, finely
echinulate, pores 2-3 (-4), approx, equatorial. (15-) 18-20 (-23) x
22-25 (-28) fx. The pallid olivaceous teliospores are ellipsoid to
broadly ellipsoid, with wall about 3-5 jx thick above by 1.5 jx at sides,
17-20 X 22-26 (-30) y, pedicel very short. Many of the teliospores
1961]
Greene — Wisconsin Fungi No. 27
143
had germinated and Cummins thinks it probable that they are of
the current season and thus germinated without dormancy.
Phyllosticta minutissima Ell. & Ev., common on leaves of
Acer saccharum in Wisconsin, is not ordinarily very destructive,
being prominent usually only toward season’s end. However, in
early August, sizeable planted specimens of sugar maple in the
University of Wisconsin Arboretum at Madison suffered near total
defoliation, following a massive infection with P. minutissima. The
attack proceeded from the leaf tips inward, causing reddish dis¬
coloration, drying, and very strong curling.
Phyllostica apocyni Trek on Apocynum androsaemi folium, col¬
lected at Parfrey’s Glen, Sauk Co., September 16, 1959, has some
pycnidia, associated with the normal PhyllosticaAype and macro-
scopically indistinguishable, which contain very large numbers of
hyaline microspores, approx. 3-4 x 1-1.5 ^t.
Phllosticae of uncertain affinities, and sometimes of question¬
able parasitism, are found in the course of every collecting season.
It seems worthwhile to continue recording descriptive notes of these
and to file them in the Wisconsin Cryptogamic Herbarium, in the
hope that some if not all may eventually be identified. (In the past
certain small and inadequate collections have ultimately served to
supplement later large specimens on which descriptions of new
species of Phyllosticta have been based.) Ten undetermined Phyl-
lostictae are listed here:
1) On Carex sartwellii at Madison, October 10. Lesions are small,
angled, and reddish-brown, the pycnidia blackish, small and flat¬
tened, about 75-100 /x diam. The conidia are slender, rod-shaped
microspores. Associated with and perhaps connected with Cerco-
spora caricis Oud.
2) On Carex blanda at Gov. Dodge State Park, Iowa Co., June 24.
This appears parasitic on indeterminate brownish areas on the
leafy bracts of the inflorescence. The small, blackish, thick-walled,
sublenticular pycnidia are hypophyllous, multiseriate and sub-
stomatal, mostly about 35-40 in short diameter, but up to 50 jx or
a little more. They are rather widely open, tending to conform with
the stomatal aperture, and verge upon the melanconiaceous. The
hyaline conidia are of the microtype, about 4-5 x 1-1.3 fx.
3) On Carya ovata at Perrot State Park, Trempealeau Co.,
June 17, 1959. The lesions are broadly subfusoid or suborbicular,
medium brown with a narrow darker border, about .3-5 cm. diam.,
and usually oriented along the principal lateral veins of the leaflet.
The epiphyllous pycnidia are sooty brown, gregarious to clustered
144 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
centrally on the spot, subglobose, imperfectly developed apically,
about 50-80 /x diam. The hyaline conidia appear to fall into two
classes, 1) 2.5-3 x .7-1 y, short rod-shaped, and frequently biguttu-
late, very numerous, and 2) 5-6 x 1.5-1. 7 (-2) y, subfusoid, and
comparatively few. The larger conidia are quite similar to those of
Phyllosticta caryae Peck, as represented in a specimen collected by
Peck at Piffard, N. Y, and labeled ‘‘ex type”. P. caryae has been
reported from Wisconsin, but there is no verifying specimen at
present in the Wisconsin Herbarium.
4) On Rubus occidentalis at Madison, August 1. The conspicu¬
ous lesions are dull brown with yellowish halo, orbicular to vari¬
ously elongate. The pallid-brownish pycnidia are scattered, sub-
globose, approx. 125-140 y diam. ; conidia hyaline, cylindric, faintly
biguttulate, (5-) 7-10 x (2-) 2.5-3 y. These conidia are longer and
larger than those of other species I find reported on Rubus. They
appear well matured and show no evidence of incipient septation.
5) On Cornus obliqua near Jefferson, Jefferson Co., July 28. The
hyaline, broadly ellipsoid conidia, 5-7 x 2.5-3 y, are somewhat
smaller than those of Phyllosticta cornicola (DC.) Rabh., and the
subglobose, blackish pycnidia, approx. 60-75 y diam., much smaller.
6) On Asclepias phytolaccoides near Verona, Dane Co., Septem¬
ber 28. The spots are greenish-black and angled, approx. 2-7 mm.
diam. The pycnidia are scattered to gregarious, globose, black, ap¬
pearing non-ostiolate, small, about 50-65 jm diam. Hyaline micro-
conidia, 3-4 x 1-1.3 /x are present in some profusion.
7) On Solidago gigantea in close association with Ramularia
serotina Ell. & Ev., Gov. Dodge State Park, Iowa Co., July 21, 1959.
The epiphyllous pycnidia occur usually near the margins of the
small, rounded, brownish-ashen spots, which are assumed to have
been produced primarily by action of the Ramularia. Pycnidia are
dark grayish, subglobose, approx. 100-150 /x diam., while the conidia
are hyaline, short-cylindric to broadly ellipsoid, or occasionally sub¬
fusoid, 4-6 (-7) X 2-2.5 /X. The conidia are of about the same dimen¬
sions as those of Phyllosticta madisonensis , described on this host
from Wisconsin, but the fungus does not seem similar in other
respects.
8) On Aster macrophyllus at Wildcat Mt. State park, Vernon
Co., September 9, 1959. Held out-of-doors in a wire cage at Madison
until early May 1960. At the time of collection the pycnidia were
scattered or clustered on large, conspicuous purple-brown spots.
They were black, composed of dark, thick-walled pseudoparen-
chymatous cells, globose and somewhat erumpent, approx. 200-250
/X diam., with contents undifferentiated. Following the caging, and
1961]
Greene — Wisconsin Fungi No. 27
145
produced presumably after overwintering, numerous hyaline, rod¬
shaped conidia, 4-7 x 1,5-2 /x, were observed in the pycnidia. It
seems possible that, in some instances, the caging of leaves may
have influence in favoring the production of an imperfect as over
a perfect stage, since the latter may sometimes depend on a very
delicate balance of conditions, not realized in a cage, where the
leaves tend to become appressed to one another.
9) On Aster pilosus at Madison, August 21. The pycnidia are
closely clustered on dead upper stem leaves, or scattered singly on
the adjacent stem. They are clear brown, subglobose, uniformly
about 100 jtt diam. The conidia are hyaline, ellipsoid, 4-5 x 2-2.5 /x.
10) On Inula helenium, Gov. Dodge State Park, Iowa Co.,
July 21, 1959. The lesions are brownish, orbicular, about 1 cm. diam.
Pycnidia globose, thin-walled, brownish, about 75-100 /x diam., the
conidia hyaline, broadly ellipsoid, frequently biguttulate, (2-) 2.5-3
X 4-6.5 /X. This may be identical with Phyllosticta Inulae Allesch.,
which has conidia of the same dimensions, but material for com¬
parison is not available.
CONIOTHYRIUM (?) sp, parasitized thalli of the lichen Dermato-
carpon miniatum (L.) Mann, collected by J. Looman at Nelson
Dewey Memorial Park at Cassville, Grant Co., July 21, 1959. The
brownish elevated mass of the parasite is deeply imbedded in the
host medulla, and the algal layer has been forced aside, as is shown
in sections. The imbedded, subrostrate, dark brown pycnidia are
scattered in the uppermost layer of the elevated mycelial mass, but
they are easily seen under a hand lens. They are subglobose, or
somewhat flattened below and irregular in outline, approx. 60-75 /x
diam. The conidia are clear greenish-olivaceous, thin- walled, broadly
ellipsoid, 3-4.3 x 2. 5-3. 5 /x. Keissler’s “Die Flechtenparasiten” was
consulted, but no certain conclusion as to identity could be reached.
CONIOTHYRIUM sp. is epiphyllous on rounded ashen spots, approx.
2-4 mm. diam., on leaves of Ribes missouriense, collected in the New
Glarus Woods Roadside Park, Green Co., September 21, 1959. The
gregarious black pycnidia are subglobose to globose, approx. 150-
175 /X diam., the conidia smoky gray, ellipsoid or subfusoid, 4.5-6 x
2.5-3 /X. Questionably parasitic.
CONIOTHYRIUM sp. occurs on leaves of two specimens Ribes mis¬
souriense, and on one of what appears to be Ribes cynosbati, the
former from Cross Plains and Madison, Dane Co., respectively,
collected in June and July, the latter from Ferry Bluff, Sauk Co.,
in June. The small, but conspicuous, ashen spots are rounded to
elongate, mostly very irregular in outline. The pycnidia are epiphyl¬
lous, scattered to gregarious, blackish, subglobose, about 115-140 /x
146 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
diam. The numerous conidia are of a clear grayish shade, thin-
walled, broadly ellipsoid or short-cylindric, approx. 4-6 x 2-3 /x,.
There is no evidence of insect action in connection with the spot¬
ting and it seems quite likely the fungus is parasitic. So far as
appearance of spots is concerned, as well as in size of pycnidia,
these specimens appear quite different from the 1959 collection on
R. missouriense mentioned in the preceding note. Except for one
obscure report which I have been unable to check adequately, all
mention of Coniothyrium on Ribes appears to be based on specimens
on stems and branches.
Darluca filum (Biv.) Cast, occurs on telia of Puccinia asteris
Duby on Aster pilosus, collected at Madison, October 10. Develop¬
ment of this hyperparasite on a microcyclic rust is rare, although
one earlier Wisconsin specimen on P. asteris is in the Wisconsin
Herbarium.
Stagonospora atriplicis (West.) Lind, on Chenopodium album
from Madison, July 4, has some pycnidia which contain small, rod¬
shaped microconidia instead of the characteristic phragmospores.
Stagonospora sp. is present in profusion on the leaves of a
phanerogamic specimen of Carex leptonervia Fern., collected by
J. J. Jones, August 16, 1954, near Winegar, Vilas Co. The blackish
subglobose pycnidia are about 150 /x. diam. The subhyaline spores
are cylindric to subcylindric, or subfusoid, straight or slightly
curved, (25-) 30-35 (-40) x (4-) 5-6 /x, 4-6 septate, often with
slight constrictions at the septa.
Stagonospora sp. heavily infected Carex pennsylvanica near
Cross Plains, Dane Co., September 7. The elongate, indeterminate
spots are yellowish- to reddish-brown, usually involving the narrow
leaves from margin to margin. The affected areas are not neces¬
sarily distal, but often occur within the still green areas of the
leaves. The pycnidia are scattered, mostly pallid brownish, occa¬
sionally somewhat darker, rather thin-walled and translucent, sub-
globose, approx. 90-150 /x diam. The conidia are hyaline, often gut-
tulate or granulose, obtuse and cylindric, straight or slightly
curved, 2-3 septate, 23-30 (-33) x 7-8 (8.5) jjl. Where 3 septate, it
sometimes appears as though division had occurred in a terminal
cell without accompanying divisions in the other two. This fungus
appears truly parasitic, in contrast to the sometimes doubtful speci¬
mens where pycnidia are confined to dead leaf tips.
Stagonospora sp. occurs on tiny, white, translucent spots about
1 mm. diam. on Circaea latifolia, collected June 2*7 near Pine Bluff,
Dane Co. The thin-walled, pale brown, subglobose pycnidia are
epiphyllous, two or three per spot, approx. 75 /x diam. The spores
1961]
Greene — Wisconsin Fungi No. 27
147
are cylindric or subfusoid, straight or slightly curved, 13-18 x 2.5-
3,5 y., 1-3 septate. There seem to be no reports of any Sphaeropsi-
dales on Circaea, other than an undetermined species of Septoria
mentioned in my Notes XX VI.
Stagonospora sp. collected on Fraxinus pennsylvanica var. lance-
olata at Gov, Dodge State Park, Iowa Co., June 24, seems distinct
from any other sphaeropsidaceous species with phragmospores or
scolecospores reported on Fraxinus from Wisconsin. The conspicu¬
ous spots are tan colored, one or two per infected leaflet, suborbicu-
lar, with narrow, irregular, darker margins, about .5-1 cm. diam.
The pycnidia are epiphyllous, light brown, subglobose, tending to
collapse, deeply seated in the host tissue, approx. 75-125 p. diam.,
scattered to gregarious. The conidia are hyaline, straight to lax, or
slightly sinuous, often more obtuse at one end than at the other,
23-32 X 3-3.5 ju., (2-) 3 septate. Admittedly, this might be classed
as a Septoria, various species of which have been reported on Frax¬
inus, but it is certainly not S. besseyi Peck, of which there are
numerous specimens in the Wisconsin Herbarium.
Septoria sp. on dead leaves of Agrostis alba at Devils Lake State
Park, Sauk Co., September 15, has spores which in their dimen¬
sions seem to correspond fairly closely to the macrospores of S. pas-
serinii Sacc., as described and figured by Sprague. This species,
however, has been reported only on Hordeae. In the specimen on
A. alba the scattered brown pycnidia are somewhat flattened, thin-
walled and translucent, mostly about 125 p. diam. The spores are
from almost straight to lax or strongly curved, approx. 23-28 x
2-2.5 y, appearing obscurely 2 septate.
Septoria sp. on dead areas on leaves of Calamagrostis canadensis,
collected at Gibraltar Rock County Park, Columbia Co., June 20, in
microscopic characters corresponds quite closely with Septoria
secalis Prill & Delacr., as described and figured by Sprague in his
'‘Diseases of Cereals and Grasses in North America”, p. 253. For
conclusive determination, however, more and better material would
be desirable.
Septoria sp, (or Rhabdospora?) occurs on flowering stems of
Zigadenus elegans, collected near Eagle, Waukesha Co., July 22,
1959. The black, globose pycnidia are approx. 65-100 p. diam., scat¬
tered on elongate, light-colored areas on the stem. The conidia are
hyaline, flexuous, tapering at one, or sometimes both apices, rather
obscurely 1-3 septate, 20-33 x 1-1.5 /x. A Septoria was collected on
leaves of this host at the same station in 1951, and reported on in
my Notes XVII. It had continuous spores which were definitely
thicker in relation to length, and pycnidia which averaged about
100 /X diam.
148 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Septoria sp. developed on leaves of Viburnum acerifolium, col¬
lected at Devils Lake State Park, Sauk Co., October 10, 1959, and
held out-of-doors over winter in a wire cage at Madison until May
1960. The freshly collected leaves were still green, with conspicu¬
ous, angled, sordid-brownish spots. The pycnidia were inconspicu¬
ous, scattered to gregarious, deeply sunk in the host tissue, but with
rather thin, translucent walls and with contents undifferentiated.
The overwintered pycnidia showed a surprising further develop¬
ment of the wall which had become black and is composed of dark,
thick-walled mostly isodiametric cells. These mature pycnidia are
subglobose, approx, 125-160 ja diam., with a prominent ostiole, and
with spores which are hyaline, slender and acicular, straight or
slightly curved, 23-38 x 1-1.3 /^, appearing continuous. This is not
Septoria vihurni West., reported on Viburnum opulus (cult.) in
Wisconsin, as that species has cylindric guttulate spores. I have
found no record of other Septorias on Viburnum. It seems possible
that the October collection constituted an overwintering stage of a
Septoria which had developed normally earlier in the season.
Septoria sp. occurs on dead tips of leaves of Chrysanthemum
coccineum (cult.) , collected near Cross Plains, Dane Co., August 2*8.
The tiny pycnidia, approx. 60-75 /x diam., are thin-walled and
fragile and closely crowded. The hyaline spores appear continuous,
are slightly curved, and are about 15-20 x 1.2-1 .7 /x. Most of the
species reported on Chrysanthemum and allied hosts have spores
which are much longer than these.
Leptothyrium (?) sp. occurs on leaves of Viburnum acerifolium
(cult.), collected at Madison, September 26. The fruiting structures
are subcuticular in origin, lifting the cuticle as they develop under
it. The spots are orbicular, reddish-brown with narrow purplish
borders, approx. .5-1 cm. diam. The fruiting bodies are convex
above and flattened below, non-ostiolate, black, approx. 100-125 /x
diam., and scattered on the spots. Conidiophores are hyaline, basal
and rudimentary, about 6-7 x 2 /x, the conidia pallid greenish,
broadly ellipsoid, 5-6 x 3-3.5 /x. Perhaps parasitic.
Gloeosporium canadense Ell. & Ev. (Discula quercina (West.)
V. Arx) is common on Quercus alba and Q. macrocarpa in Wiscon¬
sin, and has spores about as described by Ellis and Everhart, 10-14
X 3. 5-4. 5 /X, narrowly ellipsoid or fusoid. In a specimen on Q. macro¬
carpa, collected August 26 near Cross Plains, Dane Co., the conidia
are 12-14 x 7-8.5 /x, broadly oval in outline. Fruiting is essentially
hypophyllous and is confined to segments of the principal veins, pro¬
ducing yellowing on the upper leaf surface along the infected veins,
but without the reddish-brown and extensive dead areas commonly
seen in G. canadense infections. At the time of collection the leaves
1961]
Greene — Wisconsin Fungi No. 27
149
affected were being prematurely shed. It seems doubtful that the
Cross Plains specimen represents merely a variant manifestation
in view of the much greater spore width and the quite different
lesions produced.
Discula sp. (following the treatment of von Arx in his revision
of Gloeosporium) is present in small amount on leaves of Quercus
bicolor, collected near Avon, Rock Co., September 3, 1959. The
lesions are pale reddish, rounded, about .5 cm. diam. The acervuli
are gregarious, subepidermal, epiphyllous but deeply sunken to a
point about midway between upper and lower epidermis, and hemi¬
spherical in outline, approx. 100-125 ju, diam. Conidiophores are sub-
cylindric, appearing somewhat grayish in mass, very closely ranked
over the entire surface of the acervulus, 10-12 jn long. The conidia
are hyaline, continuous, fusoid or occasionally narrowly subcylin-
dric, 5-8 x (l-)1.5(-2) y. Quite similar to Discula quercina
(West.) V. Arx (Gloeosporium quercinum West.) in general char¬
acteristics. The latter, however, is hypophyllous and has conidia
which are longer and somewhat wider than those of the specimen
under consideration.
Discula sp. occurred on reddish-brown, wedge-shaped apical por¬
tions of leaves of Ribes diacantha (cult.) at Madison, August 22.
The fruiting body superficially resembles a pycnidium, but in sec¬
tion is seen to be a somewhat elevated acervulus, approx. 150 ju, wide
by 60 jLt high, subepidermal with a well-developed blackish mycelial
covering above, but with a wide central aperture. The base and
sides of the acervulus are lined with closely ranked, slender, hyaline
conidiophores about 12-15 x 2 /x, while the conidia are hyaline,
broadly ellipsoid, subfusoid, or fusoid, about 5-7 x 2-3 /x.
Phlyctaena (?) sp. occurs on leaves of Desmodium nudiflorum,
collected near Browntown, Green Co., July 19. The acervuli appear
subepidermal in origin and in fact verge upon a pycnidial structure.
The conspicuous, orbicular, dull reddish-brown spots are mostly
about .5 cm. diam. In accommodation to the very thin leaf the acer¬
vuli are noticeably flattened, and are mostly about 60-75 /x in broad
diameter, pallid brownish, very inconspicuous and few and scat¬
tered on the spots. The conidiophores are more or less bottle-shaped,
approx. 9-12 x 2 /x, rather loosely ranked. The conidia are hyaline,
from almost straight to mostly curved and falcate, usually broadest
in the middle and tapering toward the ends, appearing continuous,
22^25 X 1.5-2 /X. Certainly not far from Septoria. The tentative as¬
signment to Phlyctaena attempts to follow the treatment of von Arx
in his revision of Gloeosporium.
Phleospora anemones Ell. & Kell, has been found several times
on Anemone cylindrica in Wisconsin. That the large, black, closely
150 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
grouped fruiting structures are close to Septoria cannot be denied
and the fungus has in fact been so designated by some workers. In
the fall host plants are sometimes found bearing black fruiting
structures which externally correspond closely to those of Phleo-
spora anemones, but whose contents are not differentiated and do
not become so prior to the onset of winter. Host leaves bearing
these structures were collected near Cross Plains, Dane Co., in Sep¬
tember 1959, placed in a wire cage, and overwintered out-of-doors
at Madison until early May 1960. It had been thought that a per¬
fect stage might develop, but examination showed profuse produc¬
tion of typical Phleospora spores, indicating that this fungus, like
a number of others observed by the writer, may live from year to
year without production of a perfect stage.
Inula helenium, collected at Gov. Dodge State Park, Iowa Co.,
July 21, 1959, bears an unidentified monilaceous fungus which seems
perhaps to fall within the range of what has been called Ovularia.
The tufted fascicles are epiphyllous on more or less extensive, sor¬
did brownish areas. The hyaline, clustered conidiophores, more or
less widely divergent from a small, brownish, elevated stroma, are
approx. 15-20 x 2.5-3 /x, simple, with a single scar at the narrowed
tip, or subgeniculate and denticulate at the tip. The conidia appear
to have been catenulate and are hyaline, fusoid, or sometimes nar¬
rowly subcylindric in the longer conidia, which may be narrowed
at one end and irregularly obtuse at the other, 8-22 x 2-3 y and
continuous so far as observed.
Botrytis sp. appears parasitic on upper portions of leaves — not
necessarily the tips — of Hemerocallis fulva, the common day-lily,
collected at Madison, July 6. The fungus is amphigenous, the conidia
smooth, thin-walled, subhyaline, broadly oval, 12-16 x 9-10 y, pro¬
duced in clusters from very short, stubby branches in the apical
region of the medium-long, sparingly septate, grayish-olivaceous
conidiophores. The hardy host plant is extensively naturalized in
Wisconsin, but the present instance is the first in many years of
collecting where an apparent parasite has been noted on it. There
seem to be no literature references recording Botrytis on Hemero¬
callis.
Cladosporium sp., possibly parasitic, occurs in minute gregari¬
ous tufts on long, narrow, brownish lesions on the adaxial sides of
leaves of Bromus purgans, collected at the New Glarus Woods Road¬
side Park, Green Co., October 4. The conidiophores are closely fas¬
cicled in small groups, clear brown, multiseptate, sparingly genicu¬
late and somewhat paler toward tip, approx. 60-75 x 3-3.5 pc. The
few conidia observed ran about 10-12 x 4.e5-5 jn, short-cylindric.
1961]
Greene — Wisconsin Fungi No, 27
151
rather deep brown with wall minutely roughened. The leaves also
bear Puccinia recondita Rob. ex Desm.
Cercosporella (?) sp. occurs on leaves of Dioscorea villosa, col¬
lected at Gov. Dodge State Park, Iowa Co., July 21, 1959. The
fungus is amphigenous on small, translucent, orbicular or angled,
brownish, darker bordered spots approx. 1-3 mm. diam. The hya¬
line, multigeniculate conidiophores are scattered, mostly singly or
in pairs, on the spots, but many of them appear to be compound,
being considerably enlarged and somewhat amorphous in aspect
basally. They are about 3 /x wide in the narrower upper portion and
approx. 15-40 /x long, very inconspicuous and revealed only in sec¬
tions. The conidia are hyaline, subacicular, straight or slightly
curved, base narrowly obconic, 2-3 septate, approx. 30-45 x (1.5-)
2-2.5 /X.
Cercosporella celtidis (E. & K.) J. J. Davis (Ramularia cel-
tidis Ell. & Kell.) was collected on Celtis occidentalis by Davis in
Crawford Co., Wis. in 1921. In his specimen most of the spores are
lax and filiform, about 50 x 2.5 /x, or longer, but there are a consid¬
erable number which are not more than 20-25 x 2.5 jx. At a station
near Cross Plains, Dane Co., October 7, on leaves of the same host,
a fungus was found which it seems likely may be a reduced late-
season development of Cercosporella celtidis. The spots are grayish
and less sharply defined than in the 1924 specimen. The conidia
are hyaline, slender-cylindric, about 12-14 x 2.5 ix, and there is con¬
siderable production of superficial, creeping, slender thread-like
mycelium on the surface of the spots.
Cercospora filiformis (Davis) Chupp is fairly common on
Anemone patens var. wolf gangiana in Wisconsin. After the Cerco¬
spora has passed its peak, small pycnidium-like bodies are regularly
produced on the old lesions. In past years these have been examined
from time to time, but no spores have been found in them. In a col¬
lection made near Cross Plains, Dane Co., July 14, however, these
structures are filled with hyaline, rod-shaped microconidia, possibly
indicative of a perfect stage to be developed, although when similar
leaves were overwintered out-of-doors in 1954-55, the '‘pycnidia’'
produced only Cercospora conidia from their surfaces and no per¬
fect stage ensued.
Cercospora sp. is hypophyllous on sordid brownish areas on
leaves of Callistephus chinensis (cult.), collected September 7 near
Cross Plains, Dane Co. The conidiophores are from almost straight
to slightly curved or angled, widely and loosely 1-3 geniculate, clear
pale brown below, pallid and slightly wider at the truncate tips,
basally 2-3 septate, approx. 125-135 x 4.5-6 /x, fascicled from a
152 Wisconsin Acaderny of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [VoL 50
more or less well-developed blackish stroma. The conidia are hya¬
line, slightly curved, narrowly obclavate, multiseptate, truncate at
base, approx. 100-140 x 3, 5-4. 5 /x. Chupp, in his monograph, does
not list any species of Cercospora on Callistephus.
Cercospora sp. on Centaur ea macrocephala (cult.), collected
near Cross Plains, Dane Co., September 7, does not correspond to
Cercospora centaur eae Died., the only species mentioned by Chupp
as on Centaurea. In the Wisconsin specimen the spots are small,
rounded, and sharply defined, about 2-5 mm. diam., with wide dark
brown borders and cinereous centers. The conidiophores are epiphyl-
lous, clear gray brown, multiseptate, mildly geniculate, with widely
spaced but nevertheless rather prominent geniculations, obtuse and
truncate at tip, with prominent scar, approx, 225-275 x 4-6 /x in
small, loose fascicles of about 3-10 phores, from a small stroma.
The conidia are hyaline, obscurely multiseptate, more or less curved,
essentially acicular, truncate at base, with prominent scar, approx.
90-120 X 3-3.5 (-4) /x.
SCLEROTIOMYCES COLCHICUS Woi’onichin occurs on leaves of Acer
saccharinum, collected September 9, 1959 and of Zanthoxylum
americanum, September 13, 1960, both at Wildcat Mt. State Park,
Vernon Co. Epiphyllous, as in the case of all other specimens of
this photosynthesis-reducing fungus collected so far in Wisconsin.
This seems not to be a typical “honey-dew’’ organism, since there
is, so far as I have observed, no evidence that it develops on insect
excretions.
Additional Hosts
The following hosts have not been previously recorded as bearing
the fungi mentioned in Wisconsin.
Synchytrium fulgens Schroet. on Oenothera rhomhipetala,
Sauk Co., near Spring Green, September 11, 1959. Karling (Myco-
logia 50:373. 1958) discusses American collections of this species.
Albugo Candida (Pers.) 0. Ktze. on Erysimum cheiranthoides.
Dodge Co., near Horicon, July 12.
Albugo tragopogonis (Pers.) S. F. Gray on Antennaria planta-
ginifolia. Iowa Co., Blue Mounds State Park, August 11.
Plasmopara halstedii (FarL) Berk & DeToni on Silphium tere~
binthinaceum x laciniatum. Dane Co., Madison, September 20. In
my notes XXII I stated that P. halstedii had not been found on Sil¬
phium laciniatum in Wisconsin, which remains true, but I specu¬
lated that, since at that time the fungus had not yet been found on
the hybrid either, the hybrid might have resistance imparted by
X. laciniatum, which is evidently not the case.
1961]
Greene — Wisconsin Fungi No, 27
153
Crytosporella anomala (Peck) Sacc. on Corylus americana x
avellana. Pierce Co., River Falls, November 12, 1959. Coll. & det.
A. H. Epstein. This species, only very occasionally seen on native
hazelnut, was causing serious and extensive damage in a commer¬
cial plantation of the European filbert crossed with the American
species. It is reported as occurring on filbert in Europe, along with
two other species of Cryptosporella.
Venturia inaeQUALIS Wint. Fusicladium dendriticum stage on
leaves and young fruit of Pyrus arnoldiana (cult.) . Dane Co., Madi¬
son, June 6.
Tichothecium sp. occurred as an obvious parasite on the lichen
Caloplaca flavovirescens, collected by K. G. Foote near Ridgeway,
Iowa Co., April 19. The many-spored asci of the parasite are
broadly clavate, about 35 x 12 y, the uniseptate, dark brown,
broadly spindle-shaped ascospores are approx. 5-7 x 3-3.5 y. These
spore dimensions do not fit those of either of the two species listed
by Keissler in his monograph on lichen parasites, although they are
not far from those of Tichothecium nanellum Arn.
Ophiodothis haydeni (B. & C.) Sacc. on Aster pilosus. Dane
Co., Madison, August 21. This growth, although usually sterile in
my experience, is characteristic and obviously parasitic, causing
much distortion of the host.
Elsinoe veneta (Burkh.) Jenkins. Sphaceloma stage on Rubus
parviflorus (cult.). Dane Co., Madison, July 20.
Melampsora abieti-caprearum Tub. ii. III on Salix glaucophyl-
loides Fern. Columbia Co., near Swan Lake, Pacific Twp., Septem¬
ber 18, 1959.
PucciNiA DIOICAE P. Magn. II, III on Carex normalis. Dane Co.,
near Verona, June 29, On C. brevior. Dane Co., near Pine Bluff,
August 4.
PucciNiA DIOICAE P. Magn. on Carex concinna. Door Co., Ridges
Sanctuary at Bailey’s Harbor, June 12, 1954. Coll. J. H. Zimmer¬
man. On C. disperma. Winnebago Co., Menasha, May 18, 1889. Col¬
lector unknown. On C. foenea, Dane Co., Madison, June 23, 1950.
Coll. J. H. Zimmerman. On C. houghtonii. Ashland Co., Ironwood
Island, June 27, 1956. Coll. F. C. Lane (2682). On C. pauciflora.
Oneida Co., near Minocqua, August 11, 1953. Coll, J. J. Jones. On
C. projecta, Green Co., near Albany, August 3, 1956. Coll. H. H.
litis (6726). On C, sterilis. Dane Co., Madison, June 14, 1950. Coll.
J. H. Zimmerman. These were all noted on phanerogamic specimens
in the University of Wisconsin Herbarium.
154 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
PucciNiA CARICINA DC. on Carex atherodes. Sauk Co., Devils
Lake State Park, July 24, 1947, Coll, J. H. Zimmerman. On C.
pedunculata. Sauk Co., Parfrey’s Glen, June 14, 1937. Coll. F. J.
Hermann (8764). On C. pseudocy perns. Lincoln Co., Tomahawk,
September 16, 1952. Coll. F. C. Seymour. All on phanerogamic
specimens in the University of Wisconsin Herbarium.
PucciNiA CARICINA DC. var. LIMOSAE (Magn.) Jorstad II, III on
Carex limosa. Vilas Co., Sayner, July 27, 1902. Coll. S. C. Wad-
mond. On a phanerogamic specimen in the University of Wisconsin
Herbarium. The urediospore pores are scattered, which would seem
to throw the specimen into what was formerly designated Puccinia
karelica Tranz., rather than into P. limosae Magn., both of which
are placed by Jorstad in P. caricina var. limosae.
Puccinia asteris Duby on Aster pilosus. Dane Co., Madison,
October 10.
Gymnosporangium globosum Farl. I on Sorbus americana
(cult.). Dane Co., Madison, August 13.
Gymnosporangium juvenescens Kern I on Amelanchier interior
Nielsen. Columbia Co., Gibraltar Rock County Park, June 20.
SCHIZONELLA MELANOGRAMMA (DC.) Schroet. On Carex hlanda.
Sauk Co., Devils Lake State Park, June 20, 1946. Coll. J. H. Zim¬
merman, On a phanerogamic specimen in the University of Wis¬
consin Herbarium. This is the first broad-leaved species of Carex
on which this smut has been noted in Wisconsin.
Entyloma compositarum Farl. on Aster pilosus. Dane Co., Mad¬
ison, October 10.
Ceratobasidium anceps (Bres. & Syd.) Jacks. (Sclerotium de-
ciduum J. J. Davis) appears strongly parasitic, but not at all spe¬
cific, as one observes it on various hosts in the field. At a single
station in Wildcat Mt. State Park, Vernon Co., June 9, this fungus
was collected on eight hosts not previously recorded for Wisconsin,
as follows: Cryptotaenia canadensis, Monarda fistulosa, Veroni-
castrum virginicum, Triosteum perfoliatum, Aster paniculatus.
Aster prenanthoides , Rudheckia laciniata, and Senecio aureus. In
addition, it occurred on Sanguinaria canadensis, Verbena urtici-
folia, and Solidago gigantea, previously reported as hosts. Near La-
Valle, Sauk Co., June 15, the fungus was collected on Urtica dioica,
and on young shoots of Rumex (probably R. britannica) .
Pellicularia filamentosa (Pat.) Rogers on Plantago lanceo-
lata. Dane Co., Madison, July 20.
Phyllosticta dearnessii Sacc. on Rubus sp. (dewberry). Dane
Co., near Pine Bluff, August 30. Although it is scarcely possible to
1961]
Greene — Wisconsin Fungi No. 27
155
state the host species, it is obviously neither R. strigosus nor R. par-
vifiorus, the only previously reported hosts for this fungus in
Wisconsin.
Phyllosticta fragaricola Desm. & Rob. on Potentilla norveg-
ica var. hirsuta. Jefferson Co., near Waterloo, July 28. This speci¬
men corresponds closely to like-named collections on Potentilla
arguta and P. recta.
Phyllosticta antennariae Ell, & Ev. on Antennaria planta-
ginifolia. Iowa Co., Blue Mounds State Park, August 11. The conidia
are slightly longer, up to 10 p., than in other specimens on Anten¬
naria fallax, but are of the same general type.
Neottiospora arenaria Syd. on Carex grayii. Outagamie Co.,
near Stephensville, June 19, 1951. Coll. R. T. Brown and R. Bray.
On C. scoparia. Burnett Co., near Webster, September 6, 1929. Coll.
W. T. McLaughlin (1846). On phanerogamic specimens in the Uni¬
versity of Wisconsin Herbarium.
Ascochyta graminicola Sacc, on Oryzopsis asperifolia. Price
Co., Camp Merrill near Phillips, September 13, 1911. Coll. J. J.
Davis. On a leaf bearing Puccinia pygmaea Erikss., for which the
specimen was originally collected. On Muhlenhergia racemosa. Sauk
Co., Ferry Bluff, Town of Prairie du Sac, June 24.
Ascochyta aQuilegiae (Rabh.) Hoehn. on Aquilegia huergeri-
ana Sieb. & Zucc. (cult.). Dane Co., Madison, July 4, 1959.
Ascochyta pisi Lib. on Lathyrus ochroleucus. Iowa Co., Blue
Mounds State Park, August 11.
Ascochyta cucumis Fautr. & Roum. on Cucurhita maxima
(cult.). Dane Co., Madison, September 26.
Ascochyta compositarum J. J. Davis on Senecio aureus. Vernon
Co., Wildcat Mt. State Park, June 9. This is the small-spored vari¬
ety, originally designated by Davis as var. parva, but later consid¬
ered as better included with the species. In the present specimen
most of the spores are about 8-10 xS p, and are possibly somewhat
immature, as only a minority show a septum.
Darluca filum (Biv.) Cast, on Pucciniastrum pyrolae (Pers.)
Schroet. II on Pyrola elliptica. Dane Co., near Verona, September
28. The first Wisconsin collection on a species of Pucciniastrum. On
Melampsora abietis-canadensis (Farl.) Ludw. II on Populus grandi-
dentata. Vernon Co., Wildcat Mt. State Park, September 13. On
Tranzschelia pruni-spinosae (Pers.) Diet. Ill on Prunus nigra.
Chippewa Co., near Cadott, September 20, 1922. Coll. J. J. Davis.
The first Wisconsin report of Darluca on Tranzschelia. On Puccinia
156 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
puritanica Cumm. II on Carex pennsylvanica. Dane Co., near Cross
Plains, August 17.
Stagonospora arenaria Sacc. on Lolium multiflorum. Dane Co.,
Madison, October 12. The straight to laxly curved spores are mostly
about 35-40 x 3-3.5 (-4) /x and mostly 3, but occasionally 4 septate.
Stagonospora caricinella Brun. on Carex normalis, Dane Co.,
near Cross Plains, July 14. On C. brevior. Dane Co., Madison,
July 6.
Stagonospora albescens J. J. Davis on Carex conoidea. Dane
Co., Madison, June 20. Mostly on the upper leaves (or bracts) sub¬
tending the pistillate spikes, but also on the scales of the staminate
inflorescence.
Stagonospora cypericola H. C. Greene on Cyperus schiveinitzii.
Iowa Co., near Arena, August 11. The spores in this specimen are
mostly about 22;-25 x 5-6.5 /x, slightly smaller than in the type. The
leaves also bear Puccinia cyperi Arth.
Septoria nodorum Berk, on Alopecurus aequalis. Waukesha Co.,
Big Bend, June 26, 1930. Coll. J. J. Davis. Associated with Uro-
myces dactylidis Otth (U. alopecuri Seym.).
Septoria ribis Desm. on Rihes alpinum (cult.). Jefferson Co.,
McKay Nursery at Waterloo, October 10. Comm. E. K. Wade.
Septoria cornicola Desm. var. ampla H. C. Greene on Cornus
obliqua. Dane Co., Madison, September 26.
Septoria astericola Ell. & Ev. on Aster sericeus. Sauk Co., near
Spring Green, May 26. That S. astericola and Septoria fumosa Peck,
the latter commonly reported on species of Solidago, are really dis¬
tinct may be doubted.
Septoria atropurpurea Peck on Aster junciformis. Dane Co.,
near Deerfield, July 28.
Septoria lanaria Fairman on Antennaria petaloidea Fern, (host
det. E. W. Beals). St. Croix Co., near New Richmond, May 29. Coll.
H. H. litis. Although the fungus is on the previous year’s leaves it
seems certain it was parasitic.
Hainesia lythri (Desm.) Hoehn. on Rubus alley heniensis. Ver¬
non Co., Wildcat Mt. State Park, September 13. The Sclerotiopsis
stage is also present in this specimen. At the same station, Septem¬
ber 9, 1959, a specimen with Sclerotiopsis only was collected on
Cary a cordiformis. Both are stages of Pezizella lythri (Desm.)
Shear & Dodge.
1961]
Greene— Wisconsin Fungi No. 27
157
Leptothyrium similisporum (Ell. & Davis) Davis on Aster
macrophyllus. Sauk Co., DeviFs Lake State Park, September 15.
All previous collections in Wisconsin have been on species of
Solidago.
Melasmia ulmicola B. & C. on Zelkova carpinifolia (cult.).
Dane Co., Madison, August 6. Referred here with some doubt There
are many slender rod-shaped or slender-ellipsoid conidia, about
5 X 1.5 which are very similar to those on specimens on Ulmus
but there is also a second class of subfusoid conidia, about 7 x
2.5-3 /i, which seem to be a constant feature.
COLLETOTRIC.HUM GRAMINICOLA (Ces.) Wils. on Avena sativa
(var State Pride). Dane Co., Madison, June 11, 1958. Coll. D. C.
Arny. Also on Poa annua at Madison, August 14.
Ellisiella caudata (Peck) Sacc. on Koeleria cristata. Dane Co.,
Madison, July 17, 1959.
Cylindrosporum betulae J. J. Davis on Betula populifolia
(cult). Dane Co., Madison, October 12. The lesions, although en¬
tirely characteristic, are somewhat old and only a few typical
Cylindrosporium conidia were observed. There are present, how¬
ever, many hyaline, bacilliform microspores, approx. 4-6 x 1 /x.
Cylindrosporium pilipendulae Thum. on Spiraea ‘Wosebella”
(cult and said to be a hybrid of S. alba DuRoi and S. salicifolia L.) .
Dane Co., Madison, August 22,
Cercosporella dearnessii Bub. & Sacc. on Solidago hispida.
Vilas Co., Trout Lake, September 7, 1969. Coll. J. D. Sauer, The
conidiophores are from 60-85 /x long in this specimen,
Cercospora fusimaculans Atk, on Panicum wilcoxianum. Dane
Co., near Cross Plains, September 1, 1959.
Cercospora caricis Oud, on Carex normalis. Dane Co., near
Verona, June 29, and near Cross Plains, July 14.
Additional Species
The fungi mentioned have not been previously reported as occur¬
ring in the State of Wisconsin,
Synchytrium DAVIS II Karling on Rubus hispidus and R. triflorm
(R, pubescensj , Jackson Co., near Millston, September 26, 1912.
Davis originally labeled these collections (and others) as Synchy¬
trium aureum Schroet, but Karling (Mycologia 49:744. 1957),
after critical study, has erected this species, with the specimen on
R. hispidus designated as the type. Certain other Wisconsin speci¬
mens on these hosts remain under S. aureum.
Pseudoperonospora celtidis (Waite) G. W. Wils, on Celtis occi¬
dentalism Vernon Co., Wildcat Mt. State Park, September 13. On the
158 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [VoL 50
basis of inoculation experiments, it has been suggested that this
species may be identical with Pseudoperonospora humuli (Miyabe
& Takah.) Wils.
Ceratostoma parasiticum EIL & Ev. on Pomes applanatus. Dane
Co., Madison, June 15. Coll. & det. D. J, Rossouw,
OphioBolus gnaphalii (Sacc. & Br.) Fairm. var, lanaria Fairm.
on Antennaria petaloides Fern, (host det. E. W. Beals) . St. Croix
Co., near New Richmond, May 29. Coll. H. H. litis. This very inter¬
esting fungus, developing on the hairy under surface of the previ¬
ous year's more or less evergreen leaves, seems possibly, although
not certainly parasitic. Described by Fairman (Ann. MycoL 9:149,
1911) on Antennaria plant ag ini folia from Lyndonville, New York.
SCUTULA TUBERCULOSA Rehm on Peltigera canina var, spuria.
Marinette Co., Dunbar, April 27, 1945. Coll, J. W. Thomson, On a
specimen in the University of Wisconsin Herbarium.
PUCCINIA POLYSORA Underw. II, III on Zea mays (cult.). Dane
Co., near Madison, September 1959. Coll, & det. M. S. Pavgi. It is
believed that this rust, although undetected until recently, has long
been present in Wisconsin and neighboring states,
PucciNiA PURITANICA Cummins II, III on Carex pennsylvanica.
Dane Co., near Cross Plains, August 17. Det. G. B. Cummins, The
second collection of this species. The type was collected on the same
host at Waltham, Mass, in 1910. The teliospores are pallid-oliva¬
ceous and germinate in the current season without dormancy.
Phyllosticta celtidis Ell. & Kell, on Celtis occidentalis. Grant
Co., Wyalusing State Park, September 24, 1959.
Phyllosticta armeriae Allesch, on Limonium sp. (cult.). Outa¬
gamie Co., Kaukauna, July 18. Coll. N. Esler. Comm. E. K. Wade.
Phyllosticta heliopsidis sp. nov.
Maculis orbicularibus, centris albidis, marginibus fusco-pur-
pureis, 2-5 mm. diam. ; pycnidiis epiphyllis, paucis et sparsis,
fumoso-olivaceis, subglobosis, ca. 150-200 /x diam., ostiolis promi-
nentibus cum marginibus nigris ; conidiis numerosis, hyalinis, rectis,
tenuo-cylindraceis vel raro curvis leniter et subfusoideis, 5-7.5 x
1.5-2 /X.
Spots orbicular with whitish centers and rather wide dark pur¬
plish margins, 2-5 mm, diam. ; pycnidia epiphyllous, few and scat¬
tered, smoky-olivaceous, subglobose, approx, 150-200 /x diam,, osti-
ole outlined by prominent band of blackish cells ; conidia numerous,
hyaline, straight, slender-cylindric, or rarely slightly curved and
subfusoid, 5-7.5 x 1.5-2 /x.
On living leaves of Heliopsis helianthoides (L.) Sweet, along the
Milwaukee Railroad right-of-way, Iowa County, iy2 miles east of
1961]
Greene— Wisconsin Fungi No. 27
159
Arena, Wisconsin, U. S. A., September 9, 1959. The host has often
been referred to previously as Heliopsis scabra Dunal.
Many of the spots have only a single pycnidium, and most not
more than two or three, scattered and more or less remote from one
another.
Phoma polygram m a (Fr.) Sacc. var. plantaginis Sacc. on
scapes of Plantago lanceolata. Dane Co., Madison, August 22. There
is reason to believe that this is really a species of Phomopsis. A
specimen in the University of Wisconsin Herbarium collected by
L. R. Jones in 1920 at Winchester, Va. has both alpha and beta type
spores in abundance, but other specimens from Maryland, New Jer¬
sey, New York and Wisconsin have only the fusoid Phoma-type
conidia. However, the development and general appearance of the
fungus also suggests Phomopsis as I have seen it in other repre¬
sentatives of the genus.
Ascochyta lonicerae-canadensis sp. nov.
Maculis conspicuis, orbicularibus vel irregularibus, sordido-
brunneis, marginibus obscuro-purpureis, angustis, ca. (1-) 1.5-2
(-2.5) cm. diam. ; pycnidiis epiphyllis, sparsis, flavido-brunneis,
subglobosis, ca. 100-125 p. diam. ; conidiis hyalinis, cylindraceis vel
late subfusoideis, granulosis aliquanto, septis mediis, (13-) 15-17
(-18) X 6-7.5 p.
Lesions conspicuous, orbicular or irregular, sordid brownish with
narrow dull purplish border, approx. (1-) 1.5-2 (-2.5) cm. diam.;
pycnidia epiphyllous, scattered, yellowish-brown, subglobose, approx,
100-125 p diam.; conidia hyaline, cylindric or broadly subfusoid,
contents somewhat granular, septa median, (13-) 15-17 (-18) x
6-7.5 p.
On living leaves of Lonicera canadensis. University of Wiscon¬
sin Arboretum, Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, U. S. A., August
13, 1960. The host plant was transpanted from Bayfield Co., Wis. in
1958, so it seems possible the parasite was brought along with it.
The conidia here are decidedly wider than those of other species
of Ascochyta which are reported as occurring on Caprifoliaceae.
There is occasionally slight constriction at the septum, but usually
none.
Diplodina CHENOPODII Karst, on Coriospermum hyssopi folium.
Ozaukee Co., Lake Michigan beach 5 miles north of Port Washing¬
ton, October 15. Coll. J. D, Sauer. This corresponds quite closely to
Petrak’s FL Bohem. et Morav. Exsicc. Ser. II, No. 1132, distributed
as this species on Chenopodium glaucum. Hollos described Diplodina
coriospermi, but the principal difference seems to be in slightly
wider spores, so it seems likely that D. coriospermi is synonymous
with D. chenopodii, although Petrak (Ann. Mycol. 23:57. 1925)
160 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
states D, coriospermi should be referred to Ascochytella, a genus
most authorities seem to regard as of dubious standing.
Stagonospora biseptata sp. nov,
Maculis variabiliSj pallido-brunneis, in bracteis foliatis ; pycnidiis
amphigenis, nigro-fuscis, sparsis, subglobose, ca. 100-125 jx diam. ;
conidiis hyalinis, cylindraceis, subcylindraceis, vel subfusoideis,
rectis vel curvis leniter, granulosis et guttulatis, biseptatis, (8-)
10-11 (-13) X (35-) 40-50 (-55) y.
Spots variable, brownish straw-colored with mottled darker
areas, mostly on the leafy bracts subtending the inflorescence, and
often, but not always, involving the entire bract; pycnidia amphi-
genous, blackish, scattered, subglobose, approx, 100-125 /x diam. ;
conidia hyaline, cylindric, subcylindric, or subfusoid, straight or
slightly curved, granular and guttulate, biseptate, (2-) 10-11 (-13)
X (35-) 40-50 (-55) /x.
On Car ex lanuginosa. University of Wisconsin Arboretum, Madi¬
son, Dane County, Wisconsin, U. S. A., July 6, 1960.
In 1952 in the same general area a small specimen of this fungus
was collected and commented on in my Notes XVIII.
Stagonosporia astericola (Davis) H. C. Greene comb. nov.
(Davis, J. J. — Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts Lett. 21 :281. 1924)
Davis described Asteromella astericola as occurring on Aster
lateriflorus in Wisconsin and I have since found the same organism
on Aster ericoides on several occasions. The elongate, subcylindric
spores, including those in Davis’ specimen, often have a median
septum, and in a specimen on A. ericoides, collected June 18, 1959
in Perrot State Park, Trempealeau Co., the spores are frequently 2
septate.
Septoria quercicola Sacc. on Quercus macrocarpa. Trempealeau
Co., Whitehall, August 19. Coll. E. P. Jensen. The pycnidia occur
individually, or only two or three together, on tiny, rounded, red¬
dish-tan spots which are very numerous on the infected leaves. The
spores are strongly curved, 3 septate, not constricted at the septa,
hyaline and obtuse at both ends, mostly about 35-40 x 3, 5-4.5 /x.
Said to have been very prevalent on bur oak in Trempealeau Co.
in 1960.
Chaetosticta perforata (Ell. & Ev.) Petr. & Syd. on Cirsium
discolor. Dane Co., Madison, August 13, 1959. Det. S. J. Hughes.
This fungus simulates Acanthostigma occidentale (Ell. & Ev.) Sacc.
in macroscopic appearance, but is an imperfect form producing
hyaline phragmospores. Also on Cirsium muticum, collected at Mad¬
ison, September 3, 1951, and discussed in my Notes XVII, but
without a determination at that time.
1961]
Greene — Wisconsin Fungi No. 27
161
Gloeosporidiella VARIABILE (Laub.) V. Arx (Gloeosporium vari-
abile Laub.) on Ribes alpinum (cult.). Barron Co., Rice Lake,
August 6. Coll. Mrs. J. Brecka. Comm. E. K. Wade. This seems quite
distinct from Gloeosporium ribis, common on native currants in
Wisconsin, as the conidia of G. variabile are narrower, longer, and
mostly strongly curved than those of G. ribis.
Leptothyrium salicicola sp. nov.
Maculis orbicularibus, 2-8 mm. diam., saepe confluentibus, brun-
neis, zonatis plus minusve, marginibus angustis, fuscis; fructifica-
tionibus epiphyllis, sparsis, nigris, pseudoparenchymaticis, rotund-
atis supra, applanatis infra, fissilibis stellatis supra, subepidermidi-
bus, erumpentibus, ca. 135-175 fx latis; conidiophoris subhyalinis,
tenuibus, inconspicuis, basiliaribus plerumque; conidiis hyalinis,
subfusoideis vel fusoideis, subcylindraceis interdum, (9-) 12-14
(-17) X 3.5-4.5 IX.
Lesions orbicular, 2-8 mm. diam., often confluent, grayish-brown,
more or less zonate with narrow darker margin; fruiting bodies
epiphyllous, scattered, black, pseudoparenchymatous, rounded
above, flattened below, the upper covering tending to split stellately,
subepidermal in origin, but strongly erumpent, approx. 135-175 /x
wide; conidiophores subhyaline, slender, inconspicuous, mostly
basal; conidia hyaline, subfusoid to fusoid, or occasionally sub-
cylindric, (9-) 12-14 (-17) x 3. 5-4. 5 /x.
On living leaves of Salix petiolaris. University of Wisconsin
Arboretum, Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, U. S. A., October 3,
1960.
The rounded fruiting bodies are about half as high as wide and
not numerous, usually only one or two per lesion.
PiROSTOMA CIRCINANS Fr. on Sorghastrum nutans. Dane Co.,
Madison, September 28. Vast numbers of the shining-black, flat¬
tened, punctate, fruiting bodies, approx. 25-50 /x diam. are crowded
on the abaxial surfaces of the still green basal leaves. Despite the
crowding, the circinate nature of the arrangement is plainly to be
seen. Sections show the fungus to be evidently parasitic within the
epidermis, with some of the larger bodies appearing even more
deeply seated. Although no conidia were observed, the fungus is
identical in aspect with exsiccati specimens on Phragmites com¬
munis and is so characteristic and well-marked that a report seems
fully justified. An undetermined fungus on Danthonia spicata, men¬
tioned in my Notes XXIV (Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts Lett. 47 :
108. 1958) obviously also is referable to P. circinans.
Diplocladium minus Bon. on Polyporus gilvus. Dane Co., Madi¬
son, October 18. Coll. & det. D. J. Rossouw.
A FIVE-YEAR SURVEY OF OAT SEED QUALITY
IN WISCONSIN
Dwight D, Forsyth
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture
In 1959 there were 2,562,000 acres of oats grown in Wisconsin
(1) making this the most important small grain, and second only
to field corn among cereals in general. Oats are planted in the spring
on Wisconsin farms as a companion or nurse crop when seeding a
hay crop. The oat crop furnishes grain for feeding and straw for
bedding livestock. Seed oats is also an important cash crop in the
state for some specialized seed producers.
There are many people interested in the production of seed oats
besides the farmers of the state. The Wisconsin Agricultural Ex¬
periment Station carries on an oat breeding program to furnish
improved varieties for the state’s agriculture. The Wisconsin Crop
Improvement Association, an organization of seed producers, pro¬
motes the use of improved varieties by providing the organization
for certifying the trueness of varieties which involves maintaining
necessary records and seed testing facilities and making field in¬
spections. The State Seed Laboratory of the Wisconsin Department
of Agriculture has been interested in the use of high quality seed
on Wisconsin farms.
In order to obtain information on the quality of seed oats being
used in the state, a series of surveys was conducted in five areas
from 1955 through 1959 by the State Seed Laboratory. It is hoped
that this information will stimulate the use of better quality seed,
promote seed testing and further better weed control.
Methods and Materials
The samples of oat seed used in these surveys were obtained
through the cooperation of county agricultural agents and voca¬
tional agricultural teachers in the counties being surveyed (Fig¬
ure 1). The teachers had their students bring in samples of the
oats which were to be used for seed on their families’ farms. The
1959 survey was an exception in that the samples were collected by
the 4-H clubs of Walworth County as part of a county- wide project
on weeds and weed control. The State Seed Laboratory supplied
paper bags for the samples, directions for drawing the samples,
and a questionnaire to accompany each sample giving the sender’s
name, address and school and pertinent information on the sample
submitted. The samples received were from three sources (Table
163
164 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
1) : home-grown, purchased from neighbors, or purchased from
seed dealers. During the five years samples were submitted by 954
persons from 54 schools and 15 clubs.
The samples were assembled and delivered to the State Seed Lab¬
oratory at Madison where they were tested during the summer as
time permitted. Each sample was tested for purity, germination
and noxious weed seed content according to standard seed testing
procedures with the exception that the amount of seed tested was
half of that specified in the '‘Rules for Testing Seed, adopted by the
Association of Official Seed Analysts” (2). This reduction in sam¬
ple size appeared justified because the number of samples was large
1961]
Forsyth — Wisconsin Oats
165
for the number of analysts available and because the results would
not be used for labeling purposes.
The information on the samples after testing was summarized
and reported to the cooperating vocational agricultural teachers
and county agricultural agents.
Table 1. Samples of Oat Seed Received Each Year and Sources
According to Information Supplied by Individuals
Submitting Samples
*1955 excluded from average.
Results and Discussion
Oat Varieties
There were 42 variety names given for the samples submitted
(Table 2) . The four varieties-— Beedee, Branch, Fayette and Sauk—
which were bred and developed by the Wisconsin Agricultural Ex¬
periment Station and released after 1950, accounted for 36.3 per
cent of the samples. Fourteen varieties in the survey were on the
approved list for certification by the Wisconsin Crop Improvement
Association during the years of the surveys, and accounted for 74.5
per cent of the samples. However, only one-fifth of all the samples
were declared to be certified.
There were 28 additional varieties for which one or more sam¬
ples were obtained, accounting for 20.1 per cent of the samples.
These were mainly older varieties which had been superseded by
newer ones. No variety names were given for 5.4 per cent of the
samples.
The examination of all samples showed that 10.6 per cent had in
excess of four per cent contamination with other varieties. The
166 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
variety names on 1.6 per cent of the samples were totally incorrect.
These determinations of the correctness of variety names were
made by visual examination of the color of the oat kernels. Many
varieties cannot be separated on color, so that the varietal contami¬
nation in all of the samples might be higher than the above figures
indicate.
Those samples which were from home-grown seed showed the
most varietal contamination with 12.9 per cent of the samples hav¬
ing over four per cent other varieties present, while 8.4 per cent
of the samples from seed purchased from neighbors and 5.1 per cent
from seed dealers showed a similar rate of contamination.
Table 2. Number of Samples of Each Oat Variety Received
During 1955 to 1959
*Varieties developed by the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station and re¬
leased after 1950.
**Additional varieties approved for certification by the Wisconsin Crop Improvement
Association during one or more of the five years of the survey.
Farmers generally are eager to accept new varieties of oats and
do a very commendable job of maintaining the purity of these vari¬
eties for seed purposes. Fifty years ago the farmers of the state
had difficulty maintaining pure varieties. New varieties of grain
produced by the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station were
contaminated with other varieties within several years after being-
released to farmers. This prompted members of the Agronomy De-
1961]
Forsyth—Wisconsin Oats
167
partment of the Wisconsin College of Agriculture at Madison to
establish a seed inspection program (S), later to become the seed
certification program^ as a means for training farmers to protect
seed from contamination. The results of these surveys indicate that
the farmers of Wisconsin learned this lesson and are putting it into
practice.
Germination
A satisfactory germination of seed oats is usually considered to
be 90 per cent. During the five years of these surveys 83.3 per cent
of all the samples were equal to or better than this standard (Table
3). Eighty samples, or 7.1 per cent, had germinations less than 80
per cent. The results of these surveys correspond to the results of
germination tests on oat samples submitted to the State Seed Lab¬
oratory by farmers and seed dealers. In a year when there is no
particular problem with germination, it is customary to expect that
at least 5 per cent of the samples will germinate less than 80 per
cent. The results of these surveys from 1955 to 1959 indicate that
the persons preparing these lots for seed did not have many of the
samples tested for germination.
The samples from home-grown seed contained 7.7 per cent which
germinated less than 80 per cent while the samples purchased from
Table 3. Variation in Germination Percentages of Oat Samples
From 1955 to 1959
neighbors showed 5.6 per cent and from seed dealers 5.1 per cent.
Although seed which was purchased has a slightly better record
than home-grown seed, it appears that some farmers were paying
for seed which would not produce plants in the field.
Purity
Impurities in seed consist of (a) other crop seeds; (b) weed
seeds and (c) inert matter, such as, chaff, dirt or broken and dam¬
aged seeds half the original size or less. There were many samples
168 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
in these surveys with considerable quantities of the above impuri¬
ties (Table 4). Seed oats submitted to the Wisconsin Seed Certifica¬
tion Service must have a minimum pure seed content of 99.56 per
cent. The average pure seed content of those samples drawn by the
seed inspectors of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture from
seed oats offered for sale by retail seed dealers in the spring of 1959
was 99.87 per cent, A comparison of the quality of seed oats being
offered for sale in the state and the quality of the oats found in
these surveys would point to the conclusion that farmers should
pay more attention to the pure seed content of the seed they intend
to plant.
Weed Seeds
There were 54 different kinds of weed seeds (4) found in the oat
samples in these surveys (Table 5). Eight weed seeds were found
in the five survey areas indicating that they are generally found in
oat fields throughout the state.
There are other weed seeds which occurred predominantly in one
area, such as wild oats, night flowering catchfiy and common rag-
Table 4. Variation in Pure Seed Percentages of Oat Samples
From 1955 to 1959
weed in 1957 in the northeast area, and hempnettle, wild radish,
Pennsylvania smartweed and water smartweed in 1958 in the
northwest area.
A few weed seeds are not only common but are difficult to remove '
from oat seed because they are nearly the same size as the oat ker¬
nels. Examples of such weed seeds are wild buckwheat, quackgrass,
yellow foxtail, and wild mustard. Extra care must be taken in seed
cleaning to remove them from the oats.
A number of very small weed seeds, such as, white cockle, Vir¬
ginia peppergrass, wormseed mustard and red sorrel, were present
in some samples. With a minimum of care in cleaning these weed
seeds should have been removed.
1961]
Forsyth— Wisconsin Oats
169
Table 5. Weed Seeds Contaminating Oat Samples From 1955 to 1959.
(Based on 50 Grams of Oats.)
*Primary noxious weed seeds.
**Secondary noxious weed seeds.
170 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Approximately one sample in every ten contained more than 0.5
per cent weed seeds (Table 6). The samples of home-grown seed
contained slightly more than the average with 12.2 per cent and
the seed purchased from neighbors, 11.3 per cent, and seed pur¬
chased from seed dealers, 4.5 per cent.
Along with the evidence of considerable weed seed contamina¬
tion of the samples in these surveys, there is equally good evidence
that weed seeds are not a necessary evil. There were 230 samples
in the five years, or 20 per cent, which were found to be free of
weed seeds (Table 6). Weed free seed is not obtained by chance,
but through careful seed production methods which require, among
other things, careful cleaning based on a knowledge of the weed
seeds which are present in the seed. Seed testing is a means of
obtaining such information.
Noxious Weed Seeds
, There are 12 weed seeds which are listed as noxious in the Wis¬
consin State Seed Law. The seven noxious weed seeds found in the
Table 6. Oat Samples Containing Over 0.5 Per Cent Weed Seeds by
Weight and No Weed Seeds in 50 Gram Samples, and No Noxious
Weed Seeds in 250 Gram Samples From 1955 to 1959
Samples Containing
samples during this series of surveys were determined along with
the other weed seeds in the separation of the 50 grams of oats for
the purity analysis (Table 5). A larger quantity of oats consisting
of 250 grams from each sample was examined expressly for noxious
weed seeds. By examination of the larger quantity of seed, a larger
number of samples were found to be contaminated with noxious
weed seeds (Table 7), and Canada thistle and wild radish seeds
were found to be present in all five years.
1961]
Forsyth — Wisconsin Oats
171
There were considerably more noxious weed seeds in seed that
was home-grown than in seed that was purchased. The percentage
of the samples from the three sources which contained noxious
weed seeds was as follows: home-grown, 55.4 per cent; purchased
from neighbor, 8.1 per cent; and purchased from seed dealer, 4.2
per cent.
