TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

WISCONSIN ACADEMY

OF

SCIENCES, ARTS AND LETTERS

VOL. XXXVI

NATURAE SPECIES RATIOQUE

MADISON, WISCONSIN

1944

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

WISCONSIN ACADEMY

OF

SCIENCES, ARTS AND LETTERS

VOL. XXXVI

NATURAE SPEC5ES RATIQQUE

MADISON, WISCONSIN

1944

OFFICERS OF THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,

ARTS AND LETTERS

President

H. A. Schuette, University oj Wisconsin

Vice Presidents

In Science: Ruth Walker, Milwaukee

In Arts: Walter Bubbert, Milwaukee

In Letters: Helen White, University of Wisconsin

Secretary-Treasurer

Banner Bill Morgan, University of Wisco7ist7i

Librarian

Halvor O. Teisberg, University of Wisconsin

Curator

Edward P. Alexander, State Historical Museum

Council

The President

The Vice-Presidents

The Secretary-Treasurer

The Librarian

E. A. Birge, past president

Charles S. Slichter, past president

L. J. Cole, past president

Charles E. Allen, past president

Rufus M. Bag g, past president

Paul W. Boutwell, past president

A. W. Schorger, past president

Committee on Publications

The President

The Secretary-Treasurer

Philo M. Buck, Jr., University of Wisconsin

Committee on Library

The Librarian

O. L. Kowalke, University of Wisconsin

Ruth Marshall, Wisconsin Dells

James F. Groves, Ripon College

W. N. Steil, Marquette University

Committee on Membership

The Secretary -Treasurer

E. F. Bean, Wisconsin Geological Survey

P. W. Boutwell, Beloit College

W. E. Rogers, Lawrence College

A. W. Schorger, Madison

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Brule River Survey: Introduction. E. Schneberger and A. D. Hasler . „ 1

Topography and Geology of the Brule River Basin. E. F. Bean and

John W. Thomson, Jr . . . . . . . 7

A History of Fishing in the Brule River. D. John O’Donnell . . . 19

Vegetation of the Brule Basin, Past and Present. Norman C. Fas sett . . 33

A Survey of the Larger Aquatic Plants and Bank Flora of the Brule

River. John W. Thomson, Jr . . . 57

The Quail in Early Wisconsin. A. W. Schorger . . . 77

Small Mammal Censuses Near Prairie Du Sac, Wisconsin. Harold C.

Hanson . . . .105

The Lake Sturgeon, Acipenser Fulvescens Rafinesque, in Lake Winne¬

bago, Wisconsin. Edw. Schnebergkr and Lowell A. Woodbury . . . . .131

The Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin. A. B. Stout . . . .141

Some Aquatic and Sub-Aquatic Plants from the Region of Glacial

Lake Wisconsin. John Catenhusen . . . . . . .163

The Mosses of Wisconsin. L. S. Cheney and Richard Evans . . . . . .171

Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. V. H. C. Greene . . . . , .225

Notes on Wisconsin Parasitic Fungi. VI. H. C. Greene . . . . . . 245

Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wisconsin. XXXI. Boraginaceae.

Emil P. Kruschke . . . . . . . .273

Parasites of Northern Wisconsin Fish. Ralph V. Bangham ...... _ _ _ _ _ .291

Syrphid Flies of the Genus Cheilosia, Subgenus Chilomyia , in North.

America (Part II). C. L. Fluke and F. M. Hull . . ,327

Preliminary List of the Hydracarina of Wisconsin. Ruth Marshall, . . „B49

The Physaloptera (Nematoda) of Carnivores. Banner Bill Morgan . . .375

Winter Oxygen Content and Biochemical Oxygen Demand in a Wis¬

consin Artificial Lake. Charles H. Lewis and Neil E. Stevens . . . 389

Further Observations on Alkaline Flooding Water in Cranberry

Growing. Neil E. Stevens . . . .395

Studies of Silurian Fossils in the Thomas A. Greene Collection at

Milwaukee -Downer College. Katherine F. Greacen and John R. Bali,. ,415

Boron Deficiency in Beets as Correlated with Yields and Available

Boron. K. C. Berger and E. Truog . . . . .421

The Acidity of Honey. H. A. Schuette and Frank J. Schubert . . . . „ .427

Gasogens. C. V. Sweet . . . . . . .435

Professor Beatty’s Interpretation of Shakespeare. Julia Grace Wells . . 441

Racial Classifications of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.

J. S. Slotkxn . . . . .459

List of Publications Dealing with Wisconsin Limnology, 1871-1945,

Chancey Juday and Arthur D. Hasler . . . . .469

Proceedings of the Academy . . . . . 491

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Doe, J. H. 1934. The ecology of Wisconsin. Trans. Wisconsin Acad. Sci.

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Morgan, Department of Veterinary Science, 211 Genetics Building, University

of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. Publications intended for the Library of

the Academy should be sent directly to the Librarian, Halvor O. Teisberg,

120 State Historical Building, Madison, Wisconsin.

iv

BRULE RIVER SURVEY: INTRODUCTION*

Brule River Survey: Paper No, 1

E. SCHNEBERGER

Biology Division , Wisconsin Conservation Department

A. D. Hasler

Department of Zoology , University of Wisconsin

The Brule River in Douglas County is one of Wisconsin’s

largest and most scenic streams. Its past fame as a trout stream

does not need elaboration as it suffices to state that even presi¬

dents of the United States were attracted to the stream to try

their luck. However, during the past few years the fishing has

declined even though heavily stocked and “improved” by the

installation of a large number of stream improvement struc¬

tures.

The need for an intensive study on this stream became evi¬

dent when it was realized that during a five-year period extend¬

ing from 1937 to 1941, a total of $34,247.67 was expended for

the planting of fish and that stocking was not bringing about

the desired results of maintaining or improving fishing.

It naturally follows that a well-balanced management plan

cannot be developed without knowing the factors which govern

the fish producing capacity of the stream. The purpose and ob¬

jective of the Brule River Survey may, therefore, be stated as

“the evaluation of the physical, biological, and chemical charac¬

teristics of the Brule River and its watershed so that an efficient

and well-balanced fish management plan might be developed

and placed into operation.” To this end the Conservation Com¬

mission sought the services of the scientists from the University

of Wisconsin and a co-operative research project was evolved.

A fund of $9,000 for a two-year study was established by the

* A co-operative project sponsored by the Wisconsin Conservation Deparmtent and the Uni¬

versity of Wisconsin. The results of the survey will appear in a series of papers that will be'

printed in the Trans. Wis. Acad. Sex. Arts & Let. Reprints of these articles will be made

available to interested parties upon application to the Wisconsin Conservation Dept., Madison 2.

1

2

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Conservation Commission and work began in September, 1942,

Owing to wartime difficulties — manpower shortage and travel

restrictions — many phases of the original plan could not be car¬

ried out in the expected detail. Nevertheless, the important

basic items have been subjected to analysis. The technical re¬

sults of the studies will be published in the Transactions of the

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters with a popu¬

lar interpretation of the results appearing in the Wisconsin

Conservation Bulletin. Publication will be in a series of scien¬

tific papers issued as rapidly as the studies warrant. Several

appear in this issue.

The Brule River is in many ways an ideal stream upon which

to conduct a broad detailed study. It is one of the few larger

streams that has not been altered by dams. It does not receive

sewage from industry or a municipality. It contains a variety of

ecological conditions. The upper section of the stream lies in a

boggy, marshy area and then broadens out into widespreads

approaching lake conditions. The middle section immediately

below the widespreads is a stretch of “fast” water containing

many rapids. The lower section continues as a stretch of rather

flat, quiet water and empties into Lake Superior. On the other

hand, the stream is too large for a complete study to be con¬

ducted during a two-year period with a limited personnel.

Some of the problems of general interest undertaken in this

study are as follows :

To determine the number of fish reaching the anglers" creel

a census was begun with the opening of the season, May 1, 1943.

Census clerks were stationed at the points where the concentra¬

tion of fishermen was the greatest. These individuals procured!

from the angler the number and species of fish caught, the

length, weight, and sex of each. Scale samples were collected!

which are later used to determine the age and rate of growth.

To interpret the efficiency of plantings of hatchery raised trout,

5,000 legal sized trout (brook and rainbow) were marked and!

placed into the Brule during the summer of 1943 and 7,00©

(brook trout only) in 1944. All fish planted during the course of

the study were marked and only trout of legal size were used.

The clerks recorded the marked trout in the creels and the data

from such returns will be compared with the original plant t©

determine the contribution to the creel. Recapture of marked!

Schneberger and Hosier— Brule River Survey: Introduction 3

trout in experiments conducted by the Conservation Department

and other states indicate that approximately 20 to 75 per cent

of spring and summer planted legal size fish are caught by the

anglers. In such studies it has been found that recaptures from

fall plantings are appreciably lower.

Rainbow and brown trout are exotic species while brook

trout were the original inhabitants of the Brule. Each of these

species has definite optimum requirements; therefore, a knowl¬

edge of their suitability to the stream must be the guiding factor

in its management. Consequently, this association was a case for

study. The rainbow trout in particular present some interesting

problems. It is apparent that most of the adults inhabit Lake

Superior, migrating up the Brule River in the spring to spawn.

Angling for the migrating fish furnishes the fisherman a great

amount of sport. It would be well then to learn more about the

life history of this species in the Brule.

To shed light on some of these questions, a weir has been

constructed at Stone's Bridge. This weir has a two-way trap

which is inspected daily by an attendant. The fish entering the

trap from upstream are fin clipped or tagged and transferred

over the weir and released downstream. Likewise, the fish enter¬

ing from downstream are also fin clipped or tagged and released

in the direction in which they were going. Information gathered

at this weir will provide data on brook trout biology. Recapture

of trout through this station will answer some of the questions

listed above. In addition, this trap will enable the biologists to

determine the number of other species (suckers, northern pike

and walleyed pike) that spawn or migrate in the Brule. An

experiment was also initiated to test the ability of brown trout

to maintain themselves without stocking.

As a trout stream, the Brule is peculiar because of the two

large “widespreads” (lakes) which are well suited for northern

pike. It is hoped that the findings will give a clue to the extent

that northern pike prey upon or are injurious to the trout popu¬

lation. These widespreads expose a greater surface of quiet

water to the warming rays of the sun, resulting in a higher

temperature in that area, consequently its effect on fish must be

studied.

The severe winter of 1942-43 created a problem because of

the formation of “anchor ice” on the bottom of the stream. It

4 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

forms on the bottom during cold clear nights and rises subse¬

quently in the day because of the warming of the sun. It is pro¬

posed to learn the effect of this ice on the trout habitat because

it was noted that considerable quantities of rocks and debris,

in addition to the organisms attached to them, were lifted and

carried downstream.

In order to study the amount of fish that a stream will sup¬

port and at the same time yield a moderate crop to the angler,

estimates are being made of the quantity of food organisms

found on various types of bottom in the Brule. Because trout

feed extensively in the summer on terrestrial insects (those

which have fallen in from overhanging vegetation), the biolo¬

gists are measuring the value of streamside cover in fish food!

production. These findings will be correlated with the variety

of organisms found in the stomachs of fish which the creel cen¬

sus clerks procured from the angler's creel. The rate of growth

of resident and marked trout will also be correlated. In addition,

density of trout population in various sections of the stream will

be measured by means of electrical anesthesia. The population

density can be then correlated with the success of the creel and

with the chemical and biological conditions.

Historical records and accounts of residents of the Brule

emphasize the detrimental effect of denuding the cover. Through

an intensive study of the cover of the watershed the plan is to

quantitate this effect. One of the co-operators compiled maps

based upon records of surveyors who tramped the section lines

of the Brule watershed in 1840. These maps will give an esti¬

mate of the concentration of timber of that period which can

then be compared with the present stand. Another compiled!

figures of the measurements of timber from aerial photographs

and corroborated these by observations in the field. This study

converts the impression of the lay observer into definite num¬

bers. Because the cover of a watershed influences the conditions

of erosion and the amount of water flow by springs and runoff,

it is felt that this information will give data which will be an aid!

in recommending procedures for improved cover conditions on

the watershed. Still other investigators are studying the erosion

on the river banks, from the many highways and roads and!

from farm land.

The general overall supervision and planning of the project

Schneberger and Hosier — Brule River Survey: Introduction 5

was the responsibility of the authors. D. John O’Donnell, biolo¬

gist of the Wisconsin Conservation Department operating from

the Conservation Department Biology Laboratory at Spooner

and the Brule Ranger Station, was in charge of all field opera¬

tions with W. S. Churchill and J. R. Jacobson as permanent

assistants. Temporary assistants were L. D. Prey, Helen Hall,

and Curtis Austin. Wholehearted and unselfish aid and coopera¬

tion have been received from many sources and the authors take

this opportunity to express their thanks to the multitude of

persons who in one way or another assisted in the project.

Thanks are especially due to N. C. Fassett, Professor of Botany,

University of Wisconsin, and John W. Thomson, Superior State

Teachers College, and now of the University of Wisconsin, who

conducted studies on the vegetation in the stream and on the

watershed; R. I. Evans, Department of Botany, University of

Wisconsin, who made studies of the origin of the bottom sedi¬

ments of plant nature ; F. C. Christopherson, Keith S. Brigham

and Robert H. Brigham, U. S. Geological Survey, who offered

important aid in the construction of instruments to measure

stream flow and their maintenance ; and E. F. Bean, State Geolo¬

gist, who restudied the geology of the Brule, in addition to organ¬

izing a soil erosion team (M. F. Schweers, Soil Conservation

Service and 0. R. Zeasman, University of Wisconsin) to study

the erosion problems arising from the stream banks, roads and

farmland.

Others who gave conspicuous service and who helped un¬

selfishly were J. E. Hanson, in charge of the Brule Ranger Sta¬

tion, and his dispatcher, Wm. Johnson ; J. W. McNaughton, con¬

servation warden, E. Lambert, H. Swanson, J. G. Ordway of

Cedar Island, and L. P. Jerrard who explored the Brule and

drafted a map valuable to the study.

E. J. Vanderwall, Conservation Director, Ernest F. Swift,

Assistant Conservation Director, and H. L. Russell, Chairman

of the University of Wisconsin Lakes and Streams Committee,

helped extensively in the arrangements for procuring services

and materials from experts and departments of their respective

organizations. Without their insight and willingness to act

promptly, the project would have lacked many of its broad

aspects.

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE BRULE

RIVER BASIN

Bride River Survey: Paper No. 2

E. F. Bean and John W. Thomson, Jr.

Geological and Natural History Survey; Department of Botany ,

University of Wisconsin

As is the ease with several other streams rising in northern

Wisconsin the Brule River does not have the profile character¬

istic of a stream in a semi-mountainous region. Instead of a

curve which is flat near the mouth and steeper toward the source

the gradient is very gentle in its upper reaches and steeper

down stream. (Fig. 1) It rises in the boggy bottom of a mile¬

wide trench one hundred feet below the level of the sandy Bar¬

rens. The bog is so flat that the divide between the Brule and

the St. Croix is indistinguishable.* Rising at an elevation of

* Following are approximate elevations of the river: ,

1. Stesne’s Club House, Sec. 36, T.46N., R.11W . 1016

2. St. Louis Club House, Sec. 18. T.46N., K.10W . . 1013

3. McDougal’s Club, Sec. 3, T.46N., R.10W . 995

4. River at USH 2 at Brule . . . 941

5. Near center of Sec. 26, T.48N., R.10W . . 917

6. Near NV4 comer of Sec. 26. T.48N., R.10W . 895

1. SEy4 NEy4 22, T.48N., R.10W . 845

8. Johnson’s Bridge . 817

9. 100 feet N of S line of Sec. 10, T.48N., R.10W . 765

Lake Superior . . 602

Nos. 1-3 House Executive Document 330, 54th Congress, 1896.

Nos. 4, 5, 7 and 8 Wisconsin Geological Survey.

Nos. 6 and 9 House Document 227, 72nd Congress, 1st Session, 1930.

7

8

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Figure 2. Geological map of the Brule River drainage area.

Bean and Thomson — Topography of the Brule River Basin 9

1,022 feet the stream flows northward to Lake Superior. The

Copper Range (Fig. 2) which rises to a height of over 600 feet

above the lake is the most conspicuous feature of the drainage

basin.

The total fall of 420 feet in the air-line stream length of SO

miles can be divided as follows :

Fall in ft. per ■ mile

3

17

17

Fall in feet

Miles

30

5

14

92

85

243

Source to Copper Range

Copper Range

Sandstone

The actual length of the stream is increased by the numerous

incised meanders from an air-line length of 30 miles to 49 miles.

In the upper section much of the fall is in the Dalles in section

15, T.46N., R.10W. and in the rapids above the mouth of Ne-

bagamon Creek. Much of the descent across the trap series is in

the lower mile. In the sandstone section there are numerous

small falls and rapids. The descent in the first 2% miles below

the Copper Range is 80 feet.

With a drainage area of 190 square miles, the average width

is a little over 6 miles. At the Copper Range the width is but

4 miles. Near Lake Superior the width of the drainage area is

less than one mile. Some of the higher elevations are: on the

Copper Range near Maple, 1,240 feet; glacial hills southwest of

Lake Minnesuing, 1,280 feet ; and southeast of Brule, 1,260 feet.

The divide south of the Range has a maximum elevation of 1,280

feet and an average, except for the col near St. Croix Lake, of at

least 1,150. The average descent from the divide to the river

is about 200 feet. The river flows in a deep valley ; hence much

of the descent is near the stream. At the Range, the trap rises

220 feet in three-fourths of a mile. Near Brule, the valley depth

is about 100 feet.

Having such a narrow drainage area, it is not to be expected

that the Brule should have either long or numerous tributaries.

The Little Brule rises less than a half mile from the Brule and

flows northerly in what may have been a former channel ©f the

main stream to join the Brule near Brule village. Nebagamon

Creek rises a short distance northwest of the Brule-St. Croix

col and flows north and northeasterly to join the Brule near

Winneboujou. It drains Minnesuing, Steele, and Nebagamon

lakes, as well as large areas of swamp. North of the Range, the

lake clay plain slopes northward at the rate of about 40 feet per

mile. It is deeply dissected by small tributary streams.

10 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Geology

Two geological systems are found in the basin — Keweenawan

and Pleistocene. There is no evidence of the existence of any

rocks belonging to the intervening period of about a half billion

years,.

Keweenawan

This period began with the deposition of sediments, inter¬

rupted by the outpouring of lavas from extensive fissures. These

lavas flowed southward over parts of Wisconsin and Michigan

and northward over parts of Ontario and Minnesota, indicating

that the highest part of the region and the source of the lavas

were located near the present center of Lake Superior. The

total thickness of these flows exceeded 20,000 feet. As thousands

of cubic miles of molten material were withdrawn, there was

downwarping forming a structural basin or syncline. In this

basin there was accumulated a great thickness of sediments

derived from the upturned margins of the syncline. The most

conspicuous of these was the Great Conglomerate. Following

this was the last of the lavas known as the Lake Shore Traps.

Upon the Lake Shore Traps were deposited upper Keweenawan

shale, conglomerate and sandstone.

The only rocks outcropping in the Brule basin are Middle

Keweenawan traps and the Upper Keweenawan sandstone (Fig.

2) , which occupy the north limb of the northeast-pitching syn¬

cline whose axis extends southwesterly from Chequamegon Bay.

The lava flows vary in thickness from a few inches to several

feet. Trap is the name used for a dark igneous rock. Basalt is a

dark colored, fine grained trap rock. Diabase is a dark rock,

coarser in texture than a basalt. From the exposures on the

Amnicon and Middle rivers, it is inferred that the contact on the

Brule is a thrust fault which resulted in bringing of the older

igneous rocks up over the younger nearly horizontal sandstone,

with the plane of the fault dipping about 38° to the south (Fig.

3) . The flows strike N.65° E. and dip SE 40°.

Thwaites estimates that the displacement along the fault

plane was from 6 to 12 miles. No rock exposures along the Brule

show the fault contact between the sandstone and trap, but mag¬

netic readings and outcrops of sandstone to the north and of

trap to the south show that the fault is about one-half mile south

Bean and Thomson — Topography of the Brule River Basin 11

Vertical scale -feet

Figure 3. Cross-section of the Brule River drainage area.

of Johnson's Bridge in section 22, T.48N., R.1GW. Topographi¬

cally, the fault can be identified by the steep 200 to 800 foot rise

of the north face of the trap ridge from the plain to the north.

Magnetic readings indicate that the trap is from 8 to 4 miles in

width (Fig. 2). With but one exception the outcrops are con¬

fined to the ridge, about a mile in width, south of the fault. The

only outcrops in the river are in the SW1/^ of Section 28, T.48N.,

It. 10W. This ridge is called the Copper Range because both

native copper and copper sulphides have been found along this

entire range. The Percival location in section 27 is the best

known prospect. In section 31, T.46N., R.11W., there are two

outcrops of diabase dipping southward about 15°.

Sandstone exposures are numerous along the Brule River

from about % mile south of Johnson's Bridge to Lake Superior.

The sandstone is flat-lying, the dip to the south varying from

0° to 3°, except near the fault, where some beds dip north at an

angle of 20°. These beds are probably upturned slightly by the

thrust faulting. Although no rock is exposed in the basin south

of the Copper Range, it is certain that the underlying rock is

upper Keweenawan sandstone dipping southerly at a low angle.

The upper nine miles of the Brule's course is parallel to the trend

of the syncline.

The relief prior to glaciation was much sharper than at pres¬

ent, due both to the degradational effect of the ice and to the

mantle of glacial drift which tended to fill depressions. The

Copper Range was even more conspicuous than at present. To

the north and south were Keweenawan sandstone lowlands.

12 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

Pleistocene

There were probably several invasions of ice, the latest of

which moved in a general southerly direction and is responsible

for the soils of the area. The ice sheet must have reached a con¬

siderable thickness before it overrode the Copper Range and

moved on southward. It was, therefore, able to erode the sand¬

stones and to do a considerable amount of smoothing and pluck¬

ing of the trap ridges. At the time of maximum advance, the ice

was thinnest over the Range and thicker both to the north and

south. As a result of this, when forward movement of the ice

ceased, the Range was the first to emerge, leaving stagnant ice

masses to the south and the large Superior lobe of ice in the low¬

land to the north.

When the ice finally disappeared, there were left in the drain¬

age basin four types of glacial deposits: (1) terminal moraine,

(2) outwash, (3) glacial drift modified by lake action, and (4)

lake clay. (Fig. 4)

1. Terminal Moraine . There is no continuous belt within the

drainage area that might be classed as recessional or terminal

moraine built at the stationary front of the ice sheet. Instead

there are isolated areas with considerable local relief and knob

and sag topography. The occurrence of boulders in the channels

of the Brule indicates that ground or terminal moraine deposits

were buried by outwash sand and gravel and later exposed and

concentrated to a boulder pavement by stream erosion. The

larger boulders which cover the valley floor at Cedar Island indi¬

cate that the area of terminal moraine around the fire tower in

section 13, T.46N., R.10W. was originally connected with the

terminal moraine across Brule Valley to the west. Terminal

moraine belts together with stagnant ice masses constituted the

southern border of Glacial Lake Duluth.

2. Outwash. Extending southwesterly from northern Bay-

field County for over one hundred miles is a sandy belt from

5 to 15 miles in width, which has long been called “the Barrens.”

Much of the Barrens should be classified as pitted outwash, the

pits being formed by the burial and subsequent melting of ice

blocks. That these pitted areas are outwash rather than termi¬

nal moraine is shown by the fact that the summit levels are

relatively uniform, that boulders are not numerous, and that

Bean and Thomson— Topography of the Brule River Basin 13

Terminal Moraine

P^lOutwash

Ev^LakeClay

■Rock Controlled Highlands

I _ Idacial LakeDuluth and

outlets

T.49N

T.48N.

Outlet

_Lake

Ashland

T.47N.

T.46N,

T.45N.

R.IIW. R.IOW.

Figure 4. Glacial geology of the Brule River drainage area.

14 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

cuts show well-stratified sand and gravel. Much of this material

came from the interlobate moraine to the northeast. It is nat¬

ural in an area so largely underlain by friable sandstone that

the glacial drift should be sandy and that the glacial streams

should build sandy outwash plains. The general level of “the

Barrens” is about 1,180 feet. Along the Brule there are terraces,

indicating that sand and gravel was deposited by streams flow¬

ing away from the melting ice and later dissected by outwash

streams or by outflow from the glacial lakes. Near the source

of the river, in section 34, T.46N., R.11W., the first bench, which

is about 100 feet above the swampy valley floor, is at 1,120 feet

and is less than one-half mile wide. The second bench is also a

little less than one-half mile wide, has an elevation of 1,160 feet*

and ends in a steep terrace which rises about 20 feet to a third

bench at 1,180 feet, which is not so well defined.

3. Glacial Drift Modified by Lake Action . A guess can be

made as to the landscape prior to the development of the first

glacial lake. Ice blocks may have still filled depressions now

occupied by lakes. Water from the melting ice accumulated be¬

tween the margin of the ice lobe in the Lake Superior basin and

the divide to the south, forming glacial lakes, with levels de¬

termined by the elevation of low points in the surrounding high¬

land. It is probable that stagnant ice masses as well as land may

have formed part of the barrier. Glacial Lake Duluth began as

a string of small marginal lakes on the border of the ice lobe.

Upon further shrinkage of the ice, these lakes became confluent.

This lake stood at three different levels, the highest being 1,160)

feet, and the lower ones, in order 1,120 and 1,060 feet. These

lake levels are reflected in (1) large flat areas produced by the

erosion and deposition of relatively shallow water; (2) beach

lines; (3) wave-cut cliffs; and (4) terraces cut by outlet streams.

It is quite likely that outwash streams continued to deliver sedi¬

ments to “the Barrens” while the glacial lakes were in existence.

At the 1,160 level, an arm of the lake covered the area now occu¬

pied by Lake Nebagamon and Lake Minnesuing, with drainage

south from the latter lake. That such a course was possible is

indicated by (1) the present level of Lake Minnesuing, about

1,132, draining by sluggish Minnesuing Creek to Lake Nebaga¬

mon; (2) a valley extending southward from the south end of

Lake Minnesuing to the present Brule valley drained for all but

Bean and Thomson — Topography of the Bride River Basin 15

a mile of its length by Wilson creek. The topography indicates

that another arm of the lake extended south past Winneboujou

and drained to the southwest, leaving the intervening higher

land as an island.

Due to the cutting down of the outlet, or retreat of the ice,

the lake level fell to 1,120 feet, and later to 1,060 feet. At each

of the new levels the Brule adjusted its channel and developed a

terrace faced by a steep slope. There is an abandoned tributary

stream channel in sections 25 and 26, southeast of Brule, that

formerly drained northwest. Its banks are very steep and ex¬

pose sand and gravel. It probably received drainage from melt¬

ing ice to the east. The channel at the mouth is at the 1,060 foot

level, suggesting that it flowed into Lake Duluth at that level.

Similar channels enter the valley from the east in T.46N., R.10W.

It is difficult to determine the exact outlines of the lake at the

various stages because topographic maps are lacking for critical

areas, and because the amount of post-glacial uplift has not been

determined. Leverett states that “the head of the outlet now

stands about 250 feet higher than at the time when the lake dis¬

charged through it.” Hansell, using more complete information,

has estimated the uplift of the head of the valley to be between

50 and 60 feet. Using his data, the uplift at the mouth of Brule

was only 20 feet more than at its source. If this is true, tilting

is not of importance in consideration of Brule River history.

When the level of the glacial lake dropped below 1,022 feet,

the direction of flow of the Brule was reversed and the stream

flowed north into the glacial lake instead of draining it. This is

supported by the fact that the stratified deposits in the river

above that level dip south, while the bedding dips north in de¬

posits below the 1,020 foot level. With flow to the north, in spite

of greatly reduced volume, the Brule River was able to incise its

channel and cut a gorge in lake deposits below 1,020 feet.

On the north side of the Copper Range, there is a 980 foot

bench. Below 980 feet to the present lake shore the soil is domi¬

nantly red clay deposited in the bottom of the glacial lake.

The transition from Lake Duluth to Lake Algonquin was

probably a gradual one as lower and lower passages for drain¬

age across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were opened by the

melting away of the ice in the eastern part of the Lake Superior

basin. There was a brief period when the flow of Glacial Lake

16 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Duluth was southward through the Au Train-Whitefish Valley

to Glacial Lake Chicago. The Lake Algonquin beaches are weak

and widely spaced. As a result of the successive lake levels, a

great deal of the drainage basin south of the red clay belt has a

greatly modified topography. Glacial lake beaches and wave-cut

cliffs are striking features but cover a relatively small area.

The effect of the glacial lake was to subdue the topography.

Depressions were filled and elevations planed down. The coarser

material was shifted the least ; hence boulder concentrates char¬

acterize the flat uplands, sand lies on the slopes, clay was moved

farther and deposited along the foot of slopes and in depressions.

Ground moraine, with little initial relief, was smoothed to a fiat

or swamp area. Terminal moraine below lake level was smoothed

but retained some of its original knobs and sags. Outwash

plains, if not pitted or dissected, exhibit little change.

4. Lake Clay. Heavy red lake soil extends from the Copper

Range north to Lake Superior. Along the Brule valley, the clay

extends four miles further south to Brule. Well records indicate

lenses of sand and gravel extending northward, dipping at a low

angle and separating beds of clay. These water-bearing lenses

are at shallow depths near the Copper Range, but several miles

farther north are at a depth of one or two hundred feet.

Post Glacial Changes

The clay belt has been deeply trenched by narrow, steep¬

sided valleys which range from a few feet to over a hundred

feet in depth. This is in marked contrast to sandy Barrens farth¬

er south, where the water sinks into the sand and erodes but

little. In the areas of terminal moraine and of drift modified by

glacial lake action, there is some gullying on the steeper slopes.

Ground Water

In the clay belt, direct runoff is heavy because the clay is

relatively impervious and the swamps provide relatively little

surface storage. The conditions in the drainage area above the

clay belt are favorable to uniform stream flow. The Barrens are

a perfect source of stream supply because the sand acts as a

sponge, absorbing a high percentage of the rainfall, and de¬

livering it to the stream in numerous springs at a uniform rate.

We believe that the springs are due to boulder clay covered by

Bean and Thomson — Topography of the Brule River Basin 1.7

sand and gravel. Water falling upon the surface descends to the

more imprevious material which it follows until an outlet is

found. The headwaters, therefore, have a relatively constant

flow. The glacial drift, modified by lake action, has large areas

of swamp which serve as reservoirs. Runoff is retarded on the

extensive flat areas. In the terminal moraine much of the rain¬

fall is held temporarily in the kettles. The lakes also serve to

retard runoff. Precipitation in the winter months generally falls

in the form of snow and usually has slight effect on stream flow

during that period.

“Effect of ground storage and springs on stream flow . The

flow of the Brule River is subject to less fluctuation than that of

any other stream in this district, the lowest observed flow being

118 second-feet and the highest, 1,490 second-feet. The natural

regulation is due primarily to the yield from a number of large

springs situated along the south branch or Upper Brule River.

These springs vary in area from one-quarter of an acre to three

acres, and are about 5 or 6 feet in depth. In the bottom of most

of the lakes or springs there may be seen, boiling up through the

sand gravel, jets of water varying from one inch to as much as

10 feet in diameter. The water flows are remarkably high for

this district.”*

House Document 227, 72nd Congress, 1st Session, 1930, p. 16.

A HISTORY OF FISHING IN THE BRULE RIVER

Bnde River Survey: Paper No. 8

D. John O’Donnell

Wisconsin Conservation Department

Biology Division

The famous Brule River, located approximately 30 miles

east of the city of Superior, in the northwestern part of Wis¬

consin, is one of the better known of the important trout streams

in the United States. Owing to the fact that the trout popula¬

tions have apparently declined since the days of lumbering op¬

erations, it was deemed desirable to make a complete physical,

chemical and biological investigation of the Brule River, with

the aim of establishing a stream management program for the

river. The investigational work started in October of 1942 as a

cooperative project between the Wisconsin Conservation Com¬

mission and the University of Wisconsin. It was first necessary

to review the literature and determine the known facts concern¬

ing past conditions in the river. The present report is a short

resume of the history of the Brule River valley, with the stress

placed principally upon the fish and fishing conditions.

The very earliest history concerns the changes in the river

during geological times. Since any geological history is con¬

cerned primarily with physical changes, these aspects are

omitted and will be covered in a subsequent report on the geology

of the Brule River valley.

The more recent history of the Brule River valley begins

necessarily with the story of the Indian. The earliest record is

that of the Mound Builders, who apparently had an advanced

type of culture and were proficient in the metal arts. They mined

copper in what is now known as the Minong Range and at Mani-

tou Falls on Black River, and used both fire and water in mining

the metal. The copper was worked into various weapons, imple¬

ments and ornaments and when one of their number died, vari¬

ous copper pieces were placed in the mound with the body. These

19

20 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Mound Builders vanished completely before the year 1400 A. D.

The next group of Indians, of which we have any knowledge,

were the Mascoutins, “People of the Fire,” a branch of the Pota-

watomi, who lived by trapping beaver, harvesting the wild rice,

spearing whitefish and hunting deer. About 1400, the Dacotah,

“The Seven Council Fires,” left their homes in what are now

known as Virginia and North Carolina, and trailed the bison

westward and came to Wees-kon-san. The Dacotah drove out the

peace-loving Mascoutins. The next large tribes were the O-dug-

am-eeg (Outagamie), and the O-saug-eeg (Sauk) tribes which

were forced westward by the Iroquois. These three tribes shared

the wild rice lakes around the the Bois Brule-St. Croix head¬

waters. They also trapped beaver and other small animals.

About 1400 A. D. the Ojibwa Indians migrated westward,

being forced out by the Iroquois. They moved very slowly but

eventually reached what is now known as Sault Sainte Marie,

where they established their principal village. Even here they

were attacked by the Iroquois so they continued to move west¬

ward. In 1492 they reached Shan-ah-waum-ik-ong (Chequa-

megon Bay) where they engaged in battle with the Dacotah and

Outagamie tribes, who forced them to move off the mainland

and withdraw to Mo-nung-wah-na-can-ing (now Madeline Is¬

land). They built a village on the island and planted maize and

pumpkins. All of their hunting for game was done on the main¬

land. These hunting excursions into their own territory so

alarmed the Dacotah and Outagamie tribes that they engaged

the Ojibwa tribe in an immense battle during the year 1612.

The Ojibwa, however, won the battle and gained a foothold on

the mainland, thereafter spreading to the south and west. As

they moved westward they again fought the Dacotahs for control

of the rice lakes and the small game hunting about the Bois

Brule, which they called the Wa-sah-que-da-ce-be, “Burnt

River.” This peculiar name, “Burnt River,” must have been used

because of some notable forest fire or fires in its valley, before

the day of the white man.

By 1620, the Ojibwa tribe had control of most of the territory

but about this time the Sioux tribe moved into the area and many

fierce battles were fought, until a truce was effected in 1671.

After 1671, the two tribes collaborated in their hunting of small

animals and in the harvesting of wild rice from the lakes. The

O'Donnell — Fishing in the Brule River

21

Ojibwas carried furs from the Brule valley to the French on the

St. Lawrence in eastern Canada.

An account of the discovery of the Brule River has been given

by Francis Parkman, who was called by Eancroft “the greatest

American historian.” He narrated that, “Daniel Greysolon Du-

Lhut, in June 1680 while Hennepin was in the Sioux villages,

set out from the head of Lake Superior, with two canoes, four

Frenchmen and an Indian, to continue his explorations. He

ascended a river, apparently the Burntwood and reached from

thence a branch of the Mississippi which seems to have been the

St. Croix.”

In DuLhut’s own words he recorded in his journal in June,

1680, “not being satisfied with my explorations by land, I took

two canoes with a savage who was my interpreter, and with four

Frenchmen, to seek the means of making it by water. [Referring

to a trade route into the Northwest]. For this purpose I entered

into a river which has its mouth eight leagues from the ex¬

tremity of Lake Superior on the south side, where after having

cut down some trees and broken through about 100 beaver dams,

I went up the said river, and then made a carry of half a league

to reach a lake which emptied into a fine river which brought me

up to the Mississippi.”

In 1698, Pierre LeSueur was dispatched by authorities of

New France to keep open and protect the old route through the

Brule and St. Croix Rivers. He built a fort on Madeline Island

to guard the north approach and another on an island in the

Mississippi, below the mouth of the St. Croix and near the town

of Red Wing, Minnesota, to guard the southern approach.

Jonathan Carver, the first English traveler in Wisconsin,

portaged from the St. Croix to the Brule River and descended to

Lake Superior. He reported a number of beaver dams. How¬

ever, in another period of his travels he says “this river was so

scant of water we were obliged to raise it with dams for pas¬

sage.” His trip was made in July, 1767. Incidentally Carver re¬

named the river Goddard’s River for an early fur trader.

In 1782, Jean Cadotte used the Brule-St. Croix route. The

stream was hard to navigate owing to the beaver dams.

In 1808-04 Michel Curot, a fur trader, established trading

along the Brule and St. Croix Rivers. He carried on intensive

trapping of beaver and the river was cleaned of beaver and many

22 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences t Arts and Letters

dams were destroyed. No mention was made of seeing any fish.

His first trip up the Brule River started on August 23, 1803 and

the first day he traveled as far as the end of the first decharge.1

The next five days were spent in navigating the first three

decharges. During the next three days, travel was much easier

and the party reached a point which they called La Grande

Prairie.2 3 The next day the party continued and passed what they

called the first rapid. They moved through an area of quick

water but no rapids and passed what is now known as Little Joe

Rapids. Two days later they had arrived at a place which Curot

called the “Rapide a Vassel.,,3 During the next day rapid pro¬

gress was made in the flat quiet water and a point was reached

a league and one-half below the St. Croix portage. On Septem¬

ber 5, the passage up the Brule had been completed and the party

started the portage over into the St. Croix. A total of twelve

days was required for the trip from the mouth of the Brule to

the point of portage into the St. Croix.

One of the first Americans to visit the stream was Henry

Rowe Schoolcraft, who was an Indian agent at Sault Sainte

Marie. In 1831, his party came to the Brule and was guarded by

Lieutenant James Allen of the Fifth United States Infantry

with a number of troops. Schoolcraft speaks of moose hunting

on the Burntwood River, while Allen says 'The river is exceed¬

ingly cold and clear and is filled with thousands of real mountain

brook trout/' Allen had hard work descending the stream with

awkward soldiers who were unaccustomed to guiding canoes in

strong water. “Often,” says Schoolcraft, “on looking down its

channel there are wreaths of foam constituting a brilliant vista.

This stream might appropriately be called Rapid or Mad River.”

Schoolcraft made no mention of beaver dams and apparently

they had disappeared because of the thorough trapping of Michel

Curot. Schoolcraft was the first to mention trout in the river.

According to the records of the earlier explorers the river con-

1 A decfaarge indicates a place where it is necessary to portage. The first decharge was about

three miles above the mouth of the Brule. The bed of the river at this point was solid brown

sandstone and the place is now known as Gregory Falls.

3 Properly speaking there are no prairies on the Brule. This camping area is supposed to have

been on the eastern bank above the mouth of the Little Brule River where the banks are somewhat

fiat.

3 Above what is now known as Nebagamon Rapids, the river expands into a number of lakes.

Cochran’s, Spring, Lucius, Big and Sucker. Falls Rapids, above Sucker Lake, although very short,

are considered the hardest on the upper river, and these are probably what Curot called “Rapide

a Vassel.”

O'Donnell— -Fishing in the Brule River

28

tained hundreds of beaver dams but no fish, although most of

them referred to fish in the St. Croix waters, especially in Lake

St. Croix.

From the time of the earliest Indians to the period of School¬

craft the river had been called by many names : Nemitsakouat,

Wisakoda, Bois Brule, Burntwood, Goddard, Brule and Mad

River.

In 1846, John R. St. John was charting the country in the

interest of mining companies and wrote a report on “A True

Description of the Lake Superior Country.” He writes of the

Bois Brule : 'The shore of the river is a sandy alluvium, as the

rivers Montreal and Ontonagon, with the red sand rock, and the

country of the Brule has the same general characteristics after

leaving Great Lake Point, that marks the country of the Ontona¬

gon, and the river itself, after leaving Keweenaw Point. Its

mouth is thirty to fifty feet wide, sandy, and five feet of water

on the bar. It surpasses all other streams in its brook trout,

some of them, I have the assurance of Mr. Jacob, weighing ten

pounds. Its waters colder and clearer, if possible than any other

river.”

In 1874, a Mr. R. P. Petre of Baltimore with his party,

fishing the Brule, removed the barbs from their hooks because

the trout were so easily taken that the time spent in removing

the hooks from the mouth of the fish was considered time wasted.

Mr. John Bardon of Superior, in the winter of 1877, saw “mil¬

lions” of trout swimming under the clear ice of the Brule. He

cut a hole through the ice and netted 1,500 pounds of trout with¬

out seemingly depleting their numbers. In 1878, “Long John”

Murphy and his companion reported catching 500 trout by hook

and line in three days.

In 1880, a prominent manufacturer, Samuel Budgett of Bris¬

tol, England, conceived the idea of improving the condition of

some of his better employees. He purchased a large area .of land

at and near the mouth of the Brule River. He then selected

approximately thirty families, representing various trades,

brought them from England and started the first white settle¬

ment at the mouth of the Brule. He named the colony “Cl eve-

don.” The harbor at the mouth of the river was improved and

fishing boats, nets, cooperage equipment and a sawmill were

provided. Small farms were opened up and although the settlers

24

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

were a sturdy lot they were not successful and after a number

of years a great many left and the colony disintegrated.

In a report by E. T. Sweet on the Geology of the Western

Lake Superior District, published in 1880, the following descrip¬

tion is given of the upper part of the Brule River :

^About four or five miles above the dalles on Sec. 30,

commence the Upper Spring lakes. These lakes extend to

within a mile of the dalles, and are usually merely former

channels of the river. There are somewhat more than a

dozen of them, each covering from three acres to a quar¬

ter of an acre. They are usually parallel to, and on the

east side of, the main channel. They are not often more

than five or six feet deep, but the water is very clear, and

in the bottom of most may be seen jets of sand and fine

gravel continually boiling up, varying in size from an

inch to five or even ten feet in diameter. In passing over

the surface of some of the larger lakes in a canoe, from

fifty to a hundred of these springs may be counted. In

these lakes are the breeding grounds of the vast numbers

of brook trout that inhabit the upper waters of the Brule.

I have seen them, upon a clear day, in these lakes, as

thick as minnows in a common pond. The bottom of the

stream above these lakes, and of the much larger lakes

immediately below them, contain a deep, loose black mud,

filled with insects and worms, the favorite food of the

trout. It has been aptly said that this is the angler’s para¬

dise. One may capture in a short time all that he can

carry. Joseph Gheen, a half-breed Indian, has recently

built a cabin upon Sec. 21, near the lakes, from which

point he takes the fish during the winter months to Du¬

luth and Ashland. About a mile below the Spring lakes,

swift rapids are found about two hundred yards in length,

and near the termination the river is only seven or eight

yards wide. The fall of the river here is about fifteen feet,

and the place is known as the Dalles of the Brule. The

banks are of clay and boulders only, and seven or eight

feet high. At the foot of these rapids is the third Puc-

wagawong [Chippewa Indian— a place where reeds or

flags grow] or Flag lake. It is only 250 yards in length

and perhaps 150 in width. From the foot of the third to

the head of the second Flag lake there are rapids of not

more than a hundred yards in length. The latter lake is

a mile in length and from two to four hundred yards in

width, with a depth of three or four feet. The bottom is

very muddy, and it is said that during the summer, reeds,

grasses, and moss form an almost complete mat over the

surface of the water.”

O'Donnell — Fishing in the Brule River

25

The lakes referred to as having boiling springs and as being

the breeding grounds of the brook trout consist of the spring

ponds which were bought by Henry Clay Pierce and fenced off

from the river proper some time shortly after 1905. It is inter¬

esting to note that the widespreads which are now known as Big

Lake and Lucius Lake were reported as having a mud bottom

and becoming choked with aquatic vegetation during the summer

months.

About 1880, the Brule River valley was opened for travel.

Railroads and wagon roads were built and the river was becom¬

ing known as an excellent fishing area. Trout were reported as

plentiful, and all fishing was done from canoes and boats. About

this time articles began to appear occasionally in the Superior

papers with reference to the Brule River and the trout.

In June, 1884, it was reported that the trout fishing in the

Brule River was excellent. In May, 1885, there appeared an

article which stated that no finer trout fishing can be found any¬

where than can be found in the Brule. Speckled trout twenty-

four inches in length have been taken from this stream. The

principal fishing grounds, from the town of Brule, were up the

river about five miles by road, and about eight by river. These

grounds are above the lower rapids and extend about six miles

to the upper rapids. This is considered the best fishing area on

the river, although there are trout in all parts. The bottom is

sandy and rocky and the water is clear, cool and sparkling. The

banks rise gradually from the river and are covered with gigan¬

tic pine trees. In one report of a party of three fishermen they

state that in one day's fishing they caught 100 speckled trout and

that on the next day they caught an additional seventy-four, one

of which was sixteen inches in length. The trout were jumping

out of the water in all directions.

In 1892 the village of the town of Brule was platted. The

iownsite was owned by a group of central and southern Wis¬

consin lumber operators. The business and other activities of

the town were controlled by the Brule Lumber Company, whose

holdings consisted of over 3,000 acres in the Brule valley, which

was considered the richest and most dense timber district of

northern Wisconsin. It was estimated that the company cut ap¬

proximately fifty million feet of logs as a minimum. In the win¬

ter of 1892 about four million feet of logs were cut.

26 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

In an article dated 1893 it was stated that, “along the Brule

River which flows through the Town of Brule, the timber is very

heavy and is of a very superior quality. The Brule River is a

beautiful stream and is celebrated for its trout fishing. Some of

the finest specimens of trout ever hooked in the Northwest have

been taken from these waters and as a result the river has

gained a general celebrity for its beauty and limitless fishing re¬

sources.”

In October of 1894 an article was "written giving a resume of

the season, as follows :

“The steamer North West has brought many eastern

people to the Brule, and has largely increased the number

of campers. It is estimated that nearly a thousand people

have encamped on the upper Brule this summer. Taking

the clubhouses in their order, going up the river to-wit:

St. Paul or Winneboujou clubhouse, 50; Milwaukee or

Gitche Gurnee clubhouse, 30; Ashland or Missishin, 50;

Lucius (public clubhouse on McDougalPs land), 300; Tib-

bits camp (public), 60; Kline’s of Duluth, 10; St. Louis,

22 ; White Birch, 50. This range of clubhouses extending

along the river, from the St. Paul clubhouse on the north

near the D. S. S. & A. tracks, south fifteen miles to the

White Birch clubhouse near the Omaha railroad, covers

practically, the fishing grounds of the Brule. The fishing

laws ought to be further modified to prevent shipping at

any season. One party shipped over 2,700 trout to Su¬

perior this summer, supplying three restaurants. Over

sixty campers were on the grounds as early as May.”

