nillSNI NVINOSHlMS^SaiHVdan librarieswsmithsonian~institutio
i i / . J VN^ i i
^ _ > ‘^0^ «g ^ 's^-uj5^^' 5§
RAR I ES ^SMITHSON IAN “ INSTITUTION NOimillSNI NVIN0SH1IWS^S3 I d Vd 9 I
~ = c/5
in
rtvASO/vTX IUJ
«w- - /Co^f^X 23
£K /o>C^ ^ r^k^\ H JkoVfr,
q) <
|/ K
o \y O'-J' 2 NS^JU^/ Q
niliSNI^NVINOSHimS S3 I dVd a 11 LI B RAR I ES2SM!THSONIAN_INSTITUTIO
r- * 2:
fVA s\^y m
VARIES SMITHSONIAN ~~INSTITUT 1 0N° NOimillSNI ~~ NVIN0SH1IWS S3 I d Vd 9 I
<£ _ _ . z * </> z w
> > v s
ClillSN I NVINOSHJ.I WS°° S 3 I a VH a I 1 LI B RAR I ES^SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIO
M - S ^ 5
to
/V^f _ _
O X^OSVj£X o XiAjosv^
RARIES SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION NOlinillSNI^NVINOSHlIWS ^33 I d Vd a
2: r- ___ z r* ... z
LOiiiSNi NviNosHims^saidvaan libraries^smithsonian institutic
Z _ W z z
S E , v — . E < d&N'*-
RAR 1 ES^SMITHSONIAN^ INSTITUTION^ NOliniUSNI^ NVINOSHJLIIrMS40 S3 I d Vd 8
. *5 /£%w&\ ? /^x | “
<
q:
'&TK?' “ ^ 5 5
LruiiSNI^NVINOSHIlWS ~S3 I a \/a 9 II "Tl B R AR I ES^SMITHSONIAN^INSTITUTIC
r~ Z __ r~ Z
^ R I E S SMITHSONIAN
to
INSTITUTION NOlifUllSNI
£0
NVIN0SH1IWS S3iavden
£/? >
LIJLSNI NVIN0SH1IIAIS S3ldVdail
§ - .
LIBRARIES SMITHSONIAN
2
O
INSTITUTION
n
'iW&h
UhHGnHh n
Cover Design by Jeffrey Homar
Title Page Design by Gail Mitchem
School of Fine Arts
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
TRANSACTIONS OF THE
WISCONSIN ACADEMY
OF SCIENCES, ARTS
AND LETTERS
LVII—1969
Editor
WALTER F. PETERSON
mracTioNs of the
wisdom academy
Established 1870
Volume LVII
GREEN POWER: THE INFLUENCE OF PLANTS
ON CIVILIZATION 1
John W. Thomson
THE RELATION OF HENRY JAMES’ ART CRITICISM
TO HIS LITERARY STANDARDS 9
Donald Emerson
VIOLENCE AND SURVIVAL IN THE NOVELS
OF IRIS MURDOCH 21
Donald Emerson
LIFE AGAINST DEATH IN ENGLISH POETRY:
A METHOD OF STYLISTIC DEFINITION 29
Karl Kroeber
JULIUS BUBOLZ FOUNDS AN INSURANCE COMPANY:
A STUDY IN RURAL LEADERSHIP
AND RESPONSIBILITY 41
Walter F. Peterson
ANTI-GOLD RUSH PROPAGANDA IN THE
WISCONSIN MINES 49
Watson Parker
OSHKOSH GRADUATES VIEW PUBLIC SCHOOL
TEACHING IN LETTERS TO RUFUS HALSEY
FROM 1905 TO 1907
Edward Noyes
GINSENG: A PIONEER RESOURCE
65
A. W. Schorger
LAKE SIZE AND TYPE ASSOCIATED WITH RESORT
LOCATIONS AND DENSITY IN NORTHEASTERN
WISCONSIN: 1. ONEIDA-VILAS AREA 75
L. G. Monthey
GLACIAL GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN KETTLE MORAINE
STATE FOREST, WISCONSIN 99
Robert F. Black
AGE AND GROWTH OF THE WALLEYE
IN LAKE WINNEBAGO 121
Gordon R. Priegel
REGULARLY OCCURRING FLUCTUATIONS IN YEAR-CLASS
STRENGTH OF TWO BROOK TROUT POPULATIONS 135
Ray J. White and Robert L. Hunt
DISTRIBUTION, STANDING CROPS, AND DRIFT
OF BENTHIC INVERTEBRATES IN A
SMALL WISCONSIN STREAM 155
John J. Peterka
BIOLOGY OF THE COREIDAE IN WISCONSIN 163
T. R. Yonke and J. T. Medler
HOST RECORDS AND PHENOLOGY OF LOUSE-FLIES
ON WISCONSIN BIRDS 189
Nancy S. Mueller, Helmut C. Mueller,
and Daniel D. Berger
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
is an annual publication devoted to the original, scholarly investigations of
Academy members. Sound manuscripts dealing with the state of Wisconsin
or its people are especially welcome, although papers by Academy members on
topics of general interest are occasionally published. Subject matter experts