There were 34.4 per cent of the samples which contained no
noxious weed seeds in the 250 gram sample examined (Table 6)
indicating that the presence of noxious weed seeds contributed more
to lowering the quality of seed oats than varietal purity, germina¬
tion, pure seed or weed seeds.
Noxious weed seeds are so designated because the plants increase
the difficulties and cost of agricultural production in a number of
ways. One of these is through the difficulty of removing them from
crop seed in the cleaning process.
Samples Satisfactory for Seed
The value of these samples as seed can now be judged on the basis
of all five factors which have been discussed previously. The follow¬
ing criteria have been used: varietal purity, four per cent other
varieties, maximum; germination, 80 per cent, minimum; pure
seed, 99 per cent, minimum ; weed seed, 0.5 per cent, maximum ; and
noxious weed seed, none. The percentage of samples found to be
Table 7. Number and Per Cent of Samples Containing Each of Seven
Noxious Weed Seeds and the Number of Survey Years
Present. (Based on 50 Grams of Oats.)
satisfactory for seeding purposes was 25.8 per cent for the five
years (Figure 2) . The samples complying with the above standards
for each of the qualify factors were : -germination, 92.9 per cent;
weed seed, 90.1 per cent; varietal purity, 89.4 per cent; pure seed,
72.1 per cent; and noxious weed seeds, 34.4 per cent.
172 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Figure 2. Percentage of samples satisfactory for seeding purposes based on
varietal purity, germination, pure seed, weed seed, and noxious weed seeds
from 1955 to 1959.
Some farmers would object to these standards, since they would
not fill their needs. For instance, the farmer who wanted to pro¬
duce seed oats for sale commercially would not be satisfied to have
any mixture of varieties or as much as 0.5 per cent weed seeds
because this might lower the quality and value of his crop. Another
farmer might be willing to accept oats which germinated 75 per
cent, if he wanted a variety in short supply. He would justify the
purchase of such oats by increasing the seeding rate. The proposed
standards are suggested for use in this survey, as standards which
would meet the needs of the average farmer who is growing oats
for grain.
Surveys of seed quality have been made in a number of states
during the past ten years with similar results in general (5). Agri¬
cultural leaders in Wisconsin have been recommending the testing
of seed since the first seed testing laboratory was established in the
College of Agriculture in 1907. It is obvious from the records of
these surveys that many farmers still plant seed oats without
testing.
Seed Cleaning
The persons submitting the oat samples were asked whether or
not the seed had been cleaned. There were 965 samples, or 86.0 per
cent, which were declared to be cleaned. On examination of the rec-
1961]
Forsyth — Wisconsin Oats
173
ords of these samples, it was evident that some had not been
cleaned, or, if they had been, the cleaning job was woefully inade¬
quate in removing the contamination. As a result, standards were
adopted for those quality factors which can adversely affect seed¬
ing value and which can be improved by cleaning. These factors and
their respective standards were : pure seed, 99 per cent minimum ;
weed seed, 0.5 per cent maximum; noxious weed seeds, none; and
inert matter, 1 per cent maximum.
The cleaning was satisfactory in a small percentage of the sam¬
ples (Table 8). A great deal of significance should not be attached
to the differences between the years, because of the lack of uni¬
formity in the method of obtaining the samples. The general con¬
clusion that there is still ample room for improvement in the clean¬
ing of seed oats is well illustrated, however.
Table 8. Comparison by Source of the Effectiveness of Cleaning
Oat Seed From 1955 to 1959
Percentage of Samples Claimed (C) and Found* (F) to be Cleaned
*Standards used; pure seed, 99 percent minimum; weed seed, 0.5 per cent min.;
noxious weed seeds, none; and inert matter, I per cent max.
**Samples listed as “purchased” in 1955, and omitted from average of columns
under “purchased”.
The fact that many samples had been treated with fungicide
material bears out the claims of the individuals submitting the sam¬
ples that the seed had been cleaned. In 1955 it was found that
among those samples of home-grown seed which were claimed to be
cleaned, 138 were poorly cleaned. Of these there were 81, or 59 per
cent, which had been treated. The fungicides used on the oats gen¬
erally contained mercury which is highly poisonous, making the
grain unfit for any use other than for seeding purposes. From this
information we can assume that the farmers must have thought
their seed was cleaned and in shape for seeding or they would not
have gone to the expense of treating it.
174 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
The chances of getting properly cleaned seed are best when pur¬
chasing seed oats from seed dealers (Table 8), and seed oats pur¬
chased from neighbors are likely to be more adequately cleaned
than when home-grown oats are used for seed.
Summary
A series of surveys of seed oat quality was conducted in five areas
of Wisconsin from 1955 to 1959 by obtaining samples through the
cooperation of the high school vocational agricultural teachers. The
samples were tested for purity, germination and noxious weed seed
content.
There were five quality factors reported on as being the ones
influencing the seeding value of oats. These were noxious weed
seeds, pure seed, varietal purity, weed seeds, and germination ar¬
ranged in order of decreasing influence. During the five years, 25.8
per cent of the samples were found to be satisfactory for seed.
The results show that seed oats are not being cleaned adequately
and that the seed is not being tested to determine its suitability for
seeding purposes.
The seed oats were from three sources — home-grown, purchased
from neighbors or purchased from seed dealers. That purchased
from seed dealers proved to be best on all counts, while home-grown
seed was the poorest.
Acknowledgment
The writer is indebted to Howard T. Richards, who organized
the collection of samples and the reporting of results to partici¬
pants, and to the seed analysts at the State Seed Laboratory who
made the surveys possible.
References Cited
1. Wisconsin Crop Reporting Service. 1960. The 1960 Crop Report. Wis.
Crop and Livestock Reporter. XXXIX (12) :l-8.
2. Association of Official Seed Analysts. 1954. Rules for Testing Seed.
Proc. Assoc. Off. Seed Anal. 44:31-78.
3. Holden, E. D. 1927. Pure bred seeds made available by Experiment Asso¬
ciation Growers. Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Association, twenty-
fifth annual report: 40-42.
4. Weed Society of America. 1960. Report of the Terminology Committee,
E. Standardized Names of Weeds. Weeds. 8:496-521.
5. Clark, E. R. and Porter, C. R. 1961, The seed in your drill box. U.S.D.A.
Yearbook Agr. Washington, D. C. pp. 474-478.
HEMLOCK REPRODUCTION AND SURVIVAL ON ITS
BORDER IN WISCONSIN
Harold A. Coder
Wisconsin State College and Institute of Technology, Platt eville
Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) grows throughout the
greater part of eastern United States and extends into Wisconsin
where the border abruptly stops in the western part of the state
(Fig. 1), Within the range of hemlock in Wisconsin phytosociologi-
Figure 1. Tsuga canadensis border as drawn from location of present day
stands and state political divisions (in part).
175
176 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
cal aspects under which the species reproduces and survives were
recorded for this paper from 34 southern and western stands with¬
out severe disturbances.
Using the quarter method (Cottam and Curtis, 1956)^ the loca¬
tion of germinated seedlings (current year’s reproduction), seed¬
lings (less than 1 year old and less than 1 foot tall), saplings (less
12dbh)^ and trees were checked on a form sheet according to their
location (logs, stumps, mounds, intervening area between mounds,
and pits) to determine which sites were most favorable for ger¬
mination and successful survival. One hundred and forty-eight
quadrants were studied in each stand. Fallen coniferous logs and
stumps were examined and measured as reproductive sites. Meas¬
urements included area, zone of decay, and circumference of solid
core. An estimated per cent moss cover and residual bark was
recorded along with a general description of each log and stump.
To determine the substratum necessary for successful germina¬
tion and survival. Indices of Decay Classes based upon the char¬
acteristics of 61 hemlock logs and 37 stumps were constructed. Five
stages of decay were designated for both logs and stumps with par¬
ticular emphasis given to the part logs play in the reproduction
and survival of hemlock.
Index for Logs:
Dl, Fallen tree with needles, cones, and twigs present;
branches and bark intact.
D2. Fallen tree with no needles, cones, or twigs present ; distal
ends of large branches present; bark intact without evi¬
dence of sloughing.
D3. Fallen tree with proximal end of large branches present;
bark sloughing but intact patches present; decay of wood
may be initiated.
D4. Fallen tree with proximal ends of large branches present ;
presence or absence of patches of bark ; decay of wood well
advanced; solid core present inside rotten shell; wood
moist to touch, fracturing into small pieces.
D5. Fallen tree incompletely outlined in ground humus ; no in¬
dication of branch positions, decay of wood complete; no
solid core present; wood residue dry and crumbly.
Index for Stumps:
Dl. Stump with freshly exposed surface; bark intact.
D2. Stump with more than 50 per cent bark present; outer
core of wood solid on exposed surface.
1 Cottam, G. & Curtis, J., 1956. The use of distance measures in phytosociolog-ical
sampling’, Ecolog-y 37 :451.
2 dhb : diameter breast height.
1961]
Goder — Hemlock in Wisconsin
177
D3. Stump with more than 50 per cent bark present; outer
core of wood not solid on exposed surface.
D4. Stump with less than 50 per cent bark present ; outer core
of wood solid on exposed surface.
D5, Stump with less than 50 per cent bark present ; outer core
of wood not solid on exposed surface.
The density of Tsuga seedlings on logs parallels the per cent moss
cover through Decay Class 4 in which maximum germination
occurs. On stumps, the density of seedlings is highest in Class 5.
Decay Classes 3, 4 and 5 exhibit increasing decay and exposure of
greater surface area for germination in both logs and stumps.
Mosses are rarely present in Decay Class 1. The number of moss
species reaches a maximum of 13 in D4 and diminishes to six in
Class 5. Decay Class 4 represents the highest hydrophytic environ¬
ment (Figs. 2 and 3) in both logs and stumps.
Herbacious plants were not found on logs in Decay Classes 1, 2
or 3. Those noted as the most abundant species in Class 4 were
Mianthemum canadensis, Trientalis borealis, Coptis trifolia, Cornus
canadensis, Clintonia borealis, and Oxalis montana.
The degree of wood decay varies according to species and loca¬
tion in relation to ground surface. It is not uncommon for yellow
birch (Betula lutea) to remain standing long after death. Once such
a tree falls, it takes only a short period for the wood residue to dis¬
appear leaving the desiccated shell of xeric bark. Hemlock seldom
decays in a standing position, but starts to decompose only after it
has remained on the ground for a long period of time. Once de¬
composition by weathering and fungal action is initiated, the length
of time for a log to be transformed from one decay class to another
is greatly shortened.
Germination cannot occur on decaying logs unless there is a
moist depression in the bark in which seed and humus can lodge.
Germination percentage is low on the relatively smooth bark of
birch but high in fissures and exposed wood commonly located at
the butt end of the fallen tree. The fractured bark of hemlock pre¬
sents a greater area for retention and subsequent germination of
seeds.
In considering logs and stumps as favorable germination habi¬
tats, density of germinated seedlings varies according to the differ¬
ent micro-areas on these substrata. In descending order the most
favored are: (1) mats of moss, (2) moist exposed wood, and (3)
bark free of moss. Moss growth is indicative of a mesic micro¬
environment. Wood, which has a high water holding capacity, bene¬
fits germination. Residual bark, which has a lower water holding
capacity is least favorable.
% Moss Cover
178 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Figure 2. Mean Number of germinated Tsuga canadensis seedlings in each
Decay Class per 21 feet of stump area and mean per cent moss cover.
Number of Seedlings ( — )
1961] Goder — Hemlock in Wisconsin 179
Decoy Class
Figure 3. Mean Number of germinated Tsuga canadensis seedlings in each
Decay Class per 50 feet of fallen tree trunk and mean per cent moss cover.
Infrequently, large areas of hemlock are windthrown to create
favorable germination habitats, but more commonly only a few
trees in a stand are windthrown each year. In the blowdown of a
shallow rooted hemlock the extent of the root system determines the
amount of earth upturned. A pit is formed by the extraction of
roots and adhering soil and rocks. Decay of roots and weathering
loosens the clinging upturned soil which falls to form a mound on
the side of the pit toward which the tree fell. Because of the over-
180 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
turn of soil the upper layers of the mound contain more nutrients
than the underlying layers.
Various names have been given to these mounds which contribute
to the micro-relief of a forest : Indian-graves, clay-mounds and tip-
ups. In any stand there are mounds of all ages and heights. Mounds
which have a high content of rock material resist erosion for longer
periods than mounds composed of finer soil so that mound height
does not necessarily indicate mound age.
Lesser numbers of germinated seedlings were recorded from the
pits and intervening areas than from other germination habitats.
Etiolated Tsuga seedlings were observed between layers of decidu¬
ous leaf mold which accumulates in pits. The deeper organic
layers of leaf mold are meshed with mycelia of saprophytic fungi.
Apparently these fungi also limit the life of a seedling in the duff.
In addition to providing an effective barrier of litter and fungi
the pits often act as a water reservoir for the duration of the ger¬
mination period.
Like the pits, litter also accumulates in the intervening areas.
The depth of the organic matter would limit Tsuga germination and
successful survival in these areas.
Mounds, which are exposed to ground winds because of their
height, have a thinner organic layer enabling seeds to germinate
more readily. Nutrients brought to the surface in the upheaval of
soil in the formation of the mound contribute to successful
establishment.
Although many thousands of seedlings germinate on the avail¬
able substrata in the forest, few germinate on a substrata where
successful establishment occurs. Hemlock seeds which germinate on
mounds, logs or stumps are those most likely to survive (Table I).
Rarely are trees, saplings or seedlings found in the pit region. From
83.6 to 100 per cent of the seed bearing trees occur on mounds.
Even though seed germination is high in intervening areas success¬
ful survival does not occur regularly as indicated in the seedling
column of Table I. It can be inferred from the tree data that con¬
ditions of the substrata were favorable for successful establishment
in the intervening areas of several stands. Germination probably
took place on small mounds which have since eroded or on logs
which have completely disintegrated.
Unless a drastic environmental change occurs, it appears that
Tsuga canadensis will perpetuate itself by continuing to create its
own reproductive environment. The species has the reproductive
capacity to remain a component of the northern hardwood forest
with slight fluctuations in the geographical location of the border
if not disturbed.
Table 1. Tabulation of Successful Germination Per Cent of Tsuga canadensis According to MounDj
Pit, Intervening Log or Stump Area
1961]
Goder — Hemlock in Wisconsin
181
vOOOOOr^OO
COOOO—'Otx.
OL
LU
02
s
D
Z
Q
Z
<
H
in
r\ — ' ) ^ 00
^ — I — ,
bn
C
C
^ bb
CHARACTERISTICS AND GENESIS OF A PODZOL SOIL IN
FLORENCE COUNTY, WISCONSIN*
Shankar T. Gaikawad and Francis D. Hole
University of Wisconsin, Madison
A classic Podzol soil, called the Au Train loamy sand, was studied,
both under forest cover and in an adjacent field, in Florence County,
in northeastern Wisconsin, about 3 miles from the Michigan state
line and 8 miles southwest of Iron Mountain, Michigan. The study
was part of the soil survey of Florence County by the Soil Survey
Division, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, in co¬
operation with the U. S. Soil Conservation Service and the Soils
Department, College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin
(Gaikawad, 1961).
Processes of soil formation since the continental glacier dis¬
appeared from the county, possibly about 14,000 years ago, have
produced: 1) on the forest floor an organic layer 2.25 inches
(5.6 cm.) thick, 2) an underlying bleached sandy layer of “Ag hori¬
zon’’ 8.75 inches (22 cm.) thick, and 3) a rock-like, cemented, dark-
brown subsoil layer called the iron-humus Ortstein or hardpan
(Birh^ ). Under cultivation by man over a period of about 65 years
the organic layer of the forest floor has been removed, lime and
organic matter have been added to the second layer, which has been
compacted, and the third layer, the “Ortstein” hardpan, has appar¬
ently been somewhat weakened.
In the upper left-hand corner of Figure 1 is a diagram of the
site. To the right of this diagram is a sketch of “cradle-knoll” or
tree-throw micro-relief, characteristic of the soil under forest cover.
Although the soil layers or horizons are irregular in thickness and
exhibit lateral discontinuities, as shown in Figure 1, average depths
to top and bottom of each horizon are given in the table. The “H”
or humus layer, one-fourth inch thick on top of the bleached “Ao
horizon” in the forest soil, contained 11 grams of oven-dry roots
in one square foot (not reported in column 4 of the figure).
Soil profile descriptions follow :
1, Au Train loamy medium sand
N.W. Corner Sec. 17, T.38 N., R.19 E., Florence Co., Wis.
(Soil profile under forest of balsam fir, white pine, white cedar,
hard maple, yellow birch, aspen)
* Paper read at the 91st annual meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters.
183
184 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
2.25"-1.25^'
1.25"-0.25"
0.25"-0"
0" -1.25"
1.25"-8"
8" -8.75"
8.75"-12"
12" -21"
21" -25"
25" -46"
L Dark reddish-brown (5YR 3/2, moist Munsell
color notation) needles and leaves; pH 5.2, by
Truog field test; very few roots; abrupt,
smooth lower boundary.
F Dark reddish-brown (5YR 3/2-3/1) some¬
what decomposed needles and leaves; pH 5.0;
very few roots; abrupt, smooth lower bound¬
ary.
H Black (5YR 2/1) humus with small fragments
of charcoal; pH 5.1; many roots; abrupt,
smooth lower boundary.
Aot Very dark gray (5YR 3/1-4/1) loamy me¬
dium sand; very weak medium granular to
single grain; loose; pH 4.1; some charcoal
present; very many roots; gradual, irregular
boundary.
Ao2 Reddish-gray (5YR 5/2) medium sand ; single
grain; loose; many roots; pH 5.2; gradual,
irregular boundary.
Aog Dark reddish-gray (5YR 4/2-5/2) medium
sand ; single grain ; loose ; many roots ; pH 5.1 ;
abrupt, irregular boundary.
Bill,! Dusky red (2.5YR 3/2-2/2) loamy medium
sand; massive to weak angular fine blocky;
soft to very friable “Orterde’' ; pH 5.3 ; many
roots; abrupt, irregular boundary.
Bii-i, 2 Dark reddish-brown (2.5YR 2/4) loamy me¬
dium sand; massive; cemented “Ortstein";
crushes to irregular fragments; clear, irregu¬
lar boundary ; very few roots, confined to sur¬
faces of fractures in this “pan"; pH 5.5;
abrupt, irregular boundary.
Bii-hg Reddish-brown (5YR-2.5YR 4/3) loamy me¬
dium sand; massive; soft and loose to some¬
what cemented ; very few roots ; pH 5.4 ; clear,
irregular boundary.
Bf Reddish-brown (5YR 4/3) with some irregu¬
lar banding (4/2-4/4) loamy medium sand;
single grain ; slightly cemented “incipient
fragipan", which shatters under pressure be¬
tween the fingers; very few roots; pH 5.6;
gradual, irregular boundary.
1961] Gaikatvad & Hole — Podzol Soil in N.E. Wisconsin
185
46'' -78" Cl Brown (7. SYR 5/4) medium sand glacial
drift ; single grain ; loose to slightly cemented ;
roots rare ; pH 5.4 at the top to 4.8 at the bot¬
tom ; sampled with hollow auger below bottom
of pit,
78" -108" Cog Similar material, saturated with water on
June 8, 1960.
2. Au Train loamy medium sand
(Soil profile in newly planted corn field, about 300 feet west of
the profile described above)
0"- 8" Ap Dark gray (SYR 4/1-3/1) loamy sand with scat¬
tered stones ; plow layer ; granular ; loose ; pH 6.2 ;
roots abundant; abrupt, smooth boundary.
8"- 14" Ao Reddish-gray (SYR 5/1-5/2) medium sand; sin¬
gle grain ; loose ; pH 6.2 ; few roots ; abrupt, irreg¬
ular boundary.
14"- 23" Dark reddish-gray (SYR 3/2-4/2) medium sand;
massive to angular medium blocky; soft to loose
“Orterde"’; pH 5.2; few roots; irregular, abrupt
boundary.
23"- 30" Dusky red (2. SYR 3/2) loamy medium sand; ce¬
mented '‘Ortstein’' ; hard; pH 5.1; few roots,
largely confined to surfaces of cracks; abrupt,
irregular boundary.
30"- 40" Bii-h^ Reddish-brown (SYR 4/4-4/6) loamy medium
sand ; massive ; loose ; pH 4.8 ; clear, irregular
boundary.
40"- 46" Bf Reddish-brown (SYR 4/3) loamy medium sand;
massive; somewhat cemented; pH 5.1; irregular,
clear boundary.
46"- 98" Cl Light brown (7. SYR 6/4), above, to reddish-
brown (SYR 5/3-4/3), below, medium fine sand
with some gravel and bands of very fine sandy
loam; massive to single grain; slightly cemented
to loose.
98"-108" C^ Brown (7.5YR 5/4) mottled yellowish-red (SYR
4/8) medium sand; reddish black (lOR 3/l~2/l)
iron-rich concretions % inch in diameter; single
grain; loose glacial drift.
186 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Definitions of Kinds of Data Reported in Figure 1 and
Report on Methods and Procedures
This information will be reported by column numbers, as given at
the heads of columns in Figure 1. Analyses were made of soil passed
through a 2 mm sieve.
pH or Soil Reaction ( Column 1 ) : Measurements were made by
means of the Beckman pH meter. The pH of the organic layers (L,
F, H) on top of the mineral soil in the forest was 5.0, by the Hellige-
Truog quick test used in the field. The upper li/4 inches of the Ao
horizon had a pH of 4.1 as measured by Beckman pH meter.
Bulk Density (B. D., Column 2) was determined by driving a steel
cylinder into each soil horizon in such a way as to take a 200 cc
sample. The oven dry weight of the soil in grams was divided by
the volume of the soil to obtain bulk density. Careful estimates
yieMed the average figure of 0.14 gm per cu cm of the organic
layer (L, F, H).
Organic Matter (0. M., Column 3): The Walkley-Black method
(Jackson, 1958) was used.
Dry Weight of Roots (Column J^) : A l=foot-square steel box, with
lower cutting edge, was driven through each horizon; and roots
were carefully removed from the soil in the field, and were gently
washed in the laboratory before drying and weighing. Weight of
roots from the humus horizon (H) is given above.
Carh on-nitrogen Ratio (Column 5): Percent carbon by the
Walkley-Black method and percent nitrogen by the Kjeldahl method
(Jackson, 1958) were used in obtaining this ratio for each horizon.
Clay, silt, and sand contents (Columns 6, 7, 8): Clay (mineral
particles less than .002 mm in dia.), silt (.05-002 mm in dia.), and
sand (2. 00-05 mm in dia.) contents were determined by a hydro¬
meter method described by Day (1956).
Available phosphorus in pounds per acre (Column 9) was deter¬
mined by a Wisconsin State Soil Testing Laboratory procedure,
using 4 cc of soil, 15 ml of 0.3 N HCl, with activated charcoal to
remove soluble organic matter. To 3 ml of colorless extract, 3 ml
vanadate solution were added, and calculations made on the basis
of light transmission readings on a B. and L. spectrometer.
Available potassium, in pounds per acre (Column 10): The sepa¬
rate determinations for available K in soil moist from the field,
and in oven-dried soil were made by flame photometer procedures
of the Wisconsin State Soil Testing Laboratory (Jackson, 1958).
Cation exchange capacity in millequivalents per 100 g of soil
(Column 11) was determined by the E.D.T.A. titration method,
using Mg ' I as the saturating cation and Na+ as the displacing
cation, and titrating Mg++ in the displaced solution with E.D.T.A.
standard solution.
1961]
Gaikaivad & Hole — Podzol Soil in N.E. Wisconsin
187
Figure 1. Some field and laboratory data for a virgin profile and a cultivated
profile of the maximal Podzol soil, Au Train loamy sand, near the N.W. corner
of Sec. 17 and the N.E, corner of Sec. 18, T.38 N., R.19 E., Florence County,
Wisconsin, respectively. Note that the horizontal scale is compressed in the soil
profile diagrams, which represent four feet in width, as well as in depth, for
each of the two rectilinear soil sections. A key to the abbreviations in the
figure is as follows :
188 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
Abbreviations in the cliag'rams : plowed dark surface soil in the field ; A2, reddish-
gray light colored oOil layer or horizon; , soft upper subsoil layer or “B” horizon
containing iron (ir) and humus (h) deposits; B.j.,j , cemented lower subsoil layers
containing iron and humus deposits ; B^, weakly developed, pale, coherent subsoil
layer or horizon, called “incipient fragipan” ; C, loose sand or “parent material” of
the soil ; L, surficial litter layer of recently fallen leaves, needles and wood on the
forest floor ; P, fermented or partially decomposed organic material lying beneath the
L layer ; H, humus layer or well decomposed organic material forming the bottom
part of the natural organic blanket on the forest floor.
Abbreviations at the heads of columns in the tables : 1 — pH, measure of soil re¬
action ; 2 — B.D., bulk density in gm/cm^ ; 3 — O.M., organic matter in per cent ; 4 — Roots,
dry weight in gm of plant roots found in a column of soil 1 ft^ in horizontal cross-
section ; 5 — C/N, carbon/nitrogen ratio ; 6 — Clay, content on an oven-dry weight basis
of mineral particles less than .002 mm in dia. ; 7 — Silt, content of mineral particles
.002 to .05 mm in dia. ; 8 — Sand, content of mineral particles .05 to 2.0 mm in dia, ;
9 — Avl.P, pounds per acre of phosphorus “available to plants” ; 10 — Avl.K, pounds per
acre of “available” potassium in undried soil as taken in the field (“wet”), and in
oven-dried soil (“dry”) ; 11 — C.E.C., cation exchange capacity in meq per 100 g of soil;
12 — Ba.St., percent base saturation ; 13 — Ca++X, meq exchangeable calcium per 100 g
of soil; 14 — Na+X, exchangeable sodium; 15 — Ca/Mg, ratio between exchangeable
calcium and exchangeable magnesium ; 16 — Fe, percent reductant-soluble or “free”
iron on a dry wt. basis.
Percent base saturation (Column 12) was calculated on the basis
of exchangeable cation determinations and cation exchange capacity
determinations.
Exchangeable cations (Columns IS, 14-, 15) were determined by
extractions with 1 N NH4OAC solution at pH 7, and by flame pho¬
tometry. Data are reported in millequivalents per 100 g of soil.
Reductant soluble iron content (Column 16) was determined by
the dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate method (Jackson, 1956).
Discussion
During an undetermined portion of the period of approximately
14,000 years since the Cary (middle Wisconsin) glaciation in Flor¬
ence County, an organic mat on the forest floor has been main¬
tained at a steady state on the Au Train loamy sand. Bits of char¬
coal in the humus (H) horizon of the organic mat attest to inter¬
ruptions of this steady state by forest fires. The presence of large
white pine trees indicates, however, that the forest at the study
site was not clear-cut and destroyed during lumbering operations
of 1850-1920. Tree-fall has causeci disturbance of the soil horizons,
as indicated in Figure 1. However, the virgin soil was sampled as
far away as possible from “cradle-knolls’’ or tree-tip mounds. This
soil is a well developed or “maximal” Podzol and the study site is
situated in a well drained position fairly close to the water table
(78 inches in June, 1960). The proximity to the water table may
account for the extreme cementation of the iron-humus subsoil
(Bii-i,), because a relatively high water table favors tree growth
(Wilde, 1958). The latter provides for the volumes of organic mat¬
ter necessary for podzolization (Stobbe and Wright, 1959) which in¬
volves the translocation of iron and organic matter through leached
1961] Gaikatvad & Hole — Podzol Soil in N.E. Wisconsin 189
sandy parent material from the surface soil (A2 horizon) to the
subsoil (Bh-h).
Tree roots are most abundant in the humus horizon, in the
and upper Bh-h horizons, to a depth of a foot below the surface of
the mineral soil. In this zone a notable depletion of available phos¬
phorus has occurred, presumably by plant root feeding. Weathering
of the relatively small amount of weatherable minerals in the upper
2 feet of soil, and base cycling by trees and deposition of small
amounts of aeolian silt would explain the relative accumulation of
available potassium in upper horizons of the soil. The fixation of
available potassium by drying of the soil may be explained as the
action of a small amount of vermiculite clay. Iron and organic mat¬
ter have accumulated in the subsoil (Bn-h) , particularly in the upper
portion, the dark reddish-brown to dusky red soft ‘‘Orterde”. The
latter overlies the cemented portion, the dark reddish-brown “Ort-
stein” hardpan. Apparently considerable clay has been translocated
from the pale (reddish-gray) A2 horizon into the Bii-i, horizon, pre¬
sumably independently of iron and organic matter (Flach, 1960).
The carbon/nitrogen ratio is high in this soil, and base saturation
is low, as is the case in many Podzol soils (Soil Survey Staff,
U.S.D.A., 1960; Hole and Schmude, 1959). The exchangeable
Ca/Mg ratio is high and increases with depth.
Clearing of the forest from this soil 65 years ago, and ensuing
cultivation in the field across the road from the forest site has ap¬
parently made the following changes in the Au Train loamy sand :
1) The cradle-knoll micro-relief of the forest soil has been
erased.
2) Mixing by plow and other agricultural tools has replaced
the organic mat and upper A^ horizon with a plow layer
(Ap),
3) Some disturbance of the soil profile was very possibly pro¬
duced by stump pulling and burning during land clearing.
4) The Ap and A2 horizons have been compacted, particularly
just below the plow layer (Ap), by loss of organic matter
and pressure from farm machinery.
5) Despite additions of manure and crop residues by the
farmer, organic matter has been lost, presumably as a re¬
sult of increased aeration and summer temperatures in the
Ap horizon as compared to the upper soil horizons in the
forest, as a result of excess of translocation of organic mat¬
ter from the B horizon over additions to it, and as a result
of artificial increase in pH which favors microbial activity.
6) Slight reduction in contents of N, exchangeable calcium
(except in the plow layer), cation exchange capacity, and
190 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
reductant soluble iron may be the results of removal of
plant nutrients by crops in excess of additions by the
farmer, and the results of accelerated leaching.
7) The upper 14 inches of soil have higher pH, contents of
exchangeable calcium and magnesium, and base saturation
values, as a result of liming and fertilization by the farmer.
8) The C/N ratio of organic matter in the upper 14 inches of
soil has been lowered, presumably by loss of carbon as COo
to the air, with accelerated microbial activity and aeration.
9) The average specific gravity of plant roots has dropped
from 0.3 to 0.2, with the replacement of forest by crop and
pasture plants.
References
Day, P. R., 1956. “Report of the Committee on Physical Analysis, 1954-55”,
Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc. 20:167-169.
Gaikawad, S. T., 1961. “Characteristics and Genesis of a Maximal Podzol of
Northern Wisconsin, The An Train Sand”, M. S. Thesis, University of
Wisconsin.
Hole, Francis D, and Schmude, Keith 0., 1959. “Soil Survey of Oneida
County, Wisconsin”, Bui. 82, Soil Survey Division, Wis. Geological and
Nat. Hist. Survey, University of Wisconsin.
Flach, Klaus Werner, 1960. “Sols Bruns Acides in the North Eastern U.S.A.”,
Ph.D. Thesis, Cornell University.
Jackson, M. L., 1956. “Soil Chemical Analysis, Adv. Course”, published by the
author. Department of Soils, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
Jackson, M. L., 1958. “Soil Chemical Analysis”, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Engle¬
wood Cliffs, N. J.
Soil Survey Staff, 1960. “Soil Classification, A Comprehensive System, 7th
Approximation”, Soil Conservation Service, U.S.D.A., Washington, D. C.
Stobbe, P. C. and Wright, J. R., 1959. “Modern Concepts of Genesis of Pod¬
zols”, Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc. 23:161-164.
Wilde, S. A., 1958. “Forest Soils”, Ronald Press Co., N. Y.
THE GEOLOGIC MATERIAL: ITS IMPACT ON SOIL PROFILE
CHARACTERISTICS IN WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN
E. Wurman
Wisconsin State College, River Falls
For several years, soil investigations in West Central Wisconsin
have included, among other things, an attempt to correlate more
closely soil profile characteristics with the geologic material in
which they develop. The following is but a brief summary of some
of the knowledge gained during that period. The theories proposed
and the ensuing conclusions are those of the author only, and not
necessarily reflecting those of the many people involved in the gath¬
ering of the information.
The author is especially indebted to Mr. Paul CarrolP for permis¬
sion to reproduce substantial parts of the field data gathered by
him, and to Dr. Francis D. Hole of the Wisconsin Geological and
Natural History Survey, University of Wisconsin, for encouraging
preparation of the article.
The exposed part of the lithosphere and included portions of the
biosphere reflect the interaction of local factors such as underlying
material,^ topography, climate, and organic agencies (flora, fauna,
man). Soil scientists regard the ‘‘soil environmenP’ as a product of
the interaction of these four factors acting through time (3) , which
is considered to be a fifth factor of soil formation. This approach
enables the researcher to understand the mode of formation of the
various kinds of soil and helps in predicting soil-type distributions.
In short, measuring the environment (qualitative and quantitative) ,
is a major step toward understanding why particular soils occur in
specific localities.
Bear (1) and Jenny (3) in their respective treatises on soil chem¬
istry and soil formation give an excellent bibliography of the ex¬
tent to which soil characteristics can be attributed to the initial
geologic materials. In many instances, the extent to which parent
material properties influence soil characteristics is controversial,
and a generalization may often be misleading.
West Central Wisconsin, with its combination of glaciated and
driftless areas, offers many opportunities to study the relationships
between soil characteristics and associated geologic materials. The
area in which observations were made and from which samples
were collected includes the following counties: Pierce, St. Croix,
Pepin, Dunn, Eau Claire, Chippewa, and Taylor.
^ Soil investig’ator, Soil Conservation Service, River Falls, Wis.
2 Term used to denote both consolidated and unconsolidated material, often referred
to by soil-scientists as “parent-material”.
191
192 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Methods
Field examination of soils in selected areas were initiated in 1956
by Mr, Paul Carroll, as a part of the cooperative soil-survey pro¬
gram of the U. S. Soil Conservation Service and the University of
Wisconsin. Each observation included a detailed description of the
soil profile to a minimum depth of 5 feet and often deeper so as to
reveal the various types of strata underlying the soil solum. Bulk
samples of the soil horizons, including one or more of the under¬
lying geologic materials, were collected for further laboratory
studies. Samples were taken to the laboratory, air dried and sieved
to pass a 2 mm. screen. Duplicate 50 gm. samples were treated with
hydrogen-peroxide to destroy organic matter, and dispersed in Na-
hexametaphosphate. Particle size distribution was determined by
hydrometer, except in the case of silt fractionation, where a pipette
was used to determine coarse and fine fractions. Chemical analyses
on the 2 mm. material included a pH measurement using a glass
electrode and a 1 : 1 soil : water mixture ; cation exchange capacity
with buffered (pH 7.0) NH^-acetate ; free iron-oxide using Na-
hydrosulfite as extracting agent, Coleman Junior spectrophotometer
and orthophenanthroline.
Results and Discussions
In areas where different geologic materials, e.g. limestone, sand¬
stone, glacial till and loess, occur in a single stratigraphic column
or form a continuous surface on level or sloping land, an assem¬
blage of different soils usually results. In West Central Wisconsin,
a common landscape association consists of plateau-like remnants
(mesas) with gently sloping to level intervening lowlands. The pres¬
ence of the tabular highland remnants is due mostly to the protec¬
tive capping of the dolomitic limestone. This dolomitic layer is one
unit in the sequence of sandstones and limestones (usually dolo¬
mitic) which make up the stratigraphic column in this part of the
state. Often a thin shale layer can be found interbedded or separat¬
ing the two main types of material making up the stratigraphic
section. The fluvial dissection in conjunction with the general dip
of the beds determines the age and type of bedrock exposed. More
often than not, a variable thickness of wind deposited silty (loess)
material overlies the bedrock. In the northern part of the area,
glacial till of Wisconsin age overlies the bedrock the till being in
turn capped by a variable thickness of eolian material. The follow¬
ing are selected instances which clearly illustrate the relationship
between soil profiles and their respective underlying geologic
materials.
1961]
Wurman — Soil Profiles in Wisconsin
193
A. Stratigraphy , a factor in soil profile characteristics.
The “Colluvial Hixton”" soils of St. Croix County are found most
frequently on valley slopes below limestone-capped ridges underlain
by sandstone. During the process of geologic and accelerated ero¬
sion, movement down the slopes created a heterogenous mixture of
limestone slabs and loess, which together with the sand became the
parent material for the Hixton like soils of the county. In selective
places, the great quantities of weathering limestone fragments pro¬
vide clay size material in quantities large enough to impart a sandy
clay loam to clay loam texture to the middle and lower solum (see
description below).
In one area where the limestone capping was missing completely
a sandy Gray-Brown Podzolic Boone soil developed on the slope.
However, at a depth of five feet a loamy material was located. This
finer textured material remained as evidence of earlier colluvial
movement, when a limestone capping was still in existence. The
following are a few examples of the types of soil profile encoun¬
tered on the slopes of the mesas.
B. Soil development in coarse silt dominated loess f (Pepin and
Dunn Counties).
Loess of variable thickness overlies bedrock and glacial deposits
in relatively extensive areas of Dunn, Pepin, and other counties in
western and southwestern Wisconsin. The larger body of loess ex¬
tends well into Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. Loess of
this larger area is characteristically thickest on the bluffs adjoin¬
ing the Mississippi River and other glacial drainage channels, thin¬
ning away from the river valleys. Usually the loess in Dunn and
Pepin counties is from one to six feet thick and is found primarily
on the uplands, upland valley slopes and occasionally in the valley
bottoms. Much thicker loess deposits, however, may be found fur¬
ther to the west and south nearer the Mississippi River.
Within this loess belt, are found significant areas of coarse-
textured loess.® In parts of these two counties the loess is underlain
by till.
Mechanical analysis of soils from the four selected sites indi¬
cated a very high percentage of total silts (table 1). The amount
ranges from approximately 76 percent in the surface horizons to
approximately 70 percent in the B, horizons, and from 72 to 75 per¬
cent in the parent material. The ratio of coarse silt to fine silt
^ Quotation marks used to distinguish these soils from central concept of the series.
Loess is a geolog-ical deposit of relatively uniform calcareous silt with some very
fine sand and clay, presumably transported by wind from alluvium or disinteg-rated
siltstone during- periods of aridity.
** Wind-blown materials consisting- primarily of coarse silts e.g". 50 to 20 microns in
diameter.
194 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
1. Minimal-Podzol Developed in St. Peter Sandstone,
Ordovician System (Boone Fine Sand)
II. ''Colluvial Hixton”, a Gray-Brown Podzolic Developed From
Mixed Sandstone, Limestone, and Calcareous Sandstone
Profile Il-a
Profile Il-b
^Moist, Munsell Color Notations.
^By Truog-Hellige field kit.
^Possible loess influence here.
III. “Colluvial Hixton”, Profile II-b Continued
1961] Wurman — Soil Profiles in Wisconsin 195
ranges from 1.83 to 2.97. The clay percentages in the B horizon
varied quite widely.
A structural characteristic of these soils is the general macro-
platiness of the profile, which is quite distinct in the parent loess
and weakly to moderately expressed in the solum. Compound struc¬
tural forms of subangular blocky and platy were observed in the B
horizon of all sampling sites. The macroplaty characteristics of
these soils is probably ‘‘inherited” from the parent loess. Alternat¬
ing light (lOYR 5/3) and darker-colored (lOYR 4/3) horizontal
silty bands extend deep into the parent loess. These layerings in the
parent loess result in abrupt and smooth boundaries and provide
lateral lines of weakness in an otherwise massive structural form.
A combination of vertical zonation induced by roots and freezing
and thawing, coupled with an “inherited” horizontal layering re¬
sult in the observable macroplatiness of the soil solum.
C. Soil development in Glauconitic sandstone
During 1958, while a detailed soil survey of Pepin County was in
progress, a series of field observations were made on the Norden
and other associated series developing, at least in part, in glau¬
conitic sandstone (Franconia formation, Cambrian system), de¬
scribed in detail by Berg (2) and Nelson (4). The interest was pri¬
marily in the weathering sequence of the glauconitic parent rock.
For this reason, the red variant of the Norden series was selected
for study. The red variant is a highly ferruginous soil of very lim¬
ited extent in Wisconsin, but one of significance because of the
advanced glauconite weathering in it. Generally, the red variant of
the Norden has been defined as a Gray-Brown Podzolic soil. How¬
ever, because of high iron content in the upper part of the solum
(table 2), it may be more properly regarded as a Gray-Brown Pod¬
zolic soil intergrading to Podzol. All profiles exhibited moderate to
strong brown colors in the solum with additional brown “earthy”
streaks extending horizontally and vertically through the lower
part of the soil profile. Clay skins were observed along the cleavage
planes of the disintegrated sandstone in the lower profile, the skins
becoming thicker and more continuous with increased depth.
The Franconia sandstone formation often consists of alternating
bands of white and green (glauconitic) material. The brown streaks
usually develop in the originally green glauconitic material. Table 2
shows the extremely high iron content of the upper part of the
solum. Lower horizons showed a marked decrease in that particu¬
lar constituent. Although omitted from table 1, mechanical analysis
of the profile indicated the presence of two clay-enriched layers.
These layers may have formed by a differential weathering in cer¬
tain parts of the soil profile due to the presence of a series of
Table 1. Particle Size Distribution of Selected Soil Horizons Developing in Respective Geologic Materials
196
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
*Tentative series name.
■*Developed in overlying silt.
'*“Fayette”, an average of 6 profiles, three analyzed locally and three from data of the soil survey laboratories, S.C.S., Lincoln,
Table 2. Chemical Properties of Selected Soil Horizons Developing in Respective Geologic Materials
1961]
Wu'rman—Soil Profiles in Wisconsin
197
Y.
§ W ^
UJ X
gou.
O O O' o
O'——' O
O ^
O — ^ O — —
O' C
o
o o
oO
O
— — 00
^
O
vD
O
O
O O
VTN VN sD
ITN
H
O
O H
OS
c c c
o o o
o o o
P D D
CO eg ct|
ooo
CO CO CO
s:x.j::
OT W (/)
OOO
<<<
!/} (/>
i/) ^
o o
o o
— — (y
£
CO CO
o o ^
S S —
(7)in<
cn !/) tn
oo c/) o)
ooo
OOO
£ £ £ £ _
CO CO CO CO Tz: cto
_g ^ ^ _g 4-> j-i
4_) 4_) -i_J 4^ O O
^ ^ i:: --Coo
U^'(nU\ '(p,^qC
<£o <mQ <mQ <CQU <Cq’J
£££ ;;: .
ooo &§■§> £S£ ::: ddd
'oTiTi cOcOcO ... 5b5
ooo OOO CCC cOcOcO
T5T3T5 — — — . CCC
r^cr* 4-J4J4-J cgcgcu
§ § § Tooooro: Toorzino -2-2,2 -t:: -t:!
c/)c«co c/cc/cc/)
ooo OTOTOT WOTOT COCOCO
COCOCO COCOCO ^ ^ ^ ooo
RRS QhClo. clclcl = = =
ZZZ WWW WWW WWW SSS
*See table 1 for notation on this horizon.
198 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
perched water tables, in addition to the movement of clay size
material from overlying horizons as evidenced by vertical clay
skins. Perched water tables have been observed in road cuts, and
when exposed to atmospheric conditions, form red, weathered
streaks, parallel to the bedding planes. The two major changes
taking place during the development of a soil profile from glau¬
conitic sandstone therefore are: (a) the formation of a highly-
Figure 1. Road cut showing acid shale with overlying siltstone and capped by
eolian material. (Pierce County, Wisconsin)
ferruginous upper solum and (b) the development of one or more
textural layers in the subsoil.
D. Soil development in acid shale
The particular area investigated occupies a nine-square-mile val¬
ley in the southwest quarter of Rock Elm Township, Pierce County,
Wisconsin. The valley is formed at the confluence of two first order
streams^ and has been eroded in its deepest part to a level about
140 feet below the surrounding landscape. Geologic erosion has cut
through a stratum of St. Peter sandstone, including an underlying
thin layer of basal siltstone and shale.
The valley consists of undulating to rolling uplands, gently to
strongly-sloping upland valley slopes, where only a relatively thin
^ Unbroken, fingertip streams in the headwaters of the drainage basin.
1961]
Wurman — Soil Profiles in Wisconsin
199
silt mantle exists, and where, most or all of the B horizon of the
soil profile is developing in the underlying shale. On gentler gradi¬
ents, however, the soils are considerably deeper, with only the lower
part of the B horizon extending into the underlying shale. The deep
silt mantles are derived either from wind deposited silts or from
siltstone that outcrops in the higher surrounding areas.
Table 1 shows the influence of the parent rock on the relative
amounts of silt and clay in the two respective profiles. The El Paso
silt loam^^ has its solum developing in silty material underlain by a
clayey shale. The coarse silt/fine silt ratios reaffirm the sharp break
in the geologic materials between the solum (20 inches in this case)
and the underlying material. The El Paso, shallow variant, almost
totally developed in the shale, has a solum which reflects the clayey
nature of this material. In both soils those layers developing in the
shale exhibited a stronger compound structure of large plates in
turn subdivided into smaller subangular to angular blocks. A short
description is given herewith for purposes of illustration :
El Paso Silt Loam Profile (Showing Horizons From the Lower Part of
THE Solum and Directly Underlying Shaley Material)
Tentative series name.
200 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Field examination of the acid shale revealed the presence of
pyritized fossils. The pyrite crystals present were in various stages
of decomposition i.e. ranging from fresh yellow perfect cubes to a
dark gray powder. Chemical analysis of the powder showed it to be
mostly FeS04. The decomposition of the pyrite crystals may be
taking place in the following manner :
2FeS2 + 7O2 + 2H2O - - -> 2FeS04 + 2H2SO4
Such a reaction would lead to extreme acid conditions. Table 2
shows the very low pH (high acidity) in the underlying shale as
well as the possible influence this acidity has on overlying materials.
The siltstone overlying the shale, inherently, has a much lower
acidity (higher pH).
The above study illustrates the impact a geologic material can
have on soil properties even if only as an “underlying layer”. The
extent of that influence depends on the make up of the geologic
material, especially those constituents which exhibit a “dynamic-
aspect” i.e. active-acidity produced continuously by a mineral or
chemical compound present in it.
E. Soils of Taylor County: a preliminary study of ''Acid Gray-
Wooded” soils in Central Wisconsin
Taylor County is covered by reddish-brown, acid till and glacio-
fluvium of late Wisconsin age and Patrician source (Part of the
Chippewa Lobe of the continental glacier). With the possible ex¬
ception of the terminal moraine that extends across the county
from north-east to south-west, the drift is overlain by a deep to
moderately deep blanket of loess. The loess, in many depressed
sites, has assumed the characteristics of lacustrine silts.
The silt mantled zonal soils of Taylor County represent varying
stages of “Gray-Wooded” solum development, under varying drain¬
age and microclimatic conditions. Most, if not all of the “Acid Gray-
Wooded” soils in Taylor and the adjacent counties developed in
deep to moderately deep silts on level to gently rolling topography.
Unlike the true Gray-Wooded soils of Canada that have calcareous
parent materials, the soils of Taylor County developed in acid silts
and underlain by slightly to moderately acid deposits of sandy clay
loam to clay loam glacial till, sandy gravelly outwash or lacustrine
silts and clays. The following abbreviated descriptions illustrate the
range of soil profile characteristics found in the area.
Laboratory analysis showed a two-fold increase in clay content
from Ao to horizon (15 vs. 29 percent respectively). Abundance
of clay skins in the lower B horizon and many continuous silt coat¬
ings on ped surfaces in the upper B point to a clay movement along
vertical surfaces resulting in a methodic degradation of the upper
B horizon.
1961]
Wurman — Soil Profiles in Wisconsin
201
Brill Silt Loam (a Monosequal '‘Acid Gray-Wooded’' Soil)
Note: Although initially described as a Gray-Brown Podzolic, this soil shows strong
evidence of an “Acid Gray-Wooded” type of profile e.g. deep tonguing, degradation
(destruction) of the B horizon (B&A or A&B layers), absence of A3 or Bi horizons,
thickness and whitish color of A 2 horizon.
Stambaugh Silt Loam (Podzol Soil)
Note; The profile shows a relatively thin A 2 with little tonguing and an iron-enriched
layer (Bir) underlain by a series of strongly cemented horizons (Bm 1, Bm2, Dm).
Note the complete absence of a “degraded-layer” (B&A) in the upper B.
Bohemian Silt Loam (Acid Variant), A Bisequal "Acid Gray-Wooded Soil”
Note; This soil has a bisequal profile i.e. a repeated succession of eluvial (leached) —
illuvial (accumulation) horizons, the upper sequence usually being an A2-Bir (iron
and/or organic matter enriched layer) combination, underlain by an A2-B2 (textural
layer) sequence.
The textures in the various horizons reflected the silty nature of
the parent loess and/or lacustrine silt. The and A, horizons gen¬
erally are silt loam. The transitional (A&B or B&A) zone of degra¬
dation and the underlying Bg are a heavy silt loam to silty clay
loam. In some few instances the Ag appears to grade abruptly into
202 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
a clayey B. In no instance did an ‘‘Acid Gray-Wooded” profile dis¬
play either Ag or B,. Both were entirely lacking or were replaced
by an A&B (or B&A) horizon.
A frag'ipan-type cementation was found in several of the observed
“Acid Gray-Wooded” soils. Among the monosequal “Acid Gray-
Wooded” soils (lacking the A^-Bir or Ag-Bhir sequence), fragipans
are most prominently expressed in the Bg and upper C horizons. The
structure of the B horizon in the “Acid Gray- Wooded” soils usually
is compound ; moderate, medium to coarse prisms that break under
pressure to moderate medium subangular to angular blocky peds.
A general macro- to microplatiness is also evident. The prismatic
structural form is obvious even more in the undisturbed profile,
where tongues of A2 and prominent silt coats extend along the
prisms’ vertical faces. Toward the lower B, the prismatic struc¬
tural form becomes weaker and, generally coarser. The subangular
to angular blocky structural form is most strongly developed in the
middle B and becomes weaker and coarser in the lower parts of the
solum.
Conclusions
In the preceding pages selected instances are cited which estab¬
lish a definite relationship between soil profile characteristics and
the type of geologic material in which the profile develops. An
attempt was made to describe as fully as possible those properties
observable in the field, and in addition, conduct specific laboratory
analyses.
The extent to which a soil profile displays inherent geologic char¬
acteristics depends on: (a) the degree of uniformity (“stratifica¬
tion”) of the parent-material, its texture and mineralogy, (b) posi¬
tion of the soil in the landscape, especially relative to other types
of rock materials, (c) the intensity and duration of surface
exposure.
The degree of certainty with which a particular soil profile char¬
acteristic can be attributed to the geologic substructure rather than
to climate, organisms and/or time, will depend on accuracy and
extent of field observation and of course on laboratory analyses.
Each case has to be judged on an individual basis and generaliza¬
tions avoided unless enough data, field and laboratory, are available.
References Cited
1. Bear, F. E. 1955 Chemistry of the Soil. Reinhold Publ. Corp., New York,
N. Y.
2. Berg, R. R. 1954 Franconia Formation of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Bui.
Geol Soc. Amer. 65:857-882.
3. Jenny, H. 1941 Factors of Soil Formation, a System of Quantitative Pedol¬
ogy. McGraw-Hill, New York, N. Y.
4. Nelson, C. A. 1956 Upper Croixan Stratigraphy — Upper Mississippi Val¬
ley. Bnl. Geol. Soc. Amer. 67:165-184.
THE BASE OF THE ST. PETER SANDSTONE IN
SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN*
F. T. Thwaites
University of Wisconsin, Madison (Emeritus)
The problem of the base of the St. Peter sandstone formation in
southwestern Wisconsin has been debated for many years. The
paucity of exposures of this contact hampered investigation greatly
and it awaited the collection of logs of wells based on samples of
the cuttings to understand much of the phenomena. From this data
the existence of considerable amounts of chert pebble conglomerate,
chert rubble, sandstone, in part quartzitic, and non-calcareous shale
together with some dolomite or dolomite conglomerate was estab¬
lished. These strata are here termed the '‘basal beds” and are very
little exposed in either natural or artificial exposures. Problems
which arise consist of: (1) whether or not the basal beds are part
of the original St. Peter sandstone formation or belong in the older
Prairie du Chien group, (2) whether an unconformity is present
at the top of these beds or at their bottom, and (3) determination
of the true bottom of the basal beds, for there may be some non-
dolomitic shale layers in the Prairie du Chien strata. The nature of
the basal beds which strongly indicate reworked weathered material
and the fact that they rest upon various older formations down to
the Cambrian Franconia sandstone, as well as their difference from
known Prairie du Chien strata convince the writer that there is a
pronounced unconformity at the bottom of this downward exten¬
sion of the St. Peter sandstone. It is possible, however, that there
are some non-calcareous shales in the Prairie du Chien group.
A. E. Flint (1956) deals almost entirely with the upper contact of
the basal beds although he discusses some exploration drill holes
which penetrated the basal strata. The present paper is confined to
the same area that was discussed by Flint.
Previous Investigations. Although study of the problem of the
base of the St. Peter has been carried on for many years (Heller
1956, Powers 1935, Trowbridge and Atwater 1934), few geologists
have had access to subsurface information derived from sample-
controlled logs of water wells. Such information is vital to a correct
interpretation of the evidence which bears on this problem. Flint
(1956) reviewed the opinions of almost all of the students of the
* Paper read at the 90th annual meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters, Mr, Thwaites died June 7, 1961.
203
204 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
area so thoroughly that little can be added. He omits, however, a
paper by Twenhofel and Thwaites (1919) which was based on a
report on the Sparta and Tomah quadrangles, Wisconsin, which was
refused publication by the U. S. Geological Survey. In this paper a
surface exposure of St. Peter sandstone where it lies on Cambrian
strata was discussed.
Nature of Subsurface Data. The following factors must be evalu¬
ated in order to use subsurface data from cable tool cuttings. In
surface exposures all the strata above a given outcrop are either
covered or removed by erosion, and everything below the base of the
exposure is concealed. Lateral relations between exposures is con¬
fused by both dip of the strata and lenticular deposition. The great
advantage of drill records is that they are vertical, or near ver¬
tical, sections which are subject only to the hazards of obtaining
good cuttings or cores if a core drill is used. The basal beds at the
base of the outcrops of St.Peter sandstone are concealed because
the outcrops are so friable that sand weathered from them con¬
ceals the outcrop of the less resistant basal beds. Cable tool drilling
through the basal beds is generally accomplished with considerable
difficulty from caving particularly of the shales. With core tools
recovery is poor. In many wells the initial drilling is not too diffi¬
cult, but safe completion demands casing. In some wells this casing
must be under-reamed. The caved fragments are normally much
larger than are actual cuttings, but some are broken up by the drill
and others are rounded by mixture with drill cuttings which are
agitated by the action of the tools. This process of admixture may
give a false color to some of the cuttings. It is very difficult to dis¬
tinguish thin layers of interbedded shale in sandstone and to sepa¬
rate cemented conglomerate of broken dolomite from true solid
dolomite. Correlation of the material is very difficult unless the
hole is carried down into recognizable formations below. This ap¬
plies particularly to the exploratory holes of the U. S. Geological
Survey, many of which were not drilled enough to identify the
formation at the bottom. Although some of the difficulties described
above make interpretations of cable tool cuttings somewhat diffi¬
cult, it is clear the attitude of many old-time geologists that cable
tool cuttings are valueless is not just. It may be remarked that had
caving been so bad as they claimed, it would have been almost im¬
possible to complete a hole. When a record of casing is available,
the order in which each string of pipe was installed can generally
be found which is a great advantage in interpreting cuttings. An¬
other source of data is from fresh highway cuts. An enormous
amount of information was lost because the geologists of the Wis¬
consin Survey were not encouraged to examine highway grading
1961]
Thivaites — St. Peter Sandstone
205
while it was fresh. At the present time this involves walking over
the project, for cuts even in firm bedrock are slanted back, cov¬
ered with black earth, and seeded so that by the time the road is
opened to traffic nothing whatever can be seen.
Underlying Formations. In the normal stratigraphic succession
the St. Peter sandstone is underlain by the dolomites of the Prairie
du Chien group (Powers 1956, Heller 1935, Trowbridge and At¬
water 1934). If localities where the basal beds are thick are con¬
sidered, it is found that the next underlying formation ranges down
to the Franconia sandstone of Cambrian age. Such localities where
there is no recognizable Prairie du Chien are not as common in
southwestern Wisconsin as farther to the east. In some places the
converse is true and there is no St. Peter sandstone between Prairie
du Chien dolomite and basal Platteville strata. This discrimination
is rendered difficult by reason of the sandy Glenwood member of
the Platteville and sandstone which is properly included in the
Prairie du Chien. In many well records, particularly drillers logs,
the sandstones of the Prairie du Chien have been erroneously cor¬
related as St. Peter. Although the official usage of the U. S. and
some other geological surveys is to subdivide the Prairie du Chien
group into three distinct formations, the writer is far from con¬
vinced that this procedure is practicable in Wisconsin. The forma¬
tions in descending order are: Shakopee (Willow River) dolomite.
New Richmond (Root Valley) sandstone, and Oneota dolomite. The
relative stratigraphic positions of some of the type localities of
these formations is not clear. The well logs examined by the writer
show definitely that instead of a single New Richmond sandstone,
there are in some places several sandstone beds interbedded with
dolomite and in other places no sandstone at all. It seems probable
that the sandstone beds within the Prairie du Chien are lenticular.
The mixture of sandstone and dolomite strongly suggests condi¬
tions like the east coast of Florida where sand brought by waves
and currents from the north is interbedded with local calcareous
deposits. The writer has never been able to make any definite sub¬
division of the entire group of dolomites in Wisconsin and decidedly
prefers to use the name Prairie du Chien as a formation rather
than as a group ; in fact until recently Owen’s ancient name “Lower
Magnesian” was still used by the Wisconsin Geological Survey. In
many sections it is difficult to determine the exact top of the Prairie
du Chien. The writer has fixed it by presence of non-dolomitic shale
and chert conglomerate in the overlying beds but some noncalcare-
ous green-gray shale is present throughout the entire Prairie du
Chien sequence for the most part as mere thin laminae or small
specks. Just how this noncalcareous nature is reconciled with the
206 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
adjacent dolomite has not been determined. A confusing feature of
the contact with the basal beds is the presence of organic reefs or
bioherms throughout the Prairie du Chien dolomite. Although
oolitic chert and dolomite are most abundant in the recognized
Prairie du Chien, it is by no means certain that either is entirely
confined to it. Fragmental oolitic chert is certainly present in the
overlying basal St. Peter beds and it may be indigenous to the dolo¬
mite layers of those strata although this has not been definitely
proved. The supposed dolomites of the basal beds may possibly be
cemented conglomerate or cemented talus. Attempts to subdivide
the Prairie du Chien by use of insoluble residues were not success¬
ful. The arithmetical average of insoluble material in 55 analyses
collected by Steidtmann (Steitdmann, 1924, pp. 185-187) is 8.5%
but the range is from 1.37% to 26.26% which is too much of a scat¬
ter to permit an accurate average. The clays formed from weather¬
ing of the Prairie du Chien under modern climatic conditions are
decidedly more brown than are the clays of the basal shales, some
of which are very pale pink. It is impossible to make an isopach
map of the Prairie du Chien because not only of the uncertainty
of its top but chiefly because of rapid changes of thickness whose
distribution is at present entirely unpredictable. It is found, how¬
ever, that a map can be made of the combined St. Peter-Prairie du
Chien thickness. This ranges from 300 feet along the Mississippi
River to less than 100 feet west of Milwaukee. No Prairie du Chien
is reported in any well within a considerable area in southeastern
Wisconsin although it has been recognized in some well logs in the
southern part of Michigan.
Basal St, Peter Beds Below the Original St. Peter Sandstone.
When the St, Peter was named by Owen (Wilmarth, 1938, pp. 1884-
1885) over a century ago, the term applied only to the “soft white
sandstone” which is exposed along what is now called Minnesota
River. Since exposures of the basal contact are naturally confined
to localities where the formation is abnormally thin, nothing was
known of the strata which are confined to areas where the entire
St. Peter is abnormally thick. In preparing geological maps it was
presumed that the underlying Prairie du Chien dolomite was pres¬
ent in many areas where subsequent drilling failed to demonstrate
this fact. These localities of thick St. Peter naturally offer few out¬
crops, for the lower strata are covered by sand from the disintegra¬
tion of the higher beds. Only one outcrop has been described where
the St. Peter rests upon Cambrian strata. Twenhofel and Thwaites
(1919, p. 638) describe the outcrop at Middle Ridge in the Sparta
quadrangle of western Wisconsin, where St. Peter sandstone rests
“on a residuum of red clay and chert which is altogether without
1961]
Thwaites — St. Peter Sandstone
207
stratification.” They concluded: “This residuum was derived from
‘the weathering of’ older formations.” The underlying formation at
this locality is the Jordan member of the Trempealeau formation
of the Upper Cambrian. In 1914 the writer visited several exposures
in the Sugar River Valley near Albany, Wisconsin which displayed
at that time the lower beds of the St. Peter without any of the
underlying formation. At that time there were large pits in the
chert rubble, for it was used to surface sandy roads in that vicinity.
Since then its unsuitability with automobile tires has caused these
pits to be abandoned and it is very unlikely that any are now
worked. Similar material is often encountered in drilling and does
not appear to cave extensivly. It was called “cotton rock” in some
of the exploration drill holes of southwestern Wisconsin. Field
notes on and photographs of these exposures are still extant in the
office of the Wisconsin Geological Survey. The following quotations
are from the writer’s notes of 1914.
“Center sec. 8, T. 3 N., R. 10 E. Gully west of school house on south side
of Allen Creek shows poor exposure of ordinary yellowish to very ferrugi¬
nous St. Peter. Bedding locally steeply tilted and is interbedded with red
sandy to clay shale and oolitic chert. At one point near the north end is
a bed of broken weathered chert passing into chert sandstone conglom¬
erate with small rounded cherts about %th inch diameter. Above this is
usual St. Peter sandstone. Chert bed is clearly regolith and not reworked
much.
“NE. ^4: SE. V4: sec. 16, T. 3 N., R. 9 E. West of here visited several chert
pits. The largest was about 114 miles north of Albany. This is a large ex¬
cavation in irregularly broken white to yellowish-red chert which varies
from very hard to chalky and is extensively used on roads in the vicinity.