In 1895 the following notes were published with reference to

the Brule. “The primeval forest overhangs the river on both

sides and the picture as nature originally painted it remains

intact. The rustic furniture and other handiwork of nature are

the same today as they were when the red man alone paddled his

canoe upon its waters”. “The public and the clubhouse people on

the Brule do not get on well together. The latter own a great

deal of the land on the river and their enjoyment would be

unalloyed if they could keep all other persons from fishing in the

waters of the Brule. They will not let a person erect a tent on

their lands.” The record of one party of four men staying at Joe

Lucius clubhouse was as follows : “Captain McDougall caught a

fine string and some of them were big fellows. G. L. Rice caught

74, McHugh and Monson each caught as many as their con-

O'Donnell — Fishing in the Brule River

27

sciences would permit of.” "Mr. A. W. Shaver caught 100 trout

and then quit when they were biting the best, remarking to his

guide: ‘Bill, this is too much like club fishing; guess I'll quit/”

The lumber interests started cutting in 1892 and had all of

the virgin timber cut by about 1909. During this period, when

the logging dams were in the river, the catch of speckled trout

continued to decline. By 1906 many complaints were being made

that something had to be done to save the trout. About 1905,

Henry Clay Pierce started to build his estate and one of the fea¬

tures was a large fish hatchery where he produced speckled

trout. "It is stated that in his ponds at the present time (1908)

there are enough trout to put the Brule back in the class of the

best streams in the entire country. They are of all kinds and

sizes.”

In 1906 an article was written on "The Boise Brule” in which

are given many statements in regard to the fishing.

"It is the real and ideal home of the trout. In the days

before logging dams were built it was filled with brook

trout. An ordinary fisherman might catch a hundred fish

a day with hook and line, old fishermen tell you. The

upper river is surrounded by innumerable springs which

form a natural home for trout. The logging dams have

created great havoc among the fish during the past few

years, as they interfere with the yearly migration of the

trout, these fish following the habits of the salmon. The

dams almost depleted the stream for the reason that there

was no fish way and the mature trout could run out but

could not return the next year. A few years ago rainbow

trout were planted in the river, and these have grown and

multiplied very rapidly. The fish do not migrate to and

from the lake as do the brook trout (the present stock of

rainbow' trout in the Brule River migrate to and from

Lake Superior) . To a certain extent this drawback of the

dams has been remedied, as most of the lumber is cut. It

has been proposed and in fact is being strongly urged by

a number of prominent people (notably Hon. C. D. O’¬

Brien and Mr. Weyerhouser) that the state of Wisconsin

take steps declaring the Brule River and its valley for a

mile on either side a state park forest and fishing pre¬

serve. This would give to the people of the state, and

country generally, one of the most beautiful resorts in the

northwest, wTould prevent for all time the building of

dams and cause the removal of present obstructions, and

bring back to its original conditions the fairest river of

the northwest, the Bois Brule.”

28 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

In 1909, during the last part of July, the floods on the Brule

were reported as follows : “The rain Tuesday started the floods

which are reported to have destroyed some of Cedar Island.

Last night the river was more unruly than ever and the waters

were inundating the surrounding country. The loss to the Pierce

estate alone is estimated at many thousands of dollars and other

lodges and cottages along the shore have been wrecked by the

rioting river.”

Among the notables to visit the Brule was General Grant,

who came here in the 70’s on a fishing trip. Grover Cleveland

was the guest of Senator Vilas at his lodge on the Brule in the

80’s and Calvin Coolidge spent the summer of 1928 on the Brule

and was entertained by Henry Clay Pierce.

In 1936, with the use of WPA labor, a project of “stream im¬

provement” was started on the river. In that year a total of 232

structures, such as deflectors, bend covers and other “stream

improvement” devices, were installed in the stream. In addition

13 beaver dams were removed. In 1937, the work was continued

and 36 structures were placed in the river with 17 additional

structures being installed in 1938, plus 1,829 yards of dredging

in Big Lake and Lucius Lake. The cost of the “improvement”

work was approximately $40,000. In addition to the WPA pro¬

gram, a vast amount of work was done by the CCC, such as

installing structures, planting willows and cleaning out large

amounts of down trees and other materials in the river which

provide cover for trout. The particular stress at this time was

to convert the river into a comparatively “easy” canoe stream.

On January 12, 1938, the Conservation Commission issued!

an order, F-309, which prohibited all forms of fishing except

flyfishing on the Brule river between Stone's Bridge and Winne-

boujou. This order had been issued as a result of a petition con¬

taining 83 names of property owners. Of the signers, 19 were

from St. Paul, 9 from Minneapolis, 19 from Duluth, 4 from Lake

Forest, Illinois, 1 from Washington, D.C., 10 from Milwaukee,

1 from Superior, and 20 from Brule. The order, however, caused

such a storm of protest that on April 12, 1938, the Commission

issued order F-317 which rescinded order F-309.

For quite a number of years complaints have been made

almost yearly to the Conservation Department that something

should be done to improve the fishing. As a result of a com-

O'Donnell — Fishing in the Brule River

29

plaint made in December, 1941, that certain species of fish other

than trout be removed from the waters of the Brule River, a

check of the available information on the Brule River was made

at that time. It was found that the Conservation Department

possessed very little factual data on the physical, chemical, and

biological characteristics of the river; information which is

absolutely necessary in order to set up and execute an intelligent

and successful fish management program on any stream. It was

also found that although a number of cursory examinations had

been made of the liver, no management program had been or

even could have been made from these investigations. The usual

result was to increase the number of fish planted. In order to

determine the financial extent of the stocking, the plantings of

trout during the peiiod of 1937 through 1941 were checked. It

was found that a total of 616,850 brook trout, 150,175 brown

trout, and 464,850 rainbow trout had been planted. This amounts

to a grand total of 1,231,701 trout of all species which consisted

of 4,717 adults, 73,929 yearlings, 1,137,055 fingerlings and 16,000

fry. Based upon accumulative rearing costs a total of $34,247.67

had been expended in rearing the trout planted in the Brule

River over a five-year period. Thus a considerable expenditure

of funds was made with indeteiminate results and very limited

information was collected as a basis for a stream management

program.

As a result, it was recommended that a complete investiga¬

tion be made of the Brule River with the aim of establishing a

stream management program for the river. The Fisheries Foard

of the Conservation Department accepted these recommenda¬

tions and submitted a resolution to the Conservation Commis¬

sion requesting the creation .of a fund of $9,000 to permit a two-

year survey of the Brule River to determine the present existing

conditions and to then formulate a future fish management pro¬

gram.

The Conservation Commission acted upon the above resolu¬

tions at their July meeting, 1942. At that time they created a

fund of $9,000 to be used for a two-year study of the Brule

River. Also, to aid in the execution of this study, the Conserva¬

tion Commission asked the University of Wisconsin to assist in

the undertaking. As a result of the above actions a co-operative

agreement was completed in August, 1942, between the Wis-

30

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

consin Conservation Commission and the University of Wiscon¬

sin for the detailed survey of the Brule River. The actual in¬

vestigation started on October 1, 1942, and will continue for a

period of two years, after which time, a tentative fish manage¬

ment program will be formulated for the Brule River based upon

the critical examination of the results obtained from the surveys.

Literature Cited

Andrus- Juneau, Isura

1941. The Brule-St. Croix Portage. Douglas County Historical Museum

Collections. Superior, Wisconsin.

Carver, Jonathan

1838. Travels in Wisconsin. Harper & Brothers.

Curot, Michel

1803. A Wisconsin fur- trader’s journal. Wisconsin Historical Collections,

20, 1911.

Doty, James Duane

1895. Expedition with Cass and Schoolcraft, 1820. Papers of James Duane

Doty. Wisconsin Historical Collections, 13.

Kellog, Louise Phelps

1928. The Historic Brule. The Wisconsin Archeologist, 8: 1.

Lucius, Jos. and Charles E. Brown

1941. The Blue Springs Indian Shrine. Trans. Wise. Acad. Sci. Arts

and Letters, April, 1941.

McManus, James H.

1920. The trails of Northern Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Magazine of His¬

tory, 4: 125-140.

Pickering, H. G.

1933. The Brule. The Anglers’ Club Bulletin, 12: 1, New York.

Schoolcraft. Henry Powe

1834. An exploratory trip through the St. Croix and Bumtwood (or

Broule) rivers in 1832. Harper & Brothers.

1851. Personal memoirs of a residence of thirty years with the Indian

tribes on the American frontiers. Lippincott.

St. John, John R.

1846. A true description of the Lake Superior country. New York.

Sweet, E. T.

1880. Geology of the Western Lake Superior District. Geology of Wis¬

consin, 3: 321-322.

Turner, Frederick J.

1889. The character and influence of the fur trade in Wisconsin. Proc.

36th Ann. Meet. State Hist. Soc. of Wisconsin-

Wilson, Leonard R.

1938. The postglacial history of vegetation in northwestern Wisconsin.

Rhodora, 40: No. 472.

The Superior Evening Telegram:

June 21, 1884; May 23, 1885; March 4, 1892; March 5, 1892; Oc¬

tober 14, 1893; October 5, 1894; April 11, 1895; April 27, 1895; Feb-

O'Donnell — Fishing in the Brule River 31

ruary 3, 1904; June 26, 1905; May 5, 1906; October 22, 1908; July 22,

1809; July 15, 1910; September 4, 1911; July 15, 1912; August 7,

1915; November 27, 1915; June 26, 1928; March 18, 1931; January 7,

1938; January 21, 1938; April 20, 1938; May 2, 1938; July 5, 1938;

October 13, 1938; October 24, 1939; June 11, 1940; February 2, 1941;

May 14, 1941.

The Wisconsin State Journal:

January 7, 1938; February 4, 1938; February 11, 1938.

' 1 ' \ ' - ,

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VEGETATION OF THE BRULE BASIN,

PAST AND PRESENT

Brule River Survey: Paper No. 4

Norman C. Fassett

The Brule River flows northward in eastern Douglas County,

Wisconsin, to Lake Superior (Map 1). It is notable to geologists

in that it occupies the valley carved by the outlet of the Glacial

Lake Duluth, which was in the western end of what is now Lake

Superior, during the recession of the Superior lobe of Substage

4 of Wisconsin glaciation. It has long been notable to sportsmen

as a trout stream ; indeed, this study was initiated for the pur¬

pose of determining whether there have been changes in the

vegetation of the drainage basin which might be responsible for

changes in the environment of the fish.

Map 2 was derived from a study of the notes of the govern¬

ment surveyors who laid out the section lines in the region in

1852-56. Map 3 was derived largely from the survey in 1932 by

the Wisconsin Land Economic Inventory, somewhat modified by

notes of the Wisconsin Geological Survey in 1925 and by per¬

sonal observation in 1942-43. Details of the methods of deriving

these maps will be discussed later.

The Brule Basin may be conveniently divided into four gen¬

eral areas, (1) the gorge of the upper Brule, shown by the brown

band along the river on Maps 2 and 3, (2) the sand barrens,

shown mainly by the stippled red on both sides of the upper

Brule on Map 2, (3) the valley of Nebagamon Creek, the largest

tributary, entering the Brule in T.47, R.10W., and (4) the lower

Brule basin, embracing essentially the area in solid pink and

solid orange on the northern third of Map 2.

The Bog

The upper Brule is remarkable in that it flows northeastward

in the ancient channel of a much larger stream, the outlet of

Lake Duluth (which occupied what is now the west end of Lake

Superior) in early post-glacial times, and floored southwestward

S3

84 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

to what is now the St. Croix River and eventually to the Missis¬

sippi. The route of this outlet, south and southwest through

what is now the Brule, past Solon Springs and down the St.

Croix, may be easily traced on Map 1. This channel was cut

through sand, and is now occupied by a continuous bog (brown

on both maps). On every section line crossing the river in this

region the surveyors of 1852-56 recorded the fact that they

entered a bog, covered largely with White Cedar, Tamarack, and

Black Spruce. Their descriptions are quite consistent with that

of Owen,1 who wrote: “The whole country has a very singular

aspect, with lakes [several lakes, represented as one continuous

lake in the northern part of T.46N., R.10W. on Maps 2 and 3]

of still water, connected by short and swift rapids, that meander

through a dense growth of cedar and tamarack. . . . After navi¬

gating four lakes [Owen is traveling up-stream] . . . the Brule

meanders through a series of cedar swamps, separating into

several channels, the main one being sixty or seventy yards

wide. . . . The river now very soon contracts its dimensions to a

mere creek, just wide enough to float a canoe between the bushes

that overhang its banks.” In 1880, Sweet2 wrote : “The head of

the Brule is less than two miles from the Upper St. Croix lake

[the head of the St. Croix River, which still flows to the Missis¬

sippi]. Several small spring branches unite with the main chan¬

nel in the northern part of T.45N., R.11W., and the exceedingly

sluggish stream winds through dense cedar, tamarac and alder

swamps, for a distance of eight or ten miles.”

These descriptions, some nearly a century old, are just as

applicable today. Nearly all of the long narrow bog shown in

brown on Map 1 is duplicated on Map 3. Plates 1-3 show various

places along this bog as they now appear. In a few places

(Plate 4) the trees have been cut and the land probably burned

over; here the bog is quite spoiled and has gone to grass or

sedge-meadow.

The Barrens

The Barrens, developed chiefly on an outwash sand plain,

are shown on the maps by red stippled areas, and originally

1 David Dale Owen, Report of a geological reconnaissance of the Chippewa Land District.

Senate Executive Document 57; 58-61. 1848.

2 E. T. Sweet. Geology of the western Lake Superior district. Geology of Wisconsin, 3:321*322.

1S80.

Fas sett — V eg elation of the Brule River Basin 35

(Map 2) extended for several miles on each side of the upper

Brule. The appearance of this region three-quarters of a century

ago can be best portrayed by a few verbatim excerpts from the

notes of the surveyors.

On the line between T.45 and 46N., R.10W., in May, 1855.

Travelling west between Sections 3 and 34:

“40 :00* 3 set % section Post

Black Pine 5 N 28 W 45 links4

Black Pine 5 S 58 W 32 links

“80:00 Set corner to Sections 3, 4, 33 and 34

Black Pine 5 N 54 W 28 links

Black Pine 5 N 80 E 28 links

Black Pine 5 S 5 E 51 links

Elack Pine 5 S 20 W 61 links

“Surface rolling.

“Pine barrens.”

A little calculation will show that these 5-inch Jack Pines,

presumably the largest trees at that location, were spaced ap¬

proximately 80 feet apart.

On the same line, west between Sections 5 and 32 :

“40:00 Set % Section Post

Dead Black Pine 8 S 49 W 40 links

Dead Black Pine 9 N 28 E 50 links

“80:00 Set corner to Sections 5, 6, 31 and 32

Dead Black Pine 10 N 45 W 53 links

Dead Black Pine 10 N 66 E 59 links

Dead Black Pine 10 S 50 E 31 links

Dead Black Pine 10 S 25 W 36 links

Black Pine 5 N 28 W 45 links

“Black Pine Brush from 4 to 8 feet high as thick as it can

stand. No green timber in sight.”

After surveying a township (36 square miles) each sur¬

veyor wrote a brief description of it. The one for T.46N., R.9W.,

written in September, 1856, is characteristic of the regions

shown as stippled red on Maps 2 and 3 : “This is a Township of

barrens that is almost worthless for agricultural purposes, or

anything else, as there is but very little Timber in it, and that is

scrubby Black Pine; and there is hardly a drop of water in the

Township, in fact notv, except [for?] small ponds in the South

“These figures indicate chains from the section comer at which the surveyor commenced;

there are eighty chains to a mile.

4 Black Pine is . Jack Pine. Pinus Banksiana. The “5” indicates diameter at breast height,

in inches. This tree was 45 links from the corner post, and the direction was 28 degrees west -of

north; a link is 7.92 inches.

36 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

end of it [outside the Brule basin] , the Prairie that I have note#

on the West side; can hardly be called a Prairie, as no very great

time has elapsed since it was covered with small Pine which has

been blown down, and burned up, remnants of which still lie on

the ground.” (Some of these surveyors may have been weak in

the rules of punctuation, but they could write a vivid descrip¬

tion.)

In the township just described there were occasionally no

witness trees at all ; for example, at the quarter-section between

sections 18 and 19, the surveyor “Set quarter Section post in a

Mound of earth and sod, drove charred stick 10 inches long.”

Not even a stick of uncharred wood was to be found 1

The monotony of small Jack Pines was occasionally broken

by a few scattered large Norway Pines ( Finns resinosa, called

“Yellow Pine” by many surveyors). In T.46N., R.10W., going

north between Sections 22 and 23, in August, 1854, the record

runs:

“40:00 Set quarter Section Post

Black Pine 6 N 34 E 22 links

Black Pine 6 S 43 W 6 links

“80:00 Set post corner to Sections 14, 15, 22 and 23

Black Pine 10 N 45 W 1.40 links

Yellow Pine 20 S 40 E 180 links

“Surface rolling. Soil 3d rate

“Timber Pine — brush.”

In T.45N., R.10W., at the quarter-section post between sec¬

tions 6 and 7, the record is: “Yellow Pine 20 S 35 E 1080 links.

No other near.” The nearest tree at this point was therefore

more than 700 feet away, a large Norway Pine towering over

the brush.

Description of T.46N., R.10W. as of 1856: “This is one of

those barren Townships that is almost worthless for agricul¬

tural purposes. The Surface is rolling excepting that portion

adjoining the Brula, which is very broken; the Brula River flows

through a valley that is 150 or 200 feet below the general level

of the country ; on the east side of the River the Bluffs are steep,

but on the West side the land rises gradually from the River

bottom, so that the top of the Bluff cannot well be defined ; the

River bottom is one continuous Cedar Swamp that is miry and

unfit for cultivation. The timber on the entire Township is

worthless.”

Fassett— Vegetation of the Brule River Basin 87

On Map 4 the figures indicate the diameter at breast height,

m inches, of Jack Pines used as witness trees. A dot on a section

line indicates that the species was recorded as present, but not

used as witness trees. The significant thing about these trees as

recorded on the map is the uniformity of size in many regions.

There is a large area, for example, in T.45N., R.10W., where

nearly all the trees are five inches in diameter. In southeastern

T.46N., R.10W. there is another area of uniformity, the trees

here being six inches. These large areas of trees of uniform size,

and therefore uniform age, are without doubt due to the ability

of this species to repopulate an area after a fire. Near the

Brule River, and along the northwestern border of the range of

the tree in this area, fires were not quite so frequent and wide¬

spread, and the Jack Pines were less uniform and reached a

larger size.

Next to Jack Pine, the most abundant trees on the Barrens

were Oaks. Occasionally an Oak reached a diameter of ten

inches, but most of them were described as Oak Brush.

The barrens of 90 years ago, then, were a region of frequent

fires, covered with small Jack Pine of a uniform size in each

area, the size dependent upon the elapsed time since the last

severe fire; occasionally a few large scattered Norway Pines

were present. Oak trees and Oak Brush often accompanied and

sometimes replaced the Pines.

The barrens as they appeared in 1942 are shown in Plates 5

to 7. They are frequently burned and nearly treeless; Plate 7

Is in the area of the great fire of 1936. Often they are covered

with small Jack Pine of a uniform size in each area (Plate 5).

Occasionally a few large scattered Norway Pines are present

(Plate 6). Oak trees and Oak Brush often accompany and some¬

times replace the Pines.

The Valley of Nebagamon Creek

The surveyor’s description of T.46N., R.11W. is short but

brings out a significant point. “This Township is heavily tim¬

bered with Oak Maple Sugar,3 Aspen and Pine: and a dense

undergrowth of Hazel and Aspen. The surface is rolling: and

covered with rock: = trap rock. The soil is of the poorest

quality. A great deal of the timber is down, patches of windfall

*The “Maple” of the surveyors is Red Maple; Sugar Maple is almost invariably called

“Sugar.”

38 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

thickly scattered over the entire Township.” This description

indicates diversity in forest cover, for Sugar Maple is a climax

tree in this region, while Hazel and Aspen are usually the result

of fairly recent burning. An expression of this diversity, as well

as some indication of the reason, may be seen on Map 2. The

valley of the Nebagamon occupies the western part of T.47N.,

R.10W., the southeastern part of T.47N., R.11W., and the north¬

western half of T.46N., R.11W. This area is dissected by num¬

berless bogs of various sizes (in brown on Map 2) and lakes.

Under these conditions, fires, which seem to have been the major

factor in setting back the ecological succession, would have been

much less widespread than on the broad flat sandy barrens.

Much of the region suffered from fire and was largely in Aspen

(stippled orange on Map 2). But where somewhat protected

from the spread of fires, in the neighborhood of lakes and bogs,

mixed pine-hardwoods developed (orange on Map 2), or the

succession even went to climax forest (yellow on Map 2).

Most of the soil in the valley of the Nebagamon is loam, but

along its northwestern border, and thence running northeast¬

ward across the Brule valley, is the Copper Range, a ridge of

trap rock (Map 11). Conditions on the Copper Range appear to

have favored the development of climax forest; most of this

forest was just outside the Brule Basin paralleling its north¬

western border, but the strip of yellow northwest of the large

bog in T.47N., R.11W. is the edge of this forest. Just northwest

of this strip of yellow on Map 2, about a mile outside the Brule

Basin, is the present-day town of Maple6 (Map 12).

Maps 9 and 10 show the locations of trees .of five species,

taken as indicators of climax forest.

When compared with Map 2, Map 3 shows considerable

change in the land cover of this area. Much of the land is

cleared, particularly in the vicinity of the larger lakes. Con¬

siderable portions of the bogs seem to have had their flora

altered, so that some parts are now better classed as Black Ash,

Red Maple and Elm (olive-green on Map 3) or Tagalder, Willow

and Dogwood (stippled olive-green on Map 3) than as Tam¬

arack. This is however a difficult point to judge, for all of these

species were doubtless present on the bogs when the surveyors

traversed them, and all are now present. Close study of the

9 “Maple,” in this case, is without doubt Sugar Maple.

Fassett— Vegetation of the Brule River Basin 39

surveyors* notes, and then of the Land Economic Inventory maps

and of the areas themselves, indicates that there have been in

some areas changes in the proportions of each species, from a

predominance of bog conifers to a predominance of broad-leaved

species. But certainly Maps 2 and 3 cannot be interpreted liter¬

ally to the extent of stating that any particular acre of ground

has undergone a specified qualitative or quantitative change.

Comparison of bog areas on these maps also shows that much

of what the surveyors indicated as bog is now covered with

aspen.

Besides the possible destruction of much of the bog area,

another result of the occupation of this region for about a cen¬

tury has been the degradation of the forests, so that most of

what was mixed pine-hardwoods or climax forest on Map 2 is

now Aspen scrub (Plate 8). Close inspection of Map 3 will show

a few small remaining stands of White Pine (Plate 9), mixed

forest, and even Sugar Maple.

The Lower Brule Basin

The soil in the lower Brule Basin is red clay, deposited under

the waters of Glacial Lakes Duluth and Algonquin. The areas of

red clay are shown approximately on Map 11. This clay has

great water-holding capacity ; it dried out much less easily than

did the sand and the loam, and so was less subject to fires. This

region was therefore the most heavily wooded of all the Brule

Basin, and here grew the largest individuals of White Pine (Map

5), Fir (Map 7), and Aspen (Map 8). 7

In September, 1852, T.49N., R.10W. was described as fol¬

lows:

“This township has a clay soil. The surface is gen¬

erally level back from the streams. The Streams except

Brule River fail during the dry season but during the

spring and fore part of the Summer offered plenty of

water, running as they do through a clay formation. The

valleys are narrow gullys or ravines.

“It is well timbered with White Pine in every part and

Brule River offers every facility for a lumbering business.

This stream rises in the small lakes south of the Summit ;

through which it breaks and discharges its self into the

Lake after [falling?] over 100 distinct rapids in its de-

7 This probably includes both the Trembling Aspen and the Large-toothed Aspen. Perhaps Hhe

larger Aspens of the clay region were mostly the latter species.

40 Wisconsm Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

scent. Every bend has its rapids through this township

until it [flows?] into Section 10 [at the mouth of the

stream] where the water becomes sluggish and deep.

“During the months of April and May the Indians and

Trappers carry on a successful fishing business along the

lake shore. Trout Whitefish and Siskowet being the prin¬

cipal kinds packed for the market.

“The waters of the small streams are so strongly

chalybeate that the leaves turn them black in the fallp?

The witness trees were, in order of frequency: White Pine*

up to 30 inches and averaging 18 inches; Spruce (doubtless

White Spruce), up to 16 inches and averaging 11 inches; White

Birch, up to 19 inches and averaging 11 inches; Black Ash up to

16 inches; White Cedar up to 14 inches; Yellow Pine up to 20

inches; Fir up to 12 inches; Tamarack up to 16 inches (appar¬

ently growing larger on the clay than in the bogs) ; Red Maple

up to 12 inches; Aspen up to 22 inches; and Black Oak. The

trees most frequently mentioned in the summaries of each mile*

were, in order, Spruce, Fir, Birch, Pine, Aspen, White Cedar*

Tamarack, Ash and Red Maple, while the undergrowth was

almost always described as Alder, Hazel and Green Ozier, some¬

times Maple (probably the Mountain Maple, Acer spicatum ).

This mixture is shown on Map 2 as Spruce-Fir. Woods of

this type were seen in 1942-43 only on the high ground near the

abandoned house on the west side of the river near its mouth

(Plate 10). Elsewhere the forest has been destroyed by lumber¬

ing, fires, and agriculture, so that much of the area is now

cleared land (Plates 11 and 13) and the rest has a scrubby

growth of Alders, Willow and Red-osier Dogwood (stippled

olive-green on Map 3), grading to Aspen and small Firs on the

higher ground (stippled pink on Map 3; Plate 12). A few areas

are shown on Map 3 as mixed Pine-hardwood (orange) and as

Aspen (stippled orange), but actually these four types grade

into each other and the boundaries must not be interpreted to©

strictly.

The description of T.48N., R.10W., written in August, 1852.

reads as follows :

“This Township is well watered and well timbered.

The Streams get low during the dry season but do not dry

up entirely. The surface is gently rolling and hilly. The

soil clay and sand, wet, adapted to the raising of Grass.

The timber is large and valuable.

Fassett — Vegetation of the Brule River Basin 41

“Bois Brule River runs through the center of the

township, is a rapid durable stream affording every fa¬

cility for a Lumbering business. Mines are reported to

have been worked in this Township on Section 18 or 19

but were not found by me. On Section 23 overlooking the

river the Amygdaloid Trap Rock is Magnetic and re¬

sembles cast iron in lustre when broken. Traces of copper

were found on Section 27.

“The local attraction of the needle was so great that

the plain compass could not be used in the vicinity of hill

extending across the Township.”

The Copper Range (Map 11) was well forested; between

Sections 22 and 27 the summary reads “Black Oak, Sugar, White

Fine, Yellow Birch, Lind [— Basswood], Elm, Aspen, White

Cedar, Fir, Spruce and Tamarac.” The Sugar Maple, Basswood

and Yellow Birch may be taken as indicators of climax forest.

This hill (Plate 13) still shows the species which were origi¬

nally listed; but the woods have been cut and burned, and the

hardwoods are sprouting from the stumps (Plates 15 and 16).

As compared with the uniformity of the township directly

to the north, this showed a smaller number of species on each

mile, but greater variation between miles. Pines were general

throughout the township, but where they were accompanied by

Spruce and Fir the land has been shown on Map 2 as “Spruce-Fir

forest,” and where they were mixed with Oaks, Linden, Maple,

etc. “mixed hardwood” has been the designation. Now, of course,

the big pines are cut, and their charred stumps are in a dense

growth of Aspen (Plate 16). A few good stands of forest re¬

main along the River (Plate 14).

An area of about 8 square miles in the northwestern part of

T.47N., R.10W. and the southwestern part of T.48N., R.10W. is

shown as Alder-Dogwood- Willow on the recent map and as mixed

hardwoods on the old map. This is a poorly drained area which

seems to have a very mixed vegetation. The surveyors recorded

Tamarack in every mile traversed (even excluding those re¬

ported in swamps), White Pine in every mile, the largest being

20 and 26 inches, Aspen, Birch, Spruce, Fir and White Cedar

almost always, Maple and Yellow Pine often, and occasionally

Yellow Birch, Black Ash, Sugar Maple and Elm. The under¬

growth was usually described as Elder, Hazel, Green Ozier and

Maple. Excluding the larger trees, this is much as the area is

(today ; it is mostly covered with swamp shrubs, with a few trees

42

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

©n the better-drained locations. Geologists Emrich and Schafer,

in 1925, recorded T.47N., R.10W., between 7 and 8, as Alder,

Maple, Ash, Birch, Cedar and Spruce. The Land Economic Sur¬

vey, in 1933, recorded it as recently burned. The original vegeta¬

tion of this area seems to have been much like that in T.49N.,

R.10W. shown as Spruce-Fir on the map, except that here the

proportions of these two species are much lower.

Sources for Data

The exterior lines, which are those forming the boundaries

of the township, were surveyed by the following deputy survey¬

ors, in the following years :

These surveys were conducted from June to November; each

township took a week or ten days. For each section corner and

quarter-section (one in the middle of each mile) two witness

trees were recorded ; for section corners on exterior lines there

were four witness trees. At the end of each mile the principal

trees seen along that mile were listed. For each township there

was a general summary.

Fassett — Vegetation of the Brule River Basin 4S

These records were studied by Dr. John T. Curtis and the

writer in the fall of 1942 and a map of the vegetation as of

1852-56 was drawn. When Dr. Curtis was called to conduct some

work in Haiti the writer continued alone, later revising this

map. In some cases, determining the vegetation of a section line

has been easy. If only small Jack Pine of uniform diameter is

listed, it is pine barrens, and if only small Aspen is listed, it is

as obviously Aspen thicket. Bogs are easy, particularly since

the surveyors made up maps showing the outlines of the bogs.

It must be noted, however, on Map 2, that small bogs are shown

only on section lines, since those in the interior of the sections

were not seen by the surveyors.

Some sections have been very difficult to classify, and a few

examples will be given to show the method of interpreting the

meagre data.

T.47N., R.10W., west between sections 28 & 33. At the quar¬

ter-section post were recorded an Aspen 8 inches D.B.H., 35 feet

from the post, and a Black Pine 6 inches D.B.H., 40 feet from

the post. The summary of the mile was: Timber Pine Birch

Aspen and Lind. Undergrowth Alder & Hazel, woods very thick.

Seldom can you see more than 2 chains.” Here the Basswood

(“Lind”) would suggest that the forest was developing toward

dimax, but it is listed last and was probably the least abundant ;

also, Basswood is so rare in the region that any occurrance would

be noted. The witness trees are Jack Pine and Aspen, both some

distance from the post, so the trees were not very closely spaced.

Visibility is low due to density of growth, but this dense under¬

growth is Alder and Hazel. The picture develops, therefore, as

a sparse growth of medium-sized but fast-growing trees, prob¬

ably not over 20 years old, with a dense scrubby undergrowth.

This is recorded on Map 2 as Aspen scrub (stippled orange).

T.47N., R.10W., north between sections 1 & 12. At the quar¬

ter-section post were recorded a White Cedar 10 inches D.B.H.

and a Yellow Birch 9 inches D.B.H. The summary was : “Spruce

Yellow Birch Tamarack White Pine Aspen & Black Oak. Under¬

growth Birch & Fir.” The southern half of this section line was

recorded as bog, which accounts for the Tamarack and the White

Cedar; the latter was south of the quarter-section post and so

located in the bog. The higher ground had Yellow Birch which

is ordinarily taken as indicating climax forest, but here it was

44 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

mixed, not with Sugar Maple, but with Pine, Spruce, Oak and

Aspen. This section line is therefore recorded on Map 2 as

Mixed Pine and Hardwoods (orange).

These examples are given to show that there may be some

question regarding the type of vegetation on any particular mile.

However, it is the opinion of the writer that the generalizations

drawn from these records are reliable; while Map 2 may not

represent accurately each individual mile, it is correct in show¬

ing that the region southeast of the upper Brule was in Barrens,

and that the regions about Lakes Nebagamon and Minnesuing

were a mixture of bog, Aspen thicket, mixed forest, and Maple

forest.

Map 3 was made up primarily from the Land Economic In¬

ventory maps of Douglas County, published in 1933, and of Bay-

field County, published in 1928. The classification of land cover

used on these maps differs in some respects from that used on

Map 3, so that there was in some cases a question of interpreta¬

tion. A preliminary map made up from the Inventory maps was

used in the field, and checked with conditions as observed in 1942

and 1943 by the writer, with the help and advice of Dr. John W.

Thomson and Mr. E. F. Bean. While not assuming to make cor¬

rections on the Inventory maps, the writer has taken the privi¬

lege of making his own interpretation both of the Inventory

maps and of the observed land cover. In many cases changes

were necessary due to actual changes in cover since the Inven¬

tory surveys. Some of this area was surveyed by a party of the

Wisconsin Geological Survey, and notes on the vegetation made

by Geologists D. G. Emrich and Sidney Schafer. Again, their

classification of land cover was different from those used by the

Inventory survey and by the writer, but their notes have proved

useful in several areas.

Maps 4-10, showing the ranges of individual species of trees,

are compiled entirely from the surveyors’ reports. The figures

represent D.B.H., and each is placed near its appropriate section

or quarter-section corner, in the direction, but not at the dis¬

tance from the corner, in which the tree was recorded. A dot on

a section line means that the species was mentioned in the sum¬

mary of that mile.

The data concerning soils on Map 11 are from the General

Soil Map of Wisconsin by A. R. Whitson and others, published

Fassett— -Vegetation of the Brule River Basin 45

in 1926 by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Sur¬

vey. Since the soils boundaries on this map were very general,

and are moreover transferred to a larger scale by their use on

Map 11, they must not be regarded as accurate within the Brule

Basin, but rather to indicate broadly the areas of different soils.

The rock outcrops on Map 11 are from the Land Economic Sur¬

vey, and the location, but not necessarily the exact boundaries,

of the Copper Range are sketched in from field observation.

Vegetation and Water Flow

While the Brule Bog remains undamaged, the upper Brule

River will continue to be as it is now ; cutting the trees or burn¬

ing the bog would reduce the Brule River to a warm-water

stream, probably to one devoid of trout. In the Barrens, water

seeps into the sand and enters the Brule River as springs, in

spite of the fact that the vegetation of the barrens has been

burned since time immemorial; future burning will therefore

do no damage. Much of the Nebagamon River Basin is now less

heavily forested than it was in the past; partial restoration of

the forests should be effected. The area of Red Clay along Lake

Superior presents a complex problem: the forest has been very

largely destroyed and the water-holding capacity of the upper

soil levels doubtless reduced, but erosion on farm lands and road¬

sides, and the slumping of clay banks, probably present the most

serious problems.

Summary

The vegetation of the drainage basin of the Brule River,

which enters Lake Superior in northwestern Wisconsin, has been

determined, as of 1852-56, by a study of witness trees and field

notes recorded by the government surveyors of those dates, and

as of 1932-48 by study of the Land Economic Survey maps of

1933 and by direct observations in the region. The bog, about a

mile wide and ten miles long, which borders the upper Brule is in

nearly its original condition, except for the removal of scattered

large pines and the complete cutting and burning of a few small

portions. The sandy Barrens, mostly southeast but also to some

extent on the northwestern side of the upper Brule, is frequently

burned over, with a usually sparse ground cover of small Jack

Pines and scrub oaks, just as it was a century ago. The valley

of the principal tributary, Nebagamon Creek, originally had a

46 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

land cover varying from pine barrens and Aspen scrub to mixed

pine and hardwoods and Maple forest. This was because it was

so dissected by lakes and bogs that fires were local, rather than

widespread as in the Barrens. Much of this area is now cleared,

the patches of maple and of pine are much reduced, and aspen

scrub has largely replaced the better types of forest. The Copper

Range, a ridge of trap rock crossing the Brule valley parallel to

and about nine miles south of the Lake Superior shore, origi¬

nally had a good growth of Maple- Yellow Birch forest, now early

destroyed and represented by local areas of maple coppice. The

red clay, bordering Lake Superior for about ten miles in this

region, was covered with dense forest of White Pine, Spruce,

Fir, White Birch, Black Ash, White Cedar, Yellow Pine, Aspen,

etc., with an undergrowth of Alder, Hazel, Red Maple, Osier and

Willow. The cutting, burning and pasturing has left most of this

area with a shrubby growth of Alder, Hazel, Osier, and Willow,

with some patches of Aspen and little Fir trees.

47

Fassett— Vegetation of the Brule River Basin

Map 1. From the House of Representatives Document No. 227, 72nd Congress, first session.

48 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

R.IIW.

mow

1852-56

□ Mapfe —Yellow Birch

0 Maple Coppice

H Pine -Hardwood

M Aspen

B Pine Forest

H Pine Barrens

0 Spruce-Fir Forest

m Small Fir and Aspen

SS Lowland Hardwoods

§1 Willow, Alder, etc.

HI Bog Conifers

H Cleared

SB Marsh

T.49N.

T.48N.

T.46N.

T.45N.

R.IIW. R.IOW.

MAP 2

1932-43

T.45N.

T.46N.

□ Maple -Yellow Birch

H Maple Coppice

■ Pine - Hardwoods

11 Aspen

Pine Forest

H Pine Barrens

0 Spruce- Fir Forest

El Small Fir and Aspen

■ Lowland Hardwoods

■ Willow, Alder, etc-

■ Bog Conifers

11 Gleared

S3 Marsh

T.48N.

T.49N.

RHW. R.IOW.

MAP 3

Fassett — Vegetation of the Brule River Basin 49

R.IIW.

R.IOW.

§0 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

RJIW.

Fassett—V eg elation of the Brule River Basil} 51

RJIW

R.IOW,

52 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

R.IIW.

R.10W

Fassett — Vegetation of the Brule River Basin 53

R.IIW.

R.iOW

54 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Map 10-

CLIMAX

FOREST SPECIES

1852 - 56

L= Linden

Y s Yellow Birch

H = Hemlock

I = ironwood

T.49N

T.48N.

T.47N.

T.46N

T.45N

R It W

R.IOW

Fassett — Vegetation of the Brule River Basin 55

R.IIW.

R.iovv.

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

TOWNS HIGHWAYS and BRIDGES LAKES

Mapl2.

Plate 1. Looking eastward across Brule Bog. Sec. 3, T.45N.,

R.11W. Photograph by Dr. J. W. Thomson.

Plate 2. The Brule Bog near Cedar Island. Sec. 21, T.46N., R.10W.

Plate 3. The Brule Bog near Stones Bridge. Sec. 30, T.46N., R.10W.

Plate 4. The Brule Bog at Highway P. Sec. 8, T.45N., R.11W.

Ml*

Plate 6. The Barrens. Sec. 32, T.48N., R.10W.

Plate 7. The Barrens. Sec. 35, T.46N.. R.10W.

Plate 8. Aspen scrub. Sec. 5, T.45N., R.11W.

Plate 10. Fir forest at the mouth of the Brule River. Sec. 10, T.49N., R.10W.

Plate 11. On the red clay, looking north. Sec. 23 and 24. T.48N., R.10W.

Plate 13. Cleared land on the red clay, looking southward to the Copper

Range. Sec. 15, T.48N., R.10W.

Plate 14. Fir, Pine, Birch, etc., at N. P. Johnson Bridge. Sec. 15, T.48N.

R.10W.

A SURVEY OF THE LARGER AQUATIC PLANTS AND

BANK FLORA OF THE BRULE RIVER

Bride River Survey: Paper No. 5

John W. Thomson, Jr.

This report is a result of a reconnaissance survey of the Brule

River from the headwaters to the mouth during 1943. Two full

sets of specimens substantiating the observations were collected.

One set is deposited in the Herbarium of the University of Wis¬

consin; the second set is in the Herbarium at Superior State

Teachers College. These specimens are designated by special

labels. No attempt was made at this time to obtain quantitative

data other than general observations on the abundance of the

aquatics. These data are expected to be obtained during the sum¬

mer of 1944.

Funds making possible the field work were supplied by the

Wisconsin Conservation Commission from funds allotted to the

Brule River Survey in cooperation with the University of Wis¬

consin. Grateful acknowledgement is made to Dr. N. C. Fassett

of the Department of Botany of the University of Wisconsin and

to Mr. J. R. Jacobson of Superior, Wisconsin for assistance dur¬

ing the project.

Major Divisions of the Stream

The Brule River may be divided into three major ecological

regions. The upper section extending downstream to the mouth

of Nebagamon Creek is dominated by the headwaters coniferous

swamp. It is a comparatively unspoiled section of the stream.

The lower section of this major region is divided into the upper

rapids or Dalles and the “lakes.” In this section is the greatest

abundance and variety of species of higher aquatic plants. The

middle section of the Brule, from the mouth of Nebagamon

Creek to the beginning of the rapids above Co op Park is a slug¬

gish, meandering stream flowing through bottomlands with large

hardwood trees, mainly elm and ash. Comparatively few aquat¬

ics are found in this section. The lower course of the stream,

57

58 W'isconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

from the beginning of the rapids to the mouth, is a series of short

rapids and falls alternating with pools of quieter water. Except

at the mouth, the higher aquatic plants are extremely rare in

this lower section. The alga, Cladophoraf is the most abundant

macroscopic plant in the lower stream. The dominant bank

plants throughout the course of the river are the hoary or tag

alder and the red-osier dogwood. Other associations of plants

approach the river and contribute their effects upon it. These

associations are discussed in the appropriate stream sections.

The Upper Brule

If appears that the greatest factor in the maintenance of the

river as a suitable habitat for trout is the coniferous forest

swamp which occupies the upper valley. The numerous springs

in this region, and the large swampy area with an abundance of

absorbent humus make this stream unusual among most streams

in this area of northern Wisconsin and are good combinations

for maintaining a very even flow of water.

The Coniferous Swamp Association ( Thuja Association)

The white cedar, Thuja occidentalisf or Thuja association of

F. C. Gates is the dominant one of the upper valley. White cedar

and black spruce, Picea mariana , are the dominant trees. Tam¬

arack, Larix laricina, and balsam, Abies balsamea , are common

subdominants. Occasional deciduous trees occur. These are

mainly white birch, Betula papyri! era; black ash, Fraxinus

nigra ; and mountain ash, Sorbus americana. Where the associa¬

tion extends along the river, the same shrubs characteristic of

the alder swamp association occur in addition: honeysuckles,

Lonicera oblongifolia, L. caerulea var. villosa, L. canadensis ;

mountain holly, Nemopanthus mucronata ; mountain maple, Acer

spicatum ; and leather leaf, Chamaedaphne calyculata. The shade

of the dominants is not so unbroken but to allow a large number

of secondary species characteristic of the association to thrive.

They include: crested shield fern, Dryopteris cristata; rattle¬

snake fern, Botrychium virginianum; club mosses, Lycopodium

lucidulum and L. annotinum; yew, Taxus canadensis; cotton

grass, Eriophorum viridi-carinatum; sedges, Car ex laxiflora, C.

tenelia , C. trisperma , C. intumescens var. Fernaldii; china-

berry, Clintonia borealis ; three-leaved Solomon's seal, Smilacina

trifolia; blunt-leaf orchid, Habenaria obtusata; leafy orchid, Ha-

Thomson — Aquatic Plants and Flora of the Brule River 59

benaria dilatata var. media ; dwarf rattlesnake plantain. Good-

yera repens var. ophioides ; goldthread, Coptis trifolia ; bishop's

cap, Mitella nuda ; strawberry, Fragaria vesca ; fringed polygala,

Poly gala pauciflora ; enchanters nightshade, Circaea alpina ; one-

Howered pyrola, Moneses uniflora ; shinleaf, pyrola chlorantka

and P. secunda var. ohtusata ; snowberry, Chiogenes hispidula;

ibedstraw, Galium triflorum ; twinflower, Linnaea borealis var.

ameHcana ; bog goldenrod, Solidago uliginosa ; and aster, Aster

puniceus .

A thick mat of mosses principally composed of species of

Sphagnum , Thuidium , Brachythecium, Anomodon , Mnium , and

Dicranum carpets the ground and fallen logs. Lichens are nu¬

merous, including Cladonia rangiferina (classified in the narrow

sense) as the most abundant. Luxuriant thalli of Peltigera

aphthosa, P . horizontal is, P. polydactylaf and P. canina are abun¬

dant. Cladoniae are frequent. Cladonia cenotea , C . gracilis , C.

Morophaea , C. crispata , C. cristatella and C . nemoxyna are per¬

haps those most frequently seen. In open spaces where wind¬

falls expose the area to increased sunshine, labrador tea, Ledum

groenlandicum ; cranberry, Vaccinium oxy coccus; fireweed, Epi-

lobium angusti folium ; crested fern, Dryopteris cristata ; bunch-

berry, Comus canadensis ; and sundew, Drosera rotundifolia are

typical.

Bog acids which hinder decay and the coldness of the water-

soaked organic soil below the surface account for the accumula¬

tion of material in the valley. If this material is exposed to heat

and drying, the organic matter oxidizes, runs off via the stream,

and the soil disappears. Mr. J. R. Jacobson of Superior, Wis¬

consin, suggests that this may be occurring slowly due to the

©verbr.owsing of the white cedar association by deer with con¬

sequent more rapid evaporation from the soil. This hypothesis

seems reasonable and should be checked carefully in the field.

Forest removal, through fencepost and pulpwood cutting, will of

course vastly accelerate the destruction. Unfortunately certain

areas within this coniferous swamp (near Highway P crossing

in T.45N., R.11W., S.9,4) are being cut for pulpwood. Conse¬

quently the cut-over areas are drying out and the humus is de¬

teriorating. The destruction of the swamp by such a process will

lead to a lessened and more uneven flow of water by removal of

the organic matter and raising of water temperatures by ex-

80 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

posure of the black stream bottom to the full sunlight. If the

stream is to be maintained at or near its present condition, all

cutting of trees from the headwaters swamp area should be

stopped.

Springs and spring-fed brooks are common in this region.

Brook trout have been observed to be very common in these

small brooks. No submerged aquatics, but semi-aquatic emergent

plants have been observed along the headwater brooks.

Principal plants of the headwaters brooks and springs in¬

clude: beaked willow, Salix Bebbiana ; bog willow, Salix pedi -

cellaris ; watercress, Radicula N asturtium-aquaticum (rather

rare in the valley) ; water horehound, Ly copus uniflorus ; speed¬

well, Veronica americana; tag alder, Alnus incana; true forget-

me-not, Myosotis scorpioides ; golden saxifrage, Chrysosplenium

americanum ; water hemlock, Cicuta bulbifera ; jewel weed, Zm-

patiens biflora ; and willow-herb, Epilobium adenocaulon .