will review each manuscript submitted.
Contributors are asked to forward two copies of their manuscript to the
Editor. The manuscript should be typed and double spaced on 8V2 x 11" bond
paper. The title of the paper should be centered at the top of the first page
of the manuscript and should be typed in capital letters throughout . The
author’s name should appear in capital and lower case letters, and should
be underlined and centered directly below the title. A note identifying the
author by institution or background should be placed at the top of a fresh
page, immediately after the text of the article. Upper right hand page nota¬
tions from the second page on should read 2 — Brown, 3 — Brown, 4 — Brown, etc.
The cost of publishing the Transactions is great. Therefore, articles in excess
of twenty-five printed pages will not normally be accepted. In the rare instance
in which a longer paper is approved, the contributor may be asked to help
subsidize publication.
Documentary footnotes should appear at the end of the paper under the
heading “References Cited.” Supplementary or explanatory notes of material
too specialized to appear in the text itself should be typed on a separate sheet
entitled “Footnotes” and appended to the section entitled “References Cited.”
Contributors should avoid unnecessary documentation wherever possible. Other
matters of style should be in harmony with current practice in the subject
matter area.
Galley proofs and manuscript copy will be forwarded to the author for
proofreading prior to publication; both should be returned to the Editor within
two weeks. Papers received on or before July 15 will be considered for pub¬
lication in the current year. Papers received after that will be considered for
publication the following year.
Contributors will be given five offprints of their article free of charge.
Additional offprints in sets of 100, 200, etc. may be ordered at the time galleys
and copy are returned to the Editor. Price will vary according to quantity
desired and the length of the article.
Manuscripts should be sent to:
Professor Walter F. Peterson
Editor, Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy
Lawrence University
Appleton, Wisconsin 54911
JOHN W. THOMSON
U7th President of the
WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND LETTERS
GREEN POWER: THE INFLUENCE OF PLANTS ON CIVILIZATION
John W. Thomson
When considering the possibilities for this address tonight there
was a strong temptation to entitle it “Flower Power”. But, such a
topic presented by a professor from the University of Wisconsin
might perhaps be unappreciated by many of our citizens who com¬
ment upon daily life on our campus.
As a professional botanist my own field of research and teaching
involves the science or art of classification and the naming of
plants, a field known to the professional as plant taxonomy. In
actual practise a plant taxonomist studies many aspects of the life
of plants : their physiology, chemistry, ecology, cytology, uses, and
many other things. Perhaps more than for any other botanist his
tracing the history of the names of the plants leads him into an
awareness of significant historical events which resulted from the
intertwining of the life of man and the plants of his environment.