In the chert there is occasional bedding but most is loose or without bed¬
ding. There are also layers of yellowish-brown sandstone and chert-sand¬
stone conglomerate. At the very bottom of pit was found very fine-grained
calcareous buff and red streaked sandstone and red shale much like that
seen in gully to east. At top of pit main part of sandstone is like usual
St, Peter but shows layers of red shale.’’
Fig. 1 is a photograph of this pit by W. 0. Hotchkiss.
Alden (1918, pp. 81-82) briefly described some of the above
exposures saying :
“In a street cut just north of the Schoolhouse at Albany, 3 to 5 feet of
this loose chert was seen overlying a rounded and weathered surface of the
limestone (dolomite) and underlying the undulating basal layers of sand¬
stone, in whose lowest layer fragments of chert are included.”
Alden mentions the red to white shale but concludes that most of
the exposures were so poor that the true relations could not be
found. A section is given of a cut on the Illinois Central Railroad
(NW. sec. 29, T. 4 N., R, 8 E.) where he describes thin layers of
white sandstone, in part shaly, which grade laterally into partly
brecciated dolomite. Alden suggested that the dolomite was a reef
Figure 1. Exposure of chert rubble near Albany, Wisconsin.
formed at the same time as the adjacent sandstone. It is probably
part of the basal beds and hence none of the true Prairie du Chien
was exposed. Alden also described quartzitized sandstone in these
beds.
A road cut on U. S. 14 about 5.4 miles west of Readstown was
not visited by the writer until several years after its completion.
The location is NW. % NW. sec. 22, T. 12 N., R, 4 W. One end of
the cut is in dolomite which overhangs for a few feet above red
shale beneath and is overlain by normal St. Peter sandstone. In the
present condition of the cut, it is difficult to determine if the over¬
hanging contact is erosional or due to folding of the strata while
still soft. It is possible that the dolomite is really a part of the basal
St. Peter beds. No exposure is known to the writer in which the
bedding of the Prairie du Chien is demonstrably truncated by either
the upper St. Peter or these basal beds. Several localities have been
observed in which St. Peter sandstone appears to fill narrow chan¬
nels in the older dolomite. Fig. 2 shows one of these which was dis¬
covered in the Steil exploration of the U. S. Geological Survey near
Highland, Wisconsin. The shale just above the dolomite appears to
follow the irregular contact. Another exposure in the abandoned
railroad cut at Dill, west of Monroe, was visited by the writer in
1907 while working as assistant to Alden. The cut was undoubtedly
much fresher at that time than when it was visited by Flint more
than 40 years later. Flint described this as a filling of a depression
between two adjacent domes of dolomite, but there was no sugges¬
tion of such a structure at the time it was visited by the writer.
208 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
[Vol. 50
1961] Thtvaites — St. Peter Sandstone 209
depression between organic reefs. A layer of deoxidized shale follows the con¬
tact. Old formations added from records of nearby water wells.
Another similar occurrence was visited by the writer while he was
a student at the University of Wisconsin. At that time our instruc¬
tor, C. K. Leith, accounted for the narrow wedge of sandstone in
the dolomite as a graben. When visited years later weathering had
destroyed the entire exposure.
Well Records. The following well records are all located in or near
southwestern Wisconsin and are based on samples of the cuttings
which were examined by the writer. The strata extend downward
from the highest St. Peter sandstone, excluding the sandy base of
the Platteville, to the highest recognizable Cambrian strata. They
give a much better knowledge of the basal beds than can be
obtained from outcrops.
210 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Partial Log of Village Well, No. 2, Linden, Wisconsin
Shale, very sandy, pink, very dolomitic, glauconitic. This is
part of Cambrian Franconia formation
Casing was inserted from 284 to 351 before drilling deeper. It was then
thought that Prairie du Chien dolomite had been reached. Later pipe was set
from 342 to 434. After drilling to 776 pipe was hung from the top of the last
pipe to depth 638. The cuttings from 434 to 776 may have been contaminated
by cavings.
Partial Log of Village Well No. 2, Hazel Green, Wisconsin
Sandstone, coarse to fine-grained, light gray to pink _
Shale, medium-gray and pale red; sandstone, pink-gray _
Sandstone, medium to fine-grained, pale pink-gray _
Shale, pale red, some green-gray, base dolomitic _
Dolomite, oolitic at base, light gray and pink; shale red,
green-gray, some sand _
Shale, red, green-gray; chert and dolomite oolites _
Sandstone, medium to fine-grained ; shale, red and green-gray
Shale, red and green-gray; some sand, mica and oolitic chert
Chert rubble, light gray, not caving; some shale like above;
some sandstone, light gray quartzitic _
Sandstone, medium to coarse-grained, light gray to pink;
much chert and red shale; no samples 690-695, 700-705 _
Shale, sandy, red _
Total St. Peter 379 feet
Dolomite of Trempealeau formation
The well was cased to 554.5 feet before drilling deeper. At 760 caving became
so bad that progress was stopped until casing was installed from 711 to 760.
Samples below 760 examined by J. B. Steuerwald.
1961]
Thtvaites — St. Peter Sandstone
211
Partial Log of City Well No. 1, Shullsburg, Wisconsin
Thickness Depth
feet feet
Sandstone, medium to coarse-grained, light gray and light
pink _ 202 395
Sandstone, coarse-grained, red; shale, red _ 2 397
Shale, dark red mottled with green-gray; pebbles white chert 38 435
Chert rubble, white; shale, red _ 18 453
Shale, dark red; chert, white _ 9 462
Shale, red and green-gray; sandstone and chert caved _ 20 482
Sandstone, fine-grained, gray, very dolomitic _ 20 502
Sandstone, fine-grained, gray, pink and green-gray; some
shale and chert, caved (?) _ 18 520
Total St. Peter 327 feet
Dolomite of Trempealeau formation
The well was drilled to 444. Strata below caved so badly that a liner was
inserted to 520. This well is shown in Fig. 3.
Partial Log of City Well No. 3, De Witt, Iowa
Thickness Depth
feet feet
Sandstone, medium to fine-grained, light gray to white _ 215 1065
Sandstone, fine to medium-grained, light pink to yellow-gray,
pebbles of chert and dolomite _ 15 1080
Shale, dark purple-red, some green-gray; pebbles of chert up
to 1 cm. diameter _ : _ 55 1135
Dolomite, gray, may be conglomerate; shale and chert, caved 26 1161
Shale, light green-gray, some sand and chert _ 12 1173
Chert, white and gray, part oolitic; some sand; some shale;
some dolomite _ 87 1260
Sandstone, fine to medium-grained, light gray to white; some
chert, dolomite and shale, caved (?) _ 40 1300
Dolomite, light purple, possibly conglomerate; some sand¬
stone _ 10 1310
Sandstone, fine-grained, light gray, dolomite, pyritic _ 10 1320
Dolomite, sandy, light purple, possibly conglomerate _ 40 1360
Total St. Peter 510 feet
Dolomite of Trempealeau formation
Samples were also examined by W. H. Norton, Iowa Geological Survey. Casing
was underreamed from 1100 feet to 1256.
Interpretation of the Basal Beds. The presence of these basal beds
below the original St. Peter sandstone raises several questions. Are
they conformable below the sandstone of outcrops? Are they un-
conformable on older formations? Are they a downward continua¬
tion of the St. Peter? Should they be made a separate formation
not previously recognized? Are they a part of the underlying
Shakopee formation of the Prairie du Chien group? Norton (pp.
37--42) desired to make them a separate formation although he
regarded them as a downward continuation of the St. Peter. He
knew of no surface exposure from which to obtain a formational
name so suggested a type locality in a well. The writer advised
212 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
against this and the project was dropped. The chief difficulty in
interpretation is the apparent presence of dolomite which seems
inconsistent with the non-dolomitic nature of all of the shale. It
has been suggested that these beds are not true dolomite but a con¬
glomerate of cemented dolomite pebbles. Alden noted a brecciated
structure in one outcrop. Some of the sandstone layers are dolo-
o o
O)
S "s
^ O
^ IS
§
g
S 2
tH
O ^ S
^ . .2
w Ih 0)
3 Ph
O VI
c/2 o
O)
^
Eh >
be
O O)
> rP
(D ^ bo
a .
.2 o
P
m
o '43
P P
P
NO. 3. D0D6EVILLE
1961]
Thtvaites- — St. Peter Sandstone
213
Figure 4. Fence diagram of subsurface geology at Dodgeville, Wisconsin.
214 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
mitic. Some of the sandstone is quartzitic and breaks into chips
under the drill. The red and pink colors of some sandstone layers
may be due to drilling up of caved fragments of red shale. The mot¬
tling of green-gray color in the red is explicable by deoxidation
from organic matter. The red color of the shale does not agree with
the color of modern residual clays from the Prairie du Chien dolo¬
mite but might have been formed under a different climate. The
chert rubble (Fig. 1) is too free of clay to be regarded as a residual
soil but is explicable as a reworked deposit. The chert pebbles are
not well rounded, but many seem to display the results of weather¬
ing prior to deposition. Some sand layers were laid down in the
rubble. It is possible that the supposed dolomite layers are cemented
conglomerate or talus from dolomite hills not far distant. It is far
from clear that any oolitic dolomite or oolitic chert is present in
primary dolomite of these beds. All such occurrences are probably
Figure 5. Fence diagram of subsurface geology at Monroe, Wisconsin.
1961]
Thtvaites — St, Pete7‘ Sandstone
215
fragmentaL The chert-sandstone conglomerate positively indicates
reworking of a chert residuum. It is possible that dolomite accumu¬
lated in sheltered localities within the hills of Prairie du Chien
dolomite without adding enough to the adjacent shales to make
them effervesce with acid. The very irregular sequence of the basal
beds where it is almost, if not quite, impossible to correlate beds
between adjacent holes is a natural result of waves and currents
of an advancing sea which was interspersed by many islands. The
main evidence that the basal beds are conformable with the over-
lying St. Peter sandstone is the occurrence of many layers of sand¬
stone clear down to their base. Furthermore Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7
indicate clearly that the base of the basal beds truncates older for¬
mations down to the Cambrian Franconia formation. None of the
basal beds, with the possible exception of the green-gray shale lay¬
ers, is at all like any known Shakopee strata which has ever been
observed in outcrop (Powers, Trowbridge, and Atwater). The basal
beds served to level up the irregular surface of positively known
Prairie du Chien strata. The irregularity of the Prairie du Chien
surface is due in part to reefs or bioherms of organic origin. Their
presence is no indication that there is conformity, for such accumu-
o
z
Figure 6. Geologic section of Ralsbeck exploration of U. S, Geological Survey
near Meekers Grove, Wisconsin. Although the abrupt border of the Prairie du
Chien dolomite might be accounted for by original deposition the relation of
the basal St. Peter beds strongly suggests an unconformity. The older forma¬
tions were added from records of nearby water wells.
216 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
NW SE
7
Figure 7. Cross section between two water wells in Mt.
Horeb, Wisconsin. The non-dolomitic nature of the shale,
which is present in one well and not in the other suggests
an unconformity with reworking of residual clays.
VILLAGE VERONA
1961]
Th'ivaites — St. Peter Sandstone
217
lations in the Silurian dolomite of northeastern Wisconsin form
hills on the present erosion surface (Thwaites and Bertrand, 1957,
pp. 836-838). That the bedding in the bedrock is parallel to the
slope of these hills is no indication that the Pleistocene is conform¬
able on the Silurian. Much more important evidence is that shown
in Fig. 8, the fact that the basal beds locally rest on formations
sw
NE
Figure 8. Geologic section from Verona to Madison, Wisconsin. Some well logs
reported by W. C. Alden were included. Other records were based on examina¬
tion of samples. A striking unconformity is indicated at the base of the St.
Peter.
as old as the Cambrian Franconia sandstone. This fact makes it
very difficult to regard them as a lateral replacement of the adja¬
cent Prairie du Chien dolomite. The unconformity is at their base,
not at their top next to the sandstone of the outcrops. Flint did not
seem to be familiar with the basal beds, for he states :
. . separating the impure dolomite and dolomitic limestone from the
overlying St. Peter is a contact zone, which in places is more than 10 feet
thick and consists of intercalated shale, sandstone, and admixtures of these
locally cemented by dolomitic material. This interval is considered by some
geologists as a basal phase of the St. Peter sandstone, but others have
interpreted it as a weathered residuum on the upper Shakopee surface.”
The writer concludes that these basal beds are not strictly residuum
but reworked weathered material. It is possible that in some wells
layers of sandstone within the Prairie du Chien have been confused
with these basal St. Peter beds just as the sandstone at the base of
218 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and. Letters [Vol. 50
the overlying Platteville is often mistakenly included in the St.
Peter. Such an error would be minor, for such sandstones are rarely
more than a few feet thick in Wisconsin.
Hypothesis of Subsurface Solution and Slump. The basal beds be¬
low the St. Peter sandstone proper show much evidence of slump
and sliding. There are minor folds and faults, the surfaces of which
are marked by slickensides. Samples of such slickensided surfaces
are often recovered from caved fragments in cable tool holes. The
writer was shown a core from a diamond drill hole in southwestern
Wisconsin which displayed a joint in dolomite filled with red shale.
Intrusion into broken dolomite is strongly suggested but whether
the dolomite belongs to the Prairie du Chien or to the basal beds is
not clear. The overhang of dolomite above shale which is exposed
on U. S. Highway 14 may not be erosional but instead due to slid¬
ing of the strata while still soft. Such sliding would be expected on
the irregular surface of the underlying Prairie du Chien regardless
of the origin of the slope at that place. An overhang is not a normal
erosional feature but could have been due either to wave erosion or
lateral stream erosion. A possible origin through solution has also
been suggested, but its association with the top of a shale bed
strongly suggests sliding as the most probable origin. Flint sug¬
gests subsurface solution as the cause of some of these phenomena,
but it seems unlikely that it is the same as that which caused, or
was associated with, the sulphide mineralization of younger strata
in southwestern Wisconsin. The features of sliding with minor
faulting extend far outside the mineralized district and are not
associated with any substantial amount of sulphide deposition. Solu¬
tion due to normal ground waters seems unlikely, if not impossible,
because the waters of the St. Peter almost wholly entered that for¬
mation through the overlying dolomites and limestones and thus
became saturated with carbonate. It seems very improbable that
solution was due to escaping ground water. The solution and slump
phenomena extend far from the outcrop of this contact as shown in
the figures here included.
Conclusions
(1) Flint (1956) is correct in concluding that the horizon which
he considered the base of the St. Peter is conformable on underlying
beds of shale which are here ascribed to the basal beds. (2) The
basal beds below the normal St. Peter sandstone of outcrops vary
greatly in thickness and level up the irregular top of the Prairie du
Chien dolomite. (3) The shale is all non-calcareous and is associated
with chert rubble, chert-pebble conglomerate, and quartzitized sand¬
stone which are best accounted for as reworked residuum of the
weathering of the Prairie du Chien. (4) No unaltered pre-St. Peter
1961]
Thwaites — St, Peter Sandstone
219
soil profiles are known, for the waters of the St. Peter sea advanced
through many narrow channels between islands and ridges of dolo¬
mite. (5) The basal beds almost certainly contain local patches of
dolomite although there is a possibility that these could be cemented
conglomerate or cemented talus formed from the older Prairie du
Chien. (6) The shales of the basal beds are the probable cause of
sliding with associated minor faulting and folding because they lie
on sloping surfaces of dolomite. (7) The origin of the sloping sur¬
faces varies and although no clear-cut examples of truncation of
the Prairie du Chien strata have been discovered, subsurface ex¬
ploration strongly suggests that such must occur. (8) Hills due to
reef structure are common in the present day erosion surface of
parts of Wisconsin and are abundant in the top of the Prairie du
Chien. (9) The disturbances of the basal St. Peter beds clearly ante¬
date the deposition of the overlying St. Peter sandstone. (10) The
basal beds show no evidence of unconformity at the top but their
base cuts across older strata down to the Cambrian Franconia for¬
mation in a way which cannot be explained by non-deposition of the
Prairie du Chien but only by an erosion interval at its top.
References Cited
Agnew, a, F., and others, Exploratory drilling program of the U. S. Geo¬
logical Survey for evidences of zinc-lead mineralization in Iowa and Wis¬
consin, 1950-51. U. S. Geological Survey Circular 231, 1952.
Alden, W. C., Quaternary geology of southeastern Wisconsin with a chapter
on the older rock formations. U. S, Geological Survey, Prof, Paper 106,
pp. 81-82, 1918.
Flint, A. E., Stratigraphic relations of the Shakopee dolomite and the St.
Peter sandstone in southwestern Wisconsin. Jour. Geology, 64, pp. 396-421,
1956.
Heller, R, I., Status of the Prairie du Chien problem. Geol. Soc. America,
Guidebook, Field Trip No, 2, pp. 29-40, 1956.
Heyel, V. H., and others, Exploratory drilling in the Prairie du Chien group
of the Wisconsin zinc-lead district by the U. S. Geological Survey in 1949-
1950. U, S. Geological Survey, Circular 131, 1951.
Norton, W. H., Deep wells of Iowa (a supplementary report). Iowa Geological
Survey, 33, 1927.
Powers, E. H., Stratigraphy of the Prairie du Chien. Kansas Geol. Soc,, Ninth
Annual Field Conference, Guidebook, pp, 390-394, 1935; Iowa University
Studies, 16, pp. 421-449, 1935.
Steidtmann, Edward, Limestones and marls of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Geo¬
logical and Nat. Hist. Survey, Bull., 66, 1924,
Thwaites, F. T., and Bertrand, Kenneth, Pleistocene geology of the Door
Peninsula, Wisconsin. Geol. Soc. America, Bull., 68, pp. 831-880, 1957.
Trowbridge, A. C., and Atwater, G. L, Stratigraphic problems in the Upper
Mississippi Valley. Geol. Soc. America, Bull., 45: pp. 65-73, 1934.
Twenhofel, W. H., and Thwaites, F. T., The Paleozoic section of the Tomah
and Sparta quadrangles, Wisconsin. Jour. Geology, 27, pp. 614-633, 1919.
Wilmarth, M. Grace, Lexicon of geologic names of the United States. U, S.
Geol. Survey, Bull. 896, 1938.
WATER TEMPERATURES IN A WELL NEAR WILD
ROSE, WISCONSIN*
W. K. Summers
U. S. Geological Survey, Madison
Temperature measurements made in a well near Wild Rose, Wis.,
show that ground-water temperatures, which are generally assumed
to be almost constant, fluctuate seasonally, and vary with depth.
The measurements, made by the U. S. Geological Survey in coop¬
eration with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey,
are discussed because an understanding of ground-water tempera¬
tures is becoming increasingly important in Wisconsin. Many in¬
dustries in the State depend upon the relatively uniform tempera¬
ture of water from wells, and the attraction of Wisconsin’s streams
to thousands of sportsmen is the direct result of ground water dis¬
charging at temperatures favorable for cold-water game fish, espe¬
cially trout. Moreover, the movement (Wenzel, 1942, p. 7) and the
chemical character of ground water (Hem, 1959, p. 4) are related
to its temperature. The knowledge gained by a study of ground-
water temperatures in Wisconsin can aid in the development and
conservation of the State’s ground-water resources.
The temperature of ground water is usually determined by meas¬
uring the temperature of the water as it is pumped from a well or
as it flows from a well or spring. Sometimes the temperature is
measured by lowering a thermometer or other device directly into a
well and measuring the temperature of the water at various depths
in the well. In Wisconsin experience indicates that temperatures
obtained in these ways usually cannot be used to describe the man¬
ner in which temperatures are distributed within the aquifer, be¬
cause, in practice, the observed temperatures are related to the
geology and the hydrology of the aquifer plus such other factors as
well construction, discharge rate, and housing that are unrelated
to the distribution of temperature in the aquifer. For reasons
which will be discussed in detail in the ensuing pages, the tempera¬
tures observed in the well near Wild Rose are assumed to approxi¬
mate closely the temperature of the ground water at various depths
in the aquifer, and, as such, they are used to interpret the move¬
ment of heat within the aquifer and to illustrate the role of ground-
water movement in the thermal regimen of the area.
* Paper read at the 90th annual meeting- of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters. Publication authorized by the Director, U. S. G-eological Survey.
221
222 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Ground-water temperatures have been measured since 1869 when
Lord Kelvin first began making systematic observations of the
earth’s temperature (Barton, 1920). Particular attention has been
given to ‘‘thermal” areas, geothermal gradients, heat flow, hot
springs, and geysers (Jakowsky, 1950, p. 966-986). The occurrence
of ground water in areas of extreme cold or permafrost also has
been studied (Cederstrom and others, 1953; and Hopkins and oth¬
ers, 1955). Temperatures of soil also have received considerable
attention (Chang, 1958) . By contrast, little attention has been given
to the causes and variations of ground- water temperatures in “non-
thermal” areas. However, the temperature of discharging ground
water is nearly always measured as part of a ground-water study.
For example, in Wisconsin, Foley and others (1953, p. 88) meas¬
ured the temperature of ground water sampled for chemical anal¬
yses from the “dolomite” and “sandstone” aquifers of the Milwau¬
kee- Waukesha area. Other investigators have considered: (1) The
temperature of water pumped from wells (Harder, 1960, p. 24-25,
Rasmussen and Andreasen, 1959, p. 54-56) ; (2) the areal distribu¬
tion of temperature in an aquifer (Barton, 1898; and Suter and
others, 1959, p. 74-75) ; (3) the temperature of ground water in
the United States at depths of 30 to 60 feet (Collins, 1925, p. 97-
98) ; (4) the effect of artificial recharge on ground- water tempera¬
ture (Leggette and Brashears, 1938, p. 414-418; Brashears, 1941,
and 1946, p. 504, 511, 513-515; and Jennings, 1950) ; and (5) the
effect of infiltration of water from a nearby stream on ground-
water temperature (Kazman, 1948, p. 840-844; Rorabough, 1951,
p. 169, and 1956, p. 162-164; and Simpson, 1952, p. 68-72).
Methods
All the temperatures presented in this paper were measured by
the U. S. Geological Survey with a single underwater thermometer.
The thermometer consists of a thermistor or temperature sensitive
element, a constant-resistance insulated cable, a power supply, a
Wheatstone bridge, and a microammeter. The water temperatures
were measured by lowering the thermistor into the well, stationing
it at progressively greater depths, and reading the meter, which
is calibrated in degrees Fahrenheit, The temperatures were read to
0.1 degree.
Although ground-water temperature at depths of 70 feet or more
probably did not vary during this study, temperature measured at
these depths at different times varied as much as 0.4°F. These
differences are attributed to errors in calibration of the instru¬
ment. However, for a given set of measurements the deviation from
the true temperature is constant.
1961]
Summers — Well Temperatures
223
Other sources of error have been recognized. These include : mix¬
ing of water from different depths by the cable; temperature
changes due to heat exchange between the cable and the water in
the well ; and variations in the techniques of the different operators.
In general, the quality of the measurements improved as the oper¬
ators gained experience.
Acknowledgments
The underwater thermometer is the property of the Division of
Well Drilling, Wisconsin State Board of Health, and thanks are
given for its use. The Wisconsin Conservation Department owns
the well in which the measurements were made and the use of this
well is gratefully acknowledged.
Location of the Well
The well in which the measurements were made is in central
Wisconsin, in Waushara County, about 90 miles north of Madison.
It is in the sec. 24, T. 20 N., R. 10 E., about 0.5 mile north of
the village of Wild Rose at the trout hatchery of the Wisconsin Con¬
servation Department. Specifically, it is 300 feet west of Wisconsin
State Highway 22, 50 feet north of the north raceway of the hatch¬
ery and 5 feet west of the rearing shed.
Geologic Setting
Glacial deposits of Cary age (Thwaites, 1943), more than 200
feet thick, conceal an irregular bedrock surface in the Wild Rose
area. The glacial drift consists of a mixture of sand and gravel,
some silt, and very little clay (Whitson and others, 1913). At the
well the deposits include poorly sorted silty sand, silty clay, and
sandy gravel. A log of a well about 200 feet north of the well in
which the temperatures were measured is given in table 1.
Less than 50 feet of sandstone of Cambrian age underlie the gla¬
cial drift at the well site. Both the glacial drift and sandstone are
permeable, porous, and water-bearing. The total saturated thick¬
ness of the glacial drift and sandstone is estimated to be 250 feet.
Granite of Precambrian age underlies the sandstone. The granite
is, for practical purposes, impermeable.
Hydrologic Setting^
The water table in the Wild Rose area slopes eastward about 30
feet per mile, except near streams where the slope is greater and
toward the streams. The streams flow to the east. Recharge of the
® The ground-water hydrology of Portage, Waupaca, and Waushara Counties was
studied hy the U. S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Wisconsin Geolog-ical
and Natural History Survey. Results of these studies are being- prepared for pub¬
lication.
224 Wisconsin Acadeyny of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Table 1. Log of a Well at the Fish Hatchery, Wild Rose, Wis. (Prepared
BY THE Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey
From Examination of Samples)
ground-water reservoir results when precipitation in the area per¬
colates to the water table, and discharge occurs when the water in
the reservoir moves into a local stream, is used by vegetation, or is
pumped from wells.
At the well site, the ground water moves toward and discharges
into the hatcher’s raceways. The water flows from the raceways
into the Pine River. Ground water also is discharged by springs
and wells on the hatchery grounds and conducted into the raceways.
The total discharge through the raceways was 2,200 gpm (gallons
per minute) on September 1, 1956, and averaged about 2,200 gpm
during 1957 (John Ockerman, Wisconsin Conservation Department,
personal communication) .
The water table in the shallower part of the aquifer at the well
stays at an almost constant level about 3 feet below the land sur¬
face because the water level in the nearby raceway is artificially
maintained. The well taps the deeper part of the aquifer, however,
and water rises about 8 feet above the land surface, because per¬
meability differences within the glacial drift create artesian con¬
ditions at depths below 10 feet.
The total depth of the well is 187 feet, but, during the period
when the temperature measurements were made, it was filled with
gravel to a depth of 141 feet. The 4~inch diameter steel casing ex¬
tended from 0.4 foot above the land surface to the bottom of the
well, so that all the water entered the well through an area of about
13 square inches at the bottom. Because the well was partly plugged,
the flow during the period of the temperature measurements was
about 4 gallons per hour. Differences in water levels and flow rates
in the well were not measured.
1961]
Summer's — Well Temp ei ntures
225
The Observed Temperatures
Temperatures were measured on six occasions during the period
r'ebruary 1957 to February 1958. The temperature measured in
May, August, October, and November 1957 and February 1958 were
plotted against depth (fig. 1). Although only a few measurements
TEMPERATURE, IN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
0
10
20
30
40
50
w 60
u.
5 70
X
u 80
D
90
100
1 10
120
130
140
Figure 1. Graphs of water temperature in a well near Wild Rose, Wis.
were made in February 1957, the data are sufficient to show that
the temperatures were probably identical with the temperatures
measured in February 1958. Figure 1 shows that from the land
surface to a depth of about 60 feet the temperatures fluctuated with
time, the magnitude of the fluctuation decreasing with depth.
The maximum observed range of water temperature at different
depths, determined by subtracting the observed minimum from the
observed maximum, was plotted against depth in figure 2, At a
depth of 1 foot, the temperature range was 30.5°F, at 10 feet it was
9.9°F, and at 36 feet it was less than 1°F. For depths below 60 feet
the temperature increased uniformly with depth (fig. 1) and did
not fluctuate significantly with time (fig. 2).
226 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
RANGE OF TEMPERATURES,
0 8 16 24 32
40
48
1 - r
T - rn — i~r
i
: 50
X too
h-
a.
LJ
Q
May 6, I957 to February II, 1958
Figure 2. Maximum observed range of water temperatures in a well near Wild
Rose, Wis.
Relation of the Observed Temperatures to
Aquifer Temperatures
The relation of the observed temperature of water in the well to
the temperature of ground water in the aquifer may be derived
from the following argument. First, consider the effect of water
flowing through a well cased in unsaturated rock. Boldizsar (1958)
has shown that for large flows of water, heat is exchanged between
the water in the well and the rock penetrated by the well if a tem¬
perature difference exists, and usually the rock becomes warmer.
1961]
Summers — Well Temperatures
22.7
He points out that for small flows, from depths of less than 100
meters, the exchange of heat is negligible, and the temperature of
the rock does not change. Therefore, at the well near Wild Rose, the
temperature of the rock of the ground-water reservoir probably
would not be measurably affected by the heat in the small volume
of water flowing through the well.
Next, consider the effect of the heat in the water flowing through
a well cased in a ground-water reservoir. For large flows, heat will
be exchanged if a temperature difference exists between the aquifer
and the water in the well. The warming or cooling of the aquifer
will be less than if the rock were unsaturated, because more heat is
required to warm saturated rock than is required to warm unsat¬
urated rock, and some of the heat is carried away by the ground
water moving past the well. Obviously, as the flow of water in the
well approach zero, the exchange of heat between the well and the
ground-water reservoir becomes more complete, and the difference
in temperature between the water in the well and th ground-water
reservoir approaches zero. Therefore, the temperature in the sub¬
ject well and the temperature of the ground-water reservoir should
be nearly identical, because the water in the well is flowing very
slowly to the surface.
From the preceding discussion a condition of zero flow would
appear to be ideal. This, however, is not always true, because other
factors operate to disturb the temperature in a nonflowing well.
These factors include convection within the well (Van der Merme,
1951), circulation from one part of the aquifer to another or from
one aquifer to another through the well (Foley and others, 1953,
p. 75), and external sources of heat.
External sources of heat are those that affect the water in the
well but not those in the aquifer. In Wisconsin common external
sources of heat are solar radiation and heated pump houses. Convec¬
tion of air within the well causes warm or cold air to be brought
in contact with the water, and as a result the temperature of the
water standing in the well is not necessarily representative of the
temperature of the water in the aquifer. During periods when the
ground was frozen, the temperatures observed in the subject well
were probably somewhat higher than those near the top of the
aquifer.
The effect of the casing upon water temperature in a well may be
significant also. For example, steel casing is an excellent conductor
of heat so that the transfer of heat between the well and the atmos¬
phere, or between the water in the well and the aquifer immediately
outside the well, may be facilitated.
228 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Significance of the Observed Temperatures
If the observed temperatures (fig. 1) are representative of the
aquifer, they are significant. They show the distribution of tem¬
peratures in the aquifer with depth and time, and the movement of
heat in the aquifer can be inferred. In the following discussion, the
observed temperatures are assumed to be representative of the
aquifer at the site of the well, so that the fact that the tempera¬
tures were measured in a well becomes immaterial to the argument.
Seasonal fluctuations. The temperature of the ground water at
shallow depths responded to seasonal changes in air temperature.
Similar responses in earth or soil temperatures to depths of as much
as 100 feet have been observed and reported by many investigators
(Carslaw and Jaeger, 1947, p. 62). The effect of seasonal air tem¬
perature of the ground water is reflected in the data of figure 1.
As the air temperature changed, the temperature of ground water
to a depth of about 60 feet changed with a lag in time. The tempera¬
ture fluctuations of ground-water decreased with depth (fig. 2), and
the time required for the air temperature to affect the ground-
water temperature increased with depth (fig. 3). Thus, the maxi-
1957 1958
Figure 3. Average monthly air temperature at Hancock, Wis., and water tem¬
peratures at depths of 5, 10, and 30 feet in a well near Wild Rose, Wis.
1961]
Summers — Well Temperatures
22.9
mum temperature difference below 36 feet is less than 1°F, and the
water temperature reaches a maximum after air temperature.
Temperatures below 60 feet. Below a depth of about 60 feet, the
water temperature increased gradually with depth (fig. 1). From
60 to 140 feet, the average rate of increase is about 0.9°F per 100
feet. In addition to the observations in the subject well, tempera¬
tures were measured in four other wells in central Wisconsin. In
these wells, which ranged in depth from 184 to 349 feet, the tem¬
perature increase with depth below 60 feet was less than 1°F per
100 feet.
Movement of heat in the ground-tv at er reservoir. Heat moves
through the ground-water reservoir by conduction and convection
(R. W. Stallman, written communication, January 1960), The
movement of heat by conduction is governed by the thermal con¬
ductivity of the media (k) and the temperature gradient (T/Z).
The movement is along a path of diminishing temperature and is
expressed quantitatively by the expression Q = KT/Z, where (Q)
is the heat flux through a unit area in unit time (Chang, 1958, p.
28). The movement of heat by convection is controlled by the prop¬
erties of the water — specific heat, density, temperature, and velocity
(R. W. Stallman, written communication, January 1960, p. 7). In
general, the lateral movement of heat in an aquifer is by convec¬
tion, whereas the vertical movement of heat is by conduction. The
data shown on figure 1 are sufficient to determine a thermal gra¬
dient (T/Z) and, therefore, to show whether heat is being con¬
ducted upward or downward and to measure relative differences in
the amount of heat moving through a vertical column of rock in the
area. Two generalizations about the conduction of heat may be made
immediately from inspection. First, heat is moving steadily through
the aquifer from below ; and, second, heat moves into and from the
aquifer seasonally,^
Heat moves laterally by convection, and, although measurements
were made in only one well, the effect of convection also can be in¬
ferred from the observed temperature gradients. Earth tempera¬
tures usually increase steadily with depth below the zone of sea¬
sonal variation, because heat is flowing to the surface from the
interior of the earth (Evans and others, 1942, p. 268-269). The
average increase in temperature below a depth of 100 feet at eight
sites in Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa is about 1,3 °F per 100 feet
(Spicer, 1942, p. 280-282). The temperature gradient in a well
drilled more than 300 feet into crystalline rock of Precambrian
age near Sextonville, Wis., about 80 miles southwest of Wild Rose,
4 The exchange of heat between the well and the aquifer is negligible and is not
considered here.
230 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
is 1.1°F per 100 feet. Therefore, the temperature gradient in the
granite of the Wild Rose area also might be about 1,1°F per 100
feet. At the subject site, the average observed temperature gra¬
dient for the interval between 60 and 140 feet is about 0.9°F per
100 feet. Inasmuch as the thermal conductivity of granitic rocks is
usually greater than the thermal conductivity of saturated sand
and clay (Birch, 1942, p. 251-252 and 259; Ingersoll and others,
1948, p. 244; Chang, 1958, p. 30-32), and the temperature gradient
in the granite is greater than that measured in the subject well,
more heat is moving through the granite than is being conducted
through the ground-water reservoir. Convection of heat can account
for this difference. As the water moves through the aquifer, some
of the heat received from the granite is convected by the moving
ground water and is released from the aquifer, as the ground water
is discharged.
In addition to the heat moving upward through the ground-
water reservoir from below, heat is added from above to the ground-
water reservoir in the summer and removed in the winter due to
variations in solar radiation.^ Thus, on February 11, 1958, the tem¬
perature [of ground water in the subject well] increased with depth
from the surface to 30 feet (fig. 1), indicating that in this zone
heat was moving toward the surface. Between 30 and 50 feet the
temperature decreased slightly, showing that heat was moving
downward. Heat from a depth of 30 feet was either being con¬
ducted upward to be radiated at the surface or was being con¬
ducted downward to warm the water in the interval between 30
and 50 feet.
By a similar analysis, the data of May 6, 1957, show that
although heat was flowing into the aquifer from the land surface
and warming of the water had begun, not enough heat had moved
into the aquifer to warm the water below a depth of 8 feet. Warm¬
ing of the water continued as heat flowed downward from the sur¬
face, and by August 6, 1957, all the water to a depth of 60 feet had
received some heat. By October 18, 1957, heat had ceased to flow
into the aquifer from the surface, and the water in the top 10 feet
had begun to cool. However, the water between 30 and 40 feet was
still receiving heat. On November 29, 1957, heat was flowing toward
the surface from a depth of about 18 feet, and the water in this
interval was cooling. The water between 18 and 35 feet was still
receiving heat.
^ On a smaller scale, heat is added to and taken from the soil as a result of diurnal
and day-to-day air-temperature variations (Langhein, 1949, p. 543). Each of the
curves of figure 1 have the effect of small short-term air-temperature variations “built
in”. This effect is most obvious in the curves of August 6, and October 18, 1957. In
the following discussion, the effect of these short-term variations have been dis¬
regarded.
1961]
Summers — Well Temperatures
231
Conclusions
Several generalizations have been drawn from the data obtained :
(1) The temperature measured in the well closely approximates
the actual temperature of the water at various depths in the aqui¬
fer; (2) in the Wild Rose area, Wisconsin, the temperature of
water in the zone of saturation increases about 0.9°F per 100 feet
below a depth of 60 feet, and, therefore, heat is flowing upward
through the ground-water reservoir from a greater depth; (3) some
of the heat that moves through the aquifer is released at the land
surface as latent heat in discharging ground water; (4) water in
the interval from a depth of 60 feet to the surface is subject to sea¬
sonal temperature fluctuations that are related to seasonal varia¬
tion in air temperature.
If these generalizations are valid, then the temperature of ground
water in the Wild Rose area is due primarily to two factors (1) the
temperature of the water as it recharges the aquifer and (2) the
change in temperature due to the gain or loss of heat as the water
moves through the aquifer. The amount of heat gained or lost by
the water (hence, the temperature of the ground water) is depend¬
ent upon the length of time the water is in the aquifer and the path
the water takes as it passes through the zone of saturation from
the point of recharge to the point of discharge.
Temperature relations similar to those described for the Wild
Rose area probably occur in other areas where the hydrologic con¬
ditions are similar.
References Cited
Birch, Francis, 1942, Thermal conductivity and ditfusivity in Handbook of
physical constants. Geol. Soc. America Spec. Paper 36, p. 243-266.
Boldizsar, T., 19'58, The distribution of temperatures in flowing wells. Am.
Jour. Scl.y 256, p. 294-298.
Brashears, M. L., Jr., 1941, Ground-water temperature on Long Island, New
York, as affected by recharge of warm water. Econ. Geology, 36, p. 811-
828.
- , 1946, Artificial recharge of ground water on Long Island, New York.
Econ. Geology, 41, p. 503-516.
Carslaw, H. S., and Jaeger, J. C., 1947, Conduction of heat in solids. Oxford
Univ, Press, 386 p.
Cederstrom, D. J., Johnston, P. M., and Subitsky, Seymour, 1953, Occur¬
rence and development of ground water in permafrost regions. U. S. Geol.
Survey Circ. 275, 30 p.
Chang, Jen-Hu, 1958, Ground temperature, 1 Milton, Mass,, Harvard Univ.
Blue Hill Meterological Observatory, 300 p.
Collins, W. D., 1925, Temperature of water available for industrial use in the
United States. U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 520-F, p. 97-104.
Darton, N. H., 1898, Geothermal data from deep artesian wells in the Dakotas.
Am. Jour. ScL, 4th ser., 5, p. 161-168.
- , 1920, Geothermal data of the United States, including many original de¬
terminations of underground temperature. U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 701, 97 p.
232 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
Evans, Robley D., Goodman, Clark, and Keevil, Norman B., 1942, Radio¬
activity: The earth’s heat and geological age measurements in Handbook
of physical constants. Geol. Soc. America Spec, Paper 36, p. 267-277.
Foley, F. C., Walton, W. C., and Drescher, W. J., 1953, Ground-water con¬
ditions in the Milwaukee- Waukesha area, Wisconsin. U. S, Geol. Survey
Water-Supply Paper 1229, 96 p.
Harder, Alfred H., 1960, The geology and ground-water resources of Calcasieu
Parish, Louisiana. U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 1488, 102 p.
Hem, John D., 1959, Study and interpretation of the chemical characteristics
of natural water. U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 1473, 269 p.
Hopkins, David M., and Karlstrom, Thor N. V., and others, 1955, Perma¬
frost and ground water in Alaska. TJ. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 264-F,
p. 109-146.
INGERSOLL, L. R., ZoBEL, 0. J., and Ingersoll, a. C., 1948, Heat conduction.
McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., N. Y., 278 p.
Jakowsky, j. j., 1950, Exploration geophysics. Trija Publishing Co., Los An¬
geles, Calif., 1195 p.
Jennings, J. C., 1950, Disposal of waste cooling water. Am. Water Works
Assoc. Jour., 42, p. 578-582.
Kazman, Raphael P., 1948, River infiltration as a source of ground-water
supply. Am. Soc. Civil Eng. Trans., lie, paper 2339, p. 404-424.
Langbein, Walter B., 1949, Computing soil temperatures. Am. Geophys. Un¬
ion Trans. 30, p. 543—547.
Leggette, R. M., and Brashears, M. L., 1938, Ground water for air condition¬
ing on Long Island, N. Y. Am. Geophys. Union Trans. 19, p. 412-418.
Rasmussen, William C., and Andreasen, Gordon E., 1959, Hydrologic budget
of the Beaver Dam Creek basin, Maryland. U. S. Geol. Survey Water-
Supply Paper 1472, 106 p.
Rorabaugh, M. I., 1951, Stream-bed percolation in development of water sup¬
plies. Internal. Union Geodesy and Geophysics, Internal. Assoc. Sci. Hy¬
drology, Brussels, 1951, 2, p. 165-174.
- , 1956, Ground water in northeastern Louisville, Kentucky, with refer¬
ence to induced infiltration. U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 1360-
B, p. 101-169.
Simpson, Eugene S., 1952, The ground-water resources of Schenectady County,
New York, N. Y. Water Power and Control Comm. Bull. GW-30, 110 p.
Spicer, H. Cecil, 1942, Observed temperatures in the earth’s crust in Hand¬
book of physical constants. Geol. Soc. America Spec. Paper 36, p. 279-292,
SuTER, Max, and others, 1959, Preliminary report on ground-water resources
of the Chicago region, Illinois. Illinois State Water Survey and Illinois
State Geol. Survey Coop. Ground-Water Kept. 1, 89 p.
Thwaites, F. T., 1943, Pleistocene of part of northeastern Wisconsin. Geol.
Soc. America Bull., 54, p. 87-144.
Van der Merme, J. H., 1951, The influence of convection on measured borehole
temperatures. South African Jour. Sci., 47, p. 235-237,
Wenzel, L. K., 1942, Methods for determining permeability of water-bearing
materials, with special reference to discharging-well methods. U. S. Geol.
Survey Water-Supply Paper 887, 192 p.
Whitson, A. R., and others, 1913, Soil survey of Waushara County, Wiscon¬
sin. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. History Survey Bull. 28, 63 p.
NITIDULIDAE COLLECTED FROM BANANA BAIT
TRAPS IN WISCONSIN^
L. H. McMullen and R. D. Shenefelt^
University of Wisconsin, Madison
During the summer of 1954 a series of four bait traps were
placed in three locations in Wisconsin to study the occurrence and
seasonal incidence of Nitidulidae associated with the mycelial mats
of the oak wilt fungus (Ceratocystis fagacearum (Bretz) Hunt).
Preliminary work had shown that many of these species asso¬
ciated with the fungus were also found in banana bait traps.
Each trap consisted of : a tin can 5 inches high by 4 inches in
diameter; a cylinder of 4-mesh screen, 7 inches high and slightly
less than 4 inches in diameter, closed at one end by screen ; a metal
cone ; soil ; leaves ; and one half of a banana. The can was placed to
its own depth in soil and filled approximately % full with soil. The
soil was covered with a small layer of leaves and the half banana
was squashed down on top of the leaves. The screen cylinder, which
prevented rodents from removing the bait, was fitted just inside
the top of the can and finally the cone was placed on top of the
screen.
At the time of each collection the remains of the banana, the
leaves and about one quarter of the soil were transferred to pint
bottles and examined in the laboratory. The remainder of the soil
was examined in the field and returned to the traps before replen¬
ishing them with fresh soil, leaves and banana.
Four traps were placed in each of three locations, namely: on
the University of Wisconsin Campus in Dane County, near Griffith
State Nursery in Wood County, and in Rib Mountain State Park in
Marathon County. The traps were set out in late April or early
May and were examined at weekly intervals thereafter until early
November.
1 Approved for publication by the Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment
Station, Results of a project sponsored by the National Oak Wilt Research Committee
in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin, Department of Entomology. Sup¬
ported in part by the Wisconsin Conservation Department, Based on part of a thesis
submitted by the senior author to the University of Wisconsin, Department of Ento¬
mology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy,
^Research Assistant (now Research Officer, Canada Department of Agriculture,
Forest Biology Laboratory, Victoria, B. C. ) and Professor, respectively, Department
of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. The authors are very
grateful to Mr. Y. S. Sedman for his technical assistance during the progress of this
work and to Mr. C. T. Parsons and the U. S. National Museum for identification of
many of the insects.
233
234 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Many insects, including several families of Diptera, Staphylini-
dae, Histeridae, Scarabaeidae and Nitidulidae were taken in the
traps. Records were kept of the Nitidulids collected. Those species
that were known to the authors were recorded and discarded at the
time of examination. Unknown species were pinned and coded for
later identification. When the numbers of a species taken were so
great as to make pinning impractical, a small series of ten to twenty
specimens was prepared. If a coded series contained more than
one species when identified, as was often the case, particularly
with the genus Epuraea, the ratio obtained from the prepared
specimens was applied to the whole series.
The seasonal abundance of the fourteen most common species is
indicated in the graphs in Figures 1 and 2, The graphs represent
the totals for all twelve traps. For certain species there were con¬
siderable differences between the three locations in the numbers
collected. These differences are indicated in Table 1 which also lists
those species taken in small numbers.
The graphs indicate peaks of abundance which presumably are
associated with the life history of the insects and represent the
period of the adult stage. Many of the species exhibited a rela¬
tively high population in May and another in September or Octo¬
ber. These species probably overwinter as adults. Epuraea and
Stelidota spp. appeared later in the year, late May or June, (E.
alternata in July) and again in August, although S. geminata was
relatively common in late September. There was no indication of a
second peak for S. strigosa, C. adustus exhibited two peaks, one in
late June and early July and the other in late September. Glisehro-
chilus spp. tended to show a third period of abundance in mid¬
summer, indicating, perhaps, two generations.
Different environmental conditions possibly explain the differ¬
ences in the numbers of individual species collected in the three
locations. If this is so, it points out differences in closely related
species. For example, the largest numbers of Stelidota strigosa, S.
geminata, and S. octomaculata were taken in Wood, Dane, and
Marathon Counties, respectively. A similar situation occurred in
respect to the three common species of Glischrochilus.
In conclusion, the authors wish to draw attention to the fact
that, although the collections described here indicate certain trends,
the causes of the differences are not known, nor is the reliability
of the trapping method as an indicator of absolute populations
known. The response of insects to an attractant may be infiuenced
by other materials in the neighborhood. For example, although no
specimens of Colopterus truncatus were taken in the traps between
the first week of June and the first week of September in Wood
NUMBER OF SPECIMENS
1961] McMullen & Shenefelt — Wisconsin Nitidulidae
235
Figure 1. Seasonal trends in population of Nitidulidae as
determined by collections from banana bait traps.
number of specimens
236 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Figure 2. Seasonal trends in population of Nitidulidae as
determined by collections from banana bait traps.
1961] McMullen & Shenefelt — Wisconsin Nitidulidae
237
County, they were found nearby in relatively large numbers in
hatchet wounds on Quercus ellipsoidalis Hill throughout June and
July (McMullen et al, 1960). However, the work does show that
adults of many species are abundant in May and June and again
in September, the time of year at which mycelial mats of the oak
wilt fungus are most abundant in Wisconsin.
Table 1. List of Nitidulidae Collected in Banana Bait Traps With
Numbers Taken at Three Locations, Wisconsin, 1954
Literature Cited
McMullen, L. H., R. D. Shenefelt, and J. E. Kuntz. 1960. A study of insect
transmission of oak wilt in Wisconsin. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Arts &
Letters 49:73-84,
FADING FINS*
George Becker
Wisconsin State College, Stevens Point
Beneath the surface of the gray-yellow water flowing past the
homes and factories of Everywhere, U.S.A., gyrates a phantom of
Death. The principal character of this danse macabre flips to one
side, then to the other, twists in futile loops and wrenches in jerks.
Splayed flns extend awkwardly and stiffly from its sides. Its white
belly arches agonizingly, curving and recurving. A hot noonday
sun can scarcely illuminate the floor of this murky arena. Here the
fish struggles from corner to corner. Warm sticky tongues of silt
grasp at his fins, clays entwine themselves about his lips and gills,
and organic wastes enfeeble his heart and disorient muscles and
nerves. Wildly our dancer lunges to escape from the altar but the
river gathers the sacrifice in her lap and carries it away. The last
of his kind, Piscis perdidus is lost forever, a statistic in the logbook
of time.
This drama is nothing new. Yearly it is being enacted from one
end of our country to the other. If man's hand has fallen heavily
upon the face of the land, even more devastating is his impact on
our waters. Man often cannot evaluate this change with eye, nose,
or ear. He must rely upon laboratory refinements to make such
measurements. Changes, however, have occurred^ — enough to strike
off species after species. Ranges have shrunk in many instances to
individual streams, frequently widely separated by hundreds of
miles from the next body of water harboring another remnant of
the same form.
Nor is this entirely a mystery. Fish biologists are quite aware
of the fact that the distribution of our fishes varies yearly, that
species which are taken in a particular water today may diminish
in number or disappear before the same time next year. In every
state the number of species apparently is on the decline. Still state
lists include fish which have not been collected since the turn of
the century. Why? First, extensive collections were seldom made,
and even today little collecting is done. Many important streams
and lakes have not been sampled at all because of lack of equip¬
ment, money and personnel. Ignorance clouds our knowledge. More¬
over there is but rarely an attempt anywhere to assess, synthesize,
evaluate and study critically fish species other than those which are
* I wish to thank my colleagnes Profs. J. W. Barnes and R. E, Simpson, and Prof,
Milton Trautman of Ohio State University for their suggestions and critical reading
of the manuscript.
239
240 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
of sporting or commercial value, or which, due to parasitic or com¬
petitive habits, interfere with the well-being of those fish man con¬
siders of value. For instance, although 150 species exist within the
state of Wisconsin, only two dozen appeal in some way to the tastes
of fishermen and fisheries. Many of the forgotten are in serious
trouble — some are hanging on the brink of extinction.
We must keep in mind that all species of fish were not found in
unlimited numbers even under primeval conditions. Many species
have held their existence by a thin thread, tolerated as neighbors
by the common forms, but never allowed to burgeon. The subtle
changes wrought by man have in a few cases provided a boon, and
some dimly-regarded members have catapulted into respectable
standing in the piscine community. More frequently the pendulum
has swung the other way, with species being cut down one by one.
In my study of several Central Wisconsin rivers in recent years,
I found no traces of at least seven species of fish which had been
recovered in the very same waters three decades previously. Re¬
peated careful samplings with improved techniques over those used
by Greene thirty years before failed to ‘‘restore” these forms.
Moreover, several species which I was able to report gained their
inclusion on the presence list by a handful of individuals despite
the fact that over 17,000 fish were captured and examined. The
lav/yer (Lota maculosa) appeared on the basis of one individual;
the least darter (Etheostoma microperca) , on the basis of two indi¬
viduals; the northern mimic shiner (Notropis v. volucellus) , seven
individuals. It was significant that relatively few species made up
tile bulk of fish found within a given body of water. In the 1958
survey the ten most common species on each of the streams sur¬
veyed represented 80 to 90 percent of the total number of fish cap¬
tured ; the 43 remaining species comprised only 10 to 20 percent of
the catch.
The following factors have had a profound impact on fish dis¬
tribution over the nation : impoundments, canals, dredging opera¬
tions, sewage and industrial wastes (e.g., coal mines, canneries,
creameries, paper mills), irrigation, highway construction, insecti¬
cides, and agricultural practices under which can be enumerated
grazing, siltation, deforestation, fertilizers. Frequently life-giving
springs have gone dry and water tables have dropped. Many com¬
munities have felt the pinch when the well runs dry. The fish is
among the first to perish with the impact of the drought.
Unfortunately the fish is a victim of his surroundings. Should
conditions change within the stream, he either becomes accustomed
to these changes or those mutants capable of enduring such changes
assume the responsibility of perpetuating that species. If neither
physiological ability nor genetic variability exist, he can move
1961]
Becker — Fading Fins
241
either downstream or upstream until he meets conditions which
satisfy his needs. However, the answer isn’t as simple as all this.
Alt-hough fish can move freely, many species are shackled by rather
naiTOw ecological requirements. Critical water temperatures, bot¬
tom siltation, turbidity, fish associates, vegetation, nature of the
bottom, and rate of water flow are just some of the factors which
must be met, not singly nor generally, but often in toto. A particu¬
lar species like the pugnose shiner (Notropis anogenus) can’t afford
to move, let us say, either upstream or downstream because one,
two, or more factors necessary for its continued existence cannot
be met. Therefore the pugnose shiner, unable to stand up against a
changing environment, has sacrificed range and number within the
past quarter century. The spotty map of old collection records looks
like a forgotten graveyard.
Dams of concrete and steel have provided an impasse for certain
fish species. The river herring or ‘‘golden shad” (Alosa chryso-
chloris), one of the most beautiful and lively fishes of the Missis¬
sippi basin, ran into trouble with the dam breeching the river at
Keokuk, Iowa, Just after the structure was placed in 1913, enor¬
mous numbers of herring gathered below it with the approach of
spawning. During the first few years after the construction of the
dam, the herring in the upper part of the river rapidly declined in
abundance until a relatively low point was reached. Evidence points
to the fact that the dam was primarily responsible for this decrease.
Also the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) , a highly prized delicacy
in some parts of the country, is stopped in its upward migration
from the sea by dams at Keokuk and other places and has virtually
disappeared from Minnesota and Wisconsin waters. Aside from the
fact that dams pose an obstacle to spawning migration, changes
are wrought on the streambed and in rate of flow. These factors
combined or singly have contributed to the decrease of the follow¬
ing species on the Ohio River: blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus),
white bass (Roccus chrysops), rock bass (Amhoplites rupestris) ,
smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), yellow walleye (Stizo-
stedion vitreum), and Ohio logperch (Percina caprodes).
Turbidity reigns as the most influential reaper of all. Virtually
all of man’s activity converts crystal-clear waters to colloidal films
of varying intensities. Milk pollution, lignin wastes, coal and iron
ore wastes, raw sewage, errant topsoil, bovine hooves biting away
at helpless river banks, all contribute to the load suspended in
ocean-bound waters. The blue or Missouri sucker (Cycleptus elon-
gatus), esteemed by many as a valuable food fish, is rarely found
in such highly turbid streams as the Missouri River and is more
frequently taken in the clearer, cleaner sections of the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers. Even in these rivers it has decreased to only
242 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
a fraction of its former numbers, is considered very rare in Minne¬
sota and Wisconsin waters of the Mississippi and in precarious
numbers for that section of the Mississippi bounding the states of
Illinois and Iowa. Sharp reductions in abundance in the Illinois
River and in the Ohio further suggest its intolerance to turbidity
and other pollutants.
Unfortunately many species of fish which are wedded ecologi¬
cally to large bodies of water tolerate turbidity with difficulty. An
important corollary declares : the larger the stream, the greater the
turbidity. The silver chub (Hybopsis storeriana) requires waters
with plenty of fin room and waters that are clear. In Iowa it was
found that the population diminishes after years when successive
floods cause the water to remain turbid over considerable periods
of time. A close relative, the gravel chub (Hybopsis x-punctata)
which only recently gained specific status, is so intolerant of high
turbidity, that it is fast disappearing over its rather restricted
range in Central United States. Another species, the harelip sucker
(Lagochila lacera) which ranged from Ohio to Arkansas to Georgia,
has not been taken anywhere in the last 50 years and is believed
extinct. It possessed a small, specialized mouth and closely-bound
gill covers. This, coupled with conversion of the typical dear-water
prairie stream type into muddy streams of the western-plains type
probably caused its disappearance. The harelip must have been par¬
ticularly susceptible to asphyxiation through impacting of colloidal
clay about the gills.
No fish illustrates intolerance to turbidity better than the bigeye
shiner (Notropis boops), found in a narrow belt lying along the
southern edge of the North Central States. This minnow originally
was well distributed over the entire western half of the state of
Ohio. As early as 1897 it had become uncommon in Central Ohio.
The more than 2000 collections made since 1925 in Ohio show that
between 1930-41 a relict population was still present in the
Auglaize River, but that since 1941 none have been found there, or
elsewhere, in Western Ohio. Today it remains only in a few tribu¬
taries of the Scioto River in a tiny area of southcentral Ohio.
According to Trautman (1957) :
The Bigeye was present in streams as long as these were essentially of
the dear-water type, disappearing when the waters became silt-laden and
the stream bottoms became covered with silt. As an example: In 1928,
Morgan's Fork, in Pike County, contained a large population of Bigeye
Shiners. One of its tributaries became turbid because of silt which en¬
tered from a newly made hill cornfield. Before the tributary became turbid
it contained a large population of shiners; these disappeared as soon as
the stream became turbid. A few years later erosion was stopped, after
the cornfield had been allowed to revert to a brush field, whereupon the
waters became clear, the gravel of the stream bottom became free of silt,
and the Bigeye again became abundant.”
1961]
Becker — Fading Fins
243
No state in the country has had a more thorough evaluation of
its fish life than has the state of Ohio. We know best the history of
fish and fishing from the intensive yearly collections made in all
corners of that state from 1920 to 1950. Collections prior to that
time, although not extensive, have furnished a valuable springboard
for comparison. Species incapable of withstanding turbidity and
culled to extinction since the turn of the century are many. Be¬
tween 1900 and 1930 the blackchin shiner (Notropis heterodon)
was numerous in East, Middle, and West Harbors, at the mouth of
the Portage River, about South and Middle Bass Islands and in
some of the Portage Lakes. After 1930 the blackchin decreased rap¬
idly in abundance. Since 1940 none have been taken in Ohio waters
although many attempts were made to capture it. Trautman re¬
ports that it disappeared almost immediately when waters became
turbid, the bottoms silt-covered, and the aquatic vegetation van¬
ished. Other extinct species and possible dates of their extinction
are: gilt darter (Percina evides) and Western silvery minnow (Hy-
bognathus nuchalis)) before 1900; pugnose shiner (Notropis ano-
genus)y 1931; crystal darter (Ammocrypta asprella)', 1925.
Turbidity and siltation are blamed for the decrease of a large
percentage of the 160 species and 12 subspecies of fishes in Ohio
and a listing of these reads like the ‘^Who’s Who in Ohio Fishes’h
Some of the families represented in this decrease in abundance and
distribution are: fresh-water lamprey, paddlefish, sturgeon, gar,
bowfin, mooneye, herring, whitefish, trout, sucker, minnow. North
American catfish, mudminnow, pike, eel, killifish, pirate-perch,
perch, darter, sunfish and silverside. This leaves a weak minority of
families whose members have retained the status quo or increased
in abundance.
This does not mean that the families listed above are entirely
decimated, nor that there was no increase in certain species of these
families. The carp (Cyprinus carpio), a minnow, has proved that
it can establish itself under a wide variety of conditions. No spe¬
cies of fish in the past century can match its extension in range
and numbers. The fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) and
suckermouth minnow (Phenacobius mirabilis) have filled the niches
vacated by the withdrawal of other minnow species. Amazing
hordes of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), alewife (Pomolobus
pseudoharengiis) , and smelt (Osmerus mordax) have moved into
waters of the Great Lakes. Extensions of range and abundance in
Ohio are demonstrated by the goldeneye (Hiodon alosoides), the
black bullhead (Ameiurus melas), white crappie (Pomoxis nigro-
maculatus) , warmouth ( Chaenobryttus gulosus), green sunfish
(Lepomis cyanellus), and orangespotted sunfish (Lepomis humilis).
244 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Some of these fill a welcome spot in a fisherman’s minnow bucket
and creel. Still, for every species showing an increase, at least five
show a corresponding decrease.
Would the species composition have remained unchanged had
man’s destiny kept him from this continent? The answer, of course,
is no. Change inevitably takes place under the press of natural phe¬
nomena. There are the cyclic weather patterns measured in cen¬
turies and millenia, the successful hatches of predatory or com¬
petitive species, the evolution of new species due to isolation. It
may well have been that the pugnose shiner was going to extinc¬
tion before man tampered with land and water. Now, however, it
will take only a nudge or two to push it over the brink. The harelip
sucker was never abundant anywhere and as pointed out above may
now in all probability be extinct. The pallid sturgeon ( Scaphirhyn-
chus album) has had such a tenuous history that practically nothing
is known about its habits. Rarely has one been found containing
visible eggs. Here is a species which has persisted at extremely low
levels for as long as man has known it.
Another species which apparently is on its way out due to fac¬
tors beyond man’s control is the redside dace (Clinostomus elon-
gatus). Populations have persisted in isolated, widely separated
streams. It has disappeared from Iowa waters and is exceedingly
rare in the extreme southeastern corner of Michigan’s southern
peninsula and in the southeastern part of Minnesota. In Ohio many
redside populations decreased drastically in abundance with wastes
from coal mines and heavy siltation. In Wisconsin hybridization has
been found between this species, the abundant northern creek chub
(Semotilus atromaculatus) and the northern common shiner (No-
tropis cormitus frontalis). Hybridization, it is felt, often results
when a species is in trouble and is a last-ditch mechanism for per¬
petuation of that species. I have noted one instance in a Central
Wisconsin stream where the redside has been able to endure heavy
siltation. Such evolution of a strain resistant to previously unfavor¬
able conditions may assist in the continuance of this species in
certain areas.
During the past summer I made several trips within the state of
Wisconsin with the express purpose of capturing the finescale dace
(Chrosomus neogaeus), a beautiful golden-bronze minnow found
only in the uppermost reaches of quiet, bog streams. In one trip
after the other in streams where it had been taken only a quarter
century ago we drew a blank — with one- exception! After three
hours of intensive shocking in the headwaters of the Tomorrow
River, we finally captured a single individual. The prize was hard-
won and greatly appreciated. It brings the number of individuals
in our school collection to a grand total of five. There are streams
1961]
Becker — Fading Fins
245
in the state, Tm sure, where more could be found. But the fact re¬
mains that no published data less than thirty years old is available
and financial assistance to workers for current studies is scarce.
Emphasis has been placed too strongly on those fish of sporting
and commercial interest and it is difficult to bend thinking in
another direction.
Lists of priorities in many conservation departments do not in¬
clude surveys embracing all the fishes found within their bound¬
aries. Such surveys, if done at all, are frequently the work of one
or two individuals who devote time and energy in a labor of love.
Due to lack of personnel and funds, the coverage has often been
scanty.