Alder Swamp Association

In the upper region the Prule River meanders through the

white cedar and spruce bog with a zone of alder swamp associa¬

tion fringing it and varying in width from almost lacking, so

that the conifers come to the waters edge, to several rods. A

few meadows are located in this region. These are mainly domi¬

nated by bluejoint, Calamagrostis canadensis . Tag alder, Alnm

incanaf is the dominant plant of the alder swamp association

and covers the stream in the narrow places making it difficult

to get a boat through. Other shrubs which occur frequently are

highbush cranberry, Viburnum opulus var. americanum ; buck¬

thorn, Rhamnus alnifolia ; and red-osier dogwood, Comus sto -

lonifera . Other plants observed in the alder swamp zone in¬

clude : water hemlock, Cicuta bulbifera ; water arum, Calla pains-

tris ; and golden saxifrage, Chrysosplenium americanum on ex¬

posed mud banks at the base of the alders. In more open spots

with greater exposure to the sun, especially in such places as

along the edge of the meadows, several additional species of

plants are observable along the banks. These are termed the

Myrica Gale association in F. C. Gates9 paper on the bogs of

northern lower Michigan but are too limited in extent here to be

more than components of the alder swamp association. These

plants include: sweet gale, Myrica Gale; meadow-sweet, Spiraea

Thomson— Aquatic Plants and Flora of the Brule River 61

mlicifolia ; dock, Rumex Britannica ; meadow-rue, Thalictrum

dasycarpum ; crested fern, Dryopteris cristata ; jewel weed, im-

patiens biflora; bedstraw, Galium Glaytoni ; water horehound,

Ly copus americanus ; mint, Mentha arvensis var. lanata ; and

Iris, Iris versicolor .

Bluejoxnt Meadow Association

( Galamagrostis Association)

The “meadows'1 or open grassy places in the upper Brule

valley are in openings near the stream and vary from very small

areas to several acres in extent. The dominant plant in most of

these is blue joint, Galamagrostis canadensis , but other species of

plants may locally dominate. In one such area near County

Highway P crossing of the Brule, T.45N., R.11W., S.9, the domi¬

nant is fowl bluegrass, Poa palustris . Other plants character¬

istic of the Galamagrostis meadow association are niggerhead

sedge, Carex stricta ; chickweed Stellaria longifolia ; tufted loo¬

sestrife, Lysimachia thyrisifolia ; marsh harebell, Campanula

aparinoides ; tearthumb, Polygonum sagittatum , great St.

John's-wort, Hypericum Asycion ; marsh St. John's wort, Hyper¬

icum virginicum var. Fraseri ; water horehound, Ly copus ameri¬

canus; and mint, Mentha arvensis var. lanata. Gates ( loc . cit.)

suggests that such meadows are due to burning. It has not been

ascertained whether or not this is the case along the Brule. No

stumps were observed in the “meadows" such as would be ex¬

pected following fires.

Aquatic Plants in Upper Brule

Aquatics in the upper section of the stream which run

through the alder and white cedar associations are few in num¬

ber. Wild celery, Vallisneria amsricana , and bur-reed, Spargan-

ium angustifolium are the most abundant. The bottom in this

section Is mainly covered with a black organic mud largely com¬

posed of remains of diatoms and higher plants (material ex¬

amined by N. C. Fassett and R. I. Evans). In the broader pools

at the turns in the stream the higher aquatics are more common

than in the narrow stretches between the meander curves, where

the alders overhang the stream and a passageway for boats is

maintained only by cutting. Probably shading by the alders and

the dark color of the water limits the aquatics in such sections

of the stream. Watermoss, Fontinalis antipyretica var. gigantea ,

Table I. Brule aquatics.

62 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Thomson — Aquatic Plants arid Flora of the Brule River 63

Spargqnium fluctuans

Spirodela polyrhiza

Ty^ha latifolia

ValHsneria ameWcana

Zizania aquatica

64 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

is frequent in small clumps on rocks or, more often, on the sub¬

merged lower parts of the branches of the alder. A few plants

of pondweeds, Potamogeton tenuifolius and P. obtusifolius , were

seen. At one place where beaver had erected a dam and the

bottom was sandy a few plants of water starwort, Callit riche

palustris were observed. Duckweed, Lemna minor , is repre¬

sented as scattered plants, mainly in the slow waters along the

edges of the stream.

From the bend just above the Stone cabin above Stone’s

Bridge to the confluence of Nebagamon Creek with the Brule

River is the section of the river with the greatest abundance of

the higher aquatic plants. This region has been cleared out for

the most part so that there is little obstruction of the stream by

the alder swamp association or by fallen white cedar or spruce

from the swamp conifer association. Artificial obstructions have

been placed in the stream in the form of deflectors, wing dams

and structures of like nature for the purpose of improving the

stream for fishing. The stream is exposed for the most part and

does not have the cover and shade of the upper section from the

crossing of County Highway P to the crossing of County High¬

way S. Greater velocity in some sections gives sandy bottom and

boulders in the rapids but there are also large stretches, par¬

ticularly at the spreads called Big and Lucius Lakes in which the

river is dropping muck, largely of organic nature. Conditions in

this section of the stream seem, on the whole, to be excellent

although a certain amount of cover might be desirable to reduce

the insolation of the dark colored bottom which raises stream

temperatures on clear days. The “spreads” or lakes are an es¬

pecial problem. If it is desired to reduce the area of bottom

exposed to direct sunlight it is possible that the planting of wild

rice would be successful. Owen, in 1848, reported wild rice in

abundance in “First and Second Flag Lakes” or Big and Lucius

Lakes. None was observed to be at present growing in these

lakes. Wild rice was observed only in the slough at the mouth

of the Brule. Apparently dredging operations eradicated the

wild rice formerly growing in these lakes. The conditions seem

especially favorable for such an establishment.

In the section of the stream from the big bend just above

Stone’s Fridge to Big Lake the higher aquatics are abundant.

Above Stone’s Bridge the dominants are bur-reed, Sparganium

T hO'Mson—. Aquatic Plants and Flora of the Brule River 65

angusti folium; pondweed, Potamogeton obtusifolius , P. ienui-

folius and water crowfoot, Ranunculus longirostris. Arum,

Ccdla palustris, is frequent along the border of the stream. Just

below the bridge at Stone's Bridge there may be added to these

species the following: water crowfoot, Ranunculus trichop hyU

lus ; waterweed, Anacharis canadensis; watermoss, Font mails

antipyretica var. gigantea , and a very considerable amount of

Spirogyra and Hydrodictyon of the algae. In August and Sep¬

tember the filamentous algae appeared in great abundance, long

streamers extending downstream, some of them being many

yards in length. The condition of these algae in a considerable

portion of the stream did not appear healthy to the casual ob¬

server. Some investigation of the abundance of these algae, the

reasons for it, the poor appearance, and the possible effect on the

fish and other life in the river ought to be initiated. Richardson's

pondweed, Potamogeton Richardsonii , appears in the river in

abundance fairly far down near McDougal's Springs. The domi¬

nant aquatic in this section of the stream is the Anacharis . It is

in great abundance, usually over sand or sand and muck bottom.

At McDougal's Springs, the river widens somewhat and the

slower current drops a quantity of organic material as wTell as

sand. In this broader stretch in the river, sago pondweed, Pota¬

mogeton pectinatusy and floating-leaf pondweed, P. natans , are

abundant.

Potamogeton natans persists down the river to the Pierce

Estate bridge then reoccurs in the slough in an old oxbow at the

mouth of the river. Just above the boathouse of the Pierce Es¬

tate there is an extensive bed of Potamogeton Berchtoldi var.

mucronatus (P. pusillus of most manuals) on a sandy bottom.

This is the only place in which it occurs in the river.

In the broad stretch recently called “Sucker Lake", but

known as the third Flag Lake in early reports on the region, the

stream widens out into a shallow stretch flowing over sand con¬

taining a small percentage of organic material. In this section

Richardson's pondweed is the dominant and there is a little each

of sago pondweed; pondweed, P. oblongifolius ; and water mil¬

foil, Myriophyllum exalbescens.

Big Lake and Lucius Lake have very similar aquatic floras.

In Big Lake there appears to be a zonation based upon depth of

wafer. At the head of the lake is a sandy stretch with shallow

66 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

water. Here the principal aquatics are: water weed, Anacharis

canadensis ; Richardson's pondweed ; sago pondweed ; and water

crowfoot, Ranunculus trickophyllus. Water star wort, Callitriche

hermaphroditica (C. autumnalis) is not noticeable in the sum¬

mer, but in September and October appears in abundance in the

sandy area at the head of Eig Lake, preferably in slower moving

water where a little organic matter has settled in the irregular

depressions of the bottom. Deer were observed to browse on the

aquatics in the shallow water at this end of the lake. It is not

certain what influence they may have on the ecology of the

aquatic plants in this section of the stream.

In Big Lake the water slows up so that there is almost no

current. The deeper portion appears to be toward the east shore

and the shallow water is on the west shore over a broad, gradu¬

ally deepening bank of largely organic mud. In the shallow

water, up to two feet in depth, the dominant aquatic is leafy

pondweed, Potamogeton foliosus var. macellus. From this depth

to about six to eight feet there is an abundance of a large num¬

ber of species: Richardson’s pondweed, Potamogeton Richard-

sonii ; Muskie weed, P. praelongus ; pondweed, P. tenuifolius;

pondweed, P. obtusifolius ; sago pondweed; flat-stemmed pond¬

weed, P. zosteriformis ; waterweed, Anacharis canadensis ; horn-

wort or coontail, Ceratophyllum demersum ; water milfoil, Myr-

iophyllum exalbescens ; and water crowfoot, Ranunculus longi -

rostris.

Lucius Lake has a very similar flora to that in Big Lake and

the conditions are very similar, with a sandy shallows at the

head of the lake, grading into soft organic mud in the major

portion of the lake. Aquatics collected or observed here include :

Potamogeton Richardsonii, P. praelongus , P. obtusifolius , P.

pectinatus , P. zosteriformis , Ceratophyllum demersum , Ana¬

charis canadensis and Myriophyllum exalbescens . In the shallow

water over the mud bottom, Potamogeton foliosus var. macellus

is again dominant.

The banks of Big and Lucius Lakes are lined at each end by

narrow strips of the white cedar association, similar to the

swamp above the lakes. The white cedar shows excessive brows¬

ing by deer, the browse line being very evident (Fig. 5). The

major portion of the bank is approached by the white birch and

aspen association but here, as along the rest of the river, a nar-

Thomson — Aquatic Plants and Flora of the Brule River 67

row fringe of the alder swamp association grows at the water's

edge.

From Winneboujou to the mouth .of Nebagamon Creek the

stream is fairly uniform in character, a series of rapids over

bouldery bottom alternating with the sandy stretches. Higher

aquatic plants are confined to the sandy areas. Richardson's

pondweed, Potamogeton Richardsonii ; water crowfoot, Ranun¬

culus trichophyllus ; and waterweed, Anacharis canadensis are

the principal species present. Smaller quantities of water mil¬

foil, Myriophyllum exalhescens; Potamogeton tenuifolius ; and

sago pondweed, P. pectinatus were observed. In the fourth pool

below Winneboujou a small amount of starwort, Callitriche her-

maphroditica , the second station in the river, was observed. The

banks through this section have a complex flora but the dominant

plant along the river bank is the tag alder. An abundant herb,

forget-me-not, Myosotis scorpioides , lines the bank especially in

springy spots. Black ash and American elm are abundant along

the bank. Other trees overhanging the water include white

birch, Norway and white pines, white spruce, balsam fir and

small-toothed aspen.

i

Aquatic and Bank Flora in Middle Brule

Below the junction with Nebagamon Creek the stream as¬

sumes a placid, winding character as far as the head of Little

Joe Falls above the Ranger Station. Here very few aquatics

were to be found. The bottom was heavily silted, but even in the

sandy stretches only small colonies of aquatic plants were ob¬

served. In this section of the stream Potamogeton tenuifolius ;

sago pondweed, P. pectinatus ; water milfoil, Myriophyllum ex¬

alhescens ; waterweed, Anacharis canadensis ; and water crow¬

foot, Ranunculus trichophyllus were observed. The dominant

bank plant is the tag alder. Elms of large size and black ash

are also very common here. A small bluejoint, Calamagrostis

canadensis , meadow is along the stream bank. St. John's wort,

Hypericum Ascyron ; tearthumb, Polygonum sagittatum ; hore-

hound, Ly copus americanus ; and mint, Mentha arvensis var. la-

nata were collected in this meadow but are probably of no im¬

portance to the stream life as they are insignificant in number.

No aquatics were noted in the rapids past the Ranger Station.

Below the Ranger Station the Brule becomes a sluggish

stream, meandering through muddy bottoms from T.47N.,

€8 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

R.10W., Sec. 23 to just above Co-op Park, T.48N., R.10W.,

See. 26. Silting is very heavy in this section as it is in the clay

belt. With this heavy silting and a fine clay-silt bottom, aquatic

plants and probably also many forms of animal life find condi¬

tions very unfavorable. The principal aquatics in this section,

Richardson’s pondweed, Potamogeton Richardsonii; waterweed,

Anacharis canadensis; and water crowfoot, Ranunculus tricho-

phyllus , grow only in a narrow strip toward the edges of the

stream. No aquatics were observed in the center. In shallow

water on mud banks, arrowheads, Sagittaria rigida and S. lati-

folia /. hastata are common. One mud bank with a foot of water

over it, a short distance below the weir at the Ranger Station,

had a few plants of a pondweed, Potamogeton obtusifolius var.

rutiloides growing on it, associated with the ribbon-leaved sub¬

merged form of Sagittaria rigida . Along the banks the ubiqui¬

tous alder swamp association is dominant next to the water, but

the river bottoms are dominated by large American elm and

black ash trees. Many of these overhang the stream and may

contribute insects and other fish foods to the water below. Wil¬

lows are comparatively uncommon along the Brule and are in-

sigificant as bank plants. Slender willow, Salix petiolaris ; shin¬

ing willow, S. lucida ; white willow, S. alba ; sandbar willow, S .

interior; and near cottages, golden osier; S. viminalis are the

common willow species along the lower reaches of the Brule.

The shrubby species, shining willow, S. lucida , has much to re¬

commend it for bank erosion prevention in the clay soil area. It

grows at the very edge of the water, leaning over the stream,

and produces an abundance of water roots which help prevent

stream erosion of the banks. It appeared to grow best in the

heavy clay soil. None of the other species of willow observed in

the lower reaches of the Brule approached as far into the stream

nor showed such root development as this species. The tag alder

and red-osier dogwood are the dominant bank species.

Aquatics and Bank Flora in Lower Section of the Brule

A short distance above Co-op Park, T.48N., R.10W., Sec. 26,

the stream begins the series of rapids which, alternating with

short, quiet pools, continues to about three-quarters of a mile

from the mouth of the river. Except for a very few places be¬

tween Co-op Park and Highway 13 bridge there are no higher

aquatic plants in the river. One small patch of waterweed, Ana-

Thomson^— Aquatic Plants and Flora of the Brule River 69

dmris canadensis , and a patch each of pondweeds, Potamogeton

tenuifolius , P. epihydrus , and P. obtusifodus were all that were

observed. They were in eddies in the stream on a muck bottom,

six inches to a foot under water. The filamentous algae, Clado -

phora and Oedogoniumf clinging to the rocks in the rapids where

the velocity of the stream was such as to prevent deposition of

the silt burden, were the only conspicuous plants. The stream

is yellow with silt and erosion of the vegetation by the silt in

suspension in the water must be a considerable factor in the

ecology. The banks in this section are dominated by alder but

many other plants contribute to the cover for fish food in the

stream.

The most abundant bank cover plants in addition to the alder

are: balsam poplar, Populus Tacamahacca ; white birch, Betula

papyrifera ; white spruce, Picea canadensis ; white pine, Pinus

strobus ; willows, Salix sp. ; red-osier dogwood, Cornus stoloni-

fera; white cedar or arbor vitae, Thuja occidentals ; red maple,

Acer rubrum ; elm, Ulmus americana ; balsam, Abies balsamea;

and black ash, Fraxinus nigra . Also observed in minor amounts

along the banks were : shadbush, Amelanchier canadensis ; high-

bush cranberry, Viburnum opulus var. americanum ; and Vir¬

ginia creeper, Parthenocissus vitacea . Numerous small grassy

patches, largely Calamagrostis canadensis and Glyceria grandis ,

were interspersed with the alder. These were often bordering

the water and may influence the insect food supply falling into

the stream.

The banks all through this clay soil country show evidences

of slumping into the stream. Apparently the bank is undercut

by the stream and seeping water above the bank causes a large

landslide to slump down, gradually losing its base by stream

erosion, the trees often remaining upright on the slumping sur¬

face. There are numerous examples of all stages of this slump¬

ing along the lower course of the Brule from Co-op Park to the

mouth.

The activity of these banks seems to have been accelerated in

recent years, possibly due to removal of the forest cover by

pulpwood cuttings and lumbering. David Dale Owen, passing

through this territory in 1848, made especial note of a landslide

of twenty to twenty-five feet in depth at a distance of about

fourteen miles from the mouth of the river. If his observations

70 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

were accurate, it would be supposed that the slumps are much

more common now. (Table 3.) If there are lenses of water¬

bearing gravels in the clay soil at the head of these slumps, a

possibility suggested by Mr. E. F. Bean, State Geologist, it may

be difficult to stop the slumping. Diversion channels or drains

may be necessary to divert these waters. Piles of green white

cedar driven into the slumping mass near the base may hold it.

Willows, such as shining willow, Salix lucida , may help in slow¬

ing the undercutting of the stream edge. Some of these banks

are undercutting rapidly enough to show a yellowing of the

stream below the bank as it removes the clay. The banks below

N. P. Johnson bridge and the Highway 13 bridge are of this

rapidly slumping character. On the watershed above the stream

it will be necessary to institute soil erosion control practices,

particularly on the cultivated soils and along the roadsides, the

chief contributors of the silt and colloidal clays which are so

detrimental to the lower course of the Brule.

At the mouth of the Brule and extending a short distance

upstream there is an abundance of a few species of higher

aquatic plants. These mainly are located on the shallow silt and

clay bottom on the stream side of the bar across the mouth and

extend in distribution up along the sides of the stream much in

the way in which these same species, which can apparently sur¬

vive heavy silting, extend along the sides of the stream below the

weir and down toward Co-op Park.

The abundant aquatics in the stream near the mouth include :

pondweed, Potamogeton obtusifolius ; Richardson’s pondweed, P.

Richardsonii ; waterweed, Anacharis canadensis ; and water mil¬

foil, Myriophyllum exalbescens . One specimen of yellow water

lily, Nuphar variegatum , was observed just above the bar at the

mouth. At the entrance to an abandoned oxbow slough upstream

from the mouth a large colony of sweet flag, Acorus calamus , is

growing together with cattail, Typha latifolia ; arrowhead, Sagit -

taria latifolia; great bulrush, Scirpus validus ; reed meadow

grass, Glyceria grandis; marsh cinquefoil, Potentilla palustris ;

and willow-herb, Epilobium adenocaulon.

The bank plants, here as along most of the river, are mainly

tag alder and red-osier dogwood. Slender willow, Salix petiolaris

and shining willow, S. lucida are frequent. A few trees of haw¬

thorn, Crataegus succulenta ; white willow, Salix alba ; and red

Thomson — Aquatic Plants and Flora of the Brule River 71

ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica were mixed with the usual white

birch, balsam fir, white spruce, American elm, black ash, and

small toothed aspen. Smaller plants along the bank included

meadow rue, Thalictrum dasycarpum ; curly dock, Rumex cris-

pus ; swamp milkweed, Asclepias incamata; Joe-Py e-weed,

Eupatorium maculatum ; Aster lateriflorus ; blue joint, Calama-

grostis canadensis; nettle, JJrtica procera; and blackberry, Ru-

bus nigrohaccus . A large colony of sandbar willow, Salix inte¬

rior , exists about a quarter of a mile up the river but it is on an

old terrace rather than on the banks of the present course.

Ostrich fern, Pteretis nodulosat is common in an abandoned,

filled in slough in similar situations as it is found along the

stretch from Highway 2 to Co-op Park.

A stagnant slough exists in an abandoned oxbow at the

mouth of the Brule River. This slough is rich in aquatics, in¬

cluding a number of species not observed elsewhere along the

river. Wild rice, Zizania aquatica , and floating-leaf pondweed,

Potamogeton natans , are abundant. Other common aquatics in¬

clude: large-leaf pondweed, Potamogeton amplifolius ; coontail,

Ceratophyllum demersum; milfoil, Myriophyllum exalbescens ;

bur-reeds, Sparganium eurycarpum; S. fluctuans; S . chlorocar -

pum ; water marigold, Megalodonta Beckii; yellow water lily,

Nuphar variegatum ; marsh cinquefoil, Potentilla palustris ; cat¬

tail, Typha latifolia; and softstem bulrush, Scirpus validus . An

abundance of purple-fringed Riccia, Ricciocarpus natans , floats

on the water between the stems of the emergent aquatics. The

common duckweeds, Lemna minor and Spirodela polyrhiza , are

much less common in this slough. During periods of high water,

the river may partially drain through the slough, giving a light

flow through and across the bar, opening a second mouth to the

west of the major mouth of the stream. This second mouth was

being used in the fall of 1942 by the river, a shallow flow cross¬

ing the bar near the high western bank at the mouth.

Mud Bank Associations

No one species of plant seems to be especially characteristic

of the mud banks along the river. In the upper Brule, above

Stone’s Bridge, there are a few species growing sparsely inter¬

spersed among the alders in the alder swamp association. These

are golden saxifrage, Chrysosplenium americanum ; water hem¬

lock, Cicuta bidbifera ; water starwort, Callitriche palustris ; and

72 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Table II. Mud bank association.

willow-herb, Epilobium adenocaulon. Farther downstream be¬

tween Stone's Bridge and the Pierce Estate bridge the same

species exist ; but on two different mud banks, in the channel but

located to one side of the main water flow, are fair-sized colonies

.of cattail, Typha latifolia, and bur-reed, Sparganium chloro -

carpum var. acaule . In Big Lake, or second Flag Lake, along the

west side there are several grassy “islands" some of them being

solid enough to stand on. These latter have a sandy soil mixed

with a large percentage of organic muck. On these are the great¬

er number of the species included in Table 2. Other “islands"

are based on the soft organic sediments in the lake. The plants*

Thomson — Aquatic Plants and Flora of the Brule River 73

mainly rice, cut-grass, Leersia oryzoidesf compose an almost

floating mat. Tickseed, Bidens cemua , is included in the same

habitats. Farther down the river in the sluggish sections below

the mouth of Nebagamon Creek and down almost to Co-op Park

there are numerous muck and clay banks deposited along the

shores of the stream and in the mouths of abandoned oxbows.

The most characteristic plants of these habitats are the arrow¬

heads, Sagittaria species, but others listed in Table 2 are also

common. The vervain, Verbena hastata, and lovegrass, Eragros -

tis hypnoides, seems to prefer sandier banks and shores than the

other species. Mud banks are scarce through the section of the

Brule which descends the lower rapids to the mouth. Near the

mouth, mud banks reoccur and a few species were observed.

These were: cattail, sweet flag, softstem bulrush, and willow-

herb.

Table III.

Conspicuously eroded banks along the river

(determined by photo examination)

T.49N., R.10W., Sec. 15-SE corner of NWy4 — back from river a little vegeta¬

tion on top of west bank.

-center of SW corner of NE1/^— -narrow slip-bank; vege-

tion on top near base.

West bank.

-SW corner of NWY4 of SEy*, — very large, directly on

river. Along west bank.

-South side of Ny> of SEy*— long slip bank on N side

of river. (Tlv's is gener¬

ally east shore.)

Sec. 22-SE comer of NE% of NW*4 — small incipient slump be¬

gun.

-NW Y4 and NE14 of SEVi — 2 small eroded faces along

river.

-SWV4 of SEH — one long slumo.

Sec. 27 — NWy4 of NE*4 — no slumping but bad wash near cul¬

tivation on top of both banks. There

is very bad erosion observed from

ground along the road cuts on both

sides of the river.

Sec. 34-West side of NEV4 of NEV4 — bad slump.

-East side of NWV4 of NEy4 — bad slump.

-NE corner of SWV4 of NE14— ’ncipient slump.

-East side of NE!4 of SE% — 2 bad slumps just below

Hwy. 13 bridge. The south

one is very severe.

74 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

T.4SN., R.10W., Sec. 3-NW comer of SE% — Large slump. West side river.

Sec. IO-NE14 of SEy4 — incipient slump. East side river.

-NWV4 of SEV4 — very bad slump. West side river.

-SWy4 of SE1/4 — severe slump.

Sec. 15-NWV4 of NEy4 — west bank — slump.

-SWy4 of NEy4 — west bank small slump.

-NWy4 of SEy4— west bank — very large slump.

-SE corner of SW^4 of SE% — very severe slump just

below N.F. Johnson’s

Bridge. West bank.

Sec. 23-NWyj of SWy4 — incipient slump. Vegetation near river.

West bank.

-SEJ/4 of SW% — slump bank, vegetation line along

river. East bank.

Sec. 26-NE comer of NEy4 of NWy4 — Slump with line of veg-

etat.on along river. East

bank. *

Sec. 35-South side of NW% of SEy2 — slump bank.

T.47N., R.10W., Sec. 2-SW14 of NE% — 2 very large slumps.

Sec. 14-SEy4of SWy4 — by Yale’s cottage. (Does not show from

air.)

-East side of NEy4 of NWy4 — large severe slump.

Recommendations

In the management of the Brule River as a trout stream it

appears that the following recommendations would help in main¬

taining the present condition of the stream and in improving it

somewhat :

1. Stop all cutting of timber in the headwaters swamp area.

Allow no cutting from crest to crest of the valley and from

St. Croix Lake to Winnebou.iou.

2. Allow alder swamp association cover to resume growth over

the upper section of the stream from Stone's Bridge to the

Pierce Estate bridge.

3. Do not remove fallen timber from the headwaters swamp

area. It is an essential part of the forest floor, going to form

the five to six feet thick layer of woody peat which overlies

the outwash sands of the valley floor. In addition it becomes

the habitat of many species of plants as it decays. The snags

falling in the stream should not be removed more than neces¬

sary to allow a narrow passage for boats.

4. Refrain from placing “improvements” in the headwaters

swamp area. These are certain to react detrimentally upon

the forest by drying and deterioration of the organic soil.

Thomson — Aquatic Plants and Flora of the Bride River 75

5. If it is desired to narrow the expanse of Big and Lucius Lakes

which is exposed to direct insolation, the planting of vegeta¬

tion such as wild rice, and yellow water lily may assist in

accomplishing this aim. Native species .of plants should be

used rather than exotics.

6. Control of pulpwood lumbering appears to be necessary on

the slopes in the lower valley to reduce the heavy silting of

the river and slumping of the banks. A wide belt extending

back from the stream edge, somewhat further than the edge

of the incised recent erosion banks, should be left entirely un¬

disturbed by unwise roadside maintenance, cultivation, or

lumbering.

Erosion control practices are necessary in the Lake Nebaga-

mon-Nebagamon Creek drainage section and the lower valley

from the region of the mouth of Nebagamon Creek north¬

wards.

8. Anchorage of the slipping and badly eroding banks in the clay

belt area is necessary to reduce the silting of the lower river

which suffocates and erodes aquatic life. This may be done in

part by living white cedar or arbor vitae stakes, willow plant¬

ing (preferably using native species), and slight diversion of

the stream. No major alteration of the course of the stream

is recommended.

i. Control erosion from the highway ditches and banks draining

Into the river.

Summary

In a reconnaissance survey of the larger aquatic plants and

bank flora of the Brule River it was found that there are three

major ecological sections of the stream. The upper section has as

Its dominant bank associations the alder swamp and coniferous

swamp associations. Few aquatic plants are found in the un¬

changed portion of the stream; many are listed for the altered

portion through the coniferous swamp and for the two large

spreads or “lakes.” The middle section bank flora is mainly

alder and a bottomland flora of elm and ash. The aspen associa¬

tion is characteristic of the uplands in the middle section. Few

higher aquatic plants are found in the middle section of the

river. The lower section, largely flowing through a clay-soil belt,

has very few aquatic plants, probably because of the heavy bur¬

den of silt in the water. The bank flora of the lower section of

•76

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

the river is varied and includes a mixture of conifers and de¬

ciduous trees as well as the abundant alder. The lower course

of the river is in the worst condition. Recommendations for im¬

proving the stream condition to maintain a trout population are

made.

Literature Cited

Bean, E. F.

1945. Topography and Geology of the Brule River Basin. Trans. Wis.

Acad. Sci. 36:7-17.

Bordner, J. S.

1933. Land Economic Inventory of Douglas Co., Wis. Forest and Generali

Cover Map.

Fassett, N. C.

1940- Manual of Aquatic Plants. McGraw Hill.

Gates, F. C.

1942. The Bogs of Northern Lower Michigan. Ecological Monographs 12:

213-254.

Owen, David Dale.

1848. Geological Reconnaissance of the Chippews Land District Senate

Executive Doc. 57:58-61.

Plate 2. Bluejoint, Calamagrostis canadensis, meadow on upper Brule. Sec. 2,

T.45N, R.11W.

Plate 1. Looking eastward across the upper Brule valley. Pin Cherry and

Aspen association in front. White Cedar, Black Spruce and Balsam in the

Thuja association in the valley. Sec. 3, T.46N., R.11W.

Plate 3. Vegetation along a tributary of the upper Plate 4. Alder swamp association in the upper

Brule. Salix bebhiana on the left, Calamagrostis Brule valley. Sec. 3, T.46N., R.11W,

canadensis on the right, Alnus incana in the back.

Wilson’s Fork, Sec. 33, T.46N., R.11W.

Plate 5. Browse line in Thuja association at the upper end of Big Lake.

Sec. 15, T.46N., R.10W.

Plate 6. The west shore of Big Lake. Note the very narrow fringe of Thuja

association with Spruce. Aspen and White Birch approach close to the lake

Sec. 10, T.46N., R.10W.

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Plate 9. Rapids west of Waino. Sec. 15. T.48N., R.10W. Forest of mixed

Birch. Balsam. White Pine. Elm Poplars. Alder along stream edge. April.

1944.

Plate 10. Eroding bank below N. P. Johnson Bridge. Sec. 15, T.48N., R.10W.

Popple-Birch association on hillslope. April, 1944.

Plate 11. Section of slumping bank below N. P. Johnson Bridge showing

large mass moving down into stream. Recent drop of more than a foot

showed along the line where the man is standing.

Plate 12. Aspen-Birch association. Brule River, looking north or downstream

from Highway 13 bridge. Sec. 34, T.49N., R.10W.

Plate 13. The lower Brule Vs mile above the mouth, Alder swamp and

“meadows” fringe the stream. Sec. 10, T.49N., R.10W.

Plate 14. The mouth of the Brule from the stream side. Note the sandbar

almost closing the mouth. Alder, Dogwood and Willow border.

Plate 15. The mouth of the Brule from the high east bank, Aspen in the fore¬

ground. Note the stagnant slough against the west bank in the left of the

photo.

THE QUAIL IN EARLY WISCONSIN

A. W. SCHORGER

The quail ( Colinus v. virginianus) has always been the most

popular of American gamebirds. On autumn days, its rapid

flight, preceded by an explosive rise, invokes the skill of the

sportsman. The quail’s gentle, confiding habits appeal to the

layman, and the flavor of its flesh to the epicure. The name,

bob-white, used by scientists has not gained headway with the

masses who are the final arbiters in terminology.

The quail within a period of ten years, 1845-1854, became

extraordinarily abundant in Wisconsin. It then declined in num¬

bers so rapidly that during the past 75 years the most that can

be said for the species is that it has maintained its existence.

There is a fascination in the study of wildlife populations when

inquiry is directed to final causes. Taking into consideration all

the known influential factors, a decade of favorable winter

weather seems to have been of the most importance in producing

the peak in the population. Unless we assume that weather has

continued to be the important factor, the question of why the

quail refuses to undergo more than a sporadic increase remains

unanswered. The one certainty is that the factors controlling

the quail population are more subtle than was suspected for¬

merly.

Original Range

Among the bones recovered from the Indian village site at

Aztalan, Jefferson County, Somers (1) reported those of the

quail. The identification should be checked by a competent oste¬

ologist. Theodore Rodolf (2) and Charles Rodolf (3) came to

Lafayette County in 1834, when it was in a primitive condition,

and both have stated that quail were abundant at that time.

Three years later Gen. Smith (4) travelled in southwestern Wis¬

consin and wrote: “. . . the partridge or quail is not often met

with. I saw three or four near some farms and as this bird

always follows and attends cultivation, the flocks will certainly

increase with the opening of farms and the raising of grain.”

77

78 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

The quail at times must have been distributed widely

throughout the open areas of the state. (Fig. 1.) Featherston-

haugh (5) ascended the Fox River in 1835 and found the “plain¬

tive quail” in the southwestern corner of what is now Winnebago

County. Hank Tourtolatt, an Indian trader, in the spring of

1849, made a claim at Weyauwega, the first for the Waupaca

River. He spent the summer “catching fish and shooting quails.”

(5a) The Menominee Indians, in October, 1847, received their

payment at Pauwaygan [Poygon] Lake, twenty-five miles north¬

west of Oshkosh and ten miles from the habitation of any white

men. They furnished for the occasion large quantities of game

Schorger — The Quail in Early Wisconsin 79

including quail (5b). In June, 1829, Mrs. Mary Bristol (6)

attended a wedding at Grand Kaukaulin (Kankauna, Outagamie

County) . She mentions quail as part of the wild meat served for

supper. H. Pratten (6a) listed the quail for northern Wisconsin

and Minnesota but this is of no assistance in determining the

range since he is indefinite on localities. The last survey was

made in 1849.

The quail is not a conspicuous bird and would be overlooked

easily by the casual observer, particularly during the summer.

It is therefore not surprising that conflicting statements are

encountered. Keyes (7) came to Jefferson County in 1837 and

stated that at that time there were no quail or rabbits, due pre¬

sumably to the presence of wolves and foxes. Cravath, (8) writ¬

ing of the winter of 1839-40 at Whitewater, states also that quail

were unknown then; however, Mrs. Freeman L. Pratt, (8a)

who came to Whitewater in 1837, mentions that they were then

plentiful and that quail-pies were served at the raising of the

frame of a flour mill in June, 1839. It is also stated that in the

spring of 1840 "much sport was to be found in the pursuit of the

smaller species of game, such as quails, grouse, ...” (9) A Brit¬

ish traveller (10) shot some quail near Astalan in the fall of

1841.

The quail, as a Wisconsin bird, was mentioned by Lapham

(11) in 1844. Major Tenney (12) came to Madison in 1845 when

it was common practise to hunt quail and prairie chickens on the

square of the capitol. Quail were present in the town of Tay-

cheedah, Fond du Lac County, in 1838, when the first settlers

arrived (13). Within a few years they became numerous. In

the fall of 1851, Capt. Mackinnon (14) drove from Sheboygan

to Fond du Lac. Quail were among the birds "constantly ex¬

posing themselves.” The Titus family settled about 1853 in the

wooded section east of Fond du Lac, when quail were numerous

"but so easily approached by the hunter that they soon grew

fewer in number (15).” Ficker (15a) came to the town of Me-

quon, Ozaukee County, in the fall of 1848. He wrote that the

"partridges are not much bigger than the German quail. . .

The presence of quail was certainly not dependent on agri¬

culture. Quarles (16), in his letters from Southport (Kenosha)

in 1837-1843, does not mention the quail but only the kinds of

game killed with his rifle. He wrote in 1838 that it is about

80 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

three years since the first settler arrived. Mrs. L. T. Fowler (17)

came to the town of Bristol, Kenosha County, in 1887, when

“quail and prairie chicken were abundant.” Another immigrant

(18) wrote from Southport on December 19, 1842, that game,

including quail, was plentiful. It was said of the town of East

Troy, Kenosha County, in 1845 : “Small tracts of land were un¬

der cultivation but the autumnal fires still swept through the

woods. . . . Then the sweet wild plums grew in the thickets

where covies of quail were hidden (19).”

Quail were found at Waukesha by Chapman (19a) when he

arrived in the spring of 1841. Breck (20) flushed several covies

of quail near Nashotah in November, 1846, and mentions that

in 1841 there were few settlers inland from Lake Michigan.

Beginning with 1846, quail are mentioned as abundant in

several localities. Near Milwaukee the species was “never so

abundant,” and it is added : “The increase of Quails in particular

seems to keep pace with the rapid growth of our population and

the spread of the settlements.” In October they were shot in the

center of the town (21). It was now common in Walworth

County (22). Quail were abundant in August, 1847, at Madi¬

son (23) and Watertown (24), and they were hunted at Prairie

du Chien (25). Their abundance in the Milwaukee (26) market

“would excite an enthusiasm among eastern epicures.” In a

letter dated December 19, 1848, Biihler (27) mentions the rapid

increase in the number of quail at Prairie du Sac, many being

shot and netted in the cornfields. There were only six resident

families at this place in 1840.

Extension Northward

The statement of Barry (28), made in 1854, that the quail

was “distributed in immense numbers over the entire state” is

much too broad. It is not certain that the original range in the

Mississippi Valley extended above La Crosse. The following in¬

teresting note was printed at Hudson, St. Croix County, in July,

1855 : “In riding across the prairies, a few days since, in a west¬

ward direction from this place, we frequently started up a bevy

of quails from the road-side. Judging from the numbers we saw,

we conclude that next fall sportsmen will find quails here in great

plenty, a desirable recent addition to the game of this section of

the country.” In August, they were listed among the birds ob-

Schorger — The Quail in Early Wisconsin 81

tamable in “unlimited numbers” (29). If quail were so plentiful

there in the summer of 1855, it is beyond belief that they did not

occur some years earlier.

Quail were mentioned as quite plentiful at Wausau (30) in

1868. They arrived at Ashland (31) in 1874, and at Superior

(32) in 1882. An Ohio hunter, familiar with the species, re¬

ported seeing a flock of thirteen on November 14, 1891, near

Florence, Florence County (33).

Period of Abundance

Quail became plentiful by 1846. In 1852 they were brought

into Madison (34) “by the bushel” ; and at Prairie du Chien (35)

they were never so plentiful. Emery (35a), who came to the

town of Rutland, Dane County, in 1852, said: “I have seen

thousands of quails (Bobwhite) come into my father’s yard to

get the seeds from his millet hay.” During this year Hoy (36)

wrote that the quail, within a few years, had become remarkably

numerous. They were so abundant by 1853 as to invade Madi¬

son (37) in force, flying against buildings and breaking win¬

dows. All the old muskets were brought into action. Some of

the citizens were so intolerant as to object to being shot in the

back. Quail were so plentiful in central Wisconsin that it had

“ceased to be sport to shoot them” (38). In Milwaukee they

usurped the place of wild pigeons, and were used for trap shoot-

ting (39). Waukesha (40) had “huge quantities” of quail and

prairie chickens.

The peak in population was reached in 1854. Quail were as

abundant as ever at Janesville (41) in spite of the number

trapped the year previous; and more numerous than usual at

Watertown (42) and Jefferson (43). At Madison (44), “quail

are now found in every grove, and a good shot can readily bag

50 to 75 in a day.” They were plentiful even as far north as

Green Bay (45).

Despite the shipment of enormous numbers of quail during

the fall and winter of 1854-55, they were still abundant in 1855.

In January it was said: “Quails have never been in greater

abundance in Wisconsin. . . .” (46) They were plentiful in the

fall at Milwaukee (47), and were shot in the heart of the city.

They were plentiful also at Elkhorn (48), Waukesha (49), Wa¬

tertown (50), and Hudson (29). Quail could be shot “almost

82 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

anywhere” at Madison (51), while the following forceful state¬

ment appeared at Jefferson: “We saw about a million — say nine

hundred thousand — in a short trip the other day. We found one

quail-trap full, and let the poor things out.” At Portage there

were brought in “rabbits, quails, etc. beyond enumeration” (53).

It is difficult to conceive of the former abundance of quail.

They were so numerous at times at Milwaukee that there were

“on an average, three bevies to every ten acre lot” (54). It was

said that at Madison “a ten-minutes walk enables you to put up

your first bevy of quails while every succeeding five minutes

furnishes a fresh covey” (55). The narrow strip of land be¬

tween the lakes at Madison was a funnel through which passed

great numbers of birds during the irruptions. The following

facetious account is not as exaggerated as it seems: “Yes, in

early days, if you wanted a meal of quails — all you had to do was

to take a club and let fly once or twice among the tall grass in the

park, then go about with a wheelbarrow and gather up the

slaughtered ones. ... At the time Col. A. A. Bird kept the

United States hotel . . . quails were known to enter the kitchen

through open windows, in their flight. One afternoon it is said

the cook captured nearly a thousand. . . (56).

Commerce

Quail were caught at Janesville during the winter of 1842-43,

showing that trapping began very early in the agricultural his¬

tory of the State (57). Roberts (58) came to Lafayette County

in 1846. He has described the use of the tunnel trap, a favorite

means of taking quail in the Mississippi Valley. This trap, popu¬

lar in Europe during mediaeval times, was doubtlessly intro¬

duced by the French colonists. When snow covered the ground,

baited traps of various types were very effective. Poor trans¬

portation facilities for a time limited the sale of quail in large

numbers for export without the commonwealth, except from the

lake ports. The accompanying map (Fig. 2) shows that rail¬

roads tapped but a small portion of the state prior to 1855. The

arrival of a railroad was followed immediately by a great in¬

crease in the traffic in quail and other game.

The first mention of a large shipment of quail is by Hoy (59) .

In the fall and winter of 1849-50, C. A. Orvis of Racine shipped

two tons of quail to the city of New York. One morning in

Schorger — The Quail in Early Wisconsin

83

Figure 2. Dates of railroad construction in Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

84 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

November, 1852, 1,500 quail, some of them alive, were brought

to Milwaukee where they were sold at 25 cents a dozen (60).

In January of this year, 39 cents a dozen was offered at Janes¬

ville (61). Joseph Clason, of Beaver Dam, in February, 1853,

hauled to Milwaukee a load of game in which were 100 dozen

quail that had been trapped by his son (62). The traffic had

become sufficiently large that in 1852 a state law was passed

prohibiting the capture and sale of quail except from the first

Tuesday in October to February first.

The railroad from Milwaukee to Janesville was completed in

1853. The number of quail trapped and sent east from Janes¬

ville, the winter of 1853-54, was “fearful” (63). It was antici¬

pated that fewer would be trapped during the fall and winter of

1854 as the transactions had become unprofitable. Most of the

birds were taken illegally. The sellers were at the mercy of the

large buyers in the cities and were forced to take the prices

offered. Nevertheless large numbers were shipped from Janes¬

ville and Beloit. The prices, 87.5 cents to one dollar a dozen,

offered the trappers during the legal season, show a great in¬

crease. One dealer shipped 500 dozen from Beloit (64).

A Mr. Lee of Milwaukee started for New York on January

20, 1854, with 500 dozen quail. The total number shipped from

this port during the season was over 2,860 dozen (65). There

was a strong protest against trapping that was said to be done

by the “idle and vagrant.” This is not a fair statement as the

prices paid during the legal season were highly attractive to

farmers and professional trappers alike.

The exportation reached a peak in the season 1854-55. Quail

continued to arrive in Milwaukee by rail in January, and even

long after the legal season had passed. The number shipped east

was “enormous” and fears were expressed that this gamebird

would become extinct (66). In fact, it was deplored that the

traffic persisted the year round. The shipments from Beloit

amounted to 12 tons. This is equivalent to 55,000 birds as the

average weight was stated to be 7 ounces (68). A shipment of

20,000 quail from Janesville was received in Philadelphia in

January, 1856 (68a).

The Decline

The reduction in the number of quail was due to a combina¬

tion of trapping and adverse weather. The winter of 1854-55 was

Schorger—The Quail in Early Wisconsin 85

severe and this was followed by the exceptionally hard winter of

1855-56. The decline was not sudden. During the winter of

1855-56, tons of quail and other game were hanging in the yard

of the Capital House at Madison (69). However, while quail

sold for 40 cents a dozen at Lancaster, they were neither plenti¬

ful nor cheap in Milwaukee (70). In January, 1857, there was

a protest against the tons of quail that reached Milwaukee. The

market was glutted (71). A Chicago dealer, in December, 1856,

received a consignment of 214 dozen from Fond du Lac, Wis¬

consin, The high price of $2,25 a dozen, wholesale, prevailed

(72).

In the fall of 1857, compared with former years, quail were

reduced greatly in number at Janesville. (73) The sight of a

flock in the Capital Park at Madison elicited the comment that

the species was becoming quite rare in the vicinity of large

towns (74). They were unusually scarce this season in the Mil¬

waukee markets (75) .

The winter of 1857-58 was mild. In the fall of 1858, quail

were very numerous at Prairie du Chien (76). In December,

the Milwaukee market was again glutted with them. The weath¬

er at the end of this month was so unfavorable for keeping game

that quail could be purchased as low as 50 cents a dozen (77).

There were few quail at Madison (78) in the fall of 1860 in

spite of the mildness of the preceding winter. They were, how¬

ever, reported abundant at Horicon, (79) Oxford, (80) and

Burlington (81). Quail increased gradually, and were numerous

locally, until the winter of 1865-66 ; but their numbers did not

begin to compare with those for the years 1845-54. In 1861,

they were not nearly as numerous as formerly at Shullsburg.

(82) Ruffed grouse were stated to be more plentiful than quail

in 1866 in Wisconsin, though “ten years ago the quail whistled

from every fence-corner” (83).

Madison is chosen to show the rapidity of the decline. Quail

had recovered sufficiently by the fall of 1863 as to be seen almost

daily in the Capital Park (84). In 1870 it was said: “These

delicious birds, once so plentiful here, are very rarely found in

this vicinity now. We have seen none in the market this fall

until today, when Oppell had a lot of them brought from abroad.

. . .” (85). A year later the presence of a covey was an item of

note (86). For 1879, we read: “A Sun Prairie farmer tells us,

86 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

a few days ago, he stirred up a flock of quails, thirteen in num¬

ber, and shot eight. We had thought that there was not one

quail in Dane County” (87).

During this time the quail disappeared almost completely

from the border of Lake Michigan. In the fall of 1879, a hunter

shot a quail near Milwaukee. It was the only one seen during

the season (88). They were very scarce this year also at Wau¬

kesha (89). The quail was considered a bird of the past at

Milwaukee in 1882, though a few years previously they could be

found quite plentifully two to four miles south or west of the

city (90). Willard (91), writing in 1883, had never found a

quail in Brown County; also, it was not found at this time at

Shiocton by Grundtvig (92) though he was assured by others

of its presence. Hoy (59) mentioned in 1885 that it had been

two years since he had seen a quail at Racine.

A few quail were reported present in Manitowoc County,

and also in Sheboygan County, in the fall of 1898, for the first

time in many years (93). Prior to 1868, there were hundreds of

quail in the town of Scott, Sheboygan County. None were seen

during the following 30 years. They were thought to have dis¬

appeared because a “wild bean”* upon which they fed became

scarce with settlement of the country.

The close of the century found a temporary increase in the

population, particularly in the Mississippi Valley. In 1895 there

were more quail at Eau Claire than for many years (94). They

were “abundant” in 1896 at Prairie du Chien (95), and more

numerous than usual at Trempealeau (96), Black River Falls

(97), and Stevens Point (98). Though quail had been scarce at

the latter place for years, several flocks invaded the town Oc¬

tober 9 to 12. The increase continued through 1900. They were

to be found everywhere in the country districts at Prairie du

Chien for the first time in many years (99). This year Hough

(100) found only a few quail at Waupaca but remarked that for

several years they had been moving steadily northward from

that place. In 1902, Schoenebeck (101) stated that the species

had become common in Oconto County within the past ten years.

The general statement may be made that from one decade

to another, since 1870, the quail population has remained rela¬

tively stationary.

Prof. N. C. Fassett suggested Lathyrus palustris.

87

Schorger — The Quail in Early Wisconsin

Emigration

The former periodic irruption or emigration of quail on an

extensive scale was a very interesting phenomenon. During the

movement, that took place usually in September and October,

quail entered towns, flew against houses, and crossed wide rivers.

The habit was developed to the highest degree in the North

Central states. Van Dyke (102), as late as 1891, wrote of the

quail in Minnesota: “In the early part of the fall, . . . the quail

generally have a crazy spell, during which they gather into large

flocks, travel quite a distance and even go into town and butt

their brains out against houses.”

It is not known if quail irruptions occurred under primitive

conditions. They may have taken place and yet not have been

recognized. Audubon, as is well known, observed quail cross

the Ohio River periodically during his residence in Kentucky.

One writer (103) mentions a congestion of quail, in the autumn

of 1840, on the bank of the Mississippi at Quincy, Illinois. Here

the river was approximately a mile wide. He states that the

autumnal migration, or change of quarters, was well known.

Another observer (104) mentions that at Louisville, Kentucky,

“quails migrate here from Indiana and elsewhere every three or

four years, and wherever you can And an elbow of the river, they

are very plenty, as they go to these projections to cross the river,

and many a one meets a watery grave in the attempt.” In the

fall of 1839, “some 500 or 1,000” were encountered at the junc¬

tion of the Ohio and Mississippi (105).

There is little definite information .on the extensiveness of

the emigrations or the distances travelled. In the fall of 1846,

quail emigrated in “myriads” from Iowa to Illinois, while four

years previously the movement was in the opposite direction.

Large numbers were encountered the entire distance of 30 miles

between Bloomington, Iowa, and Davenport. The observer

wrote: “We saw every hundred yards, flocks numbering from

twenty to two hundred. They seemed half deranged; they run

into town, fill the streets, and even the barns, for they break

numberless windows in their flight.” In attempting to cross the

Mississippi, a weary flock dropped upon a steamboat but “count¬

less numbers must perish” (106).

A movement of quail in 1866 across the Ohio from Indiana

to the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky, began September 15 and

88 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

was still in progress on October 26. It extended as far down the

river as Owensboro, so that the front of the advance was ap¬

proximately 80 miles (107). A mile seems to be about the limit

of a sustained flight. Yorke (108), on three occasions, observed

quail in flight across the Mississippi where it was at least a mile

wide. In one instance only five or six of a flock of fifteen reached

the bank.

The behaviour of quail during the fall movement has been

graphically described by a Milwaukee sportsman :

“Another western peculiarity of this bird is its annual

visit to large cities and villages in the fall. During the

fine weather of Autumn while food is in the greatest

abundance on stubble, in stack and in the high road, the

quail seeks our closely inhabited places, and may be heard

and seen all day. In the morning, he is not so often seen,

but just after noon he begins to show himself and make

himself heard. He gets on top of houses and stores, and

pipes most lustily. He drops into the smallest back yards

and gardens, piping, and rambling about as if he wished

to call your attention to him. He even parades the crowded

streets in large bevies, and actually spends the whole

afternoon loafing about the principal streets and all the

yards and gardens. . . .

“Towards sunset he becomes excited, crazy as a spec¬

ulator ... he often makes pounce at a house, hits it and

knocks himself down. . . . Even after dark he continues

this game, and you may sometimes hear him take a house

late in the evening, and you can pick him up at its base in

the morning, as dead as a herring.

“Why he does all this, we cannot say, but every boy

knows he does it, and nine-tenths of the juveniles in the

eager chase after him in the Autumn, run over your

grounds and often demolish half your garden and shrub¬

bery. Nor is this chase so unsuccessful as you might sup¬

pose. When pursued by the boys he often runs under

boards, bushes, woodpiles or rubbish, and is taken by the

hand, and often when driven by them from this covert

rushes madly against house or fence, and is taken up

dead. These vagaries are of annual occurrence, some

years the fit of insanity only lasts a few days, and some¬

times it lasts for weeks.

“Yet, while he thus visits our villages, he seems to

remain as abundant in the country. We have left a village

filled with piping quails, and yet found one or more covies

in every stubble field, and have seen them in the road

picking up the wheat dropped by the wagons.

Schorger- — The Quail in Early Wisconsin

83

“These habits he may have elsewhere, but we have

never noticed them except at the West, and know he is

not so inveterately addicted to them in the Atlantic

States, if he is at all.” (109)

About 1840, quail abounded in fall in the streets and gardens

of Chicago. Owing to their small size, they were “not much

molested by gunners” (110). In 1854 and 1855 large numbers

of quail were killed in the streets of Watertown and Madison by

boys using only sticks and stones (111). There were protests at

this time at Madison, Kenosha, and Racine against the common

practise of shooting quail in the streets (112). Sportsmen were

shooting quail on West Water Street, Milwaukee, on November

4, 1854, “something novel for a city with a population between

30 and 35,000.” (113) Nevertheless, they subsequently invaded

this city each fall from 1859 to 1862 (114). In the fall of 1863,

hundreds of quail and prairie chickens flew over or entered the

city of La Crosse (115). Quail came into the Capital Park in

the center of Madison as late as 1865 (116).

There is little doubt that the habit of quail to emigrate or

irrupt, when a certain density of population was attained, was a

powerful factor in producing the huge numbers that existed in

Wisconsin in the decade prior to 1854. A sportsman wrote from

Racine, July 18, 1849: “The winter— a real polar one — thinned

out the Quails a good deal, but still there will be abundance

according to your ideas, and if, as I expect will be the case, they

should come in the fall from the South, abundance even accord¬

ing to ours” (117) . The fall movement was clearly defined. It

is surprising to find that a spring movement took place also,

supposedly: “The quail is a permanent resident of this state,

though after the stock has been thinned off by a very severe

winter, we have known vacancies filled by emigration from the

South, both in the succeeding spring and the fall after it.” The

spring influx generally occurred, the fall always, so that it was

unnecessary to import birds after a severe winter (118) .

There is little information on how far north the large irrup¬

tions of quail extended. In the fall of 1850, hundreds of quail

arrived at Sheboygan Falls during a sleet storm, to the mystifi¬

cation of the inhabitants. They remained about the town for

months (119). The most puzzling of quail records is given by

Kneeland (120). His observations were made from August,

1856, to June, 1857, at Portage Lake, Upper Peninsula of Miehi-

90 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

gan. A few years previously quail were unknown there but at

this time they were not uncommon on Keweenaw Point. The

quail travels largely on the ground during irruptions and it is

wholely improbable that birds from Wisconsin would cross the

wooded wilderness of the Upper Peninsula. Any quail on Kewee¬

naw Point must have been imported. Due to the heavy snowfall

characteristic of the region, the chance of their survival for a

single winter is remote.

The mass movement of quail has never had a satisfactory

explanation. The theory that the species was once migratory,

and that a vestige of the old instinct remains (121), is inade¬

quate. Wild turkeys and other animals performed similarly

without being in the strict sense migratory. It is unknown

whether a flock of quail travelled ten, a hundred, or more miles.

Recent banding studies made in Oklahoma have shown that it

is not uncommon for quail to wander in fall and winter dis¬

tances of three to 26 miles from the summer range (121a).

Without doubt the distances covered during irruptions were con¬

siderably greater. It seems that a certain density of population

stimulates an innate solicitude for adequate winter quarters and

sets the birds in motion.

Due to the invasion of towns and frequent self-destruction

against buildings, it was popularly believed that in autumn quail

became crazy and partially blind (122). Quail assemble usually

by running, less often by flying. When they were dispersed over

the streets, gardens, and buildings of a town, the structures kept

them in bewilderment. On the morning of September 7, 1855,

six members of a flock of quail flying through the village of

Whitewater failed to avoid a store and were killed (123). Muir

(124) saw quail killed by flying against his home near Kingston,

Green Lake County, when suddenly startled. Several additional

examples could be cited. Quail flush with explosive violence and

with little regard for direction. Once launched, their short wings

render them incapable of turning with sufficient rapidity to

avoid an object of unnatural dimensions.

Effect of Agriculture

There was a deep-seated tradition in the middle west that

quail were unknown to the Indians and that they were added to

the fauna by immigration or introduction. Imlay (125), for

example, wrote that quail were unknown in Kentucky when the

Schorger — The Quail in Early Wisconsin 91

first settlers arrived. He makes the fantastic statement that the

birds came over the Appalachian mountains “by following the

trail of grain which is necessarily scattered through the wilder¬

ness.”

Regarding the quail in Illinois in 1854, Kennicott (126)

makes this puzzling comment: “Very abundant throughout the

state. Introduced within twenty years.” It is difficult to believe

that he meant that the quail was not native to the state. Hub¬

bard (127) spent the winter of 1818-19 at an Indian trading-

post near modern Hennepin, Putnam County, Illinois. Quail and

prairie chickens were abundant but were not considered re¬

spectable food. By 1837, quail were being trapped by the “hun¬

dreds in a day” and sold in the city markets (128). This year

they were plentiful at Bloomington, and in 1841 sold at 25 cents

a dozen (129).

The quail was indigenous to Cook County. The following

note appeared in the Chicago Journal , September 11, 1848: “But

speaking of quails — a number of years ago, and before half the

present population of Chicago ever dreamed there was such a

place there were none of them in this region, a severe previous

winter having completely exterminated them. In view of this

. . . Gordon S. Hubbard, who was then wintering at the South,

brought up with him in the Spring a cage or box full of these

birds for breeding, and hence springs the present profusion . .

Capt. Levinge (130) shot quail near Chicago in 1838. A severe

winter like that of 1842-43 could have reduced the population

to a point where the quail would appear to be extinct. It is

hardly possible that a few imported birds could have produced

the number present by 1848.

There were no quail at Rockford, Illinois, according to

Thurston (131), when he arrived in 1837. They appeared short¬

ly after the first settlers. On the other hand, in 1833, when the

adjoining county of Stephenson was first settled, game, including

quail, was in abundance (132).

There is ample evidence that quail increased greatly simul¬

taneously with a certain stage in the development of agriculture.

Cabot (133) was told that they had increased eight-fold within

the recollection of the informer. He states : “I myself saw num¬

bers of quails in the main street [Chicago] and on the houses,

and was assured that they sometimes entered the shops. The

92 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

cause is simply the increase of food.” The following quotation is

in a similar vein: “For twenty years after the settlement of

Northern Illinois, the deer, the grouse, and the quails increased

in numbers every year. . . . The quails were constantly on the

increase from 1840 to 1850” (134). Thurston (131) has written

that at Rockford quail were present in “countless numbers from

1844 to 1854.” Boys traded dressed quail for ammunition at a

maximum value of 18 cents a dozen. During the winter of 1852-

53, the time when the railroad reached Rockford, barrels of quail

were brought from Stephenson County for shipment east. As

will be shown later, the peak in the quail population was reached

during a series of favorable winters and it is probable that this

factor was far more important that the food supply.

When quail began to decline, the cause was attributed to

over-shooting or trapping, the state of agriculture being left out

of consideration, usually. Baldwin (135) stated that quail have

“largely decreased” since the settlement of La Salle County,

Illinois. Quail were past their peak near Fond du Lac prior to

the Civil War; yet, according to Titus (15), it was not until this

war opened that the settlers had sufficient land under cultivation

to make a “frugal but fairly comfortable living.”

Southwestern Wisconsin developed slowly in spite of early

occupation. Evans (135a) wrote: “My first impression of Platte-

ville (1846) was that of a village located in a dense forest. . . .

At this early date most of the land was uncultivated; both

prairie and timber were in primitive condition. . . . There were

few farms then; just a vast prairie between here and Shulls-

burg.” In 1854 it was said of Dane County: “. . . perhaps one-

eighth is under cultivation embracing about 1,600 farms. . . .”

(135b) The three southwestern counties, Grant, Lafayette, and

Iowa, had improved only 20 per cent of their areas by 1860.

(136) It is difficult to believe that so slight an extent of agricul¬

tural development could have affected greatly either an increase

or decline of the quail. The ratio of wild to cultivated land would

appear ideal. All stages of land improvement could be found at

this time in the southern portion of the state, yet the quail never

recovered.

It should be mentioned that the most pronounced increase in

quail took place in the prairie regions of the Upper Mississippi

Valley. Many thousands of these birds were sent to eastern mar-

Schorger — The Quail in Early Wisconsin 93

kets from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa (137). Under primitive

conditions quail had great difficulty surviving a winter on the

open prairie unless the weather was exceptionally mild. It was

not, however, absent from the prairie in summer. Levinge (130),

in September, 1838, found quail in the tall grass a few miles

west of Chicago. In Wisconsin, Goss (138) found quail nesting

on the prairie miles from a tree or bush.

The quail is essentially a border bird, and as King (139) has

said occupied the ‘‘borders of groves, hazel patches and open

fields.” Even in the absence of snow the customary autumnal

burning of the prairies by the Indians deprived the birds of food

and cover over large areas. Marsh (140) mentions that in De

Kalb County, Illinois, in 1849, the quail wintered in the hazel

thickets at the edge of the woods as there was no cover beyond.

Prior to agriculture, the quail was restricted mainly to the

borders of streams and woods. A strip of hazel separated the

prairie from the timber, and whenever the latter encroached

upon the prairie, the hazel led the advance. It is evident there¬

fore that both habitat and quail population were strictly limited.

The advent of agriculture was soon followed by an apparently

optimum ratio of wild to cultivated land. Reduction of burning

permitted a rapid advance of hazel and other types of brush,

while the building of fences and the planting of hedges in¬

creased greatly the protective cover. Cultivation produced grain

and weed seeds, which in combination with cover, permitted the

quail to take over lands that were formerly uninhabitable the

year round.

Introductions

It was thought unnecessary, in 1856, to introduce quail since

winter losses were repaired by immigration from the south.

(109) It is said that quail were introduced into Minnesota in

1845 (141), but no early plantings seem to have been made in

Wisconsin. There were occasional attempts to care for the birds

during the winter (142) .

Some Tennessee quail released at Ripon froze to death during

the winter of 1884-85 (143). In 1886, birds imported from

Texas were liberated at Oskosh (144). Their subsequent his¬

tory is unknown. About 20 pairs were freed at Whitewater in

the spring of 1890 (145).

94 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

The almost complete disappearance of the species along Lake

Michigan led to numerous attempts at reestablishment. Some

quail imported from New Orleans were released at Racine in

the spring of 1887 (146). A few birds were introduced at Ply¬

mouth about 1892 (147). Seven dozen Kansas quail were liber¬

ated at Sheboygan in 1892, but the expected increase did not

take place (148). Two Rivers was quite persistent in its efforts.

A private attempt was made in 1894 to raise birds from Texas

stock. The local gun club liberated 120 birds from Kansas in the

spring of 1895, and several hundred were released in 1897.

(149)

Sportsmen at Sturgeon Bay, in 1899, set free 140 quail re¬

ceived from Kansas. Since further stocking was discussed the

following year, there is doubt that the birds survived (150) ;

however, in 1903, the quail were said to have multiplied rapidly.

(151) Great optimism was shown by the release of quail at

Washington Island in the spring of 1902. Their existence was in

doubt by the spring of 1904 (152).

Quail were introduced at Palmyra, Jefferson County, in

1897 (153), while hundreds were liberated at Prairie du Chien

by Col. J. T. Barnum in the years prior to 1898 (154). It is

stated that at this time Gustav Pabst released large numbers of

quail in various parts of the state (155). Southern quail, lib¬

erated near Lake Koshkonong, survived the winter contrary to

expectations (156). It is very doubtful if any of the importa¬

tions have had a perceptible influence, racially or numerically,

on the native stock.

Weather

It has been recognized for a long time that the most lethal

enemy of the quail is severe weather. Crevcoeur (157), in 1782,

mentioned a severe winter in the east that reduced the species

to near extinction. Hoy (59) wrote of a winter at Racine during

which hundreds of quail froze to death in groups of ten to fifteen

while roosting. The mortality caused by cold and deep snow is

stressed by Muir (124a). One of his neighbors was watching

some quail when 'They actually fell down and died.” Mrs. S.

Littlefield (157a) mentions a severe winter that killed quail in

Sheboygan County and that she actually saw them drop dead.

The first Wisconsin winter mentioned in connection with

quail mortality is that of 1842-43. It was long known for its low

Schorger—The Quail in Early Wisconsin

95

temperatures and deep snows. There was sleighing from the

10th of November to about the same date in April. A thaw in

January followed by rain produced a crust on the snow, making

the worst possible conditions for game birds. Quail were nearly

exterminated. A gentleman at Janesville purchased from trap¬

pers 100 quail that were liberated the following spring (57).

There followed a succession of mild winters until that of 1848-

49, giving the quail a chance to become plentiful. During the

latter winter, snow and sleet killed “thousands” in Iowa (158)

and reduced considerably the number in Wisconsin (117).

Quail had increased so rapidly in Wisconsin along the Missis¬

sippi Kiver by the spring of 1854 that they were expected to

“swarm” should the following winter be mild (159). This hope

was not realized as the winter was severe. A storm in December

drove large numbers into the settlements around Jefferson (160)

where they were trapped easily.

The winter of 1855-56 was very severe throughout the north¬

ern and eastern states. The deep snow by December had driven

the quail into the farmyards. They were numerous at Kilbourn

(Wisconsin Dells) until the cold weather of January, 1856, when

they disappeared (161). A letter from Belvidere, Boone County,

Illinois, states that few quail lived through the winter. There

was a better survival, supposedly, in Wisconsin “on account of

having woods for shelter” but that even there quail were few in

comparison with other years (162). They were said to have

been nearly exterminated in Grant County and that it was many

years before they were numerous again (163).

The belief persisted that a warm winter would restore the

population. One writer states that though the winters of 1854-55

and 1855-56 “have thinned his numbers deplorably, but a single

warm winter will bring him to us in abundance, and a couple of

them in extra abundance. . . .” (109). Unfortunately the winter

of 1856-57 was also severe on quail (164), so that there were

three successive killing winters. The "winter of 1857-58 was mild

and to it was attributed the presence of numerous quail at

Prairie du Chien in the fall of 1858 (165) . It was not considered

good sportsmanship to shoot quail until the autumn of 1859

since until that time they had not become sufficiently plentiful.

(166)

The nature of the southern Wisconsin winters from 1840 to

96

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

1900 is described in general terms in Table I. A detailed analysis

of each winter would extend this paper to unjustifiable length.

The statement, “quail killed,” has been used only when it is

supported by literature references for the particular winter.

The factors governing winter survival are varied and complex.

Quail that are well fed have an excellent chance of living

through the winter (167), but during rigorous weather birds in

seemingly good condition may perish (168). When the body

weight drops below 70 per cent of normal, through cold or lack

of food, quail are particularly vulnerable to subzero tempera¬

tures. February and March are usually the critical months. A

covey that survives in weakened condition until March may be

exterminated by a single snowstorm, while a drifting snow that

becomes crusted may be fatal at any time.

It is easy to understand why some of the earliest settlers

reported quail absent or scarce when it is realized that poten¬

tially 1833-34, 1834-35, and 1837-38 were killing winters. Each

of these winters had one month during which the mean tempera¬

ture was 9 or 10 degrees. There was an insufficiently long run

of favorable weather to permit a large increase in the popula¬

tion. Beginning with the winter of 1843-44 and extending

through that of 1853-54, a period of 11 years, there was a re¬

markable succession of mild winters, the only interruption being

that of 1848-49. This series of mild winters has never been

duplicated. It is evident why the peak in population was possible

in 1854.

Table I. Character of Southern Wisconsin Winters, 1840-1900

1840- 41 Mild

1841- 42 Very mild.

1842- 43 Very severe. Deep snow with crust. Quail killed.

1843- 44 Mild.

1844- 45 Very mild.

1845- 46 Mild.

1848-47 Comparatively mild. Deep snow.

1847- 48 Exceptionally mild. Little snow.

1848- 49 Severe. Deep snow and ice. Quail killed.

1849- 50 Mild. Little snow.

1850- 51 Mild. “Moderate open winter.”

1851- 52 Comparatively mild. Heavy snow in March melted rapidly.

1852- 53 Mild. Little snow. “An open winter.”

1853- 54 Comparatively severe. Cold with deep snow the end of January.

February mild.

1854- 55 Severe. Quail killed.

1855- 56 Very severe. Quail killed.

1856- 57 Severe. Quail killed.

1857- 58 Mild.

Schorger — The Quail in Early Wisconsin

97

1858- 59 Mild.

1859- 60 Mild. “Open.”

1880-61 Comparatively severe. Deep, drifted snows in January.

1861- 62 Severe. Exceptionally heavy snow fall.

1862- 63 Very mild.

1863- 64 Severe. Heavy snow.

1864- 65 Severe.

1865- 66 Severe. Rain, cold, drifted snow.

1866- 67 Mild.

1867- 68 Severe, “Steady cold.”

1868- 69 Comparatively severe. Deep snow.

1869- 70 Exceptionally mild.

1870- 71 Mild.

1871- 72 Comparatively severe. Numerous snowstorms.

1872- 73 Very severe. “Hardest on record.” Quail killed.

1873- 74 Comparatively severe. Deep snows.

1874- 75 Very severe. Quail killed.

1875- 76 Very mild.

1876- 77 Comparatively severe. Cold with deep, drifted snow in January.

1877- 78 Very mild. “Open winter.”

1878- 79 Comparatively mild. Low temperatures in January.

1879- 80 Very mild. ‘‘Exceptionally fine.”

1880- 81 Severe. Exceptionally heavy snowfall. Blizzards. Quail killed.

1881- 82 Very mild.

1882- 83 Severe. Extreme cold and deep, crusted snow. Quail killed.

1883- 84 Severe. Quail killed.

1884- 85 Very severe. Very cold in January and February. Quail killed.

1885- 86 Severe.

1886- 87 Very severe. Blizzards.

1887- 88 Severe. Drifted and crusted snow.

1888- 89 Mild. “One of the mildest on record.”

1889- 90 Very mild.

1890- 91 Mild.

1891- 92 Comparatively mild.

1892- 93 Very severe.

1893- 94 Mild.

1894- 95 Severe.

1895- 96 Mild.

1896- 97 Mild.

1897- 98 Mild.

1898- 99 Comparatively severe. Quail killed.

1899- 00 Mild.

The question may be raised whether food or weather was

the more important factor in producing the peak in population

in 1854 and the subsequent decline. The commerce in quail that

became extensive about 1852, and was pursued vigorously for

many years, was contributory to the decline, especially since

quail could be trapped so easily in severe weather. It is reason¬

ably clear, however, that weather played the important role.

The birds, after the series of three severe winters beginning

with 1854-55, never again approached their former numbers.

Food must have been as ample as formerly during the three mild

winters starting with 1857-58, but the population was so de¬

pleted that there was only a limited recovery. Similar series of

98 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

three favorable winters occurred only three additional times be¬

fore the end of the century. When there was a succession of six

hard winters such as that between 1882-83 and 1887-88, it is

surprising that the species survived.

It is stated by Gerstell (170) that the quail stands near the

bottom of the list of gamebirds in its ability to withstand lack

of food; and that even under favorable food conditions there is

a high mortality due to environmental extremes. Artificially

propagated quail, confined individually without food, showed the

following survival time : 1.9 days at 0° F. with an air movement

of 5.8 miles per hour ; and 2.5 days at the same temperature with

no movement of the air. Due to conservation of heat, the chances

of survival in a bevy are increased greatly. A group of 10 birds,

owing to the opportunity to huddle closely while roosting,

showed an average survival of 4.1 days at 0° F. and no air move¬

ment.

Quail roost usually upon the ground in a compact circle.

There are exceptions. The following note was made at Madison,

March 23, 1930: “About 6 inches of snow fell last night. . . .

At 2 :45 found 5 quail (there might have been more) roosting in

a clump of spruce trees near the old sand pit. They were about

15 feet from the ground. About 200 yards up the same road,

found 8 quail roosting in a grapevine tangle about 12 feet from

the ground. This roost was quite open but offered good pro¬

tection against large owls.” I have never, however, found an

elevated roost during severe weather.

The argument that quail, after attaining a certain abun¬

dance, may as well be shot, since they are sure to approach

extermination during the next cold winter, is an old one in Wis¬

consin (168). While there is some truth in this assertion, it

produces a dilemma. The normal bevy of 15 to 20 birds has the

best chance of survival. If it is reduced to 4 or 5 birds prior to a

hard winter, the chance of the remnant surviving is much more

remote. It is improbable that many of the reduced coveys would

combine for the winter since in most regions the coveys are too

widely separated.

There is no prospect that quail will become numerous in Wis¬

consin in the near future. The effects of weather are largely

beyond management. Cover continues to deteriorate. Where it

is not removed deliberately, its effectiveness is reduced greatly

Schorger—The Quail in Early Wisconsin

99

by grazing. Dairying and the raising .of stock are injurious to

both cover and the food supply. It is evident, therefore, that the

improvement of present conditions for quail are for the most

part not subject to control.

Addenda

Editor D. J. Powers ( Wisconsin Farmer 9, 1857, p.231)

states that approximately 25,000 quail were sent from Madison

to Chicago the winter of 1855-56. He thinks that an estimate of

500,000 quail sent to eastern cities from Milwaukee and Chicago

would be low.

Howard Bosworth ( Forest and Stream 56, April 13, 1901,

p.287) knew of one or two places in the valley of the Wisconsin

River where he could have killed 75 quail a day in the fall of

1901.

Quail were first observed at Schilling Station. Clark County,

in the fall of 1901 (Greenwood Gleaner Oct. 18, 1901).

A. H. Pape liberated quail in 1899 in Waupaca County (New

London Republican Sept. 22, 1903), and in the spring of 1903

a few were set free in Burnett County (Grantsburg Sentinel

Nov. 12, 1903).

Literature Cited

1. A. N. Somers, Pop. Science Monthly 42 (1892) 203.

2. T. Rodolf, Wis. Hist. Coll. 15 (1900) 345.

3. C. Rodolf. In: History of Grant County, Wisconsin. Chicago, (1881)

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4. Gen. William R. Smith. Observations on the Wisconsin Territory. Phil¬

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5. G. W. Featherstonhaugh. A canoe voyage up the Minnay Sotor. London.

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5b. Watertown Chronicle Nov. 3, 1847.

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cj. Whitewater Register Sept. 11, 1858.

8a. Ibid., p. 178.

9. Whitewater Register Nov. 13, 1858.

10. Anon. Life in the west. London, (1842) p. 275.

11. I. A. Lapham. A geographical and topographical description of Wiscon¬

sin. Milwaukee, (1844) p. 76.

100 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

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p. 163.

13. Martin Mitchel. History of the county of Fond du Lac. (1854) p. 80.

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15. W. A. Titus, Wis. Mag. Hist. 19 (1936) 415.

15a. C. T. Ficker, ibid., 25 (1942) 349.

16. J. V. Quarles, ibid., 16 (1933) 297-320.

17. Mrs. L. T. Fowler, ibid., 18 (1935) 397.

18. F. S. Stone. History of Racine County. Chicago. Vol. 1 (1916) p. 421.

19. W. H. M. A reminiscence. Burlington Free Press Sept. 26, 1882.

19a. Silas Chapman. Early Waukesha days. Waukesha Freeman July 10,

1890 [1].

20. James L. Breck. Life. New York, (1883) p. 60.

21. Milwaukee Sentinel Aug. 17 and Oct. 7, 1846.

22. D. McLeod. History of Wiskonsan. Buffalo, (1846) p. 238.

23. Madison Argus Aug. 3, 1847.

24. Watertown Chronicle Aug. 18, 1847.

25. A. S. H. Porter's Spirit of the Times, 17 (Sept. 11, 1847 ) 333.

26. Milwaukee (w) Wisconsin Aug. 18, 1847.

27. Jacob Biihler, Wis. Mag. Hist. 16 (1923) 325.

28. A. C. Barry, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 5 (1854) 8.

29. Hudson North Star July 4 and Aug. 8, 1855.

30. Wausau Pilot Nov. 14, 1868.

31. Ashland Press Sept. 26, 1874.

32. Superior Times July 29, 1882.

33. Florence Mining News Nov. 21, 1891.

34. Madison (w) Argus and Democrat Dec. 7, 1852.

35. Prairie du Chien Courier Oct. 20, 1852.

35a. J Q. Emery. Early history of Rutland. Madison Democrat April 18, 1920.

36. P. R. Hoy, Trans. Wis. Agr. Soc. for 1852, (1853) 357.

37. Wisconsin State Journal Oct. 8, 1853.

38. Appleton Crescent Oct. 22, 1853.

39. Porter’s Spirit of the Times, 22 (Jan. 22, 1853) 583.

40. Waukesha Press. In: Juneau Gazette July 29, 1853.

41. Janesville Democratic Standard Aug. 9, 1854; Madison Argus and Demo¬

crat Dec. 29, 1854.

42. Watertown Chronicle. In: Madison Argus and Democrat Oct. 19. 1854.

43. Jefferson Jeffersonian. In: Ibid., Nov. 6, 1854.

44. ‘‘Badger,” Porter’s Spirit of the Times 24 (Nov. 18, 1854) 476.

45. Green Bay Advocate March 23; Nov. 16, 1854.

46. Milwaukee (d) Wisconsin Jan. 31, 1855.

47. Ibid., Aug. 25, 1855; Milwaukee American Oct. 17, 1855.

48. Elkhom Reporter. In: Milwaukee (d) Wisconsin July 18, 1855.

49. Waukesha Plain Dealer Oct. 16, 1855.

50. Watertown Democrat Jan. 4; Aug. 30, 1855.

51. Madison (d) Argus and Democrat Oct. 29, 1855.

52. Jefferson Republican. In: Madison (d) Patriot Dec. 8, 1855.

53. Portage Badger State Jan. 4, 1856.

Schorger — The Quail in Early Wisconsin

101

54. Milwaukee (d) News Sept. 7, 1856.

55. Ibid., Sept. 14, 1856.

56. Madison Democrat Dec. 23, 1881.

57. Portage Badger State Dec. 26, 1856; Madison State Journal Dec. 27, 1856.

58. S. E. Roberts, Darlington Democrat March 27, 1919.

59. P. R. Hoy, Proc. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc. March, 1885, p. 8.

60. Milwaukee Sentinel Nov. 26, 1852.

61. Janesville Democratic Standard Jan. 21, 1852.

62. Milwaukee Sentinel Feb. 2, 1853.

63. Janesville Democratic Standard Feb. 1; Aug. 9, 1854.

64. Madison Argus and Democrat Dec. 29, 1854.

65. Milwaukee Sentinel Jan. 21 and 31, 1854.

66. Ibid., Jan. 20, 1855.

67. Ibid., Feb. 20, 1855; Whitewater Gazette Feb. 7, 1856.

68. Beloit Journal. In: Milwaukee Sentinel Feb. 10, 1855.

68a. E. J. Lewis. American Sportsman. Philadelphia, (1863) p. 64.

69. Milwaukee (d) News June 10, 1856.

70. Milwaukee Sentinel Jan. 10; Feb. 7, 1856.

71. Milwaukee (w) Wisconsin Jan. 28, 1857.

72. Chicago Tribune Dec. 20, 1856; Milwaukee Sentinel Dec. 22, 1856.

73. Janesville Gazette Aug. 10, 1857.

74. Madison (d) Patriot Sept. 29, 1857.

75. Milwaukee Sentinel Jan. 4, 1858.

76. Prairie du Chien Courier Sept. 16, 1858.

77. Milwaukee Sentinel Dec. 28, 30, and 31, 1858.

78. Madison (d) Argus and Democrat Oct. 12, 1860.

79. Horicon Argus Sept. 21; Oct. 19; Nov. 16, 1860.

80. Oxford Express Aug. 31, 1860.

81. Burlington Gazette Aug. 14, 1860.

82. Shullsburg Local Sept. 6, 1861.

83. “Snap Shot,” Wilkes’ Spirit of the Times 15 (Oct. 20, 1866) 129-30.

84. Madison State Journal Sept. 25, 1863.

85. Ibid., Dec. 8, 1870.

86. Madison Democrat Nov. 1, 1871.

87. Ibid., Dec. 30, 1879.

88. L’Eclair, Forest and Stream 13 (1879) 714.

89. H. W. Merrill, ibid 13 (1879) 827.

90. “Blue Jay,” Am. Field 17 (June 24, 1882) 440.

91. S. W. Willard, Wis. Acad. Sci. 6 (1885) 189.

92. F. L. Grundtvig, ibid., 10 (1895) 105.

93. Manitowoc Pilot Aug. 25, 1898; Plymouth Review March 6; May 22; Dec-

25, 1901.

94. Eau Claire Telegram Aug. 4, 1895, 1.

95. Prairie du Chien Courier Nov. 10, 1896.

96. Trempealeau Herald Aug. 28, 1896.

97. Black River Falls Journal Aug. 27 and Banner Oct. 8, 1896.

98. Stevens Point Gazette Oct. 14, 1896, 4, and Journal Oct. 17, 1896. 8.

99. Prairie du Chien Courier Oct. 23, 1900.

100. E. Hough, Forest and Stream 55 (Oct. 6, 1900) 268.

102 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

101. A. J. Schoenebeck. Birds of Oconto County. [1902], p. 21.

102. T. S. Van Dyke. Bob-White in Minnesota. Shooting and Fishing 10,

No. 7 (June 11, 1891) 11-13.

103. H. M., Porter's Spirit of the Times 11, No. 8 (April 24, 1841) 90.

104. G. ibid., 11 (March 13, 1841) 19.

105. N. ibid., p. 25.

106. J. G., ibid., 16 (Oct. 24, 1846) 415.

107. “Bang,” Turf, Field and Farm 3 (Nov. 10, 1866) 295.

108. F. H. Yorke, Am. Field 32 (Dec. 14, 1889) 553.

109. Milwaukee (d) News Nov. 16, 1856.

110. S. C. C., Wildwood's Magazine 2 (1889) 98.

111. Madison Argus and Democrat Oct. ly, 1854 and (d) Patriot Oct. 12, 1855.

112. Madison (d) Patriot Nov. 21, 1854; Kenosha Telegraph Oct. 25, 1850;

Racine Advocate Oct. 14, 1853 and Oct. 16, 1854.

113. Milwaukee (w) Wisconsin Nov. 8, 1854.

114. Milwaukee Sentinel Oct. 14 and 15, 1859; Milwaukee (d) Wisconsin Oct.

17, 1860; Sentinel Sept. 19, 1861 and Oct. 10, 1862.

115. La Crosse (w) Democrat Oct. 10, 1863.

116. Madison Democrat Oct. 12 and 19, 1865.

117. B. and S. Sporting in Wisconsin. Porter's Spirit of the Times 19 (Aug. 31,

1849) 295.

118. Milwaukee (d) News Nov. 9 and 16, 1856.

119. Anon. Quail or bob -white. Sheboygan Falls News April 6, 1892.

120. S. Kneeland. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 6 (1859) 237.

121. E. Sandys and T. S. Van Dyke. Upland game birds. London, (1904)

p. 25.

121a. L. G. Duck, J. Wildlife Management 7 (1943) 367.

122. Anon. Racine, Wis. Porter's Spirit of the Times 24 (Oct. 28, 1854) 436.

123. Milwaukee (d) Democrat Sept. 19, 1855.

124. J. Muir. The story of my boyhood and youth. N. Y. (1913) p. 133.

124a. Ibid. pp. 134 and 152.

125. G. Imlay. A topographical description of the western territory of North

America. 2nd. ed. London, (1793) p. 101.

126. R. Kennicott, Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc. for 1853-54, 1 (1855) 586.

127. G. S. Hubbard. Autobiography. Chicago, (1911) p. 63.

128. Illinois in 1837. Philadelphia, (1837) p. 41.

129. E. Duis. The good old-times in McClean County, Illinois. Bloomington,

(1874) pp. 311 and 342.

130. R. G. A. Levinge. Echoes from the backwoods. London. Vol. 2 (1846)

p. 215.

131. J. H. Thurston. Reminiscences, sporting and otherwise of early days in

Rockford, Ill. Rockford, (1891) pp. 104 and 111.

132. A. L. Ful wider. History of Stephenson County, Illinois. Chicago. Vol. 1

(1910) p. 146.

133. J. E. Cabot. In: L. Agassiz. Lake Superior. Boston, (1850) p. 68.

134. C. Game in the west. Wilkes’ Spirit of the Times 17 (Dec. 28, 1887) 334.

135. E. Baldwin. History of La Salle County, Illinois. Chicago, (1877) p. 529.

135a. J. H. Evans, Proc. Wis. Hist. Soc. ior 1909, (1910) pp. 234 and 237.

135b. Madison State Journal June 6, 1854.

Schorger — The Quail in Early Wisconsin

103

136. J. Schafer. Wisconsin lead region. Madison, (1932) p. 162.

137. T. F. DeVoe. The market assistant. N. Y. (167) p. 164; Milwaukee (d)

Wisconsin Nov. 28, 1855, [2].

138. B. F. Goss. In: C. Bendire. Life histories of North America birds.

Washington. Vol. 1 (1892) p. 3.

139. F. H- King. Geology of Wisconsin. Vol. 1 (1883) p. 457.

140. C. W. Marsh. Recollections 1837-1910. Chicago, (1910) p. 41.

141. Milwaukee Sentinel March 18, 1869, [2].

142. Madison State Journal Dec. 27, 1856; Palmyra Enterprise Jan. 23, 1878.

143. Milwaukee Journal Feb. 7, 1885, [2].

144. Ibid., Nov. 1, 1886.

145. Whitewater Register April 24; Sept. 4, 1890.

146. Racine Times March 11, 1887.

147. Plymouth Review July 1, 1903.

148. Sheboygan Telegram March 22, 1892; Plymouth Review Dec. 2, 1903.

149. Two Rivers Chronicle Feb. 27, 1894; Feb. 2 and 20, 1897; Kewaunee

Enterprise Jan. 22, 1897.

150. Sturgeon Bay Democrat April 14, 21 and Aug. 25, 1899; cf. Jan. 20, 1899;

Jan. 13, 1900.

151. Sturgeon Bay Advocate Jan. 18, 1902; Feb. 7, 1903; Democrat Oct. 31,

1903.

152. Sturgeon Bay Democrat Aug. 23, 1902: Advocate March 12, 1904.

153. Palmyra. Viroqua Censor Sept. 22, 1897, [4],

154. Prairie du Chien Courier Sept. 6, 1898.

155. Plymouth Review Aug. 14, 1901, [4],

156. L. Kumlien and N. Hollister. Birds of Wisconsin. (1903) p. 55.

157. J. H. St. John [De Crevcoeur], Letters from an American farmer.

London, (1782) p. 30.

157a. Plymouth Review Dec. 25, 1901.

158. ‘‘Short Pete,” Porter’s Spirit of the Times 19 (April 14, 1849) 90.

159. “H. of Wis. ,” ibid., 24 (May 27, 1854) 176.

160. Jefferson Jeffersonian. In: Milwaukee (d) Democrat Dec. 21, 1854.

161. Kilbourn Mirror Jan. 22, 1856.

162. “Don,” Porter’s Spirit of the Times, n.s. 1 (Dec. 27, 1856) 269.

163. History of Grant County, Wisconsin. Chicago, (1881) p. 473.

164. Janesville Gazette Aug. 10, 1857.

165. Prairie du Chien Courier Sent. 16, 1858.

166. Milwaukee News Sent. 16, 1859, \2l.

167. P. L. Errington. The wintering of the Wisconsin bob-white. Trans.

Wis. Acad. Sci. 28 (1933) 1-35.

168. A. Leopold, Am. Mid. Naturalist 18 (1937) 408-416; P. L. Errington,

Wilson Bull 51 (1939) 22-37.

169. E. Miller. A century of temperatures in Wisconsin. Trans. Wis. Acad.

Sci. 23 (1927) 169.

170. R. Gerstell. The place of w'nter feeding in nractical wildlife manage¬

ment. Research Bull. No. 3, Pa. Game Com., Harrisburg (1942).

171. Milwaukee Sentinel Feb. 18, 1903.

SMALL MAMMAL CENSUSES NEAR PRAIRIE DU SAC,

WISCONSIN

Harold C. Hanson

Research Assistant* Department of Wildlife Management

University of Wisconsin

Introduction

Each winter since 1930 the gamebirds and predators on a

seven square mile area in Westpoint Township, Columbia Coun¬

ty near Prairie du Sac have been censused. The results of these

censuses will be summarized in a forthcoming paper by Erring-

ton. In order to fill the gaps in our knowledge concerning the

populations of animals not heretofore censused, the writer, dur¬

ing the years 1941 and 1942, made censuses of mice and shrews,

cottontail rabbits, fox and gray squirrels, winter birds, and

nesting songbirds. This paper summarizes the data obtained on

populations of mice, shrews, and cottontail rabbits. It also in¬

cludes notes on four little-known Wisconsin mammals: pygmy

short-tailed shrew ( Cryptotis parva parva) , least weasel ( Mus -

tella rixosa allegheniensis) , harvest mouse ( Reithrodontomys

megalotis pectoralis) , and the pine mouse ( Pitymys pinetorum

scalopsoides) .

Fifteen quadrats in 12 cover types were censused between

September 21 and October 29, 1941 : Grain stubble (two fields) ;

Alfalfa (two fields) ; Bluegrass— sweet clover two fields) ; Car ex

stricta bog; Smartweed — foxtail; Short-grass prairie relic;

Sandy field (primarily panic grass) ; Juniper bluff ; Red oak and

red cedar pasture ; Whitebirch — prickly ash ; Red and white oak

woodlot (severely grazed) ; Red and white oak woodlot (moder¬

ately grazed).

Materials and Method

Quadrats employing snap traps have been used by a number

of authors (Bole 1939, Townsend 1935, Williams 1936). Live

trapping and banding have been used with notable success by

* Now Assistant Game Technician, Illinois Natural History Survey, Urbana, Illinois.

105

106 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Burt (1940) and Blair (1940 a, b, c) while censuses by means

of nest boxes have yielded much information not obtainable by

either of the other two methods (Nicholson 1941).

Because of the large number of cover types that had to be

sampled in a brief period, it was decided that quadrat trapping

with snap traps would be most suitable. That snap traps when

properly employed can obtain adequate estimates of small mam¬

mal populations has been shown by Goodnight and Koestner

(1942), who made a field comparison between live traps and

snap traps, and found that the two techniques were of about

equal value. They found that snap traps gave the approximate

total population in three days, while live traps took two or three

days longer.

Previous investigators (see Burt 1940, 36-39) have estimated

small mammal populations on the basis of the catches they ob¬

tained from quadrats only a fraction of the size of the home

range of any one individual.

In this work, unless otherwise specified, quadrats 300 feet

square containing 121 traps spaced ten yards apart were used.

Each quadrat was trapped for four nights. This is a modifica¬

tion of the method used by Burt (op. cit. 12-14). He found that

quadrats from two to five acres, containing live traps similarly

spaced, usually caught most of the shrews and mice in four suc¬

cessive nights of trapping.

Before cool weather set in, crickets proved to be very

troublesome in eating the bait, which consisted at first of a mix¬

ture of rolled oats and peanut butter. By experimentation it was

found that a moist crumbly mixture of millet, rolled oats, and

peanut butter was better because the millet withstood the depre¬

dations of the crickets, and thus remained available to the mice.

Regardless of the size of quadrat used, small mammals whose

home ranges border the quadrat area are likely to be taken

(Dice 1941). Some adjustment must be made for catches of

these bordering individuals when calculating density. The au¬

thor believes the most equitable method of determining the cov¬

erage of snap trap quadrats is that suggested by Dice (1938) ;

that is, to consider the area censused to be the area of the quad¬

rat itself, plus an additional distance beyond its periphery equal

to the radius of the home range of the species in question. In

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

107

this paper each quadrat is assumed to have drawn upon peri¬

pheral zones as follows :

These censuses are first discussed quadrat by quadrat. A

later discussion deduces habitat preferences for each species.

Additional notes on individual species are included in the latter

section.

A few quadrats were inhabited by both species of Peromy-

scus. Because these mice are difficult to separate before adult¬

hood, the identifications are doubtful for a few of the immatures

taken.

Calculations of the number of mice per acre usually produced

decimal figures. When these involved only a fraction of a mouse

per acre, they can not be rounded off without distorting the

species ratio. Hence, all densities have been left in decimals, but

it should be understood that this does not imply accuracy to one

decimal.

Status of the Rodent Cycle in 1941

Mice were generally abundant in all habitats censused in the

fall of 1941. During the fall of 1942, according to a farmer on

the Prairie du Sac area, mice were far more numerous in his

fields than during the previous year. Field experience by the

author and other Wisconsin workers leaves little doubt that the

small rodent population “crashed” some time between late in

the winter of 1942-48 and early spring. Repeated trapping dur¬

ing that spring and summer in hayfields, bluegrass areas, sand

prairies, and waste places yielded but a few specimens. However,

Peromyscus leucopus was found in fair numbers in a wooded

ravine in the Baraboo hills. This leads the author to suspect that

this species may not be cyclic, or if it is cyclic, that its numbers

do not fluctuate as violently as field-inhabiting species.

108 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Cover Types and Populations

Grain Stubble

Two grain stubble-fields were censused. The catch taken

from the two fields reflected the character and density of the

cover ; Field I having sparse stubble and a poor growth of weeds,

had a population of only 1.7 mice per acre, while Field II, having

a fertile black soil which supported a dense growth of weeds,

yielded 5.2 mice per acre. Table I suggests that as grain stubble-

fields became increasingly weedy, there is a corresponding in¬

crease in the rodent population, particularly of the genus, Micro-

tus. Thus besides reducing crop yields through competition,

wreeds may also be the indirect cause of crop losses because of

the high rodent populations they seem to encourage.

Table I. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and compo¬

sition of population of two grain stubble-fields, September 21-28, 1941.