The blame should not be directed against the fish biologist and
his superiors alone since they are responsive to the plaintive wails
of the taxed public. One would expect that the academic ichthyolo¬
gist, freed from the same squeeze, would even out the balance. But
here too the survey type of research appears to have fallen into
disrepute. Noses among the piscine hierarchy are thumbed at col¬
lecting studies since it is felt that anyone, even the man-with-the-
shovel, can do this ‘'simple’’ kind of work. On the other hand they
gloat over high-powered research techniques shrouded in statistics,
refined laboratory equipment, unusual chemical compounds, off-beat
fish with crooked spines and the effect of predation on such anoma¬
lies. Many ichthyologists condemn any research that smacks of im¬
mediate utility. “Science for science’s sake” has been thrown
around until many have lost sight of the fish for all the water.
I have no quarrel with this viewpoint. There is no question that
such knowledge too is important, and each pearl, however unusual
it may be, contributes to the necklace of integrated knowledge. At
the same time the fact remains that basic life history material is
utterly lacking for altogether too many species, that the salvation
of many species is entirely dependent upon our knowledge of their
spawning and mating requirements, that our knowledge of these
requirements and of fish movements is sketchy to say the least.
There is little doubt that the greatest overall contributions to our
knowledge of life histories has come from the pens of survey men
whose well-conceived, year-around collections of all species piece in
what little we now know. We have barely scratched the surface.
Some species have only recently acquired a name and already dangle
on the thread of extinction. So reduced are they in numbers that a
study in their behalf may well function in opposite fashion and rub
out the last of their kind in the final effort to save.
The question arises : Who is to be blamed for this loss ? Should
condemnation fall upon the sewage system, outmoded and outdated
before its time in the face of a mushrooming population? Should
246 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
industry which feeds, clothes, and houses this population suffer
ignominy because its effluent has changed the character of the fish
and fishing downstream? Must the farmer grovel under the foot
of society because, in his effort to earn a fair share, his cattle and
agricultural practices changed the trout brook into a haven for
suckers and chubs? Must the public service commission with its
control over water rights be held responsible because it trades a
trout stream for a dam in a destitute corner of the state which
can then show more meat and butter on the tables, warm clothes on
the backs of its men and women and better schools and homes
for all?
Must the sportsmen’s organizations, sacrificing time and money
to erect fences and seal down banks with ripprap, deflectors and
the like, endure censure because their interest channels in the sal¬
vation and perpetuation of only a special segment of fish life ? Must
we criticize the fish biologist who under the thumb of an expanding
fishing fraternity struggles year after year to reduce mortality and
produce more from a select list of fish? Should we complain about
the conservation department that enters into a watershed purchase
program so that good trout streams may still be with us for the
next two centuries or more? Can we grumble at the pure scientist
whose esoteric research today may be the atomic salvation of fish
tomorrow? Should we condemn the trapper whose nets and traps
provide millions of minnows for fishermen’s buckets? Should we
condemn the fisherman for disseminating the seeds of competitive
forms in new waters, for catching more than he can eat or give
away, for returning stunted fish to waters already overpopulated,
when this same fisherman spends millions of dollars yearly, dollars
to be shared by many segments of our economy?
What complaints should we level against the manufacturers of
fishing equipment, gadgets and lures which are sportier, catch
more, catch bigger, make-it-easier? Must the conservation ethic per¬
ish in the welter of economic reasons without end ? Is not the raison
d'etre enough to justify at least a few fist-shakings and another
few dollars to abet a program of salvation? Did we have to erect
our mute monuments to the passenger pigeon after its death or
could we have provided a living monument for eternity?
These questions, perplexing as they are, fall squarely on the
shoulders of man in whose care rest the creatures of the world. The
obligation, therefore, is everyone’s, nor are we unaware of this. The
last few whooping cranes winging between Arkansas, Texas, and
Canada have received the love and attention which only a doting
public can give. In Wisconsin thousands of dollars, contributed by
foundations and private individuals, are being thrown into the
purchase of marshes so that the remaining scatterings of prairie
1961]
Becker — Fading Fins
247
chickens may persist in perpetuity. Even the fading timber wolf
has evoked at least lip service in his behalf. Are the paddlefish,
pallid sturgeon, blue sucker, gravel chub, and silver shiner any less
valuable than those? Need the appreciation of these forms rest with
what we can see, smell, or taste? For it stands to reason that the
great American public will seldom see a whooping crane, smell the
scent tree of a wolf or taste the breast of a prairie chicken, but the
knowledge of a wild animal still with us raises within our souls the
primeval joy of survival against all odds. So too will we be richer
in the knowledge that rare aquatic forms have been preserved in
suitable waters as living models for coming generations.
Speckling the eastern states like errant ink spots are species like
the Ohio spotted chub (Hybopsis dissimilis) , western tonguetied
chub (Parexoglossum laurae hubbsi), variegated darter (Etheo-
stoma variatumj, spotted darter (E. maculatum) , bluebreast darter
(E. camurum), Tippecanoe darter (E, tippecanoe). Though not
rare, yet because of their very restricted ranges, these species share
the threat of extinction. What preparations are we making for
their preservation? Has a stream, out of the score or so in which
it is still found, been set aside as a preserve for the Tippecanoe
darter, even as we have set aside a remnant marsh in the state of
Wisconsin, as a living laboratory for unborn generations of prairie
chickens ?
Recently one of my students showed me hsh which he was clear¬
ing for skeletal staining. They were mostly minnows obtained from
a local bait station. Near the top of the jar I spotted a redside dace,
one of the rarest minnows in the state. We can only conjecture as
to how many of these had been seined in the past, perished in min¬
now buckets or succumbed on a fisherman’s hook. Could this single
specimen have been the last of its kind from some unknown
stream? We tried to get the necessary data on this unusual fish, a
beautiful male with typical red slashes on the sides. We met with
little success because the dealer feared that we and others would
seine in the same stream, and, as he put it, “Minnows are hard to
find in winter.”
The upshot is that seining of all minnow species is permitted
anywhere in all but trout waters, and even here they may be taken
in glass and wire traps. Not a single regulation in the Wisconsin
statutes provides for these failing forms. The redside dace, ex¬
ploited to the end, appears to be doomed unless proper authorities
and a sympathetic public can be brought into a compromising atti¬
tude. We are already too late to do much about some species. But
with vigilance some rare forms may continue finning crystal waters
under deep-rooted banks, tomorrow, next year, throughout this
century and onward.
248 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
References
B.4ILEY, Reeve M. 1959. Distribution of the American cyprinid fish Notropis
anogenus. Copeia 2:119-123.
Barnickol, Paul G. and William C. Starrett. 1951. Commercial and sport
fishes of the Mississippi River. Bull. Illinois Nat. Hist. Survey. 267-350.
Becker, George C. 1958. Distribution of Central Wisconsin fishes. Trans. Wis.
Acad. Sci. Arts & Letters. 48:65-102.
Coker, Robert E. 1929. Studies of common fishes of the Mississippi River at
Keokuk. Bull. Bureau of Fisheries, Document 1072:141-225.
Eddy, Samuel and Thaddeus Surber. 1947. Northern fishes. Univ. of Minne¬
sota Press. 276 pp.
Greene, C. Willard. 1935. The distribution of Wisconsin fishes. Wis. Conser¬
vation Comm. 235 pp.
Harlan, James and Everett Speaker. 1951, Iowa fish and fishing. Iowa Con¬
servation Comm. 237 pp.
Hubbs, Carl L. and Karl F. Lagler. 1958. Fishes of the Great Lakes region
(revised edition). Cranbrook Instit. of Science, Bull. 261. 213 pp.
Trautman, Milton B. 1957. The fishes of Ohio. Ohio State Univ. Press. 683 pp.
Underhill, James C. 1957. The distribution of Minnesota minnows and dart¬
ers. Univ. of Minnesota Press. 45 pp.
ARTS AND LETTERS
249
HAWTHORNE’S LITERARY AND AESTHETIC DOCTRINES
AS EMBODIED IN HIS TALESf
Harry H, Clark
University of Wisconsin, Madison
In discussing Shelley (in ‘T’s Correspondence,” 1845) Haw¬
thorne emphasized the importance of the genetic or chronological
approach to an author’s work. In viewing all Shelley’s ‘'successive
productions,” the reader should be conscious, Hawthorne says, that,
seen as a whole “there is a harmony, an order, a regular procession.
. . . They are like the successive steps of a staircase. . . as Shelley
really climbed, as it seems he has, from a lower region to a loftier
one,” developing from the early “faults into which a too exclusive
use of fancy and [a cold] intellect are wont to betray him” toward
his later works which are “warmer with human love” (Standard Li¬
brary Edition of Hawthorne’s Works, 1883, II, 419-20. Unless
otherwise noted, citations to follow are from this edition.) Follow¬
ing Hawthorne’s own advocacy of the genetic approach, let us then
try to summarize his own successive stories chronologically as they
embody or relate to writers or artists.
Some of the more interesting particular ideas we should watch
for are the following. Since in his third-person preface to “Rappa-
cinni’s Daughter” (1844) Hawthorne said “he seems to occupy an
unfortunate position between the Transcendentalists (who, under
one name or another have their share in all the current literature
of the world) and the great body of pen-and-ink men who address
the intellect and sympathies of the multitude,”* what was Haw¬
thorne’s position as regards Platonic archetypes or idealizations
versus earthy imagery? Partly a moralist who also resented his
era’s obsession with utility as opposed to beauty, precisely what did
beauty and the artist’s concern with it mean to Hawthorne? Is
aesthetics in the main subordinated to religion in the broad sense?
If Hawthorne was intensely democratic and generally of the opin¬
ion that the individual’s effort gains significance only when it is in
accord with the “uninstructed multitude” and in sympathy with
t Grateful acknowledgement is made of the fact that I have been aided in getting
this study into its present form by Miss Mary Pitlick, a Research Assistant employed
for this purpose by the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin.
* He goes on to say of himself, “If not too refined, at all events too remote, too
shadowy, and unsubstantial in his modes of development to suit the taste of the
latter class (the multitude), and yet too popular to satisfy the spiritual or meta¬
physical requisitions of the former (the transcendentalists), be must necessarily find
himself without an audience, except here and there an individual” who, not repulsed
by the lack of “human warmth” in allegory, can appreciate his “fancy and originality,”
(II, 107).
251
252 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
their welfare, how does he fit this over-arching view in with his
frequent defence of the artist as a gifted individual out of accord
with the utilitarian populace? He had an unusual fear of invading
the privacy of others, yet how did he justify the artist’s omniscient
probing into the secret motives and thoughts of his individual sub¬
jects in his quest of “psychological romance”? Precisely what did
Hawthorne have to say of the technical or pictorial questions of the
craft of fiction, such as Poe concerned himself with, and precisely
where did he stand on the much disputed question of the mechanical
versus the organic? What is his view of imagination and its rela¬
tion to a truthful view of realities, to what one might call kodak
literalism? Let us now explicate his successive stories and sketches
relevant to artists.
Hawthorne satirizes the poet in “The Canterbury Pilgrims”
(1833) as “the chief spokesman”^ of a small group seeking the
“cold and passionless security” (N.P., p. 1203) of a celibate Shaker
village in retreat from worldly disappointment. After the frustrated
poet rails against an unappreciative public, Hawthorne comments,
“During this harangue, the speaker gesticulated with great energy,
and as poetry is the natural language of passion, there appeared
reason to apprehend his final explosion into an ode extempore”
(N.P., p. 1199).
In response to the young Shaker man who refers to the poet in
utilitarian terms as a “varse-maker” (N.P., p. 1198), the poet ex¬
plains the infusion of ideal insight into poetic form : “ ‘True, I am
a verse-maker,’ he resumed, ‘but my verse is no more than the mate¬
rial body into which I breathe the celestial soul of thought’ ” (N.P.,
p. 1199).
As he abstracts himself after his harangue, the poet is inspired
to creation by nature which inspires “reverie, which he called
thought” (N.P., pp. 1199-1200). The poet in his harangue points
out the opposition (satirized by Hawthorne) between an unappre¬
ciative society and himself as artist who confuses an escapist’s
reverie with thought:
'‘Alas! how many a pang has it cost me, this same insensibility to the
ethereal essence of poetry, with which you have here tortured me again,
at the moment when I am to relinquish my profession forever! 0 Fate!
why hast thou warred with Nature, turning all her higher and more per¬
fect gifts to the ruin of me, their possessor? What is the voice of song,
when the world lacks the ear of taste? How can I rejoice in my strength
and delicacy of feeling, when they have but made great sorrows out of
little ones? Have I dreaded scorn like death, and yearned for fame as
1 Nathaniel Hawthorne, The 'Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Haiv-
thorne, ed. Norman Holmes Pearson (New York, 1937), p. 1198. Subsequent references
to this text will be indicated by the initials N.P. Other text references are indicated
by “H.H.,” The Complete Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Garden City, New
York: Hanover House, 1959).
1961]
Clark — Hawthorne' s Literary Doctrines
253
others pant for vital air, only to find myself in a middle state between
obscurity and infamy? But I have my revenge! I could have given exist¬
ence to a thousand bright creations, I crush them into my heart, and
there let them putrefy! I shake olf the dust of my feet against my coun¬
trymen! But posterity, tracing my footsteps up this weary hill, will cry
shame upon the unworthy age that drove one of the fathers of American
song to end his days in a Shaker village!” (N.P,, p, 1199) .
The qualitative difference between the poet possessing imagina¬
tive insight and the common man without this gift is pointed up
elsewhere in the story. For example, Hawthorne says, “The reader
must understand that, for all these bitter words, he was a kind,
gentle, harmless, poor fellow enough, whom Nature, tossing her
ingredients together without looking at her recipe, had sent into
the world with too much of one sort of brain, and hardly any of
another” (N.P., p. 1199). Again, in commenting on the disillu¬
sioned, bankrupt merchant in the retreating group, Hawthorne re¬
fers to him as “one so different from the poet that the delicate
fancy of the latter could hardly have conceived of him . . .” (N.P.,
p. 1200). While Hawthorne was elsewhere tender toward the artist
victimized by society’s indifference, this particular poet is satirized
because of his attire, which showed “a peculiar sort of foppery,
unworthy of a mature man,” contrasted with the “plain good sense
and unworldly feelings” (N.P., pp. 1198, 1202) of the people, espe¬
cially the young Shaker couple, strengthened by mutual love, who
are turning toward the world “to mingle in an untried life” (N.P.,
p. 1203).
“The Village Uncle” (1835) expresses the same Hawthornian
preference for the humble reality of the folk artist-craftsman over
the unreality resulting when “fancy [frequently referred to by
Hawthorne as the creative imaginative faculty] can create so bright
a dream of happiness . . .” (HH, p. 160). Like the preceding artist
aroused to imaginative creativity by moonlight, the old man, who is
the first-person narrator of “The Village Uncle,” kindles his imagi¬
nation with firelight: “And now, come, Susan, come my children,
draw your chairs around me, all of you. There is a dimness over
your figures! You sit quivering indistinctly with each motion of the
blaze, which eddies about you like a flood, so that you all have the
look of visions, or people that dwell only in the firelight, and will
vanish from existence as completely as your own shadows when the
flame shall sink among the embers” (HH., p. 154).
The narrator reminisces back to his bachelor days when he was
an artist, a writer whom he pictures in his study as a “solitary fig¬
ure in a looking-glass.” Comparing the isolation of this life with his
happy participation in family life, the narrator thinks, “Oh, I
should be loath to lose my treasure of past happiness, and become
254 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
once more what I was then; a hermit in the depths of my own
mind ; sometimes yawning over drowsy volumes, and anon a scrib¬
bler of wearier trash than what I read ; a man who had wandered
out of the real world and got into its shadow, where his troubles,
joys, and vicissitudes were of such slight stuff that he hardly knew
whether he lived, or only dreamed of living. Thank Heaven, I am an
old man now, and have done with all such vanities’’ (H.H., p. 154).
Through the catalystic agency of his ‘Trank, simple, kind-
hearted, sensible, and mirthful” (H.H., p. 157) wife, the narrator
rejected art for domestic bliss with Susan, for the humble com¬
munity-service occupation of fisherman, and for the role of folk-
artist or “spinner of long yarns” (H.H., p. 158). During his court¬
ship of Susan, art to the narrator was not the shadowy world of the
Platonic ideal but was associated with nature’s myriad forms by
the seashore where he saw Susan’s “own slender beauty in so stern
a scene ... all combined into a strain of poetry” (H.H., p. 157).
After his marriage, the literary tastes of the writer-turned-fisher-
man became anti-intellectual and almost primitive: “All that I
heard of books was when an Indian history, or tale of shipwreck,
was sold by a pedlar or wandering subscription man, to some one in
the village, and read through its owner’s nose to a slumberous audi¬
tory.” When his children were growing up, he “feared to trust them
even with the alphabet; it was the key to a fatal treasure” (H.H.,
pp. 157-158).
As the reminiscence continues, the narrator speaks tenderly of
his present venerable position of folk artist, “the patriarch, the
Uncle of the village.” He is “a spinner of long yarns”
. . . seated on the gunwale of a dory, or on the sunny side of a boat¬
house. . . . Such, Heaven be praised! is the vigor of my faculties, that
many a forgotten usage, and traditions ancient in my youth, and early
adventures of myself or others, hitherto effaced by things more recent,
acquire new distinctness in my memory. I remember the happy days when
the haddock were more numerous on all the fishing grounds than sculpins
in the surf ; when the deep-water cod swam close in shore, and the dog¬
fish, with his poisonous horn, had not learned to take the hook. I can num¬
ber every equinoctial storm in which the sea has overwhelmed the street,
flooded the cellars of the village, and hissed upon our kitchen hearth, I
give the history of the great whale that was landed on Whale Beach, and
whose jaws, being now my gateway, will last for ages after my coffin
shall have passed beneath them.
If melancholy accidents be the theme of conversation, I tell how a
friend of mine was taken out of his boat by an enormous shark; and the
sad, true tale of a young man on the eve of marriage, who had been nine
days missing, when his drowned body floated into the very pathway, on
Marblehead Neck, that had often led him to the dwelling of his bride, — as
if the dripping corpse would have come where the mourner was. With
such awful fidelity did that lover return to fulfil his vows! Another
favorite story is of a crazy maiden who conversed with angels and had
1961]
Clark— Hmvthorne's Literary Doctrines
255
the gift of prophecy. ... I speak of pilots who knew the wind by its
scent and the wave by its taste, and could have steered blindfold to any
port between Boston and Mount Desert, guided only by the rote of the
shore, — the peculiar sound of the surf on each island, beach, and line of
rocks, along the coast. Thus do I talk, and all my auditors grow wise while
they deem it pastime (H.H., pp. 158-159).
The Village Uncle concludes his story with an Hawthornian moral
which by implication appears to deprecate serious art because of
its non-utilitarianism: “In chaste and warm affections, humble
wishes, and honest toil for some useful end, there is health for the
mind, and quiet for the heart, the prospect of a happy life, and the
fairest hope of heaven” (H.H,, p. 160).
In “Passages From a Relinquished Work” (1834) the first-person
narrator of the story, who as a wandering story-teller is a folk-
artist like the Village Uncle, illustrates the animosity even to folk-
art of a puritan, utilitarian. New England culture, represented by
Parson Thumpcushion. Abandoning his foster home and his guar¬
dian (Parson Thumpcushion) for his vagabond-folk-artist exist¬
ence, the narrator says, “. . . my chief motives were, discontent
with home and a bitter grudge against Parson Thumpcushion, who
would rather have laid me in my father’s tomb than seen me either
a novelist or an actor, two characters which I thus hit upon a method
of uniting. After all it was not half so foolish as if I had written
romances instead of reciting them” (H.H., p. 414). Hawthorne em¬
phasizes the “grossness” of the antipathy of New Englanders to
non-utilitarian pursuits (H.H., pp. 413-414).
Even the story-teller seems partially imbued with this negative
attitude toward his occupation, directing at himself humorous
satire. He half-facetiously compares his obscure person with Gold¬
smith, Childe Harold, and Don Quixote ; he remembers being made
an “absurdity” by a practical joker (H.H., p. 420). However, the
story-teller’s attitude at the end is extreme enough, like the attitude
of his countrymen, for the reader to consider his literary occupa¬
tion as one of “guilt and madness” (H.H., p. 421), unless this, too,
is tongue-in-cheek satire. That this story is autobiographically-
directed satire is reinforced by the inclusion in the story-teller’s
repertoire of “Mr. Higginbotham’s Catastrophe,” another Haw¬
thorne tale.
Although the emphasis of the story is on the cleavage between
the artist and a practical society, there is one situation which ex¬
plores rapport between the artist and society and by implication
reveals Hawthorne’s democratic egalitarianism. The story-teller
speaks of the creation of his tales: “Besides the occasions when I
sought a pecuniary reward, I was accustomed to exercise my nar¬
rative faculty wherever chance had collected a little audience idle
256 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
enough to listen. These rehearsals were useful in testing the strong
points of my stories ; and, indeed, the flow of fancy soon came upon
me so abundantly that its indulgence was its own reward, though
the hope of praise also became a powerful incitement’’ (H.H., p.
414).
“The Devil in Manuscript” (1835) is significant in having the
narrator agree with Oberon in his aversion to the kind of topic or
framework Hawthorne was to deal with in stories of witchcraft
such as “Young Goodman Brown.” Oberon finally burns the manu¬
script of all his rejected stories in which, he says, “ . I endeavored
to embody the character of a fiend as represented in our traditions
and written records of witchcraft. Oh, I have a horror of what was
created in my own brain, and shudder at the manuscripts in which
I gave that dark idea a sort of material existence!’” (Ill, 575).
Oberon admits, “ T am surrounding myself with shadows, which be¬
wilder me, by aping the realities of life. They have drawn me aside
from the beaten path of the world.” (p. 576). As an author, Oberon
has “recollections” of his throes of creativity — of how he used vari¬
ous scenes and dreams, and became “ ‘feverish, the victim of my own
enchantments . . . !’ but he concludes that the different moods in
which he created the tales resulted in no ‘corresponding difference’
in the ‘worthless’ finished product, (pp. 578-579.
Another theme in this story (which accords with Hawthorne’s
view in the preface of the 1851 edition of Twice-Told Tales) is that
of the indifference of the American reading public to authors and
to literature. Seventeen booksellers had rejected Oberon’s manu¬
scripts and he wants to escape being a “damned author,” to avoid
having “ ‘to undergo sneers, taunts, abuse, and cold neglect, and
faint praise, bestowed for pity’s sake, against the giver’s con¬
science!’ ” (p. 580). In contrast to this “cold neglect,” the author
cries, “my brain has set the town on fire,” as he burns his manu¬
scripts in a windstorm.
The painter in “The Prophetic Pictures”^ (Token, 1837) illus¬
trates how the true artist “ ‘must look beneath the exterior” ’ to
“ ‘see the inmost soul’ ” of his subjects.*^ However, the story is essen¬
tially a warning against the artist who allows himself in his pride to
be “insulated from the mass of human kind” and to have “no sympa¬
thies” beyond his art (AWS, pp. 259-260). In this story, the
“proud” painter “failed to see the disorder” of his own character;
and in painting the portraits of Walter and Elinor, a young couple
about to be married, portraits which prophesied that Walter as a
2 Hawthorne, Works I, Lathrop Edition, 192. “This story was suggested by an anec¬
dote of Stuart, related in Dunlap’s History of the Arts of Design. — a most entertaining-
book to the general reader, and a deeply interesting one, we should think, to the artist.’’
3 Hawthorne in the American Writers Series, p. 257, hereafter referred to as AWS.
1961]
257
Clark — Haivthorne’s Literary Doctrines
husband would become dangerously insane, the proud painter re¬
garded Walter and Elinor virtually “as creations of his own,” rival¬
ing the work of the Creator. Eventually, repenting of his pride in
his prophetic art, the painter returns just in time to prevent the
husband from stabbing his sorrowful wife, a rescue which shows
that a prophetic “Fate [can] impede its own decree” (AWS, p.
i 262), that the artist has a free-willed responsibility.
I In “The Great Carbuncle” (1837), as in other tales and stories,
Hawthorne criticizes the serious artist for his obsession with fame.
Here, a poet and five other self-centered people are goaded by “sel¬
fish and solitary longing for this wondrous gem” (N.P., p. 927) , the
Great Carbuncle. Hawthorne laughs at this artist just as much as at
Oberon in “The Devil in Manuscript” : “The fifth adventurer like¬
wise lacked a name, which was the greater pity, as he appeared to
be a poet. He was a bright-eyed man, but woefully pined away,
which was no more than natural, if, as some people affirmed, his
ordinary diet was fog, morning mist, and a slice of the densest cloud
within his reach, sauced with moonshine, whenever he could get it.
Certain it is, that the poetry which flowed from him had a smack
of all these dainties” (N.P., p. 928). Here, the moonlight used else¬
where as the atmosphere for serious artistic creation is used for
satiric purposes.
The poet’s egocentricity makes him vulnerable to the thrust of
Hawthorne’s satire, as in the following passage where the Great
Carbuncle facetiously represents the world of ideality which the
serious artist perceives through his imagination:
“For myself, hiding the jewel under my cloak, I shall hie me back to my
attic chamber, in one of the darksome alleys of London. There, night and
day, will I gaze upon it; my soul shall drink its radiance; it shall be
diffused throughout my intellectual powers, and gleam brightly in every
line of poesy that I indite. Thus, long ages after I am gone, the splendor
of the Great Carbuncle will blaze around my name!’’
“Well said. Master Poet!” cried he of the spectacles. “Hide it under thy
cloak, sayest thou? Why, it will gleam through the holes, and make thee
look like a jack-o’-lantern!” (N.P., p. 931).
But the poet settles willingly for a substitute, “a great piece of
ice.” And Hawthorne chuckles : “The critics say, that, if his poetry
lacked the splendor of the gem, it retained all the coldness of the
ice” (N.P., p. 936). Selfishness, then, is incompatible with serious
artistic creation. And Hawthorne’s sympathies lie again with the
simple, the young couple Hannah and Matthew, who find the gem
but have the wisdom to reject it and return to the humble cottage
which they had hoped to light with the gleam from the Great
Carbuncle.
In “Edward Randolph’s Portrait” (Democratic Revieiv, 1838)
Hawthorne returned to vary the theme of “The Prophetic Pictures,”
258 W'Lsconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
suggesting that when the artist’s slanting (in this case adaptation)
is done in a defensible cause (in this case to try to dissuade a po¬
litical tyrant from a sin against colonial liberties), then the artist’s
slanting is justifiable. Alice Vane, the '‘favorite niece” of Lieuten¬
ant-Governor Hutchinson who has to decide whether to quarter a
British fleet at Boston’s Castle William, uses her artistry gained
by study in Italy, to alter the fading portrait of Edward Randolph
so as to make it symbolic of the agony of an earlier colonial ruler
who opposed liberty and therefore “the inward misery of that curse
worked itself outward, and was visible on the wretched man’s coun¬
tenance, making it too horrible to be looked upon.” (N.P., p. 966)
As Alice says to her uncle about to profane American liberties,
. . if ever mortal man received a warning from a tormented
soul, your Honor is that man.” (p. 969) Hutchinson was not de¬
terred by the portentous portrait, however, and years later when
he died, he resembled Randolph.
“Sylph Etherege” (Token, 1838) belongs to the group of stories
involving beauty and art because of the fact that the story hinges
upon the role of a “miniature” picture purportedly of Sylph’s be¬
trothed, Edgar Vaughan, whom she had never seen, a picture which
nourishes her romantic wishful thinking. Actually, the picture is a
fabricated one, given her by Edgar, posing as Edward Hamilton,
Edgar being actually of “ill-omened shape,” “the reverse of attrac¬
tive,” (III, 511) and motivated by “wounded vanity” (p. 515) and
“mockery and malice.” Hamilton, with his “evil smile,” appears
and tells the romantic Sylph he is Vaughan. When she dropped the
misleading miniature he “set his foot upon it, and crushed the ivory
counterfeit to fragments.” “ ‘There, my sweet Sylph,’ he exclaimed.
‘It was I that created your phantom-lover, and now I annihilate
him ! Your dream is rudely broken. Awake, Sylph Etherege, awake
to truth !’ ” Such was his unfeeling way of “curing Sylvia of ro¬
mantic notions, and reconciling her to truths and realities of life.”
(p. 515) Although her patroness, Mrs. Grosvenor, thinks that if
Vaughan succeeds in winning her love, “she will be the better, her
whole life long, for the lesson we have given her,” the “fragile
Sylph,” made vulnerable by her imagination unbalanced by under¬
standing or the acceptance of the fact that “the beauty of the pic¬
tured countenance was almost too perfect to represent a human
creature, that had been born of a fallen and world-worn race,”
(p. 512) dies, seeming to “fade into the moonlight.” The story may
be briefly summarized as meaning that, while a person such as
Sylph may need curing of the “fantastic nonsense” (p. 508) of mis¬
taking the “fanciful” for the imperfections of the real and the true,
of mistaking illusions for reality, if the cure is motivated by
“wounded vanity” or other evil impulses (the union of the young
1961]
Clark — HatvthornCs Literary Doctrines
259
people had in this case been greedily arranged as a means of ‘'unit¬
ing two rich estates”) (p. 509) and the transition is too abrupt, it
may cause death. Quick disillusionment kills, and “counterfeit” art
is thus very dangerous. The broad implications of this story are
especially interesting, considering that Hawthorne has often been
regarded as the crusader for romance and the idealizing function of
the imagination. Misled by the “counterfeit” picture. Sylph “had
communed with a creature of imagination, till her own loveliness
seemed but the creation of a delicate and dreamy fancy.” (p. 514)
This “picture was but the masculine counterpart of Sylph Ether-
ege’s sylph-like beauty. There was that resemblance between her
own face and the miniature which is said often to exist between
lovers whom Heaven has destined for each other, and which, in this
instance, might be owing to the kindred blood of the two parties,”
since they were cousins. Sylph fancied that “in some of her day¬
dreams, imagination had conjured up the true similitude of her dis¬
tant and unseen lover.” (p. 512) Thus Sylph had lived as in a
“moonlight garden” nourished by “blissful fantasies” and “dis¬
quieted if reality threw a momentary cloud” between herself and
her imaginary lover (p. 513). “She had been left to seek associates
and friends for herself in the haunts of imagination, and to con¬
verse with them, sometimes in the language of dead poets, oftener
in the poetry of her own mind,” tinting with “stronger hues” the
“fancy-picture” of her idealized lover (p. 510).
In broad terms, this story of the tragic fate of the over-imagina¬
tive Sylph Etherege is in accord with Hawthorne’s favorite. Dr.
Johnson, who also warned his readers against the “dangerous tend¬
encies of the imagination” when unbalanced by understanding of
the realities of life. Hawthorne’s ability on occasion to see life real¬
istically is evident in stories such as “Mrs. Bullfrog” and in Our
Old Home and in his shrewd conduct in his three political posts. If
Hawthorne was at times a romancer, this story shows that he un¬
derstood the harm which could be done by a “villain” who deliber¬
ately by artistic creations (the “miniature”) plays upon the weak¬
ness of viewers who are addicted to wishful thinking, illusions,
“blissful fantasies,” and a life of imagination unbalanced by a vigi¬
lant regard for “realities.” (Sylph’s illusions remind one of James’
Isabel Archer’s illusions which Henrietta Stackpole says caused her
unhappiness.) From another angle, “Sylph Etherege” (enamoured
of a countenance “too perfect” to belong to our “fallen and world-
worn race”) reminds one of the conclusion of “The Birthmark”
where Hawthorne says the idealist Aylmer’s tragedy in causing the
death of his bride could have been avoided if he had learned hum¬
bly to live with earthly imperfections. The creative imagination can
be dangerous, especially when its counterfeit creations are made
260 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
plausible by flattering the credulous and the vain. Thus the “villain”
says that in creating the counterfeit picture “I did but look into
this delicate creature’s [Sylph’s] heart ; and with the pure fantasies
I found there I made what seemed a man, — and the delusive shadow
has wiled her away to Shadow-land, and vanished there! It is no
new tale. Many a sweet maid has shared the lot of poor Sylph
Etherege!” (p. 516). Hawthorne’s 1851 preface to The Snow Image
and Other Tivice-Told Tales in which this tale is collected speaks of
his concern with burrowing “into the depths of our common nature,
for the purposes of psychological romance” as contrasted with
Cooper’s kind of extrovert romance, and hence this tale forms a
bridge to the psychological James, who began publishing about four¬
teen years later.
Hawthorne’s “Chippings with a Chisel” (Democratic Revieiv,
1838) centers on the advantages of the naturally heart-felt vs. tra¬
ditionally universalized utterances (as eulogies), and on the extent
to which visible symbols are needed. The fable involves the nar¬
rator’s acquaintance with “a carver of tombstones” at Edgartown
on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, and his reactions to “inter¬
views” with eight or nine of his typical customers as they choose
inscriptions and designs to commemorate the dead. Hawthorne in¬
sists that this “sculptor . . . may share that title with Greenough,
since the dauber of signs (cf. “Browne’s Wooden Image”) is a
painter as well as Raphael” (I, 456, TTT). When a girl chooses an
epitaph for her deceased sister which had already been “inscribed
upon innumerable tombstones,” Hawthorne remarks that “when we
ridicule the triteness of monumental verses, we forget that [indi¬
vidualized and sincere] Sorrow reads far deeper in them than we
can, and finds a profound and individual purport in what seems so
vague and inexpressive, unless interpreted by her. She [Sorrow]
makes the epitaph anew, though the self-same words may have
served for a thousand graves” (p. 462-3). And the sculptor, with
his keen “pride of art,” expresses a preference for the “comfort
to be gathered from these old scraps of poetry” rather then from
“any new fangled ones.” (p. 465) In another contexture, however,
Hawthorne in commenting on artificial gravestones “of Gothic
taste,” “carved in London” and imported to Martha’s Vineyard,
says that the gravestones “far the most impressive both to my
taste and feelings” were those “roughly hewn from the gray rocks
of the island, evidently by the unskilled hands of surviving friends
and relatives” (p. 456). “It is an old theme of satire, the false¬
hood and vanity of monumental eulogies; but when affection and
sorrow grave the letters with their own painful labor, then may
we be sure that they copy from the record on their hearts.”
(p. 456) And this preference for the natural simplicity of indi-
1961]
Clark — Hawthorne’ s Liteiury Doctrines
261
vidualized grief is again shown in Hawthorne’s mentioning that
in contrast to the triteness of verses already used on innumer¬
able tombstones “ ‘I was struck by at least a dozen simple and
natural expressions from the lips’ ” of the bereaved who were
choosing epitaphs, and that one of these “simple and natural ex¬
pressions” would “have formed an inscription equally original and
appropriate” (463). Notice here he refrains from saying “more
appropriate.”
The second artistic theme developed in the story involves the
extent of the need for symbols. Hawthorne claims that wives are
more reluctant than husbands to erect tombstones to their departed
mates, not because of the wives’ lack of constancy but because
women “are conscious that a portion of their being has gone with
the departed. , . . Soul clings to soul; the living dust has a sym¬
pathy with the dust of the grave ; and, by the very strength of that
sympathy, the wife of the dead shrinks the more sensitively from
reminding the world of its existence. The link is already strong
enough; it needs no visible symbol (p. 461). Yet Hawthorne
praises some “emblematical” designs on tombstones, such as the
“chiselling an open book upon a marble headstone” to symbolize
“the scriptural knowledge of an old woman who had never read
anything but her Bible” (p. 465). Finally, when the sculptor asks
Hawthorne’s own choice of a tombstone, he expresses himself as
questioning the propriety of erecting monuments at all, since for
him they suggest imprisonment “instead of the freedom of the
skies” whither one would “soar upward with the butterfly.” He
would forget what the dead have “cast off,” “forget the Grave,” for
“Every gravestone that you ever made is the visible symbol of a
mistaken system.” (p. 467) In this story it is possible that the
apparent rejection of symbols is limited to those of the grave and
that this was influenced in part by Hawthorne’s semi-Unitarian
rearing and the revolt of the Unitarians from earlier mortuary
symbols. Elsewhere, of course, Hawthorne shows he was dedicated
to the use of symbols in the interest of artistically presenting gen¬
eral truths, which he wished to flesh out in vivid sensuous form.
“The Birthmark” (Pioneer Magazine, 1843) does not center di¬
rectly on an artist but rather on a scientist, Aylmer, one who in his
pride devotes his scientific artistry to trying to remove the tiny
birthmark from the cheek of his bride Georgiana, a birthmark
which is the only thing which detracts from her complete loveli¬
ness. (The scientist, and also the humanitarian [Cf. Hollingsworth]
and the artist, in Hawthorne’s general view, were especially vul¬
nerable to a pride which deprived them of the sympathy for others
which he regarded as all-important.) In this story Hawthorne has
the scientist-lover create a boudoir setting whose fabulous loveliness
262 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
matches that of the bride who dies through her husband's attempt
to make her beauty completely perfect. Recalling ‘ 'antique natural¬
ists" (Albertus Magnus, Agrippa, and Paracelsus), Aylmer is like
them in that they “imagined themselves to have acquired from the
investigation of Nature a power above Nature, and from physics a
sway over the spiritual world" (II, 61). At the end, the birth¬
mark being “the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in
union with a mortal [imperfect] frame," as the birthmark fades,
Georgiana's “soul took its heavenward flight." Hawthorne adds that
“had Aylmer reached a profounder wisdom, he need not have flung
away the happiness which would have woven his mortal life of the
self-same texture with the celestial," since things of earth in their
imperfect loveliness represent a “dim sphere of half development”
to be made perfect hereafter in “a higher state" ( II, 69).
“The Hall of Fantasy" (Pioneer Magazine, 1843)^ is interesting
as showing Hawthorne's mid-way position between the transcend-
entalists and the practical multitude. In over-all plan, the story in¬
volves the author's visit with a friend to a large edifice “ 'which
occupies in the world of fancy the same position which the Bourse,
the Rialto, and the Exchange do in the commercial world,' " (II,
197) which admits “the light of heaven only through stained and pic¬
tured glass" which gave one the effect of a “visionary atmosphere"
and “the fantasies of poetic minds." He surveys four groups-— the
writers, “the inventors of fantastic machines," the “noted reform¬
ers of the day," and Father Miller and his followers whose theories
about the approaching end of the world “scatters all their dreams
like so many withered leaves." And Hawthorne ends with an anti-
Platonic panegyric “like the very spirit of earth, imbued with a
scent of freshly turned soil." He had sympathized with the aspira¬
tions of those devoted to the various fantasies, and “almost desired
that the whole of life might be spent in that visionary scene," but
he concludes as a practical person that we should be “content" with
“merely an occasional visit, for the sake of spiritualizing the gross¬
ness of this actual life" (p. 201, 207, 211) . In the section on writers,
Hawthorne indicates his personal choice of the world's masters.
In niches and on pedestals around the hall stood the statues or busts of
men who in every age have been rulers and demigods in the realms of
imagination and its kindred regions. The grand old countenance of Homer;
H. P. Miller, (“Hawthorne Surveys his Contemporaries,” American Literature, 12:
(May, 1940), 228-235) discusses the way in which the first version of Hawthorne’s
“The Hall of Fantasy” first published in Pioneer in February 1843 contains “the
fullest notice and characterization of his contemporaries which he ever wrote for
publication.” This was drastically revised three years later when the story was included
in Mosses from an Old Manse. Miller cites the original passages on Alcott and Emerson
(as strong- influences on others), and on Poe who “had g-ained ready admission for the
sake of his imag-ination, but was threatened with ejectment as belong-ing- to the
obnoxious class of critics.” This passag-e omitted in the 1846 version is Hawthorne’s
only published comment on Poe.
1961]
Clark — Hawthorne’ s Literai-y Doctrines
263
the shrunken and decrepit form but vivid face of Aesop; the dark pres¬
ence of Dante; the wild Ariosto, Rabelais' smile of deep-wrought mirth;
the profound, pathetic humor of Cervantes; the all-glorious Shakespeare;
Spenser, meet guest for an allegoric structure; the severe dignity of Mil-
ton; and Bunyan, moulded of homeliest clay, but instinct with celestial
fire, — were those that chiefly attracted my eye. Fielding, Richardson, and
Scott occupied conspicuous pedestals. In an obscure and shadowy niche
was deposited the bust of our countryman, the author of Arthur Mervyn."
Hawthorne adds, interestingly, since he omits Coleridge to whose theory
of imagination he is sometimes supposed to have been mainly indebted,
that Goethe will never be the victim of oblivion, and that “next" to his
statue is that of Emanuel Swedenborg. Goethe and Swedenborg, the first
admired by Margaret Fuller and the second by Emerson, were to Haw¬
thorne “two men of transcendent imagination" (II, 197-8).
If one compares this list with that in “Earth’s Holocaust” it will
be noted that he omits Shelley; the Bible, also imperishable in the
Holocaust, did not lend itself to a personalized statue. The statues
of these “men who in every age have been rulers and demigods in
the realms of imagination” front an “ornamental fountain of water
. . . with its endless transformation, in which the imaginative be¬
holder may discern what form he will,” the water of which is
extolled as “uniting the virtues of the Fountain of Youth with those
of many other enchanted wells long celebrated in tale and song”
(p. 198). Those who in their “poetic absorption” view these statues
admiringly have “thoughtful, inward eyes” ; and Hawthorne “felt
an inward attraction towards these men, as if the sympathy of feel¬
ing, if not of genius, had united me to their order.” In the light of
other stories in which Hawthorne seems to suggest that great writ¬
ers are necessarily above or estranged from society, it is noteworthy
that he says here that “so far as my experience goes [in 1843] men
of [literary] genius are fairly gifted with the social qualities ; and
in this age there appears to be a fellow-feeling among them which
had not heretofore been developed. As men, [unlike Owen Warland]
they ask nothing better than to be on equal terms with their fellow-
men; and as authors, they . . . acknowledge a generous brotherhood”
(p. 200). Occasionally, however, some of the literary admirers of
their imaginative earlier “rulers” are “dreamers” whose “madness
is contagious,” although the true “poet knows his whereabout, and
is less likely to make a fool of himself in real life” (p. 201).
In the main, Hawthorne’s personal evaluation in this story seems
to be one of mediation and balance. He would “thank God that there
is such a place of refuge” from “actual life,” and he concludes “in
truth, that there is but half a life — the meaner and earthlier half —
for those who never find their way into the hall” of fantasy or
imagination (p. 203). Seemingly wild and impracticable as may be
some of the inventors of machines and the “self-styled reformers”
264 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
who have seen only one isolated “fragment of truth’’ (cf. Hollings¬
worth) Hawthorne recognizes that these three types [writer, in¬
ventors and reformers] are basically united in their quest of a bet¬
ter life through the use of the imagination. “The fantasies of one
day are the deepest realities of a future one,” but “the white sun¬
shine of actual life is necessary in order to test them” (p. 204).
(Compare “Slyph Etherege” on the great dangers of unbalanced
and untested imagination.) “Be the individual theory as wild as
fancy could make it, still the wiser spirit would recognize the
struggle of the race after a better and purer life than had yet been
recognized on earth” (p. 205). As contrasted with Platonic or
transcendental abstractions, it will not satisfy Hawthorne to have
“our mother earth . . . exist merely in Idea. I want her great, round,
solid self to endure interminably, and still to be peopled with the
kindly race of man . . .” (p. 210).
In “The Procession of Life” (1843), a paean to American democ¬
racy, the hostility toward an artistically unsympathetic populace,
frequently evident in Hawthorne, is muted almost to praise as he
denounces social stratification according to wealth. Before he con¬
cludes the story with death leveling all, Hawthorne suggests that
artists with their “electric sympathy” help to make all men
brothers :
Were Byron now alive, and Burns, the first would come from his an¬
cestral abbey, flinging aside, although unwillingly, the inherited honors of
a thousand years, to take the arm of the mighty peasant who grew im¬
mortal while he stooped behind his plough. These are gone; but the hall,
the farmer’s fireside, the hut, perhaps the palace, the counting room, the
workshop, the village, the city, life’s high places and low ones, may all
produce their poets, whom a common temperament pervades like an elec¬
tric sympathy. Peer or ploughman, we will muster them pair by pair and
shoulder to shoulder. Even society, in its most artificial state, consents to
this arrangement (N.P., pp. 1084-1085).
Then Hawthorne quickly disdains for a quantitative distinction the
qualitative distinction between the artist and the populace, an atti¬
tude which partially counterbalances the opposite attitude in “The
Artist of the Beautiful” :
Yet the longer I reflect the less am I satisfied with the idea of form¬
ing a separate class of mankind on the basis of high intellectual power.
At best it is but a higher development of innate gifts common to all. Per¬
haps, moreover, he whose genius appears deepest and truest excels his
fellows in nothing save the knack of expression; he throws out occasionally
a lucky hint at truths of which every human soul is profoundly, though
unutterably, conscious (N.P., p. 1085).
“A Select Party” (1844) emphasizes the view that the world of
ideality, which the creative imagination of the artist perceives, is
more real than the material world. To his castle in the air, repre-
1961]
Clark — Hawthorne’ s Literary Doctrines
265
senting ideality, a Man of Fancy (again the creative faculty) in¬
vites guests to a select party. To the people of the lower world
looking upward, the castle seemed “unreal, because they lacked the
imaginative faith [possessed by the artist and other selfless per¬
sons]. Had they been worthy to pass within its portal, they would
have recognized the truth, that the dominions which the spirit con¬
quers for itself, among unrealities become a thousand times more
real than the earth whereon they stamp their feet saying, ‘This is
solid and substantial; this may be called a fact’ ” (H.H., p. 238).
Represented by “the wise and witty,” “generous and heroic
friends,” and “the beautiful dream woman” of the host’s youth, the
material world is discovered by the Man of Fancy to be far more in¬
substantial than “a number of guests whom incredulous readers
may be inclined to rank equally among creatures of imagination. The
most noteworthy were an incorruptible Patriot; a Scholar without
Pedantry; a Priest without worldly ambition; and a Beautiful
woman without pride or coquetry; a Married Pair whose life had
never been disturbed by incongruity of feeling; a Reformer un¬
trammelled by his theory; and a Poet who felt no jealousy towards
other votaries of the lyre” (H.H., p. 242).
The selfless artist is the future Great American Poet. He is of
. , . poor attire, with no insignia of rank . . . [with] a high, white fore¬
head, beneath which a pair of deepset eyes were glowing with warm light.
It was such a light as never illuminates the earth save when a great heart
burns at the household fire of a grand intellect. And who was he? — ^who
but the Master Genius for whom our country is looking anxiously into the
mist of Time, as destined to fulfil the great mission of creating an Ameri¬
can literature, hewing it, as it were, out of the unwrought granite of our
intellectual quarries? From him, whether moulded in the form of an epic
poem or assuming a guise altogether new as the spirit itself may deter¬
mine, we are to receive our first great original work, which shall do all
that remains to be achieved for our glory among the nations.
This literary genius, to whom is given the chair of honor at the
banquet, is not snobbish or aloof but
passes daily amid the throng of people toiling and troubling themselves
about the trifles of a moment, and none pay reverence to the worker of
immortality. Nor does it matter much to him, in his triumph over all the
ages, though a generation or two of his own times shall do themselves the
wrong to disregard him (H.H., pp. 242-243).
The ideality perceived by the artist’s imagination is concretized
by a room illuminated by moonlight (Hawthorne’s usual creative
atmosphere) :
Along the walls, illuminated by the mild intensity of the moonshine, stood
a multitude of ideal statues, the original conceptions of the great works
of ancient or modern art, which the sculptors did but imperfectly succeed
in putting into marble; for it is not to be supposed that the pure idea of
an immortal creation ceases to exist; it is only necessary to know where
266 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
they are deposited in order to obtain possession of them. In the alcoves
of another vast apartment was arranged a splendid library, the volumes
of which were inestimable, because they consisted not of actual perform¬
ances, but of the works which the authors only planned, without ever
finding the happy season to achieve them. To take familiar instances,
here were the untold tales of Chaucer’s Canterbury Pilgrims; the unwrit¬
ten cantos of the Fairy Queen; the conclusion of Coleridge’s Christabel;
and the whole of Dryden’s projected epic on the subject of King Arthur.
The shelves were crowded; for it would not be too much to affirm that
every author has imagined and shaped out in his thought more and far
better works than those which actually proceeded from his pen (HH.,
pp. 244-245).
“Drowne's Wooden Image” (Godey's Magazine, June, 1844) cen¬
ters on the quickening effect of love (even if unilateral) on an
artist’s creativity, on the organic vs. obedience to mechanical rules,
with allusion to the problem of literalism (in the Kodak sense) vs.
idealisation. Briefly, the fable involves the supposedly stolid
Drowne, a carver of wooden images to be used as figure-heads for
ships, who is rapt out of his prosaic routine by his admiration
for a very lovely Portuguese young lady. The setting is the port of
Boston, evidently in the late eighteenth century, since the actual
painter Copley visits Browne’s workshop and acts as a kind of
Chorus, pointing the moral. Evidently the lady sits as the artist’s
model and then leaves the port on the arm of her escort. Captain
Hunnewell ; and Drowne, disillusioned, loses his temporary artistic
inspiration. Broadly speaking, Browne’s turn from utilitarian and
prosaic “carving ornamental pump heads, and wooden urns for gate
posts” to his matchless figurehead followed by defeatism, resem¬
bles Owen Warland’s early concern with prosaic clocks, his hope
that Annie could respond to his love which in part inspired his
attempt to spiritualize machinery (the artificial butterfly) and the
fact that if she had responded he could have risen to an art that
was “worthier.” This “first American” pioneer in sculpture, “that
art in which we can now reckon so many names already distin¬
guished” (II, 348), is set in the environment where the embryo
artist was functional in providing decoration for American ships,
on which our “specimens of native sculpture had crossed the sea in
all directions, and had been not ignobly noticed among the crowded
shipping of the Thames” and other foreign ports. (II, 349). Such
utilitarian and mechanistic sculpture had no deficiency, Hawthorne
remarks, “except that deep quality, be it of soul or intellect, which
bestows life upon the lifeless and warmth upon the cold, and which,
had it been present, would have made Browne’s wooden image in¬
stinct with spirit” (II, 350).
After the young lady arrives and Drowne is known to be carving
a new figurehead, Copley, “the celebrated painter,” who had noted
1961]
Clark — Hawthorne’ s Literary Doctrines
267
that hitherto none of Drowne’s art-works embodied “the ethereal
essence of humanity/’ (II, 351) noted in his unfinished sculpture
“the divine, the life-giving touch,” and he eagerly inquired, “What
inspired hand is beckoning this wood to arise and live?” (II, 353).
“Day by day, however, the work assumed greater precision, and
settled its irregular and misty outline into distincter grace and
beauty. . . . Gradually, by a magic touch, intelligence and sensibility
brightened through the features, with all the effect of light gleam¬
ing forth from within the solid oak” (II, 353-4). It will be noted
that Hawthorne here stresses a dual kind of inwardness associated
with organic art — the irradiation of light from within the artist’s
materials, and (as Drowne’s puts it), “A well-spring of inward
wisdom gushed within me as I wrought upon the oak with my whole
strength, and soul, and faith” in creating “this creature of my
heart” (II, 355). Drowne tells Copley he knows nothing of the
sculptor’s rules of art (Copley repeatedly attacks the rules”),
and Copley recognizes in Drowne “that expression of human love
which, in a spiritual sense, as the artist could not help imagining,
was the secret of the life that had been breathed into this block of
wood” (II, 355). In the statue’s “dark eyes, and around the volup¬
tuous mouth, there played a look made up of pride, coquetry, and a
gleam of mirthfulness.” (II, 356) . The townspeople claimed Drowne
had been seen “kneeling at the feet of the oaken lady, and gazing
with a passionate ardor into the face that his own hands had cre¬
ated” as “a modern Pygmalion” (II, 357, 353). Copley, who ad¬
mired the lady, remarked that it was “No wonder that she inspired
a genius in you, and first created the artist who afterwards created
her image” (II, 361). (One is reminded of Milton’s saying that
before the poet can create a true poem, he must have made his own
life a true poem.)
But when the unresponsive lady departs from the tearful Drowne,
“the light of imagination and sensibility, so recently illuminating
it [his face], had departed,” and during the remainder of his life
he returned to creating merely wooden images, (II, 361), during
this brief period having wrought his art “in a kind of dream.” (II,
361). Hawthorne’s conclusion is that “in every human spirit there
is imagination, sensibility, creative power, genius, which, according
to circumstances [especially whether or not one is capable of love] ,
may either be developed in this world, or shrouded in a mask of dul-
ness until another state of being. To our friend Drowne there came
a brief season of excitement, kindled by love. It rendered him a
genius for that one occasion, but, quenched in disappointment, left
him again the mechanical carver . . (II, 362). While Copley says
the statue “is as ideal as an antique statue” (II, 354), yet this
idealization was also a literal reproduction in all minute details.
268 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50 |
In her appearance the actual lady ‘Vas exactly and minutely the ,
shape, the garb, and the face which the towns-people had so re¬
cently thronged to see and admire [in the statue] . Not a rich flower
upon her head, not a single leaf, but had its protype in Browne's |
wooden workmanship, although now their fragile grace had become i
flexible, and was shaken by every footstep that the wearer made.
The broad gold chain upon the neck was identical with the one rep¬
resented on the image . . (II, 358). Obviously Hawthorne held
that the artist had to begin with actuality or nature, and love was
to him the alchemy which enabled the artist to interfuse the actual
and the ideal, the particular and the universal.
‘‘Earth’s Holocaust” ( Graham’s Magazine, March, 1844) in broad
terms is a comprehensive satire of those who imagine that progress
can be insured by merely destroying (burning in the context of
this story) all the “wornout trumpery” of the past as embodied in
external things, such as “the blazonry of coat armor, the crests and
devices of illustrious families, pedigrees that extended back . . .
into the dark ages” as symbols of caste or inequalities. As regards
our immediate topic of literature, the story tests the immortality
of various writers and books by indicating which ones cannot be
destroyed by fire. The setting of the test-by-fire is a site on “one
of the broadest prairies of the West.’” II, 430-1.
Hawthorne has the case for the literary opposition, for tradi¬
tional patronage, stated by “a grayhaired man, of stately presence,
wearing a coat” with a “badge of rank.” This man protests that
“this fire is consuming all that marked your advance from barbar¬
ism, or that could have prevented your relapse thither. We, the men
of the privileged orders (note the title of a pamphlet by Joel Bar-
low whose verses Hawthorne elsewhere called “leaden”), were those
who kept alive from age to age the old chivalrous spirit; the gentle
and generous thought; the higher, the purer, the more refined and
delicate life. With the nobles, too, you cast off the poet, the painter,
the sculptor — all the beautiful arts; for we were their patrons (cf.
Hawthorne’s praise of Dr. Johnson, the conservative who revolted
from Lord Chesterfield’s offer of patronage) , and created the atmos¬
phere in which they flourish” as they are nourished by “the gor¬
geous past.” (II, 432-34; 431). After the reformers burn every¬
thing associated with the “robes of royalty,” liquors, “all the boxes
of tea and bags of coffee in the world,” tobacco, purses and bank¬
notes, physicians’ equipment involving homoeopathy, gunpowder,
instruments of prisons and torture, and even “marriage certificates,”
and “title deeds of landed property,” the reformers being convinced
that “Reason and Philanthropy combined will constitute just such
a tribunal as is requisite” for the “millenium,” (p. 441), these icon¬
oclasts attempt to “get rid of the weight of dead men’s thoughts”
1961]
Clark — Hmvthorne’s Literary Doctrines
269
embodied in “books and pamphlets.” The volumes of Voltaire
“threw an infernal light over the visages of the spectators,” and
German stories “emitted a scent of brimstone.” (Cf, Hawthorne’s
“Celestial Railroad” and its attack on German works which nour¬
ished “Giant Transcendentalist” as like “smoke, mist, moonshine,
raw potatoes, and sawdust” (II, 224). Byron’s works produced
“lurid gleams and gushes of black vapor,” and Tom Moore’s “dif¬
fused an odor like a burning pastil,” but among American writings,
the poems of Ellery Channing showed an “excellent inflammabil¬
ity,” while Hawthorne’s own works “were changed to vapor by the
first action of the heat.” He pays conventional tribute to the “pow¬
erful blaze” of Milton’s works as promising “to endure longer than
almost any other material of the pile,” and mentions that “from
Shakespeare there gushed a flame of such marvellous splendor that
men shaded their eyes.” As regards literary values, the two sur¬
prises in this story are Hawthorne’s tribute to Shelley and (consid¬
ering his coolness to the churches and theology) to the Bible. “Shel¬
ley’s® poetry emitted a purer light than almost any other produc¬
tions of his day. . . .” And the Bible, the “head” of all “human
literature,” and representing “the main pillars which supported the
whole edifice of our moral and spiritual state,” instead of “being
blackened into tinder, only assumed a more dazzling whiteness as
the finger marks of human imperfection were purified away . . .
without detriment to the smallest syllable that had flamed from the
pen of inspiration” (444-53) . The “titan of innovation,” represented
by the reforming mob, was awed as the attempt to destroy the Bible
aroused “a mighty wind . . . roaring across the plain with a deso¬
late howl, as if it were the angry lamentation of the earth for the
loss of heaven’s sunshine . . .” (452). When the narrator asks
whether anything will be left for humanity to build on, his wise
friend replies that “you will find among the ashes everything really
valuable” — i.e., The Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, and Shelley. “Not
a truth is destroyed nor buried so deep among the ashes but it will
be raked up at last” (p. 453). The frantic “bookworm” who sees
everything as lost is characterized as having “no inward fountain
of ideas,” mere traditionalists being thus seen as comparable to
5 In “P’s Correspondence” (1845) Hawthorne says Shelley eventually in his latest
period approached “the threshold of heaven.” Hig-h praise indeed, from Hawthorne !
“Shelley has really climbed . . . from a lower region (of Godwin) to a loftier one (of
Platonism and love). His later works such as Prometheus Unhound “are warmer with
human love, which has served as an interpreter between his mind and the multitude,
[i.e., he has used the vicarious imagination and is in accord with Hawthorne’s own
ideal of the Jacksonians of the Young America party]. The author has learned to dip
his pen oftener into his heart, and has thereby avoided the faults into which a too
exclusive use of fancy (as opposed to the vicarious imagination) and (Godwinian)
intellect are wont (in his earlier period) to betray him . . . Now you . . . are con¬
scious of a heart warmth responsive to your own. In his private character Shelley can
hardly have grown more gentle, kind, and affectionate, than his friends always repre¬
sented him to be. . .” (II, 420).
270 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
the short-sighted reformers who commit the fatal ‘‘error at the
very root of the matter,” the need to “Purify that inward sphere”
of the individual’s own heart. Hawthorne asks, “Is not Nature bet¬
ter than a book? Is not the human heart deeper than any system
of philosophy? Is not life replete with more instruction than past
observers have found it possible to write down in maxims? Be of
good cheer. The great book of Time is still spread wide open before
us; and, if we read it aright, it will be to us a volume of eternal
truth.” (p. 449)
Hawthorne’s “Artist of the Beautiful” (Democratic Revietv, June,
1844) in which art is objectified in a mechanical butterfly, is some¬
times erroneously said to present beauty as completely disassociated
from religion. The general framework of the story and the contex¬
ture of the beautiful involves a revolt from the “utilitarian” — here
represented by the blacksmith and the practical clock-maker. As a
boy the artist, Owen, “was attempting to imitate the beautiful
movements of Nature as exemplified in the flight of birds or the
activity of little animals,” (p. 249) his interest at first being in
externals rather than in introspection. Hawthorne himself, after
speaking of Owen’s “chasing butterflies” as mere “playthings,” re¬
marks, “Alas that the artist, whether in poetry, or whatever other
material, may not content himself with inward enjoyment of the
beautiful. . . .” As long as this artist subordinates his art to drink
and riotous living (i.e., is unethical) he is unable to create even
mechanical art. One aspect of moralism, at least as associated with
the social solidarity of Dr. Johnson’s eighteenth century neo-classi¬
cism, is involved in the fact that Hawthorne says that the artist’s
“morbid sensibility” and “creative eccentricity,” which made the
townspeople of “unimaginative sagacity” think the artist mad, were
aggravated by the artist’s lack of social conformity. “The lack of
sympathy — that contrast between himself and his neighbors which
took away the restraint of example- — was enough to make him”
seem mad. One may also find some spiritual implication in Annie’s
early interpretation of the artist’s aim as involving “the spirituali¬
zation of matter” ; but it should be noted that the artist himself
calls this “a strange idea,” and he expresses a “strange distaste at
the stiff and regular processes of ordinary machinery.” “In his
idle and dreamy days he had considered it possible, in a certain
sense, to spiritualize machinery, and to combine with the new spe¬
cies of life and motion thus produced a beauty that should attain
to the ideal which Nature has proposed to herself in all creatures,
but never has taken pains to realize.” To be completely successful
this artist needs the intuitive sympathy of Annie, he needs to be
“enlightened by the deep intelligence of love” (Cf. “Drowne’s
Wooden Image”) which would, Owen says, “give firmness to my
1961]
Clark — Hawthorne' s Literary Doctrines
271
heart and hand.” But actually Annie “had shown herself incapable
of any deep response” or any “spiritual power that he worshipped,”
since this capacity had existed only “within the artist's imagina¬
tion,” and he “had deceived himself.” Hawthorne adds, had the
artist “found Annie what he fancied, his lot would have been so
rich in beauty that out of its mere redundancy he might have
wrought the beautiful into many a worthier type than he had toiled
for,” i.e., worthier than the merely mechanical butterfly. Viewed
from this angle, the story deals with the way in which an artist's
failure to find fulfillment in genuine love truncates his art which
emerges in unworthy forms. In this case, the child of Owen’s be¬
loved, fathered by another, destroys even the artist's unworthy art.
When Owen temporarily thinks he has “thrown . . . aside” his ar¬
tist's dream and turned to “common sense” alone, after he recovers
from “the calamity of men whose spiritual part dies out of them,”
he is led to “thank Heaven for rendering him again the being of
thought, imagination, and keenest sensibility that he had long
ceased to be.” In other words, for Hawthorne the artist with spir¬
itual orientation needs the harmonious balance of “thought, imagi¬
nation, and keenest sensibility” rather than the extremist's®
espousal of any one of these alone viewed as completely apart from
the practical clock-maker's cold, “unimaginative sagacity” (cf.
514-5 Locke's Understanding without Reason) , and apart from “the
hard, cold world,” (The quotations, in order, in the last paragraph
will be found in II, 507, 515, 514, 521, 507, 524, 519, 523, 525,
514-5.)