Bluegrass — Sweet Clover

The quadrat used in Field I was 300 feet square, while Field

II with an area of 4.25 acres was trapped in its entirety. Since

the latter field was bordered by woods on three and one-half

sides, it was possible to trap it to exhaustion before an influx

of mice through the one opening to an adjoining field could seri¬

ously affect the catch. During the four census nights, eighty

mice were caught and in the following three nights only an addi¬

tional fifteen mice were secured. However, to make the census

figures for all cover types comparable, the population figures

Hanson— Small Mammal Censuses

109

given in Table II are based on the standard four-night trapping

period.

There was a greater proportion of bluegrass and a more

luxurious growth of weeds in Field II, thus accounting for the

proportionately greater catch of field voles, Microtus ochrogas-

ter , which reach their highest populations in dense cover. A cor¬

respondingly lower population of prairie deer mice (Peromyscus

maniculatus) also reflects this cover difference, as they are

known to prefer habitats having a more open ground surface.

Woodland deer mice are computed as a part of the total field

inhabiting population, since it was evident that portions of the

fields bordering the woods were important parts of their home

ranges.

Table II. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and com¬

position of population of two fields of bluegrass and sweet clover,

Oct. 2-11, 1941.

Alfalfa

Field I was censused with a quadrat 300 by 300 feet and Field

II with a quadrat 300 by 240 feet. The census figures for these

two fields in Table III suggest that an average alfalfa field sup¬

ported seven to eight mice per acre in the fall of 1941. Again it

is evident from a comparison of the rodent populations for Fields

I and II (Table III) that a field supporting a fairly high Micro¬

tus population is generally inhabited by a correspondingly lower

prairie deer mouse ( Peromyscus maniculatus bairdi) population.

110 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Table III. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and com¬

position of population of two alfalfa fields, September 23 — Oct. 5, 1941.

Car ex stHcta Bog

The total small mammal population of this bog (Table IV)

compares very closely with that obtained for alfalfa fields. Its

population was characterized by relatively low populations of

non-microtine species and the presence of a shrew, which species,

like voles, were found to be most abundant in dense cover.

The entire bog of 1.5 acres was trapped.

Table IV. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and

composition of population of a Carex stricta bog, October 16-19, 1941.

Smartweed — Foxtail

This habitat occupied a small basin at the foot of a steep dry

hill (populations on this hill are discussed under Prairie Relic)

and was censused in its entirety as it had an area of only 2.1

acres. Due to the fact that this site was inadequately tiled,

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

111

drainage from the surrounding fields often made it too wet to

cultivate in the spring. The central portion had been ploughed

the previous spring, but had to be abandoned, and a dense

growth of yellow foxtail and ragweed marked this sector at the

time of the census. Beggar’s tick (Bidens) and smartweed

(Polygonum) were the most abundant plants. Newly planted

timothy, a mature stand of alfalfa, and a cornfield adjoined three

sides of the basin while on the fourth side northeast it merged

with the Carex stricta bog previously discussed.

During the census period, October 16-19, the nearby corn¬

field was cut and shocked, which may have increased the catch.

The catch of house mice was so spectacular (see Table V) that

I believe it to be unlikely that this disturbance affected the

results to any great degree.

House mice were so abundant in this 2.1 acre plot it seemed

improbable that four nights of trapping could have completely

exhausted the resident population. To test this possibility a fifth

night of trapping was carried out and eleven more house mice,

three voles, two prairie deer mice, and a harvest mouse were

caught.

The top-heavy population of house mice in this habitat is a

striking illustration of how “animal weeds” may overrun the

land side by side with plant weeds. Undoubtedly the magnet

which attracted the high rodent population was the abundant

food supply, the ground being thickly strewn with seeds of fox¬

tail grass, ragweed, and smartweed. In contrast to this situa¬

tion was the “hostility” of the relatively undisturbed adjoining

Carex stricta bog. In spite of the extreme density of house mice

on this quadrat none were taken in the central portion of the

bog (Table IV).

Table V. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and

composition of population of a smartweed — foxtail habitat,

October 16-19, 1941.

112 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Short-grass Prairie Relic

Many areas like this one are found in southwestern Wiscon¬

sin on steep westerly-facing hillsides. The five domiant plants

composing this relic were: Andropogon scoparius Sporobolus

heterolepis, Aristida basiramea, Amorpha canescens , and Aster

sericeus . Because of the topography, it was necessary to lay

out the traps in the form of a triangle that spread down fan-

wise from the peak of the hill. Consequently there was a rela¬

tively large amount of edge across which mice from the different

surrounding cover types might have drifted. For this reason the

census figures in Table VI are not strictly comparable with those

given for the other types. The area covered by the traps was 0.8

acre but the actual coverage was assumed to be one acre.

As might be expected the prairie deer mouse ( Peromyscus

maniculatus) was the dominant species in this relic. The wood¬

land deer mice ( Peromyscus leucopus) were taken from amongst

a thicket of wild grape and bittersweet on an outcropping of

limestone in the center of the census area. The genus Microtus

was conspicuously absent, possibly because the cover was neither

dense nor succulent enough for their requirements. The great

bulk of this large catch of deer mice were immatures and young

adults.

In spite of my limited data, I believe the original prairie was

capable of supporting a fairly high small rodent population. This

belief is supported by the findings of Smith (1940) working in

Oklahoma. He says that : “Although somewhat less food is avail¬

able in climax prairie, excellent cover is present and a large

population of rodents is found.”

Table VI. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and

composition of population of a short-grass prairie relic,

October 17-20, 1941.

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

113

Sandy Field

Continuous farming of an inadequate topsoil had reduced

this field to shifting sands. It is now slowly returning to a modi¬

fied prairie. At the time of the census, scattered clumps of panic

grass ( Panicum Scribnerianum) were the dominant cover.

Prairie lespedeza ( Lespedeza capitata), a species of puccoon

(. Lithospermum croceum) , and spiderwort ( Tradescantia re-

flexa) also occurred. The field is planted to pines, but only ten

per cent of the quadrat supported trees over three years of age.

The eight- to ten-year-old trees have not yet modified the sur¬

rounding ground cover.

Though cover was at a minimum, prairie deer mice proved

to be surprisingly abundant (Table VII).

Table VII. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and

composition of population of a sandy field, October 7-10, 1941.

Juniper Bluff

Depressed juniper ( Juniperus communis depressa) , ar¬

ranged in a somewhat checker-board fashion, together with

prairie relics form one of the unique plant associations on the

Prairie du Sac area. This type is found on the extremely dry

and westerly-facing slopes overlooking the Wisconsin River.

Though cattle-grazing had caused the invasion of such weeds as

evening primrose, mullen, and hoary vervain, a number of prai¬

rie species still flourished. Among the latter were: little blue-

stem grass ( Andropogon scoparius) , St. John’s wort ( Hyperni -

cum) , prairie bluebell (Campanula) , and lead plant (Amorpha

canescens). This habitat was the only one censused in which

both species of Peromyscus were distributed rather evenly

throughout the quadrat (Table VIII). The author has not en¬

countered a reference in the literature to any other habitat free¬

ly populated by both species of deer mice.

114 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

The census plot was only 240 by 240 feet due to the configura¬

tion of the available area.

Table VIII. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and

composition of population on a juniper bluff, October 15-18, 1941.

Red Cedar — Red Oak Pasture

This woodlot was composed of an open stand of red cedar and

red oak occurring in about equal numbers, with a few scattered

depressed junipers. The ground cover was sparse, made up

chiefly of an intermixture of bluegrass, a panic grass and an

occasional clump of little bluestem grass. A few small scattered

patches of prickly ash and black raspberry were all that re¬

mained of the shrubs. Among other herbs and weeds present

were wild bergamot, prairie clover (P etalo sternum) , prairie

lespedeza, St. John’s wort, hoary vervain and mullen.

The drastic effect of long continued grazing of woodlots on

small mammal populations is evident in Table IX below. The

only apparent reason for the woodmouse population holding up

was the excellent places of retreat afforded by the litter of

needles under the cedars and amongst the depressed junipers.

Table IX. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and

composition of population of red cedar — red oak pasture,

October 2-5, 1941.

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

115

White Birch-Prickly Ash

White birch and prickly ash were the two chief woody species

growing on a north-facing slope that was censused in late Oc¬

tober. At one time an even-aged stand of red oak timber had

occupied the site, but had been cut over some years previous to

the time of the census. After the cutting occurred the slope had

evidently been pastured by cattle. Under their selective brows¬

ing these two species, unpalatable to cattle, gradually assumed

dominance.

Since the leaves of neither the birch or ash tend to build up

a heavy layer of leaf mold, this cover type offered little attrac¬

tion to small mammals. Thus the small mammal population of

this woodland was unusually low (Table X). The three shrews

were taken near old rotten stumps of oak trees.

Table X. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and

composition of population of a white birch — prickly ash woodlot,

October 24-27, 1941.

Red and White Oak Woodlot

(severely grazed)

The low mammal density found in this woodlot (Table XI)

indicates that constant grazing by cattle may be disastrous to

small mammal populations. Cattle had eradicated almost every

shrub in this woods and the resultant packing of the topsoil had

probably excluded the locally rare pine mouse (Pity my s pinetor-

um). Even the woodland deer mouse population was markedly

low. Fox squirrels still remained abundant in this woods, and

probably benefited by the lack of cover.

i

116 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Table XI. Number of mammals caught,, calculated density per acre, and

composition of population of a red and white oak woodlot

(severely grazed), Oct. 24-27, 1941.

Red and White Oak Woodlot

(moderately grazed)

This woodlot differed from the one discussed above mainly

as to the degree of grazing to which it had been subjected.

Prickly ash and a species of Rubies were the only remaining

shrubs of any abundance. A thick layer of leaf mold was be¬

lieved to explain the survival of pine mice in this woodlot, since

this species in Wisconsin has been recorded only from woods in

which litter remained. The woodland deer mouse population

(Table XII) was similar in density to that which Burt found in

an oak-hickory woodlot (11 per acre in November) in Michigan.

Flying squirrel populations are not calculated on an acreage

basis, as little is known of their mobility, but the presence of a

greater number of den trees is thought to account for their

greater abundance in this woods.

Habitat Preferences

Pygmy Short-tailed Shrew — Cryptotis parva parva (Say)

The author is aware of only one previously published record

reporting this species from Wisconsin. This record consists of

the remains of an individual found in an owl pellet collected at

Prairie du Sac. (Errington, Hamerstrom, and Hamer strom,

1940). Intensive fieldwork may reveal that it is more widely

distributed and common in Wisconsin than the lack of records

would indicate.

The single specimen in the author's collection was found dead

on the Sauk Prairie on December 15, 1942, by Albert Gastrow of

Prairie du Sac. It had been killed by a red fox, as the trail sign

clearly indicated, and then had been tossed aside. The finding of

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

117

this specimen on prairie is in agreement with its preference for

dry habitats.

Table XII. Number of mammals caught, calculated density per acre, and

composition of population of a red and white oak woodlot

(moderately grazed), Oct. 25-28, 1941.

Short-tailed Shrew — Blarina brevicauda brevicauda (Say)

Short-tailed shrews on the Prairie du Sac area are apparent¬

ly chiefly limited in their distribution to areas of bluegrass and

woodlands having numerous fallen logs and a thick layer of leaf

mold (Table XIII). In these situations they inhabit the run¬

ways made by themselves and by the resident mouse population,

and in all likelihood are dependent on them for protection, as

well as for insect food or an occasional mouse. Hence, shrew

populations are probably relatively secure from horned owl pre¬

dation. (“Represented in 2.7% of the total pellets and

stomachs [examined] ” — Errington, Hamerstrom, and Hamer-

strom, 1940). Predation likely occurs when they make short

excursions away from these sheltered trails.

Table XIII. Populations and relative abundance of short -tailed shrews in

five cover types, October 2-28, 1941.

118 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Least Weasel — Mustela rixosa aUegheniensis (Rhoads)

Records of the least weasel in southern Wisconsin are too

few to enable one to deduce the pattern of its distribution in this

portion of the State. Swenk (1926), in the most recent review

of the species, lists the following Wisconsin records : Pierce Co.,

Prescot 1; Racine Co., Burlington 1; Sauk Co., Sumpter town¬

ship, 2 ; Merrimac 1. After his paper was published, remains of

another specimen was reported in an owl pellet from Stoughton,

Dane Co., by Errington, Hamerstrom and Hamerstrom (1940).

Phillip Wright of the University of Wisconsin is known to have

secured two in the University Arboretum. During the winter of

1943-44 a third specimen was taken in the arboretum by Robert

A. McCabe, biologist in charge. I am indebted to him for fur¬

nishing his data on this specimen.

The data on five more least weasels recently taken in Sauk

Co. are given in Table XIV. These specimens were obtained

from farmers by Mr. Ed Ochsner of Prairie du Sac, and at least

four of the five wTere killed by the farmers when removing corn

shocks from the fields.

Table XIV. Data on six additional least weasels taken in Wisconsin.

* These weights are low as the specimens were eviscerated when received.

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

119

Descriptions of the pelage of these six specimens are given

below:

Individual

(Collector’s

Number)

638 Entirely white except for brown hairs on the distal half of tail.

653 Entire back and sides brown; ventral portion of the body white, the

white extending slightly higher on the head and neck region and

present on the dorsol side of the toes of tide fore legs.

688 Pelage entirely white including the tip of the tail.

651 Pelage midway between the white of winter and the brown of sum¬

mer. The brown limited to the dorsal % of the body and extending

down the dorsal sides of the fore and hind legs and tad. A white

patch above the nose and extending around the eyes as a cireumor-

bital ring; a larger white patch in front of each ear. Ears brown,

slightly tipped with white. Sides of neck white and numerous white

hairs intermixed with the brown of the back where it joins the white

sides.

653 Similar to No. 652.

1 Similar to No. 652.

Harvest Mouse — Reithrodontomys megalotis pectoralis * Hanson

A local reconnaissance was made on the Sauk prairie, in addi¬

tion to the censuses in Columbia County, to gather further in¬

formation regarding the habitat preferences of the harvest

mouse. One of the cover types trapped in Sauk County was a

tall stand of ragweed in a sandy fallow field. On entering this

field two harvest mice were observed running about. One of

these mice was captured by hand, while subsequent trapping

yielded an additional three. As no other species of mice were

caught in that field, it would appear that the harvest mice like a

partial over-head canopy and a relatively herb-free, hard-packed

ground surface that permits freedom of movement. Their ap¬

parent preference for the cultivated counterpart of this eco¬

logical niche, alfalfa fields, is evident from Table XV. They were

also more abundant in this habitat relative to the total popula¬

tion than in any of the other cover types.

This mouse is fairly common about Prairie du Sac. Hence,

it is surprising that specimens had not been reported from Wis¬

consin prior to 1941. Errington (1932) and Errington, Hamer-

strom, and Hamerstrom (1940) did not report it in owl pellets

collected from the Prairie du Sac region. This species was, how¬

ever, frequently recorded in owl pellets that they studied from

* A paper by the author relating to the discovery of this species in Wisconsin and its dis¬

tribution and taxonomy has been published by the Chicago Museum of Natural History. See

Literature Cited.

120 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Des Moines and Ames, Iowa — localities that lie well within the

previously known range of the harvest mouse.

The author examined roughly 100 owl pellets collected on

April 1, 1942, from a Scotch pine plantation on the Sauk prairie,

Sauk County, in which five long-eared owls had wintered. In

these pellets were found skulls of 77 Microtus , 25 Peromyscust

and 17 Reithrodontomys , thus indicating that the harvest mouse

was freely taken by long-eared owls.

Table XV. Population and relative abundance of harvest mice in eight

cover types, September 21-October 20, 1941.

Prairie Deer Mouse — Peromyscus maniculatus bairdi

(Hoy and Kennicott)

The prairie deer mouse was probably the most abundant

native mouse on the Prairie du Sac area in the fall of 1941. Like

the harvest mouse, this species seemed to prefer situations where

the immediate ground cover varied from light to moderate den¬

sities. This is shown by the fact that they attained a fairly high

density in a sandy field having as its chief cover scattered plants

of panic grass. Other species of mice seem to be unable to popu¬

late, at least in any densities, such xeric and exposed habitats.

As pointed out by Johnson (1926), the prairie deer mouse has

probably increased in abundance and extended its range as a

result of cultivating the land; and investigations will probably

show that prairie deer mice are confined to early stages of the

prairie succession on uncultivated lands. The distribution of

this species on the Prairie du Sac area supports these conten¬

tions (See Table XVI).

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

121

Table XVI. Population and relative abundance of prairie deer mice m

eight cover types, September 21— October 20, 1941.

Woodland Deer Mouse — Peromyscus ieueopus

noveboracensis Fischer

Woodland deer mice were trapped in every census area that

supported a few trees or shrubs. One female had made her nest

for five new-born young in a paper wasp nest hanging in a clump

of hazel-bush. At least a portion of the habitat in cover of a

woody nature seemed requisite to satisfy some demand in this

mouse.

A female, which had her young in a nest of corn silk inside

of a corn-shock, was the only individual encountered a consider¬

able distance from timber or brush. Johnson (op. cit.) also re¬

ports capturing a wood mouse in a cornfield a quarter of a mile

from the nearest woodland. However, some individuals which

have home ranges along the borders of woods range out into

Table XVIL Population and relative abundance of the woodland deer

mouse in seven cover types, October 2-28, 1941.

122 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

adjoining fields (Blair). While trapping the bluegrass-sweet

clover fields a number of wood mice were taken (Table XVII),

but these were generally caught in traps less than 35-40 feet

from the forest edge.

Field Vole — Microtus ochrogaster Wagner

The northern and western limits of the range of this species

in the midwest is still in need of careful exploration. Field in¬

vestigations by the author in central and western Wisconsin and

in southeastern Minnesota have suggested the possibility that

the range of Microtus ochrogaster is coincident with that of the

harvest mouse, Reithrodontomys megalotis pectoralisf in this

region.

It was observed that Microtus ochrogaster was the common

vole at the localities where harvest mice occurred, while locali¬

ties that did not yield harvest mice also failed to yield M . ochro¬

gaster; replacing this vole in the same ecological niche was the

meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus.

Microtus ochrogaster may be the most abundant vole over

the uplands and sand prairies of the driftless region. It proved

to be the only vole common to the upland fields in Westpoint

Township, Columbia County, and on the Sauk prairie, Sauk

County, both on the eastern border of the driftless area. In

western Clark County, Schmidt (1931) found Microtus ochro¬

gaster only on sandy plains and slopes of sandstone mounds

where there was no heavy covering of grass ; Microtus pennsyl¬

vanicus was taken in hayfields, pastures, and other well-watered

habitats.

Records of the field vole from western Wisconsin are limited,

but they indicate that this species occurs there freely. Allen

(1936) mentions obtaining specimens of the field vole in Vernon

County. In the fall of 1942 the writer trapped a number of these

voles, as well as three harvest mice, from an upland alfalfa field

east of La Crosse in La Crosse County during one night of trap¬

ping.

According to Thwaites (unpublished map 1944) the western

limits of the driftless area are now recognized as extending not

beyond the tops of the Mississippi River bluffs on the Minnesota

side. Since data available suggests that the harvest mouse, R. m.

pectoralis, is found only in or on the periphery of the driftless

i

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

123

region (Hanson 1944), it was of especial interest to find a grain

stubble-field in a valley near Hokah, Houston County, Minne¬

sota, which was inhabited by both species of voles as well as

harvest mice. Allen (1936) also reports finding both species of

Microtus in a similar valley near Caledonia, Houston County.

However, at three localities a few miles west of Hokah and well

beyond the edge of the driftless area, the writer was unable to

trap either the harvest mouse or the field vole. At these locali¬

ties (two near Spring Grove, Minnesota, and one 14 miles south¬

west of Preston, Minnesota) Microtus pennsylvanicus and Per -

omyscus maniculatus were the only species of mice obtained.

The field vole and harvest mouse are apparently absent from

northeast Iowa (Allamakee and Winnesheik Counties) where

Microtus Pennsylvania cs is abundant as Dr. Sherman Hoslett

of Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, was unable to secure an

example of this species during an intensive five-year study of

the mammals of these two counties. Thus, judging from the evi¬

dence available, it seems that the ecological or geological factors

determining the distribution of the harvest mouse in the south¬

east Minnesota-northeast Iowa region may also be operative in

the case of Microtus ochrogaster .

Cory (1912) notes that prairie voles are commonly found in

clover and alfalfa fields, a preference the Prairie du Sac census

supports. Stubble-fields become increasingly inhabitable to this

species as quackgrass and other weeds gain a foothold, but maxi¬

mum densities are attained in bluegrass areas (Table XVIII).

Table XVIII. Population and relative abundance of the field vole in five cover

types, September 21-October 19, 1941.

Meadow vole — Microtus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus (Ord)

The only habitat to yield more than two stray meadow voles

was a Carex stricta bog. Several other specimens were obtained

124 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

from a another bog a few miles east of the Prairie du Sac area.

Since this species was found commonly only in Carex stricta , it

seems possible that it could become locally extinct through drain¬

ing and the gradual drying up of these bogs.

Table XIX. Population and relative abundance of the meadow vole in

three cover types, October 2-19, 1941.

Pine Mouse — Pitymys pinetorum scalopsoides

(Audubon & Bachman)

Pine mice collected in northern Clark County, Wisconsin, by

Franklin Schmidt were recently recognized as a new subspecies

by Hartley H. T. Jackson (1941). Since the two individuals col¬

lected by the author are not in a pelage comparable with the

type series from Clark County, the Columbia County specimens

are assumed to belong to the race scalopsoides. Additional speci¬

mens of pine mice have been taken in western Dane County

(Blue Mounds) by Phillip Wright (University of Wisconsin col¬

lections). Excepting mention of a specimen from Lynxville,

Crawford County, (Jackson op. cit .) no other published records

are available to reveal the distribution of this species elsewhere

in the state.

The habitat requirements of the pine mouse in Wisconsin are

apparently very specific as all records of this species to date are

from oak forests having a heavy carpet of litter and leaf mold.

Elsewhere in its range, according to Hamilton (1938), it has

been found in such diverse situations as sphagnum bogs and

rocky hills about caves. Hamilton (op. cit.) quotes Poole as

having found pine mice in Pennsylvania on an area having “light

sandy alluvial soils supporting scattered trees and shrubs.”

One of the two specimens taken on the Prairie du Sac area

was trapped above ground at the base of an oak tree, while the

other was caught in a trap set in an opened runway in the leaf

mold.

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

125

Table XX. Population and relative abundance of the pine mouse in a red

and white oak woodlot, October 25-28, 1941

House Mouse — Mus mas cuius mus cuius Linnaeus

House mice attained their greatest densities in cultivated

fields where they often were the most abundant species. When

their numbers about farm buildings were taken into considera¬

tion, there can be little doubt that they were the most numerous

mammal on the Prairie du Sac area. Because of their general

abundance in fields far from any farm buildings, it is difficult

to understand their comparative absence in owl pellets. One

reason may be that owl pellet studies usually represent the late

winter and early spring months, a period when house mice par¬

ticularly seek buildings for refuge ; another may be that the first

spell of severe cold weather greatly reduces the field inhabiting

populations.

The high density of this species found in the prairie relic was

probably due to an influx of individuals from the nearby area of

smartweed and foxtail which had an extremely high house

mouse population (Table XXI). However, it should be noted

that they were relatively uncommon in this undisturbed area.

Table XXI. Population and relative abundance of the house mouse in nine

cover types, September 21-October 20, 1941.

(moderately grazed)

126 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Cottontail — Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsi (Allen)

Method and Materials . — The method used to census cotton¬

tail rabbits was first employed by Durward Allen (1938-1939)

in Michigan. It consists of trapping and banding the largest

number of rabbits possible and securing a shot sample of the

population on the census area. From the ratio of banded to

unbanded rabbits in the sample to the total number banded, the

actual population is determined. This technique has been used

by Lincoln as an adjunct to estimating continental waterfowl

populations.

Forty “Pennsylvania type” box traps, as described by Ger-

stell (1937), were used for the census. All rabbits caught were

banded with ear tags which proved to be very satisfactory. Car¬

rots were found to be the best bait as they did not spoil quickly

in mild weather and were not as attractive to mice as ear or

shell corn.

Census Area. — The census area consisted of approximately

65 acres of woods and brushy cover on the south slopes of Black-

hawk ridge, and an area of second growth timber and brush-

lands adjoining its western base. The observed tendency of win¬

tering cottontails in southern Wisconsin to avoid cold windy

slopes made it unnecessary to extend the trap lines on to the

north slopes of the ridge. This latter area was not considered

a part of the winter range when computing the population. A

brief description of the cover types on the census plot and their

acreages are summarized below :

Cover Types Acreage

Ungrazed woods with an abundant understory of shrubs 14

Grazed woods containing scattered thickets of prickly ash,

blackberry and red cedar 21

Second-growth oak woods with a poor understory of shrubs 13

Heavy bluegrass, with scattered shrubs, young oaks and

stump sprouts (5 small areas) 16

Short grass prairie relic 1.5

Total 65.5

Trapping Operations. — Due to the diversity of the cover

types, weather conditions, and the irregular distribution of the

rabbit populations in the various coverts, trap movement pro¬

ceeded in no orderly fashion; instead, the traps were shifted

from place to place whenever their efficiency in catching un-

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

127

banded rabbits suffered a marked drop. In addition to these

variables in the procedure, one sector of the census area was

trapped continuously during most of the census period. The

number of traps used varied, and their efficiency was never

100% as mice sometimes ate the bait or sprung the traps. A

summary of the trapping operations is given in the table below :

Trapping Periods

Nov. 23-Dec. 7

Dec. 7 -Dec. 22

Jan. 9- Jan. 13

Jan. 13-Feb. 13

Traps in Use

30

38

13

37 (av.)

Trap nights

420

532

52

1148

Total 2100

A total of 71 rabbits were caught and of these four died in

the traps. The number of repeats was small because of the fre¬

quency of trap movement. Of the 22 rabbits that repeated, a few

were caught as many as three times, making the total number of

repeats twenty-nine.

Sampling. — Shooting was believed to be the most efficient

means by which an adequate sample of the rabbit population

could be secured in the shortest period of time, thereby reducing

any error resulting from movements of rabbits into or out of the

census area during the sampling period. It was also thought that

shooting would obtain a more representative sample than live

trapping which might be more apt to take an undue number of

rabbits having the trap habit. The latter point, however, still

requires further testing. Other sources of error that are present

in this technique of censusing have already been discussed by

Allen (op. cit.) and Dice (1941).

During the first shoot on February 14, a crew of eight se¬

cured only three rabbits. The sampling was continued until

March 22, but it was with the greatest difficulty that a sample of

twenty-one was secured.

Populations. — Twelve of the twenty-one rabbits shot carried

bands. As the total number of rabbits banded was known (71,

minus three that died in traps), the solution of a simple ratio

gave the approximate total population on the census area.

(71-4) 12

_ • _ 12 x = 1407 x = 117

x 21

128 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

In the course of the fieldwork, remains or indications of old

kills of 11 rabbits were found. This number added to the 117

implies a peak fall population of at least 128 rabbits on the 65

acres of brushlands and woods, or a density of 2 rabbits per

acre. However, the average density for the entire winter would

be somewhat less.

Acknowledgements

This study was begun under a fellowship from the Wisconsin

Alumni Research Foundation, and was completed under a grant

from the American Association for the Advancement of Science,

awarded through the Wisconsin Academy of Science. During

the fieldwork I had the able co-operation of Albert Gastrow of

Prairie du Sac, who was censusing other species for the Wis¬

consin Conservation Department. His keen observations and

skill at “reading sign” contributed much to this study.

Literature Cited

Allen, Durward

1938. Ecological studies of the vertebrate fauna of a 500 acre farm in

Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Ecol. Monog., 8: 348-436.

1939. Michigan cottontails in winter. Journ. Wildlife Mgmt., 3: 307-322.

Allen, Phillip F.

1936. Microtus ochrogaster in Minnesota. Joum. of Mamin., 17: 291.

Blair, W. Frank

1940. A study of prairie deer mouse populations in southern Michigan.

Amer. Mid. Nat., 24: 273-305. 6 tables, 4 figures.

1940. Notes on home ranges and populations of the short-tailed shrew.

Ecology, 21: 284-288.

1940. Home ranges of the meadow vole in southern Michigan. Journ.

Wildlife Mgmt., 4: 149-161. 1 figure.

Bole, B. P. Jr.

1939. The quadrat method of studying small mammal populations. Cleve¬

land Museum of Natural History, Scientific Publications 5 (4) Dec.,

15-77.

Burt, Wlliam Henry

1940. Territorial behavior and population of some small mammals in

southern Michigan. Misc. Pub. No. 45, Museum of Zoology, Univ.

of Mich. 1-58. 2 plates, 8 figures, 2 maps.

Cory, Charles B.

1912. The mammals of Illinois and Wisconsin. Field Museum of Natural

History, Pub. 153, Zool. Ser., XI, Chicago.

Dice, Lee R.

1941. Methods for estimating population of mammals. Journ. Wildlife

Mgmt., 5: 398-407.

Hanson — Small Mammal Censuses

129

Errington, Paul L.

1932. Food habits of southern Wisconsin rap tores. Condor, 34: 176-186.

Krrington, Paul L., Frances Hamerstrom and F. N. Hamerstrom, Jr.

1940. Great horned owl and its prey in north central United States. Agr.

Exp. Sta., Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts,

Research Bui. 277: 757-850. 12 tables, appendix.

Gerstell, Richard

1937. Management of the cottontail rabbit in Pennsylvania. Part II. Pa.

Game News, No. 2, 8: 8-10, 32. 1 figure.

Goodnight, Clarence J. and Koestner, E. J.

1942. Comparison of trapping methods on an Illinois prairie. Joum. of

Mamm, 23: 435-438.

Hamilton, W. J., Jr.

1938. Life history notes on the northern pine mouse. Joum. of Mamm.,

19: 163-170.

Hanson, Harold C.

1944. A new harvest mouse from Wisconsin. Field Museum Natural His¬

tory, Zool. Ser.

Hoslett, Sherman S.

1940. Unpublished doctorate thesis on the mammals of northeast Iowa.

Univ. of Mich., Ann Arbor.

Jackson, Hartley H. T.

1941. A new pine mouse, genus Pitymys, from Wisconsin. Proc. Biol. Soc|

Washington, 54: 201-202.

Johnson, M. S.

1926. Activity and distribution of certain wild mice in relation to biotic

communities. Journ. of Mamm., 7: 245-277.

Nicholson, Arnold J.

1941. The homes and special habits of the wood-mouse. ( Peromyscus

leucopus noveboraceTisis ) in southern Michigan. American Midland

Naturalist, 25: 196-223.

Schmidt, F. J. W.

1931. Mammals of western Clark County, Wisconsin. Journ. of Mamm.,

12: 99-117.

Smith, Charles Clinton

1940. Succession on abandoned eroded farmland. Ecol. Monog., 10.

Swenk, Myron H.

1926. Notes on Mustela campestris Jackson, and on the American forms

of the least weasel. Joum. of Mamm., 7: 313-330.

Thwaites, F. T.

1944. Unpublished map of the driftless area. Univ. of Wis.

Townsend, Myron T.

1935. Studies on some of the small mammals of central New York. Roose¬

velt Wildlife Annals, 4, No. 2: 1-120. 22 figures, 8 plates, 4 maps.

Williams, Arthur B.

1936. The composition and dynamics of a beech-maple climax community.

Ecol. Monog., 6: 318-408. 16 figures.

s . ' ■

.

THE LAKE STURGEON, ACIPENSER FULVESCENS

RAFINESQUE, IN LAKE WINNEBAGO, WISCONSIN

Edw. Schneberger and Lowell A. Woodbury

Wisconsin Conservation Department, Madison, Wisconsin

Fishing for lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque,

has been permitted for many years in the waters of Lake Winne¬

bago, Wisconsin. For the past three years the open season has

been from February 1 to March 1 with spearing as the only

legal method of fishing. The legal minimum length is 30 inches

and a season's bag limit is five fish. The regulations provide

further, that each person spearing sturgeon must purchase a

special tag for each fish. In order to collect data on the annual

harvest, creel census blanks on addressed and stamped postal

cards were furnished each person purchasing these tags. The

blanks provided space for the fishermen to record the length,

weight, and sex of each fish caught.

Lake Winnebago, the largest inland lake within the borders

of the state of Wisconsin, is located in the east central part of

the state. It is elongate, with a major axis of about 28 miles

lying in a north-south direction and a minor axis of about 10

miles lying in an east-west direction. The lake has a maximum

depth of about 21 feet and an average depth of about 15 feet

(Juday 1914).

Most of the spearing for sturgeon is done in two areas along

the eastern shore, one near Calumet Harbor and the other near

Stockbridge Harbor. A limited amount of spearing is also done

along the western shore near Neenah-Menasha, Wisconsin.

Schlumpf (1941) described sturgeon spearing in some de¬

tail and it is from his article that the following summary of the

techniques was made.

Spearing is done from portable shanties placed on the ice

one-half to four miles from shore and over the large mudflats

which are the feeding grounds of the sturgeon. A rectangular

hole about three by five feet is cut in the ice and the shanty

moved over the hole. The spearing is done in 13 to 16 feet of

131

132 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

water. Broken pieces of pottery or white plates are often

dropped in the water so that the bottom is more easily seen and

the distance can be more readily estimated when a fish swims

into the area. Usually decoys intended to attract the sturgeon

are suspended about the hole in about ten feet of water. A

variety of decoys, ranging from oranges, lemons and ears of

corn to skillfully carved wooden images of sturgeon, is used.

The spear is so constructed that the spear and handle are de¬

tachable, although used as one unit. Props are attached to both

the spear head and handle. When a “hit” is made the handle

becomes detached from the spear and the fisherman can then

“play” the fish on the rope.

Materials and Methods

The creel census data, as mentioned earlier, were obtained

by furnishing each person who purchased a sturgeon tag with a

blank to which to record his catch. These cards were distributed

for the 1941, 1942, and 1943 seasons.

An estimate of the total take was made on the basis of the

assumed proportionality, viz :

Number of persons purchasing tags Number of fish Total

Number of persons reporting catch reported caught catch

Further information, especially with reference to food hab¬

its, length, weight, and age, was desired. Accordingly, Mr.

Homer E. Keane, an employee of the Wisconsin Conservation

Department, was detailed to Lake Winnebago during the 1942

sturgeon season, to collect the heads, viscera, and accompanying

data of as many sturgeon as possible. The heads were collected

so that the otoliths could be obtained for age determinations.

For several reasons this assignment was not as simple as it

seems. Many of the fishermen were secretive about their success

fearing that the “news” might attract too many other fishermen

to the vicinity of their particular fishing spot. Other successful

fishermen did not wish to part with the head of the fish stating

that they used it in the preparation of a special soup. Neverthe¬

less a total of 49 sturgeon heads and 11 alimentary tracts was

collected.

A description of the otolith and the methods employed in the

preparation of the otolith for reading is given under the section

on Ages.

Schneberger and Woodbury-— The Lake Sturgeon 133

Results of Creel Census

A summary of the data on creel census work is found in

Table I. Scrutiny of the table will show that the computed total

take was 788 fish in 1941, 467 fish in 1942, and 238 fish in 1943,

or a fairly proportionate decline. The cause of this decline is not

clear but depletion cannot be cited as a definite cause since there

are many factors that govern the take of sturgeon. Unfortu¬

nately it was impossible to obtain the unit effort expended by

the fishermen. There were, however, 110 less fishermen in 1942

and 320 less in 1943 than in 1941, the year of the greatest catch.

It is conjectured that in 1943 less effort was expended than in

1941 because of the general labor shortage and fishermen had in

general less free time to spend fishing. In addition the winter

Table I. Summary of creel census reports on sturgeon spearing in Lake

Winnebago for the years 1941, 1942, and 1943.

was quite severe and travel on the ice was difficult because of the *

deep snow. The season of 1942 was generally considered as a

poor year because the ice did not form until late in the winter

and the water remained turbid during most of the season.

The sucessfulness of a season is likewise reflected to some

extent in the size of fish reported. In 1942, the largest fish was

134 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

88 pounds while in 1941, five fish which weighed over 100 pounds

each were reported. Their weights were 104, 105, 105, 112, and

135 pounds. In 1943, the largest fish reported weighed 120

pounds and the next largest weighed 90 pounds.

Ages of Lake Winnebago Sturgeon

Harkness (1924) in his study of the sturgeon used the oto¬

liths or earstones in determining age. Scales usually employed

for this purpose in the teleost fish are not present on the stur¬

geon and according to Harkness the vertebrae could not be used

because they failed to show annular markings. The opercles and

pectoral fins were examined by us, but these structures likewise

showed no annular markings. Therefore, in view of these find¬

ings, the otoliths were employed in the determination of age in

the present study.

The otolith is a small, curved, roughly triangular piece of

calcareous matter. In the specimens examined the length varied

from 7.5 to 12.3 millimeters. The composition varies from solid

homogenous calcareous material to a conglomeration of small

conical particles. The annular markings appear as more or less

definite dark bands or lines continuous across the otolith and

separated by finer broken lines. Some otoliths could be read with

comparative ease, others could not be read at all, while still oth¬

ers could be read up to a certain age but not beyond. An attempt

was made to determine the number of annuli by examination

under a binocular microscope with the otolith immersed in the

glycerine. The attempt was unsuccessful as the annuli could be

distingished only with difficulty and could not be counted accu¬

rately. Several other immersion fluids of high refractive index

were tried but all proved unsatisfactory.

An attempt was made to reduce the thickness of the otolith

on a geologist's “thin section” wheel but due to the curvature of

the specimens this method could not be used. After much trial

and error a method of preparation was evolved that gave excel¬

lent results and resulted in a permanent mount that showed the

annuli present in a satisfactory manner. This method is de¬

scribed in the following paragraphs.

The otolith was removed from a glycerine solution, drained,

and then passed through 95 per cent alcohol, clove oil and xylene,

remaining about five minutes in each liquid. Following this de-

Schneberger and Woodbury — The Lake Sturgeon 135

Table II. Length, weight, sex, and age of sturgeon from Lake Winne¬

bago, Wisconsin, taken during February, 1942.

• Otolith unreadable with any certainty.

dt Age near this value but exact figure uncertain.

-b Age greater than this value by indeterminate amount.

186 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

hydration and clearing the otolith was placed in melted xylene-

free balsam until all xylene carried in with the specimen had

boiled off. It was then mounted on a slide concave, face down¬

wards, in a drop of melted balsam and allowed to cool.

With a small file and a sharp knife the otolith was then

thinned down by filing and scraping on the convex side until

microscopic examination of the concave surface showed clearly

the annular markings.

The dry balsam was then dissolved off in xylene and the

otolith mounted in fresh balsam under a cover glass with the

concave side upwards.

The otoliths were read with a compound microscope at a

magnification of 50 diameters and checked on a binocular micro¬

scope at various magnifications. They could not be read on a

micro-projection machine of the type ordinarily used for scales.

Out of a total of 49 heads, 47 pairs of otoliths were obtained

of which the ages of 35 were determined. The remaining 12

possessed various degrees of readability. The ages ranged from

14 to 40 ± 3 years. Due to the scantiness of the data and the

small numbers of fish in each year-class the average rate of

growth of each year-class could not be computed. The smallest

fish, 42 inches in length, was a male, 16 years old. The youngest

fish was also a male, 47 inches long, and was 14 years old. The

data indicates that the females grow at a slightly higher rate

and to a larger size than the males. The youngest female was

21 years old and was 48 inches long. A 22 year old female was

54 inches long. Table II gives the available data on length,

weight, sex, and age of all specimens whose otoliths were exam¬

ined.

The available data do not show the age at which maturity is

reached. The fish collected, however, were well above the mini¬

mum legal length of 30 inches since the smallest specimen col¬

lected was 42.5 inches long. Harkness (1924) however, stated:

“In all fish which were less than 22 years of age it was

impossible to determine the sex by macroscopic examina¬

tion of the reproductive organs. In older fish the sex was

readily determined. It is interesting to note that between

the ages of 20 and 25 years great changes occur in the

outward appearance of the sturgeon. The snout becomes

shorter and blunter ; the sharp points of the shield disap¬

pear; the shields themselves become smoother, and some

apparently are entirely resorbed. Without doubt these

Schneberger and Woodbury — The Lake Sturgeon 137

changes are associated with the attainment of sexual ma¬

turity which is reached apparently at about 22 years of

age. Although a female may become sexually mature at

this age, it is not until after the age of about 30 years that

she begins to produce a large number of eggs. Therefore,

the taking of fish of 30 years or less diminished greatly

the production of fry and is likely to result ultimately in

the complete depletion of the sturgeon.”

Comparative Growth of Lake Winnebago and Lake

Nipigon Sturgeon

As the age-length data on the sturgeon of Lake Winnebago

from our data and from Lake Nipigon (Harkness’ data) were

somewhat scanty a direct comparison of length at the same age

was not practicable due to the small number of age groups rep¬

resented in both samples.

In our data the definite ages varied from a minimum of 14

to a maximum of 31 and the relationship of length to age over

this range approximated a straight line. The age-length data

for the Lake Nipigon sturgeon over this same range, and for a

distance on each side also approximated a straight line. A

138 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

straight line was therefore computed by the method of least

squares for both our data and those of Harkness (Figure 1).

The equations were as follows :

L = 34.06 + 0.8902 A M (Lake Winnebago)

L = 16.49 + 0.9798 A N (Lake Nipigon)

Where L = length in inches and A = age in years.

The Lake Winnebago equation was computed for the age

range 14 to 31 years and the Lake Nipigon equation for the

length range 10 to 40 years. A total of 33 pairs were used in

computing the Lake Winnebago curve and 18 for Lake Nipigon.

Table IIL Comparison of computed values of length for sturgeon of the

same age from Lake Winnebago and from Lake Nipigon.

Length (inches)

Table III shows the computed age-length values at intervals

over the range 14 to 31 years. The comparison indicates that

the Lake Winnebago fish grow somewhat faster than the Lake

Nipigon group. If this is true, it might be expected that the age

of maturity for the Lake Winnebago population is less than that

of the Lake Nipigon fish. Considerable more data are needed on

this point.

Food Habits and Parasites

Analysis of the stomach contents indicated that during Feb¬

ruary the sturgeon were feeding almost entirely on chironomid

larvae. Only a small proportion of other organisms such as

leeches and small mollusks were found. Table IV gives the re¬

sults of the stomach examinations.

Dr. C. A. Herrick, University of Wisconsin parasitologist,

was invited to examine the heads and alimentary tracts for para¬

sites. With the exception of a few trematodes found in three of

the tracts, the fish were free of parasites.

Schneberger and Woodbury — The Lake Sturgeon 139

Table IV. Results of examination of sturgeon stomachs taken from Lake

Winnebago, Wisconsin, during February, 1942.

Acknowledgements

The authors take this opportunity of expressing their sin¬

cere thanks to the many fishermen who furnished specimens for

study and returned the census cards ; to Dr. C. A. Herrick, Pro¬

fessor of Zoology of the University of Wisconsin, who examined

the specimens for parasites; and various conservation depart¬

ment personnel who assisted in various phases of the project.

Summary

1. On the basis of the creel censuses conducted it is estimated

that 788, 467, and 238 sturgeon were removed from Lake Winne¬

bago during the 1941, 1942, and 1943 spearing seasons.

2. Otoliths were collected for age determinations and a meth¬

od of preparing them for study is given.

3. The ages ranged from 14 to 40 ± 3 years. The smallest

and youngest fish was 14 years old, 47 inches long and weighed

28 pounds. The largest fish was 62 inches long, weighed 81

140 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

pounds and was 40 ± 3 years old ; the exact age could not be de¬

termined with certainty. The females were slightly larger than

the males.

4. Analysis of the food found in the alimentary tract indi¬

cates that the sturgeon feed mainly on chironomid larvae during

February.

5. The specimens collected were relatively free of parasites.

Literature Cited

Juday, Chancey

1914. The inland lakes of Wisconsin. The hydrography and morphometry

of the lakes. Bull. No. XVII, Sci. Ser. No. 9., Wis. Geol. and Nat.

Hist. Survey, Madison, Wisconsin

Harkness, W. J. K.

1924. The rate of growth and the food of the lake sturgeon ( Acipenser

rubicundus Le Sueur) . Univ. of Toronto Studies, Pub. Ontario Fish.

Res. Lab., 18: 15-42.

Schlumpf, Charles A.

1941. The spearing of sturgeon in Lake Winnebago. Wis. Cons. BulL, 6:

33-36.

I

THE BUR OAK OPENINGS IN SOUTHERN WISCONSIN

A. B. Stout

The Neiv York Botanical Garden

A Typical Oak Opening.— Bur oak openings were the princi¬

pal timbered lands over a considerable part of southern Wis¬

consin when this region was homesteaded about one hundred

years ago. Today only a few remnants of these once numerous

natural parks still survive. One of these, about 50 acres in ex¬

tent and still in good preservation, is situated a few miles to the

north of the village of Albion in Dane County. A similar grove

now of smaller area is located about a mile to the southwest.

The illustrations (Plates 1 and 2), from photographs taken in

this grove in 1941, show the stately grandeur and the rugged

beauty of natural stands of this type of tree growth.

In this particular oak opening the trees are, I believe, all bur

oaks ( Quercus macrocarpa Michaux) ; but in some of the other

oak openings of the area and especially on the belt of moraines

there were trees of the white oak ( Quercus alba L.). These oaks

are all broad-topped and so spaced that seldom are the branches

of two trees interlocked. Also they are rather uniform in size.

There are no young trees or shrub growth anywhere in this

grove nor has there been such growth here for at least one hun¬

dred years. Between the trees there is the firm turf of native

grasses that has never been disturbed by cultivation. The entire

area of this grove is almost level, as are the reaches of formerly

prairie land that lie adjacent to the grove and which continue

for some distance immediately to the east and the northeast. But

many of the openings of the region were on the more rolling

and undulating uplands. A small, shallow, and rather sluggish

stream (Saunders Creek) flow's close to the south of this oak

opening and along its banks, both above and below the grove,

there are flat marshy grasslands that are often of considerable

extent and occasionally there are areas of tamarack swamp.

These lowlands and their water-table are, as a rule, only slightly

below the general level of the uplands. Marshes are abundant

141

142 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

throughout much of the prairie-oak opening area that was glaci¬

ated and on which the drainage is geologically still young.

It seems to the writer that the trees in this grove are scarcely

any larger today than they were fifty years ago. The present

owner, Mrs. D. L. Babcock, is the daughter of Jacob Langworthy

who in the year 1842" became the owner of the farm which in¬

cludes this grove. She has resided on this farm for 85 years and

her recollection is that the character of this oak opening has

remained unchanged during all this time. It is known that

“prairie fires,, burned over this area both before and for some

time after the arrival of the early settlers. Storms have broken

down or uprooted some of the trees ; but except for the removal

of such trees no wood has been cut in the grove. About 50 years

ago nearly 100 of the trees were blown down at one time and

during a storm in 1941 nearly 30 trees were uprooted. The

counts that have been made of the annual rings of growth of

these trees indicate that the present age of most of the trees is

at least 200 years. The owners have taken an unusual and com¬

mendable pride in this grove that has prompted them to keep it

intact. For about 90 years its area has been pastured by cattle

and horses and for some of this time by sheep but never by

swine.

Oak Openings in Wisconsin. — The Babcock Oak Opening as

it stands today is typical of the groves which once covered a con¬

siderable part of an extensive area in Wisconsin. This region

extended across the entire southern boundary of the state.

Northward its width from east to west decreased, with irregular

border limits, until it terminated near Rush Lake. Roughly the

entire area in Wisconsin comprised about 5,000 square miles and

it formed a broad-based wedge that projected northward into

and almost through a wide belt of more dense forest growth in

which oaks were, and still are, the dominant species.

Dane County, in the southeast corner of which is the town¬

ship of Albion, is situated near the center of the area of oak

openings. Rock County lies partly adjacent to Dane County and

south of it. These two counties were quite typical of the best

developments of the prairie-oak opening vegetation in Wiscon¬

sin.

* The first four white settlers in the town of Albion arrived during the summer and autumn

of 1841.

Plate 1. View near the border of the Babcock Bur Oak Opening, looking eastward across an area of for¬

mer prairie. In the distance a woodland of second growth is in sight. Photo in 1941 by the author.

Plate 2. View looking westward across a section of the Babcock Bur Oak Opening near Albion, Wiscon¬

sin. Photo in 1941 by the author.

Stout— Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 143

Early Records for Dane County. — The notations with the

early land surveys of Dane County record that the areas of for¬

est growth were mostly scattering oak trees which were re¬

ferred to as oak openings. In describing “the face” of Dane

County, Lapham in 1846 states that “there are no considerable

portions that can be called timber land, it being almost entirely

oak openings or prairie.” A “History of Dane County” (5),

published in 1880, makes both general statements regarding the

entire county and rather definite statements for each township

in respect to the character of the native vegetation. Some of

these statements may be quoted here.

“The prevailing timber of Dane County is small oak, oc¬

curring in patches or groves, constituting what is known

as oak openings” (p. 309). — “Bur Oak. This is perhaps

the most ornamental of our oaks. Nothing can exceed the

graceful beauty of these trees, when not crowded or

cramped in their growth but left free to follow the laws

of their development. Who has not admired these trees

in our extensive bur oak openings” (p. 128).

The statements for several of the townships may be quot¬

ed. (For Albion (36 square miles) : “The northeast part

is mostly prairie ; the southeast, oak openings ; the north¬

west, openings and marsh; and the southwest are open¬

ings, except sections 19 and 30, which are marsh.” —

For Dunkirk Township adjacent at the west of Albion:

“The lands in this town are diversified by oak openings,

prairie and marsh.” — For the township of Rutland

next west of Dunkirk: “The larger part of the land is

openings, while little, if any, may be termed prairie. The

soil is rich and productive. There is a lake known as

Island Lake which in early times was considered a curi¬

osity. It has an island near the center of about three

acres. This was once thickly wooded with good rock

maple trees with no others within twenty miles.” — For

the township of Oregon, third to the west of Albion:

“The surface in most places is beautifully undulating,

while in other places it is called hilly. It is principally

covered with bur oak, among which stood large white and

red oaks, and occasionally a large shellbark hickory. The

entire town was covered with a sweet and nutritious

grass, called blue joint.* As this grass was burned every

fall, and there was no underbrush of timber, a two-horse

* Evidently the name “blue joint” here refers to Andropogon jurcatus Muhl. For this species

Shantz and Zon (IS) give the common name “bluestem” and later Shantz (20) gives the name

“big bluejoint.” The species Calamagrostis canadensis also known as “bluejoint” was abundant in

the marsh meadows of Dane County.

144 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

wagon could be driven through these openings with ease.

As these annual fires prevented the roots of the timber

from growing near the surface, the land was broken for

the same price for breaking prairie, hence it was claimed

the oak openings combined all the advantages of prairie

and timberland.” — For Blue Mounds, second township

from the south in the western tier of five townships and

about 30 miles from Albion: “The timber supply of the

town of Blue Mounds is perhaps as varied as can be found

in any locality in the county, there is oak in variety, black

walnut, butternut, hickory (bitter and sweet), poplar and

other timbers.” — For the town of York in the extreme

northeastern corner of the county : “The land of this town

is oak openings, with occasionally marsh, there being no

prairie within its borders.” — For Black Earth in the

northwestern corner of the county and second township

north of Blue Mounds : “Section 24 is mostly marshy land,

the remainder of the town being oak openings, with little

if any prairie.” — For Berry Township which joins

Black Earth: “This country, in its native condition was

timbered principally with oak, there being heavy growths

of white oak in the high lands, and bur oaks in the bottom

lands.” — For the township of Madison near the center

of the county: “The land is undulating, generally covered

with oak openings.”

The native forest vegetation over the other 26 townships was

quite like that of the nine townships for which the reports are

quoted. The eastern and western boundaries of the county did

not extend into the region of denser oak forest, but within the

confines of the county there were somewhat isolated areas of

such timber at the time when the areas were first settled. For

several of the townships, however, there are statements in this

publication of 1880 which refer to the changes in the character

of the timber that had already occurred since the area was

settled, and these will be noted later in this article.

Early Records for Rock County. — Of the native vegetation

in Rock County, which lies to the south of Dane County, there

are rather adequate statements in an early publication (2) that

appeared in 1856. Some of the most pertinent of the statements

will be quoted.

“This county is about equally divided between prairie and

oak openings. The trees are so scattering that men fre¬

quently make farms without felling — only girdling them

— besides the openings are annually burnt over, like the

Stout — Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 145

prairies. On Rock River is a belt of timber and openings.

Groves are interspersed through the prairies at intervals,

besides which, points of openings jut into the prairie at

different places, thus rendering the outlines of the prairie

unequal, and at the same time bringing wood and timber

within a short distance to all its settlers ; in fact few men

on the prairie live more than three miles from timber.”

The record for several of the townships may be given here.

Of the five northern townships of Rock County, the middle one,

Fulton, lies adjacent to and directly south of Albion. For this

township :

“It has several small and beautiful prairies. The timber is

of large growth, suitable for sawing and building pur-

poses.” There are records of sawmills at the villages of

Fulton, Newville and Edgerton in this township at this

early date (1856). — For the township of Rock, the

third directly below Albion : “That part upon the east

side of the river is nearly all prairie, but that upon the

west side is mostly timber, some of it being very good,

though the greater part being oak openings.”

Records similar to these noted above could be quoted for the

counties or portions of them which lie to the east and to the west

of Rock County and to the immediate north of Dane County.

The Oak Openings in Relation to the Native Vegetation of

Wisconsin. — A brief but very excellent description of the

“classes” or “groups” of the main natural associations of plant

life in Wisconsin together with a map of their extent and dis¬

tribution was presented by Chamberlin (4). In discussing the

“oak group” Chamberlin (pages 177-181) makes the following

statement :

“This is most nearly related and most closely associated

with the prairie group. The prairies are rarely contigious

to any other form of aboreous vegetation. — The group

as here constituted includes both the 'oak openings’ or

'oak orchards/ and the denser oak forests. There are

sufficient reasons, however, for separating them into two

classes, as they indicate different, though allied, agricul¬

tural capabilities. The oak openings are most nearly re¬

lated to the prairies, while the oak forests graduate to the

following classes.” The “classes” here referred to are

designated “The Oak and Maple Group,” “Maple Group,”

“Maple and Beech Group,” and “The Hardwood and Coni¬

fer Group,” which are, in part at least, included in the

northern arm of what is now termed the northeastern

hardwood forest.

146 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Thus the bur oak openings comprised almost pure stands of

the one species, Quercus macrocarpa (with a sprinkling of Q.

alba especially on the higher lands) and they constituted the

most characteristic arboreal association that was in direct con¬

tact with the prairie. The belt of oak openings extended between

the prairies and the denser deciduous forests, in which there

was, and still is, a mixture of various species of trees, especially

red oak ( Quercus rubra), shellbark hickory {Cary a glabra),

large-toothed aspen ( Populus grandidentata) and such shrubby

underbrush as hazel nut {Corylus americana) and panicled cor¬

nel {Cornus paniculata) . The transition from oak openings to

the denser oak forest involved interpolations, intergradations,

and some intermingling of the two types of timber.

It may be noted that both the oak openings and the denser

oak forest of the oak group as described by Chamberlin combine

to form in Wisconsin and Minnesota the northern element of

what has more recently been termed the “oak-hickory associa¬

tion” and that this constitutes the western margin or zone of the

still more extensive “oak or southern hardwood forest.” It has

been stated that this entire oak forest “is probably the largest

hardwood forest in the Temperate Zones of the World” (15).

Of the character, location, migration and extent of this forest

there are numerous publications, especially those by Shantz and

Zon (15) and Shantz (20).

The Vanishing of the Prairies and the Oak Openings in Wis¬

consin. — The fertile prairie lands were ready for the plow of

the settlers. But on many of the homesteads in Dane County

and in neighboring counties the acreage was mostly oak open¬

ings and many of the trees were removed or at first merely

killed by girdling to provide land for cultivation. For a time

some of the oak openings were utilized as pasture lands for

cattle, horses, and sheep, especially if there were no lowland

meadows in a farm. Between the scattered trees of the oak

openings the native grasses flourished and provided excellent

grazing land.

Previous to 1900 many public gatherings, on such holidays as

Decoration Day and Fourth of July, and community picnics were

held in an oak opening where the checkered shade of the trees

contributed much to the comfort of all. But the extension of

cultivated farmland steadily reduced the area of the oak open-

Stout — Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 147

ings. To some extent the needs for timber for building homes,

for the construction of rail fences, and for firewood contributed

to the removal of the grand old trees of bur oak and white oak.

Natural Reforestation by Second Growth. — While the bur

oaks were rapidly being decimated and the areas of oak open¬

ings were disappearing in the region about Albion, as elsewhere

in southern Wisconsin, there was a most remarkable spread and

increase of new or “second growth” stands of “black oaks.”

This noteworthy and conspicuous natural reforestation entirely

changed the character of the arboreal population in this par¬

ticular area during the years between 1850 and 1890. Here this

second growth was almost entirely composed of Quercus rubra

L. and Q. coccinea Muench. Thus a survey of the flora of Madi¬

son and vicinity (7) published in 1892 at a time when the second

growth forests were well advanced contains the following state¬

ments :

“Quercus rubra L. forms a considerable element in the

older forests of the region” and “Q. coccinea Wang, forms

the chief element in the oak forests of the region.” Quer¬

cus alba was reported to be present in “all woodlands of

the county” and to be next to Q. coccinea in abundance.

Quercus macro carp a was reported to be “represented in

all parts of the region by small clumps or single individu¬

als of medium sized trees.” These authors mention the

presence of only one other species of oak (Q. bicolor ,

Willd.) in Dane County and they make no mention of the

oak openings which had formerly been abundant about

Madison.

This second growth of timber appeared as seedlings which

were often in such numbers that they formed thickets over many

upland areas that were not cultivated or heavily pastured. Often

the second growth invaded oak openings and filled in about the

old trees of bur oak and white oak. As a result, in a span of

some 40 years, nearly every large farm in the area about Albion

possessed at least one “woodlot” of close-standing “black oaks”

of which many were no more than 12 inches in diameter at the

level of the ground. Some of these woods covered an acreage in

which there had previously been no, or at least few, black oaks

to serve as parent seed trees. But scattering trees of these oaks

and areas of rather dense woods which contained black oaks

were interpolated within the area dominated by oak openings,

especially near certain streams and lakes.

148 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

Thus the second-growth oak forest composed of the so-called

black oaks became the principal natural association of tree

growth about Albion where the oak openings had formerly been

abundant. Perhaps the largest acreage of this second growth

was in existence here about 1880-1890. It was the rule that the

trees stood close together with no growth of grass between them.

Especially after 1890 many of these woodlands were cut over for

firewood or were entirely cleared. But fine stands of this timber

still exist. One such woodlot is shown against the horizon in the

middle of the view of Plate 1.

Scattered through many of the second-growth woods there

were, and still are, towering monarchs of white oak and some¬

what lower trees of the bur oak whose knarled trunks were

usually from three to four feet in diameter. These had existed

here when the site was an oak opening. In these trees the red¬

tailed hawks build their nests. The larger branches and trunks

are often hollow and in such cavities the screech owls nest, and

the abundant fox squirrels and the less frequent and more se¬

cretive flying squirrels make their homes.

The writer can attest that in these woods near the village

of Albion, as well as in the oak openings, he has rarely observed,

about one of the bur oak trees, any younger trees that could

have grown from its acorns. However when second-growth

woods were cut over and not severely pastured a “third-growth”

reproduction often contained some seedling reproduction of both

white oak and bur oak.

There has been some seed reproduction of both bur oak and

wdiite oak during the period of second growth in localities where

conditions favored such reproduction. One such area recently

studied by Chavannes (21) is located in the northwestern corner

of Dane County a few miles distant from the townships of Black

Earth and Barry in an area of the early oak openings. This par¬

ticular woodland covers sixty acres. The timber surrounds sev¬

eral small areas of hillside prairie the largest of which (Beech's

prairie) covers only one half of the area. Bur oak trees sur¬

round this island of relic prairie, and next to them is a stand of

white oak in a part of which there is a recent growth of linden.

Of both the bur oak and the white oak there are old wide-spread¬

ing trees as much as 250 years old which once formed an oak

opening. Now younger trees of the bur oak stand in a concentric

Stout — Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 149

distribution about the plot of prairie and there are also younger

trees of the white oak. The study reveals that the growth of the

other arboreous species, such as linden, aspen and sumac, is an

invasion during the past one hundred years. No doubt there are

now many areas of second growth in the region of the oak open¬

ings in which there have been recent reproductions from the

seed of Quercus macrocarpa and Q. alba. But it is certain that

such reproduction has been relatively much less over the entire

area than the reproduction of other woody species, especially of

the so-called black oaks now found in the area.

Records of the Second Growth. — Mention of this develop¬

ment of second growth was made in some of the publications

already quoted. In the History of Dane County (5) in the report

of the township of Blooming Grove (second in the diagnonal

northwest from Albion) there are the following statements:

“In an early day there was but little timber in this town

in common with localities adjacent and what there was

was used with the utmost prudence. Some of the farmers

sowed locust seed to raise timber, but nature soon sup¬

plied the want and now there is enough and to spare of

white, black, and red oak and other kinds.”

Another record for the town of Perry in the southwest corner

of Dane County and the sixth township directly to the west of

Albion is of special interest:

“Largely rolling prairie, northeast part is principally roll¬

ing prairie. The southern part on the other hand, being

made up more of bluffs and low-lying bottoms. The town

in its native state was covered with brush and grubs,

there being scarcely enough timber to supply the wants of

the farmers, but now there is an abundance of young tim¬

ber, the growth of the last thirty-five years. It consists of

white, black, and red oak, including other kinds indige¬

nous to this part of the country.”

The development of second growth in the prairie-oak open¬

ing area in Wisconsin has been noted in numerous technical

publications of which one by Sargent (6) will here be quoted:

“The forest area has somewhat increased in the prairie

regions of the state since its first settlement and the con¬

sequent decrease of destructive prairie fires. The growth

of trees has gradually spread from the bottom lands of

the streams to the hills, and the oak forests on the up¬

lands have gradually encroached upon the prairie, losing

150 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

their open, park-like character by the appearance of a

young growth which has sprung up among the old trees.”

That this increase of forest involved the spread and to some

extent the introduction of black oaks rather than the reproduc¬

tion of the original species of bur oak and white oak was later

recognized by Sargent (9) in the following statements which

refer to a wide area of the Mississippi basin as well as of Wis¬

consin :

“Forests of oaks, too, have spread over regions in the

basin of the Mississippi where prairies existed before the

white man checked the Indian fires which year after year

had swept them bare of trees. The oak forests of the

middle and southern states, although increasing in area,

are deteriorating, however, in composition, the white

oaks being gradually overpowered by the less valuable

black oaks, whose bitter acorns are left to germinate by

hogs which pasture in the forest and devour the sweet

acorns of the white oaks.”

This statement of the fact that there was a rapid and selec¬

tive reproduction of the black oaks applies to the developments

in Dane County noted above, but here the selective feeding on

acorns by hogs was never more than a most rare and incidental

occurrence.

Considerable attention has been given to the factors involved

in the reproduction and migration of species of Quercus. Gleason

(13, p. 120) discusses these matters but decides that the deter¬

mination of these factors is not sufficient to explain the distribu¬

tion and migration of the oaks in Illinois. More recently Kor-

stian (17) has determined many of the factors which affect the

production and the germination of the acorns and the survival

of the seedlings of several important species of oak, and he has

made application of this data to silvicultural methods. But it is

not fully evident how such factors operate in natural selective

and adaptive reproduction in which the inherent characters of

various species of oaks are involved.

It may be stated (a) that this extension of the forest was

the latest period in the general western advance of the oak for¬

est which had long been in progress in the Mississippi Valley;

(b) that this was at first favored by the cessation of prairie

fires; and (c) that the natural advance of the forest was then

checked and the area of the natural oak-hickory belt of timber

Stout — Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 151

much reduced by the extension of agriculture. An excellent dis¬

cussion of “The Vegetational History of the Middle West” to¬

gether with a bibliography has been presented by Gleason (14).

The Natural Range and Variations of the Bur Oak . — The

species Quercus macrocarpa is distributed over a wide area of

the United States and Canada and in its population there are

noteworthy diversities in botanical characters, in habits of

growth that exhibit adaptations to habitats, and in associations

with other species of plants.

Trees of the bur oak are found over the entire range of the

southern hardwood forest and also over a considerable part of

the northeastern hardwood forest as these are mapped in the

Atlas of American Agriculture (15). The climax in the stature

of trees of this species is reached in the rich bottomlands of

southern Indiana and Illinois in the southern hardwood forest

where individual trees reach a height of 170 feet and a trunk

diameter of 6-7 feet (9).

Throughout most of their range the trees of the bur oak are

scattered among trees of other species and the associations in¬

volve a considerable number of species. So general is this habit

that one writer (22) makes the following statements:

“Bur oak never grows in dense stands, but as individuals

or in groups associated with other bottomland trees such

as pin oak, white oak, basswood, willow, cottonwood,

black walnut, the hickories, elms and soft maples. It

grows well on rich, moist bottomlands and on lower

slopes, preferring areas where water is available but not

excessive. Of relatively slow growth, it reaches great

ages and is not considered mature before 200 to 300

years.”

In its mid-western range the bur oak reaches the western

limits of the tall grass prairies in western Nebraska — about 600

miles directly to the west of the bur oak openings of Dane

County, Wisconsin. Pound and Clements (10, p. 148) report on

the bur oak in this region as follows :

“Quercus macrocarpa is the sole species of oak which

grows over the entire state. It extends from the bluffs of

the Missouri to the canyon sides of the foothills. The indi¬

viduals exhibit the greatest variation in different habi¬

tats. In the deep forests of I and II* ' Quercus macro -

Refers to the “Wooded Bluff” and the “Prairie” regions in Nebraska.

152 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

carpa’ is a tall commanding tree, which is usually the

principal element in the formation. Northward along the

Missouri the bur oak steadily decreases in size in forest

formation and becomes a conspicuous object along the

tops of the high dry bluffs. The front of the bluffs of both

the Niobrara and the Republican is covered almost ex¬

clusively with individuals of this species. At the base of

the bluffs they are usually small trees, 3-5 meters high.

But toward the top they decrease regularly in size, and

become diffusely branched, so that the tops of the bluffs

are covered with a dense thicket of low straggling bushes,

5-10 decimeters high.”

It is evident from these statements that in 1898 the stands

of bur oaks in Nebraska were quite different from those of the

oak openings in Wisconsin. They were much more diverse in

habits of growth and there was much greater natural reproduc¬

tion. Weaver and Kramer (19) report in 1932 that in Ne¬

braska “in many places the bur oak is invading the grassland”

and that “most of this migration and invasion has occurred in

the 70 years since the early settlement of eastern Nebraska and

the cessation of prairie fires.” They describe and illustrate (see

their Figure 2) as typical of the “forest margin in eastern Ne¬

braska” a “pure open stand” of bur oaks mostly 50 to 65 years

old that were rather widely spaced (10 to 40 feet) but yet stand¬

ing somewhat closer together than are the trees of the Babcock

grove at Albion, Wisconsin. These authors report for the root

system characteristic of the bur oaks in Nebraska that (a) there

is a rapid growth and deep penetration (as much as 3-5 feet the

first summer) of the roots of seedlings; (b) that as trees mature

the skeleton of larger roots is wide spreading, and much

branched, and hence occupies a very large volume of soil; and

(c) that fine much-branched rootlets clothe this framework. It

is noted that this widely spreading, well-branched root system

compensates for the low water content of the soil, provides a

means of successful competition against grasses and shrubs, and

contributes to a competition between trees of the bur oak that

results in the somewhat wide spacing noted even in pure stands.

Further to the north of Nebraska the bur oak extends into

the area of the short grass prairie and here in the cold dry areas

of Dakota and eastern Montana plants that are classed as Quer-

cns macrocarpa become merely low shrubs, and in the most

Stout — Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 153

northern range of this species at Berens River in Canada the

members are described as bushes.

Oak Barrens . — Trees of the bur oak occasionally form the

chief arboreous vegetation on sandy areas where the soil is much

less fertile than the soils of the bur oak openings of Dane Coun¬

ty. In the volume of Minnesota Plant Life, MacMillan (11)

makes the following statement:

“The bur oaks in Minnesota, together with the black

oaks, form oak barrens. These wastes, covered with gro¬

tesquely branching trunks, form picturesque forests in

the central part of the state.”

But MacMillan (8, 11) makes no mention of any remnants of

the oak openings in Minnesota in the zone of the hardwood belt

that was in contact with the prairies.

In his “Notes on the Big Woods” of Minnesota, published in

1875, Winchell (3) states that the western boundary of this

forest

“is not well marked, the trees gradually becoming thinner

and smaller, and more and more restricted to the valleys

of the streams, till the country is changed to a treeless

prairie. Around the outskirts of the woods small oaks and

aspens constitute almost the only arboreal vegetation.”

His only mention of oak openings is in the statement that

“There is a species of oak that appears like red oak ( Quer -

cus rubra L.) that frequents the outskirts of the Big

Woods. It is sometimes associated with the bur oak in the

openings.”

In his studies of the vegetation of the inland sand deposits

of Illinois, Gleason (13) also describes a bur oak association

which occupied the depressions between sand ridges. The bur

oak was the principal tree, but trees of white oak and shellbark

hickory were also present. The stand of trees was somewhat

close and the trees were rather young (see his Figure 1, Plate

XVI). In this sand area Gleason found in 1910 that the trees

which were invading the prairies were black oaks, chiefly of the

species Quercus velutina. There were in this area no oak open¬

ings of the type of the Babcock grove in Wisconsin. In the dis¬

cussion of the Barrens of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, Gleason

(13) notes that these areas are characterized by a sparse low

growth of scrub oak ( Quercus velutina ), hazel and wild plums.

It should be noted here that the “oak openings” near Toledo,

154 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Ohio, which were described by Moseley (18) also occupy a sandy

sirea partly covered with low sand dunes, that although several

species of Quercus were found on the area the bur oak was not

present, and that this particular association is more like the oak

barrens than the bur oak openings in Wisconsin.

The Ecological Status of the Bur Oak Openings. — Several

features of the oak openings in Wisconsin are characteristic and

conspicuous: (a) the trees are of nearly the same age and of

good tree-like stature; (b) the trees were scattered or separated

in a park or orchard-like disposition with dense sod of grasses

between them; and (c) there had been for many years no repro¬

duction from seed of the trees and no invasion by other woody

species.

The trees in these bur oak openings, judging from those now

in the Babcock grove, date back to about 200-250 years ago, a

rather short and recent period of time when the entire interval

of the post-glacial history of the area is considered.

Various writers have supported the view frequently ex¬

pressed from an early date and already referred to in this arti¬

cle, that the prairie fires of the Indians were an important fac¬

tor in destroying tree growth in the belt adjacent to the prairies

and that one result of this was the development of the oak open¬

ings. Gleason (14) has supported this view and described the

probable process as follows :

“The fires destroyed seedling trees at the west margin of

the forest, preventing further advance in that direction.

It is doubtful if they penetrated far into the forest, but

by destroying the undergrowth and killing the more sus¬

ceptible species, they gradually reduced the forest to the

park like condition known as oak openings'" (14, pp. 80-

81).

According to this view the oak openings in Wisconsin and in

neighboring states were remnants of an earlier and more dense

marginal forest of which the older of the bur oaks and white

oaks withstood destruction by fires.

But in the Babcock grove the character of the grove has re¬

mained quite unchanged since the last prairie fires swept the

area. During this time in the area of this grove there continued

to be no seed reproduction of the bur oaks already there; but

there was also relatively little reproduction of bur oaks and

white oaks over the entire area.

Stout — Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 155

What became of all the acorns produced in this Babcock

grove during the past one hundred years? From the general

evidence at hand, especially summarized and presented by Kor-

stian (17), large numbers were eaten by rodents and weevils;

perhaps few germinated and had even a chance to live in com¬

petition with the sod ; and finally it may be that seedlings of the

bur oaks and of any invading woody species were destroyed in

the browsings of cattle, horses and sheep. It would seem that

the facts in this situation, as well as those for the decided se¬

lective reproduction of black oaks over white oaks, could yet be

determined by direct observation and experimentation, and also

that the matters of reforestation warrant such study.

It may be noted that the association of a dense sod of grasses

with a scattering distribution of trees is a somewhat unstable

and obligate relationship. An increase in the stand of the trees

will eliminate the grass beneath the canopy of the branches. But

the dense sod of grass roots and rhizomes make it difficult for

seedlings of hardwoods to become established.

The rather robust growth of the bur oaks in the oak open¬

ings of Wisconsin is no doubt due to the fact that the trees have

developed on rich fertile land that has received adequate rain¬

fall for tree growth. The area of the tall grass prairies bulges

eastward into southern Wisconsin and over most of Illinois.

Over a considerable part of this area the amount of rainfall has

in recent time become favorable to forest growth and the oak

forests which were advancing to the west had in 1850 already

become a belt of considerable width. The oak-hickory portion of

the oak forest belt covered (a) much of the fine farm land of

Ohio and Indiana, (b) portions of southern Michigan and south¬

ern Wisconsin, (c) parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, and

(d) portions of other states to the southwest.

Northward in Minnesota the entire oak belt became a narrow

strip along the western edge of the Big Woods and in its margi¬

nal contacts with the prairie there was rapid decrease in the

size of the trees (3). This decrease in the stature of the tree

growth was quite general and continuous along the entire west¬

ern fringes of forest in the Mississippi Valley and northward in

Canada. Here several hundred miles to the west of the Wiscon¬

sin oak openings there was not only sparse and scattered dis¬

tribution of woody species but also much reduction in stature.

156 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

That other species besides bur oak and white oak may domi¬

nate “openings” is to be recognized. Sargent writing in 1882

and 1883 (6), states that the original forests of the oak belt in

Ohio and Indiana had already been “largely removed in the de¬

velopments of agriculture.” For Illinois he reported that the

forest growth of the prairie region “was confined to the narrow

river bottoms and occasional open park-like groves of bur, scar¬

let, red, black jack or post oaks, known as ‘oak openings\”

While many areas of this timber in Illinois have now disap¬

peared, as elsewhere in the Mississippi Valley, some areas of

them still exist. In his report on the flora of the Chicago area

published in 1927, Pepoon (16, p. 47) shows a photograph of a

typical bur oak opening and states that this type of association

was at that date characteristic of the bur oaks on the ancient

lake benches of the area.

Although trees of the bur oak are found as far south as cen¬

tral Texas, it seems that in that region other species of oak are

most frequent in the “open forests” and “cross-timbers” which

are adjacent to the dry prairies [Sargent (6), p. 540]. Also in

Indiana territory the timberlands that are interspersed with the

prairies are mostly post oak ( Quercus stellata Wang.: Quercus

obtusifolia Michaux.) and black jack oak ( Quercus marylandica

Muench.) and in their most western range there is the stunted

growth of these species which is characteristic of the “cross¬

timbers.” But these species disappear to the north near the

Cimarron River [Sargent (6), p. 543] and in Kansas and Ne¬

braska the bur oak becomes the most abundant species of tree.

Several hundred miles to the eastward the black jack oak ( Quer¬

cus marylandica) reaches its northern limit on the sand prairies

of central Illinois on areas where the bur oak is not present

(12).

The Matter of Terminology. — Under the term “opening”

Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, 1842,

gives the following definition : “A thinly wooded space, without

underbrush, in the midst of a forest, or grove ; as oak-openings.”

But the bur oak openings in Wisconsin were not in the midst of

a forest; they were most often surrounded by or bordering on

prairie grassland.

In the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1900) there is

the following definition :

Stout — Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 157

“Opening. 5. A clear, unobstructed or unoccupied space

or place; specifically, in the United States, a tract over

which there is a deficiency of forest, trees being not en¬

tirely wanting, but thinly scattered over the surface, as

compared with their abundance in an adjacent region.

The word is most frequently used with this meaning in

Wisconsin and neighboring states on the west and as the

scattered trees are frequently oaks ( Quercus nigra*

jack-oak, and Q. obtusifolia ,** post oak, are the most com¬

mon species) such openings are often designated as oak

openings. Similar tracts in the more southern states, es-

specially in Kentucky, are called barrens and oak bar¬

rens

There follows a quotation from Cooper's novel, The Oak Open-

ingsy in which there is mention of the bur oak. The two species

of Quercus mentioned in the quotation above are the principal

oaks of the Cross-Timbers area in Texas and Oklahoma, but

neither was present in the extensive oak openings in Wisconsin

nor is now found in the state.

It appears that the term “oak orchard" employed by Cham¬

berlin (4) has had rather limited use in the literature of oak

openings, and that the terms “park" and “grove" have rather

wide applications which include other types of tree growth. The

term, chaparral (15, especially Figures 6 and 7), is especially

applied to broad-leaved woodlands of the southwest which range

from “an impenetrable thicket of low shrubs to open oak stands"

some of which may somewhat resemble the oak openings of Wis¬

consin but are entirely composed of different species.

Since the oak openings of Wisconsin constituted a somewhat

definite type of prairie grassland and oak forest association in

which the bur oak was more abundant than the white oak it

seems suitable to apply the term “bur oak openings."

A Commemoration of the Oak Opening in Literature. — The

bur oak openings received special mention and distinction in the

historical novel The Oak Openings which was written by James

Fenimore Cooper in 1848. The scene of the beginning of the

story in the year 1812 was in a bur oak opening on the banks

of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The description is as fol¬

lows :

“The country was what is termed ‘rolling/ from some

fancied resemblance to the surface of the ocean, when it

= Quercus marylandica Muench.

= Quercus stellata Wang.

158 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

is just undulating with a long ‘ground-swell/ Although

wooded, it was not, as the American forest is wont to

grow, with tall straight trees towering toward the light,

but with intervals between the low oaks that were scat¬

tered profusely over the view, and with much of that air

of negligence that one is apt to see in grounds, where art

is made to assume the character of nature. The trees,

with very few exceptions, were what is called the ‘burr-

oak/ a small variety of a very extensive genus ; and the

spaces between them, always irregular, and often of sin¬

gular beauty, have obtained the name of 'openings/ the

two terms combined giving their appellation to this par¬

ticular species of native forest, under the name of ‘Oak

Openings/

“These woods, so peculiar to certain districts of coun¬

try, are not altogether without some variety, though pos¬

sessing a general character of sameness. The trees were

of very uniform size, being little taller than pear-trees,

which they resemble a good deal in form; and having

trunks that rarely attain two feet in diameter. The vari¬

ety is produced by their distribution. In places they stand

with a regularity resembling that of an orchard; then,

again, they are more scattered and less formal, while

wide breadths of the land are occasionally seen in which

they stand in copses, with vacant spaces, that bear no

small affinity to artificial lawns, being covered with ver¬

dure. The grasses are supposed to be owing to the fires

lighted periodically by the Indians in order to clear their

hunting-grounds/’

This excellent description of an oak opening was based en¬

tirely “on the evidence of documents” furnished to Cooper by

the “bee hunter” who was an important character of the novel,

and later a well-known citizen of Michigan, General Benjamin

Boden.

In the concluding chapter of the novel The Oak Openings ,

Cooper tells of his journey during the summer of 1848 from his

home pear Cooperstown, N. Y., to Kalamazoo. This, he states,

was “an occasion which offered to verify the truth of some of

our pictures, at least by personal observation.” The portion of

this journey from Detroit to Kalamazoo was by railroad and of

the natural scenery Cooper makes comment as follows :

“The whole country was a wheat-field, and we now began

to understand how America could feed the world. Our

road lay among the ‘Openings’ much of the way, and we

found them undergoing the changes which are incident to

Stout — Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 159

the passage of civilised men. As the periodical fires had

now ceased for many years, underbrush was growing in

lieu of the natural grass, and in so much those groves are

less attractive than formerly ; but one easily comprehends

the reason, and can picture to himself the aspect that

these pleasant woods must have worn in times of old.”

At Kalamazoo, Cooper found that “Those who had laid out

this village, some fifteen years since, had the taste to preserve

most of the trees” and that the houses and grounds were “pleas¬

ant to the eye, on account of the shade, and the rural features

they present.” But in this year of 1848 Cooper evidently saw

few surviving trees of the bur oak openings that existed in the

area about the Chateau au Miel 36 years earlier and evidently

he did not find any sizable area of the oak openings still in a

natural condition. But at this time there were thousands of acres

of such oak openings in Wisconsin.

In regard to the present status of bur oak trees in the area

about Kalamazoo the writer has received the following state¬

ment from the Forestry Department of the City of Kalamazoo :

“The Forestry Department reports no real stand of bur oaks in

this vicinity. Scattered trees are found throughout the city,

perhaps the largest group being that of eight or ten in Bronson

Park. Formerly groves of bur oaks were found near Kalamazoo

including a large stand near Oshtemo on route U. S. 12.”

The total area of the prairies and of the oak openings in

southern Michigan was relatively small in comparison to the

area in southern Wisconsin but evidently the character of the

bur oak openings was quite the same in both regions.

Concluding Remarks. — The early records are particularly

complete and accurate for the main facts regarding the charac¬

ter, location, and extent of the bur oak openings in Wisconsin.

Their relations and ecological status in the so-called oak-hickory

belt which constitutes the western margin of the extensive east¬

ern forests of North America are now well recognized.

For perhaps a hundred years before the advent of the white

settlers into southern Wisconsin the oak opening prairie asso¬

ciation was a somewhat static feature in the midst of a region

where there had been dynamic changes in post-glacial plant mi¬

grations. Both the prairie and the forest are decidedly static

and self-sustaining and the two tend to be mutually exclusive.

In the bur oak openings these two sharply contrasted types of

160 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

vegetation are combined in a somewhat balanced and static re¬

lationship that is indeed noteworthy and of special interest.

But the coming of the white man spelled the doom of the oak

openings. The land they occupied was fertile, there was suffi¬

cient timber for the immediate needs of the settlers, yet the

stands of the trees were so sparse that the clearing involved

relatively little labor. Within fifty years most of the oak open¬

ings were converted into fields of corn, wheat, oats, and tobacco

or were filled in by the second growth which was mostly of in¬

vading black oaks. At the present time, after another fifty

years, there exist only few scattered remnants of the once nu¬

merous bur oak openings. Of these the Babcock grove now occu¬

pies about fifty acres and is still in an excellent state of preser¬

vation. It is the memory of the grandeur and the beauty of the

extensive groves, of which this is a remnant, that has prompted

this epitome which perhaps may be considered an obituary of

the bur oak openings in Wisconsin.

Literature Cited

1. 1846. Wisconsin, its geography and topography. By I. A. Lapham.

2. 1856. History of Rock County. Edited and compiled by Orrin Guernsey

and Josiah F. Willard. Published by the Rock County Agricultural

Society and Mechanics’ Institute, Janesville.

3. 1875. Notes on the Big Woods. By N. H. Winchell, in Annual Rep. State

Hort. Soc.

4. 1877. Geology of Wisconsin, 2: Part 2. By T. C. Chamberlin. The map of

the native vegetation of Wisconsin, Plate No. IIA, bears the date 1882.

5. 1880. History of Dane County, Wisconsin. Western Historical Society.

6. 1884. Report on the forests of North America. By Charles S. Sargent. In

Tenth Census of the United States, Vol. 9.

7. 1892. On the flora of Madison and vicinity. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., 9:

45-135. By L. S. Cheney and R. H. True

8. 1892. The metaspermae of the Minnesota valley. By Conway MacMillan.

9. 1895. The silva of North America, Vol. 8. By Charles S. Sargent.

10. 1898. The phytogeography of Nebraska. By Roscoe Pound and Frederic E.

Clements.

11. 1899. Minnesota plant life. By Conway MacMillan.

12. 1907. A botanical survey of the Illinois River Valley sand region. Bull.

HI. State Lab. of Nat. Hist., 7: 149-194. By H. A. Gleason.

13. 1910. The vegetation of the inland deposits of Illinois. Bull. Illinois State

Lab. Nat. Hist., 9: 23-174. By H. A. Gleason.

14. 1923. The vegetational history of the Middle West. Annals Ass’n. Am.

Geographers, 12: 39-85. By H. A. Gleason.

15. 1924. Atlas of American Agriculture, Part I. Section E. By H. L. Shantz

and Raphael Zon.

Stout — Bur Oak Openings in Southern Wisconsin 161

16. 1927. An annotated flora of the Chicago area. Bull. 8. Nat. Hist. Survey.

By H. S. Pepoon

17. 1927. Factors controlling germination and early survival in oaks. Bull.

No. 19, Yale School of Forestry. By Clarence F. Korstian.

18. 1928. Flora of the oak openings west of Toledo. Prod. Ohio Acad. Sci., 8:

81-134. By Edwin L. Moseley.

19. 1932. Root system of Quercus macrocarpa in relation to the invasion of

prairie. Bot. Gazette, 94: 51-85. By J. E. Weaver and Joseph

Kramer.

20. 1938. Plants as soil indicators. Yearbook of U. S. Dept, of Agriculture,

pp. 835-860. By H. L. Shantz.

21. 1940. The steep prairies of southern Wisconsin and their invasion by forest.

By Elizabeth Anna Chavannes. An unpublished thesis in the records

of the University of Wisconsin, loaned to the writer by Prof. N. C.

Fassett. The investigation was financed by the Alumni Research

Foundation of the University of Wisconsin.

22. 1941. Knowing your trees. By C. H. Collingwood.

SOME AQUATIC AND SUB-AQUATIC PLANTS FROM

THE REGION OF GLACIAL LAKE WISCONSIN

John Catenhusen

This paper records some of the aquatic and sub-aquatic

plants occurring on the bed of Glacial Lake Wisconsin (Fig. 1)

and contains notes on rare or interesting species. Of special

interest are several plants of the Atlantic coastal plain which

occur in this region. The remaining species have been listed

here chiefly as a matter of record. Since they are all native to

the region it was deemed worthwhile to record them because of

extensive plantings of aquatic plants (obtained from commercial

seed distributors) by the Resettlement Administration in 1936

and 1937 and in more recent years by the Fish and Wildlife

Service.

Collections were made during the month of August of the

years 1938 to 1940 incidental to a study concerning the bog

vegetation of the region. The study was made possible by grants

from the Alumni Research Foundation of the University of Wis¬

consin. Grateful acknowledgment is made to Professor N. C.

Fassett for many helpful suggestions. All plants collected were

checked against records of plantings made by the organizations

mentioned above to make certain that they were native to the

area. Expressions of relative abundance refer only to their

status in the region.

Glacial Lake Wisconsin was formed by the damming of the

pre-Glacial Wisconsin River by the advancing ice sheet. After

the ice melted away, the lake was drained by the east fork of the

Black River. After the lake was drained, peat bogs formed in

the low places, while red and white pine stands developed on the

interspersed sand islands and sandstone ridges.

About 1900 the entire area was cut through by a network

of drainage ditches. Much of the area was drained completely.

Several severe fires followed the artificial drainage, burning deep

basins into the peat and destroying much of the native vegeta¬

tion. Those aquatic plants which survived occurred in protected

163

164 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

Figure l . -^Clacial^Lake^Wisconsin^

Figure 1. The graph shows the number of tons of lime sold annually from

1904 to 1940 by Wisconsin producers. The solid line indicates the total amount

of lime sold while the two broken lines show the amount sold for the specific

purposes indicated. Note that as the total production declined a smaller

percentage has been sold for building purposes.

cranberry reservoirs or migrated to the artificially constructed

ditches. In 1933 and the years following, dams and dikes were

constructed in an effort to raise the water-table to its original

level. Flowages were created above the dikes, and shallow pools

were formed in the burned-out peat basins. The past few years

C at enhusen— Aquatic and Sub-Aquatic Plants

165

have witnessed an invasion of these pools and flowages by the

aquatics restricted for years to the ditches and cranberry reser¬

voirs.

Typha latifolia L. — Abundant. It easily pioneers exposed, wet

places and shallow pools. In some instances it has taken over

recently impounded flowages.

Sparganium americanum Nutt. — Common, particularly in

creeks.

Sparganium chlorocarpum Rydb.— Common, particularly in

creeks.

POTAMOGETON CAPILLACEUS Poir. — Uncommon. A plant of the

coastal plain (Fernald 1932) which exhibits a range in Wis¬

consin typical of this group of plants. One station is known

in northern Wisconsin in Sawyer County and two stations

occur in Juneau County in this region.

POTAMOGETON epihydrus Raf. var. Nuttallii (C. & S.) Fer¬

nald.— The most abundant of the Potamogetons of this re¬

gion. Many of the ditches and flowages support at least some

individuals.

POTAMOGETON foliosus Raf.— Fairly common, particularly in

some of the creeks of eastern Jackson County.

POTAMOGETON XLLINOENSI3 Morong.— Generally uncommon, but

abundant in one ditch in northern Juneau County.

POTAMOGETON NATANS L. — Uncommon. Restricted to older

flowages and ditches.

POTAMOGETON oakesianus Robbins. — Uncommon. Restricted to

older flowages and ditches.

POTAMOGETON pulcher Tuckerm. — Rare. A plant of the coastal

plain with a range in Wisconsin similar to that of Potamoge-

ton capillaceus. In this region it occurs only in Juneau Coun¬

ty in a cranberry reservoir which is over 40 years old.

POTAMOGETON SPIRILLUS Tuckerm.— Rare. Found in the same

reservoir in which Potamogeton pulcher was found.

Sagittaria cristata Engelm. — -Common on sandy shores of

lakes in southern Adams County.

Sagittaria latifolia Willd.— Common in ditches and shallow

pools. It frequently pioneers exposed, wet places.

Sagittaria latifolia Willd. var. obtusa (Muhl.) Wiegand. —

Similar in habit to the above species and often occurring

with it.

166 Wisconsin Academy of Scierices , Arts and Letters

Sagittaria latifolia Willd. forma gracilis (Pursh) Robinson.

— Fairly common. Many individuals occur which grade into

the true form.

Sagittaria rigida Pursh. — Rare. Only one station was located

— a flowage in northeastern Monroe County.

Alisma plantago-aquatica L. — Common. It requires a habitat

similar to that of Sagittaria latifolia and often pioneers ex¬

posed, wet places.

Alisma plantago-aquatica L. var. parviflorum (Pursh) Far-

well. — Similar in habit to Alisma Plantago-aquatica and oft¬

en found with it.

Anacharis occidentalis (Pursh) Victorin. — Uncommon.

Found in some of the older reservoirs.

Vallisneria AMERICANA Michx. — Uncommon, but locally abun¬

dant in northern Juneau County.

Zizania aquatica L. var. angustifolia Hitchc. — Uncommon.

A few scattered colonies occur along some of the creeks.

Zizania aquatica L. var. interior Fassett. — Uncommon. Fair

stands occur along the Lemon weir River in Juneau County;

in addition, many plantings have been made, some of which

have been successful.

Glyceria CANADENSIS (Michx.) Trin. — Common along shallow

creeks and ditches, and along the shores of flowages.

Glyceria grandis Wats. — Less common than the above species ;

occurs in much the same habitat.

Phragmites communis Trin. — Fairly common. It pioneers

areas similar to those of Typha, but to a lesser degree.

ECHINOCHLOA PUNGENS (Poir.) Rydb. — Fairly common. Mucky

shores of flowages and ditches.

Leersia ORYZOIDES (L.) Schwartz. — Very common. Often occurs

as a monotype along wet shores of flowages or ditches.

Leersia oryzoides (L.) Schwartz forma glabra Eaton. — Less

common than the above species. It is usually a submersed

form.

Calamagrostis canadensis (Michx.) Beauv. — This grass often

dominates many acres of wet peat meadows. It easily in¬

vades burned-over peat areas which are subsequently flooded

to the extent that a wet, mucky soil is exposed.

Phalaris arundinacea L. — Uncommon. Occasionally along

shores of older flowages.

Catenhusen — Aquatic and Sub-Aquatic Plants

167

Dulichium arundinaceum (L.) Britton. — Common, especially

in old cranberry reservoirs in the western half of the region.

Eleocharis obtusa (Willd.) Schultes. — Abundant on wet

ground or in extremely shallow water.

Scirpus CYPERINUS (L.) Kunth var. pelius Fernald. — The most

common member of the sedge family in this region.

Scirpus validus Vahl. — Uncommon. Occurs along the shores of

flowages, often extending well into deeper water.

Carex oligosperma Michx. — Uncommon, locally common. This

plant was at one time so abundant that it provided the raw

material for an extensive weaving industry in this region.

Carex vulpinoidea Michx. — Common in wet meadows.

Calla palustris L. — Uncommon, but abundant in several of the

older cranberry reservoirs.

Lemna minor L. — Common throughout the region.

Lemna TRISULCA L. — Less common than the above species.

Pontederia CORDATA L. — Uncommon. Mucky shores or shallow

water.

JUNCUS balticus Willd. var. LiTTORALis Engelm. — Rare. Sandy

shores.

Juncus effusus L. — Common in wet meadows.

Iris virginica L. var. shrevei (Small) Anderson. — Creeks and

older reservoirs.

Polygonum careyi Olney. — Common on exposed, mucky peat.

Polygonum coccineum Muhl. var. pratincola (Greene) Stan¬

ford. — Common on exposed, mucky peat.

Polygonum natans Eaton forma genuinum Stanford. — Com¬

mon on exposed, mucky peat.

Ceratophyllum demersum L.— Uncommon. Occurs abundant¬

ly in an old cranberry reservoir in northern Juneau County.

Nymphaea odorata Ait. — Fairly common in older ditches and

reservoirs.