In this story the antithesis of time and eternity (cf. Melville on
man's-time and God's-time in Pierre) and the antithesis of the
mechanistic and the organic, appear to involve a hierarchical pro¬
gression of values in which art tends to be associated at its best
with the universalized timeless and the organic. Is the very fact
that the butterfly is mechanical a major explanation for its inability
to survive? Is Hawthorne suggesting that art cannot have suffi¬
cient organic vitality to endure, to be timeless (transcending me-
® In connection with this recognition that a “worthier” art than that represented by
the mechanized butterfly was desirable, it is interesting- to recall that in Hawthorne’s
preface to The House of Seven Gables he had used the image of the butterfly associated
with mechanical things in a satiric or disparaging way. “The author has considered it
hardly worth his while, therefore, relentlessly to impale the story with its moral as
with an iron rod, — or, rather, as by sticking a pin through a butterfly, — thus depriving
it of life, and causing it to stiffen in an ungainly and unnatural attitude.” It is note¬
worthy that in the “germ” for “The Artist of the Beautiful” in American Note-Books
Hawthorne had cited as the artist’s product various things which he called trivially
mechanical ; this original conception would appear to support the present interpretation
of the mechanical butterfly as being not the “worthier type” of art he strove for. It
will be recalled that in The House of Seven Gables Hawthorne thought the artistic
Clifford, had his normal development not been stunted by imprisonment, might have
developed into a “Sybarite.” “The Procession of Life” has already been cited as coun¬
terbalancing “The Artist of the Beautiful” in its view' that the true artist is not at the
opposite pole from the populace and w'arm human sympathies.
272 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
chanical clockmakers) unless it is vitalized by the quickening and
redemptive love of a woman endowed by sympathy and spiritual
understanding? After the butterfly is destroyed, the artist, rather
than being frantic, “looked placidly at what seemed the ruin of his
life’s labour,” for, Hawthorne moralizes, “when the artist rose high
enough to achieve the beautiful, the symbol [the mechanical] by
which he made it perceptible to mortal senses became of little value
in his eyes while his spirit possessed itself in the enjoyment of the
reality.” Finally, Hawthorne says in this story that when artistic
ideas “grow up within the imagination” and appear to “be shat¬
tered and annihilated by contact with the practical” world, the
artist “must stand up against mankind and be his own sole disciple,
both as respects his genius and the objects to which it is directed.”
This doctrine, again, would seem to be out of accord with Haw¬
thorne’s more frequent view as a Jacksonian democrat that the
artist gains power by expressing himself in harmony with the sen¬
timent of the “uninstructed multitude.” (II, 535-6; 512).
In Hawthorne’s “The Great Stone Face,” (National Era, Jan.,
1850) in which the poet loses (along with the merchant [Gather-
gold] , with the warrior [Old Blood-and-Thunder] and the politician
[Old Stony Phiz] ) , in the contest as to who will most resemble the
magnaminity and “divine sympathy” of the Stone Face, the author
makes three points relating to aesthetics and the quest of greatness.
First, the poet’s literary “genius” includes the art of idealizing.
“If he sang of a mountain, the eyes of all mankind beheld a mightier
grandeur reposing on its breast, or soaring to its summit, than had
before been seen there. If his theme were a lowly lake, a celestial
smile had now been thrown over it, to gleam forever on its surface.
If it were the vast old sea, even the deep immensity of its dread
bosom seemed to swell the higher, as if moved by the emotions of
the song. Thus the world assumed another and a better aspect from
the hour that the poet blessed it with his happy eyes. The Creator
had bestowed him, as the last best touch of his own handiwork.
Creation was not finished till the poet came to interpret, and so to
complete it.” (HI, 432-433) Broadly speaking, Hawthorne’s pres¬
entation of the poet who idealizes “the mountains which had been
familiar to him in his childhood” belongs to the tradition associated
with Wordsworth. Nature, as represented by the Stone Face, had
“become a teacher to him [Ernest], and . . . the sentiment which was
expressed in it would enlarge the young man’s heart, and fill it with
wider and deeper sympathies than other hearts. They [the vil¬
lagers] knew not that thence [from nature] would come a better
wisdom than could be learned from books, and a better life than
could be moulded on the defaced example of other human lives.
Neither did Ernest know that the thoughts and affections which
1961]
Clark — Haivthorne’ s Literary Doctrines
273
came to him so naturally in the fields and at the fireside, and wher¬
ever he communed with himself, were of a higher tone than those
which all men shared with him.” (Ill, 421). Cf. Wordsworth’s
doctrine that “one impulse from a vernal wood” can teach man
more “than all the [human] sages can.” Second, as regards
aesthetics, “The Great Stone Face” also contains Hawthorne’s
sharpest statement as to the reality of nature and its beauty as
opposed to the current transcendental doctrine that nature’s beauty
exists only in the human observer’s fancy. Some of the villagers
who looked upon the Stone Face were given to “affirming that all
the beauty and dignity of the natural world existed only in the
poet’s fancy.” Notice Hawthorne’s own editorial verdict : “Let such
men speak for themselves, who undoubtedly appear to have been
spawned forth by Nature with a contemptuous bitterness, she hav¬
ing plastered them up out of her refuse stuff, after all the swine
were made. As respects all things else, the poet’s ideal was the
truest truth.” Finally, much as Ernest admired “the living images
which the poet flung out of his mind, and which peopled all . . .
with shapes of beauty,” the poet himself in his humble self¬
appraisal recognized that he was “not worthy to be typified by
yonder benign and majestic image,” — i.e., the Stone Face. Why?
Because his conduct, his life, has not been sincerely organic with
his poetic professions. “My life, dear Ernest,” the poet says, “has
not corresponded with my thought. I have had grand dreams, but
they have been only dreams. . . . Sometimes even — shall I dare to
say it?— I lack faith in the grandeur, the beauty, and the goodness,
which my works are said to have made more evident in nature and
in human life. Why, then, pure seeker of the good and the true,
shouldst thou hope to find me, in yonder image of the divine?” In
contrast, Ernest’s own words from his “natural pulpit” had organic
“power, because they accorded with his thoughts ; and his thoughts
had reality and depth, because they harmonized with the life which
he had always lived. It was not a mere breath that this preacher
uttered; they were the words of life, because a life of good deeds
and holy love was melted into them. . . . The poet, as he listened,
felt that the being and character of Ernest were a nobler strain of
poetry than he had ever written. . . . Behold! Behold! Ernest is
himself the likeness of the Great Stone Face” so “imbued with
benevolence” and a “grand beneficence.” This doctrine that the ex-
presser of beauty must go beyond mere verbal technique and must
make the “deeds” of his actual life and his personal thought har¬
monize with his words and vitalize them belongs to the tradition of
John Milton and his lofty organic doctrine that no man can be a
true poet who has not first made his own life a noble poem. This
organic doctrine links Hawthorne’s religious-ethical doctrine with
274 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
his aesthetic doctrine, and helps to explain why he has so little to
say, relatively, about technical matters. (II, 433-38)
In conclusion, what artistic problems do these stories show Haw¬
thorne concerned with? First, in “The Artist of the Beautiful’’ he
reflects a transient pique because the artist feels himself at times
out of accord with the multitude, but as an ardent member of
George Bancroft’s Jacksonian party Hawthorne more characteristi¬
cally thinks that the artist should be the spokesman for deeper
insights shared by all men. Second, in “Prophetic Pictures” he
warns the artist against excessive pride as an irresponsible creator
of portraits which prophecy a character’s future development while
he retained faith that the artist could exert free will to forestall his
own bad influence. But in “Randolph’s Portrait” he seems to excuse
the use of art to prophecy when such art was used in the interest
of political freedom as against tyranny. Third, Hawthorne was
deeply concerned with the relative values of the mechanistic versus
the organic, the latter being essential to the greatest art. The or¬
ganic approach was inspired by an artist’s sincere love even if uni¬
lateral (as in “Drowne’s Wooden Image”) and by a life of genuine
ethical elevation and selfless magnanimity (as in “The Great Stone
Face”). (For orientation, see R. R. Male’s “ ‘From the Innermost
Germ’ ”. . . . ELH, XX, 218ff., Sept. 1953). Fourth, while he hon¬
ored two writers of “transcendent imagination,” Swedenborg and
Goethe (“Hall of Fantasy”), he thought that counterfeit art could
mislead a viewers’ imagination toward ruinous wishful thinking,
as in “Sylph Etherege.” Imagination needed to be balanced by rea¬
sonableness, warmth of heart, and a vigilant regard for actuality.
(For orientation, see R. J. Coanda’s unpublished dissertation,
“Hawthorne on the Imagination,” University of Wisconsin, 1960).
Fifth, the stories surveyed help to round out Hawthorne’s evalua¬
tion of literary masters, including his contemporaries such as Shel¬
ley whose later work he exalted. Sixth, while in “Chippings” he
thought symbols (such as tombstones) unnecessary, he has his nar¬
rator in “The Antique Ring” say that the symbol and the idea sym¬
bolized cannot be separated, thus moving toward a less mechanical
and a more fused and organic view of symbolism as transcending
allegory. Seventh, he resigns himself to the fact that beauty on
earth cannot be perfect, that one should learn to live with some im¬
perfection, as in “The Birthmark.” As an anti-transcendental
empiricist in part, he is not satisfied to have round Mother Earth
“exist only in Idea” (as in “The Hall of Fantasy”), although he
does take hope in the fact that the cloudiest mud-puddle can reflect
the purest Heavens. The true writer can idealize. Eighth, Haw¬
thorne is concerned with the way in which literature can make use
of the timely or the familiar scene to transcend itself and suggest
1961]
Clark — Haivthorne’s Literary Doctrines
275
in symbols timeless and hence enduringly suggestive human and
spiritual values, as in ‘The Hall of Fantasy'’ and especially in
“Earth's Holocaust," where he tries to show that man's transient
reforms and even hre cannot destroy the deathless works such as
The Bible, and those of Shakespeare and Milton.
As regards chronological development in these stories by Haw¬
thorne one can note his growth toward an increasing fusion of
image and idea, culminating in “The Artist of the Beautiful, per¬
haps his most subtle story on an artist, as well as a growth toward
more concern with the organic, with a concern with the artist's
need for love and sympathy, a recognition of the perils of the artist
succumbing to pride in the sense of prophecy, and, after variants,
a growing sense of the artist's need to reconcile faith in his art
with his role as spokesman of insights shared by all men, along
with a need to try to balance the imagination with understanding
of reality and with reason, a need for the “counterpoise between
his mind and heart" (N.P., 1194) . If these stories on artists are not
without a few apparent contradictions or inconsistencies, it should
be recalled that R. H. Fogle's excellent book, Haivthorne's Fiction:
The Light and the Dark (1952), p. 192, concludes that in general
“there is no synthesis in Hawthorne's thinking, only thesis and
antithesis in balance. . . .His only reconciliation is acceptance of
life's differences and contradictions." Finally, for a general, over¬
all brief survey, the reader is directed to C. H. Foster's useful study
by C. H. Foster of “Hawthorne's Literary Theory," PMLA, LVII
(March, 1942), pp. 241-54, a study which the present one is in¬
tended to supplement in its concern with the way the artist and
his concern with beauty function in terms of images within actual
stories as works of art.
‘THE ACTUAL AND THE IMAGINARY’’ : HAWTHORNE’S
CONCEPT OF ART IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
Robert Kimbrough
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Few students of modern fiction — that peculiarly Western evolu¬
tion— -deny Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “absolute greatness as a writer
and the centrality of his position in American literature.”^ But too
many go on to assert that “allegory is organic” to Hawthorne’s
work.2 As a result, the familiar deduction from these casual prem¬
ises is the widely accepted assumption that Hawthorne wrote great
allegory. By such an approach we can prove that every play that
Shakespeare wrote was good. However, in point of fact, no one
has shown satisfactorily either that Titus Andronious is a good
play or that Hawthorne was a great allegorist. If we are to reach
a sound critical understanding of Hawthorne and his place in lit¬
erature, we must come to grips with the unconscious syllogism
which has weakened many of the recent, generally perceptive
studies of him,^ What must be decided is how “organic” — or cen¬
tral, to be more exact — to Hawthorne’s artistic purposes and meth¬
ods was his “inveterate love of allegory.”^
A more helpful hypothesis is that an inveterate love of human
life — that odd mixture of body and soul — was central to, and con¬
trolled Hawthorne’s philosophy of art. His particular understand¬
ing of the nature of man led him to a parallel, but elevated view of
the artist as one who lives and works among the Actual and the
Imaginary for the purpose of giving the ordinary man a greater
appreciation of life. By seeing then, (1) what elements it takes to
make an artist and (2) how an artist goes about his work, we can
reach (3) an understanding of Hawthorne’s aesthetic of the Actual
iRoy R. Male, Haiotliorne’s Tr'agic Vision (Austin, Texas, 1957), p. 19. But see also
Rudolph Von Abele, The Death of the Artist: A Study of Hawthorne’s Disintegration
(The Hague, 1955), a work based on the assumption that “in his own rig-ht Hawthorne
is moderately interesting-, but scarcely great” (p. 101).
2 Richard H. Fogle, Hawthorne’s Fiction: The Light and the Dark (Norman, Okla¬
homa, 1952), p. 7.
2 See, for example, Fogle, Hawthorne’s Fiction, p. 41, for the clearest evidence of the
syllogism ; Ivor Winters, “Maule’s Curse : or Hawthorne and the Problem of Allegory”
(1938), In Defence of Reason (Denver, 1947), pp. 157-175, who assumes the validity
of the minor premise in order to deny Hawthorne’s greatness ; and Mark Van Doren,
Nathaniel Hawthorne (New York, 1949) who reveals that he accepts the syllogism
when he is forced to say that “without his allegory Hawthorne would be nothing”
(p. 66).
^ Certainly the main line of Hawthorne criticism from Poe and James ; down to New¬
ton Arvin, Austin Warren, Randall Stewart, and Leon Howard ; and including now
H. H. Waggoner and Harry Levin has reflected the idea that Hawthorne was “more
than a mere allegorist” ; however, the fact that each of these students of Hawthorne
has felt he had to make some sort of general qualification with regard to “Hawthorne’s
allegory” shows the pervasiveness of the assumption being examined in this article.
Only F. O. Mathiessen, to date, has undertaken a similar study.
277
278 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
and the Imaginary. Once we understand Hawthorne’s theory of art
we shall be able (4) to see to what degree and how “allegory” and
imagination figure in his work, and (5) to come to a more exact
estimate of his genius.
Melville long ago warned the “mere critic” of the futility that
lies in trying to analyze Hawthorne’s genius, “for it is not the
brain that can test such a man; it is only the heart. You cannot
come to know greatness by inspecting it; there is no glimpse to be
caught of it, except by intuition.” Nevertheless, any intuitive dis¬
coveries made by a critic can be reported only in the rhetorical pat¬
terns of humble prose. These two observations need not discourage
us in our attempt to sound Hawthorne; they should remind us,
rather, that the orderly progressions and philosophical schemes
that follow are the report of a reader, not the product of an artist.
No claim is made for Hawthorne as a logically consistent philoso¬
pher; insight and reflection can work together productively in an
intelligent, sensitive adult without his knowing how or caring why.
And, it should be needless to add, the processes of such cerebral
production can be haphazard and apparently confusing without
impairing the end result. Let us accept, then, the challenge offered
by Hawthorne to “look through the entire range of his characters,
good and evil, in order to detect any of his essential traits.”*^
I
Hawthorne quite rightly placed himself “between the Transcend-
entalists . . . and the great body of pen-and-ink men who address
the intellect and sympathies of the multitude.”' This could be taken
as merely an evasive circumlocution concerning that fictitious alter-
ego, M. de I’Aubepine ; however, I find it to be an exact delineation
of the area where Hawthorne felt that, as an artist, his creative
work would be most effective. He affirms repeatedly that man,
above the animals, has soul, intellect, and /icarf.® The Transcend-
entalists were overly concerned with the soul, while the majority
of writers ignored what might be the divine or immortal— -“ethe¬
real” is Hawthorne’s preference — aspect of man and stayed within
the limits of the body’s head (intellect) and heart. But Hawthorne
felt that neither the body nor the soul should be neglected in favor
of the other; rather, he attempted to formulate his work in such a
5 “Hawthorne and His Mosses,” The Apple-tree Table and Other Sketches, ed. Henry
Chapin (Princeton, 1922), pp, 63-64.
« Preface, The Snoiv Image, HI, 386. All references are to the Riverside Edition of
The \Co7)ii)lete Woi'ks. ed. G. P. Lathrop, 13 vols. (Boston, 1882-84). When the general
source of a quotation is clear, its exact location will be noted in the text.
■^Preface, “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” H, 107.
®E.g., The Scarlet Letter, V, 33—34; The America^i Notebooks, ed. Randall Stewart
(New Haven, 1933), p. 126. See Marvin Laser, “‘Head’, ‘Heart’, and ‘Will’ in Haw¬
thorne’s Psychology,” Nineteenth Ce^vtury Fiction, X (September, 1955), 130-140 for an
account of the academic roots of Hawthorne’s working hypothesis concerning man.
1961]
Kimbrough — Hwwthorne’ s Art Concept
279
way that it would be written from, and addressed to, the total man :
soul, intellect, and heart.
At first glance, Hawthorne’s view of man appears to follow tra¬
ditional humanistic thought. However, Hawthorne separated what
Shakespeare would have called simply “the rational soul” into in¬
tellect and soul; the soul alone remained uncorrupted by Adam’s
fall, while reason (intellect) lost its divine efficacy, a view in accord
both with Hawthorne’s Puritan heritage and with his exposure to
Romanticism. The heart, in turn, serves as a kind of middle ground.
Bodily and impure, it is “that foul cavern . . . wherein existed the
original wrong of which the crime and misery of this outward
world were merely types.”° Yet, the two Allegories of the Heart
(H, 303-346) remind us that the redeeming power of love also
resides within the heart. Thus, although the soul alone is spiritual
while the head and the heart are earthly, they must all work in
harmony if man is to be happy and at peace with himself.
Basically, the artist is representative of Everyman however,
his innate moral characteristics of intellect, soul, and heart are
expanded to “thought, imagination, and keenest sensibility.”^^
These three powers must be acute, but also must remain in balance,
if they are to produce great art : if they are “to put the very spirit
of beauty into form and give it motion.”^^
The first step necessary in artistic creation is the full exercise of
intellectual power in the analysis of actual material flux and fact,
be it butterflies, a birthmark, or the “varying characteristic traits”
of a young coupled^ This is the step which Hilda could not accom¬
plish; she had the requisite imagination and sensibility (soul and
heart) which could re-create some one else’s analysis of external
reality, but she did not have enough mind to be an original artist.
“Instructed by sorrow,” however, at the end of The Marble Faun,
Hilda had lost her ability to copy, for “she could not yield herself
up to the painter so unreservedly as in times past; her character
had developed a sturdier quality, which made her less pliable to the
influence of other minds. . . . She had known such a reality, that it
taught her to distinguish inevitably the large portion that is unreal,
in every work of art.”^^
» “Barth’s Holocaust,” II, 445. (On the same page, the intellect alone is shown to be
powerless with regard to the heart.)
See “The Procession of Life,” II, 240, and “Drowne’s Wooden Image,” II, 362.
11 “The Artist of the Beautiful,” II, 525. See also. Preface, The Scarlet Letter, V, 44,
and “P’s Correspondence,” II, 420.
12 “The Artist of the Beautiful,” II, 509.
12 “The Prophetic Pictures,” I, 199.
11 The Marble Faun, VI, 427. This passage is important not only because it reflects
Hawthorne’s views on aesthetics but also because it gives support to that school which
sees the theme of the work as a reaffirmation of felix culpa: Hilda clearly has been
educated now that her virtue is no longer fugitive and cloistered. Perhaps the violence
of her retort to Kenyon in the next chapter (XLII) is the reflection of her realization
of this fact. In any case, the entire present chapter (XLI) should be read, for it sup¬
plies a wealth of evidence which supports the thesis being presented in this article.
280 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Once we make this discovery, that appearance is unreal, we fall
apart like Feathertop unless our new knowledge leads to a sense of a
higher reality. Hence, at this stage, Hawthorne’s conception of the
imagination enters into his aesthetic, for the imagination is an
‘hnnate tendency of soul”^^ which reaffirms with the new Adam
and Eve that ‘heaven is my home.’ It is necessary in art, for “it is
only through the medium of the imagination that we can lessen
those iron fetters, which we call truth and reality, and make our¬
selves even partially sensible what prisoners we are” (II, 278).
Hawthorne was not a Subjective Idealist — ^witness the fate of Sylph
Etherege who lived entirely within “the haunts of imagination”
(HI, 510) — , nor was he a Transcendentalist ; nevertheless, he did
believe that there was a truth and a reality higher than those rep¬
resented by material flux and fact alone. No weighty metaphysic
such as Coleridge’s, nor a well defined theology such as Edwards’
specifically informed his thought; but, brought up in the mixed
atmosphere of both philosophies and being a man of sensitive mind
and spirit, Hawthorne was conditioned to accept some sort of
heaven, absolute, or perfect Idea as an empirical fact. We need look
no further than “The Old Manse” to see that, in truth, he did.
There, it is clear that the beauties of nature, especially as reflected
in the river, informed his soul of an ideal realm but even at the
mundane Salem Custom House, he believed with all his power that
there was a “true and indestructible value that lay hidden in . . .
petty and wearisome incidents, and ordinary characters” (V, 57).
It is the function of the imagination to discern “in this sphere of
strangely mingled elements, the beauty and the majesty which are
compelled to assume a garb so sordid.”^^
But “the coolness of a meditative habit” and the “glittering
icicles” of imagination^® will remain cold and lifeless “till the heart
is touched,” until thought and imagination (mind and soul) are
warmed by mixing with the artist’s sensibility or sympathy. The
warming, humanizing power of the heart hardly needs to be labored
anymore,’^ but it receives an interesting illustration in the Preface
to The Scarlet Letter, There, Hawthorne’s innate sympathy was so
stirred by the “A” that it scorched him.
“The Artist of the Beautiful,” II, 515.
Malcolm Cowley, “Hawthorne in the Looking- Glass,” Sewanee Revieio, LVI
(Autumn, 1948), 545-563, and Jesse Bier, “Hawthorne on the Romance: His Prefaces
Related and Examined,” Modern Philology, LIH (August, 1955), 17—24, have pointed
out that the reflections seen in mirrors, rivers, and ponds are symbols of the imagina¬
tion in Hawthorne.
11 The House of Seven Gables, HI, 59.
Preface, Twice-told Tales, I, 16 ; “The Village Uncle,” I, 356.
91 See, for example, John W. Shroeder, “ ‘That Inward Sphere’ : Notes on Hawthorne’s
Heart Imagery and Symbolism,” PMLA, LXV (March, 1950), 106-119; Donald A.
Ringe, “Hawthorne’s Psychology of the Head and Heart,” PMLA, LXV (Mai'ch, 1950),
120-132; and Roy R, Male, “Hawthorne and the Concept of Sympathy,” PMLA,
LXVHI (March, 1953), 138-149.
1961]
Kimbrough — Haivthorne’ s Art Concept
281
Yet, he could not write his novel at that time, for even though
the story was “subtly communicating itself to my sensibilities, . . .
it was evading the analysis of my mind,’’ and “my imagination was
a tarnished mirror” (V, 50, 53) . How, then, does the artist com¬
bine and mold his creative powers? To answer this question we
must delve into the light and shade, and enter the lives of every day
affairs and of solitude. When we come out, we should have a clearer
idea of Hawthorne’s conception of the Actual and the Imaginary,
and should be in a better position to interpret his “inveterate love
of allegory.”
II
From Hawthorne’s Note-books, his Prefaces (especially those to
the Tivice-told Tales and The Scarlet Letter), the many sketches
such as “Snow-flakes” and “Fragments from the Journal of a Soli¬
tary Man” [Oberon], the tales “Browne’s Wooden Image” and
“The Artist of the Beautiful,” and some passages in The Marble
Faun we get a consistent picture of the artist at work.^® In all, the
artist lives a divided life : half in the sunshine amid nature or the
bustle of life, half in the shade and in solitude. The sun is neces¬
sary for the studied and passive observation of all the potential
materials and subjects later to figure in artistic creations. But the
sun shines equally on the just and the unjust, confusing apparent
reality with the manifestations of a higher reality. Thus, the artist
must retire to a study where daylight does not interfere with the
figuring forth of the imagination. Hawthorne’s warning to his
fiance could have been addressed as well to a young artist : “Keep
thy imagination sane — that is one of tho truest conditions of a com¬
munion with Heaven.”^^
In solitude, then, surrounded by shade created by fire or some
subdued light, an artist can serve his imagination — the shade hid¬
ing “whatever was unworthy to be noticed” and the fire picturing
forth “golden glimpses of a better world. Thus, the study itself
becomes a symbol of the imagination, just as is Miriam’s studio in
The Marble Faun, which was
one of those delightful spots that hardly seem to belong to the actual
world, but rather to be the outward type of the poePs haunted imagina¬
tion [See “The Haunted Mind]’^ where there are glimpses, sketches, and
^ Annette K, Baxter, “Independence vs. Isolation : Hawthorne and James on the
Problem of the Artist,” Nineteenth 'Century Fiction, X (December, 1955), 225-231,
correctly warns us not to assume that Hawthorne projected himself in the pictures
of his own artists, for his total achievement reads otherwise ; and Arlin Turner,
“Hawthorne as Self-Critic,” South Atlantic Quarterly, XXXVH (April, 1938), 132-
138, points out that Hawthorne purposely underrated himself as a kind of protective
device.
The Heart of Hawthorne’s Journals, ed. Newton Arvin (Boston, 1929), p. 86.
33 “A Select Party,” H, 71-72; “Fire Worship,” H, 162. (“Fire Worship” serves as
“11 Penseroso” to his “L’Alleg-ro” : “Buds and Bird Voices.”)
282 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
half-developed hints of beings and objects grander and more beautiful
than we can anywhere find in reality. The windows were closed with shut¬
ters, or deeply curtained, except one which was partly open to a sunless
portion of the sky, admitting only from high upward that partial light
which, with its strongly marked contrast of shadow, is the first requisite
towards seeing objects pictorially. (VI, 57)
Yet, if the hints of the imagination are to receive full development,
the artist even in solitude must somehow keep his heart warm so
that his natural sensibility will be communicated to his artifact.
As Kenyon fell in love, his “genius unconsciously wrought upon by
Hilda’s influence, took a more delicate character than heretofore” ;
when ishe is lost, “imagination and the love of art” die within him
(VI, 426, 483).
Hawthorne often repeated this conception of how a creative
imagination functioned; let us take our summary, then, from Dr.
Grimshawe’ s Secret, in order to show his consistency. In describing
Ned, he says, “there were the rudiments of a poetic and imagina¬
tive mind within the boy, if its subsequent culture should be such
as the growth of that delicate flower requires; a brooding habit
taking outward things into itself and imbuing them with its own
essence until, after they had lain there awhile, they assumed a rela¬
tion both to truth and to himself, and became mediums to affect
other minds with the magnetism of his own.” Like Hawthorne, Ned
grew up in a shadow, “with less sunshine than he needed for a
robust and exuberent development, though enough” to cultivate his
imagination. Ned, too, lived “an inward life . . . , keeping his imagi¬
nation always awake and strong.” Although he lived in a “castle
in the air” [see Our Old Home, VII, 150-51, “A Select Party,” and
“The Hall of Fantasy”], Little Elsie was there “to keep life real,
and substantial” (XHI, 108-110).
Ill
A castle in the air, a study, or living an inward life should not
be taken as evidence of a denial of actual life. Hawthorne calls the
world unreal because it is not complete reality; it has the appear¬
ance of reality only when close contact with earthly things success¬
fully masks the higher reality. Since the degrees of reality and un¬
reality which the world offers will vary from person to person,
Hawthorne avoids confusion by calling material fact and flux “the
Present, the Immediate, the Actual.”^^ In spite of his use of the dic¬
tion of Berkeleian psychology, his emphasis was of an opposite
nature. The Actual exists and man exists within it.
Dedication Our Old Home, VII, 16. The rest of the dedication may be read in
support of the present article.
1961] Kimbrough — Hawthorne' s Art Concept 283
On the other hand, the Ideal may lie “above, below, or beyond the
actual.’’-^ It matters little, for the Ideal can only be imagined within
each person. The Imaginary, then, is just that: a condition of the
mind. But the imagination, nevertheless, can have a real effect on
man. Having its origin in the soul, it can bring to bear on man's
vision the soul's knowledge of the Ideal. Through the imagination,
a man is given an elevated perception of the material fact and flux
which might otherwise cloud his vision of a better life. By exercis¬
ing the active faculty of his soul he can purge away the petty as¬
pects of earthly life so that life is endowed with a purer meaning.
In spite of my separation of the Actual and the Imaginary for
purposes of definition, they play equally important roles in artistic
creation, the purpose of which is to “affect other minds with the
magnetism" of the artist’s mind. If a work is too imaginary, or
exclusively Transcendental, contact cannot be made with other
minds. If it is too much a pen-and-ink copy of actual life, there will
be no magnetism, no shock of human recognition, no impulse along
the magnetic chain of humanity. Effective art lies somewhere in
between.
Hawthorne observed in his American Notebooks that “on being
transported to strange scenes, we feel as if all were unreal. This is
but the perception of the true unreality of earthly things, made
evident between ourselves and them. By and by we become mutually
adapted, and the perception is lost" (IX, 109). The artist’s retreat
to some kind of study is necessary, then, so that the imagination
can work to regain that perception.
This idea receives dramatic illustration from an incident re¬
ported in Our Old Home. Hawthorne had gone to Uttoxeter because
the story of Dr. Johnson's having done penance there as an old man
had always touched him deeply. Once arrived, however, he was
surprised to find that he felt no emotional reaction; rather, he
walked around the market place quietly bemused, observing and
pondering the details of the setting, but careful not to fall into a
literal reenactment of the penance. Hawthorne understood that
a sensible man had better not let himself be betrayed into these attempts
to realize the things which he has dreamed about, and which, when they
cease to be purely ideal in his mind, will have lost the truest of their
truth, the loftiest and profoundest part of their power over his sympa¬
thies, Facts, as we really find them, whatever poetry they may involve,
are covered with a stony excrescene of prose, resembling the crust on a
beautiful sea-shell, and they never show their most delicate and divinest
colors until we shall have dissolved away their grosser actualities by steep¬
ing them long in the powerful menstruum of thought. And seeking to
actualize them again, we do but renew the crust. If this were otherwise, —
if the moral sublimity of a great fact depended in any degree on its
21 “The Hall of Fantasy,” II, 197.
284 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
g'arb of external circumstance, things which change and decay, — it could
not itself be immortal and ubiquitous, and only a brief point of time and
a little neighborhood would be spiritually nourished by its grandeur and
beauty, (VII, 165-66)
Even though Hawthorne was careful, then, not to stand in the mid¬
dle of the market place, he felt no grandeur and beauty while visit¬
ing Uttoxeter. As soon as he had left the town, however, “this sad
and lovely story . . . [became] holy to my contemplation, again. . . .
It but confirms what I have been saying, that sublime and beautiful
facts are best understood when etherialized by distance’' (VII, 16).
It is clear now why an artist needs a study, why he needs to
enter “a neutral territory, somewhere between the real world and
fairy-land, where the Actual and the Imaginary may meet, and each
imbue itself with the nature of the other.”^^ When such a mixture
of the Actual and the Imaginary is obtained, the result will be effec¬
tive art. We get a total view of this aesthetic theory through “The
Hall of Fantasy.”
The Hall of Fantasy, like the soul and heaven itself, “is likely to
endure longer than the most substantial structure that ever cum¬
bered the earth.” It is important for the artist to visit the hall, for
“here the wise head and capacious heart may do their work; and
what is good and true becomes gradually hardened into fact.” Yet
the hall can not be a home, for “the root of human nature strikes
down deep into this earthly soil, and it is but reluctantly that we
submit to be transplanted, even for a higher cultivation in heaven.”
No, that “allegoric structure,” the Imaginary, is only a “place of
refuge from the gloom and chilliness of actual life.” Granted that
“there is but half a life — the meaner and earthlier half — for those
who never find their way into the hall,” it is equally true that the
Imaginary is but half a life, and good art will mix the Actual and
the Imaginary to soften the “hard angles” of earthly existence.
Hawthorne concludes, “Let us be content, therefore, with merely
an occasional visit to the Hall, for the sake of spiritualizing the
grossness of this actual life, and prefiguring to ourselves a state
in which the Idea shall be all in all” (H, 196-211).
Hawthorne’s mention of ‘prefiguring the Idea’ seems to lay the
ground work for Symbolism and the idea of ‘spiritualizing this
life’ could validly lead to Allegory. But symbolism demands a kind
of imagination which Hawthorne did not have ; moreover, a symbol
tends to separate the Actual and the Imaginary, even while yoking
them. Allegory, indeed, does mix the Actual and the Imaginary;
however, it demands a strict and well-defined philosophy or theol¬
ogy which it wishes to expound. But Hawthorne would join neither
the ‘School of Philosophy’ nor any church; they were too narrow
Preface, The Scarlet Letter, V, 55.
1961]
Kimbrough — Hmvthorne’ s Art Concept
285
in their approaches to life. What then of his confessed ‘‘love of
allegory”? The phrase is a vague expression which described the
manner in which Hawthorne’s imagination worked — a manner
partly symbolical and partly allegorical.
IV
With Hawthorne’s constant emphasis on the necessity of the
imagination’s working hand and glove with the head and the heart,
we are reminded of Coleridge’s metaphysic of Organic Vitalism.
Browne’s repetition of the aesthetic commonplace that a “figures
lies hidden within that block of oak, and it is my business to find
it” (H, 353) has, in fact, suggested to recent critics that Haw¬
thorne knew Coleridge’s theory.^*^ But the correspondence between
Hawthorne and Coleridge is only a similarity, not an identity, for
Hawthorne’s conception of the imagination was not so rarefied as
the Englishman’s. F, 0. Matthiessen was quite right when he said
that Hawthorne never distinguished between the imagination and
fancy,2^ and we can agree with Coleridge that the distinction, in
itself, is rather pointless. Nevertheless, his analysis of the imagina¬
tion does give us a measure which we may use to determine the
degree of esemplastic creative power which lies within Hawthorne’s
conception of the imagination.
Coleridge’s primary imagination is “the living Power and prime
Agent of all human Perception, and is a repetition of the eternal
act of creation of the infinite I This is the power in the the¬
ory of Organic Vitalism which can create a world above nature by
using its knowledge to postulate the essential creative process of
nature. But Hawthorne was mystified by that process. Although he
saw that somehow the Gothic represented “the very process of
nature”, he was equally sure that it “produces an effect we know
not of.” Because he took the world as he found it and believed that
its essential qualities could not be changed, he affirmed that his
taste was Gothic, not Platonic as was Coleridge’s : “classic statues
escape you with their slippery beauty, as if they were made of ice.
Rough and ugly things can be clutched.” Hence, Hawthorne’s reac¬
h's Roy R. Male, “ ‘Prom the Innermost G-erm’ ; The Organic Principle in Hawthorne’s
Fiction,” ELH, XX (September, 1953), 219, See also, Male, Hawthorne’s Tragic Vision
(Austin, Texas, 1957), p. 20 ff., et passim; C. H, Foster ‘‘Hawthorne’s Literary The¬
ory,” PMLA, LVII (March, 1942), 241—254; and Jesse Bier, ‘‘Hawthorne on the
Romance: His Prefaces Related and Examined,” Modern Philology, LHI (August,
1955), 17-24.
^American Renaissance (New York, 1941), pp. 249-250. Matthiessen tends to over¬
rate the archetypal thrust of Hawthorne’s imagination ; he, like Male, Tragic Vision,
pp. 29-32, has to draw heavily from Melville in order to illustrate the esemplastic
power of Hawthorne’s mind. Hawthorne did not have enough self-reliance, in the
Emersonian sense, to be a symbolist.
^ Biographia Literaria, Ch. XIII (Criticism; The Major Texts, ed. Walter Jackson
Bate (New York, 1952), p. 387).
286 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
tion to nature and the Gothic was “moral rather than intellectual’’ ;
he needed the Actual “where human feelings may cling and over¬
grow like ivy.’’^
The difference between the two men is most clearly seen in “The
Artist of the Beautiful” (II, 504-536). Hawthorne’s delineation of
Owen Warland’s attempt to create “a beauty that should attain to
the ideal which Nature proposed to herself in all her creatures, but
has never taken the pains to realize” entails both a Platonic con¬
ception of art and the creative process of Organic Vitalism. But
what is Hawthorne’s evaluation of Owen’s desire? He suggests
ironically that “the chase of butterflies was an apt emblem of the
ideal pursuit in which he had spent so many golden hours.” He fur¬
ther implies that had Owen spent his golden hours (hours in which
the spirit and imagination are exercised) in courting Annie and
had he fallen in love with her, “his lot would have been so rich in
beauty that out of its mere redundancy he might have wrought the
beautiful in many a worthier type than he had toiled for,” Once
Owen’s aim had been realized, the result fell far below any Cole-
ridgean Ideal. Hawthorne keeps reminding us that it was a mechan¬
ical butterfly, that it sought humans before heaven, and that when
it did attempt heaven, a ceiling — “that earthly medium” — prevented
any escape from the world. If we recall that Hawthorne repeatedly
symbolized the heart by a house, the implication at the end of “The
Owen’s heart so warmed that he could turn his attention to earthly
beauty as represented by a mother and child before a domestic
fire. Because, as Owen realized, the butterfly contained “the intel¬
lect, the imagination, the sensibility, the soul of an Artist of the
Beautiful,” he had to reject the symbol if he was to affirm his
own life and reality. After the butterfly had been exorcised,
Owen’s “spirit possessed itself in the enjoyment of the reality.” He
had learned how to perceive beauty on earth and how to bring
others closer to a perception.®®
Coleridge’s primary imagination leads to a symbolism which
expands from the material and points to the supernatural, to the
realm of archetypes ; but Hawthorne was so committed to existence
in this world that his imagination could conceive only of symbols
which pointed to life itself. His was the imagination which saw a
The French and Italian Note-hooks, X, 399-400. See also Matthiessen, pp. 269-270,
for a discussion of Hawthorne’s Gothic taste.
30 Contrasting readings can be found in Geo. E. Woodberry, Nathaniel Hawthorne:
How to Know Him (Indianapolis, 1918), pp, 74-89; R, H. Fogle, Hawthorne’s Fiction,
pp. 70-90 ; and Rudolph Von Abele, “Baby and Butterfly,” Kenyon Review, XV
(Spring, 1953), 280—292. Woodberry believed that the story is a perfect illustration
of Hawthorne’s artistic aim and method ; Fogle believes that Warland’s achievement
represents the superior spiritual validity of aesthetic experience; and Von Abele be¬
lieves that there is a tension in the tale which is a projection of Hawthorne’s inabil¬
ity to reconcile the contradictory allegiances to which he was committed as a man
and as an artist.
1961]
Kimbrough — Hawthorne’ s Art Concept
287
house not as a type of eternity but as the human heart, which was
able to put the music of the spheres into a music box, and which
believed that the microscopic techniques of “the old Dutch masters'’
get “at the soul of common things, and so make them types and
interpreters of the spiritual world. A description of such an
imagination can be found in Coleridge on Fancy:
FANCY, on the contrary, has no other counters to play with, but fixities
and definites. The Fancy is indeed no other than a mode of Memory
emancipated from the order of time and space; while it is blended with,
and modified by the empirical phenomenon of the will, which we express
by the word CHOICE. But equally with the ordinary memory the Fancy
must receive all its materials ready made from the law of association.®^
If this is a just delineation of Hawthorne’s “imagination,” and
if, as Matthiessen says, “allegory deals with fixities and definites
which it does not basically modify,”'^^ then we should be able to
conclude that Hawthorne wrote Allegory. But the essential quality
of Allegory is that it has a particular philosophy or theology from
which it deduces its particular symbols and to which those sym¬
bols must consistently refer. In this respect The Fairie Queene and
The Pilgrim’s Progress are allegories, but Gulliver’s Travels is not.
And, in spite of Melville and Fogle, I should say that neither “A
Select Party” nor “The Celestial Railroad” is, strictly speaking^ an
allegory.®^ They present us with types, not archetypes ; hence, they
are quasi-allegorical in that they contain Imaginary figures, which
are deduced from Actual life and refer to Actual life, and quasi-
symbolical in that they contain Actual symbols which only pass
through the Imaginary and refer back to the Actual.^^
V
Against the background of Hawthorne’s ideas concerning the
function of the artist and his theory of the Actual and the Imagi¬
nary, I have tried to estimate the nature of his imagination in
order to show that neither symbolism nor, more particularly, alle¬
gory, considered as genres, plays a central part in his conception
of art. Because Hawthorne did work with the Imaginary, however,
a tendency towards symbolism and allegory seemed to enter his
The American Notebooks, ed. Randall Stewart (New Haven, 1933), pp. 98, 145;
and The English Notebooks, ed. Stewart (New York, 1941), p. 556.
Biographia Literaria, Ch. XIII (Bate, p. 387).
S3 Matthiessen, p. 249. See Edwin Honig-, “In Defense of Allegory,” Kenyon Review,
XX (Winter, 1958), 1—19, for an excellent discussion of the rhetorical nature of
Coleridge’s distinctions and of the comprehensive nature of allegory in general.
Si “Hawthorne and His Mosses,” The Apple-tree Table and Other Sketches, ed.
Henry Chapin (Princeton, 1922) pp, 82-83; Hawthorne’s B'iction, p. 13. The ensuing
quotations of Melville are from this famous review and will not be noted.
s^H. H. Waggoner, Hawthorne: A Critical Study (Cambridge Mass, 1955), p. 58
(et passim) presents the same general conclusion, but without much clarity of defini¬
tion : “Hawthorne’s best tales exist ... in a realm somewhere between symbolism
and allegory, as those terms are used today.”
288 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
writing, but the following remarks concerning M. de TAubepine in
the preface to “Rappaccini’s Daughter’' show that Hawthorne was
not entirely happy with that tendency : “His writings, to do them
justice, are not altogether destitute of fancy and originality; they
might have won him greater reputation but for an inveterate love
of allegory, which is apt to invest his plots and characters with the
aspect of scenery and people in the clouds, and to steal away the
human warmth out of his conceptions” (II, 107). Hawthorne here
apologizes because the “love of allegory” over-balances and has not
mixed with “human warmth.” The whole context, then, supports his
belief that the Actual and the Imaginary must “each imbue itself
with the nature of other” in order to create scenes “that seem the
reality of a better earth, and yet are the very truth of the scenes
around us.”-^® Unless the scenes around us can be recognized in an
artistic form, their potential spiritual manifestations will not be
felt or communicated. The artist must return all the way to earth
from the Hall of Fantasy.
A return is necessary because of the simple empirical fact that
a man cannot shake the dirt off his feet. Man may have a spirit,
but it is a “spirit burdened with clay and working in matter.” Even
though we must accept the “composite” condition of human life, the
soul can permeate the material, enabling man to weave this “mortal
life of the selfsame texture with the celestial.”^'
Hawthorne, then, accepted the fact of material human existence,
but he did not believe that man was necessarily forced to live a life
of materialism. The soul must be given as much freedom as is pos¬
sible in order that life may be preserved in its purest earthly form.
In his ‘L’ Allegro,’ — “Buds and Bird Voices” — he affirms, “There is
no decay. Each human soul is the first-created inhabitant of its own
Eden” (II, 175). By approaching life through the “renewing power
of the spirit” (hence through the imagination) life can be pre¬
served as created, and it is the role of the artistic imagination to
save men such as the watchmaker Peter Hovenden from getting so
enmeshed in the fact and flux of material decay that they cannot
respond to the impulses of the soul. Hawthorne was an existentialist
with enough general theology and a large enough heart and mind
to see a beauty in life above a hampered existence in time and space.
This is the man that Melville recommended to an American audi¬
ence, for “the smell of your beeches and hemlocks is upon him ; your
own broad prairies are in his soul ; and if you travel inland into his
deep and noble nature, you will hear the roar of his Niagara.” This
is the man whom Julian Hawthorne knew:
The Marble Faun, VI, 160.
3- “The Birthmark,” II, 62, 69.
1961]
Kinibrou(jh~-H(uvthorne's Art Concept
289
Even when we enter the '‘Hall of Fantasy”, or are among' the guests at
“A Select Party,” or try the virtues of “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,”
still we feel that the “great, round, solid earth” of which Hawthorne
speaks so affectionately is beneath our feet. He does not float vaguely in
mid-air, but takes his stand somewhere near the center of things, and
always knows what he is about. Tracing back his fanciful vagaries, we
invariably find them originating in some settled and constant middle
ground of belief, from which they are measured and which renders them
comprehensible and significant.^
Julian felt the empirical commitment of his father, but Hawthorne
would have disagreed when Julian said his father never floated
vaguely in mid-air. Hawthorne thought that at times he did get lost
in the clouds, and his uncertainty greatly contributed to the shade
and gloom in his work.
The major reason for the shadows in Hawthorne is, of course,
artistic. His belief that the pervasiveness of variegated, attention-
binding fact and flux can negate the power of the soul to see a
higher reality led him to create gloomy projections of life. Life
lived without relief is painted without relief. In addition, Haw¬
thorne’s portrayal of this aspect of life derives a great part of its
force, as Melville realized, from its appeal to a ‘‘Calvinistic sense
of Innate Depravity and Original Sin.” Still, this '‘power of black¬
ness” is mainly aesthetic.®^ For example, in The Scarlet Letter all
the themes and motifs combine in a plea for man to live and act in
accordance with the spiritual potential given him at birth. The fact
of a 17th century Puritan colony in New England is real, but, at
least in 1850, Hawthorne felt that the inherent qualities of men
were allowed a freer action and more natural play in 17th century
Old England; hence, fair England represented a closer approxima¬
tion to the “better life.” Nevertheless, I suggest that the gloom and
shade in Hawthorne is antecedent to his artistic handling of the
Actual ; it involves the man in relation to his work. By understand¬
ing this relationship, we can see why Hawthorne apologized for his
so-called “love” of allegory.
Hawthorne held in theory that an artist must visit some Hall of
Fantasy in order to get a true perspective of the Actual and that
he must descend to earth and “open an intercourse with the world”
if his art is to serve its purpose. But at the end of “A Select Party”
he says.
How, in the darkness that ensued, the imaginary guests contrived to get
back to earth, or whether the greater part of them contrived to get back
at all, or are still wandering among clouds, mists, and puffs of tempestu¬
ous wind, bruised by the beams and rafters of the overthrown castle in
“Hawthorne’s Philosophy,” The Century Magazine, XXXII (May, 1886), 86.
Harry Levin, The Power of Blackness (New York, 1958), p. 40, reminds us that
Hawthorne always assumed that aesthetics and ethics were inseparable ; for R. H.
Fogle, the light and the dark in Hawthorne’s fiction are primarily the result of the
artist’s moral vision.
290 W'isconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
the air, and deluded by all sorts of unrealities, are points that concern
themselves much more than the writer or the public. People should think
of these matters before they thrust themselves on a pleasure party into
the Realm of Nowhere. (II, 87-88)
This passage can be read as a clear description of what Hawthorne
felt was his actual artistic predicament. Realizing that the Imagi¬
nary was, in point of fact, an unreality, and that its only purpose
was to serve and rescue the soul imprisoned among the temporal
and spacial realities of the Actual, Hawthorne knew that he must
execute on paper what he could see and feel in his imagination while
in his study. The cloudy figures and scenes which he talks about in
his discussion of M. de TAubepine are not trying to escape the
world through allegory or symbolism ; rather they are merely trying
to get back to earth. He wanted to make his pale flowers and nearly
blank pages strong enough not just to withstand, but also to shape
and order the Actual. All his ‘Oberon’s,’ T’s,’ and Solitary Men
lament that they cannot give material life and warmth to their
creatures of imagination, and Melville almost could be quoting Haw¬
thorne in any number of places when he says, “the immediate prod¬
ucts of a great mind are not so great as that undeveloped and some¬
times undevelopable yet dimly-discernible greatness’^ which lies
within. Melville saw such a greatness in Hawthorne “to which
these immediate products [the Mosses'] are but the infallible in¬
dices.” In spite of Melville’s optimism, Hawthorne always felt that
he failed in giving shape and substance to the vision which he saw.
Whereas Melville says that the greatness of Shakespeare lies in
“those occasional flashings-forth of the intuitive Truth in him,”
Hawthorne puts this telling parenthesis into a speech of Holgrave :
“A mere observer like myself (who never have intuitions, and am,
at best, only subtile and acute) , is pretty certain to go astray” (III,
215). Even as late as the second edition of The Marble Faun, Haw¬
thorne confesses.
The idea of the modern Faun . . . loses all the poetry and beauty which
the Author fancied in it, and becomes nothing better than a grotesque
absurdity, if we bring it into the actual light of day. He had hoped to
mystify this anomalous creature between the Real and the Fantastic, in
such a manner that the reader’s sympathies might be excited to a certain
pleasurable degree, without impelling him to ask how Cuvier would have
classified poor Donatello, or to insist on being told, in so many words,
whether he had furry ears or no. As respects all who ask such a question,
the book is, to that extent, a failure. (VI, 522-23)
Thus we see that, although he followed a consistent conception
of the imagination, Hawthorne felt that he never successfully cre¬
ated anything “at once earthly and immortal,”^^ never imbued the
40 “The Prophetic Pictures,” I, 207.
1961]
Kimbrough — Hmvthorne's Art Concept
291
Actual and the Imaginary each with the nature of the other. Be¬
cause he felt frustrated by his own theory, part of the gloom which
suffuses his work is subjective. On one hand, he believed that the
shadows of half-created figures fluttered about his work, but on
the other, Hawthorne himself asked Kenyon at the very end of the
Conclusion to The Marble Faun, ‘'Did Donatello’s ears resemble
those of the Faun of Praxiteles?” (VI, 527). But does such a ques¬
tion necessarily indicate an artistic weakness in the novel? Is it a
revelation of aesthetic insensitivity to ask the question? Or to put
your finger into the muzzle of Rob Roy’s pistol to determine its
calibre, to imagine the music of the spheres in a music box, to be
overcome by the noble proportions of St. Peter’s, or to feel a mes¬
sage in the Swiss Alps but be unable to express it? These human
experiences of Hawthorne show an awe for life, an awe so strong
and embracing that it cannot fail to engage our hearts and minds.
I wonder if indeed he failed in his purpose of exercising the spirit
through the material. If we insist on wrestling with Hawthorne’s
shadows, we are in great danger of missing the genius of the man
that really existed. We would do well to heed this warning from
The American Note-books: “It is dangerous to look too minutely
at such phenomena [‘lights and shadows']. It is apt to create a
substance where at first there was a mere shadow” (IX, 219).
There is an object lesson in reading Hawthorne to be found in
the account of his first view of Litchfield cathedral, “so vast, so in¬
tricate, and so profoundly simple, with such strange, delightful
recesses in its grand figure, so difficult to comprehend within one
idea, and yet all so consonant that it ultimately draws the beholder
and his universe into its harmony.” Draw, yes ; but not absorb, for
Hawthorne remained “a gazer from below, . . . excluded from the
interior mystery.” Hence, his rapture waned, he lost “the vision
of a spiritual or ideal edifice behind the time-worn and weather-
stained front of the actual structure,” and began a “minute in¬
vestigation of . . . the intricate and multitudinous adornment that
was lavished on the exterior wall of this great church.” But Haw¬
thorne turned his attention to material detail neither completely
frustrated by, nor happily oblivious of, his just-experienced won¬
der, for
it was something: gained, even to have that painful sense of my own
limitations, and that half-smothered yearning to soar beyond them. The
cathedral showed me how earthly I was, but yet whispered deeply of
immortality. After all, this was probably the best lesson that it would
bestow, and, taking it as thoroughly as possible home to my heart, I was
fain to be content. (VII, 155-54)
Hawthorne should have been content, as well, with his own work,
for it reveals that he would have been one of the few people who
292 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
could have understood what Howells really meant by ‘the smiling
aspects of life.’^^ Hawthorne, with Ernest, could see in the Great
Stone Face the “glow of a vast, warm heart, that embraced all man¬
kind in its affections, and had room for more'' (III, 414). Haw¬
thorne says that it took imagination to feel the spirit of the Face,
and in Hawthorne imagination is a quality of the soul. Hawthorne's
man of imagination, then, does not have to live in the clouds ; rather,
he chooses, as the politician did not will to do, to enlarge his spirit
by living on this earth by the truths of imagination. Having no
strict philosophy of his own, Hawthorne could not say just what
those truths might be. Young Goodman Brown could have exer¬
cised his spirit equally well either through religion or by an abiding
love of his wife. The choice is unimportant to Hawthorne, so long
as a choice is made. He implied as much when he had the occupant
of the Intelligence Office confess, “I am no minister of action, but
the Recording Spirit" (II, 380), for Hawthorne professed no spe¬
cial philosophy, but recorded the truths of men's successes and fail¬
ures in choosing to exercise their spiritual potential. Because he
sincerely believed that “the deeds of earth, however etherealized by
piety or genius, are without value, except as exercises and mani¬
festations of the spirit,"^^ it mattered little to him whether a man
should choose to live by a Romantic ideal or by Calvinism or by any
other philosophy or religion, for “each human soul is the first-
created inhabitant of its own Eden."
All men have minds, hearts, and souls; therefore, all men can
understand, feel, and act upon the imaginative figurings-forth of an
artist. Hawthorne ultimately suggests, then, that “he whose genius
appears deepest and truest excels his fellows in nothing save the
knack of expression; he throws out occasionally a lucky hint at
truths of which every human soul is profoundly, though unutter¬
ably, conscious. Hence, “there is no harm, but, on the contrary,
good, in arraying some of the ordinary facts of life in a slightly
idealized and artistic guise" W so doing affords the reader an oppor¬
tunity to exercise his spirit, raising him out of time and space to a
position where he can better enjoy the potential richness of this life.
Hawthorne's fiction reminds us that, “the great book of Time is still
spread before us ; and, if we read it aright, it will be to us a volume
of eternal truth.
'^1 Although their reports of the human scene differed in tone both writers wrote
from a comic point of view. R. R. Male, however, believes that Hawthorne’s was a
trag-ic vision, in spite of the fact that he also believes that “the last four books of
Paradise Lost remain the best possible introduction to Hawthorne’’ {Tragic Vision,
P. 162).
■*2 “The Artist of the Beautiful,’’ H, 527,
“The Procession of I>,ife,’’ H, 240.
Preface, The Snow Image, HI, 386.
^•’■'“Earth’s Holocaust,’’ II, 449.
1961]
Kimbrough — Ha-wthorne’ s Art Concept
293
Hawthorne is a great writer^ great not because he attempted
allegory, but because he did not. G, P. Lathrop believed that Haw¬
thorne was a “man of reverie, whose observation of the actual con¬
stantly stimulates and brings into play a faculty that perceives
more than the actual/' He called that faculty “the idealizing, imagi¬
native faculty/' and concluded with words which show us where
Hawthorne's imaginative genius lay: “capable of extracting the
utmost intellectual stimulus from the least of mundane phenomena,
he maintained intact a true sense of relativity and a knowledge
that the attainable best is, in the final analysis, incomplete/'^® Per¬
haps we no longer need the subtle corrective at the end of Haw¬
thorne's critique on M. de FAubepine:
His fictions are sometimes historical, sometimes of the present day, and
sometimes, so far as can be discovered, have little or no reference either
to time or space. In any case, he generally contents himself with a very
slight embroidery of outward manners, — the faintest possible counterfeit
of real life,— and endeavors to create an interest by some less obvious
peculiarity of the subject. Occasionally a breath of Nature, a raindrop
of pathos and tenderness, or a gleam of humor, will find its way into the
midst of his fantastic imagery, and make us feel as if after all, we were
yet within the limits of our native earth.
40 “A Biographical Sketch,” Works of Hawthorne, XII, 516, 534, and 567.
THE PROTESTANTISM OF THE ABBe PREVOST*
Berenice Cooper
Wisconsin State College, Superior
Andre Chamson of the French Academy writes the preface to the
latest biography of the Abbe Prevost by Claire-Eliane Engel. He
begins by telling the rather sensational legend about the Abbe's
death. Prevost, it is said, was walking in the forest of Chantilly
when he was stricken with apoplexy. There he was found by peas¬
ants who carried the body to the priest of a nearby village. Since
the cause of death was uncertain and some persons suspected foul
play, a surgeon began at once to perform an autopsy upon the sup¬
posed corpse. Suddenly the surgeon and his assistants were startled
by a horrible cry. The corpse came to life. Unfortunately, the
autopsy had proceeded so far that the Abbe actually did die soon
after his brief return to life.
M. Chamson uses this story to make the analogy that the author
of this latest biography of Prevost, Le Veritable Abbe Prevost, has
chosen for her subject, not a cadaver, but a man very much alive
through his great work Manon Lescaut.^ For me, also, Prevost is
very much alive, but he lives for me through his novel Cleveland.
The true Abbe Prevost is for me not exactly the same person whom
Miss Engel presents. Her portrait is for me only a partial one
which needs to be completed by a study of Prevost's later novel, Le
Philosophe anglais, or Cleveland, as it is usually called, the story of
the search for a satisfactory philosophy of life by the English
philosopher Cleveland.
Miss EngeFs recent biography enlarges upon an interpretation
of Prevost which she presented in a 1952 article, ^‘La Vie secrete de
FAbbe Prevost."^ Here she argued that in 1728, just before he fled
from the Benedictine order to six years of exile in Holland and
England, he was a convert to Protestantism. Part of her evidence
is drawn from letters she has discovered. Except for some minor
reservations,^ I can accept the conclusions she draws from these
letters. It is consistent with earlier events in the Abbe’s life that he
may have been a proselyte at that time. He had been a Jesuit, had
twice escaped from that order, been twice forgiven and reinstated
* Paper read at the 91st annual meeting- of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters.
1 “Preface,” Le Veritable Abbe Prevost (Monaco: Rocher, 1957), pp, 7-8.
-Revue des sciences humaines, Juillet-Septembre, 1952, pp. 199-214.
3 Note her explanation that the reference to “Dom Prevost et il s’apelle de I’lsle-
boiirg-,” may be an error for Prevost d’Exiles. Ibid., pp. 202-203.
295
296 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
before he fled again and later entered the Benedictine order, taking
his vows, he himself says, with mental reservations that would
justify breaking these vows later.
My real difference with Miss Engel’s conclusions in her 1952
article concerns her use of passages from Cleveland as evidence that
Prevost was a convert to Protestantism. She fails to consider the
context of these passages and their relation to the purpose and the
structure of the whole novel.^ The purpose of this paper is to dis¬
cuss these passages in relation to the question of Prevost’s Protes¬
tantism and to consider the theme, plot structure, and tone of the
novel as further evidence toward reaching a conclusion as to Pre¬
vost’s attitude toward Protestantism, an important consideration in
any complete evaluation of his character and work.
In her recent critical biography, Le Veritable Abbe Prevost, Miss
Engel finds the real Abbe to be an extremely unstable person.® Near
the end of her book, she summarizes what she feels are his intel¬
lectual deficiencies:
Une seule croyance reste inebranlable chez Prevost: sa foi en la bonte
de la nature. On peut se demander si cette idee enracinee en lui n’est pas
r unique dogme auquel il finisse par rattacher sa vie spirituelle. La
philosophie pure ne Fa jamais tente. Sa religion n’est qu’une morale,
qui ne le lie pas. II discute la religion, toutes les religions, en se fiant
aveuglement a la raison humaine, la sienne. Les croyances orthodoxes se
concilient chez lui, avec une aisance extraordinaire, avec des opinions
religieuses a la fois avancees et timides. Une necessite intellectuelle ne lie
pas jamais. D’ou son arrogance sur certains points, ses crises de certitude
et ses refus soudains de prolonger une recherche ou d’en admettre les
resultats. Lorsque Tintuition sentimentale lui fait defaut, il sombre dans
I’incoherence. Toute speculation abstraite se revele contraire a sa nature
profonde, le rebute et eveille sa sensibilite. La culte du vrai et de Futile
amene Prevost a reveler avec complaisance et souvent avec genie une ame
bien curieuse: la sienne.®
Like nearly all the biographers and critics who have preceded
her, Miss Engel praises the Abbe’s contribution to the sentimental
novel and the emotional power of his masterpiece, Manon Lescaut.
There is plenty of evidence to support this estimate, but I main¬
tain that it is only a partial estimate and that Miss Engel ignores
qualities of the real Abbe Prevost which are revealed by a study of
his novel Cleveland. Prevost’s statement of his purpose and his plan
for the novel, the structure of the plot, and the intellectual content
of the story show Prevost as an author who has a deep concern for
the intellectual life of his period, as a man who is attracted, not
repelled by philosophical speculation.
^Ibid., pp. 209-210.
Le Veritable Abbe Vrevost, p. 4 6.
^Tbid., pp. 282-283.
1961]
Cooper — Ahbe Prevost
297
Of the biographers and critics who have written on Prevost, only
Franz Pauli has given a detailed analysis of the intellectual con¬
tent of Cleveland/ Even such an authority as Gustav Lanson, writ¬
ing on the revolt against orthodoxy in the France of 1700-1750,
groups Prevost with Marivaux and Piron among those early eight¬
eenth century writers who were unaffected by the violent religious
and philosophical controversies of their time/
It seems strange that nearly all critics have ignored the several
pieces of evidence in the case of Cleveland that the author was much
concerned with religious and philosophical controversy, that in spite
of that side of his nature which responded to the call of the world
and to the sensuous and sentimental, there was another side of his
nature which has never been adequately recognized.
Important pieces of evidence for such a revised estimate of the
true character of Prevost are his defense of his purpose in writing
Cleveland, his statement that his views are the same as his hero’s,
the structure of the plot, the content and tone of the narrative.
Prevost has made a clear statement of the theme of Cleveland.
After the publication of the first four volumes (1731-32), he pub¬
lished an answer to the criticism that the novel was deistic in which
he stated that his purpose was to show that peace of mind and true
wisdom came only through religion. This defense he republished in
the preface to the continuation volume of 1738.® He had said in an
earlier preface that his views so closely resembled Cleveland’s that
their minds might be said to be cast in the same mold.^®
An examination of the plot structure and content of Cleveland
supports Prevost’s statement of the theme and indicates an author
who is concerned with religious and philosophical controversy. The
views of the hero of the novel, with which the author says he agrees,
are not those of a man repelled by philosophical speculation. With¬
out minimizing the evidence for the sentimental aspects of the
many-sided character of Prevost, a careful reading of Cleveland
supports the contention that the usual estimate of the author’s char¬
acter and interests needs to be revised and enlarged.