Nuphar variegatum Engelm. — Fairly common in older ditches

and reservoirs.

Nasturtium officionale R. Br. — Common in cold creeks, espe¬

cially in Jackson County.

Potentilla palustris (L.) Scop. — Uncommon. Occurs in older

cranberry reservoirs.

Callitriche heterophylla Pursh. — Rare. There are three au¬

thentic stations in Wisconsin: one in eastern Jackson Coun¬

ty, and two in the Baraboo Hills in Sauk County.

168 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

Hypericum canadense L. — Uncommon. Several stations were

found: one in northern Juneau County, and several in east¬

ern Jackson County (McLaughlin 1931).

Hypericum virginicum L. var. fraseri (Spach) Fernald. Com¬

mon on wet, mucky soil or in shallow water.

Viola lanceolata L. — Uncommon. Wet, mucky soil.

Didiplis diandra (Nutt.) Wood forma aquatica (Koehne)

Fassett. — Only one station was found, in an old cranberry

reservoir in northern Juneau County.

Ludwigia palustris (L.) Ell. var. Americana (D. C.) Fern. &

Grisc. — Common on wet, mucky soil.

Ludwigia palustris fL.) Ell. var. Americana (T>. C.) Fern. &

Grisc. forma elongata Fassett. Uncommon. Grows in rela¬

tively deep water.

Ludwigia polycarpa Short and Peter. — Uncommon. Wet, mucky

soil.

Myriophyllum farwellii Morong. — Uncommon. One station

occurs in eastern Jackson County, in an old cranberry reser¬

voir.

Utricularia intermedia Hayne. — Less common than the fol¬

lowing species. Ditches and flowages.

Utricularia vulgaris L. var. Americana Gray. — Common.

Many of the ditches and flowages contain this species.

Cephalanthus occidentalis L. — Uncommon. Common in the

bottom lands of Beaver Creek in northern Juneau County.

Lobelia cardinalis L. — Fairly common in bottom lands of the

Wisconsin and Yellow Rivers.

Megalodonta beckii (Torr.) Greene. — Occasional in flowages

and ditches.

Eupatorium perfoliatum L. — Common in wet meadows.

Aster paniculatus Lam. — Common in wet meadows.

Helianthus giganteus L. — Common in wet meadows.

Bidens frondosa L. — Common in damp or wet meadows, and

along ditch banks.

Bidens comosa (Gray) Wiegand. — Common on wet shores and

ditch banks.

Bidens connata Muhl— Common on wet shores and ditch

banks.

Bidens cernua L. — Common in wet meadows and along ditch

banks.

ClRSlUM muticum Michx. — Common in wet meadows.

Catenhusen — Aquatic and Sub-Aquatic Plants

169

Literature Cited

Fernald, M. L.

1932. The linear-leaved North American species of Potamogeton. Memoirs

of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 17: 108-112.

McLaughlin, W. T.

1931. Preliminary reports of the flora of Wisconsin: Hypericaceae. Trans,

of the Wis. Acad, of Sci. 2: 285-287.

THE MOSSES OF WISCONSIN

L. S. Cheney and Richard Evans

The following list of mosses was compiled in part from Mr.

Cheney’s manuscript which was partially complete at the time

of his death on April 10th, 1938, and in part from his herbarium

material. He had planned the list to cover not only his own col¬

lections, but likewise the Wisconsin collections of others. So far

as possible, this plan has been followed in completing his list.

Some of the earlier collections here listed are those of T. J.

Hale, I. A. Lapham, R. H. True, Barnes and True, Cheney and

True, and J. M. Holzinger. Later collections which are included

are those of D. F. Costello, J. T. Curtis, R. S. Nanz, and L. R.

Wilson. The great majority of these collections, particularly the

older ones, are to be found in the Herbarium of the University

of Wisconsin ; some of the later ones are represented only in the

Cheney Herbarium, which has been deposited through the cour¬

tesy of his daughter, Miss Monona L. Cheney, in the University

Herbarium.

In 1893 Cheney in conjunction with R. H. True published

“On the Flora of Madison and Vicinity, a Preliminary Paper on

the Flora of Dane County, Wisconsin” in the Transactions of

the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters (9: 45-

135). This list includes three species of Sphagnum and one hun¬

dred thirty-two Eubryales. In 1894 Cheney published in the

same Transactions (10: 66-68) a list of Sphagna collected dur¬

ing the summer of 1893 along the Wisconsin River between Lac

Vieux Desert and Wausau. The identifications were made by

Dr. Carl Warnstorf. These earlier collections are included in the

present list. No attempt at specific mention of collectors has

been made in completing the list, since by far the greatest num¬

ber of the collections were made by Cheney. The portion of his

original manuscript which was completed, in which collectors

and identifying collection numbers were given, is deposited with

his herbarium.

Some few liberties were taken in editing this list. Nomen-

171

172 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

clature has been brought in line as completely as possible with

Grout’s “Moss Flora of North America North of Mexico” and

with Grout’s “List of Mosses of North America North of Mexi¬

co” (Bryologist 43: 117-131, 1940). Nomenclatorial changes in

all cases have been indicated. In a very few cases in which

Cheney left identifications in doubt, material has been reworked,

but in the main identifications have been left as he made them.

It is certain that Mr. Cheney would have expressed his grati¬

tude to various investigators — among them Miss Winona Welch

who checked, seemingly, most of his Fontinalis identifications. It

is unfortunate that others cannot be cited specifically because of

lack of information with respect to their contributions. I should

like to express my own gratitude to Prof. N. C. Fassett of the

University of Wisconsin and to Prof. H. S. Conard of Grinnell

College for aid in solving nomenclatorial puzzles; likewise to

Mr. E. F. Bean, State Geologist, and to Mr. C. E. Brown of the

State Historical Society for aid in identifying obscure or ante¬

dated place names — many of them carried over from old logging

days in the north.

Richard Evans

Department of Botany

The University of Wisconsin

Acaulon

A. RUFESCENS Jaeger. Barron Co. : Barron Twp. Grant Co. :

Glen Haven; Potosi.

Amblyodon

A. DEALBATUS (Hedw.) Beauv. Polk Co.: Osceola.

A. DEALBATUS var. AMERICANUS Ren. & Card. Polk Co. : Osceola.

Amblystegiella

A. confervoides (Brid.) Loeske. Grant Co.: near Bridgeport;

Glen Haven; Lancaster; Pososi; Werley. Jefferson Co.: Pal¬

myra. Lafayette Co.: Fayette. Rock Co.: Beloit; Janesville;

Bradford Twp. Waukesha Co.: Okauchee Lake; Pine Lake.

A. minutissima (Sull. & Lesq.) Nichols. Grant Co.: Glen

Haven ; Potosi.

A. Sprucei (Bruch) Loeske. Ashland Co.: near Ashland on

White River ; Oak Island. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor. Grant

Co.: Glen Haven.

A. subtilis (Hedw.) Loeske. Vilas Co.: Lac Vieux Desert.

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 173

Amblystegium

A. compactum (C. Mull.) Aust. Dane Co.: Madison. Grant

Co.: North Andover; Wyalusing. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra.

Rock Co.: Bradford Twp. Trempealeau Co.: Trempealeau

Ridge. Waukesha Co. : Lake LaBelle ; Waukesha.

A. Juratzkanum Schimp. Bayfield Co.: Drummond; LaCha-

pelle (Lashabel’s homestead). Dane Co.: Madison; Blue

Mounds. Grant Co. : Glen Haven. Jefferson Co. : Helenville.

Lafayette Co. : Argyle. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls ;

Grandmother Falls. Oneida Co.: Tomahawk Lake; Whirl¬

pool Rapids. Rock Co. : Beloit ; Bradford Twp. ; Clinton. Vilas

Co. : Conover ; Lac Vieux Desert. Washington Co. : New-

burg. Waukesha Co. : Big Bend ; Lannon ; Oconomowoc ;

Oconomowoc Lake; Pine Lake; Vernon Station; Waukesha.

A. serpens (Hedw.) Bry. Eur. Ashland Co.: Oak Island. Bar¬

ron Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.: Bayfield; Mason; Orienta;

Port Wing. Dane Co. : Madison. Dodge Co. : Horicon. Doug¬

las Co. : St. Louis River. Grant Co. : Bagley ; Fennimore ;

Glen Haven; Montfort; Wyalusing. Jefferson Co.: Hebron;

Helenville ; Palmyra. Lincoln Co. : NE corner of Co. ; Grand¬

father Falls ; Grandmother Falls. Milwaukee Co. : N. Mil¬

waukee. Oneida Co.: N. central part; McNaughton; Toma¬

hawk Lake. Portage Co. : Stevens Point. Rock Co. : Beloit ;

Bradford Twp.; Clinton; Janesville; Newark Twp. Rusk

Co. : Island Lake ; Strickland. Sauk Co. : Devils Lake. Trem¬

pealeau Co. : Galesville. Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert. Wau¬

kesha Co. : Beaver Lake ; Eagle ; Lannon ; Menomonee Falls ;

Menomonee Twp. ; Mouse Lake ; Mukwonago ; Nashota ; Low¬

er Nashota Lake; Upper Nemahbin Lake; Oconomowoc;

Oconomowoc Lake ; Okauchee Lake ; Pine Lake ; W ales ; Wau¬

kesha.

A. varium (Hedw.) Lindb. Ashland Co.: Manitou Island. Bar¬

ron Co. : Barron. Bayfield Co. : Drummond ; Orienta. Buffalo

Co.: Marshland. Dane Co.: Madison; Verona. Douglas Co.:

St. Louis River. Grant Co.: Bagley; Glen Haven; Patch

Grove ; Potosi. Iowa Co. : Union Mills. Jefferson Co. : Palmy¬

ra ; Sullivan. Kewaunee Co. : Kewaunee. Lincoln Co. : Grand¬

father Falls. Marathon Co.: Granite Heights. Marinette

Co.: Menominee River. Ozaukee Co.: Cedarburg. Polk Co.:

T 37 N R 11 W, near Doran, Burnett Co.; St. Croix Falls.

174 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Rock Co.: Beloit; Bradford Twp. ; Clinton; Janesville; near

Whitewater. Sheboygan Co.: Cedar Grove; Little Elkhart

Lake. Trempealeau Co. : Trempealeau. Washington Co. :

Newburg. Waukesha Co.: Eagle; Lannon; Upper Lake Ne-

mahbin; North Lake; Oconomowoc; Oconomowoc Lake;

Okauchee Lake; Pewaukee; Pine Lake; Vernon Station;

Wales; Waukesha.

Anacamptodon

A. SPLACHNOIDES (Froehl.) Brid. Barron Co.: Maple Grove

Twp. Grant Co. : Potosi.

Anomodon

A. attenuatus (Hedw.) Huben. Ashland Co.: Penokee Iron

Range. Columbia Co. : Wisconsin Dells. Dane Co. : Blue

Mounds; Madison. Dodge Co.; Roricon. Grant Co.: Glen

Haven ; Potosi. Iron Co. : Montreal River. Lincoln Co. :

Grandmother Falls; Merrill. Milwaukee Co.: S. Milwaukee.

Oneida Co.: McNaughton; Rhinelander. Outagamie Co.:

Appleton; Medina. Ozaukee Co.: Cedarburg. Rock Co.:

Bradford Twp. ; Clinton. Sauk Co. : Devils Lake. Sheboygan

Co.: Cedar Grove; Plymouth. Vilas Co.: Lac Vieux Desert.

Washington Co.: Newburg. Waukesha Co.: Mukwonago;

Waukesha.

A. minor (Beauv.) Lindb. Ashland Co.: Ashland; White River.

Barron Co. : Barron. Bayfield Co. : Drummond ; Port Wing.

Dane Co. : Madison. Dodge Co. : Horicon. Grant Co. : Glen

Haven. Kewaunee Co.: Kewaunee. Lafayette Co.: Fayette.

Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls ; Grandmother Falls. Oconto

Co. : Oconto. Outagamie Co. : Appleton. Ozaukee Co. : Cedar¬

burg. Rusk Co. : Murry. Sauk Co. : near Wisconsin Dells.

Sheboygan Co. : Cedar Grove. Waukesha Co. : Waukesha.

A. rostratus (Hedw.) Schimp. Barron Co. : Barron. Dane Co. :

Madison. Dodge Co.: Horicon. Door Co.: Baileys Harbor.

Grant Co.: Glen Haven; Platteville; Potosi. Jefferson Co.:

Helenville; Palmyra. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls. Outa¬

gamie Co.: Appleton. Rock Co.: Bradford Twp.; Clinton.

Rusk Co. : Strickland. Sauk Co. : near Wisconsin Dells.

Washington Co.: Newburg. Waukesha Co.: Eagle; Keesus

Lake ; Nagawicka Lake ; Mouse Lake ; Muskego ; New Berlin ;

Okauchee Lake; Ottawa; Pine Lake; Waukesha.

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 175

A. tristis (Cesati) Sull. Barron Co.: Barron. Columbia Co.:

Wisconsin Dells. Grant Co.: Potosi. Lincoln Co.: Grand¬

father Falls; Grandmother Falls. Marathon Co.: Granite

Heights.

A. VITICULOSIS (Hedw.) Hook. & Tayl. Rock Co. : Bradford

Twp. Waukesha Co.: Waukesha.

Aphanorhegma

A. serratum (Hook. & Wils.) Sull. Barron Co.: Barron.

Astomum

A. Muhlenbergianum (Sw.) Grout. Barron Co.: Barron as

A. crispum (Hedw.) Hampe; Barron Co.: Barron as A. Sul-

livantii Sch. ; Dane Co.: Madison as A. Svllivantii Sch. ;

Grant Co. : Potosi as A. Svllivantii Sch.

Atrichum

A. angustatum (Brid.) Bry. Eur. as Catharinea angustata

Brid. Barron Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.: Drummond. Dane

Co. : Blue Mounds ; Madison ; McFarland. Grant Co. : Werley.

Jefferson Co. : Palmyra. Sauk Co. : Delton. Washington Co. :

Newburg.

A. crispum var. molle (Holz.) Frye as Catharinea mollis Holz.

Buffalo Co. : Marshland.

A. undulatum (Hedw.) Beauv. as Catharine a undulata Web.

& Mohr. Adams Co.: Cold Water Canyon. Ashland Co.:

Basswood Island ; Mellen. Barron Co. : Barron ; Barron

Twp., secs. 20 & 32; Maple Grove Twp., sec. 3. Dane Co.:

Madison. Douglas Co.: Amnicon River; Brule River. Grant

Co. : Glen Haven. Jefferson Co. : Palmyra. Lincoln Co. :

Grandfather Falls ; Tomahawk. Marathon Co. : Granite

Heights ; Mosinee. Oconto Co. : Oconto. Sauk Co. : Baraboo ;

Devils Lake. Vilas Co. : Eagle River ; Star Lake. Waukesha

Co. : Eagle Lake ; Oconomowoc ; Pine Lake ; Waukesha.

Aulacomnxum

A. heterostichum (Hedw.) Bry. Eur. Dane Co.: Blue Mounds.

Grant Co. : Bagley ; Potosi. Lafayette Co. : Fayette.

A. palustre (Web. & Mohr) Schwaegr. Ashland Co.: Odanah;

Basswood Island. Bayfield Co.: Port Wing; Sand Bay. Dane

Co. : Madison. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor. Douglas Co. :

176 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

Brule River. Iron Co. : Montreal River. Jefferson Co. : Lake

Mills. Lincoln Co. : Tomahawk. Outagamie Co. : Appleton.

Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg. Rock Co. : Newark. Sauk Co. : near

Wisconsin Dells. Vilas Co.: near State Line. Washington

Co. : Newburg. Waukesha Co. : Summit Center ; Sussex ; near

Wales ; Waukesha. Wood Co. : Wisconsin Rapids.

Rarbula

B. acuta (Brid.) Brid. as B. gracilis Schwaegr. Rock Co.:

Avon.

B. CONVOLUTA Hedw. Jefferson Co. : Palmyra. Outagamie Co. :

Seymour. Waukesha Co. : Pine Lake.

Ba fallax Hedw. Bayfield Co.: Mason. Dane Co.: Madison.

Douglas Co. : Amnicon River. Grant Co. : Beetown ; near

Bridgeport; Glen Haven; Mt. Hope; Patch Grove; Potosi;

Werley. Jefferson Co. : Jefferson. Lafayette Co. : Fayette.

Rock Co.: Clinton; Newark. Waukesha Co.: Waukesha.

B. UN GUICULATA Hedw. Dane Co.: Blue Mounds; Madison.

Door Co.: Baileys Harbor. Grant Co.: Glen Haven; Mt

Hope; Potosi. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. Ozaukee Co.: Cedar

burg. Rock Co. : Beloit ; Bradford Twp. ; Newark. Trempea¬

leau Co.: Trempealeau. Walworth Co.: Whitewater. Wau¬

kesha Co.: Eagle; Glen Cove Station (Pewaukee Lake) ; Me¬

nomonee Falls ; Nashotah ; Waukesha.

Bartramia

B. pomiformis Hedw. Adams Co.: near Wisconsin Dells. Ash¬

land Co. : Basswood Island ; Mellen ; Oak Island ; White Riv¬

er, near Ashland. Barron Co.: Barron; Barron Twp., secs.

5 & 20. Bayfield Co. : Drummond ; Herbster ; Sand Bay. Dane

Co.: Blue Mounds; Madison. Douglas Co.: Amnicon Falls;

Old Superior. Grant Co.: Millville; Patch Grove; Potosi.

Iron Co.: Montreal River. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls;

Tomahawk. Manitowoc Co.: Manitowoc. Milwaukee Co.:

Milwaukee. Oneida Co.: Newbold; Rhinelander. Sauk Co.:

Devils Lake.

Blindia

B. ACUTA (Hedw.) Bry. Eur. Bayfield Co.: Herbster; Houghton

Quarry; Port Wing.

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 177

Brachythecium

B. ACUTUM (Mitt.) Sull. Barron Co.: Barron; Barron Twp.,

sec. 32 ; Clinton Twp. Dane Co. : Madison. Grant Co. : Glen

Haven. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. Outagamie Co.: Appleton.

Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg. Bock Co. : Clinton ; Newark Twp.

Waukesha Co. : Mukwonago ; Waukesha.

B. campestre Bry. Eur. Bayfield Co. : White River. Iron Co. :

Montreal River, near Lake Superior. Price Co.: Ogema.

Sheboygan Co. : near Cedar Grove.

B. digastrum C. Mull. & Kindb. Bayfield Co.: LaChapelle

(LashabeFs homestead). Dodge Co.: Horicon. Grant Co.:

Glen Haven. Rock Co. : Avon. Sheboygan Co. : Cedar Grove.

B. flagellare (Hedw.) Jennings, as B. plumosum (Sw.) Br.

& Sch. Ashland Co.: Basswood Island; Oak Island. Barron

Co.: Canton. Bayfield Co.: Herbster; Houghten Quarry;

Port Wing ; Sand Bay ; Sand Island. Iron Co. : Montreal Riv¬

er. Juneau Co. : Germantown. Rock Co. : Clinton. Rusk Co. :

Old Murry.

B. FLEXICAULE Ren. & Card. Jefferson Co. : near Palmyra.

B. oxycladon (Brid.) Jaeger & Sauerb. Barron Co.: near Bar¬

ron ; Barron Twp., secs. 20 & 32 ; Maple Grove Twp., sec. 3.

Bayfield Co. : Drummond ; Port Wing. Douglas Co. : near

mouth of Brule River. Grant Co.: near Potosi. Iron Co.:

NW corner, near Lake Superior. Lafayette Co.: Fayette.

Lincoln Co. : Tomahawk. Milwaukee Co. : Lake Park. Oneida

Co. : Tomahawk Lake. Rock Co. : Bradford Twp. ; near Clin¬

ton; near Newark. Sheboygan Co.: near Cedar Grove.

Washington Co. : near Newburg. Waukesha Co. : near Eagle ;

Okauchee Lake ; near Wales ; Waukesha.

B. plumosum (Sw.) Br. & Sch. (cf. B. flagellare)

B. populeum (Hedw.) Bry. Eur. Bayfield Co.: Sand Bay. Dane

Co.: Blue Mounds. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls. Vilas

Co. : Lac Vieux Desert.

B. reflexum (Starke) Bry. Eur. Barron Co.: Barron. Lincoln

Co.: Grandmother Falls. Oneida Co.: Newbold. Sheboygan

Co. : Cedar Grove. Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert.

B. RIVULARE Bry. Eur. Ashland Co.: Oak Island. Barron Co.:

Barron; Barron Twp., sec. 20; Doyle Twp.; Maple Grove

Twp., sec. 3. Clark Co.: Abbotsford. Door Co.: Sister Bay.

Douglas Co. : Amnicon River. Grant Co. : Bagley ; near Cas-

178 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

tie Rock; Potosi. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. Juneau Co.: near

“Old Dell House”. Oneida Co.: Rhinelander; Tomahawk

Lake. Ozaukee Co.: Cedarburg. Rock Co.: Bradford Twp.

Rusk Co.: Old Murry. Sauk Co.: Devils Lake. Sheboygan

Co.: near Cedar Grove. Waukesha Co.: North Lake; near

Vernon Station ; Waukesha.

B. rutabulum (Hedw.) Bry. Eur. Bayfield Co.: near Herbster.

Dane Co. : near Madison. Door Co. : Europe Bay. Iron Co. :

Montreal River. Oneida Co. : near Tomahawk Lake. Ozaukee

Co.: near Cedarburg. Rusk Co.: near Old Murry. Vilas

Co. : Star Lake.

B. SALEBROSUM (Web. & Mohr) Bry. Eur. Barron Co. : near

Barron; Barron Twp., sec. 20; Maple Grove Twp., sec. 3.

Bayfield Co.: Port Wing. Dane Co.: Hook Lake; Madison.

Douglas Co.: Brule River. Jefferson Co.: near Cambridge.

Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls; Grandmother Falls. Mil¬

waukee Co. : Lake Park. Price Co. : near Ogema. Rock Co. :

Clinton. Rusk Co.: Old Murry. Sauk Co.: Parfreys Glen.

Vilas Co.: Eagle River; Lac Vieux Desert. Waukesha Co.:

Eagle; Lannon; Oconomowoc; Okauchee Lake; Pine Lake;

Waukesha.

B. Starkei (Brid.) Bry. Eur. Barron Co.: Barron Twp.; Maple

Grove Twp.; Stanley Twp. Outagamie Co.: Appleton; Me¬

dina. Rusk Co. : Old Murry. Vilas Co. : Conover ; Lac Vieux

Desert.

B. velutinum (Hedw.) Bry. Eur. Barron Co.: Barron Twp.,

sec. 32; Maple Grove Twp., sec. 3. Calumet Co.: Highcliff.

Iron Co.: Montreal River. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls;

Grandmother Falls ; Tomahawk.

Brothera

B. Leana (Sull.) C. Mull. Barron Co.: Barron; Barron Twp.,

secs. 20 & 32. Jefferson Co.: Helenville; Johnson Creek.

Trempealeau Co.: Trempealeau.

Brotherella

B. delicatula (James) Fleisch. Grant Co.: Glen Haven.

B. recurvans (Mx.) Fleisch. Adams Co.: Cold Water Canyon;

Dells of Wisconsin River. Ashland Co.: Basswood Island;

Hermit Island. Barron Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.: Herb¬

ster; Houghton Quarry; near Bayfield. Door Co.: Baileys

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 179

Harbor. Douglas Co. : Lucius Lake ; T 45 N R 15 W. Grant

Co. : Bagley. Iron Co. : Montreal River. Lincoln Co. : Grand¬

father Falls ; Grandmother Falls ; Tomahawk. Marathon

Co. : Granite Heights ; Mosinee. Oneida Co. : Newbold ; Rain¬

bow Rapids ; Rhinelander ; Tomahawk Lake. Outagamie Co. :

Appleton. Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg. Rusk Co. : Murry. She¬

boygan Co.: Crystal Lake; Oostburg. Vilas Co.: Conover;

Lac Vieux Desert; State Line; Star Lake. Washington Co.:

Newburg. Wood Co.: Wisconsin Rapids.

B. tenuirostris (Schimp.) Broth. Grant Co.: Werley. Rock

Co.: Clinton.

/

Bruchia

B>. flexuosa (Sw.) C. Mull. Trempealeau Co.: Dodge.

B. Sullivantii Aust. Grant Co. : Bagley ; Glen Haven. Wauke¬

sha Co. : Delafield ; Mukwonago ; Summit Center.

Bryhnia

B. graminicolor (Brid.) Grout. Adams Co.: Artists Glen,

Dells of Wisconsin River. Door Co. : Bailey Harbor.

B. NOVAE-ANGLIAE (Sull. & Lesq.) Grout. Adams Co.: Cold Wa¬

ter Canyon, Dells of Wisconsin River. Barron Co.: Barron

Twp., sec. 20 ; Clinton Twp., sec. 26 ; Maple Grove Twp., sec.

3. Bayfield Co.: Bark Bay; Houghton Quarry. Iron Co.:

Montreal River. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls. Oneida

Co. : near Tomahawk Lake. Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert.

Waukesha Co.: Okauchee Lake.

Bryoxiphium

B. norvegicum (Brid.) Mitt. Adams Co.: Witches Gulch, Dells

of Wisconsin River. Columbia Co. : Wisconsin Dells. Juneau

Co.: Lemonweir River. Sauk Co.: Pewits Nest, near Bara-

boo.

Bryum

B. ARGENTEUM (L.) Hedw. Bayfield Co.: Drummond; Orienta.

Dane Co.: Madison. Douglas Co.: T 45 N R 15 W. Grant

Co. : Cassville; Glen Haven; Potosi. Lincoln Co.: Grand¬

father Falls. Marathon Co. : Mosinee. Oneida Co. : Newbold.

Portage Co. : Stevens Point. Rock Co. : Bradford Twp. Wal¬

worth Co.: Whitewater. Waukesha Co.: Saylesville; Wau¬

kesha; near Waukesha; Waukesha Twp., sec. 24.

180 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

B. BIMUM Schreb. cf. B . pseudo triquetrum (Hedw.) Schwaegr.

B. caespiticium (L.) Hedw. Ashland Co.: Basswood Island;

Oak Island; Bayfield Co.: Drummond; Houghten Quarry;

Sand Bay. Burnett Co. : Swiss. Dane Co. : Hook Lake ; Madi¬

son. Grant Co. : Bagley ; Glen Haven ; Potosi ; Williams. La¬

fayette Co.: Argyle. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls; same

station as B. synoico-caespiticium C.M. & Kindb. ; Toma¬

hawk ; Wisconsin River Valley. Polk Co. : near Doran. She¬

boygan Co.: Cedar Grove. Vilas Co.: Lac Vieux Desert.

Washburn Co. : Spooner. Waukesha Co. : Lannon ; Naga-

wicka Lake ; Pewaukee ; Waukesha.

B. capillare (L.) Hedw. Barron Co: Maple Grove Twp., sec.

1. Grant Co. : Mt. Ida. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls as B.

obconicum Hornsch. Oneida Co.: Rhinelander; Tomahawk

Lake. Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg. Polk Co. : near Doran. Wau¬

kesha Co. : Waukesha. Wood Co. : Wisconsin Rapids, as B.

obconicum Hornsch.

B. cirratum Hoppe & Hornsch. Grant Co. : Montfort. Lincoln

Co. : Tomahawk. Waukesha Co. : Lisbon Twp. ; Waukesha.

B. CUSPIDATUM (Bry. Eur.) Schimp. as B. affine Lindb. Bay-

field Co. : Houghton Quarry ; Sand Island. Grant Co. : Cor¬

nelia; Glen Haven; Potosi. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls;

near Grandfather Falls. Milwaukee Co. : S. Milwaukee.

Waukesha Co. : Lannon ; Lisbon Twp. ; Waukesha.

B. inclinatum (Web. & Mohr) Sturm. Bayfield Co. : Drum¬

mond. Grant Co. : Dickeysville. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather

Falls ; Tomahawk.

B. INTERMEDIUM (Ludw.) Brid. (?) M.F.N.A. 2:229. Grant

Co.: Glen Haven. Iron Co.: Montreal River. Washington

Co. : Newburg. Waukesha Co. : Waukesha.

B. pallens (Web. & Mohr) Brid. Barron Co.: Barron; Doyle

Twp., sec. 28. Grant Co. : Glen Haven ; Jamestown ; Potosi.

Oneida Co.: Rainbow Rapids; near Tomahawk Lake. Ozau¬

kee Co. : Cedarburg. Waukesha Co. : Mukwonago; Waukesha.

B. PENDULUM (Hornsch.) Schimp. Ashland Co.: Basswood Is¬

land. Barron Co.: Cameron; Maple Grove Twp. Bayfield

Co.: Herbster; Port Wing; Siskowitt Bay. Dane Co.: Blue

Mounds; Madison; Marshall; Windsor. Grant Co.: Bagley;

Glen Haven ; Montfort. Iron Co. : Montreal River, near Lake

Superior. Juneau Co. : Dells of Wisconsin River. Lincoln

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 181

Co.: Grandfather Falls; near Grandfather Falls. Rock Co.:

Beloit; Bradford Twp. ; Janesville. Sauk Co.: Ironton. She¬

boygan Co. : Cedar Grove. Waukesha Co. : Eagle.

B. PSEUDOTRIQUETRUM (Hedw.) Schwaegr. as B. bimum Schreb.

excepting for those stations marked with an *. These collec¬

tions were listed originally as B. ps endo trique tram . Ashland

Co.: Basswood Island; same station *; Oak Island; White

River. Bayfield Co. : Drummond ; same station * ; Orienta ;

Port Wing; Sand Bay; Siskowitt Bay; Squaw Bay. Door

Co.: Baileys Harbor. Douglas Co.: Amnicon Falls; Manitou

Falls. Grant Co. : Glen Haven ; Potosi. Lincoln Co. : Grand¬

father Falls; same station * ; Merrill *; Tomahawk. Mani¬

towoc Co. : Two Rivers. Oneida Co. : McNaughton ; Newbold ;

Rhinelander * ; Tomahawk Lake. Ozaukee Co. ; Cedarburg.

Polk Co. : near Doran. Portage Co. : Stevens Point. Rock

Co. : Beloit ; Clinton. Rusk Co. : NW corner of county. Wash¬

ington Co.: Newburg. Waukesha Co.: Eagle; North Lake;

Vernon Station; Waukesha; same station *.

B. tortifolium Funck. as B . cyclophyllum Br. & Sch. Bayfield

Co. : Siskowitt Bay. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor.

B. ULIGINOSUM (Brid.) Bry. Eur. Dane Co.: Hook Lake; Lake

Kegonsa. Grant Co.: Patch Grove. Lafayette Co.: Fayette.

Outagamie Co.: Appleton.

B. Weigelii Spreng. as B. Duvalii Voit. Barron Co.: Barron

Twp., secs. 5 & 20 ; Cameron. Oneida Co. : Tomahawk Lake.

Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg. Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert.

Buxbaumia

B. aphylla Hedw. Vilas Co. : Conover.

Calliergon

C. CORDIFOLIUM (Hedw.) Kindb. Ashland Co.: Ashland; La-

Pointe, Madeline Island. Barron Co. : Barron ; Barron Twp.,

sec. 20 ; Maple Grove Twp., sec. 8. Bayfield Co. : Bark Bay ;

Houghton Quarry; Orienta; Sand Bay. Door Co.: Baileys

Harbor. Douglas Co.: Upper Lucius Lake. Lincoln Co.:

Grandfather Falls; near Grandfather Falls; Merrill. Mara¬

thon Co. : Granite Heights. Oneida Co. : Rhinelander ; Toma¬

hawk Lake. Outagamie Co. : Cedarburg. Portage Co. : near

Stevens Point. Rusk Co. : Strickland. Vilas Co. : near State

Line. Waukesha Co. : Waukesha.

182 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

C. GIGANTEUM (Schimp.) Kindb. Ashland Co.: Mellen. Burnett

Co. : Swiss. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor. Milwaukee Co. : Mil¬

waukee. Outagamie Co. : Appleton. Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg.

C. Richardsonii (Mitt.) Kindb. Vilas Co.: near Eagle River.

C. stramineum (Brid.) Kindb. Bayfield Co.: Port Wing. Onei¬

da Co.: Newbold. Vilas Co.: Conover; Lac Vieux Desert;

near State Line.

C. trifarium (Web. & Mohr) Kindb. Bayfield Co. : Port Wing.

Calliergonella

C. CUSPEDATA (Brid.) Loeske. Dane Co.: Madison. Ozaukee

Co.: Cedarburg. Waukesha Co.: Mukwonago; Waukesha.

C. Schreberi (Bry. Eur.) Grout. Ashland Co.: LaPointe, Mad¬

eline Island. Barron Co.: Maple Grove Twp., sec. 1. Dane

Co.: Blue Mounds; Madison; Pine Bluff. Grant Co.: Glen

Haven; Mt. Hope. Iron Co.: NW corner of county. Jefferson

Co. : Palmyra. Lafayette Co. : Fayette. Outagamie Co. : Ap¬

pleton. Rock Co.: Bradford Twp.; Newark. Vilas Co.: near

State Line; Conover.

Camptothecium

C. NITENS (Hedw.) Schimp. Ashland Co.: Ashland. Door Co.:

Baileys Harbor. Jefferson Co.: Lake Mills; Palmyra. Ozau¬

kee Co. : Cedarburg. Vilas Co. : Lac Viuex Desert. Waukesha

Co. : Nagawicka Lake ; Mukwonago.

Campylium

C. CHRYSOPHYLLUM (Brid.) Bryhn. Ashland Co.: Oak Island;

White River. Barron Co.: Barron; Maple Grove Twp. Bay-

field Co.: Bayfield; Herbster; Mason; Port Wing; Squaw

Bay. Dane Co.: Mendota. Dodge Co.: Iron Ridge. Douglas

Co. : T 45 N R 15 W. Grant Co. : Bagley ; Glen Haven; James¬

town Twp. Iron Co.: Montreal River. Lincoln Co.: Grand¬

mother Falls ; near Tomahawk. Oneida Co. : near Tomahawk

Lake. Rock Co. : Clinton ; Newark. Sauk Co. : near Baraboo.

Sheboygan Co.: Cedar Grove. Vilas Co.: Lac Vieux Desert;

near State Line. Washington Co. : Newburg. Waukesha Co. :

Lannon; Oconomowoc Lake; Vernon Station.

C. hxspidulum (Brid.) Mitt. Adams Co.: Dells of Wisconsin

River. Ashland Co. : Basswood Island ; Manitou Island ; Oak

Island ; White River. Barron Co. : Barron ; Barron Twp..

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 183

secs. 19 and 20; Maple Grove Twp., sec. 3. Bayfield Co.:

Bayfield; Drummond; Houghton Quarry; Port Wing; Sand

Bajr. Dane Co.: Madison. Dodge Co.: Horicon. Door Co.:

Ellison Bay. Douglas Co.: near Superior, T 45 N R 15 W.

Grant Co. : Bagley ; Glen Haven ; Potosi. Iron Co. : Montreal

River; Pence. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. Lafayette Co.: Fay¬

ette. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls; Merrill. Marathon

Co.: Granite Heights. Oneida Co.: Newbold; Rhinelander;

Tomahawk Lake; Whirlpool Rapids. Rock Co.: Clinton;

Newark. Rusk Co.: Old Murry. Sauk Co.: Devils Lake.

Sheboygan Go.: Cedar Grove. Vilas Co.: Conover; Eagle

River; Lac Vieux Desert. Washington Co.: Newburg. Wau¬

kesha Co.: Mouse Lake; Nashotah Lake; Norris Farm for

Boys; Oconomowoc Lake; Okauchee Lake; Pine Lake.

C. polygamum (Bry. Eur.) Bryhn. Barron Co.: Barron. Bay-

field Co.: Herbster; Sand Bay. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather

Falls; Tomahawk. Oneida Co.: Rhinelander. Outagamie

Co. : Appleton. Sheboygan Co. : Cedar Grove. Waukesha Co. :

Waukesha.

C. stellatum (Hedw.) Lange & C. Jens. Dane Co.: Windsor.

Door Co.: Baileys Harbor. Iron Co.: Montreal River. Jef¬

ferson Co.: Palmyra. Ozaukee Co.: Cedarburg. Waukesha

Co. : Mukwonago ; Waukesha ; near Waukesha.

Ceratodon

C. PURPUREUS (Hedw.) Brid. Ashland Co.: Oak Island. Bay-

field Co.: Houghton; Siskowitt Bay; Squaw Bay. Burnett

Co. : Swiss. Dane Go. : Madison. Dodge Co. : Horicon. Door

Co. : Baileys Harbor. Douglas Co. : Sand Lake ; Winneboujou.

Grant Co. : Potosi. Juneau Co. : Germantown. Milwaukee

Co.: N. Milwaukee. Ozaukee Co.: Thiensville. Rock Co.:

Beloit; Bradford Twp. Sheboygan Co.: Cedar Grove; She¬

boygan. Vilas Co.: Lac Vieux Desert; Star Lake. Washburn

Co.: Spooner. Washington Co.: Newburg. Waukesha Co.:

Lannon ; Menomonee Falls ; Mukwonago ; Oconomowoc ;

Okauchee Lake; Waukesha.

Chamberlainia

C. ACUMINATA (Hedw.) Grout, as Brachythecium acuminatum

(Hedw.) Kindb. Barron Co.: Barron Twp., sec. 20. Dane

Co. : Madison. Grant Co. : Glen Haven ; Mt. Ida Twp. ; Platte-

184 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

ville; Potosi. Lafayette Co.: Fayette. Lincoln Co.: Grand¬

father Falls; Tomahawk. Outagamie Co.: Appleton. Price

Co.: Ogema. Rusk Co.: Murry. Vilas Co.: Conover; Eagle

River. Waukesha Co.: Mukwonago; Okauchee Lake.

C. cyrtophylla (Kindb.) Grout, as Brackythecium cyrtophyl-

lum Kindb. Barron Co. : Barron Twp., sec. 20 ; Maple Grove

Twp. Dane Co.: Blue Mounds; Madison. Grant Co.: Glen

Haven; Patch Grove; Potosi. Oneida Co.: McNaughton.

Outagamie Co. : Greenville. Rusk Co. : near Old Murry. She¬

boygan Co.: near Cedar Grove; Sheboygan. Walworth Co.:

Whitewater. Waukesha Co.: Lake LaBelle; Muskego; Neh-

mabin Lake ; Oconomowoc ; Okauchee Lake ; Pewaukee ; Pine

Lake; near Wales; Waukesha.

Climaceum

C. AMERICANUM Brid. Dane Co.: Blue Mounds; McFarland.

Grant Co. : Beetown ; Bloomington ; Glen Haven ; Platteville ;

Potosi. Lafayette Co. : Fayette. Oconto Co. : Oconto. Rock

Co. : Clinton. Sauk Co. : Devils Lake. Washington Co. : New-

burg. Waukesha Co.: Brookfield Twp.; Menomonee Twp.,

Pine Lake; near Vernon Station; Waukesha.

C. dendroides (Hedw.) Web. & Mohr. Ashland Co.: Penokee

Iron Range. Barron Co.: Barron; Clinton Twp., sec. 26;

Doyle Twp., sec. 38 ; Maple Grove Twp., sec. 3. Bayfield Co. :

Houghton Quarry; LaChapelle, (Lashabel’s Homestead).

Columbia Co. : Wisconsin Dells. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor.

Douglas Co. : Brule River ; Lucius Lake ; SW corner of coun¬

ty. Oneida Co. : Tomahawk Lake. Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg.

Rusk Co.: Old Murry; Strickland. Sheboygan Co.: Cedar

Grove ; Sheboygan. Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert. Wood Co. :

Nekoosa.

Cratoneuron

C. falcatum (Brid.) Roth. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. Waukesha

Co. : Big Bend.

C. filicinum (Hedw.) Roth. Dane Co.: Madison. Douglas Co.:

T 45 N R 15 W. Grant Co. : Glen Haven. Iron Co. : Montreal

River. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. Lincoln Co.: Tomahawk.

Polk Co.: St. Croix Falls. Rock Co.: Newark. Sheboygan

Co. : near Cedar Grove. Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert. Wau¬

kesha Co. : Eagle ; Eagle Lake ; Mukwonago ; Ottawa Twp. ;

Vernon Station; Waukesha.

185

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin

Desmatodon

D. CERNUUS (Hueben.) Bry. Eur. Waukesha Co.: Waukesha.

D. obtusifolius (Schwaegr.) Jur. as D. arenaceus Sulk Ash¬

land Co.: Basswood Island. Barron Co.: Barron. Bayfield

Co.: Houghton Quarry; Port Wing. Dane Co.: Black Earth;

Madison. Grant Co.: Bagley; Beetown; near Bridgeport;

Glen Haven; Potosi. Jefferson Co.: Lake Koshkonong. La¬

fayette Co.: Fayette. Polk Co.: Osceola. Rock Co.: Avon;

Beloit; Bradford Twp. ; Carvers Rock, Bradford Twp. ;

Janesville. Waukesha Co.: Menomonee Falls.

Dichelyma

D. capillaceum Bry. Eur. Marathon Co.: Granite Heights.

Oneida Co. : Rhinelander. Portage Co. : Stevens Point.

D. falcatum (Hedw.) Myrin. Ashland Co.: Stockton Island

(Presque Isle). Bayfield Co.: Houghton Quarry. Douglas

Co. : shore of Lake Superior near Amnicon River. Lincoln

Co.: Grandfather Falls; Merrill. Marathon Co.: Granite

Heights. Outagamie Co.: Appleton. Rusk Co.: Horseman;

Old Murry.

D. pallescens Bry. Eur. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls.

Oneida Co. : Rhinelander.

Dichodontium

D. pellucidum (Hedw.) Schimp. Ashland Co.: Basswood Is¬

land. Bayfield Co.: Orienta.

D. pellucidum var. fagimontanum (Brid.) Schimp. Iron Co. :

Montreal River, near Lake Superior.

Dicranella

D. cerviculata (Hedw.) Schimp. Bayfield Co.: Houghton

Quarry.

D. heteromalla (Hedw.) Schimp. Adams Co.: near Wisconsin

Dells. Dane Co.: Madison. Grant Co.: Castle Rock. Polk

Co.: St. Croix Falls. Rock Co.: Newark Twp. Waukesha

Co. : New Berlin Twp.

D. humilis Ruthe. Buffalo Co.: Marshland.

D. rufescens (Smith) Schimp. Grant Co.: near Potosi.

D. subulata (Hedw.) Schimp. Bayfield Co.: Houghton Quarry.

D. varia (Hedw.) Schimp. Bayfield Co.: Houghton Quarry.

Dane Co. : Madison. Grant Co. : Bagley ; Glen Haven ; Potosi.

186 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

Lafayette Co.: Fayette. Milwaukee Co.: Milwaukee. Outa¬

gamie Co. : Appleton. Trempealeau Co. : Trempealeau Moun¬

tain, Waukesha Co. : Waukesha.

Dicranum

D. Bergeri Bland. Barron Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.: Drum¬

mond; Herbster; Port Wing. Buffalo Co.: Marshland. Dane

Co.: Windsor. Door Co.: Baileys Harbor. Green Lake Co.:

Princeton. Jefferson Co.: Lake Mills. Marathon Co.: N. of

Wausau. Oneida Co. : Newbold. Outagamie Co. : Appleton.

Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg.

D. Bonjeani De Not. Ashland Co. : Basswood Island ; La Pointe,

Madeline Island; Manitou Island; Hermit Island. Bayfield

Co.: Bayfield; Houghton Quarry; Port Wing; Siskowitt Bay.

Dane Co. : Blue Mounds ; Hook Lake as D. Bonjeani var.

Schlotthaueri Barnes ; Madison ; Windsor. Door Co. : Baileys

Harbor. Jefferson Co.: Helenville; Jefferson; Lake Mills;

same station as D. Bonjeani var. juniperi folium Braith. Lin¬

coln Co.: Grandfather Falls; same station as D. Bonjeani

var. Schlotthaueri Barnes ; Merrill. Manitowoc Co. : Two

Rivers. Marathon Co.: near Pine River. Oneida Co.: New-

bold ; Tomahawk Lake ; near Tomahawk Lake. Ozaukee Co. :

Cedarburg. Sauk Co. : Devils Lake. Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux

Desert; near State Line. Waukesha Co.: Beaver Lake; Me¬

nomonee Falls; Mukwonago; Vernon.

D. CONDENSATUM Hedw. Dane Co.: Pine Bluff. Grant Co.:

Castle Rock.

D. Brummondii C. Mull. Ashland Co. : Manitou Island. Barron

Co.: Barron; near Canton. Bayfield Co.: Bark Point; Sand

Bay ; Mason ; Orienta ; Squaw Bay. Dane Co. : Blue Mounds ;

Madison. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor, Douglas Co. : Allouez

Bay; T 45 N R 15 W. Iron Co.: Montreal River. Jefferson

Co. : Palmyra. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls ; Pine River ;

Tomahawk. Oconomowoc Co.: Oconomowoc. Oneida Co.:

Newbold. Vilas Co. : Eagle River.

B. flagellare Hedw. Adams Co.: Cold Water Canyon; Dells

of Wisconsin River. Barron Co. : Barron. Bayfield Co.: Bay-

field ; Mason ; Port Wing ; Sand Bay. Dane Co. : Blue Mounds ;

Madison ; Windsor. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor. Douglas Co. :

Brule River ; Lucius Lake ; T 45 N R 15 W. Grant Co. : Lan¬

caster. Jefferson Co. : Helenville ; Lake Mills. Lafayette Co. :

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 187

Fayette. Lincoln Co.: Grandmother Falls. Manitowoc Co.:

Two Rivers. Oneida Co. : Rhinelander ; Tomahaw Lake. Polk

Co.: St. Croix Falls. Sauk Co.: near Wisconsin Dells. She¬

boygan Co. : Cedar Grove ; Sheboygan. Trempealeau Co. :

Trempealeau Mountain. Vilas Go.: Conover; Lac Vieux Des¬

ert ; Sayner. Washburn Co. : Spooner. Washington Co. :

Newburg. Waukesha Co.: Calhoun; Pine Lake. Wood Co.:

Wisconsin Rapids.

D. fulvum Hook. Barron Co. : Barron. Dane Co. : Blue Mounds.

Grant Co. : Castle Rock ; Glen Haven ; near Platteville ; Po-

tosi. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls. Marathon Co. : Granite

Heights. Oneida Co.: Hat Rapids (5 miles N of Whirlpool

Rapids). Sheboygan Co.: Cedar Grove.

D. fuscescens Turn. Ashland Co. : Basswood Island ; LaPointe,

Madeline Island; Hermit Island. Bayfield Co.: Port Wing;

Siskowitt Bay. Dane Co. : Pine Bluff. Door Co. : Baileys

Harbor. Douglas Co. : T 45 N R 1 5 W. Lincoln Co. : Grand¬

father Falls. Oneida Co.: Rhinelander. Vilas Co.: near

State Line.

D. MONTANUM Hedw. Ashland Co. : Hermit Island ; Oak Island.

Barron Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.: Drummond; Herbster;

Houghton Quarry; Mason; Port Wing. Dane Co.: Madison.

Iron Co. : N W corner, on shore of Lake Superior. Lincoln

Co.: Grandmother Falls; Pine River. Ozaukee Co.: Cedar-

burg. Portage Co. : Stevens Point. Trempealeau Co. : Trem¬

pealeau Mountain. Vilas Co.: Lac Vieux Desert; Sayner.

Waukesha Co.: Okauchee Lake; Pine Lake.

D. Muhlenbeckii Bry. Eur. Dane Co.: Blue Mounds. Lincoln

Co. : Merrill. Sauk Co. : Devils Lake.

D. rugosum (Hoffm.) Brid. Ashland Co.: Basswood Island;

Kakagin River, at Lake Superior; Hermit Island; Long Is¬

land ; Madeline Island ; Odanah. Barron Co. : Barron. Bay-

field Co. : Bark Point ; Drummond ; Houghton Quarry ; Sand

Bay; Sand Island; Siskowitt Bay. Dane Co.: Blue Mounds;

Mendota. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor ; Ellison Bay. Douglas

Co. : T 45 N R 15 w; Lake Superior, near Brule River ; Upper

Lucius Lake, Brule River. Jefferson Co. : Lake Mills. Lin¬

coln Co. : Merrill ; Tomahawk. Manitowoc Co. : Two Rivers.

Oneida Co.: Newbold; Tomahawk Lake. Outagamie Co.:

Appleton. Ozaukee Co.: Cedarburg. Vilas Co.: Eagle River;

State Line. Waukesha Co. : Vernon.

188 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

1), SCOPAEIUM Hedw. Ashland Co. : LaPointe, Madeline Island ;

Oak Island ; Hermit Island. Barron Co. : Prairie Lake Twp.,

sec. 7. Bayfield Co. : Bark Bay ; Drummond ; Plerbster ;

Houghton Quarry; La Chapelle (Lashabel’s homestead) ;

Port Wing; Sand Island; Squaw Bay. Dane Co.: Belleville;

Blue Mounds ; Madison ; near Windsor. Door Co. : near Bai¬

leys Harbor ; Garrett Bay. Douglas Co. : T 45 N R 15 W ;

Brule River; Upper Lucius Lake. Grant Co.: Glen Haven;

Montfort; Werley. Iron Co.: Montreal River. Jefferson Co.:

Lake Mills. Lincoln Co.: Grandmother Falls; Tomahawk.

Marathon Co. : Granite Heights ; near Wausau. Oneida Co. :

near Eagle Lake; Rhinelander; Tomahawk Lake; Whirlpool

Rapids. Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg. Rusk Co. : Murry ; Strick¬

land. Sauk Co. : Devils Lake. Sheboygan Co. : Cedar Grove ;

Sheboygan. Vilas Co. : Eagle River; Lac Vieux Desert. Wau¬

kesha Co. : Oconomowoc ; Pewaukee ; Pine Lake ; Waukesha

Twp.

D. viride (Sull. & Lesq.) Lindb. Barron Co.: Barron; near

Barron. Bayfield Co. : Bayfield ; Mason. Dane Co. : Madison.

Douglas Co.: near mouth of the Brule River. Grant Co.:

Glen Haven; Mt. Hope; Potosi. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. La¬

fayette Co. : Fayette. Lincoln Co. : Grandmother Falls ; Mer¬

rill ; Tomahawk. Milwaukee Co. : South Milwaukee. Oneida

Co.: Hat Rapids; McNaughton; Newbold; Rhinelander;

Tomawak Lake. Outagamie Co.: Appleton. Ozaukee Co.:

Cedarburg. Rusk Co. : Strickland. Sauk Co. : near Wisconsin

Dells. Sheboygan Co. : Cedar Grove ; Plymouth. Vilas Co. :

Lac Vieux Desert; near State Line. Washington Co.: New-

burg. Waukesha Co. : Lake Nagawicka ; Nashotah Lake ;

Pine Lake.

Didymodon

D. RECURVIROSTRIS (Hedw.) Jennings as D. rubellus Bry. Eur.

Ashland Co. : Basswood Island ; Manitou Island ; Oak Island ;

near White River. Bayfield Co.: Herbster; Houghton

Quarry; LaChapelle (Lashabel’s homestead); Mason; Port

Wing. Dodge Co. : Horicon. Door Co. : Ellison Bay. Douglas

Co. : T 45 N R 15 W. Grant Co. : Bagley ; Bloomington ; Glen

Haven ; Lancaster ; Millville ; Mt. Hope ; North Andover ;

Patch Grove ; Platteville ; Potosi. Iron Co. : Montreal River.

Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls; Grandmother Falls. Mara-

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 189

thon Co.: Wausau. Milwaukee Co.: South Milwaukee. Rock

Co. : Beloit ; Carver’s Rock, Bradford Twp. ; Janesville. She¬

boygan Co. : Cedar Grove.

Diphyscium

D. foliosum (Hedw.) Mohr. Columbia Co.: Dells of Wisconsin

River.

Distichium

D. CAPILLACEUM (Hedw.) Bry. Eur. Bayfield Co.: between Port

Wing and Herbster.

D. inclinatum (Hedw.) Bry. Eur. Bayfield Co.: Squaw Bay.

Ditrichum

D. HETEROMALLUM (Hedw.) E. G. Britton, as D. homomallum

Hampe. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra.

D. lineare (Sw.) Lindb. as D. vagina, ns (Sull.) Hpe. Barron

Co.: Maple Grove Twp., sec. 8. Iron Co.: lower Montreal

River.

D. pallidum (Hedw.) Hampe. Adams Co.: Dells of Wisconsin

River. Grant Co. : Bagley ; Glen Haven. Milwaukee Co. : Mil¬

waukee. Rock Go.: Clinton. Sauk Co.: Devils Lake.

D. pusillum (Hedw.) E. G. Britton, as D. tortile Brockm. ex¬

cepting for those stations marked with an *. These collec¬

tions were listed originally as D. 'pusillum. Barron Co. : Bar¬

ron Twp., sec. 26 ; Barron ; Doyle Twp., sec. 33 ; Maple Grove

Twp., sec. 8 ; Prairie Lake Twp., sec. 7. Bayfield Co. : Drum¬

mond. Buffalo Co. : Marshland. Dane Co. : Madison ; same

station *. Iron Co. : Pence. Lincoln Co. : Tomahawk. Mara¬

thon Co. : Granite Heights. Oneida Co. : Noisy Creek ; Rhine¬

lander; Tomahawk Lake. Polk Co.: Osceola. Price Co.:

Ogema. Rock Co. : Newark. Trempealeau Co. : Trempealeau

Mountain *.

Drepanocladus

D. aduncus (Hedw.) Warnst. Dane Co.: Madison. Grant Co.:

Potosi. Waukesha Co.: Eagle; Ottawa Twp.

D. aduncus f. AQUATICUS (Sanio) Monkem. Door Co.: Baileys

Harbor. Jefferson Co. : Palmyra. Sheboygan Co. : Cedar

Grove.

D. aduncus var. Kneiffii (Bry. Eur.) Warnst. Jefferson Co.:

190 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Ixonia. Manitowoc Co.: Two Rivers. Waukesha Co.: Muk-

wonago ; Okauchee Lake.

D. aduncus var. Kneiffii f. intermedius (B. & S.) Monkem.

Waukesha Co.: Waukesha.

D. aduncus var. Kneiffii f. pseudofluitans (Sanio) Monkem.

Oneida Co. : Tomahawk Lake. Waukesha Co. : Waukesha.

D. aduncus var. polycarpus (Bland.) Warnst. Lincoln Co.:

Tomahawk. Polk Co.: near Doran. Waukesha Co.: Ocono-

mowoc; Vernon; Waukesha.

D. ADUNCUS var. POLYCARPUS f. GRACILESCENS (Bl\ & Sch.)

Monkem. Dane Co. : Blue Mounds. Rock Co. : Newark. Wau¬

kesha Co. : Mukwonago ; Oconomowoc.

D. aduncus var. polycarpus f. uncus Grout. Waukesha Co.:

near Vernon.

D. aduncus var. pseudofluitans f. paternus (Sanio) Grout.

Ashland Co. : Madeline Island. Douglas Co. : mouth of Brule

River.

D. exannulatus (Gumb.) Warnst. Barron Co.: Barron. Onei¬

da Co. : Newbold.

D. exannulatus var. brachydictyus (Ren.) Grout. Oneida

Co. : Tomahawk Lake.

D. exannulatus var. rotae f. falcifolius (Ren.) Grout. Bay-

field Co.: Drummond. Oneida Co.: Tomahawk Lake. Outa¬

gamie Co. : Appleton. Portage Co. : Stevens Point. Vilas Co. :

Weber Lake.

D. fluitans (Hedw.) Warnst. Oneida Co.: Tomahawk Lake.

Vilas Co. : Conover.

D. fluitans f. Jeanbernati (Ren.) Monkem. Barron Co.:

Barron ; Barron Twp., sec. 29. Oneida Co. : Tomahawk Lake.

D. intermedius (Lindb.) Warnst. Door Co.: Baileys Harbor.

Jefferson Co. : Palmyra.

D. revolvens (C. Mull.) Warnst. Door Co.: Baileys Harbor.

Jefferson Co.: Palmyra.

D. Sendtneri (Schimp.) Warnst. Waukesha Co.: Waukesha.

D. Sendtneri f. aristinervis Monkem. Rock Co. : Newark.

D. uncinatus (Hedw.) Warnst. Ashland Co.: Basswood Is¬

land; Hermit Island; Oak Island; near White River. Bay-

field Co.: LaChapelle (LashabePs homestead) ; Mason; Port

Wing; near Port Wing; Sand Bay; Sand Island; Siskowitt

Bay. Dane Co. : Madison. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor. Doug-

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin

191

las Co.: Amnicon Eiver. Iron Co.: Montreal River. N W

corner of La Pointe Indian Reservation. Lincoln Co. : Grand¬

father Falls ; near Grandfather Falls. Oneida Co. : Toma¬

hawk Lake.

D. UNCINATUS var. PLUMULOSUS (Schimp.) Roth. Door Co.:

Baileys Harbor. Vilas Co.: Lac Vieux Desert. Waukesha

Co. : Big Bend.

D. VERNICOSUS (Lindb.) Warnst. Bayfield Co.: Herbster; Port

Wing. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor. Douglas Co. : T 45 N R 15

W. Lincoln Co. : Tomahawk. Vilas Co. : Conover ; Lac Vieux

Desert; near State Line.

Drummondia

D. prorepens (Hedw.) Jennings as D. clavellata Hook. Barron

Co. : Barron Twp., sec. 20 ; Doyle Twp., sec. 33 ; Maple Grove

Twp. Burnett Co.: Webb Lake. Dane Co.: Madison. Rusk

Co.: Strickland.

Encalypta

E. CILIATA Hedw. Ashland Co.: Manitou Island. Bayfield Co.:

Port Wing. Dane Co. : Blue Mounds. Douglas Co. : T 45 N R

15 W. Grant Co.: Bagley. Iron Co.: Montreal River. Lin¬

coln Co. : Grandfather Falls. Marathon Co. : Wausau. Rusk

Co. : Strickland. Sauk Co. : near Wisconsin Dells.

E. streptocarpa Hedw. Door Co.: Cana Island. Outagamie

Co. : Appleton.

Entodon

E. brevisetus (Hook. & Wils.) Jaeger & Sauerb. Barron Co.:

Barron. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls ; Merrill. Waukesha

Co. : Menomonee Falls.

E. cladorrhizans (Hedw.) C. Mull. Barron Co.: Barron. Dane

Co.: Madison; near Madison. Grant Co.: Glen Haven. Jef¬

ferson Co. : Palmyra ; Sullivan. Lafayette Co. : Fayette.

Outagamie Co. : Appleton. Portage Co. : Stevens Point. Rock

Co.: Clinton. Rusk Co.: Murry. Sauk Co.: near Wisconsin

Dells. Waukesha Co. : Pine Lake ; SaylesviJle.

E. seductrix (Hedw.) C. Mull. Barron Co.: Poskin. Dane Co.:

Madison ; near Madison. Grant Co. : Glen Haven. Jefferson

Co.: Johnson Creek; Palmyra. Portage Co.: Stevens Point.

Rock Co. : Newark Twy. Sheboygan Co.: Franklin. Trem-

192 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

pealeau Co. : Trempealeau Mountain. Waukesha Co. : Ocono-

mowoc; Pine Lake; Waukesha.

Ephemerum

E. COHAERENS (Hedw.) Hampe. Dane Co.: Madison.

E. CRASSINERVIUM (Schwaegr.) C. Miill. Barron Co.: Barron.

Grant Co. : Potosi.

E. spinulosum Schimp. Barron Co.: Barron.

Eurhynchium

E. hians (Hedw.) Jaeger & Sauerb. Dane Co. : Madison. Grant

Co.: Glen Haven; Potosi. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. Waukesha

Co. : Waukesha.

E. rusciforme (Neck.) Milde. Barron Co.: Campia. Rusk Co.:

Old Murry; sec. 20 T 36 N R 7 W. Sauk Co. : Baraboo.

E. serrulatum (Hedw.) Kindb. Barron Co.: Barron. Dane

Co.: Blue Mounds; Madison. Dodge Co.: Horicon. Grant

Co.: Glen Haven; Lancaster; Werley. Iron Co.: Montreal

River. Jefferson Co.: near Cambridge; Palmyra. Lafayette

Co.: Fayette. Rock Co.: Bradford Twp. ; Newark Twp.

Rusk Co.: Murry. Vilas Co.: Lac Vieux Desert. Waukesha

Co. : Oconomowoc ; Pine Lake.

E. Stokesii (Turn.) Bry. Eur. Outagamie Co.: Appleton.

E. strigosum (Hoffm.) Bry. Eur. Ashland Co.: Hermit Island;

Manitou Island ; Penokee ; White River. Barron Co. : Barron.

Bayfield Co.: Drummond; Herbster; Houghton Quarry; La

Chapelle (Lashabel’s homestead); Mason; Orienta; Port

Wing; Sand Bay. Door Co.: Baileys Harbor. Grant Co.:

Glen Haven ; Patch Grove. Iron Co. : Montreal River, near

Lake Superior. Jefferson Co. : Palmyra. Lincoln Co. : Grand¬

father Falls ; Grandmother Falls ; Merrill ; Tomahawk. Mani¬

towoc Co. : Two Rivers. Oneida Co. : Hat Rapids ; Tomahawk

Lake. Outagamie Co.: Appleton. Price Co.: Ogema. Rusk

Co.: Murry. Sauk Co.: near Wisconsin Dells. Sheboygan

Co. : Cedar Grove. Vilas Co. : Eagle River; Lac Vieux Desert.

Waukesha Co.: North Lake; Okauchee Lake; Pine Lake.

Fabronia

F. ciliaris (Brid.) Brid. as F. octoblepharis (Schleich.)

Schwaegr. Barron Co.: Barron; near Barron. Grant Co.:

Dutch Hollow; Glen Haven; Lancaster; Potosi. Polk Co.:

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 193

near Doran. Rusk Co. : Rusk Twp. Waukesha Co. : Ocono-

mowoc.

Fissidens

F. adiantoides Hedw. Barron Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.:

Houghton Quarry. Dane Co.: Madison. Door Co.: Baileys

Harbor. Iron Co. : Montreal River, near Lake Superior. Lin¬

coln Co. : Grandfather Falls. Outagamie Co. : Appleton.

Waukesha Co.: Vernon; Waukesha.

F. bryoides Hedw. Bayfield Co.: Mason. Dane Co.: Madison;

same station as F, incurvus (Web. & Mohr) Schwaegr.

Douglas Co. : T 45 N R 15 W. Grant Co. : Lancaster ; North

Andover; Potosi. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls; Grand¬

mother Falls ; Merrill. Oneida Co. : McNaughton ; Tomahawk

Lake. Portage Co.: Stevens Point. Washington Co.: New-

burg. Waukesha Co.: Oconomowoc ; Pine Lake, both as F.

incurvus (Web. & Mohr) Schwaegr.

F. cristatus Wils. Adams Co.: Witches Gulch. Ashland Co.:

Basswood Island; White River. Barron Co.: Doyle Twp.

Bayfield Co.: Houghton Quarry; Port Wing. Dane Co.: Blue

Mounds. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor. Grant Co. : Glen Haven ;

Potosi ; Werley. Lafayette Co. : Fayette. Lincoln Co. : Grand¬

father Falls. Milwaukee Co. : South Milwaukee. Oneida Co. :

Hat Rapids; Whirlpool Rapids. Outagamie Co.: Greenville.

Ozaukee Co.: Cedarburg. Rusk Co.: Murry; Strickland.

Washington Co. : Newburg. Waukesha Co. : Menomonee

Falls; Sussex; Vernon; Waukesha.

F. cristatus var. winonensis (Ren. & Card.) Grout. Sauk

Co.: near Wisconsin Dells.

F. exiguus Sull. as F. incurvus var. exiguus Barnes. Ashland

Co.: Basswood Island. Grant Co.: Glen Haven. Milwaukee

Co.: Milwaukee.

F. Julianus (Mont.) Schimp. Barron Co.: Barron. Jefferson

Co.: Palmyra. Portage Co.: Stevens Point.

F. MINUTULUS Sull. The stations marked with an * indicate

collections which were listed as F. incurvus (Web. & Mohr)

Schwaegr. Adams Co. : Cold Water Canyon ; same station *.

Ashland Co. : Basswood Island ; same station *. Barron Co. :

Barron. Grant Co.: Bagley; Fennimore; Glen Haven; same

station * ; Jamestown Twp. * ; Millville ; Mt. Hope ; Mt. Ida ;

North Andover ; Patch Grove ; same station * ; Potosi ; same

i

194 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

station * ; Werley. Lafayette Co.: Fayette; same station *.

Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls *. Rock Co.: Beloit; Clinton;

Janesville; same station *. Waukesha Co.: Oconomowoc.

F. obtusifolius Wils. Grant Co.: Bagley; near Bridgeport;

Glen Haven ; Werley.

F. osmundioides Hedw. Ashland Co.: Basswood Island; Oak

Island. Barron Co.: Barron. Door Co.: Baileys Harbor.

Grant Co. : Patch Grove. Lincoln Co. : Merrill. Oneida Co. :

Hat Rapids ; McNaughton ; Tomahawk Lake.

F. Ravenellii Sull. Lafayette Co. : Fayette.

F. SUBBASILARIS Hedw. Waukesha Co.: Waukesha.

F. taxifolius Hedw. Grant Co.: Glen Haven. Lafayette Co.:

Fayette. Rock Co. : Bradford Twp. ; Clinton.

Fontinalis

F. antipyretica Hedw. Ashland Co. : Stockton Island. Barron

Co. : Doyle Twp. Lincoln Co. : Tomahawk. Oneida Co. : Noisy

Creek. Sauk Co.: Baraboo. Vilas Co.: Trout Lake. Wash¬

burn Co. : Minong.

F. ANTIPYRETICA var. gigantea Sull. Ashland Co.: Stockton

Island. Barron Co.: Barron; Campia; Doyle Twp. Douglas

Co.: Amnicon Falls; Solon Springs. Lincoln Co.: Grand¬

father Falls. Manitowoc Co.: Manitowoc. Marathon Co.:

Granite Heights. Oneida Co. : Newbold ; Tomahawk Lake.

Portage Co.: Stevens Point. Rusk Co.: Horseman. Sauk

Co.: Devils Lake. Vilas Co.: Conover; Lac Vieux Desert.

F. dalecarlica Bry. Eur. Marathon Co. : Mosinee.

F. Duriaei Schimp. Barron Co. : Barron ; Doyle Twp. Bayfield

Co. : Drummond. Burnett Co. : Roosevelt Twp. Douglas Co. :

Amnicon Falls; Lucius Lake; T 45 N R 15 W. Jefferson Co. :

Palmyra. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls; Merrill. Oneida

Co.: Hat Rapids; Newbold; Tomahawk; Whirlpool Rapids.

Polk Co.: near Doran. Portage Co.: Stevens Point. Vilas

Co.: Conover; Eagle River; near State Line. Waukesha Co.:

Eagle ; North Lake.

F. FLACCIDA Ren. & Card. Vilas Co. : Trout Lake.

F. hypnoides Hartm. Waukesha Co. : Waukesha.

F. MISSOURICA Card. Barron Co. : Doyle Twp., sec. 33. Lakeland

Twp., Pipe Lake. Lincoln Co. : Merrill as F. Umbachi Card.

F. novae-angliae Sull. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls. Mara¬

thon Co. : Granite Heights.

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 195

Funaria

F. AMERICANA Lindb. Grant Co. : Glen Haven. Rock Co. : Brad¬

ford Twp.

F. hygrometrica Hedw. Bayfield Co. : Herbster ; Mason. Dane

Co. : Ellenboro ; Madison. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor. Doug¬

las Co. : T 45 N R 15 W. Grant Co. : Bagley ; Cornelia ; Glen

Haven ; Potosi. Iron Co. : Hurley. Oneida Co. : Noisy Creek ;

Tomahawk Lake. Outagamie Co. : Appleton. Ozaukee Co. :

Cedarburg. Polk Co.: near Doran. Rock Co.: Clinton. She¬

boygan Co.: Sheboygan; Cedar Grove. Vilas Co.: Eagle

River; Lac Vieux Desert; Star Lake. Washington Co.: New-

burg. Waukesha Co. : Menomonee Falls ; Menomonee Twp. ;

Mukwonago; Ottawa Twp.; Saylesville; Vernon Station;

Waukesha. Wood Co.: Wisconsin Rapids.

Grimmia

G. alpicola var. rivularis (Brid.) Broth, as G. apocarpa var.

rivularis Web. & Mohr. Barron Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.:

Herbster; Houghton Quarry. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather

Falls ; Grandmother Falls ; Merrill. Marathon Co. : Mosinee.

Oneida Co.: Hat Rapids; Rhinelander; Tomahawk Lake.

Portage Co. : Stevens Point. Rusk Co. : Strickland.

G. apocarpa Hedw. Barron Co. : Doyle Twp. Bayfield Co. : Port

Wing. Dane Co. : Blue Mounds ; Madison. Door Co. : Baileys

Harbor. Grant Co.: Glen Haven; Potosi; Wyalusing. Iron

Co. : Montreal River, near Lake Superior. Lincoln Co. :

Grandfather Falls; Grandmother Falls. Oneida Co.: Noisy

Creek ; Rhinelander ; Tomahawk Lake. Outagamie Co. : Ap¬

pleton. Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg. Rock Co. : Bradford Twp. ;

Clinton; Janesville. Washington Co.: Newburg. Waukesha

Co. : North Lake.

G. apocarpa var. ambigua (Sull.) Jones. Jefferson Co.: Pal¬

myra.

G. apocarpa var. conferta (Funck) Spreng. Dane Co.: Madi¬

son. Door Co.: Cana Island. Grant Co.: Glen Haven; Wer-

ley. Trempealeau Co.: Trempealeau Mountain.

G. apocarpa var. gracilis (Schleich.) Web. & Mohr. Grant

Co. : Glen Haven.

G. calyptrata Hook. Douglas Co. : Manitou Falls.

G. COMMUTATA Huben. Ashland Co.: Basswood Island.

196 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

G. Doniana Smith. Dane Co. : near Madison. Grant Co. : near

Potosi.

G. laevigata (Brid.) Brid. Dane Co.: Madison. Rock Co.:

Bradford Twp. ; Newark Twp.

G. Olneyi Sull. Dane Co. : near Madison.

G. pilifera Beauv. Bayfield Co.: Houghton Quarry; Mason.

Dane Co. : Blue Mounds. Grant Co. : Platteville ; Potosi. Lin¬

coln Co. : Grandfather Falls. Marathon Co. : Mosinee. Onei¬

da Co. : Tomahawk Lake.

G. plagiopodia Hedw. Dane Co.: near Madison. Grant Co.:

Glen Haven ; Potosi.

G. PULVINATA (Hedw.) Smith. Dane Co.: near Madison.

G. teretinervis Limpr. Trempealeau Co. : Trempealeau.

Gymnostomum

G. calcareum Nees & Hornsch. Ashland Co. : Basswood Island.

Bayfield Co. : Herbster ; Houghton Quarry. Dane Co. : Madi¬

son. Douglas Co. : Falls of the Black River. Grant Co. : Bag-

ley; Beetown; near Bridgeport; Cassville; Castle Rock; Glen

Haven; Mt. Hope; North Andover; Potosi. Lafayette Co.:

Fayette. Rock Co.: Beloit; Bradford Twp.; Janesville.

G. RECURVIROSTRUM Hedw. as G. curvirostre (Ehrh.) Hedw.

Bayfield Co.: Port Wing; Squaw Bay. Columbia Co.: Wis¬

consin Dells. Dane Co.: Madison. Grant Co.: Burton; Glen

Haven; Mt. Hope; Platteville; Wyalusing. Iron Co.: Mon¬

treal River, near Lake Superior. Rock Co.: Bradford Twp.

Haplohymenium

H. triste (Cesati) Kindb. cf. Anomodon tristis (Cesati) Sull.

Hedwigia

H. ciliata (Ehrh.) Hedw. Adams Co.: Dells of the Wisconsin

River. Bayfield Co.: Drummond; Houghton Quarry. Dane

Co.: Madison. Douglas Co.: Superior. Grant Co.: Potosi.

Jefferson Co. : Palmyra. Marathon Co. : Wausau. Milwaukee

Co. : South Milwaukee. Outagamie Co. : Appleton. Rock Co. :

Fairfield. Sheboygan Co.: Little Elkhart Lake. Vilas Co.:

Lac Vieux Desert. Waukesha Co. : Brookfield Twp. ; Ocono-

mowoc ; Waukesha.

H. ciliata f. detonsa (Howe) Grout. Ashland Co.: Basswood

Island.

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 197

H. ciliata f. viridis (Bry. Eur.) Grout. Dane Co.: near Madi-

ison. Sheboygan Co. : Little Elkhart Lake.

Helodium

H. Blandowii (Web. & Mohr) Warnst. Jefferson Co.: near

Palmyra. Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg Swamp. Washington Co. :

Newburg. Waukesha Co.: Mukwonago; sec. 33, T 5 N R

18 E.

Heterophyllium

H. Haldanianum (Grev.) Kindb. as Hypnum Haldanianum

Grev. Adams Co.: Cold Water Canyon. Ashland Co.: Oak

Island. Barron Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.: Drummond;

Herbster; La Chapelle (LashabeFs homestead). Dane Co.:

Madison; Pine Bluff. Door Co.: Sister Bay. Douglas Co.:

Superior ; Brule River ; Upper Lucius Lake. Grant Co. : Glen

Haven. Iron Co.: Montreal River, near Lake Superior. Jef¬

ferson Co. : Helenville ; Lake Mills ; Sullivan. Lafayette Co. :

Fayette. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls; Grandmother

Falls; Pine Islands, near Tomahawk; Tomahawk. Oneida

Co.: Newbold; Rhinelander; Wisconsin River, ten miles be¬

low Eagle River. Price Co. : Knox Mills. Sauk Co. : Baraboo.

Sheboygan Co.: Cedar Grove; Oostburg; Sheboygan. Vilas

Co.: Lac Vieux Desert; near State Line. Waukesha Co.:

Eagle Lake ; Pine Lake. Wood Co. : Wisconsin Rapids.

Homalia

H. Jamesii Schimp. Adams Co. : Cold Water Canyon. Bayfield

Co. : Houghton Quarry. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls.

Marathon Co.: Goodrich Junction; Granite Heights. Oneida

Go. : Hat Rapids. Sauk Co. : Parfreys Glen, near Baraboo.

Homalotheciella

H. subcapillata (Pledw.) Card. Barron Co.: Barron. Grant

Co. : Glen Haven. Oneida Co. : Tomahawk Lake.

Homomallium

H. adnatum (Hedw.) Broth. Barron Co.: Canton; Doyle Twp.

Chippewa Co. : Long Lake. Dane Co. : Blue Mounds ; Madi¬

son. Dodge Co.: Horicon. Grant Co.: Bagley; Glen Haven;

Potosi. Jefferson Co. : Helenville ; Johnson Creek ; Palmyra ;

198 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Sullivan. Lafayette Co.: Fayette. Milwaukee Co.: Milwau¬

kee. Outagamie Co. : Binghampton Bog, near Appleton. Polk

Co. : St. Croix Falls. Rock Co. : Avon Twp. ; Bradford Twp. ;

Carver's Rocks. Sauk Co.: Devils Lake. Sheboygan Co.:

Cedar Grove. Waukesha Co. : Menomonee Falls ; North Lake ;

Okauchee Lake; Pine Lake; Vernon; Wales; Waukesha.

Hygroamblystegium

H. FLUVIATILE (Hedw.) Loeske. Ashland Co.: Stockton Island;

White River. Barron Co.: sec. 12 T 35 N R 10 W ; Canton;

sec. 8, Maple Grove Twp. Bayfield Co. : Buffalo Bay ; Drum¬

mond; Mason; Port Wing; Siskowitt Bay. Douglas Co.:

Brule River. Grant Co.: Glen Haven; Potosi. Iowa Co.:

Union Mills. Iron Co. : Montreal River. Lincoln Co. : N E

corner; Grandfather Falls. Marathon Co.: Granite Heights.

Oneida Co. : Rhinelander ; ten miles S of Rhinelander ; Toma¬

hawk Lake. Portage Co. : Stevens Point. Rusk Co. : Murry ;

Strickland. Sauk Co. : Baraboo.

H. FLUVIATILE var. OVATUM Grout. Clark Co. : Abbotsford.

H. IRRIGUUM (Wils.) Loeske. Ashland Co.: White River. Bar¬

ron Co. : Barron. Bayfield Co. : Drummond ; La Chapelle

(Lashabel’s homestead) ; Port Wing. Dane Co. : Blue

Mounds ; Madison ; Middleton. Douglas Co. : T 45 N R 15 W ;

Superior. Grant Co. : near Bridgeport ; Glen Haven ; Potosi ;

Wyalusing. Iron Co.: Montreal River, near Lake Superior.

Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls.

Milwaukee Co. : Greenfield Twp. ; Milwaukee. Oneida Co. :

Rhinelander. Polk Co. : near Doran. Portage Co. : Stevens

Point. Rock Co.: Beloit; Bradford Twp.; Clinton; Janes¬

ville. Sauk Co.: Devils Lake. Sheboygan Co.: Cedar Grove.

Waukesha Co.: Beaver Lake; Big Bend; Eagle; Lake La-

Belle; Lannon; Lisbon Twp.; Mukwonago; Upper Nemahbin

Lake; Norris Farm for Boys; North Lake; Oconomowoc;

Oconomowoc Lake; Okauchee Lake; Ottawa Twp.; Pewau-

kee; Pine Lake; Sawtelle; Vernon Station; Wales; Wauke¬

sha ; Waukesha Twp.

H. irriguum var. spinifolium (Schimp.) Grout. Ozaukee Co.:

Thiensville. Rock Co.: Clinton.

H. NOTEROPHILUM (Sull.) Warnst. Dane Co.: Madison; Pheas¬

ant Branch; Lake Wingra. Grant Co.: Beet own ; Castle

Rock; Millville; Platteville; Potosi; Wyalusing. Green Lake

Cheney and Evans— The Mosses of Wisconsin 199

Co.: Green Lake. Rock Co.: Clinton; Fairfield. Waukesha

Co.: Eagle; Ottawa Twp.

H. ORTHOCLADON (Beauv.) Grout. Mr. Cheney prefers referring

this plant to a form of H. irriguum : “Dr. Grout makes this

form a sub-species of H. irriguum , but says that it might

better be ranked as a varietal form. My own observations of

a large large number of specimens leads me to place it in the

latter rank. My own series of specimens shows an unbroken

gradation from typical H. irriguum to the extreme forms re¬

ferred to H . irriguum , orthocladon”. Ashland Co.: White

River; Ashland. Iron Co.: Montreal River near Lake Su¬

perior. Lafayette Co. : Fayette. Polk Co. : near Doran. Wal¬

worth Co.: Whitewater. Waukesha Co.: Okauchee Lake;

Waukesha.

Hygrohypnum

H. eugyrium (Bry. Eur.) Loeske. Oneida Co.: Tomahawk

Lake.

H. ochraceum (Turn.) Loeske. Ashland Co.: White River.

Bayfield Co.: Houghton Quarry; Squaw Bay.

H. palustre (Hedw.) Loeske. Ashland Co.: Basswood Island;

shore of Lake Superior; Oak Island; White River. Bayfield

Co.: Herbster; Houghton Quarry; Port Wing; Sand Bay;

Sand Island; Squaw Bay.

Hylocomium

H. splendens (Hedw.) Bry. Eur. as H. yroliferum Lindb. Ash¬

land Co.: Basswood Island; Mellen; White River. Barron

Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.: Bark Bay; Drummond; Herb¬

ster. Burnett Co. : Swiss ; St. Croix River. Door Co. : Baileys

Harbor. Douglas Co.: Brule River. Manitowoc Co.: Mani¬

towoc. Oneida Co.: Tomahawk Lake. Outagamie Co.: Ap¬

pleton. Ozaukee Co.: Cedarburg. Sheboygan Co.: Cedar

Grove. Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert ; Star Lake.

Hypnum

H. CRISTA-castrensis Hedw. Ashland Co.: Mellen; White Riv¬

er ; Hermit Island. Barron Co. : Barron. Bayfield Co. : Port

Wing; Sand Bay. Dane Co.: Madison. Douglas Co.: T 45

N R 15 W ; Winneboujou. Grant Co. : Glen Haven. Iron Co. :

Montreal River, near Lake Superior ; La Pointe Indian Reser-

200 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

vation. Jackson Co.: Black River Falls. Jefferson Co.: Lake

Mills. Manitowoc Co.: Two Rivers. Oneida Co.: Rainbow

Rapids. Rusk Co. : Murry. Sauk Co. : Baxters Hollow, Bara-

boo Hills. Vilas Co.: Lac Vieux Desert; Conover.

H. cupressiforme Hedw. Grant Co.: Glen Haven; Mt. Hope.

Iron Co. : Montreal River, near Lake Superior.

H. CUPRESSIFORME var. ericetorum Bry. Eur. Bayfield Co.:

Sand Island.

H. CUPRESSIFORME var. filiforme Brid. Bayfield Co. : Houghton

Quarry. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls.

H. curvifolium Hedw. Barron Co.: Barron. Columbia Co.:

Dells of the Wisconsin River. Lafayette Co. : Fayette. Outa¬

gamie Co. : Greenville. Sheboygan Co. : Cedar Grove.

H. fertile Sendt. Bayfield Co. : Herbster ; Sand Bay. Douglas

Co. : T 45 N R 15 W. Iron Co. : Montreal River, near Lake

Superior. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls. Oneida Co. : Rain¬

bow Rapids ; Rhinelander.

H. imponens Hedw. Adams Co. : Dells of the Wisconsin River.

Ashland Co. : Hermit Island ; Oak Island. Barron Co. : Bar¬

ron. Bayfield Co.: Drummond; Herbster; Mason; Squaw

Bay. Dane Co. : Hook Lake. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor.

Douglas Co. : Brule River ; T 45 N R 15 W. Grant Co. : Glen

Haven. Jefferson Co. : Lake Mills. Lincoln Co. : Grandmother

Falls ; near Grandmother Falls. Manitowoc Co. : Two Rivers.

Oneida Co.: McNaughton; Newbold; 8 miles N of Rhine¬

lander. Rusk Co.: Little Falls, Flambeau River. Sheboygan

Co. : Cedar Grove ; Sheboygan. Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert.

H. Patientiae Lindb. as H. arcuatum Lindb. Adams Co. : Cold

Water Canyon, Dells of the Wisconsin River. Barron Co.:

Barron. Bayfield Co.: Houghton Quarry; La Chapelle (Lash-

abel’s homestead) ; Port Wing; Sand Bay. Dane Co.: Madi¬

son. Grant Co. : Bagley. Iron Co. : Montreal River, near Lake

Superior. Jefferson Co.: Helen ville; Palmyra. Lincoln Co.:

Grandfather Falls ; Pine River ; Tomahawk. Marathon Co. :

Granite Heights. Oneida Co.: McNaughton; Noisy Creek;

Rhinelander; Whirlpool Rapids. Ozaukee Co.: Cedarburg.

Polk Co. : near Doran. Racine Co. : Racine. Rock Co. : New¬

ark Twp. Sheboygan Co.: Cedar Grove. Vilas Co.: Eagle

River; Lac Vieux Desert. Washington Co.: Newburg. Wau¬

kesha Co. : Eagle ; Lannon ; Nashotah Lake ; Oconomowoc

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin 201

Lake; Okauchee Lake; Ottawa Twp. ; Vernon Station; Wau¬

kesha.

H. Patientiae var. elatum S chimp, as H. arcuatum var. ela-

tum Schimp. Rock Co.: Clinton.

H. pratense Koch. Ashland Co. : Basswood Island. Barron Co. :

Barron. Bayfield Co.: Orienta; Port Wing; Sand Bay. Onei¬

da Co. : Hat Rapids ; Noisy Creek ; Rhinelander ; near Rhine¬

lander; Whirlpool Rapids. Vilas Co.: Conover; Lac Vieux

Desert; near State Line. Waukesha Co.: Pine Lake; Vernon

Station ; Waukesha. Waupaca Co. : Readfield.

H. reptile Mx. Ashland Co. : Basswood Island ; Hermit Island ;

La Pointe, Madeline Island ; White River. Barron Co. ; Bar¬

ron. Bayfield Co. : Drummond ; Herbster ; Houghton Quarry.

Chippewa Co. : Long Lake. Dane Co. : Madison ; Mendota ;

Pine Bluff. Douglas Co. : St. Louis River ; Superior. Grant

Co.: Castle Rock; Glen Haven. Iron Co.: Montreal River,

near Lake Superior ; Pence. Lafayette Co. : Fayette. Lincoln

Co.: Grandmother Falls; near Grandmother Falls; Toma¬

hawk. Oneida Co.: Rhinelander; Tomahawk Lake. Outo-

gamie Co. : Medina. Rock Co. : Bradford Twp. ; Clinton.

Rusk Co.: Strickland. Sheboygan Co.: Cedar Grove. Vilas

Co.: Lac Vieux Desert; Sayner. Waukesha Co.: Okauchee

Lake; Pine Lake; Vernon; Wales.

Leptobryum

L. pyriforme (Hedw.) Schimp. Ashland Co.: Basswood Island.

Bayfield Co.: Drummond; Mason; Port Wing. Dane Co.:

Madison. Douglas Co. : near Burnett Co. line ; T 45 N R 15

W. Grant Co. : Potosi. Lincoln Co. : Grandfather Falls.

Oneida Co. : Newbold ; Rainbow Rapids ; Rhinelander. Outa¬

gamie Co. : West Center. Rock Co. : Beloit. Vilas Co. : Con¬

over; near State Line. Waukesha Co.: Lannon; Menomonee

Falls ; Waukesha. Wood Co. : Wisconsin Rapids.

Leptodictyum

L. riparium (Hedw.) Warnst. Ashland Co.: Ashland. Barron

Co.: Maple Grove Twp. Bayfield Co.: Orienta; Drummond.

Dane Co. : McFarland ; Madison ; Pine Bluff. Dodge Co. : Iron

Ridge. Douglas Co.: St. Louis River; Superior. Grant Co.:

Mt. Hope; Platteville; Potosi. Jefferson Co.: Palmyra. Ke¬

waunee Co.: Kewaunee. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls;

202 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

Merrill. Marathon Co. : Granite Heights. Milwaukee Co. :

West Allis. Oneida Co.: Noisy Creek; Wisconsin River.

Price Co.: Knox Mills. Portage Co.: Stevens Point. Rusk

Co. : Wilkinson Twp. Sheboygan Co. : Sheboygan. Vilas Co. :

Eagle River; Lac Vieux Desert. Waukesha Co.: Big Bend;

Lake La Belle; Mukwonago Twp.; Oconomowoc Lake; Ver¬

non Station ; Wales ; Waukesha.

L. riparium f. fluitans (L. & J.) Grout. Grant Co.: Bagley;

Mt. Hope. Oneida Co. : Rainbow Rapids. Ozaukee Co. : Cedar-

burg.

L. RIPARIUM f. flaccidum (L. & J.) Grout. Dane Co.: Madison.

Portage Co. : Stevens Point.

L. RIPARIUM f. longifolium (Schultz) Grout. Portage Co.:

Stevens Point.

L. trichopodium (Schultz) Warnst. Door Co.: Ellison Bay.

Grant Co.: Bagley; Glen Haven. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather

Falls. Oneida Co. : Rhinelander. Sheboygan Co. : Cedar

Grove.

L. vacillans (Sull.) Broth. Douglas Co.: West Superior. Jef¬

ferson Co.: Jefferson; Rome.

Leptodon

L. OHIOENSIS Sull. as Foy'sstroemia ohioensis Lindb. Grant Co. :

Potosi.

Leskea

L. arenicola Best. Grant Co.: Cassville; Glen Haven. Wau¬

kesha Co. : Pine Lake ; Waukesha.

L. gracilescens Hedw. Barron Co.: Barron. Grant Co.: Glen

Haven. Jefferson Co.: Milford; Palmyra Rock Co.: Brad¬

ford Twp.; Carver’s Rocks; Clinton; Janesville. Walworth

Co.: Whitewater. Waukesha Co.: Nemahbin Lake; Ocono¬

mowoc; Oconomowoc Lake; Okauchee Lake; Pine Lake;

Waukesha.

L. NERVOSA (Schwaegr.) Myrin. Ashland Co.: Hermit Island;

Oak Island. Bayfield Co. : Port Wing. Door Co. : Ellison Bay.

Iron Co. : Montreal River, near Lake Superior. Vilas Co. :

Lac Vieux Desert. Waukesha Co. : Oconomowoc.

L. obscura Hedw. Adams Co.: Dells of the Wisconsin River.

Bayfield Co.: Mason. Dane Co.: Madison. Grant Co.: Glen

Haven; Wyalusing. Iowa Co.: Arena. Jefferson Co.: Lake

Cheney and Evans — The Mosses of Wisconsin

203

Koshkonong ; Palmyra. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls;

Grandmother Falls. Marathon Co.: Mosinee. Oneida Co.:

Hat Rapids. Rock Co.: Afton; Beloit; Bradford Twp. ;

Janesville; Newark Twp. Walworth Co.: Whitewater. Wau¬

kesha Co.: Glen Cove Station; Lake La Belle; Waukesha.

L. polycarpa Hedw. Barron Co.: Barron. Bayfield Co.: near

the White River. Dane Co.: Madison. Grant Co.: Glen

Haven; Wyalusing. Iron Co.: Montreal River, near Lake

Superior. Lafayette Co. : Fayette. Lincoln Co. : Grandmother

Falls ; Pine River. Marathon Co. : Granite Heights ; Mosinee ;

Wausau. Oneida Co. : near Eagle River ; McNaughton ; New-

bold ; Rainbow Rapids. Price Co. : Knox Mills.

L. polycarpa var. paludosa (Hedw.) Schimp. Barron Co.:

Barron. Grant Co.: Glen Haven; Platteville. Lincoln Co.:

Grandmother Falls. Oneida Co.: between Eagle River and

Tomahawk Lake. Rock Co. : Beloit.

Leucobryum

L. GLAUCUM (Hedw.) Schimp. Adams Co.: Dells of the Wiscon¬

sin River. Ashland Co. : Basswood Island ; Long Island ; Mel-

len ; Odanah. Barron Co. : Barron. Bayfield Co. : Bayfield ;

Drummond. Dane Co. : Blue Mounds ; Madison. Douglas Co. :

Winneboujou. Grant Co.: Glen Haven; Mt. Hope; Potosi.

Jefferson Co. : Palmyra. Lafayette Co. : Fayette. Lincoln

Co.: Merrill. Outagamie Co.: Medina. Ozaukee Co.: Cedar-

burg. Rock Co. : Newark Twp. Sheboygan Co. : Cedar Grove.

Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert ; near State Line. Washington

Co.: Newburg. Waukesha Co.: Brookfield Twp.; Pine Lake.

Wood Co.: Wisconsin Rapids.

Leucodon

L. brachypus Brid. Iron Co.: shore of Lake Superior, near

Montreal River. Lincoln Co.: Grandfather Falls; Grand¬

mother Falls ; Merrill. Marathon Co. : Granite Heights ;

Wausau. Oneida Co. : Newbold ; near Rainbow Rapids.

L. julaceus (Hedw.) Sull. Grant Co.: Cassville; Glen Haven;

Potosi. Rock Co. : Bradford Twp.

L. sciuroides (Hedw.) Schwaegr. Barron Co.: Barron; Barron

Twp., sec. 20.; Canton; Sumner Twp. Bayfield Co.: Bark

Bay ; Drummond ; Mason. Dane Co. : Blue Mounds. Douglas

Co. : T 45 N R 15 W. Grant Co. : Glen Haven ; Potosi. Jeffer-

204 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters

son Co.: Helenville; Jefferson. Oneida Co.: Whirlpool Rap¬

ids. Outagamie Co.: Greenville. Sauk Co.: Devils Lake.

Vilas Co. : Lac Vieux Desert. Waukesha Co : Pine Lake.

Lindbergia

L. BRACHYPTERA var. Austinii (Sull.) Grout. Ashland Co.: Oak

Island. Barron Co. : Barron ; Barron Twp. Dane Co. : Madi¬

son. Grant Co. : Glen Haven ; Platteville ; Potosi. Jefferson

Co. : Milford. Portage Co. : Stevens Point. Rock Co. : Brad¬

ford Twp. ; Clinton. Rusk Co. : Horseman. Vilas Co. : Con¬

over; Lac Vieux Desert. Walworth Co.: Whitewater. Wau¬

kesha Co. : Lake La Belle ; Mouse Lake ; Oconomowoc Lake ;

Pine Lake; Vernon Station; Waukesha.

Meesia

M. triquetra (Hook. & Tayl.) Angstr. Bayfield Co.: Drum¬

mond. Ozaukee Co. : Cedarburg. Vilas Co. : near State Line.

M. uliginosa Hedw. Bayfield Co.: between Herbster and Port

Wing.

Mnium

M. affine Bland. Adams Co.: Dells of the Wisconsin River.

Barron Co.: Barron as M. affine var. ciliare (Grev.) C. M.

Bayfield Co. : Drummond. Calumet Co. : near Menasha.

Dane Co. : Madison. Door Co. : Baileys Harbor as M. affine

var. ciliare (Grev.) C. M. Lincoln Co.: Grandmother Falls.

Marathon Co. : Granite Heights. Oconto Co. : Oconto. Onei¬