The reader who looks beneath the superficial plot of melodrama
and sentiment finds in Cleveland a novel of ideas. The fundamental
theme, obscured by the intrigue and adventure of the typical
eighteenth century novel, is the hero’s search for a religious faith
that is rational in its basis. The conclusion of the search is the rec-
Franz Pauli, Die PhilosopMschen Grundanshauungen in den Romanen des Ahhe
Prevost im Besonderen in der Manon Lescaut, Marburg, 1912.
^ Gustav Lanson, "Questions diverses sur I’hlstoire de Fesprit philosophique en France
avant 1750," Revue d’histoire litteraire de la France, XIX (1912), 2-4.
9 “Avertissement," Le Philosophe anglais (Utrecht; Xeaulme, 1738) VI, ii-iv.
If* "Preface," Ibid. (1736), I, iii-iv.
298 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
ognition that man has need for both intellectual and emotional
satisfaction. The structure of the plot is broken into five stages
1. The period of Cleveland's faith in natural philosophy, of
which the fundamental doctrine is Stoical, that the passions
are responsible for all evil and that man could be happy if
he could overcome the passions by the use of reason.
2. The period of disillusionment with natural philosophy be¬
cause it fails to bring strength to bear great sorrow.
3. The examination of orthodox religions, all of which fail be¬
cause they do not meet Cleveland's standards of rationalism.
4. A period of alliance with a group of French philosophes
who are influenced by Hobbes' materialism.
5. The conversion to “true religion" which reconciles rational
philosophy with religious faith, or as Cleveland puts it,
shows that natural law needs to be supplemented by the law
of grace.
Such a plan for a novel is scarcely evidence that Prevost was not
concerned, as Lanson has stated, with the controversial matters in
the philosophy and religion of his period, or, as Miss Engel has
stated, that he becomes incoherent when sentimental intuition fails
him and is repelled by philosophical speculations. In fact so many
pages of Cleveland are given to long discussions of philosophical
and religious controversies that a sort of Reader’s Digest condensed
novel was published in 1788, which omitted all pages of intellectual
discussion and gave the reader only the melodramatic story of
Cleveland's adventures in England, America, and France.
Cleveland's natural philosophy is summarized and the deistic re¬
ligion, which he taught to a tribe of American Indians during his
period of rationalism, is explained in detail. In his period of dis¬
illusionment, he carefully analyzes his former views to see if he
can find any flaw in them. He finds no logical flaw, only their failure
to bring comfort in his time of great sorrow. When, to please two
members of his household, he listens to the views of both a Prot¬
estant clergyman and a Catholic priest, the conversations and expo¬
sitions are painstakingly recorded. The philosophes are treated at
less length. But the resolution of the conflict between rationalism
and religious faith through Cleveland's conversion to a religion that
satisfies his reason and gives him a comforting faith, produces
pages of discussion of philosophy and religion.
This emphasis upon the religious and philosophical controversies
of the early eighteenth century does not support Miss Engel's con¬
clusion that pure philosophy never holds Prevost, that abstract
speculation is contrary to his nature, that it repels him. This novel
1961]
Cooper — Ahhe Prevost
299
of ideas presents a side of Prevost’s character which is a part of any
just estimate of Prevost. The real Abbe Prevost is more than a
sentimentalist.
Another point upon which I disagree with Miss EngeFs inter¬
pretation is her use of Cleveland’s conversations with the Protestant
minister as evidence for Prevost’s being a convert to Protestantism.
The speech of Minister C., says Miss Engel, could have been written
only by a Protestant.^^
Here, I feel, Miss Engel has lifted the words of Minister C. out
of the context of the novel and has not considered the manifest
theme of the novel, the contribution of this conversation to the de¬
velopment of the theme, and the satirical tone of all the incidents
concerning Cleveland’s investigation of orthodoxy. Miss Engel
states that Cleveland sends for the Protestant clergyman,^^ but
Cleveland says that his sister-in-law and his friend Mme. Tallin
were so concerned over his depression and his attempt at suicide
that they arranged to distract his mind by conversations with some
of the intellectuals residing in Saumur. Since Mrs. Bridge, the
sister-in-law, was a Protestant and Mme. Tallin was a Catholic,
Cleveland agreed to discuss religion with both the Protestant Min¬
ister C. and the Jansenist priest Father TeBane.^^
These conversations about orthodox religion are a contribution
to the third step in the evolution of Cleveland’s ideas from natural
philosophy and deistical religious belief toward the 'True religion”
which he finally accepts. The theme of the search for a satisfying
religion is worked out by a plan of eliminating one by one the views
that either fail to satisfy his reason or to meet the needs of his
heart after he has suffered great personal loss. The conversations
with Minister C., with Father Te Bane, and later with a member of
the Jesuit order are all parts of the eliminating process in the
search for the truth.
The tone of Cleveland’s comments in introducing these conversa¬
tions is satirical. On the matter of the many Protestant sects, he
says that sectarian differences have hitherto prevented him from
examining orthodox religion. If the total number of religious sects
were reduced to fifty, each one would consider the other forty-nine
in error and itself the sole possessor of the truth. Where, he asks,
can I find light enough to discover which one does possess the truth ?
Supposons, avois-je dit, que le nombre de toutes les Sectes se reduise a
cinquante. II n’ y en a pas une seule qui ne condamne toutes les autres, &
qui ne se croye seule en possession du vrai culte. Mais les quarante-neuf
autres, qui s’ attribuent le meme avantage, la condamnent aussi. Si je les
interroge separement, ou toutes ensemble, je trouve tou jours quarante-
“La Vie secrete . . . p. 210.
12 Ibid., p. 209.
1*1/6 Phijosophe an^glods (Neaulme, 1736), V:69-72 ; 80-83.
300 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
neuf voix, qui sont contraires a chacune, & une seule voix qui iui est favor¬
able: encore n’est-ce que sa propre voix. J’ai done toujours quarante-neuf
motifs contre un, pour les rejetter toutes, & les croire fausses sans excep¬
tion. Je veux neanmoins supposer encore qu’ il n’y ait que quarante-neuf
Sectes dans Terreur, ce qui est absolument necessaire, s’il est vrai qu’il y
en ait une qui n’y soit point: Suis-je plus avance apres cette supposition?
Ou trouverai-je assez de lumieres pour demeler celle qui possede le precieux
tresor de la verite?^^
As Cleveland has anticipated, both the Protestant Minister C.
and the Catholic Father Le Bane attempt to demonstrate that his
church represents the only true religion.
Cleveland finds that the Catholics look upon the Protestants as
rebels who have risen against a good king, a king who ruled with
a code of laws that had for its purpose the happiness of all people.
This rebellion was incited by obscure persons motivated either by
resentment or a love of change. On the other hand, the Protestants
regard themselves as patriots who have put down a usurper, one
who overthrew the legitimate king, instituted new laws, and denied
the people the right to read the laws of the legitimate king.^^
Both Catholic and Protestants lack logical proofs for their views,
Cleveland thinks. He says of the Protestant minister that ^‘his sys¬
tem seemed reasonable enough to make me wish he were able to
support it with some solid proofs.’’
. . . son Systeme parut assez raisonnable pour me faire souhaiter qu’il
put I’appuyer dans la suite par des preuves solides.^®
After talking with the Jansenist, Cleveland remarks that since he
had never been disposed to believe without proofs, it would take
something less general to persuade him.
Cependant comme je n’etois pas dispose a croire sans preuves, je lui fis
connoitre qu’il falloit quelque chose de moins general pour me persuader.^'^
He later characterizes the picture he received of orthodox religion
as ''sad and repulsive.”^®
The tone throughout the novel is equally satirical and objective
whether the orthodox views are Protestant or Catholic.
Satire of the Protestants is introduced even before the conversa¬
tions on orthodox theology by incidents and characterization. Cleve¬
land is the natural son of Oliver Cromwell, who abandoned his mis¬
tress, Elizabeth Cleveland; and it is his malicious plotting against
the lives of Cleveland and his mother that initiates the action in the
i^Ibid., pp. 75-76.
15 Ibid., pp. 82-86 ; 88-91.
15 Ibid., p. 80.
11 Ibid., p. 86.
1® Ibid., (Rouen: Racine, 1785), VIII, 205. It is necessary to refer to a different edi¬
tion for this passag-e as the last volume of the 1736-38 continuation volumes is missing.
1961]
Cooper — Abbe Prevost
301
superficial melodramatic plot. Bridge, another illegitimate son of
Cromwell, has an experience in the Protestant colony on St. Helena
which shows the Protestant minister of the group to be one of the
most bigoted and cruel of men.
In satirizing the Catholics, Prevost is just as severe. Because
Cleveland becomes confused by listening alternately to Catholic and
Protestant dogma, he decides to hear all Minister C. has to say and
then to listen to Father Le Bane’s counter-arguments. When the
Catholic hears this decision, he takes action. Cleveland receives a
lettre de cachet and with his two sons is made a prisoner by the
church. The reason given him is that he has showed so great an in¬
terest in religion that the church wants him to receive correct in-
structiond^ Standing on his rights as a British citizen and appealing
to the British-born Duchess d’Orleans, Cleveland gets his freedom.-®
Then, through the Duchess, Cleveland is introduced to a worldly
Jesuit who, the Duchess assures him, will give him a cheerful view
of religion. A series of episodes here satirize this Jesuit. He rec¬
ommends light reading and falling in love as a cure for Cleveland’s
melancholy. With convenient casuistry, he persuades the Catholic
Mme. Lallin to betray Cleveland’s plan to escape to England.
(These passages and all passages satirical of the Catholic religion
were amended or omitted in the censored editions of 1757-1785)^-
The relation of Cleveland’s examination of orthodox religion to
the theme and structure of the whole novel argues rather for an
objective disapproval of all bigotry and dogmatism and any kind
of narrow sectarianism than for a sympathetic attitude toward
Protestantism on the part of Prevost. It may indeed be true that
he was for a period a proselyte to Protestantism but the content
and tone of Cleveland is such that it is difficult to accept Miss
Engel’s argument that the speech of the Protestant Minister C.
could have been written only by a Protestant. In relation to the
development of the plan for the whole novel, the conversation with
Minister C. appears to be one incident of several which reveal the
weakness of orthodoxy.
To the satire of orthodox religion, both Catholic and Protestant,
should be added a passage lamenting the divisions of religious peo¬
ple into sects separated by narrow dogmatism ; this passage occurs
at the end of the story of Cleveland’s conversion and was omitted
from the censored editions published between 1757 and 1785.
19 Ibid., (Neaulme, 1736), V, 93-94 ; 102.
90 Ibid., pp. 102-108.
91 Ibid., pp. 257-289.
92 See my paper, “Variations in the Texts of Eig-hteenth Century Editions of Le
PMlosophe anglais/’ Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and
Letters, XXXII (1940), pp. 187-198,
302 W isconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Je tremble neanmoins que ce ne soit faire tort a la religion que d’en
resserrer les elemens dans les bornes si etroites. . . . J’ajoute que , n’
etant encore qu’ a Tentree de la Foi, je ne pouvois etre arrete par la con¬
currence de quelques Religions monstrueuses qui sont opprobre de la
Raison; et quand mon objection auroit eu quel que force, ce ne pouvoit
etre qu’ a I’egard des differentes sectes qui partagent le Christianisme.^^
These passages are representative of many others which deal
with the principal religious and philosophical controversies in the
thought of the early eighteenth century. On the one hand is the
rationalism of natural religion; on the other, the supernaturalism
of the revealed religion of orthodoxy.
An analysis of the “true religion” to which Cleveland is con¬
verted shows that he resolves the conflict by accepting the best in
each but without becoming a convert to any orthodox church.^^ He
appears to have no connection with any organized group. He is con¬
verted by a layman, Lord Clarendon, who at this time is living in
exile in France. There is no mention of any clergyman or any
church. Orthodox ideas such as a conviction of sin, salvation through
repentance and the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, the sacraments of
baptism and communion play no part in the discussions of this
“true religion.” Conversion seems to be an individual matter of
intellectual acceptance of the fact that man needs supernatural help
in order to lead a good life and to bear the sorrows that are a part
of life.
Cleveland discovers that his earlier views are incomplete and
need to be supplemented, although they are consistent with his new
views and have prepared the way for them.
. . . sans abandonner I’etude de la nature, dont je n’avois guere moins de
fruits a tirer pour les memes vues, puisqu’ a des yeux biens eclaires par le
Religion I’ordre naturel se raporte a Dieu comme celui de la grace . . .
cette disposition, dans laquelle il [le Chretien] est soutenu par les secours
interieurs de la Religion, lui fait conserver cette paix & cette egalite
d’ame dont la seule Philosophie ne donne que I’ombre, & qui est deja comme
une anticipation de bonheur auquel il aspire.^^
Again, I can partially agree with Miss Engel, for she says that
Cleveland almost returns to his first position of rationalism.^®
But she does not note that Cleveland has reconciled the differ¬
ences between rational philosophy and revealed religion, that he is
in agreement with many English and French rational theologians
of his period in maintaining that a true religion can stand the tests
of the rational point of view.
-3 Ibid., p. 18 7.
24 See my paper, “The Religious Convictions of the Abbe Prevost,” Transactions ,
XLI (1952), 189-199.
Le Philosophe anglais (Rouen: Racine, 1785), VIII, 213-214; 215.
20 Veritable Abbe Prevost, p. 282.
1961]
Cooper — Ahhe Prevost
303
Cleveland’s unorthodox religion retains his earlier beliefs that
the reason must be satisfied, that love of God and of fellow men,
regard for principles of justice, and a high standard of ethics are
more important than dogma. But I can not agree with Miss Engel
that this is a reconciliation of orthodox views with religious opin¬
ions that are at the same time advanced and timid, a reconciliation
attained with extraordinary ease.^^ A reconciliation of conflicting
views which has been attained through years of search for a satis¬
fying faith that will meet the needs of both head and heart, has
not been easily attained.
In using Cleveland’s final statement of his religious views as evi¬
dence for a fairer estimate of the character of the real Abbe Pre¬
vost, it is important to remember these words from the author’s
preface to the novel :
Je trouvai en effet de rapport entre les inclinations de Mr. Cleveland &
les miennes, tant de ressemblance dans notre maniere de penser & dans
nos sentimens, que je confessai an Fils, que je m’etois reconnu dans les
traits de son Pere, & que nos coeurs, si Ton me permet cette expression,
etoient de memo trempe & sortis de meme moule.^®
An examination of the principles of this “true religion” shows
that they are more advanced in tolerance and breadth of ideas than
is the dogmatic sectarian religion of orthodoxy, but the satire of
orthodoxy which precedes Cleveland’s conversion is far from timid.
The story of his examination of Protestant and Catholic ortho¬
doxy occurs in the volumes published in 1731-32 when Prevost was
an exile from France and the church. The story of Cleveland’s con¬
version concludes the continuation volumes of 1736-38, published
after Provost’s reconciliation with the church and the Benedictine
order in 1734.
The satire of the Jesuits in these continuation volumes is milder
and more tolerant in tone than the previous satire of orthodoxy,
but the tone is not timid; it is mildly amused over the inconsist¬
encies of human beings and it accepts the fact that there are great
differences of opinion in matters of religion ; it is the tone of a man
who views life as it is, not as it ought to be.^*’ As mentioned above,
Cleveland still regrets the many sectarian divisions among religious
people.®®
In his fairly detailed summary of the principles of his new reli¬
gion, Cleveland arranges in order of rank according to importance
27 Ibid.
28 1/0 Philosophe anglais (Utrecht :Neaulme, 1736), I, iii-iv. The explanation of the
reference to Cleveland’s son is that Pr§vost first represented the novel to be the mem¬
oirs of an actual person, Mr. Cleveland, published from a manuscript obtained from
his son.
29 Cooper, “The Abbe Prevost and the Jesuits,” Transactions, XPIII (1954), pp.
125-132.
^ See footnote 23.
304 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
the desires of his heart and the duties and pleasures of life: first,
love of God and heavenly things; then, in order of descending
importance, religious duties, love for his wife, duties toward friends
and society, study of the Bible without abandoning the study of
nature, and last the moderate use of pleasures of the world. He
stresses moderation in the use of pleasure and condemns absolute
withdrawal from the world, although he does not specifically men¬
tion monastic life in his condemnation of such withdrawal as exces¬
sive zeal, and a fanaticism which wounds religion as well as
nature.^^
These views are closer to Deism than to orthodox Protestantism.
They are very far from Catholicism, and it is interesting to note
that Cleveland’s wife has been converted to Catholicism, that before
his own conversion Cleveland envied his wife the comfort she drew
from her religion ; also it is interesting that his wife shows no zeal
for converting Cleveland to Catholicism and seems to approve of
and agree with many of the ideas of his “true religion” after his
conversion. In this respect the narrative is an example of the prin¬
ciple of tolerance.
Cleveland’s religion has much in common with the views of vari¬
ous free-thought groups of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth
centuries. In the emphasis upon belief in God with no mention of
Christ or of any Trinitarian ideas, this religion has the character¬
istics of Unitarianism which was influencing thought in Europe
and England during this period. English Latitudinarians would
agree with Cleveland’s emphasis upon beliefs fundamental to all
religions and his disregard for sectarian creeds.
On the basis of the principles of Cleveland’s religion, with which
Prevost states he agrees, on the basis of the theme of the novel as
stated in the preface and the structure of the plot which consist¬
ently supports this theme, and on the basis of the tone toward
orthodoxy, the conclusion offered by this paper is that Prevost was
a protestant without the capital letter. He protested narrowness
and unreasonable views in matters of religion. He protested the
intolerance and bigotry of those who called themselves religious
leaders. He protested pure materialism and an exclusively rational
philosophy. He asserted that both reason and emotion must be the
basis of any satisfactory religion.
For the reader who will consider the integration of theme, struc¬
ture, intellectual content, and tone of the novel Cleveland, there is
evidence that the Abbe Prevost was not only a master of the senti¬
mental novel, but a writer so deeply concerned with the issues in
the intellectual controversies of his time that he wrote a coherent
Le Philosophe anglais (Rouen: Rouen, 1785), VIII. 213-214.
1961]
Cooper — Abbe Prevost
305
argument for a religion purified from the corruption of narrow dog¬
matism. The novel Cleveland emphasizes ethical living rather than
orthodox creed as the basis of true religion.
The evidence presented in this paper is only a small part of the
evidence which exists in the bibliographical history of Cleveland,
in the structure, and in the content of this novel to support the
thesis that a complete portrait of Prevost and a fair estimate of
his work recognizes his contribution to the intellectual history of
his time. From an examination of the novel Cleveland, this reader
can not accept a characterization of the author as a shallow thinker
to whom abstract speculation is repulsive.
EXISTENTIAL NIHILISM AND HERMAN MELVILLE*
J. J. Boies
University of Wisconsin Extension, Green Bay
There are many critical manners of looking at any writer. It is
impossible for anyone to absolutely disclaim the validity of any of
these manners. For instance, we can study Shakespeare from the
varying points of view of (1) the Renaissance stage conventions
that shaped his work, (2.) historical and biographical data that
illuminate his work, (3) problems in textual scholarship, (4) the
New Criticism’s wholly aesthetic approach, or (5) the medieval
and renaissance notions of cosmology and ethics that inform his
plays — and there are many more approaches. This study explores
the point of view of the existentialist as critic of life and literature
and then suggests how this point of view may be valuable in regard¬
ing the works of Herman Melville.
I
Existentialism is in our time a household word, and it is applied
to every study from politics to literature — often wrongly, often
cheaply and sensationally. It has been commandeered by novelists
like Richard Wright to explain the plight of the Negro as an out¬
sider. It has been attached to singer Juliette Greco; and it has been
taken over in part by the San Francisco Beats. But in its most
seriously philosophical terms, it is a form of ontology or at least of
phenomenology. And it can, as such, direct the thinking of a literary
critic in exegesis of certain kinds of literature.
Existentialism as a philosophical movement, or rather as a way
of looking at oneself and the world about one, is not a recent phe¬
nomenon. For the average reader it has been linked only with cer¬
tain bohemian cafes in Paris after World War H. Undesirable sen¬
sationalism, faddism, cultism, and superficial sophistication have
all unfortunately attached themselves to the most recent manifesta¬
tions of this method of thought and drawn upon it the disapproval
of the serious intellectual in other countries besides France. I say
that this is unfortunate not out of pity for the existentialists, but
out of regard for the general understanding of intellectual move¬
ments and their consequences in history. Existential thought is a
very real and a very potent force in modern living, and a blindness
to this movement or trend is a blindness to what is happening
* Paper read at the 91st annual meeting- of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters.
307
308 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
around one. I fear that our conservative scholars, disgusted by
some of the lunatic fringe and the cultism of modern existentialism,
have committed themselves to a seriously debilitating blindness in
the field of modern philosophical movements. This is particularly
true, I think, of our literary critics. Existentialism in the twen¬
tieth century is closely linked to literary art. The most important
of recent existential thinkers have not been philosophers only, but
literary artists. I am thinking particularly of Jean-Paul Sartre,
Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir.
A literary critic whose field is American literature of the period
from 1830 to 1860 would scarcely dream of divorcing an examina¬
tion of the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau,
and Walt Whitman from Transcendentalism, that extraordinary
brand of idealism which dominated the thought and literary crea¬
tions of these men. Even the critics of their era were aware of their
philosophical biases and duly noted them. By the same token lit¬
erary critics of our time should not close their eyes to existentialism.
Existentialism is not new. Its elements certainly appear in the
fragmentary philosophies of the pre-Socratic philosophers. Thales,
Heraclitus, and the major Sophists all represent certain existential
attitudes. With the coming of Socrates and Plato, idealism swept
away the relativism and pluralism of the pre-Socratics, and the
ordered rationalism of Aristotle’s mind denied the irrational ele¬
ments which are foundations of existential thinking. On Socrates,
Plato, and Aristotle the philosophy of twenty centuries was built.
With a few notable exceptions the philosophical and religious
thought of those centuries was dominated by three factors : by
idealism, optimism, rationalism, or by a combination of two or
three of them. It is true that some of the Church mystics were
irrationalists. There were also some heretic, pantheist mystics in
the history of Western thought. Indeed, late Roman Stoicism was a
tiny camp of pessimism and anti-idealism in the Western world, but
it was eventually smothered by a combination of Christianity,
Platonism, and Aristotelianism. In general this long twenty-century
period was thoroughly dominated by the rationalism of Plotinian
Christian Platonism, the rationalism of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Aris¬
totelian Christianity, and a general feeling — despite human cruelty,
plagues, fires, pestilence, wars, famines — that God was in his heaven
and all was right with the world.
The eighteenth century saw a de-emphasis of God and a deifica¬
tion of Reason. But this was merely an emphasis on another aspect
of the same general train of thought that had prevailed since the
great Greeks. Granted, the eighteenth century upheaval was enor¬
mous. The movement from religious to secular thinking was pro-
1961]
Boies — -Melville and Nihilism
309
foundly disturbing to the world, but in some respects it was merely
a surface manifestation of something far more significant going
on underneath.
During the second half of the eighteenth century and throughout
the entire nineteenth century, Germanic idealism seemed to domi¬
nate Western thinking. Kant, Fichte, Hegel, and the English and
American transcendental followers of these philosophers were the
important thinkers of the time. But it is important to notice that
contemporary with these men arose two movements in thought
which were to overthrow this brand of idealism. On the one hand
were Marx, Engels, and dialectical materialism ; on the other were
Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and the existentialists. It is ironic to note
that both of these movements derived their vitality from a reaction
to the systematic idealism of G. W. F. Hegel.
At this point we must be certain to note the vast differences that
exist within the broad term “existentialism.’’ One of the disturbing
factors to the student of philosophy in approaching existential
thought is the fact that he finds difficulty in systematizing it. There
is a very good reason for this. One of the few things which all
existentialists have in common is a rebellion against all systemati¬
zation or attempts to unify things into wholes. It is easy to see then
why Kierkegaard rebelled so violently against Hegel. The vast, arti¬
ficial “world career” of Hegel, so carefully worked out through
thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, was maddening to Kierkegaard.
He saw it not as the dynamic process which Hegel had intended,
but as an empty shell without a self. The thing which was missing
was the philosopher himself. No man, said Kierkegaard, can set up
an artificial system which actually represents external reality, be¬
cause all he can know is within himself. His senses are faulty, even
with the most intricate extensions of them which man can contrive.
Knowledge comes from within, but not from Kant’s ordered cate¬
gorical and intuitive Reason. Rather “Truth is subjectivity,” says
Kierkegaard. Nietzsche extends this thought to the extreme of the
Superman. The will to power is the subjective force of truth. Man
alone must breed moral superiority by reversing the weak moral
tenets of Christianity.
For both of these men the world presented a welter and a chaos.
It was “absurd,” in the sense that it was, they felt, vastly different
in its physical and psychological reality from what man, through
scientific rationalism and blind idealism, attempted to bend it into.
The “absurd,” then, arises out of the ironic disparity between what
promises the world actually makes to man and what man fancies
he sees in the world or what he, with his infinitely complex moral
imagination, thinks that the world should be. This element of exist-
310 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
entialism can be recognized as a favorite theme of world literature.
It is the basis of Shakespeare's Hamlet, For the existentialist, Ham¬
let is the “absurd” man. It is a particularly potent theme in literature
beginning with the Romantic movement in the late eighteenth cen¬
tury and continuing with some abatement through the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries. The definition of “Byronism” is contained
within the dichotomy of the ironic “should-be” and “is.” Goethe,
Keats, Tennyson, Baudelaire, Poe — all of these men represent this
theme in their works and lives.
But Nietzsche was an atheist (or at any rate a violent anti-
Christian) , and Kierkegaard was a great Christian theologian. How
can this wide disparity occur? I suggested previously that all ex¬
istentialists are different. Since they are anti-systematists it is diffi¬
cult to make philosophies or systems out of their thinking, Kierke¬
gaard said that the fact that man feels himself alone within his sub¬
jective being, that he is riddled with the anguish of existence, aware
of the chaos of the real world around him, aware that existence
and the universe are “absurd” — this is the fact, Kierkegaard says,
which helps produce the leap of faith by which man discovers that
God is the “absurd.” There is a bitter relief and glory in this reali¬
zation which is one way of regarding the gift of Grace. It is per¬
haps easy to see in this what some of the more realistic and less
sanguine Christians have maintained about Christianity from the
very beginning. All the great mystic saints of the Church have been
aware of the “dark night of the soul,” the agony of being a
Christian.
Modern atheistic existentialists such as Martin Heidegger, Jean-
Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir are probably
most responsible for the twentieth century revivification of existen¬
tialist thought. But there are Christians among these contemporary
existentialists. Father Gabriel Marcel, Karl Jaspers, and even Rein¬
hold Niebuhr can be classified, at least in part, as existential think¬
ers. There is a similarity in thought amongst all these writer-
philosophers, up to the point, that is, at which the Christians make
the leap of faith. Existentialists see man thrown alone into a mate¬
rialistic jungle. If he keeps good faith with himself, he realizes his
aloneness and does not create moral fantasies around himself. This
realization causes dread, anguish, “fear and trembling,” and even
“nausea.” Concomitant with this feeling of aloneness comes a nau¬
seating awareness of subjective selfhood. The existentialist becomes
terribly aware of himself as a single, individual entity in the process
of creating itself. In a world with no external values, the individual
is faced with the fact that he is merely a blob of sentient and intel¬
ligent protoplasm with the necessity of shaping not only its own
personality, but its entire code of values. In other words, in every
1961]
Boies — Melville and Nihilism
311
action a choice is made by the individual which helps to delineate
the values of the individual and therefore adds to the totality of his
personality. This holds particularly true in the case of the actions
of an individual facing death. The way he faces death sums him up.
Thus the existentialist sees that the world is ‘^absurd,” It is “ab¬
surd’' because of the incongruity between the chaotic nature of the
universe into which man is thrown and the functioning of man’s
moral imagination. In other words, man’s mind is so constructed
that he conceives of an ordered moral universe. He does not live in
such a place, they say. Consequently, he is torn among the follow¬
ing possibilities: living in a constant dream fantasy (where, by the
way, he is continually betrayed) ; not living in this impossible en¬
vironment at all (suicide) ; or living in this chaos stripped bare of
the trappings of all false systems, schemes, moral formulae, easy
religions. God-comfort, '‘Ben-Franklin” type moral virtue — every¬
thing.
These are the only three paths. The first — for the person who re¬
spects intellect and reality — is unthinkable. It is hiding ; it is unreal ;
it is escape. It might be a solution, of course, but in the long run
reality will betray the illusion. All the false codes and formulae
break down and betray. So the strong man has only two paths to
choose; he may commit suicide, or he may face the chaos of living
in this bitter world he never chose and learn to live without hope
in the midst of absurdity — in fact, to become an “absurd” man as
did Hamlet. Hamlet suddenly sees the world bare, denuded of the
pretty formulae presented him in youth and in “your philosophy”
at Wittenberg. And the world becomes an “unweeded garden.”
Things “rank and gross in nature” possess it entirely. Hamlet sees
the vast absurdity of man in this world (note his “What is man?”
speech), and for a time, when he realizes the horrible necessity for
self-definitive action on his part, he contemplates the other path —
suicide (note the “To be or not to be” soliloquy) , But when he de¬
cides to live in the chaos in which love is a liar ; his mother a whore ;
his unshriven, ghostly father a wanderer in an earthly purgatory;
his uncle a bestial, lecherous murderer ; his school chums his poten¬
tial murderers — when he decides to live in such a world, he realizes
that the “readiness is all.” Note that he comes close to accepting
the philosophy of Horatio, the friend who admits that he is “more
of an antique Roman than a Dane.” Horatio is a Stoic, and we have
already observed that is many respects Roman Stoicism was a sort
of ancient existentialism. For the Senecan Roman there was no
moral fantasy. The Stoic admitted he had been tossed into a chaotic
universe. He either learned to live in that bitter environment (as
did Marcus Aurelius) or he calmly slashed his wrists and bled to
312 W isconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
death while unconcernedly gossiping or reciting poetry (as did
Petronius Arbiter).
Hamlet, in some respects, follows both paths. He learns how lO
live in this world in the sense of performing the necessary self¬
definitive actions. But his actions lead inevitably to his own destruc¬
tion. So Hamlet becomes an excellent archetypal existential figure.
At the point of choosing one of the three possible paths — the
moral dream-fantasy, suicide, or living without hope — the Chris¬
tian existentialists and the atheists part. The Christian feels that
at that point the leap to faith in God is made — that He is the “ab¬
surd,” that finding him is an agony, a little Crucifixion, a bitter but
glorifying experience. This, they feel, is the way to learn to live
without hope — by living with faith in God. The atheistic existen¬
tialists, of course, would say that the so-called Christians are actu¬
ally creating another fantasy world to live in.
Of the other two paths — suicide or actually living without hope —
either is acceptable, say the atheistic or agnostic existentialists. A
man may kill himself or learn to live without systems. This is why
Albert Camus says in the first sentence of The Myth of Sisyphus,
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is
suicide.”^ He feels that before man can solve any other problems,
he must ask himself if the pain of living is worth remaining alive.
If not, suicide. But if remaining alive is worth the pain, the man
must find some way to live in a bitter world and reconcile himself
to the absurdity about him.
Herman Melville is one of the supreme examples of a man con¬
tinuously shuttling between these two possibilities— self-destruction
and learning to live in a bitter world without hope. He never suc¬
ceeded in either, but he poured both of these possibilities into his
literary works. As a result, in Melville’s writing we find a con¬
tinual undertone of actual, symbolic, and vicarious suicide, while at
the same time we find a collection of heroes or major figures who
are trying to come to grips with reality, to strip the world of pre¬
tenses and to learn to live outside the aegis of moral and religious
fantasies and wish-fulfillment dreams. The fact that almost without
exception these heroes annihilate themselves in the process is
significant.
In other words, in Herman Melville, one finds an existential
writer (but then, so was Shakespeare) who had probably never
heard of Kierkegaard and who lived long before Heidegger, Sartre,
Camus, and company.
1 Albert Camus, The Myth of SisyyhiLS (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1955), p. 11.
1961]
Boles — Melville and Nihilism
318
II
]his discussion of existentialism will serve to place Melville in
the proper category of thinkers. It is tremendously important to
understand the relative intellectual and artistic position of this man
who — in an age of transcendental idealism, optimism, progressiv-
ism, false liberalism, Utopian Brook-Farmism, ‘‘best-of-all-possible-
worlds’’ philosophy, comfortable Christianity, platitudinous poets
afraid of a single real idea or image in their poetry, Victorian nov¬
elists with one foot in syrup and the other being twisted by Mr.
Bowdler — dared '‘to eat a peach,” dared to "roll the universe into a
ball” and hurl it at the "overwhelming question” that faced and
will always face humanity. It is not necessary to call Melville an
existentialist. It would be wisest not to call the existentialists by
that name. The term has come to be so inclusive as to be of little
value. But one must have a label for certain kinds of thinking, cer¬
tain attitudes toward life. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a Transcend-
entalist. No one would gainsay that fact. And I think it is obvious
that Herman Melville was as far from the thinking of Ralph Waldo
Emerson as it is possible to go. Why not give Melville's attitudes a
title also? Since existentialism is such a broad term, and since it
implies a connection with people and concepts Melville never dreamt
of, I use the word "nihilism” to categorize Melville's view of life.
Melville's nihilism, then, is the opposite side of the coin of tran¬
scendental idealism, optimism, and general nineteenth century
namby-pambyism. Is it any wonder that Mohy~Dick and Pierre were
such failures in their time?
Melville did not actually commit suicide ; he learned to live with¬
out hope. But in his inner world of images, the world that he de¬
picted in words on paper, Melville committed suicide over and over.
Like his leaning "Tower of Pisa,” he was actually only a "would-be
suicide.” In a late poem entitled "Pisa's Leaning Tower,” Melville
discusses the tower's construction and then finishes with the fol¬
lowing personification of the masonry.
It thinks to plunge — but hesitates ;
Shrinks back — yet fain would slide;
Withholds itself — itself would urge;
Hovering, shivering on the verge,
A would-be suicide!®
But vicariously through Taji, Ahab, Pierre, Bartleby, Benito
Cereno, Billy Budd, and even through Tom (in Typee) , Ishmael,
Israel Potter, Redburn, and White- Jacket — -through all these Mel¬
ville vicariously indulged his self-destructive wishes.
2 Herman Melville, Works (London: Constable and Company Ltd., 1922), XVI,
p. 279.
314 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
First of all, Melville represented in Pierre an actual suicide.
Pierre, in prison for murder, takes poison — and it is interesting to
note that his actions throughout the novel are self-destructive and
in the process destructive to all the other major figures. Through
Pierre Glendinning's desire to act virtuously, he destroys his
mother, his cousin Glen, Lucy Tartan, his sister Isabel, and him¬
self. And death imagery vies with love imagery throughout the book.
Love, it is suggested by Melville, is ultimately self-destructive and
universally destructive. Mrs. Glendinning’s possessive love of Pierre
contributes to Pierre’s dilemma and to her death. The unnatural
love of Isabel and Pierre precipitates Pierre’s flight from the pre-
lapsarian Eden of Saddle Meadows. Lucy Tartan’s misplaced,
almost religious, devotion to Pierre motivates the fatal duel. At one
point Melville says, “Love is here, love is there, love is busy every¬
where,”^ and the careful reader recognizes ironic Melville’s echoing
the lines of a late poem by the suicidal Percy Shelley — “Death is
here, death is there, death is busy everywhere.”^
The masterpiece Mohy-Dick contains actual suicide. Mad Ahab,
certainly one of the most important examples of what Mario Praz
calls “The Fatal Men of the Romantics,” is suicidal. He is deter¬
mined, at the end of the novel, to “strike God and die.” He recog¬
nizes his finiteness and the infinite qualities (represented by the
white whale) against which he rebels. But like Milton’s Satan who
says “better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven,” Ahab would
rather die (as he knows he must) than submit to any force beyond
his own ego. And it is again worth noting that he carries his entire
world to destruction with him. His crew become the willing tools
of their “monomaniac commander’s soul,” and even Starbuck (who
represents orthodox Christianity) is unable to act against this de¬
structive tendency as is pagan but quiescent Ishmael, whose physi¬
cal salvation at the end of the novel was a matter of pure expedi¬
ency on Melville’s part. Note that he is ironically saved on a coffin.
The novels of Melville written before Mohy-Dick show the sui¬
cide motif in varying degrees of intensity. The plunge of Tommo
and Toby into the Vale of Typee in Melville’s first novel seems to¬
tally suicidal. And as a matter of fact, the theme of “ship- jumping”
(taking French-leave from the microcosm of a ship to plunge into
a destructive environment such as the ocean or a cannibal isle) be¬
comes symbolically an act of physical or moral suicide in at least
three of Melville’s novels — Typee, Omoo, and Mardi. In Mardi, of
course, the actions of the protagonist, Taji, at the end of the novel,
^Ihid., IX, p. 45.
^ Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Complete Poetical Works (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1901), p. 398.
1961]
Boies — Melville and Nihilism
315
are distinctly self-destructive. All of his companions finally leave
him, and he sails in search of Yillah (his lost love) ‘‘beyond the
reef that encircles the islands that make up Mardi. Since in the
novel Mardi comes to represent the world, Taji’s sailing “beyond
the reef” suggests suicide.
It would be possible to show the suicide motif also in such minor
works as Redburn, White- Jacket, Israel Potter, and even in the
quietistic deaths of Bartleby the Scrivener and Billy Budd — but
this brief synopsis of the theme in the major works would indicate
Melville’s literary preoccupation with this existential drive toward
self-annihilation — what Freud called the Thanatos urge.
Was this sublimated suicide, then, an act of bad faith on Mel¬
ville’s part? Probably not. Albert Camus speaks of various suicidal
and non-suicidal writers who held that life was meaningless. The
most significant that he mentions is Arthur Schopenhauer ! He says,
“Schopenhauer is often cited, as a fit subject for laughter, because
he praised suicide while seated at a well-set table.”'^ Obviously there
is the other path of living without hope. We presume that this was
Schopenhauer’s path. (It is interesting to note that Schopenhauer
was Melville’s major reading during the last years of his life.) The
evidence of interest in suicide in a man’s writing, however, iden¬
tifies him with this particular attitude toward life, and indicates a
desire channeled off into fantasy creation.
But is this shuffling off of the suicide urge through created char¬
acters, then, pure fantasy or should it be considered more closely
connected with a man’s life? According to Albert Camus, creative
fiction is inextricably bound up with the life of the creator of that
fiction. An observation which Camus makes concerning actors is
applicable also, I believe, to writers. He says.
It is certain that apparently, though I have seen the same actor a hundred
times, I shall not for that reason know him any better personally. Yet if I
add up the heroes he has personified and if I say that I know him a little
better at the hundredth character counted off, this will be felt to contain
an element of truth. For this apparent paradox is also an apologue. There
is a moral to it. It teaches that a man defines himself by his make-believe
as well as by his sincere impulses.®
Melville “defined himself by his make-believe,” that is, by his make-
believe characters, “as well as by his sincere impulses.” And since
nearly all Melville’s major characters are suicidal, and nearly all of
his works contain the theme of self-destruction, Melville defined
himself as a “would-be suicide.”
s Camus, p. 14.
p. 17.
316 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
III
To turn briefly from Melville’s themes of self-destruction to the
author’s metaphysical or cosmic nihilism, we shift from the existen¬
tialist who desires to leave this world because of the pain which
living entails, and turn to the existentialist who has decided to live
without hope. To keep good faith with himself, if he is to live in
this world, the existentialist learns to live without hope. This means
to live without reliance on any system of religious, moral, or ethical
principles, without faith in any ordered doctrine or philosophy. In
this respect Melville certainly fills the bill. His entire literary life
was devoted to a graphic demonstration that no philosophy, reli¬
gion, or pattern of thought is adequate for man in the face of the
inscrutable universe into which he has been cast. One may haul the
Kantian whale’s head up on one side of the ship to balance the
Lockeian whale’s head on the other side, but the two together merely
weigh the ship down without helping it in any way through the sea
of life. Better it is, says Melville, to cut both philosophical heads
away and steer the ship in a lonely, nihilistic manner. Nowhere is
this nihilistic attitude toward life-guides, toward moral and reli¬
gious systems, toward a concept of a benevolent creator in the uni¬
verse, toward even a belief in Fate, more completely rehearsed than
in Mohy-Dick where many approaches toward life — Ahab’s fanati¬
cal pursuit of truth and the infinite, Ishmael’s fatalistic resigna¬
tion, Starbuck’s orthodox Christianity, Stubb’s self-blinding escap¬
ism, Flask’s unthinking materialistic utilitarianism, and Pip’s
insane mysticism — all prove futile in the face of the chaotic uni¬
verse, so completely malignant in its relationship to the humans
who inhabit it and try to understand it. In various fashions Mel¬
ville demonstrates the same concept in all of his works — even in
the so-called final 'Testament of acceptance” — Billy Budd.
But for a moment let us return to the modern existentialists for
a background against which to place Melville’s metaphysical
nihilism.
The closest that modern existentialist writers have come to real
metaphysical and ethical explorations is probably Simone de Beau¬
voir’s book. The Ethics of Ambiguity d Most contemporary existen¬
tial thinkers restrict their publication to works on psychoanalysis
and phenomenology. Madame de Beauvoir, however, insists that
there can be a positive ethical value-scheme even within the limits
of atheist existentialism’s chaos-ridden universe. The book just men¬
tioned explores this possibility — the creation of a positive ethical
attitude in a world without any absolute values, A human discovers
"Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Avihiguity (New York: Philosophical Bibrary,
1949).
1961]
Boies — Melville and Nihilism
317
this ethical positivity, says Madame de Beauvoir, in a realization of
the relationship between himself and other selves, and this rela¬
tionship is a balance of freedoms. One's moral freedom is the most
important aspect of his existence. On another level, it is his struggle
for self-realization. And while in certain respects, say Jean-Paul
Sartre and Madame de Beauvoir, every other person’s freedom is a
threat to my own self-realization, still I cannot really be free with¬
out the concomitant moral freedom of others. It is by a compli¬
cated process of ontological juggling that the existentialist arrives
at this position, and it is not the purpose here, nor is it necessary,
to explain the process in detail. The point is that there is an attempt
by the modern existentialists to draw away from a sense of quies¬
cent fatalism on the one hand and sheer nihilism on the other.
In drawing away from these possible alternate existential world-
outlooks, Madame de Beauvoir presents a very interesting and a
very valuable picture of what she calls the “serious” man and his
ultimate extreme — the “nihilist.” Her book is especially valuable
for a student of Melville, since it seems to present in capsule form
a description of the Melvillean attitude toward life. By Madame de
Beauvoir’s definition Melville is unquestionably a nihilist.
First of all, Madame de Beauvoir discusses what she calls the
“serious” man. This is, essentially, man in society or societal man
carried to his ideal and fanatic extremes. This is the man who will¬
ingly gives over his attempts at subjective self-realization because
he understands that this will conflict with society. Consequently,
he subordinates himself to something in which he believes (or in
which he tries desperately hard to believe). This may be a cause,
a religion, a movement, science, philosophy- — any organized system
of moral or religious thought. “The thing that matters to the seri¬
ous man is not so much the nature of the object which he prefers to
himself, but rather the fact of being able to lose himself in it.”®
This serious man is actually making a subjective value-choice, but
he refuses to realize this, says Madame de Beauvoir; he assumes
that the values are absolute and smothers himself in them. This is
dishonest and dangerous, according to the existentialists. It leads
to fanaticism, tyranny, and despotism. Ordinarily this person does
not put all his eggs in one basket. He believes in a number of causes.
But occasionally fanaticism centers a man in one cause. If this fails
him, the “serious” man is destitute. Then he “joins the sub-man
[an unthinking amoeba] , unless by suicide he once and for all puts
an end to the agony of his freedom.”‘’
The only possibility for the disillusioned “serious” man is to put
himself the question “What’s the use?” And with this question
^ Ibid., p. 47.
^ Ibid., p, 51.
318 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
should come an insight into the absurdity of the universe. At this
point, ‘‘Conscious of being unable to be anything, man then decides
to be nothing. We call this attitude nihilistic,'' says Madame de
Beauvoir.^® To put it another way, Nihilism is disappointed serious¬
ness which has turned back upon itself."^^
In a further discussion of the nihilist, as he is seen by the prac¬
ticing existentialist, Madame de Beauvoir presents for us a picture
which might be that of Herman Melville as well as of Baudelaire,
It sometimes happens that, in his state of deception, a man maintains
a sort of affection for the serious world; this is how Sartre describes
Baudelaire in his study of the poet. Baudelaire felt a burning rancor in
regard to the values of his childhood, but this rancor still involved some
respect. Scorn alone liberated him. It was necessary for him that the uni¬
verse which he rejected continue in order for him to detest it and scoff at
it; it is the attitude of the demoniacal man as Jouhandeau has also de¬
scribed him : one stubbornly maintains the values of childhood, of a society,
or of a Church in order to be able to trample upon them. The demoniacal
man is still very close to the serious; he wants to believe in it; he con¬
firms it by his very revolt; he feels himself as a negation and a freedom,
but he does not realize this freedom as a positive liberation.^®
Thus the values of Melville’s youth and of the bourgeois American
world around him are constantly returned to in his novels. By re¬
turning to God, idealism, Saddle Meadows, the “prosy old Guide
Book" of Redburn's father. Romantic aspiration, and prelapsarian
innocence, Melville could try to believe in them and scorn them at
the same time. More important, he was well equipped with values
to scorn. He insisted on retracing the same path of his rejection
again and again, employing each time a new work of art and some¬
times new symbolism.
But, says Madame de Beauvoir, “One can go much further in
rejection by occupying himself not in scorning but in annihilating
the rejected world and himself along with it." And it was in this
area of endeavor that Melville proved himself undeniably a meta¬
physical nihilist. A man may devote himself to a lost cause or fritter
his life away on trivialities. Or he may follow other paths.
Surrealism provides us with a historical and concrete example of different
possible kinds of evolution. Certain initiates, such as Vache and Crevel,
had recourse to the radical solution of suicide. Others destroyed their
bodies and ruined their minds by drugs. Others succeeded in a sort of
moral suicide; by dint of depopulating the world around them, they found
themselves in a desert, with themselves reduced to the level of the sub-
man.^"
Melville's entire canon manifests this “moral suicide" by which he
depopulated his created worlds. (Witness the decimation of char-
p. 52.
11 Ihid.
12 /bid., p. 53.
pp. 54-55.
1961]
Boies — Melville and Nihilism
319
acters in Moby-Dick and Pierre in particular.) In addition to this,
Melville systematically disproved the validity of every system of
morality, metaphysics, and philosophy maintained by his various
characters. In so doing he reduced to zero the possibilities of his
own belief in anything. He had become a nihilist. Melville committed
a continual vicarious suicide in his literary world; and he also
reduced all the metaphysical possibilities in his created worlds to
nothing.
First of all, since he was born and baptized into Christianity,
we might infer his major interest in the religion of his fathers.
Three major proponents of the Christian way seem to leap out at us
from his works — Starbuck in Moby-Dick, Pierre, and Billy Budd,
In Starbuck, orthodox Christianity is suggested, and we see in this
man the 'Tall of valor in the soul.” Unable, through religious
scruples, to kill Ahab, Starbuck and his Christian world are carried
helplessly to destruction. And in Pierre we see the opposite kind
of Christian from Starbuck. Pierre acts too rashly in the name of
Christian virtue and in the process destroys all around him. In
Billy Budd, Melville attempted to picture a boy who approximated
perfection in Christian ethics (although Billy is too unlearned in
all ways to understand the rudiments of Christianity). Billy is as
close to complete goodness, Melville implies, as man perhaps ever
reaches. But when he is trapped by the utter depravity of a Clag-
gart, his basic human fallibility arises in him in the form of a speech
defect, and he commits unwitting murder. Human imperfection
eventually defeats Christian virtue.
In Clarel, Melville’s long poem concerning his pilgrimage in the
Holy Land, the poet very straightforwardly and unsymbolically in¬
dicates that Christian faith, or religious faith of any sort, is impos¬
sible for the man of a "deep-diving temperament,” however much
he may wish he could believe. It is a poem as arid as the Holy des¬
erts which it treats.
But Melville does not stop with decimation of religion. The major
philosophies of the Western world are all tried and found wanting.
Melville was a formidable opponent of nineteenth century German
idealism as it derived from Kant and was developed by Hegel. And
he was no less an attacker of American Transcendentalism. Plin-
limmon and his followers in the novel Pierre suggest Emerson and
the Concord Platonists. And the character of Mark Winsome in The
Confidence-Man is obviously a vicious burlesque of the personality
of Ralph Waldo Emerson. All transcendental idealism appalled Mel¬
ville. His major warning against it occurs in the chapter of Moby-
Dick called "The Mast-Head,” where he warns the young look-out in
the crow’s nest not to be lulled into a sense of oneness with the
320 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
beautiful ocean, because one misstep can send him hurtling eighty
feet to a death by drowning or a discovery of sharks under the
beautiful surface of the water.
But Melville was not a proponent of those philosophies that run
counter to idealism. One remembers that he likens, in Mohy-Dick,
the two whales’ heads that are hoisted on either side of the Pequod
to the philosophies of Kant and Locke. These represent the two
great streams of modern Western philosophy-— rationalism and em¬
piricism. One is needed to balance the other. But Melville suggests
cutting them both away and sailing without either.
About modern pragmatism and scientific positivism, Melville had
less to say, since they were not in his time serious avenues of belief
as they have become in our time with the deification of science.
But Melville does indicate his distrust of these atheistic, material¬
istic approaches to life in his attack on Margoth— the Hegelized,
science-ridden Jew in the poem Claret.
So in his literary works, Melville destroyed all possibilities of
faith or belief and in nearly all he committed vicarious suicide
through his characters. And in a manner of speaking he committed
actual literary suicide, since after his first two successes, he delib¬
erately wrote unpopular books and spent the last thirty years of
his life in relative literary silence. When he died he was actually
forgotten as a literary figure.
He was indeed the “disillusioned serious man” of the existential¬
ists — if you wish, the “nihilist,” the man who— in an era when it
was popular to be the smiling optimist — said “No” to practically
all aspects of the wretched existence into which he found himself
thrown.
A portion of Melville’s letters to Nathaniel Hawthorne makes a
fitting summation of Melville’s world-view and a good summary of
this study. The letter was written to Hawthorne in praise of the
latter’s House of the Seven Gables. Melville says :
There is the grand truth about Nathaniel Hawthorne. He says No! in
thunder; but the Devil himself cannot make him say yes. For all men
who say yes, lie; and all men who say no, — why, they are in the happy
condition of judicious unincumbered travellers in Europe; they cross the
frontiers into Eternity with nothing but a carpetbag, — that is to say, the
Ego.’*
^^Jay Oeyda, The Melville Lor; (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1955),
I, p. 410.
AMERICAN PROTESTANTISM AND THE HIGHER
CRITICISM, 1870-1910*
Walter F. Peterson
Mihvaukee-Dotvner College, Mihvaukee
The last quarter of the nineteenth century proved to be a most
difficult period in the history of American Protestantism. Plagued
by the social problems inherent in an emerging urban, industrial
society, Protestantism was also confronted with the theological
problems posed by evolution and the historical criticism of the
Bible. The question of Biblical criticism was especially crucial to
Protestantism, for during the Reformation the reformers had ut¬
terly abolished belief in the infallibility of ecclesiastical authority
in interpretation and rested their entire position on belief in the
infallibility of the Scriptures. This Protestant doctrine of the in¬
fallibility of the Bible assumed its complete authority not only in
the area of religion but in science and history as well. There was no
place in the inherited theologies for growth, correction, or further
revelation. Lyman Abbott phrased the orthodox view of the Bible in
these words :
The Bible was dictated by God to amanuenses; it is wholly free from
error; if in our version there are errors, they are due to copyists or trans¬
lators; the inspiration is verbal, for there can be no inspiration of ideas
or sentiments except by means of words ... it is not only the infallible
word of God, it is his final word and there can be no further revelation;
the Bible is the truth the whole truth and nothing* but the truth.^
The higher criticism, or the study of the Bible by critical meth¬
ods of historical and literary analysis, began in Europe early in the
nineteenth century with Germany as the center of the new Biblical
scholarship. The Bible was treated as a collection of literature whose
date, authorship, and character should be investigated critically,
rather than a book known in advance to be inerrant and the prod¬
uct of inspiration. The impact of these ideas was by no means
immediate. As late as 1875 it was known only to some in the United
States that a critical study of the Bible was being made by German
scholars, and very little was known of the results either in the
churches or the seminaries of this country.-
With the publication of Professor Charles A. Briggs’ Biblical
Study: Its Principles, Methods and History in 1883, a wider con-
* Paper read at the 91st annual meeting' of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters.
1 Lyman Abbott, Reniimscences, (Boston, 1915), p. 447.
^Washington Gladden, Recollections, (Boston, 1909), pp. 259 f.
321
322 Whconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
sciousness of Biblical scholarship began to develop in America. This
study was designed to acquaint both the intelligent laymen and the
clergy with the field of Biblical study. As a liberal Presbyterian
professor at Union Theological Seminary, Briggs was convinced
that piety and scholarship should be combined for the best results.^
Yet, the scientific approach was the essence of this method of Bib¬
lical criticism, for Briggs later stated that it was the purpose of
the higher criticism to determine on purely scientific principles the
integrity, authenticity, literary form, and credibility of the Scrip¬
tures. These principles were :
1. The writing must be in accordance with its supposed his¬
toric position as to time, place and circumstances.
2. Differences of style imply differences of experiences and
age of the same author, or, when sufficiently great, differ¬
ences of author and period of composition.
3. Differences of opinion and conception imply differences of
author when these are sufficiently great, and also differences
of period of composition.
4. Citations show the dependence of author upon author, or
authors cited.
5. Positive testimony.
6. The argument from silence.^
Regardless of the amount of piety involved, the application of these
rules to the study of the Bible indicated that a large part of the
traditions as to authorship, date, style, and integrity had no solid
ground.
Prior to the turn of the century it was the regular practice of a
great part of the Protestant clergy to expound the Scriptures to
their congregations in long and minute exegesis. Consequently men
knew their Bible, and it was used in family devotions, as well as
public orations. Its wisdom on all subjects was considered irrefu¬
table. Through various channels people now heard that some of the
books were not composed by the authors to whom they had been
attributed ; that the first five books were not written by one person,
and only a very few of the Psalms were written by David ; that the
Levitical ritual was not practiced in the wilderness, or even until
some centuries afterward; and that the account of Jonah was a
parable.® The first reaction on the part of many individuals was a
profound sense of shock. Essentially, it did not make much differ¬
ence what errors were found or how trivial they were, for to many,
3 Charles A. Briggs, Biblical Study: Its Principles, Methods a'tvd History, (New
York, 1887), p. viii.
^Charles A. Briggs, Church Unity: Studies of its Most Important Problems, (New
York, 1909), p. 326.
5 George Harris, A Century’s Change in Religion, (New York, 1914), pp. 76 f.
1961]
Peterson — American Protestantism
323
both clergy and laity, the admission of any error seemed fatal to
the authority of the Bible and therefore undermined the very basis
of their faith.
One of the early difficulties was a lack of finality in the conclu¬
sions of the Biblical scholars. Conclusions drawn by some scholars
were bitterly contested by others. Where the specialists found them¬
selves in doubt, the average man was in a state of utter confusion.®
It is obvious from the sermons of the last two decades of the nine¬
teenth century that even the more liberal denominations mentioned
the results of the Biblical scholars from the pulpit very infre¬
quently. Apparently this was due to fear on the part of the clergy
that their congregations would misunderstand the implications of
the findings and their faith, in what was already a period of spir¬
itual unrest, would be further unsettled.
One liberal minister who felt that the people had a right to know
what was going on in the field of Biblical scholarship was Wash¬
ington Gladden. He was convinced that the Bible, even when all the
findings of the scholars had been presented, would still remain the
most precious and inspiring book in the world. In fact, he felt that
it would be even more precious and inspiring when all the truth
had been told about it than it ever could be as a mere object of
superstition.'^ It was with this aim in mind that in 1891 Dr. Gladden
published his book. Who Wrote the Bible? Delivering it originally
as a series of sermons, he stated at the very outset his reasons for
undertaking this work.
The results of conservative scholarship have been very imperfectly re¬
ported to the laity of the churches. Many facts about the Bible are now
known by intellig’ent ministers of which their congregations do not hear.
An anxious and not unnatural feeling has prevailed that the faith of the
people in the Bible would be shaken if the facts were known. The belief
that the truth is the safest thing in the world, and that the things which
cannot be shaken will remain after it is all told, has led to the prepara¬
tion of this volume.®
Concentrating principally on the Old Testament, Dr. Gladden at¬
tempted to “put into compact and popular form, for the benefit of
intelligent readers, the principal facts upon which scholars are not
generally agreed concerning the literary history of the Bible.”® The
last chapter of this study is entitled, “How Much is the Bible
Worth?” Here he concluded that the Bible was not infallible his¬
torically, scientifically or morally, but, “The Bible is the record of
8 Gains Glenn Atkins, Modern Religious ^OuJts and, Movements, (New York, 1928),
pp. 56 f.
Gladden, Recollections, p. 319.
^Washington Gladden, Who Wrote the Bible? A Book for the People, (Boston, 1891),
pp. 5 f.
® Ibid., p. 1.
324 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
the development of the kingdom of righteousness in the world.
Gladden was very much gratified to find that no excitement or con¬
troversy had developed in his congregation while his lectures were
in progress. However, from outside his congregation he received
much censure and condemnation.’^
On the basis of the continuing study of the Bible, Washington
Gladden at the turn of the century published another work entitled,
How Much Is Left of the Old Doctrines? This was an attempt to
set forth the doctrinal position on which he, as a liberal who had
kept abreast of the findings of science and Biblical scholarship, then
stood. ‘T am going to maintain that the intelligent Christian may
stand in the presence of modern thought, and accept everything
that has been proved by science or history or criticism, and not be
frightened at all by any of it ; firmly believing that the great veri¬
ties of the Christian faith will still remain untouched.’"’^
Many conservative Protestants felt strongly that there could be
no compromise, that they must stand firm in the face of threats to
true religion. This group knew that they were in the right, by
holding to the old faiths, for they could see the hand of God work¬
ing in the world to illustrate that any revision of faith was false.
One of the most obvious results of this dilution according to the
Presiding Elder of the Detroit Conference of the Methodist Church
was the depression of 1893. National prosperity was absolutely
impossible in the absence of political and commercial confidence.
Since all confidence, political and social, ultimately rested in faith
in the Bible, the existing lack of faith had obviously caused the
downfall of the whole system of American prosperity.’®
That there was an increasing amount of vice and crime, such as
homicide, suicide, adultery, and kindred sins was not a mere coin¬
cidence to conservatives. The logical explanation for this was in the
fact that men had departed from the fear of the Lord. Having noth¬
ing to fear, men went their own way “like the wild asses of the
wilderness.”” The dilution of orthodox theology had not only
affected the national prosperity and the morals of the times but it
had affected church attendance as well. The churches had once been
crowded Sunday after Sunday, it was held, with congregations eager
to hear the unadulterated Word of God; but by 1911 these churches
p. 362.
i’- Gladden, Recollections, pp. 321 f. Also, The Mihcaukee Journal, December 19,
1904, p. 4.
^“Washington Gladden, How Much is Left of the Old Doctrines? A Book for the
Peojde, (Boston, 1899), pp. 15 f.
The Methodist Episcopal Church Pulpit, Charles T. Allen, “Christ Glorified in His
People,’’ (Monroe, Michigan, 1897 ), p. 35. Also, ed., Knut Seehuus, The Old Paths,
(Decorah, Iowa, 1914), p. 173.
J. Sheatsley, Sermons on the Eisenach Gospels, (Columbus, 1915), p. 68. Also,
Samuel Smith Harris, The Dignity of Man; Select Ser)nons, (Chicago, 1889), pp. 160 f.
1961]
Peterson — American Protestantism
325
were reported to be practically empty. This was because the pastors
of many churches had read the '‘so-called higher critics” more than
they had their Bibles and, therefore, had lost their faith in the In¬
spired Word of God. Consequently, they had no message for the
people that was worth hearing. “God will not bother Himself to
send hearers to false messengers.”^"
From the decade of the 1870’s on, some conservative groups to an
ever increasing extent attempted to discourage the growth of the
new ideas through the use of heresy trials. Since the Lutherans
were practically unanimous in maintaining their orthodox theology,
they had little occasion to resort to such drastic means. The Bap¬
tists and the Disciples had no ecclesiastical courts for dealing with
matters of heresy, so their only recourse was to thresh out cases
involving heretics in their religious papers without decisive results.
Both the Congregational and Episcopal faiths developed a marked
degree of theological tolerance at a relatively early date and there¬
fore had little intradenominational difficulty over the question of the
higher criticism. The Methodists did have some heresy trials be¬
fore the turn of the century, but for the most part they were more
interested in administrative efficiency than in doctrinal uniformity.
It was the orthodox group within the Presbyterian Church that
made a determined effort to root out evidences of the encroachment
of scientific findings in their pulpits and seminaries. In this they
were aided by a well-defined ecclesiastical system which embodied
excellent provisions for trying suspected heretics. In May, 1891,
over seventy Presbyterian ministers, meeting in Detroit, peti¬
tioned the General Assembly to bring charges against the distin¬
guished Hebrew scholar of Union Theological Seminary, Charles A.
Briggs. Professor Briggs was finally brought to trial in 1893 and
was found guilty of violating his ordination vows and suspended
from the Presbyterian Church. Briggs promptly withdrew and took
orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church. Through this same
means the Presbyterian Church lost two more of her distinguished
scholars; Henry Preserved Smith in 1894, and A. S. McCiffert in
1899.^^
Severe as this controversy was, it was not serious enough to pro¬
duce schisms of major importance. Thus a period of enforced con¬
tact was brought about within the denominations between the
liberal and conservative elements. This period of enforced contact
resulted in some gradual change of position. Within the major de¬
nominations this movement was always in the direction of the lib-
S. P. Long-, Pt'02)hetic Pearls, (Columbus, 1913), pp. 193, 343.
Robert Ellis Thompson, A History of the Preshyteria^i Hhurches in the United
States, (New York, 1895), p. 261. Winfred Ernest Garrison, The March of Faith; The
Story of Religion in America Since 1865, (New York, 1933), p. 94,
326 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
erals. In the more conservative denominations the progress toward
a liberal view was sometimes so gradual as to be hardly discern¬
ible, but taking a long view of this process, progress was certain/'
Yet, F. H. Foster caught the sense of impatience with which the
liberals witnessed this very gradual progress when he termed it a
conservative movement. In fact, some liberals felt that this move¬
ment merited criticism for its slowness and hesitation, rather than
condemnation for haste and recklessness.^®
That the period of indiscriminate denunciation of the higher criti¬
cism had passed by 1905 for the mass of the Protestant clergy
seems to be indicated in a sermon by the Dr. D, W. C. Huntington,
Chancellor of Nebraska Wesleyan University. He warned that min¬
isters who engaged in such denunciation were becoming increas¬
ingly unacceptable. Such preaching '‘has prejudiced more thinking
men with ministers, than all that is called higher criticism.''^®
Moreover, the Methodists by this time were no longer interested in
pressing heresy charges against their clergy. Charges were brought
against Professor H, G. Mitchell of Boston University in 1905, but
they did not reach the General Conference until 1908. The bishops
then inserted a clause in the discipline relieving them of the duty of
investigating erroneous opinion in the seminaries. The highest
Methodist court having ruled itself out of such cases, there was no
other body to fill such a position of authority, and as a consequence
the Methodist Church was saved from further heresy hunting/^
It would be virtually impossible to estimate what proportion of
the Protestant clergy held to the ideas of the higher criticism at
any given time during the period 1870 to 1910, Some felt that they
were restricted intellectually by the conservatism of their congre¬
gations and this conservatism, of course, was reflected in the temper
of their sermons.-^ However, sermons used in the process of this
research would suggest that the decade of the 1880's was, generally
speaking, one of opposition to the findings of the higher criticism.
The decade of the 90’s found an increasing number of liberal clergy,
particularly in Congregationalism, embracing these findings. Such
conservative denominations as the Lutherans and Presbyterians
continued to reject the historical approach through the first decade
Shailer Mathews, Neio FaAth for Old: An Autobiography^ (New York, 1936 ), pp.
77 f. Also, Atkins, Modern Religious Cults and Movements, p. 14.
18 Frank Hugh Foster, The Modern Movenient in American Theology, (New York,
1939), pp. 11 f.
1^ D. W. C. Huntington, Half Century Messages to Pastors and People, (Cincinnati,
1905), p. 16.
20 Halford Edward Luccock, and Paul Hutchinson, The Story of Methodism, (New
York, 1926), pp. 428 f. Also, Stewart G. Cole, The History of Fundamentalism, (New
York, 1931), pp. 185-190, passim,
21 Charles A. Stelzle, A Son of the Bowery: the Life of an East Side American, (New
York, 1926), pp. 106 f. Ernest Hamlin Abbott, Religious Life in America; A Record
of Personal Observation, (New York, 1902), p. 354.
1961]
Peterson — American Protestantism
327
of the twentieth century. The majority of such groups as the Meth¬
odists, Baptists and Episcopalians raised ever less objection.
It was only in the Congregational Church that we find a genuine
acceptance of the historical criticism of the Bible. And this accept¬
ance did not come until mid-way in the first decade of the new
century. The election of Washington Gladden to the post of mod¬
erator of the Congregational Church in 1904 probably marks the
final acceptance. The Reverend Henry Stauffer who was for some
years associated with Gladden in his work in Columbus, Ohio, put
it this way.
For many years, Dr. Gladden has been under a cloud, so to speak, because
of his advanced views. His recent election as moderator of the national
council touched him deeply, not only the honor, but the recognition and
acceptance of his views that it indicated. It removed the stigma that had
hung over him.^
Actually, the number of Protestant ministers who adopted the
higher criticism during the period to 1910 was probably something
less than one-fourth of the total number. But since this small group
was to a very great extent made up of the intellectual and denomi¬
national leaders, such as Lyman Abbott, Washington Gladden and
Shailer Mathews, its total effect was much more far-reaching than
mere numbers would indicate.^^
The use of historical criticism as applied to the Bible had not been
confined to the Old Testament, but only in examining the Old Testa¬
ment had it been applied in completely thoroughgoing fashion. Un¬
like the European scene where as early as 1835, Dr. David Fried¬
rich Strauss had written The Life of Jesus; Critically Examined;
American theologians, even leading liberals such as Gladden, had
not pressed the historical examination of the New Testament. How¬
ever, an Episcopal rector, the Reverend Algernon Sidney Crapsey
publicly applied the higher criticism to the life of Christ, in a ser¬
mon delivered on February 18, 1905, with startling conclusions.
In the light of scientific research, the Founder of Christianity, Jesus the
son of Joseph, no longer stands apart from the common destiny of man
The Milwaukee Journal, December 19, 1904, p. 4.
23 The survey of the beliefs of 700 ministers made by Professor George Betts in
1929 gives some indication of the penetration of the higher criticism within Protestant¬
ism to that date. It was found that 55% of the ministers believed that the Bible was
written by men chosen and supernaturally endowed by God for that purpose, and by
him given the exact message they were to write; 70% that the inspiration that re¬
sulted in the writing of the Bible is different from that of other great religious litera¬
ture ; 34% that every part of the Bible is of equal validity and authority with every
other part; 38% that the Bible is wholly free from legend or myth. In a breakdown
by denominations on the question of whether or not the Bible was written by men
chosen and supernaturally endowed by God for that purpose, and by him given the
exact message they were to write, 98% of the Lutherans, 62% of the Baptists, 44%
of the Presbyterians, 40% of the Episcopalians, 30% of the Methodists, and 15% of
the Congregationalists believed this to be substantially true, George Herbert Betts,
The Beliefs of 700 Ministers and Their Meaning for Religious Education, (New York,
1929), p. 45.
328 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
in life and death, but He is in all things physical like as we are, born as
we are born, dying as we die, and both in life and death in the keeping of
that same Divine Power, that heavenly Fatherhood, which delivers us
from the womb and carries us down to the grave. When we come to know
Jesus in his historical relations, we see that miracle is not a help, it is a
hindrance, to an intelligent comprehension of His person, His character
and His mission. We are not alarmed, the fact of His miraculous birth
was unknown to Himself, unknown to His mother, and unknown to the
whole Christian community of the first generation."*
The fact that this sermon was printed gave rise to serious question
on the part of some of the Episcopal clergy. In April of 1906 Mr.
Crapsey was tried for heresy and forced to renounce the ministry
The Episcopal Church which had provided a haven for Professor
Briggs in 1893 when he was expelled by the Presbyterian Church,
refused thirteen years later to allow the application of Briggs’
principles to the New Testament,
The Crapsey decision could not conceal the fact that conserva¬
tive Protestants had been slowly but steadily losing ground to their
liberal opponents. Some conservatives felt that the situation de¬
manded rapid and forceful action. In 1909 under the leadership of
the Reverend A. C. Dixon, pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago,
a group of earnest believers organized a movement of protest.
‘Two Christian Laymen” subsidized the publication of The Funda¬
mentals, a series of twelve volumes aimed at “strengthening the
faith of Christians, unto the defence of the truth against the vari¬
ous forms of error so prevalent at the present day, and, above all,
in stirring up Christians everywhere to more active effort and more
earnest prayer for the conversion of a great number of the un¬
saved.”-^ At the expense of the Two Laymen, three million copies
of The Fundamentals were sent to “All English-speaking Protestant
pastors, evangelists, missionaries, theological professors, theological
students, Y.M.C.A. secretaries, Y.W.C.A. secretaries, Sunday School
superintendents, religious lay workers, and editors of religious
publications throughout the earth.”-^ Although the leadership
seemed to be dominated by the Moody organization, it also cut
across denominational lines, for contributions to The Fundamentals
were received from professors, ministers, and laymen of most of
the leading denominations.
This group insisted on re-emphasizing the absolute authenticity
of the Word of God. In doing this they cast suspicion on the find¬
ings of science and especially of the higher criticism ; and not infre¬
quently did they discount the sincerity of the liberal leaders. Canon
Algernon Sidney Crapsey, The Last of the Heretics, (New York, 1924), pp. 251 f.
^ Ihid., p. 260. See The Milxoaukee Journal, June 4, 1906, p. 9, for reactions to the
Crapsey trial in Wisconsin.
The Fundamentals, Chicago, n. d., vol. XII, p. 7.
^ Ibid., p. 6.
1961]
Peterson — -American Protestantism
329
Dyson Hague of London, Ontario, stated the basic assumption of
the Fundamentalist movement :
If we have any bias, it must be against a teaching which unsteadies heart
and unsettles faith. Even at the expense of being thought behind the
times, we prefer to stand with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in re¬
ceiving the Scriptures as the Word of God, without objection and without
doubt."®
The first decade of the twentieth century was, then, the crucial
decade for the higher criticism. Its principles and general findings
had been largely accepted by liberal Protestants, although the
Crapsey trial indicated the possible perils of carrying these prin¬
ciples too far. Moreover, it had spawned a small but vigorous and
well-organized opposition movement in Fundamentalism, The higher
criticism had, by 1910, come to occupy a recognized place in Ameri¬
can Protestantism.
28 The Fundamentals, Dyson Hagvie, “The History of the Higher Criticism,’’ Vol. I,
pp. 119 f.
PATTERNS OF OBSERVATION : A STUDY OF HAMLIN
GARLAND’S MIDDLE BORDER LANDSCAPE
Kathryn Whitford
Milwaukee
When an author appoints himself spokesman for a region, as
Garland did for the Middle Border, it is useful to have some touch¬
stone by which to measure the quality of his observation. And in
applying such a touchstone one frequently learns to what extent an
author is dependent on his actual experiences in his creation of fic¬
tion. In Garland’s case it is probably significant that he never laid
a story in a locality he had not visited, and the largest number of
his works are laid in the area which he knew best. This area which
he termed the ‘'Middle Border” has been facetiously defined as
“wherever Hamlin Garland was”, but actually he used the term for
western Wisconsin, Iowa, and South Dakota.
Although it is, perhaps, theoretically not impossible to recon¬
struct the way of life of a region more than half a century ago and
then to compare one author’s account of such a life with the actual¬
ity, it would be extremely difficult in practice. Detailed accounts of
homestead life are scarce and fragmentary. Moreover the more de¬
tailed and intimate they are the less they are able to reflect the
diversity of frontier life which was the result of the diverse back¬
grounds which settlers from Europe and America, the North and
South, from rural and urban communities, and from artisan, farm,
and commercial classes brought with them to their new homes and
which modified the manner of life from community to community
and even farm to farm. But the landscape and climate were rather
more constant, and botanists and zoologists have recorded the com¬
position of the prairie and oak openings, the ranges of plants and
animals in sufficient detail so that Garland’s descriptions of such
phenomena can serve as a test of his observations.
Lists of Garland’s descriptions of nature and of the plants and
animals he names reveal similar patterns of observation. First, he
works almost entirely from first hand experience, largely uncor¬
rected by subsequent study or learning. Second, his observations are
typically those of the farmer, the herdsman and the trailer. His
eye for panorama is better than that for detail, except in those
cases in which there is some practical reason for observing detail.
He is accurate in what he observes but despite the fact that he
was familiar with unbroken prairie both in Iowa and in South Da¬
kota his observations would be of little value to a botanist or
zoologist.
331
332 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
Garland is at his best in descriptions of weather — the raw autumn
mornings which mellow into noon in Boy Life on the Prairie, the
lowering sky and cold gray wind of the Thanksgiving Day on which
young Lincoln Stewart picks corn, the still heat of “Among the
Cornrows”, the swift mountain showers in Tyranny of the Dark
and The Forester's Daughter, the violent summer storm which de¬
stroys Jason Edwards’ final crop, and, most frequently, blizzards.
There are vivid accounts of blizzards in Moccasin Ranch, in A Lit¬
tle Norsk, and in Boy Life on the Prairie as well as in the autobio¬
graphical Son of the Middle Border. Actually one of Garland’s
earliest published pieces is a fictionalized account of going out to
his South Dakota claim and being caught there in a blizzard.^ It is
also interesting that, with one exception, the novels which deal with
a cycle of seasons are the Middle Border novels. Rose of Butcher's
Cooley, A Spoil of Office, A Little Norsk, Moccasin Ranch, Boy Life
on the Prairie, Trailmakers of the Middle Border, and the collec¬
tions of short stories, Main Travelled Roads, Wayside Courtships,
Prairie Folks, and More Main Travelled Roads all contain stories
both of summer and winter.
Garland’s western novels tend to be stories of summer and fall,
the seasons at which he visited the west. The action of Cavanaugh
takes place in a single summer. The action of Captain of the Gray
Horse Troop, though it is spread over more than one year, simply
omits winter scenes of the reservation. The Eagle's Heart chronicles
several years of life in the west, but all the action takes place in
the summer. The boy’s story. The Long Trail, parallels Garland’s
own trip to Alaska, and therefore is restricted to a single summer.
The Forester's Daughter takes place in autumn, but although it in¬
cludes a wet autumn snow, the snow is brief, local and not unex¬
pected there early in September or even August. The long serialized
novelette, “The Ranger and the Woman”, describes only summer
scenes. The mountain scenes of Her Mountain Lover, The Tyranny
of the Dark and Money Magic are laid in summer. One is aware of
a change of seasons in Hesper but it is difficult always to know how
much this change is seasonal and how much altitudinal.
“The Outlaw,” a story from They of the High Trails, contains
another description of a mountain snowstorm, this one of blizzard
proportions, but it stands as the only approximation of winter in
the west except for two stories in The Book of the American Indian.
The Indian stories are largely transcriptions of stories told to Gar¬
land, but in “The Storm Child” he can call his experience with
prairie blizzards to aid him and writes authentically. “The Silent
Eaters” mentions snow and cold but centers on the summer and
1 Hamlin Garland, “Holding- Do^yn g- Claim in a Blig^ard,” Harper’^ Weekly, XXXII
(Jan. 28, 1883) pp. 66-67,
1961]
Whitford — Garland’s Middle Border
333
autumn of the death of The Sitting Bull. By contrast, in the Middle
Border stories Garland includes such winter details as the feel of
frozen ground underfoot, the ring of horses' hooves on frozen
ground, the brief ponds which form on the plowed land in a thaw
and then freeze to provide a prairie boy with skating, as well as the
cold white fury of snow driven before a prairie wind- — authentic
details derived from his own experience.
Similarly Garland exhibits a keen eye for panorama, for what his
fellow Middle Borderers might have termed the “lay of the land".
It is not surprising that he should be aware of the gradual rise of
the Great Plains to the mountains and the locations of the major
ranges, or even of the vegetation zones of the mountains them¬
selves. After all, generations of naturalists and travelers had de¬
scribed the transitions from hardwoods to pine to timberline and
Garland had himself observed the change in Colorado and also on
his trail trip to Alaska when the necessity for finding pasture for
his horses made him keenly aware of the pattern of grass and for¬
est. He records it in more or less detail in most of his western nov¬
els. Cavanaugh, Money Magic, Spirit of Sweetwater, Captain of the
Gray Horse Troop, and even The Tyranny of the Dark contain
records of journeys up a mountain, or mountains, but the most
extensive descriptions outside of On the Trail of the Goldseekers
occur in The Forester’s Daughter.
A better test of Garland's eye for landscape pattern is found in
his description of prairie landscape such as that of the “brush" or
“hazel" prairie which, with a casual authenticity born of intimate
knowledge, combines site, soil and the pattern of the dominant
vegetation :
Scattered over the clay lands were small groves or clumps of popple
trees, called ‘‘tow-heads” by the settlers. They were commonly only two or
three hundred feet in diameter, though in some cas.es they grew along a
ridge many acres in extent. Around these islands seas of hazel brush
rolled, interspersed with lagoons of blue- joint grass, that most beautiful
and stately product of prairie soil.^
It is also noteworthy that in Boy Life on the Prairie he correctly
charts the vegetation zones from prairie to river bottom in Iowa, a
transition which is less readily apparent to an untrained eye than
the transition from aspen to pine to timberline of the mountains
and one that has found very little place in American literature.
Bryant had observed it in Illinois and written a description of it in
his letters, but it is not included in his long poem on the prairie.
It would seem then, that in this description Garland is working
2 Hamlin Garland, Boy Life on the Prairie, New York, Bacon & Allyn, 1926, p. 90.
334 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
from his own observation without benefit of prior prompting by
conventional descriptions.
The Cedar River was about four miles away, a bright, sparkling stream,
with occasional pools, overhung by elm and basswood trees, and bordered
with drooping watergrasses. The road to these swimmingplaces led through
beautiful wild meadows, rich with waving crow’s-foot, lit as with flame by
pinks, lilies, roses, and sweet-williams. Young prairie chickens rose before
each galloping horse with a sudden buzz, and the smell of blossoms bur¬
dened the slow wind. A mile of burr-oak openings followed, and then came
the dip into the wooded bottom where the river ran.®
The foregoing paragraph is also typical of Garland’s use of plant
names. The paragraph quoted contains one of his most extensive
lists of species : it mentions three kinds of trees, a grass and four
flowers, but of these only the trees and roses are recognizable to a
botanist today. In the plant world Garland was most familiar with
trees. He mentions burr-oak, elm, and basswood, willow and soft
maple, poplar, aspen, spruce and fir, and recognizes the proper hab¬
itats for each. But he does not usually discriminate one oak from
another except in the case of burr-oaks. The farmers of the prairie
planted willow and poplar and soft maple because they were quick¬
growing trees, and the practical recognition of the differences in
growth habits of the hard and soft maple causes Garland and other
farmers to distinguish between them, but such discrimination was
the exception rather than the rule.
Garland apparently knew only a few herbs by name. He uses no
latin names except in those cases in which the generic name is also
the common name as is the case with asters and roses. He actually
lists only about a dozen prairie species and no greater number of
mountain species despite the fact that of the forty books he pub¬
lished only one or two are entirely without episodes laid in the mid¬
dle or mountain west. The impression that Garland is not familiar
with plant nomenclature is reinforced by the fact that the same
plants are referred to in several contexts although others might
have been substituted with equal accuracy. As in the case of trees
there is no discrimination of species even in genera such as asters
which are highly variable. Garland uses only the common inclusive
term aster or sunflower, etc.
Thus of the prairie species, Bluejoint grass, wild oats and sun¬
flowers are mentioned in the beginning of Boy Life on the Prairie
and there are occasional short lists such as ‘‘pinks, sweet-williams,
tiger lilies and lady slippers”^ but a composite list made from his
lists would hardly begin to enumerate the rich and conspicuous
prairie flora.
^Ibid., p. 168.
^Ihid., p. 96.
1961]
Whit ford — Garland’s Middle Border
335
In The Spirit of Siveetwater and The Forester’s Daughter he
mentions sage brush, painted cup, cactus, Spanish dagger and also
the crow’s foot grass and blue joint grass at higher levels. These
lists of species which Garland recognized are complicated by the
fact that he often included so little reference even to color that it is
difficult to establish which plants he was referring to. The brief
notes prepared by Garland for the school edition of Boy Life on
the Prairie indicate that he at least used the names for the three
grasses to which he most often refers with some precision. His
description of blue joint,
‘‘a tall beautiful grass, growing often as high as a man's shoulder: Ap¬
parently it is green, but close study shows that the joints, which are six
or eight inches apart, are really dark blue or purple, the color shading off
above and below the joints. The boys chewed the joints for the sweet juice.
In the autumn before withering and becoming sear, the grass turns red¬
dish purple.”"
rather clearly identifies Andropogon. On the other hand the descrip¬
tion of what Garland refers to as Crow’s-foot, though it certainly
indicates that he had a specific grass in mind, fails to provide char¬
acteristics necessary for identification as does that for the wild oats.
It is almost as difficult to identify flowers in Garland’s writings
with any degree of accuracy as it is to identify the grasses. Thus
‘Tink” and ‘‘Sweet William” may both refer to phloxes; although
the “Pink” could have been used for the firepink (Silena Virginica)
and may even have reference to the grasspink orchid (Calopogon
pulchellus) , Sweet William is given as a common name by Fernald
in the new Gray’s Manual of Botany only for an introduced species,
but in the Middle West Phlox divaricata is sometimes called by that
name. Similarly Fernald and other authorities give Crow’s-foot as
a common name only for an introduced species of grass. Such use
of almost unidentifiable common names suggests that Garland was
using highly local nomenclature which has been largely superseded
by names taught in the schools. Garland then, apparently learned
these names in his childhood and never adopted later, more stand¬
ard, nomenclature.
All of the species which Garland names identifiably are conspicu¬
ous either for their size or color, with the exception of violets which
are so commonly known that the veriest novice at botany recog¬
nizes violets as easily as roses. It seems probable that what Garland
wrote of Lincoln Stewart and his friends, “Almost without realiz¬
ing it, he and his companions came to know every weed, every curi¬
ous flower, every living thing big enough to be seen from the back
of a horse”,® was also true of Garland and that the qualification was
^Ibid., p. 326.
ej&id., p. 87.
336 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
equally accurate in both cases. The only exceptions were plants such
as wild buckwheat which interfered with the plowing and wild
strawberries which had the virtue of being edible.
As a matter of fact Garland names all the more common fruits,
berries and nuts used by the settlers such as crab apples, wild plums,
and hazel nuts ; although there is no mention of some of those such
as hog peanut, Jerusalem artichoke, hackberry, elderberry, and
serviceberry used by the Indians and by the first settlers in more
southern states. Actually all these latter plants produce meager
quantities of food in proportion to the effort required to gather and
prepare them ; they tend to be foods of desperation or poverty and
their omission serves as an indication that the farmers whom Gar¬
land knew had never been reduced to a diet so meager or unvaried
as to make these wild foods attractive.
But if Garland knew names only for a limited number of prairie
plants he nevertheless was able to distinguish prairie species from
introduced species. When, in Boy Life on the Prairie, Lincoln Stew¬
art returns to his boyhood home and finds that the prairie has van¬
ished, he recognizes the introduced roadside weeds as strangers :
The wild flowers were gone. Tumble weed, smartweed, pigweed, may-
flower, and all the other parasites of civilization had taken the place of
wild asters, pea-vines, crow’s-foot, sunflowers, snake-weed, sweetwilliams,
and tiger lilies.'^
Also when Lincoln and Ranee do finally locate a bit of remnant
prairie it is precisely where a modern botanist would expect it —
along a railroad right of way. He lists only half a dozen plants,
again by common and ambiguous names, but he has accurately
located the best place to look for remnant prairie, on land unbroken
by the plow and protected by fences from grazing cattle :
At last, beside a railroad track that gashed the hill and spewed gravel
along the bottom of what had been a beautiful green dip in the plain, the
two friends came upon a slender slip of prairie sod.
. . Here they 'are — the buffalo berries, the rose bushes, the rattle¬
snake weed, the wild barley, just as they were!”®
It would seem that his train journeys to Colorado and his multi¬
tudinous lecture tours provided the same kind of observation which
once he had made from the back of a horse. The picture is accurate
in outline, but fuzzy in detail.
A similar pattern of lack of specific names and failure to observe
small forms is evident in Garland’s references to animals and birds.
Blacksnakes and rattlers are mentioned as are prairie dogs, gophers
and the rats which infested the corn crib, but although some of
Ibid., p. 311.
»md., p. 318.
1961]
Whitford — Garland’s Middle Border
337
these are comparatively small creatures they all have economic sig¬
nificance for a farmer. Prairie dog holes were a menace to horses
and gopher hunting was a task regularly assigned to farm boys
because gophers dig up and eat seed corn. Boy Life on the Prairie,
in fact, contains an entire chapter on Hamlin Garland's memories
of shooting and trapping gophers.
Marmots, foxes, coyotes appear in appropriate contexts in Gar¬
land's western novels, and there is a mention of antelope in Moc¬
casin Ranch. Joe Gregg kills a mountain sheep in Cavanagh and
Garland himself deliberately withholds his fire when he sees a deer
along the Trail of the Goldseekers, but there is really very little
mention of large game. The bison of course existed only in a care¬
fully nurtured remnant herd. Elk and bear were largely gone from
the middle western frontier. In The Forester’s Daughter, Berrie
tells of an encounter she had previously had with a mountain lion
but the cat has no place in the story proper. There are mentions of
foxes, a badger, ‘‘wolves" and “prairie wolves", which Garland de¬
scribes as looking like a combination of wolf and coyote, in Boy
Life on the Prairie and an episode in which wolves follow Richard
Graham in Trail Makers of the Middle Border, but that is a book
set in pre-Civil War Wisconsin and draws not upon Garland's own
memories but those of his father.
Paradoxical as the idea appears at first, the absence of large ani¬
mals, particularly predatory animals, is probably testimony to Gar¬
land's faithfulness to his own observations. There was ample liter¬
ary tradition ranging from Cooper and Simms to Davy Crockett
for introducing encounters with ferocious beasts in chronicles of
the frontier. But the fact remains that the population of large ani¬
mals, either game animals or predators, was probably lower in the
years when Garland knew the middle and mountain west than it is
now after half a century of conservation and game management.
The names of birds appear with greater frequency in Garland's
novels than names either of herbs or animals but follow the already
established pattern. Few small birds are named and when they are
it is only generically, a sparrow or a warbler. In Moccasin Ranch
in which he writes of homesteading in South Dakota when it was
virgin territory he lists plover, redwinged blackbirds, meadow larks,
prairie chickens, ducks, geese, and sandhill cranes ; all of which are
conspicuous and most of which were considered game birds. But
even ducks and geese are undifferentiated. In Money Magic a mag¬
pie steals Mart Haney's strychnine bottle, and jays and grouse
appear in the Forester’s Daughter. From such representative ref¬
erences to herbs, animals and birds, it would seem that Garland
learned the details of his nature lore as a child and young man.
338 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
that he learned them primarily in his occupation as a farmer and
to a lesser degree in his recreation as a trailer and that his knowl¬
edge exhibits limits characteristic of these occupations.
But the lists serve also to demonstrate that Garland almost never
went beyond first hand observation in his use of nature either as a
background for his novels or as material for his plots, and his
omission of mention of native plants marginally useful for food,
together with the almost complete disregard of rabbits, squirrels,
ducks, geese or even fish in the Middle Border novels reinforces the
impression of those novels that, though Garland’s characters may
be burdened by mortgages, neither they nor the farmers Garland
knew on the Middle Border were ever reduced to consistent use of
wild foods, nor even interested in such foods except for those nuts
and berries which were generally considered delicacies.®
» In Boy Life on the Prairie Garland included a chapter on “Prairie Game” which
mentions that the boys shot rabbits and squirrels as sport, but “Squirrels they seldom
cared to carry home, but occasionally roasted them at their campfires in the woods”
(p. 212). Ducks which the boys hunted in season were also largely hunted for sport
for “His mother had a prejudice against ducks and never liked to cook them, and, in
truth, they never tasted very good”, (p. 205) As the boys “grew older and wiser, they
considered all the game of the prairie too small”, (p. 212)
ILLUSTRATING POLITICAL THEORY THROUGH SPEECH—
CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS’ ‘‘REPRESENTATIVE
BRITISH ORATIONS”*
Goodwin F. Berquist, Jr.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, the New York publishing house, wanted
some one to edit a collection of British orations. Speech anthologies
were selling well in the post-Civil War period and Putnam’s wanted
to bring out a set of its own.^ The man chosen for the job was the
dean of the new school of political science at the University of
Michigan. His name was Charles Kendall Adams.
Adams brought to this assignment a truly unique background. He
was in the first place a professional historian. ^ While still a fresh¬
man at Michigan in 1857, he became a disciple of Andrew Dickson
White. White was a brilliant teacher and a first rate historian. It
was he who suggested that Adams become a specialist in English
political history. After a year and a half of European study, Adams
succeeded White in the chair of history at Michigan. In 1870, Adams
established the first graduate seminar ever to be offered in an Amer¬
ican university." His courses, though usually elective, came in time
to be among the most popular in the University.^ In addition, Adams
did much to build up the manuscript collections of the university
library, first at Michigan and later at Cornell and Wisconsin.® In
1890, he would become president of the American Historical
Association.
Adams was equally at home in the field of political science. At
Michigan, he formed a student-faculty group known as the “political
science association.” Adams’ group pre-dated the national associa¬
tion of the same name by over fifteen years.® Adams’ historical
* Paper read at the 91st annual meeting- of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters.
1 An examination of Thonssen and Fatherson’s Bihliography of Speech Education
reveals that at least thirty-five collections of speeches were published during- the lat¬
ter half of the nineteenth century. Lester Thonssn and Elizabeth Fatherson, comp.
Bibliography of Speech Education (New York, 1939).
“ For a sketch of Adams’ career, see C. F, Smith, “Memorial Addresses : President
Charles Kendall Adams,’’ Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts
and Letters, XIV, Part II, 1903, 670-8.
3 H. B. Adams, The Study of History in American Colleges and Universities (Wash¬
ington, 1887), p. 240.
The Chronicle (University of Michigan student newspaper), April 3, 1880, as
quoted in C. F. Smith, Charles Kendall Adams: A Life Sketch (Madison, 1924), p. 14.
" In fact. Smith credits Adams with being the prime mover in the establishment of
the magnificent Historical Library at Madison. Ibid., p. 40.
6 “Political Science at the University of Michigan, 1910-1960,’’ n.p.
339
340 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
study of the British Constitution now served him well as he pre¬
pared new courses in comparative government and constitutional
law. Later as president of Cornell, he would seek to unite history,
political science and economics into a single administrative unit.'
A third field which interested Adams was the field of speech.
Since 1846 speech had been taught at Michigan and a historian had
usually served as the instructor. In fact, years before Adams arrived
at Ann Arbor, there existed an endowed chair of ‘‘logic, rhetoric,
and the philosophy of history.”* Far from opposing this speech tra¬
dition, Adams sought to build upon it. In his seminar teaching, he
incorporated elements of both debate and extempore speaking.®
Thus Adams’ students were exposed to communication skills along
with historiography. In his inaugural address as dean of political
science, Adams paid special attention to the importance of platform
speaking in America.^® Adams was one of the Michigan faculty who
asked the board of regents to expand course offerings in speech.^^
Again and again in his historical writings Adams called students’
attention to speeches as important primary source datad^ Later on,
as president of the University of Wisconsin, he would demonstrate
a keen interest in the development of intercollegiate debating.’^
One incident at Wisconsin is an especially vivid illustration of
Adams’ awareness of the importance of speech in a democracy.
Richard T. Ely, director of the University’s school of economics,
political science and history, was falsely charged with fomenting
strikes and boycotts during Adams’ term as president. Ely was one
of America’s foremost political economists. At stake was his right
and the right of every other professor in the University to speak
out and teach what he believed to be the truth. According to Her-
furth, Adams drafted the report of the regents committee which
investigated the charges.^^ The concluding statement, long hailed as
a milestone of American academic freedom, reads as follows:
. . . Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere,
we believe that the great state university of Wisconsin should ever encour¬
age that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the
truth can be found.
Adams’ efforts in this regard proved unsuccessful at Ithaca, but he was able to
achieve this goal later at Madison.
8 Marvin L. Esch, “Student Speaking at the University of Michigan” (Unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1959 ), p. 137.
^ The Chronicle, October 18, 1879, as quoted in H. B. Adams, op. cit., p. 106.
“Relations of Political Science to National Prosperity,” as quoted in Ibid., p. 117.
E sell, op. cit., p. 174.
13 Cf. especially C. K. Adams, “The Growth of Uiberty in England” (course of lec¬
tures for a seminar at the University of Michigan : Ann Arbor, 1870).
i» C. F. Smith, Charles Kendall Adams, p. 71.
11 Theodore Herfurth, “Sifting and Winnowing: A Chapter in the History of Aca¬
demic Freedom at the University of Wisconsin” (Madison, 1949), pp. 5-11.
1961]
Berquist — Political Orations
341
Speech, therefore, along with history and political science, was one
of Adams’ abiding interests.
The editing of a collection of British speeches gave Adams the
opportunity to pool all three of his interests. Speech texts were
themselves historical documents. Each text involved the essence of
a speaker’s political ideas at a key stage in his career. As speeches,
Adams felt the texts needed no editing ; the speakers themselves had
long ago seen to this. But the introductions to each speech gave
him the chance to analyze the special qualities which led to each
orator’s effectiveness. Here was an opportunity to bring political
theory to every American in a form both readable and meaningful.
To what degree did Adams accomplish this goal? A critical ex¬
amination of the volumes themselves should suggest the answer.
Each of Adams’ academic interests — history, political science and
speech-will be analyzed in turn.
As a professional historian, Ad?,ms was cautious about describ¬
ing his collection of speeches in terms of historical cause and effect.
He knew that most historical events result from multiple causation.
Yet he also knew that occasionally speeches did exercise a force in
history. Of the sixteen speeches included in Representative British
Orations, Adams described only one as resulting in an immediate
historical effect.^^ Pym’s oration on national grievances in the Short
Parliament of 1640 did cause an immediate reaction; Commons at
once appointed a committee to look into the wrongs Pym had so
carefully catalogued.
Usually Adams would qualify his assertions about cause and effect
by grouping speeches together as a force designed to influence
events. Thus Macaulay’s four speeches on parliamentary reform
“contributed not a little to the final triumph of that great move-
ment.”i® Bright’s speeches delivered during the American Civil War
“more than any other one thing” restrained Britain from recogniz¬
ing the Confederacy.^^
Sometimes, too, Adams was forced to admit that a particular
speech had no perceptible effect upon the immediate audience. Thus
the speeches of Chatham and Burke on American affairs could
hardly influence members whose income and position were grants
of the king. Fox’s plea for negotiations with Bonaparte had little
apparent impact on a Pitt-controlled House dedicated to an exactly
C. K. Adams, Representative British Orations (New York, 1884), I, 84, Actually
Pym’s speech achieved a great deal more. It was the first party platform in English
history, a platform Pym’s followers would vote into law six months later. See my
doctoral study, ‘‘The Parliamentary Speaking of John Pym, 1621-1643” (Unpub¬
lished Ph.D. dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University, 1958), p. 167, passhn.
C. K, Adams, Representative British Orations, III, 55.
Ibid., Ill, 157. A later estimate of England in the 1860’s contests this position.
Cf. E. James Lennon, ‘‘The Pro-Northern Movement in England, 1861—1865,” Quarterly
Journal of Speech, XLI (February, 1955), 27-37.
342 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 50
opposite course of action. Historical judgments of this kind are as
sound today as when Adams wrote them in 1884.
As a historian, Adams’ principal weakness was his biased inter¬
pretation of historical events in sixteenth and seventeenth century
England. Witness, for example, his account of the country at the
end of the reign of Elizabeth. Right after the Spanish Armada,
according to Adams, a new question arose :
That question was whether the English Constitution was to be developed
in the direction of its traditional methods, or whether the government and
people should adopt the reactionary methods that were coming to be gen¬
erally accepted on the Continent.^®
The use of the words “traditional” and “reactionary” are most re¬
vealing here. Britain did in time become a parliamentary state but
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it seldom was. The tra¬
ditional form of government at that time was absolute monarchy,
not parliamentary democracy. “Reactionary” is a peculiar adjective
to use to describe a sixteenth century government whose form had
remained substantially the same for centuries. The fact that most
historians writing in Adams’ day shared this “Whig” or parlia¬
mentary bias does not change the situation.
As a further illustration of this weakness, take Adams’ account
of the impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham in 1626. He de¬
scribes this trial of the king’s favorite as “the constitutional method
of redress.”^® The British Constitution is a series of loose historical
precedents. But in 1626, precedence for impeachment of a royal
minister by the Commons was scarce indeed. Again Adams engaged
in an ex post facto judgment more in harmony with the nineteenth
than the seventeenth century.
From a second point of view, the orations were meant to be a
digest of English political thought. Eliot and Pym chronicled the
parliamentary indictment of Stuart rule in the seventeenth century.
Chatham, Mansfield and Burke debated the rights of crown and
colony in the American Revolutionary War period. Pitt and Fox
argued about the role England should play on the Continent during
Napoleon’s reign as Emperor of the French. Mackintosh and Ers-
kine defended freedom of the press and of juries. Canning on impe¬
rialism, Macaulay on parliamentary reform, Cobden on the Corn
Laws — each of these found a place in Representative British Ora¬
tions. John Bright’s indictment of ministerial handling of the
Crimean War is included as well. The third volume of the set ends
with a statement of party principles by Disraeli for the Conserva¬
tives and Gladstone for the Liberals.
18 C. K. Adams, Representative British Orations, I, 2-3.
18 Ibid., I, 4.
1961J
Berqiiist — Political Orations
343
By and large, Adams’ selection of speeches is balanced and in¬
clusive. To be sure, there are a few gaps in the collection. In the
matter of subjects covered, for instance, no speeches relating to the
Revolutionary Settlement of 1688 or the great anti-slavery move¬
ment appear here. And conceivably one might take issue with
Adams’ decision to start the collection with a speech of Sir John
Eliot in 1628. According to Adams, Eliot’s oration was ‘The earliest
parliamentary speech of real importance that has been preserved
to us.”'^® Yet earlier orations of stature by Wentworth, Bacon and
Coke come to mind.^^ At any rate, in the time period in which
Adams chose to concentrate, his selections did in fact represent the
core of the speaker’s thinking on the key political issue of the day.
In addition to political science and history, Adams had a third
academic interest which was to emerge in this work, his interest
in speech. He was concerned about the speaker himself as well as the
overall speaking situation. At one stage or another in the three vol¬
umes, Adams mentions virtually every phase of rhetorical criticism
known to the modern speech scholar. References appear relating
to : the authenticity of speech texts ; logical, emotional and ethical
proof ; style, memory and delivery ; short and long range effective¬
ness; theme development; and above all else, speech training and
the speaker’s overall education. As a speech critic, Adams chose to
sift and winnow, to include only the outstanding characteristics of
each orator and oration. The result is a primer in that area of
modern speech known as British Public Address.
To cite one example of his ability to size up a speaker, here is
Adams’ terse description of the speaking of Pitt the Elder :
He was not in a true sense a great debater. His ability lay not in any
power to analyze a difficult and complicated subject and present the bear¬
ings of its several parts in a manner to convince the reason. His peculiari¬
ties were rather in his way of seizing upon the more obvious phases of the
question at issue, and presenting them with a nobility of sentiment, a
fervor of energy, a loftiness of conception, and a power of invective that
bore down and destroyed all opposition.^
The weakness in this approach is one of depth rather than scope.
No single speaker ever receives a comprehensive analysis. Value
judgments about a speaker’s effectiveness are presented without
supporting evidence. And the sources of information Adams uses
are seldom documented.
Nevertheless the end result made rewarding reading. Adams’
prose style is refreshingly free of fine writing. His historical de-
^lUd., 1, 11.
21 See for example Peter Wentwortii’s address on liberty in 1576 ; Sir Francis Bacon,
on the king’s electioneers, 1614 ; and Sir Edward Coke on the Petition of Right, a
speech delivered just a few months before Eliot’s.
82 C. K. Adams, Representative British Orations, I, 89.
344 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
scriptions are vivid and fluent and well coordinated with the bio¬
graphical and speech detail. And from the outset of volume one,
the theme of Britain’s struggle for individual rights is clearly asso¬
ciated with the American reader.
In summary, Representative British Orations is a collection of
English speeches designed to illustrate political theory to the lay¬
man. Ahead of its time in its interdisciplinary stress, the set has
much about it that is appealing, even today.
At the time of publication, the reaction of Adams’ contemporaries
could best be described as apathetic. Neither popular magazines nor
professional journals bothered to review the work. The publishers
were so indifferent that in their advertisement of the set, they cred¬
ited a non-existent editor and appended an inaccurate description
of the content matter.-^
Yet the evidence suggests that the general public reacted differ¬
ently. Sixteen years after its release. Representative British Ora¬
tions was reprinted in a second, expanded edition.
^ Puhlisher’s Weekly, July 19, 1884, p. 97. It was more than a year before tbe
advertisement was corrected.
THE BACKGROUND OF THE ADULT EDUCATION
MOVEMENT*
Roger W. Axford
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
(Assistant Professor of Education)
The fact that throughout almost the whole nineteenth century constant
efforts have been made to build up a system of higher education suited to
the needs of adult men and women suggests that they are not the outcome
of a merely evanescent interest or fashion, but are founded on permanent
needs which, when disappointed in one direction, seek satisfaction in
another/
Adult education is not a new concept. Since the beginning of
recorded history, we have evidence of men who have learned
throughout their individual lifetime, and have used numerous in¬
formal methods to perpetuate culture. But formal institutional
adult education in any large scale is relatively modern. The devel¬
opment of various programs has been marked by diversity due to
the changing interests and the variety of needs of adults. Adult
education has been identified with the institutional organizations
which have been created within society to provide meaningful learn¬
ing experiences for individuals and groups. These institutions and
agencies of education for adults have usually been organized so
that persons at the same stage of development or having similar
interests may receive instruction efficiently and effectively. In many
ways, there is a similarity in the programs of the different coun¬
tries, since the basic needs of adults are similar in all countries and
at specific stages in man’s development. In their particulars, how¬
ever, the adult educational agencies and institutions of each coun¬
try tend to reflect the distinctive culture of the country in which
they have developed. At times, for example, adult programs in vari¬
ous countries have been so dominant that persons have identified
adult education with some particular institution, as in the case of
the Danish folk high schools.^
Progress and growth in education have developed on four basic
levels in our society: the elementary, secondary, higher, and adult
educational levels. The progress of each has been dependent on and
interwoven with the growth of the others. For example, the leaders
of adult education in the lyceums in America during the first half
of the 19th century were proponents of more adequate elementary
education. This paper will deal with the adult educational aspects
* Paper read at the 91st annual meeting- of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts, and Letters.
Design for Democracy, “1919 Report’’ by the Adult Education Committee of the
British Ministry of Reconstruction, p. 161.
^ Cyril O. Houle, ‘‘Adult Education,’^ Encyclopedia Brittanica, Vol. I (1957), 184.
345
346 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
only, since the other levels of education have been treated exhaust¬
ively in numerous scholarly studies. To examine a few of the high¬
lights of the institutions of adult education in England and America
will provide a background for understanding the movement.
English Heritage in Adult Education
Although the growth in educational opportunities progressed
slowly through the centuries, during and following the industrial
revolution there began to appear in Britain indications that educa¬
tion was a privilege desired by more than the elite. A British his¬
torian, Robert Peers, contends that the movement for adult educa¬
tion was part of the revolution which transformed a country of
small scale craftsmen and farmers into a great industrial democ¬
racy.^ He further ties this economic trend to the religious awaken¬
ing of the mid-eighteenth century, and both of these movements to
the dissolution of the old social order in England and the drift of
population to the towns.
Mechanics’ Institutes. Dr. George Birkbeck, founder of the Me¬
chanics’ Institute movement, was Professor of Natural Philosophy
at Anderson University in Glasgow in 1799. He had become aware
of the unsatisfied desire for knowledge of the workers while super¬
vising mechanics in the production of apparatus required for his
demonstrations. Birkbeck was so taken with the interest shown by
the workmen that he proposed the establishment of a Mechanics’
Class. It was an immediate success. In 1804 Birkbeck moved to
London, but the work was carried on by his successor. Dr. Ure.
People’s Colleges. In 1842, an independent minister, the Rev. R. S.
Bayley, criticized the shortcomings of the Mechanics’ Institutes in
meeting the needs of working men for higher education. Bayley
recognized that many workingmen were not ready for higher
studies, and that provision needed to be made for more elementary
subjects. He succeeded in establishing a People’s College in Shef¬
field to provide general education of a humane character. The num¬
ber of students at this College rose rapidly until, in 1849-50, there
were 630 enrolled. The London Working Men’s College was founded
by a group of Christian Socialists in England in 1854. This institu¬
tion was a practical experiment in social reform undertaken by
Frederick Denison Maurice and his colleagues.
University Extension. Frederick Maurice intended that the
Working Men’s College should work closely with the existing insti¬
tutions such as the universities. It was his hope that the Univer¬
sities would accept persons coming from the colleges (such as the
3 Robert Peers, Adidt Education: A Comparative Study (London: Routledg-e and
Keg'an Paul: New York: Humanities Press) pp. 3-30.
1961]
Ax ford — Ad,ult Education
347
Working Men’s Colleges), as they would from any other, and that
they would grant students their degrees, through examinations,
once the work was completed, Maurice felt confident that no fee
would stand in the way of working men obtaining the same advan¬
tages as their countrymen possessed.^ Unfortunately, Maurice’s
hopes for adult students to go from the London College on to Oxford
and Cambridge did not come to realization.
There have been two rather distinct approaches to the conception
of University Extension as it was carried on in England. One has
been that mainly associated with Cambridge, which concerned itself
mostly with the promotion of serious, systematic study. The other,
which is characterized mostly by the Oxford movement in univer¬
sity extension, has been the idea of the stimulation of intellectual
life at numerous levels of adult development. The university exten¬
sion lectures tended to accomplish the second objective more suc¬
cessfully than they did the first. The later developments of colleges
and centers grew out of a desire for opportunities for more con¬
tinuous and systematic study than was offered in university exten¬
sion lectures. One of the leading examples of the expression of the
Oxford point of view in university extension was the work of Canon
Barnett at Toynbee Hall.
Toynbee Hall. Toynbee Hall was founded in 1883, and expressed
a new recognition among the universities of their responsibilities
to the underprivileged. Canon Barnett brought many men from the
Colleges of Oxford to Toynbee Hall, where they worked in the
heart of the slums of London in both social settlement house and
educational endeavors. Later movements in adult education in Eng¬
land and America took inspiration from the efforts of these ideal¬
istic young scholars. The very idea of tutorial classes grew out of
the experience of Canon Barnett in his extension lectures at
Toynbee Hall.
Adult Education in the United States
The definitive study of the origins of university extension in this
country was published by Herbert B. Adams in 1900.^ In it he
pointed out the interrelationship of democratic traditions of educa¬
tion between England and the United States. England, perhaps, re¬
ceived impulses in the direction of democratic education from the
American and French revolutions, but, in later stages, the role of
leadership was reversed. The growth in educational democracy was
^ A Design for Democracy, The Adult Education Committee of the British Ministry
of Reconstruction commonly called the “1919 Report.’’ New York, Association Press,
p. 188, Quoted from the “Original Circular of the Working Men’s College,’’ issued in
1854.
s Herbert B. Adams, University Extension in the United States. (U. S. Government
Printing Office, Office of Education, 1900), p. 275.
348 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
an outgrowth of the pioneer influence of the English leaders of
social enlightenment and was closely tied in with the reform move¬
ments in British politics, particularly with the extension of suffrage.
Organized adult education in the United States began in colonial
days. It was a fruit of the Protestant revolt of the 16th century
and the general awakening of Europe taking place at that time.®
An early form was the proprietary school which taught vocational
subjects and usually met in the evening. Arithmetic and language
were staple parts of the curriculum. With the continued influx of
early settlers from Europe there developed the need for a culture
which would bring cohesiveness to this new land. The founders of
the new nation realized that political independence was not suffi¬
cient, and that there must be, in addition, an informed electorate.
There thus ensued during the early part of the 19th century in the
United States a number of loosely organized efforts in adult educa¬
tion, many of them unrelated to each other.
Lyceums, One of the most important of these individual group
efforts was the lyceum. Farmers, mechanics, and other groups with
some formal education organized small local associations for the
purpose of self-improvement. They were concerned not only with
their own improved learning, but with the development of a public
school system. Josiah Holbrook was a leader in the establishment of
lyceums in New England, the first of them being held at Millbury,
Massachusetts, in 1826.'^
The lyceum had as its purpose self-culture, instruction in speech,
debate, and discussion of common public interests. These town lyce¬
ums grew rapidly, and by 1839 some three thousand existed
throughout the country. Through the years they became potent in¬
fluences in promoting public education, and many participants
assumed educational leadership. These groups had among their
number some of the leading intellectual figures of the time, includ¬
ing Henry Ward Beecher, Wendell Phillips, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Bayard Taylor, Horace Greeley, Frederick
Douglass, and George William Curtis. The most famous was
Abraham Lincoln.®
But like so many ventures of adult education, which tend to be
episodic,*^ the lyceum waned just before the beginning of the twen¬
tieth century. During the period that the lyceums were gaining
strength, there were developing other agencies of adult education.
» Cubberley, Ellwood P. Public Education in the United States Boston : Houghton,
Mifflin Co., 1947.
^ Honier Kempfer, Adult Education New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1955, p. 4.
8 Adams, op. cit., p. 298. Also see Aynerican Joyiryial of Educatioyi XIV, October,
1826, 535 ; and Carl Bode, The Ayyiei'ican Lpceyun (New York: Oxford University Press,
1956), pp. 19-26.
‘'Cyril O. Houle, op. cit., p. 185.
1961]
Ax ford — Adult Education
349
Some of these grew out of the interests of those active in the lyce-
ums““museums, libraries, lecture series, mechanics' institutes, and
evening schools with public support. While the lyceums tended to
decline, many of the other institutions tended to become permanent.
For example, 1833 saw the first tax-supported library in Peter¬
borough, New Hampshire.
The Chautauqua Institution, The lyceums had given Bishop
John H. Vincent an example of what could be done in adult educa¬
tion, In 1874 Vincent and his colleagues embarked on an expansion
of a Sunday school association and established the Chautauqua In¬
stitution, The name ''Chautauqua" can be considered both as a place
and as an idea. Bishop Vincent chose, as the place, Lake Chautauqua
in southern New York. The idea was that annually, during the
summer months, thousands of persons should go there to hear lec¬
tures and music, and to attend courses of instruction especially de¬
veloped for Sunday school teachers. Vincent's idea was that all
learning was sacred, and that the secular life should be pervaded
by the religious spirit. This spirit he meant to achieve through the
Chautauqua Institution. His early emphasis was on the training of
Sunday school teachers, but he soon added to the usual Biblical
study in the curriculum a variety of additional subjects: literature,
languages (ancient and modern), history, art, science, music, elocu¬
tion, and physical culture.
Chautauqua offered one of the earliest correspondence study pro¬
grams in America. The early program was carried on through the
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (known as C.L.S.C.),
founded in 1878.^'® Then, as now, C.L.S.C. provided a number of
"reading courses" available by mail. In 1883 a program leading to
a diploma through correspondence study was also added to Chau¬
tauqua, so that a student could continue his study through the
mails.^^ This set a pattern later adopted by university extension
when William Rainey Harper founded The University of Chicago
in 1892,
The Extension of University Teaching
University extension was another expression of the desire of
adults in America for increased enlightenment.^^ History records
“ Ronald Brandt, “Culture by Correspondence : The Chautauqua Literary and Sci¬
entific Circle,” Unpublished paper, July ,1960, 11 pp., author’s files. (Research based
on W, R, Harper’s Letters, Harper Library, the University of Chicag-oi).
^W. S. Bittner and H. P. Mallory, University Teaching hy Mail (New York: Mac¬
millan Company, 1933), p. 17.
^ Mr. M. B. Sadler, Secretary of the Oxford Delegacy, is quoted as saying that “the
phrase ‘University Extension’ seems to have become current in the discussions on
University reform during the years immediately preceding 1850,” George Henderson,
Report Upon the University Extension Movement in England. Published by order of
the Philadelphia Society for the Extension of University Teaching, 1600 Chestnut St.,
Philadelphia (n.d., ca. 1890), p. 3.
350 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
that University extension was first publicly presented in the United
States at sessions of the American Library Association at Thou¬
sand Islands, New York, in September, 1887. This essentially Eng¬
lish system, adapted to local needs in America, was taken up by
many public spirited librarians in America in Chicago, St. Louis,
and New YorkJ^
In January, 1888, Melvil Dewey, chief librarian of Columbia
University, laid before the regents of the University of the State
of New York a plan for university extension in connection with
public libraries. On May 1, 1891, $10,000 was appropriated for the
state organization of university extension. The bill stipulated that
no part of the grant should be used for lectures, but should be used
‘Tor purposes of organization, supervision, and printing.^^
Following the lead of the University of the State of New York,
another major educational extension effort in the United States was
undertaken by the American Society for the Extension of Univer¬
sity Teaching. This Society was organized in Philadelphia in 1890.
Public-minded institutions cooperated with able and well trained
lecturers (many invited from England), extending their service to
the cause of popular education in America. The American Society
was supported by subscription, and a periodical, The Citizen and
the University Extension, was published to unite and promote the
extension movement.
For a decade the Society flourished. The University of the State
of New York reported in June, 1899, that the American Society
for the Extension of University Teaching gave lecture courses in
fourteen places in Philadelphia and in twenty-nine different towns
throughout Pennsylvania and in states near by.^® The activities of
this society, however, began to wane after the turn of the century.
Other Extension Ventures
During the period of 1880 to 1900 many efforts were made to
transplant to the United States the forms of university extension
which had proved successful in England. In 1892 at a national con¬
gress held for those interested in the extension movement, it was
reported that in the past four years twenty-eight states had organ¬
ized extension programs. The University of Wisconsin listed a group
of extension lecturers as early as 1890-91 and offered them to
groups off the resident campus.^^^ Morton reports that by the turn
of the century, however, university extension ventures had dimin-
13 J. N. Lamed, “An Experiment in University Extension,” Library Journal (March-
April, 1888). p. 75.
11 Adams, op. cit., p. 303.
^^Ibid., p. 307.
13 Copy in author’s flies.
1961]
Axf or d— Adult Education
351
ished almost to the vanishing- points ^ Some of the reasons listed for
the decline in extension efforts during this period were inadequate
financing, unavailability of suitable lecturers, inability of univer¬
sity staffs to understand the interests and capacities of adults, and
the great increase of university campus enrollments. By the early
1900's the enrollment bulge of undergraduate day students taxed
university facilities and the energies of the faculty, and most fac¬
ulty members were unwilling to lecture off campus.
The University of Wisconsin and University Extension
The University of Wisconsin pioneered in the development of a
general educational outreach in this country, and over the years has
been a leader in dynamic programs of adult education and public
services. With the appointment of Dr. Charles R. Van Hise as its
president in 1903, Wisconsin led among public institutions of higher
learning in taking the stored-up knowledge of the university to the
people beyond the immediate campus, James Creese, in his book
The Extension of University Teaching, has stated that “in the
entire history of university extension, no event had more critical
importance than the re-establishment of the Extension Division of
the University of Wisconsin by President Charles R. Van Hise and
Dean Louis E. Reber in 1906-07. The revival at Wisconsin led to
restoration of partly abandoned extension divisions in universities
all over the country, at privately endowed institutions as well as at
state universities^^®
Wisconsin has provided education for its adults not only through
the University of Wisconsin, but through other institutions. A sys¬
tem of Vocational and Adult Schools was founded through the
imaginative leadership of Dr. Charles McCarthy in 1911 and is
unique to Wisconsin in its statewide pattern. The Free Library
Commission through the vision -of Frank A. Hutchins has enriched
the enlightenment of adults by more than half a century of serv¬
ices to the people of the state. And the Co-operative Extension Serv¬
ice has carried on a broad program of public service through sup¬
port by U. S, Department -of Agriculture, and the county govern¬
ments. With the rich heritage and background of adult education
in Wisconsin it is hoped that the state will continue to pioneer in
creative programs for adults in the decades ahead.
John R. Morton, University Extension in the United States, University of Alabama
Press (Birmingham: Birmingham Printing Co., 1953), p. 5.
18 James Creese, The Extension of University Teaching, New York : American Asso¬
ciation for Adult Education, 1941. p. 98.
ETRUSCAN AND TUSCAN PARALLELS, A STUDY OF
THE ETRUSCAN CIVILIZATION AND OF THE
FLORENTINE RENAISSANCE
CORINNA LOBNER
University of Wisconsin Extension, Racine
Part One
The Italian region of Tuscany, once the heart of ancient Etruria,
is a land of contrasts. The rocky eastern shores open to the mild
winds of the Tyrrhenian sea, recede into a forest of black pine
trees tempered by silvery tamerici shrubs and red sprays of ole¬
anders. Golden clusters of broom overlooking the sea from barren
cliffs are guarded by needled agave-cacti aimed at the sky like
naked daghe — the deadly short sword the Romans inherited from
the Etruscans.
Away from the sea the vegetation changes, but not in color. The
black of the pine trees becomes the dark green of the fragrant
laurels hiding behind garden walls. The silver of the tamerici be¬
comes the shimmer of the olive trees scattered on low, terraced
hills among even rows of grapevines. Slender cypresses climb the
narrow paths in lonely procession like votive lamps set aglow by
the last rays of the sun.
Tuscany is a land of harmony. The brightness of the wild flowers
never clashes with the graceful solemnity of the landscape. Perhaps
because of this natural propensity to subdue all excesses, Tuscany’s
history is the history of spring. Like spring it has the feeling for
essential values, like spring it has the seed of ideas, like spring it
has the creativeness of youth. And this promise of creativeness
became a reality during two historical cycles far apart, yet inti¬
mately related in their cultural development. The first spanned
from the VI century B.C. to the IV century B.C. when Etruscan in¬
fluence in Italy reached its peak ; the second spanned from the XIII
century A.D. to the XV century A.D. when Florence, then a pros¬
perous Republic, became the center of the Italian Renaissance.
This presentation deals with the first part of this history : the
Etruscan civilization in Italy.
In the first century B.C. Italy experienced two events of great
importance. The first event was the rising of dictatorship within
the Roman Republic that led to the formation of the Roman Em¬
pire, the second event was the hopeless fight of two Etruscan cities,
Faesulae (Fiesole in Tuscany) and Perusia (Perugia in Umbria) to
regain their freedom from Rome.
353
354 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and, Letters [VoL 50
In the year 78 B.C. when the Roman leader Lucius Cornelius Silla
was dead, Faesulae rebelled against the colonists left by Silla to
punish the city for the help it had given his arch-enemy Gains
Marius. The rebellion was unsuccessful, it only worsened conditions
for Faesulae. Within thirty-eight years, in 40 B.C. the city of
Perusia suffered a much worse fate for aiding Lucius Antonins, the
brother of Mark Anthony. Octavianus, the future Caesar Augustus,
conquered the city and to commemorate the Ides of March ordered
three hundred illustrious citizens put to death. ^
These instances of rebellion in Faesulae and Perusia, are espe¬
cially important because they mark the last attempt of any Etruscan
city to regain political independence from Rome since the fall of
Faleri Veteres (Civita Castellana) in 218 B.C.
During the Roman empire to facilitate administration, the cen¬
tral part of Etruria which included modern Tuscany, northern
Latium and parts of Umbria, became known as Region VII. The
Emperor Diocletianus (3 century A.D.) reorganized the Region VII
into the districts of Tuscia and Umbria- with Florence as the most
important city.
Except for these geographical informations which reached us
through Latin texts, the Etruscans left very few traces of their
civilization which became a mystery perhaps as great as the mys¬
tery of their provenience. The only documentation the Tusci, as the
Latin called them or Tyrseiii, as they were known to the Greeks
left of their way of life'^ is in the tombs or houses of the dead, where
the walls come alive with frescoes depicting their activities and
their diversions.
Who were the Etruscans and where did they come from? There
are several theories concerning their origin and none can be hon¬
estly discarded for a lack of final, negative proof. Nicola FrereU
associated the Etruscan word Rasenna (probably man or people) to
Reti, a section of the Italian Alps still known as Alpi Retiche, for¬
warding the hypothesis that the Etruscans came from Northern
Europe.
Dyonysus of Alicarnassus, historian of the Augustian era,
claimed the Etruscans to be autochtonous because their language
and customs did not resemble those of any other people in the
Italian peninsula.
1 Svetonius. Octavianus 15. Applianus. Of Civil Wars, v. 30 & following-.
2 Tuscia et Umbria correspond to the modern regions of Tuscany, with capital Flor¬
ence, and Umbria, with capital Perugia.
3 Central Italy became known as Tuscia, Etruria, or Tuscany, from the name of
Tusci which the Latins used for the Etruscans. Their Greek name Tyrseni probably
derives from Tyrsis or turris meaning tower.
^Nicola Freret was a member of the Academic DTscritions et Belles Lettres de
Baris. (1750).
1961]
Etruscan — Tuscan Parallels
355
Most Greek and Latin historians, however, believed the Etrus¬
cans came to Italy from Lydia in Asia Minor" and Herodotus left a
famous legend to describe their arrival. It seems that a famine
which lasted eighteen years compelled the King of Lydia, Athis,
to send away half of his people led by his son Tyrrenus. After a
long journey by sea, Tyrrenus landed on the rocky shores of the
Italian peninsula somewhere north of the future Rome, and here he
sacrificed a native white pig to Tinia, Uni and Menrva, the three
most important Etruscan Gods that the Romans were to adopt with
the names of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.
The Etruscans who were careful with numbers as they consid¬
ered them an important part of their religious ceremonial, traced
their historical beginnings to the XI century B.C., approximately
between the years 1045 and 1025 B.C.®
It is not until the VII century B.C. however, that we can speak of
Etruria proper. The Etruscan civilization was in fact a by product
of the peaceful integration of the local Umbrian-Sabellic popula¬
tions with the followers of Tyrrenus. This process can be traced to
the Villanovan cinerary urns* where the transition from a cup or
patera covering the urn to a typical Etruscan helmet or to the clay
model of the head of the deceased gives us the important data of
this process of acculturation.
Thus the most complete political and artistic development of the
Etruscan Dodecapolis or government of the twelve cities can be
placed between the VI century B.C. when the Etruscans fully im¬
posed their cultural supremacy in Italy, and the IV century B.C.
when the rising power of Rome brought a slow death to the Dode¬
capolis.®
The Etruscan cities were at first governed by some form of a
primitive monarchy. The leading citizens of Etruria bore the name
of Lucumones, but identification between the word Lucumo and king
is becoming increasingly obsolete.
Between the VI century B.C. and the V century B.C. the Etruscan
cities became republics united by a common religious bond.^
It seems that the constant preoccupation of these republics was
to decrease the power of the individual citizen in order to avoid
“Among the Latin writers we can list Virgil, Aeneid, Book 2, v 781; Book VIII,
V 479 ; Book IX v 11. Also Horatius, Ovidius, Cicero, Seneca, Plinius, Tacitus. The
related story above is found in Herodotus I. 94.
® Varro gives us this information in his Tnscae Historiae.
"From Villanova a village near modern Bologna in Emilia.
® The cities of the Dodecapolis at the time of Roman conquest were: Caere (Cer-
veteri), Tarquinii (Tarquinia), A^ulci, Rusellae (Roselle), Vetulonia, Populonia, Vol-
sinii (Bolsena), Clusium (Chiusi), Arretium (Arezzo), Perusia (Perugia), Volaterrae
''Volterra), Faesulae (Fiesole), Cortona. Veii had already been destroyed by the Rom-
..iis. All the twelve cities of the original dodecapolis were located in central Italy.
® The twelve people of Etruria gathered every year at the sanctuary of the Fanum
Voltumnae for religious celebrations.
356 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
tyranny. This steady mistrust that bordered on anarchy, generated
such a hatred for all types of absolute power that when the city of
Veii, which had reverted to a monarchy, was sieged by the Romans
(396-386, B.C.) no sister city moved to its aid and Veii was com¬
pletely destroyed.
This rebellion against authority, this exceeding gusto for self
expression and individualism, is evident in Etruscan artistic mani¬
festations of the golden period which spanned from about the VI
century B.C. to the IV century B.C. Though greatly influenced by
Greek art, Etruscan art at its best has a unique realism and psy¬
chological insight, especially evident in funerary statuary and
animal sculpture.
In order to understand Etruscan realism in art is necessary to
penetrate the profound implications of religion among the Rasenna.
The Etruscans believed in a complete, fatalistic submission to the
will of the Gods. This need for identification between their daily
lives and a preconceived destiny, increased the importance of every
action they performed during their stay on earth. The soul went to
the underworld equipped with a scroll where its good deeds were
registered for the final judgment. The deceased was escorted by a
winged creature, a Lasa^'^ who was to guarantee a safe journey.
Because the after life was intended as a mere continuation of
life on earth, nothing could be more appealing to the Etruscans
than the blue skies of their native Tuscia where through pirate
ships and through great commercial skill they had created a veri¬
table paradise on earth. While the Greeks translated religion into
art, the Etruscans translated art into religion, religion into life,
life into eternity.
This can be clearly seen in the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing in
Tarquinii (VI century B.C.). Here the walls become alive with
agile dolphins leaping out of the Tyrrhenian sea, with birds cutting
the skies like winged arrows, with brown naked men diving in the
green waters.
Above them, in a different panel, husband and wife banquet on
the Mine, a reclining bed, attended by servants. The woman holds
the affectionate hand over the chest of the spouse as if to affirm the
very important place she holds in his heart. And indeed the Etrus¬
can woman held a unique place in all the ancient world. She was
allowed to take part in every type of amusement the men enjoyed.
The freedom allowed by Etruscan men to their women was often
misinterpreted. The historian Ateneus (XII, pp. 517-518) writes
Outstanding are the works of Vulca — the greatest of Etruscan sculptors. Espe¬
cially notable are his Apollus and Mercury, both from Veii. Other important pieces of
Etruscan statuary are Aule Meteli and the Capitoline Brutus. In animal sculpture the
Chimaera from Arezzo and the Lupa Capitolina are wonderfully realistic.
Eately scholars tend to identify the Lasa with the Lares of the Romans.
1961]
Etruscan — Tuscan Parallels
357
that Etruscan women “Lie on the kline not only with their hus¬
bands but also with strangers and have relations with anyone will¬
ing to do soP While Plautus, the Latin playwright in the Cistellaria
(II, 3 V 20 etc.) calls prostitution, “The Etruscan way to acquire a
dowry.”
These misconceptions of Etruscan customs may be ascribed to
the fact that both writers lived at a time when Rome was extremely
proud of its Latin ancestry and regarded the early Etruscan influ¬
ences on its civilization as a blemish on its past.
Life in Etruria as the murals in the tombs point out was largely
given to entertainment.^'^ Most games we know through the Romans
were of Etruscan extraction. Thus the games of the Gladiators
were first played in Etruria and from there they spread to the
South, to Campania, where the Romans learned them. The subulones
or pipe players, so popular in Rome, were Etruscan, and so were
most of the pantomime performers and the clowns. Acrobats and
trick riders were also Etruscan and polo was one of their favorite
games.
The Etruscans were masters in playing the double flute called
tibia and legend wanted Athena to have invented the horn for their
very special use. Ateneus tells us (XII, p. 518 b) “The Etruscans
do every thing at the sound of music, they make pasta (noodles),
they have fist fights, they whip people while listening to the flute.”
Their homes were perhaps the most comfortable of ancient times.
From the tombs we know the way these homes were built again
because of the Etruscan tendency to see in the after life a continua¬
tion of the present. The houses were divided into three rooms of
which the largest was the nuptial chamber to symbolize the impor¬
tance of the wedded pair, therefore of the family unit.
The rooms were furnished with throne-like chairs, bucchero^^
vases, bronze containers, candelabra, incense holders, kitchen
knives, grills, colanders, even knapsacks. Toilette articles consisted
of mirrors, safety pins which they called fibulae, scissors, depilators,
short ivory sticks, and different types of brushes.
The jewelry was exquisite and abundantly used by the women
who loved to wear heavy make up on their expressive faces crowned
by the blonde hair and a pointed cap called tutulus.^^ The make up
was not limited to women. The Lucumones walked the streets of
Rome wrapped in their tebennos, the future Roman toga, their
faces painted in red to assert their proud masculinity.
This can be seen in most murals of the VI, V century B.C. notably in the Tomb
ol' the Aug-urs, Tomb of the Lioness, Tomb of the Baron, Tomb of the Triclinii, all in
Tarquinii. Also in the Tomb of the Monkey in Chiusi.
Bucchero is a native black clay.
On their feet they wore the calcei repandi, a pointed shoe of Ionic-Oriental orig-in.
358 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 50
The Etruscans controlled rain water by an opening on top of the
house or cumpluvium which allowed the water to gather in a small
pool at the center of the atrium. They also used a reclined roof that
forced the water to slide on the sides of the house. This type of
water drainage was called displuvium and is the kind still used
today on the roof of modern homes.
The Etruscans were engineers of great skilh-^ being able to re¬
store the swamp lands of Tuscany and Latium to cultivation and
make them produce great quantities of wheat, lineum, olives, wood,
and delicious grapes. The arch which they masterfully used in
building bridges, aqueducts and city walls was an Etruscan archi¬
tectural innovation of probable Oriental origin.
They worked metals, especially iron, with such intensity that the
iron scraps they left on the shores of Polpulonia, across from the
island of Elba, are still used today.
They were so skilled in medicine that a legend wanted the sons
of the enchantress Circes^'’ to have found shelter in Etruria where
they brought their medical craft. Chirurgical instruments such as
bistoury, forceps, tweezers, have been found in different tombs to
attest to their widespread use. Dentistry was highly developed in
Etruscan times and gold teeth were not a rarity. We know this
from a Roman law that forbade bodies to be buried with gold to
discourage thieves. An exception was made for the gold in dental
work, and the deceased could be buried auro dentes juncti or ‘‘with
the gold that keeps the teeth together’’ inside the mouth.
The typical Etruscan infernal deity, Charu (Charon) was repre¬
sented holding a hammer. The meaning was quick death — the
mercy killing often inflicted by the Etruscans on their elders when
gravely ill.
Charu and his hammer became predominant in Etruscan paint¬
ing toward the end of the IV century B.C. During the years of
Etruscan decadence, the after life became a nightmare of demons
and horrible creatures as symbolized by the Lasa Tuchulcha — a
winged monster with a beak-like nose and snakes winding around
its hair and on its left arm.
The rising danger of the Romans in the south aggravated by the
savage excursions of the Gauls in the north impoverished the Etrus¬
cans and drained their creative capabilities. Perhaps because of the
stress they placed on the resemblance of their after life to every¬
day reality, they saw no reason for survival in a world ravaged by
wars and in a home destroyed by tragedy and mourning. This re-
The Cloaca Massima in Rome was built by the Etruscans under the Etruscan king'
Tarquinius Priscus.
See the Odyssey by Homer. Chapter 10. ( Valgimigli Italian Translation).
1961]
Etruscan — Tuscan Parallels
359
fusal to survive, may be one of the reasons why their language is
nearly completely unknown and seems destined to remain a secret
forever.
According to the Romans the Etruscans left no noteworthy lit™
erary inheritance. Their only books^' were concerned with rituals
and the way to carry them out properly. Possible interpretation of
longer funerary inscriptions however, leads us to believe that the
Etruscans had some form of elogia or dramatic poetry written to
honor important deceased.
Whatever the case, the Etruscan language fell into complete dis¬
use during the Roman Empire and the Etruscan civilization with¬
drew itself in the hidden tombs of the Lucomones in a world that
in the darkness of the underground seemed to cry for a new chance
to live under the limpid skies of beautiful Tuscany.
Bibliography
Bargellini, Piero. Arte Etrusca, Belvedere Vol. II, Firenze, Vallecchi, 1958.
CicoGNANi, Bruno. Firenze E La Sua Provincia, Touring Club Italiano, Vol.
V, 1934.
Cles-Reden von (Sybille). The Buried People, New York, Charles Scribners
Sons, 1955.
Dennis, George. The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, London John Murray,
1883.
Ducati, Pericle. Etruria Antica, Vol. I & II, Torino, Paravia & Co., 1925.
Mac-Iver, Randall. Villanovans and Early Etruscans. Oxford, Clarenton
Press, 1924.
Papini, Soffici, Bargellini, Spadolini. Firenze Fiore Del Hondo. Firenze,
L’Arco, cl950.
Pallottino, Massimo. The Etruscans, Penguin Books, 1956.
Pallottino, Massimo. Etruscan Painting, S.K.I.R.A.
Also several articles from Italian newspapers and magazines concerning the
latest Etruscan discoveries.
^"Notably the Ijihri Hnruspicini, Lihri Fiilourales, Libri Rituales.
INDEX
(Volumes XXXVII Through XLIX)
361
SUBJECT AND AUTHOR INDEX TO THE PAPERS
PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY*
1945-1960
Compiled by
Kenneth R. Mahony
Madison
The figures refer to the number of the article in the alphabetized author
index which follows the subject index.
Addresses of a general nature: 1000, 1027, 1062, 1079, 1145.
Agriculture: 988, 989, 990, 991, 992, 993, 1016, 1017, 1092, 1113, 1142, 1154,
1166.
Astronomy; 1184.
Architecture: 1217.
Bacteriology: 1132.
Biochemistry: 1123.
Biography: 953, 964, 977, 1061, 1073, 1087, 1088, 1089, 1183, 1185, 1233,
1241, 1244.
Biology: (see Botany and Zoology).
Botany: Bacteria (see under bacteriology) ; Ecology: 968, 986, 987, 1006,
1040, 1058, 1198, 1220, 1221, 1237, 1247, 1255; Flora of Wisconsin: 969, 971,
972, 986, 987, 1009, 1010, 1018, 1019, 1034, 1037, 1039, 1045, 1046, 1047, 1048,
1049, 1050, 1051, 1052, 1053, 1064, 1082, 1083, 1084, 1085, 1086, 1098, 1105,
1126, 1135, 1136, 1155, 1192, 1193, 1226, 1236; Fungi: 956, 1104, 1042, 1043,
1044, 1045, 1046, 1047, 1048, 1049, 1050, 1051, 1052, 1053, 1225, 1227; Physiol¬
ogy: 988, 1170; Hydroponics: 1219.
Chemistry: 963, 980, 988, 1081, 1107, 1122, 1182, 1234, 1235, 1239.
Education: 1080.
English: (see Linguistics, Literature).
Entomology: 957, 992, 993, 994, 995, 996, 999, 1001, 1005, 1028, 1029, 1030,
1031, 1035, 1036, 1054, 1057, 1091, 1104, 1109, 1110, 1124, 1125.
Forestry; 986, 988, 992, 993, 1006, 1058, 1092, 1170, 1198, 1219.
Geography: 1063, 1074.
Geology: 1060, 1075, 1078, 1090, 1100, 1112, 1119, 1152, 1153, 1159, 1170,
1173, 1182, 1228, 1229, 1250.
History: 1087, 1102, 1128, 1183, 1186, 1187; French; 977; Wisconsin: 1007.
Limnology: Chemical Studies: 981, 1026, 1065, 1067; Fauna of Lakes: 979,
1160; Hydrography and General Studies of Lakes: 1114, 1115; Temperature
Studies: 966, 967.
Linguistics, Comparative Grammar, Syntax: 1033, 1207, 1208.
Literature: 961, 962, 1015, 1120, 1230; American Criticism: 954, 974; Eng¬
lish Literature: 955, 961, 985, 1013, 1032, 1038, 1077, 1094, 1103, 1130, 1165,
1218; American: 973, 975, 976, 1013, 1014, 1033, 1066, 1106, 1215, 1243;
French: 982, 983, 984, 1190, 1191; German: 985; Greek: 1095.
* Continuation of the compilation by L. E. Noland, Trans. Wisconsin Acad. Sci.
1932. 27 :573-606, and by Banner Bill Morgan, Trans, Wisconsin Acad. Sci. 1945,
37:363-374,
363
364
Index
[Vol. 50
Medical Science: 1186.
Psychology: 1161.
Religion: 1120, 1174.
Sociology: 1101.
Soils: 989, 1016, 1017, 1074, 1075, 1078, 1112, 1113, 1119, 1159, 1173, 1182,
1220 1221 1237 1247 1255
Wildlife’: 100^ 1004, 1072, 1127, 1146, 1162, 1197, 1199, 1200, 1201, 1202,
1203, 1204, 1205, 1238.
Zoology: 1099, 1162; Genetics: 1133; Parasitology: 994, 995, 998, 1001,
1054, 1055, 1056, 1211; Physiology: 1212; Amphibians: 1223, 1224; of Wis¬
consin: 971, 987, 990, 991, 992, 993, 996; Fishes: 958, 959, 1012, 1013, 1021,
1022, 1023, 1024, 1025, 1069, 1116, 1134; Birds: 1003, 1004, 1072, 1121; Rep¬
tiles: 1002; Mammals: 978, 1108, 1127, 1171; Morphology: 970; Coelenf erata :
1131; Insects: see Entomology.
LIST OF ARTICLES
Published in the Transactions, Volumes 37-Jf9 (1945-1960)
953. Axford, Roger W. 1960. William H. Eighty, Radio Pioneer. Trans.
49:283-294.
954. Bailey, Dorothy Dee. 1958. American Criticism of George Meredith’s
Novels, 1860-1895. Trans. 47:273-283.
955. Ball, Albert. 1959. Swift and the Animal Myth. Trans. 48:239-248.
956. Baxter, John W. 1958. Notes on Rocky Mountain Rust Fungi. Trans.
47:131-135.
957. Beck, Stanley D. 1960. Growth and Development of the Greater Wax
Moth, Galleria mellonella. Trans. 49:137-148.
958. Becker, George C. 1959. Distribution of Central Wisconsin Fishes. Trans.
48:65-102.
959. Black, John D. and Lyman 0. Williamson. 1946. Artificial Hybrids be¬
tween Muskellunge and Northern Pike. Trans. 38:299-314.
960. Blanshard, Rufus A. 1954. Thomas Carew and the Cavalier Poets.
Trans. 43:97-105.
961. Block, Haskell M. 1956. Furor Poeticus and Modern Poetry. Trans.
45:77-90.
962. Block, Haskell M. 19’59. Hugo von Hofmannstahl and the Symbolist
Drama. Trans. 48:161-178.
963. Boutwell, Paul W. 1952, The Chemical Society of Beloit College, 1863-
66. Trans. 41:83-94.
964. Boutwell, Paul W. 1952. Stephen Pearl Lathrop, a Pioneer Chemist in
Wisconsin. Trans. 41:95-116.
965. Bryan, Geo. S. 1950. A Brief History of the Development of Botany and
of the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin to 1900. Trans.
40, Part 1:1-27.
966. Bunge, William W. Jr. and John C. Neess. 1956. An Unpublished
Manuscript of E. A. Birge on The Temperature of Lake Mendota; Part I.
Trans. 45:193-238.
967. Bunge, William W. Jr. and John C. Neess. 1957. An Unpublished
Manuscript of E. A. Birge on the Temperature of Lake Mendota; Part II.
Trans. 46:31-89,
968. Buss, Irven G, 19'56. Plant Succession on a Sand Plain, Northwest
Wisconsin. Trans. 45:11-19.
969. Calhoun, Barbara M. and James G. Ross. 1951. Preliminary Reports on
the Flora of Wisconsin. XXXIII. Najadaceae. Trans, 40, Part 2:93-110.
1961]
Index
365
970. Oarriker, Melbourne Romaine. 1946. Morphology of the Alimentary
System of the Snail. Lymnaea Stagnalis Appressa Say. Trans. 38:1-88.
971. Catenhusen, John. 1950. Secondary Successions on the Peat Lands of
Glacial Lake Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part 1:29-48.
972. Churchill, Warren S. and D. John O’Donnell. 1954. Certain Physical,
Chemical and Biological Aspects of the Brule River, Douglas County, Wiscon¬
sin. Brule River Survey Report No. 11. Trans. 43:201-255.
973. Clark, Harry H. 1953. The Role of Science in the Thought of W. D.
Howells. Trans. 42:263-303.
974. Clark, Harry H. 1955. The Influence of Science on American Literary
Criticism, 1860-1910, Including the Vogue of Taine. Trans. 44:109-164.
975. Clark, Harry H. 1959. Fenimore Cooper and Science. I. Trans. 48:
179-204.
976. Clark, Harry H. 1960. Fenimore Cooper and Science. II. Trans. 49:
249-282.
977. Clarke, Jack Alden. 1957. Adolphe Thiers and the Rise of Bonapartism.
Trans. 46:213-220.
978. Cole, Leon J. and Richard M. Shackelford. 1946. Fox Hybrids. Trans.
38:315-332.
979. Colmer, Arthur R. and Elizabeth McCoy. 1950. Some Morphological
and Cultural Studies on Lake Strains of Micromonosporae. Trans. 40, Part I:
49-70.
980. Conners, James W. and Aaron J. Ihde. 1955. Chemical Industry in Early
Wisconsin. Trans. 44:5-20.
981. Cooley, Harold L. and Kenneth M. Mackenthun. 1952. The Biological
Effect of Copper Sulphate Treatment on Lake Ecology. Trans. 41:177-187.
982. Cooper, Berenice. 1952. The Religious Convictions of the Abbe Prevost.
Trans, 41:189-199.
983. Cooper, Berenice. 1953. The Abbe Prevost and the Modern Reader.
Trans. 42:39-45,
984. Cooper, Berenice, 1954. The Abbe Prevost and the Jesuits. Trans. 43:
125-132.
985. Cooper, Berenice. 1958. A Comparison of QuinUis Fixlein and Sartor
Resartus. Trans. 47 : 253-272.
986. Curtis, J, T. and Margaret L. Gilbert, 1953. Relation of the Understory
to the Upland Forest in the Prairie-Forest Border Region of Wisconsin.
Trans. 42:183-195.
987. Curtis, J. T. and J. R, Habeck. 1959. Forest Cover and Deer Popula¬
tion Densities in Early Northern Wisconsin, Trans. 48:49-56.
988. Davey, Charles B. 1953. Decomposition of Hard Maple Sawdust by
Treatment with Anhydrous Ammonia and Inoculation with Coprinus Ephe~
merus. Trans. 42:177-181.
989. Davey, Charles B. 1954. Evaluation of Composted Fertilizers by Micro¬
biological Methods of Analysis. Trans. 43:93-96,
990. Dennis, Clifford J. 1952. The Membracidae of Wisconsin. Trans. 41:
129-152.
991. Dennis, Clifford J. and Robert J. Dicke. 1953. The Membracidae of the
University of Wisconsin Arboretum. Trans. 42:131-141.
992. Dover, D. A. 1954. Identification of the Larvae of the More Important
Insect Pests of Sour Cherry in Wisconsin. Trans. 43:83-88.
993. Dever, D. A. 1956. Notes on the Biology of the Cherry Fruit Worm in
Wisconsin. Trans. 45:111-124.
994. Dicke, Robert J. and Paul A. Knipping and Banner Bill Morgan. 1950.
Notes on the Distribution of Wisconsin Ticks. Trans. 40, Part 1:185-197.
366
Index
[VoL 50
995. Dicke, Robert J. and Paul A. Knipping' and Banner Bill Morgan. 1950.
Preliminary List of Some Fleas from Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part 1:199-206.
996. Dicke, Robert J. and John P. Eastwood. 1952. The Seasonal Incidence
of Blowflies at Madison, Wisconsin (Diptera-Calliphoridae) . Trans. 41:207-217.
997. Dicke, Robert J. and Clilford J. Dennis. 1953. The Membracidae of the
University of Wisconsin Arboretum. Trans. 42:131-141.
998. Dicke, Robert J. and William J. Woodman. 1954, Population Fluctua¬
tions of the Mallophagan Parasite Bruelia Vulgata (Kellogg) Upon the
Sparrow. Trans. 43:133-135.
999. Dicke, Robert J. and Richard H. Roberts. 1958, Wisconsin Tabanidae.
Trans. 47:23-42.
1000. Dicke, Robert J. 1959. Naturalists, Biologists, and People. Trans.
48:3-8.
1001. Dicke, Robert J. and Glenn E. Haas. 1959. Fleas Collected from Cot¬
tontail Rabbits in Wisconsin. Trans. 48:125-133.
1002. Dickinson, W. E. 1950. Recent Additions to the Records of the Dis¬
tribution of the Reptiles in Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part 1:71-77:
1003. Dillon, S. Tenison, 1956. A Nine-Year Study of Fall Waterfowl Migra*
tion on University Bay, Madison, Wisconsin; Part I. Trans. 45:31-57,
1004. Dillon, Tenison S. 1957. A Nine-Year Study of Fall Waterfowl Migra¬
tion on University Bay, Madison Wisconsin; Part II. Trans. 46:1-30.
1005. Dogger, James R. 1959. The Elateridae of Wisconsin. Trans. 48:
103-120.
1006. Dosen, R. C. and S. F. Peterson and D. T. Pronin. 1950. Effect of
Ground Water on the Growth of Red Pine and White Pine in Central Wiscon¬
sin. Trans. 40, Part 1:79-82.
1007. Durand, Loyal Jr. 1953. The Cheese Manufacturing Regions of Wis¬
consin, 1850-1950. Trans. 42:109-130.
1008. Eastwood, John P. and Robert J. Dicke. 1952. The Seasonal Inci¬
dence of Blowflies at Madison, Wisconsin (Diptera-Calliphoridae). Trans. 41:
207-217.
1009. Ellarson, Robert Scott. 1947-48-49. The Vegetation of Dane County.
Trans. 39:21-45.
1010. Elser, H. J. and N. C. Fassett. 1950. Preliminary Reports on the
Flora of Wisconsin. XXXV. Trans. 40, Part 1:83-85.
1011. Elvehjem, C. A. and Elmer F. Herman and Barbara A. McLaren and
Edward Schneberger. 1945. The Use of Phemerol in the Treatment of Certain
Bacterial Fish Diseases. Trans. 37 :265-274.
1012. Elvehjem, C. A. and Elizabeth Keller and Barbara A. McLaren and
D. John O’Donnell. 1950. Nutrition of Rainbow Trout: Further Studies with
Practical Rations. Trans. 40, Part 1:259-266.
1013. Emerson, Donald. 1960. Henry James and the American Language.
Trans. 49:237-247,
1014. Enck, John J. 1953. Memory and Desire and Tennessee Williams’
Plays. Trans. 42:249-256.
1015. Enck, John J. 1958, The Wholeness of Effect in The Golden Bowl.
Trans. 47:227-240.
1016. Engelbert, L. E. and A. E. Peterson. 1959. Growing Corn in Wiscon¬
sin Without Plowing. Trans, 48:135-140.
1017. Engelbert, L. E. and J. R. Love and A. E. Peterson. 1960. Lime and
Fertilizer Incorporation for Alfalfa Production, Trans. 49:161-169.
1018. Evans, Richard. 1945. Bottom Deposits of the Brule River. Trans. 37 :
325-335.
1019. Fassett, Norman C. 1946. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wis¬
consin. XXXIII. Ranunculaceae. Trans. 38:189-209.
1961]
Index
367
1020. Fassett, N, C. and H, J, Elser. 1950. Preliminary Reports on the Flora
of Wisconsin, XXXV. Trans. 40, Part I:83~S5,
1021. Fischthal, Jacob H. 1945. Parasites of Northwest Wisconsin Fishes. I.
The 1944 Survey. Trans. 37:157™220.
1022. Fischthal, Jacob H. 1945. Parasites of Brule River Fishes. Trans.
37:275-278.
1023. Fischthal, Jacob H. 1950. Parasites of Northwest Wisconsin Fishes.
IL The 1945 Survey. Trans. 40, Part 1:87-113.
1024. Fischthal, Jacob H. 1952. Parasites of Northwest Wisconsin Fishes.
III. The 1946 Survey. Trans. 41:17-58,
1025. Fischthal, Jacob H. 1953. Parasites of Northwest Wisconsin Fishes.
IV. Summary and Limnolog’ical Relationships, Trans. 42:83-108.
1026. Fitzgerald, George P. 1957, The Control of the Growth of Algae with
CMU. Trans. 46:281-294.
1027. Flather, E. and C. M. Huffer. 1959. The Washburn Observatory, 1878-
1959. Trans. 48:249-259.
1028. Fluke, C. L. and F. M. Hull. 1945. The Cartosyrphus Flies of North
America (Syrphidae). Trans. 37:221-263.
1029. Fluke, C. L. 1950. The Male Genitalia of Syrphus, Epistrophe and
Related Genera (Diptera, Syrphidae), Trans. 40, Part 1:115-148.
1030. Fluke, C. L. and Juanita Sorenson. 1953. Stratiomyidae of Wisconsin
(Diptera). Trans. 42:147-172.
1031. Fluke, C. L. 1957. A Study of the Male Genitalia of the Melanostomini
(Diptera-Syrphidae) . Trans. 46:261-279.
1032. Forker, Charles R. 1958. Archbishop Laud and Shirley’s The Cardinal.
Trans. 47:241-251.
1033. Friedman, Melvin J. 1960. The Creative Writer as Polyglot: Valery
Larbaud and Samuel Beckett. Trans. 49:229-236.
1034. Fuller, Albert M, 1950. The Ridges Wild Flower Sanctuary at Bail¬
eys Harbor, Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part 1:149-157,
1035. Fye, R. E. and J. T. Medler. 1954. Spring Emergence and Floral Hosts
of Wisconsin Bumblebees. Trans. 43:75-82.
1036. Giese, Ronald L. and Louis Wilson. 1957. Diapause, and the Embryc
of the Saratoga Spittlebug. Trans. 46:255-259,
1037. Gilbert, Margaret L. and J. T. Curtis. 1953. Relation of the Under¬
story to the Upland Forest in the Prairie-Forest Border Region of Wiscon¬
sin. Trans, 42:183-195.
1038. Gleckner, Robert F, 1956. Henry King: A Poet of His Age. Trans.
45:149-167.
1039. Coder, Harold A. 1956, Pre-Settlement Vegetation of Racine County.
Trans. 45:169-176,
1040. Green, Phoebe Ann. 1950. Ecological Composition of High Prairie
Relics in Rock County, Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part 1:159-172.
1041. Greene, H. C, 1946. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. VIII. Trans.
38:219-233.
1042. Greene, H. C. 1946. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. IX. Trans.
38:236-248.
1043. Greene, H, C. 1947-48-49, Fungi of the University of Wisconsin Arbo¬
retum. Trans. 39:47-82.
1044. Greene, H. C. 1952. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XVII, Trans.
41:117-128.
1045. Greene, H. C. 1953. Preliminary Reports on The Flora of Wisconsin,
XXXVIL Cyperaceae. Part 1. Trans. 42:47-67,
1046. Greene, H. C. 1953. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XVIII,
Trans. 42:69-81,
368
Index
[Vol. 50
1047. Greene, H. C. 1954. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XX. Trans.
43:165-181.
1048. Greene, H. C. 1955. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXI. Trans.
44:29-43.
1049. Greene, H. C. 1956. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXII. Trans.
45:177-191.
1050. Greene, H. C. 1957. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXIII. Trans.
46:141-158.
1051. Greene, H. C. 1958. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXIV.
Trans. 47:99-117.
1052. Greene, H. C. 1958. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXV. Trans.
47:119-129.
1053. Greene, H. C. 1960. Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. XXVI. Trans.
49:85-111.
1054. Guilford, Harry G. and C. A. Herrick. 1952. Seasonal Fluctuations in
the Numbers of Coccidia Oocysts and Parasite Eggs in the Soil of Pheasant
Shelter Pens. Trans. 41:153-162.
1055. Guilford, Harry G, and C. A. Herrick. 1954. The Effect of Gapeworm
Disease in Pheasants. Trans. 43:25-50.
1056. Guilford, Harry G. 1959. Some Helminth Parasites Found in Turtles
from Northeastern Wisconsin. Trans. 48:121-124.
1057. Haas, Glenn E. 1959. Fleas Collected from Cottontail Rabbits in
Wisconsin. Trans. 48:125-133.
1058. Habeck, J. R. 1959, A Phytosociological Study of the Upland Forest
Communities in the Central Wisconsin Sand Plain Area. Trans, 48:31-48.
1059. Habeck, J. R. and J. T. Curtis. 1959. Forest Cover and Deer Popula¬
tion Densities in Early Northern Wisconsin. Trans. 48:49-56.
1060. Hackett, James E. 1952. The Birth and Development of Ground-Water
Hydrology — A Historical Summary. Trans. 41:201-206.
1061. Hall, Norris F. 1947-48-49. A Wisconsin Chemical Pioneer — The Sci¬
entific Work of Louis Kahlenberg. Trans. 39:83-96.
1062. Hall, Norris F. 1950. Publications of Louis Kahlenberg and Asso¬
ciates, Trans. 40, Part 1 :173-183.
1063. Hammer, Preston C. 1955. General Topology, Symmetry, and Convex¬
ity. Trans. 44:223-255.
1064. Hartley, Thomas G. 1959. Notes on Some Rare Plants of Wisconsin.
Trans. 48:57-64.
1065. Hasler, Arthur D. 1947-48-49. Antibiotic Aspects of Copper Treat¬
ment of Lakes. Trans. 39:97-103.
1066. Hedges, William L. 1955. A Short Way Around Emerson’s Nature.
Trans. 44:21-27.
1067. Henkel, Theresa and Dorothy McNall and M. Starr Nichols. 1946.
Copper in Lake Muds from Lakes of the Madison Area. Trans. 38:333-350.
1068. Herman, Elmer F. and C. A. Elvehjem and Barbara A. McLaren and
Edward Schneberger. 1945. The Use of Phemerol in the Treatment of Certain
Bacterial Fish Diseases. Trans. 37:265-274.
1069. Herman, Elmer F, and Kenneth M. Mackenthun. 1947-48-49. A Pre¬
liminary Creel Census of Perch Fishermen on Lake Mendota, Wisconsin. Trans.
39:141-149.
1070. Herrick, C. A. and Harry G. Guilford. 1952, Seasonal Fluctuations in
the Numbers of Coccidia Oocysts and Parasite Eggs in the Soil of Pheasant
Shelter Pens. Trans. 41:153-162.
1071. Herrick, C. A. and Harry G. Guilford. 1954, The Effect of Gapeworm
Disease in Pheasants. Trans. 43:25-50.
1961]
Index
369
1072. Hickey, Joseph J. 1956. Autumnal Migration of Ducks Banded in
Eastern Wisconsin. Trans. 45:59-76.
1073. Holand, H. R. 1959. An English Scientist in America 130 Years Be¬
fore Columbus. Trans. 48:205-219.
1074. Hole, F. D. and F. F. Peterson, and G, H. Robinson. 1952. The Dis¬
tribution of Soils and Slopes on the Major Terraces of Southern Richland
County, Wisconsin. Trans. 41:73-81,
1075. Hole, F. D. and W. A. Noel. 1958. Soil Color as an Indication of Nitro¬
gen Content in Some Wisconsin Soils. Trans. 47 : 11-16.
1076. Huffer, C. M. and Flather, E, 1959. The Washburn Observatory, 1878-
1959, Trans. 48:249-259.
1077. Hughes, Merritt Y, 1953. Spenser, 1552-1952. Trans. 42:5-24.
1078. Hull, H. H, and J. R. Love. 1958. Standardization of Soil Testing in
Wisconsin. Trans. 47:17-21.
1079. Ihde, A. J. and H. A. Schuette. 1946. Maple Sugar: A Bibliography of
Early Records. II, Trans. 38:89-1884.
1080. Ihde, Aaron J. and Robert Siegfried. 1953. Beginnings of Chemical
Education in Beloit, Lawrence and Ripon Colleges. Trans. 42:25-38.
1081. Ihde, Aaron J. and James W. Conners. 1955. Chemical Industry in
Early Wisconsin. Trans. 44:5-20.
1082. litis, Hugh H. and Emil K. Urban. 1957. Preliminary Reports on the
Flora of Wisconsin. No. 38. Rubiaceae — Madder Family. Trans. 46:91-104.
1083. litis, Hugh H, 1957, Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wisconsin.
No. 39. Phrymaceae — Lopseed Family. Trans. 46:105.
1084. litis, Hugh H. and Gottlieb K, Noamesi. 1957, Preliminary Reports on
the Flora of Wisconsin. No, 40. Asclepiadaceae — Milkweed Family. Trans. 46:
107-114.
1085. litis, Hugh H. and Harriet Gale Mason. 1958. Preliminary Reports on
the Flora of Wisconsin. No. 42. Rosaceae I — Rose Family I. Trans. 47:65-97.
1086. litis, Hugh H. and Winslow W. Shaughnessy. 1960. Preliminary Re¬
ports on the Flora of Wisconsin. No. 43. Primulaceae Primrose Family. Trans.
49:113-135.
1087. Irrmann, Robert H. 1952. Admiral Russell and the Mediterranean
Campaign of 1694-1695. Trans. 41:59-72.
1088. Irrmann, Robert H. 1955. A Harvard Graduate Goes West: Robert
Adams Coker and the Highland School in the 1830’s. Trans. 44:91-107.
1089. Ives, Samuel A. 1957. Henry Ainsworth, a Founding Father of Con¬
gregationalism and Pioneer Translator of the Bible. Trans. 46:189-199.
1090. Jackson, M. L. and H. F. Wilson. 1951. Electrostatic Effects Produced
in Dust Clouds Made with Finely Ground Minerals of Various Composition.
Trans. 40, Part 11:261-283.
1091. Kaspar, John L. and Herbert W. Levi and Lorna R. Levi. 1958. Har¬
vestmen and Spiders of Wisconsin; Additional Species and Notes. Trans. 47:
43-52.
1092. Keith, Lloyd B. and Robert A. McCabe. 1957. The Effectiveness of
Expanded Aluminum Foil in Preventing Rabbit Damage. Trans. 46:305-314.
1093. Keller, Elizabeth and C. A. Elvehjem and Barbara A. McLaren and
D. John O’Donnell. 1950. Nutrition of Rainbow Trout: Further Studies with
Practical Rations. Trans, 40, Part 1:259-266,
1094. Kimbrough, Robert. 1960. Calm Between Crises: Pattern and Direc¬
tion in Ruskin’s Mature Thought. Trans. 49:219-227.
1095. King, Donald B. 1952. The Greek Translation of Augustus’ Res
Gestae. Trans. 41:219-228.
1096. Knipping, Paul A, and Robert J. Dicke and Banner Bill Morgan.
1950. Notes on the Distribution of Wisconsin Ticks. Trans. 40, Part 1:185-197.
370
Index
[Vol. 50
1097. Knipping, Paul A. and Robert J. Dicke and Banner Bill Morgan.
1950. Preliminary List of Some Fleas from Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part I:
199-206.
1098. Koeppen, Robert C. 1957. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wis¬
consin. No. 40. Labiatae — Mint Family. Trans. 46:115-140.
1099. Koerber, T. W. and John T, Medler. 1958. Trap-Nest Survey of Soli¬
tary Bees and Wasps in Wisconsin, with Biological Notes. Trans. 47:53-63.
1100. Kowalke, O. L. 1952. Locations of Drumlins in the Town of Liberty
Grove, Door County, Wisconsin. Trans. 41:15-16.
1101. Kowalke, Otto L. 1957. The Livelihoods in 1880 and in 1956 in the
Town of Liberty Grove, Door County, Wisconsin. Trans. 46:159-164.
1102. Kroeber, Clifton B, 1956. Naval Warfare in the Rio de la Plata Re¬
gion, 1800-1861. Trans. 45:91-109.
1103. Kroeber, Karl. 1957. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” as Stylized
Epic. Trans. 46:179-187.
1104. Kuntz, J. E. and L. H. MacMullen and R. D. Shenefelt. 1960. A Study
of Insect Transmission of Oak Wilt in Wisconsin. Trans. 49:73-84.
1105. Lafond, Andre. 1950. Morphology and Specific Conductance of Forest
Humus and Their Relation to the Rate of Forest Growth in Wisconsin. Trans.
40, Part 1:207-211.
1106. Larsen, Joan. 1959. S. T. Coleridge: His Theory of Knowledge. Trans.
48:221-232.
1107. Lawton, Gerald W. 1955, An Investigation of the Chemical Oxygen
Demand Determination. Trans. 44:45-56.
1108. Leopold, Aldo. 1945. The Distribution of Wisconsin Hares. Trans.
37:1-14.
1109. Levi, Herbert W, and Lorna R. Levi. 1952. Preliminary List of Har¬
vestmen of Wisconsin with a Key to Genera. Trans. 41:163-167.
1110. Levi, Herbert W. and Lorna R. Levi and John L. Kaspar. 1958. Har¬
vestmen and Spiders of Wisconsin; Additional Species and Notes. Trans. 47:
43-52.
1111. Levi, Lorna R. and Herbert W. Levi and John L, Kaspar. 1958. Har¬
vestmen and Spiders of Wisconsin; Additional Species and Notes. Trans. 47:
43-52.
1112. Love, J. R. and H. H. Hull. 1958. Standardization of Soil Testing in
Wisconsin. Trans. 47:17-21.
1113. Love, J. R. and L. E .Engelbert and A. E. Peterson. 1960. Lime and
Fertilizer Incorporation for Alfalfa Production. Trans. 49:161-169.
1114. Ludington, Syl Jr. 1952. Preliminary Sedimentary Analysis of the
Pleistocene Sediments on the Bottom of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Trans. 41:
229-238.
1115. Lueschow, L. A. and K. M. Mackenthun and C. D. McNabb. 1960. A
Study of the Effects of Diverting the Effluent From Sewage Treatment Upon
the Receiving Stream. Trans. 49:51-72.
1116. Mackenthun, Kenneth M. and Elmer F. Herman. 1947-48-49. A Pre¬
liminary Creel Census of Perch Fishermen on Lake Mendota, Wisconsin.
Trans. 39:141-149.
1117. Mackenthun, Kenneth M. and Harold L. Cooley. 1952. The Biological
Effect of Copper Sulphate Treatment on Lake Ecology. Trans. 41:177-187.
1118. Mackenthun, K. M. and L. A. Lueschow and C. D. McNabb. 1960. A
Study of the Effects of Diverting the Effluent From Sewage Treatment Upon
the Receiving Stream. Trans. 49:51-72.
1119. Mader, D. L. 1954, Certain Microbiological Characteristics of Selected
Genetic Types of Forest Humus. Trans. 43:89-92.
1961]
Index
371
1120. Mansoor, Menahem. 1958. The Case of Shapira’s Dead Sea (Deuter¬
onomy) Scrolls of 1883, Trans. 47:183-225,
1121. Main, Angie Kumlien. 1945. Studies of Ornithology at Lake Kosh-
konong and Vicinity by Thure Kumlien from 1843 to July, 1850. Trans, 37 :
91-109.
1122. Margrave, John L. 1958. The Isotope Abundance Ratio and the Chem¬
ical Atomic Weight of Boron. Trans. 47:1-9.
1123. Marquette, Mona M. and Betty M. Noble and Helen T. Parsons. 1950.
Availability to Human Subjects of Pure Riboflavin Ingested with Live Yeast,
Trans. 40, Part 1:213
1124. Marshall, Wm. S. 1945, The Labral Sense Organs of the Red-legged
Grasshopper, Melanoplus femur-rubrum (DeGeer). Trans. 37:137-148.
1125. Marshall, Wm. S. 1945. The Rectal Glands of Mosquitoes. Trans. 37 :
149-155.
1126. Mason, Harriet Gale and Hugh H. litis. 1958. Preliminary Reports on
the Flora of Wisconsin. No. 42. Rosaceae I — Rose Family I. Trans. 47:65-97.
1127. McCabe, Robert A, 1945. A Winter Rabbit Browse Tally of the Uni¬
versity of Wisconsin Arboretum. Trans. 37 : 15-33.
1128. McCabe, Robert A. 1955. The Prehistoric Engineer-Farmers of Chi¬
huahua. Trans. 44:75-90,
1129. McCabe, Robert A. and Lloyd B. Keith. 1957. The Effectiveness of
Expanded Aluminum Foil in Preventing Rabbit Damage. Trans. 46:305-314.
1130. McCanse, Ralph Allen. 1957. “The Visionary Gleam’’ and “Spots of
Time” — a Study of the Psychologh-Philosophy of William Wordsworth. Trans.
46:201-211.
1131. McClary, Andrew. 1960. Food Ingestion in Craspedacusta sowerhii.
Trans. 49:149-156.
1132. McCoy, Elizabeth and Arthur R. Colmer. 1950. Some Morphological
and Cultural Studies on Lake Strains of Micromonosporae, Trans. 40, Part I :
49-70.
1133. McDonough, E. S. 1946. A Cytological Study of the Development of
the Oospore of Sclerospora Macrospora (Sacc.). Trans. 38:211-218.
1134. McFadden, James T. 1956. Characteristics of Trout Angling at Law¬
rence. Trans. 45:21-29.
1135. McIntosh, Joan A. 1950. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wis¬
consin XXXIV. Trans. 40, Part 1:215-242.
1136. McIntosh, Robert P. 1950. Pine Stands in Southwestern Wisconsin.
Trans. 40, Part 1:243-257.
1137. McLaren, Barbara A. and C. A. Elvehjem and Elmer F. Herman and
Edward Schneberger. 1945. The Use of Phemerol in the Treatment of Certain
Bacterial Fish Diseases. Trans. 37:265-274.
1138. McLaren, Barbara A. and C. A. Elvehjem and Elizabeth Keller and
D. John O’Donnell. 1950. Nutrition of Rainbow Trout: Further Studies with
Practical Rations. Trans. 40, Part 1:259-266.
1139. McMullen, L. H. and J. E. Kuntz and R. D. Shenefelt. 1960. A Study
of Insect Transmission of Oak Wilt in Wisconsin. Trans. 49:73-84.
1140. McNabb, C. D. and L. A. Lueschow and K. M. Mackenthun. 1960. A
Study of the Effects of Diverting the Effluent From Sewage Treatment Upon
the Receiving Stream, Trans. 49:51-72.
1141. McNall, Dorothy and Theresa Henkel and M. Starr Nichols. 1946.
Copper in Lake Muds from Lakes of the Madison Area. Trans. 38:333-350.
1142. McNutt, Samuel H. and Banner Bill Morgan and Ferdinand Paredis.
1951. A Cytological Study of the Anterior Lobe of the Pituitary in Relation
to the Estrous Cycle in Virgin Heifers. Trans. 40, Part 11:59-66.
372
Index
[VoL 50
1143. Medler, J. T. and R. E. Fye. 1954. Spring Emergence and Floral
Hosts of Wisconsin Bumblebees. Trans. 43:75-82.
1144. Medler, John T. and T. W. Koerber. 1958. Trap-Nest Survey of Soli¬
tary Bees and Wasps in Wisconsin, with Biological Notes. Trans. 47 :53-63.
1145. Meyer, Henry. 1960. Bugs, Bounties, Balance, and Modern Ameri-
canese. Trans. 49:3-14
1146. Morgan, Banner Bill. 1947-48-49. Tularemia in Wisconsin. Trans. 39:
1-20.
1147. Morgan, Banner Bill and Robert J. Dicke and Paul A. Knipping. 1950.
Notes on the Distribution of Wisconsin Ticks. Trans. 40, Part 1:185-197.
1148. Morgan, Banner Bill and Robert J. Dicke and Paul A. Knipping. 1950.
Preliminary List of Some Fleas from Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part 1:199-206.
1149. Morgan, Banner Bill and Samuel H. McNutt and Ferdinand Paredis.
1951. A Cytological Study of the Anterior Lobe of the Pituitary in Relation to
the Estrous Cycle in Virgin Heifers. Trans. 40, Part 2:59-66.
1150. Neess, John C. and William W. Bunge Jr. 1956. An Unpublished
Manuscript of E. A. Birge on The Temperature of Lake Mendota: Part I.
Trans. 45:193-238.
1151. Neess, John C. and William W. Bunge Jr. 1957. An Unpublished
Manuscript of E. A. Birge on the Temperature of Lake Mendota; Part II.
Trans. 46:31-89.
1152. Nelson, Katherine G. 1953. One Hundred Years of Earth Science at
Milwaukee-Downer College. Trans. 42:143-147,
1153. Nelson, Katherine Greacen. 1954. A Geologists Point of View on Ap¬
preciation of Our Surroundings. Trans. 43:117-123.
1154. Ness, Helen T. and Helen T. Parsons and Echo L. Price. 1950. The
Availability of Thiamine in Dried Yeasts. Trans. 40, Part 1:267.
1155. Neuenschwander, Herbert. 1957. The Vegetation of Dodge County,
Wisconsin. Trans. 46:233-254.
1156. Nichols, M. Starr and Theresa Henkel and Dorothy McNall. 1946.
Copper in Lake Muds from Lakes of the Madison Area. Trans. 38:333-350.
1157. Noamesi, Gottlieb K. and Hugh H. litis. 1957. Preliminary Reports
on the Flora of Wisconsin. No. 40. Asclepiadaceae — Milkweed Family. Trans.
46:107-114.
1158. Noble, Betty M. and Mona M. Marquette and Helen T. Parsons. 19’50.
Availability to Human Subjects of Pure Riboflavin Ingested with Live Yeast.
Trans. 40, Part 1:213.
1159. Noel, W. A. and F. D. Hole. 1958. Soil Color as an Indication of Ni¬
trogen Content in Some Wisconsin Soils. Trans. 47:11-16.
1160. Noland, Wayland E. 1951. The Hydrography, Fish, and Turtle Popu¬
lation of Lake Wingra. Trans. 40, Part 11:5-58.
1161. O’Brien, Cyril C. 1954. The Growth of Psychology with Some Present
Implications and Attendant Problems. Trans. 43:107-115.
1162. O’Donnell, D. John. 1945. A Four-year Creel Census on the Brule
River. Trans. 37:279-303.
1163. O’Donnell, D. John and C. A. Elvehjem and Elizabeth Keller and Bar¬
bara A. McLaren. 1950. Nutrition of Rainbow Trout: Further Studies with
Practical Rations. Trans. 40, Part 1:259-266.
1164. O’Donnell, D. John and Warren S. Churchill. 1954. Certain Physical,
Chemical and Biological Aspects of the Brule River, Douglas County, Wis¬
consin. Brule River Survey Report No. 11, Trans. 43:201-255.
1165. Orsini, Gian N. G. 1954. T, S. Eliot and the Doctrine of Dramatic
Conventions. Trans. 43:189-200.
1166. Packard, Ross L. 1958. The History of Rye in Wisconsin from 1850
to 1955. Trans. 47:173-180.
1961]
Index
373
1167. Paredis, Ferdinand and Samuel H. McNutt and Banner Bill Morgan.
1951. A Cytological Study of the Anterior Lobe of the Pituitary in Relation
to the Estrous Cycle in Virgin Heifers. Trans. 40, Part 11:59-66.
1168. Parsons, Helen T. and Helen T. Ness and Echo L. Price. 1950. The
Availability of Thiamine in Dried Yeasts. Trans. 40, Part 1:267.
1169. Parsons, Helen T. and Mona M. Marquette and Betty M. Noble. 1950.
Availability to Human Subjects of Pure Riboflavin Ingested with Live Yeast.
Trans. 40, Part 1:213.
1170. Paul, Benson H. and S. A. Wilde. 1951. Rate of Growth and Composi¬
tion of Wood of Quaking and Largetooth Aspen in Relation to Soil Fertility.
Trans. 40, Part 11:245-250.
1171. Perry, J. C. and N. B. Perry and P. M. Sanfelippo and J. G. Surak.
1960. Biological and Biochemical Aspects of the Development of Polyarteritis
Nodosa in Rats. Trans. 49:199-209.
1172. Perry, N. B, and J, C. Perry and P. M. Sanfelippo and J. G. Surak.
1960. Biological and Biochemical Aspects of the Development of Polyarteritis
Nodosa in Rats. Trans. 49:199-209.
1173. Persidsky, D. J. and S. A. Wilde. 1955. Effect of Eradicants on the
Microbiological Properties of Nursery Soils. Trans. 44:65-73.
1174. Petersen, W. F. 1959. American Protestantism and the Middle Class:
1870-1910. Trans. 48:151-159,
1175. Peterson, A. E. and L. E. Engelbert. 1959. Growing Corn in Wiscon¬
sin Without Plowing. Trans. 48:135-140.
1176. Peterson, A. E. and L. E. Engelbert and J. R. Love. 1960. Lime and
Fertilizer Incorporation for Alfalfa Production. Trans. 49:161-169.
1177. Peterson, S. F. and R. C, Dosen and D. T. Pronin. 1950. Effect of
Ground Water on the Growth of Red Pine and White Pine in Central Wiscon¬
sin. Trans. 40, Part 1:79-82.
1178. Peterson, S. F. and F. D. Hole and G. H. Robinson. 1952. The Dis¬
tribution of Soils and Slopes on the Major Terraces of Southern Richland
County, Wisconsin. Trans. 41:73-81.
1179. Pierce, R. S. 1953. Determination of Electrometric Properties of
Ground Water by a Field Method, Trans. 42:173-176.
1180. Price, Echo L. and Helen T. Ness and Helen T. Parsons. 1950. The
Availability of Thiamine in Dried Yeasts. Trans. 40, Part 1:267.
1181. Pronin, D. T. and R, C. Dosen and S. F. Peterson, 1950. Effect of
Ground Water on the Growth of Red Pine and White Pine in Central Wiscon¬
sin. Trans. 40, Part 1:79-82.
1182. Randall, G. W. and S. A. Wilde. 1951. Chemical Characteristics of
Ground Water in Forest and Marsh Soils of Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part II:
251-259.
1183. Rathbun, John W. 1954. George Bancroft on Man and History. Trans,
43:51-73.
1184. Read, William F. 1960. The Saxeville Meteorite. Trans. 49:191-198.
1185. Richardson, Robert K. 1952. A Beloit Episode in the Life of Carl
Schurz. Trans. 41:5-13.
1186. Richardson, Robert K. 1951. History and Plato’s Medicinal Lie. Trans.
40, Part 11:67-76.
1187. Riemer, Svend. 1951. Functional Housing in the Middle Ages. Trans.
40, Part 11:77-91.
1188. Roberts, Richard H. and Robert J. Dicke. 1958. Wisconsin Tabanidae.
Trans. 47 : 23-42.
1189. Robinson, G. H. and F. D. Hole and S. F. Peterson. 1952. The Dis¬
tribution of Soils and Slopes on the Major Terraces of Southern Richland
County, Wisconsin. Trans. 41:73-81.
374
Index
[VoL 50
1190. Roeming’, R. F. 1959. The Concept of the Judge-Penitent of Albert
Camus. Trans. 48:143-149.
1191. Roeming, Robert F. 1960. Camus Speaks of Man in Prison. Trans. 49:
213-218.
1192. Ross, James G. and Barbara M. Calhoun. 1951, Preliminary Reports
on the Flora of Wisconsin. XXXIII. Najadaceae. Trans. 40, Part 11:93-110.
1193. Salamun, Peter J. 1951. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wiscon¬
sin. XXXVI. Scrophulariaceae. Trans. 40, Part 11:111-138.
1194. Sanfelippo, P. M. and J, C. Perry and N. B. Perry and J. G. Surak.
1960. Biological and Biochemical Aspects of the Development of Polyarteritis
Nodosa in Rats. Trans. 49:199-209.
1195. Schneberger, Edward and C. A. Elvehjem and Elmer F. Herman and
Barbara A. McLaren. 1945. The Ues of Phemerol in the Treatment of Certain
Bacterial Fish Diseases. Trans. 37:265-274.
1196. Shenefelt, R. D. and J. E. Kuntz and L. H. McMullen. 1960. A Study
of Insect Transmission of Oak Wilt in Wisconsin. Trans. 49:73-84.
1197. Schoenfeld, Clarence A. 1951. Problems, Principles, and Policies in
Wildlife-Conservation Journalism. Trans. 40, Part 11:139-169.
1198. Scholz, H. F. and F. B. Trenk. 1959. Timber Yields, Wood Indrement,
and Composition of Regeneration in a Managed Hardwood Forest on Morainal
Soils. Trans. 48:11-29.
1199. Schorger, A. W. 1945. The Ruffed Grouse in Early Wisconsin. Trans.
37:35-90.
1200. Schorger, A. W, 1947-48-49. The Black Bear in Early Wisconsin.
Trans. 39:151-194.
1201. Schorger, A. W. 1947-48-49. Squirrels in Early Wisconsin. Trans. 39:
195-247.
1202. Schorger, A. W. 1951. A Brief History of the Steel Trap and its Use
in North America. Trans. 40, Part 11:171-199.
1203. Schorger, A. W. 1953. The White-Tailed Deer in Early Wisconsin.
Trans. 42:197-247.
1204. Schorger, A. W. 1954. The Elk in Early Wisconsin. Trans. 43:5-23.
1205. Schorger, A. W. 1956. The Moose in Early Wisconsin. Trans. 45:1-10.
1206. Schuette, H. A. and A. J. Ihde. 1946. Maple Sugar: A Bibliography
of Early Records. II. Trans. 38:89-184.
1207. Seifert, Lester W. J. 1947-48-49. The Problem of Speech-Mixture in
the German Spoken in Northwestern Dane County, Wisconsin. Trans. 39:
127-139.
1208. Seifert, Lester W. J. 1951. Methods and Aims of a Survey of the
German Spoken in Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part 11:201-210.
1209. Seitz, Kerlin M. 1958. Types of Part-Time Farming in Northern Wis¬
consin. Trans, 47:161-171.
1210. Shackelford, Richard M. and Leon J, Cole. 1946. Fox Hybrids. Trans.
38:315-332.
1211. Shenefelt, Roy D. and Lois K. Smith. 1955. A Guide to the Subfamilies
and Tribes of the Family Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) Known to Occur in
Wisconsin. Trans. 44:165-219.
121. Sherman, Jack E. 1960. Description and Experimental Analysis of
Chick Wub-Mandibular Gland Morphogenesis. Trans. 49:171-189.
1213. Siegfried, Robert and Aaron J. Ihde. 1953. Beginnings of Chemical
Education in Beloit, Lawrence and Ripon Colleges. Trans. 42:25-38.
1214. Smith, Lois K. and Roy D. Shenefelt. 1955. A Guide to the Subfamilies
and Tribes of the Family Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) Known to Occur in
Wisconsin. Trans. 44:165-219.
1961]
Index
375
1215. Sokoloff, B. A. 1957. Printing” and Journalism in the Novels of William
Dean Howells. Trans. 46:165-178.
1216. Sorenson, Juanita and C. L. Fluke. 1953. Stratiomyidae of Wisconsin
(Diptera). Trans. 42:149-172,
1217. Spence, Robert. 1960. Daniel H. Burnham and the “Renaissance” in
American Architecture. Trans. 49:295-309.
1218. Spencer, T. J. 1959. Shelley’s “Alastor” and Romantic Drama. Trans.
48:233-237.
1219. Spyridakis, D. E. and S. A. Wilde. 1960. Growth of Tree Seedlings in
Hydroponies. Trans. 49:157-160.
1220. Stevens, Neil E. 1946. Acidity of Soil and Water Used in Cranberry
Culture. Trans. 38:185-188.
1221. Stevens, Neil E. 1951. Acidity of Soil and Water Used in Cranberry
Culture. Trans. 40, Part 11:211-214.
1222. Surak, J. G. and J. C. Perry and N. B. Perry and P. M. Sanfelippo.
1960. Biological and Biochemical Aspects of the Development of Polyarteritis
Nodosa in Rats. Trans. 49:199-209.
1223. Suzuki, Howard K. 1951. Recent Additions to the Records of the Dis¬
tribution of the Amphibians in Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part 11:215-234.
1224. Suzuki, Howard K. 1957. A Study of Leg Length Variations in the
Wood Frog, Rana Sylvatica Le Conte. Trans. 46:299-303.
1225. Thirumalachar, M. J. and Marvin D. Whitehead. 1951. Notes on Some
Wisconsin Fungi. Trans. 40, Part 11:235-240.
1226. Thompson, John W. Jr. 1945. An Analysis of the Vegetative Cover of
the Brule River (Wisconsin) Watershed. Trans. 37:305-323.
1227. Thompson, John W. Jr. 1946. The Wisconsin Species of Peltigera.
Trans. 38:249-271.
1228. Thwaites, Fredrik T. 1958. Land Forms of the Baraboo District, Wis¬
consin. Trans. 47:137-159.
1229. Thwaites, F. T. 1960. Evidences of Dissected Erosion Surfaces in the
Driftless Area. Trans. 49:17-49'.
1230. Tietze, Frederick I. 1957. Tennyson at Cambridge: A Poet’s Introduc¬
tion to the Sciences. Trans. 46:221-232.
1231. Trenk, F. B. and H. F. Scholz. 1959. Timber Yields, Wood Increment,
and Composition of Regeneration in a Managed Hardmood Forest on Morainal
Soils. Trans. 48:11-29.
1232. Urban, Emil K. and Hugh H. litis. 1957. Preliminary Reports on the
Flora of Wisconsin. No. 38. Rubiaceae — Madder Family. Trans. 46:91-104.
1233. Urdang, George. 1945. Edward Kremers (1865-1941) Reformer of
American Pharmaceutical Education. Trans. 37:111-135.
1234. Urdang, George. 1947-48-49, How Chemicals Entered the Official
Pharmacopoeias. Trans. 39:115-125.
1235. Van Horn, Willis M. 1947-48-49. Stream Pollution Abatement Studies
in the Pulp and Paper Industry. Trans. 39:105-114.
1236. Voight, Garth K. 1951. Causes of Injury to Conifers During the Win¬
ter of 1947-1948 in Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part 11:241-243.
1237. Voight, G. K. 1954. Determination of the Effect of Applied Biocides
on Soil Fertility by Chemical and Biological Methods. Trans. 43:183-188.
1238. Warner, Eldon D. 1952. Some Effects of Thiourocil in the German
Brown Trout. Trans. 41:169-175.
1239. Weiner, Samuel. 1957, The Decomposition Kinetics of 2,3,5-Triphenyl-
(2H)-Tetrazolium Hydroside. Trans. 46:295-298.
1240. Whitehead, Marvin D. and M. J. Thirumalachar. 1951. Notes on Some
Wisconsin Fungi. Trans. 40, Part 11:235-240.
376 Index [Vol. 50
1241. Whitford, Kathryn and Philip Whitford. 1956. Ellery Channing in
Illinois. Trans, 45:143-147.
1242. Whitford, Philip and Kathryn Whitford. 1956. Ellery Channing in
Illinois. Trans. 45:143-147.
1243. Whittey, Alvin. 1953. Arthur Miller: An Attempt at Modern Tragedy.
Trans. 42:257-262.
1244. Wilde, Martha Haller. 1955. Dylan Thomas: The Elemental Poet.
Trans. 44:57-64.
1245. Wilde, S. A. and Benson H. Paul. 1951. Rate of Growth and Composi¬
tion of Wood of Quaking and Largetooth Aspen in Relation to Soil Fertility.
Trans. 40, Part 11:245-250.
1246. Wilde, S. A. and G. W. Randall. 1951. Chemical Characteristics of
Ground Water in Forest and Marsh Soils of Wisconsin. Trans. 40, Part II:
251-259.
1247. Wilde, S. A. 1954. Forest Humus: Its Genetic Classification. Trans.
43:137-163.
1248. Wilde, S. A. and D. J. Persidsky. 1955. Effect of Eradicants of the
Microbiological Properties of Nursery Soils. Trans. 44:65-73.
1249. Wilde, S. A. and D. E. Spyridakis. 1960. Growth of Tree Seedlings in
Hydroponies. Trans. 49:157-160.
1250. Williams, H. F. 1956. North Part of the Old River Channel at Wis¬
consin Dells. Trans. 45:125-142.
1251. Williamson, Lyman 0. and John D. Black. 1946. Artificial Hybrids
between Muskellunge and Northern Pike. Trans. 38:299-314.
1252. Wilson, H. F. and M. L. Jackson. 1951. Electrostatic Effects Produced
in Dust Clouds Made with Finely Ground Minerals of Various Composition.
Trans, 40, Part 11:261-283.
1253. Wilson, Louis and Ronald L. Giese. 1957. Diapause, and the Embryo
of the Saratoga Spittlebug. Trans. 46:255-259.
1254. Woodman, William J. and Robert J. Dicke. 1954. Population Fluctua¬
tions of the Mallophagan Parasite Bruelia Vulgata (Kellogg) Upon the Spar¬
row. Trans. 43:133-135.
1255. Youngberg, C. T. 1951. Evolution of Prairie- Forest Soils Under Cover
of Invading Northern Hardwoods in the Driftless Area of Southwestern Wis¬
consin. Trans. 40, Part 11:285-289.
1256. Constitution and By-Laws of the Academy. 1946. Trans, 38:357-360.
1257. Constitution of the Academy. 1951. Trans. 40, Part 11:317-320.
1258. List of Active Members. 1951. Trans. 40, Part 11:321-328.
1259. Financial Reports. 1951. Trans. 40, Part 11:308-316.
1260. Proceedings of the Academy. 1946. Trans. 38:351-356.
1261. Proceedings of the Academy. 1951. Trans. 40, Part 11:297-307,
1262. Proceedings of the Academy. 1951, 1953. Trans. 42:305-308.
1263. Proceedings of the Academy. 1952, 1953. Trans. 42:308-309.
1264. Report of the Junior Academy Committee. 1951. Trans. 40, Part II:
291-296.
■'I
% 0m
^ \ tel
f44tnC^..
j4-^ £^w.
■j~Ki''rt;
fca
%i:2sg?£#
(W
mm
<hi.
24ColorCardo
APRIL2013
RIGHT