The current geologist will point out a fact based upon his solid
evidence that in the earlier days of its founding, the earth was
surrounded by a different mixture of gases than that with which
we are familiar: The abundant volcanoes produced an atmosphere
with a higher content of carbon dioxide than the 0.03% of today
and less than the 20% of oxygen which sustains our life. The evo¬
lution of plants which used this high concentration of carbon
dioxide gas in their photosynthetic activity, giving off oxygen as a
byproduct, altered the atmosphere to the more liveable atmosphere
on which we are so dependent today. The algae in the waters of
the earth can take their carbon dioxide from the dissolved bicar¬
bonates, precipitating the unused portion as carbonates, usually
lime carbonates. The thousands of feet thick of limestone deposits
have locked up in them the carbonates from which the ancient
algae released the oxygen in their life processes. The enormous coal
deposits of the world also represent such an alteration of the atmos¬
phere in which the carbon dioxide of the air was taken out and
changed into organic materials which were fossilized and the
byproduct oxygen enriched the air.
For some people, the earliest relationship of man and plants was
perhaps that described in the delightful tale of the use of the apple
by Eve in the Garden of Eden as related in Genesis.
1
2 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Studies of anthropologists tell us that man evolved as a predator,
a hunter. His early weapons, his art, the artifacts of his civiliza¬
tion, attest to this. He had little to do with plants except when
game grew scarce. Then he would gather nuts, berries, and roots
of the plants which he found around him. He became a gatherer
of plants as well. Probably his earliest use of plants on a consistent
basis was as fuel for his fires. The early development of hand axes
perhaps reflects the possibility of such use and yet these were
mainly weapons. The use of fire dates back only some 20,000 to
30,000 years ago (Baker, 1965). Man may also have used plants
in the making of shelters of wattle or of reeds and barks. Probably
the grasses were early harvested in the wild as wild rice is still
harvested in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, or as small grains
in the Sudan.
At this point I should like to bring to your attention two pos¬
sible routes of the evolution or development of civilizations based
upon plants. The tropics are large areas where a civilization based
upon fruits and roots evolved, including products as breadfruit,
the tubers of tara (corms) and “yams” of the banana type fruits
or of Dioscorea (tubers). These are perishable foodstuffs. Fur¬
thermore their collection requires much hand labor. They cannot
be laid up against starvation periods or crop failures, nor are they
easily transported. A civilization based upon such foods as these
is subject to periods of feasting or famine. How different is a
civilization such as ours based upon the grains of grasses. The grass
stores its food in a non-perishable easily handled package. Its
stored food is on stems which are easily cut and processed and it
lends itself to mass treatment, especially by machinery. Its prod¬
uct can be stored, protected from the depredations of insects for
many years, circumventing the old cycle of inevitable feast and
famine periods. Its ease of culture and of transport has led to a
situation in which over 30 people may be supported in cities by
one on a farm. This proportion, still increasing today, has made
possible a civilization of immense cities in cold climates. It makes
possible the feeding of one part of the world by the production in
another. An equitable sharing of the products of the earth is more
possible with the grains of this family of plants than with the
products of any other plant family except possibly the legumes.
The story of the rise of this allegiance of man to the grasses is
a long story, perhaps of three chapters achieved quite independ¬
ently in three parts of the world ; one based upon wheat and origi¬
nating in Asia minor, one based upon corn and originating in the
new world, and the third based upon rice originating in the orient.
1969] Thomson — The Influence of Plants on Civilization
3
Agriculture, according to Baker, had its inception in the Meso¬
lithic or Middle Stone Age, a period when the glaciers were melt¬
ing away in Europe. Around the communities of the “hunter-
gatherers” were undoubtedly disturbed soils, midden heaps, areas
rich in nitrogenous wastes. Some of the weeds may likely have
developed there. They would have been derived from plants of dis¬
turbed habitats such as rock slides, cliff faces, sea shores, sand
bars, cattle wallows, etc. Among these ancient weeds were species
of Triticum, the wild wheats, three species of which are known
from remains of a 7th millennium village in the Tigris-Euphrates
valley. These grains were probably parched to assist in removing
the husk and prepared in a gruel, as bread-making is a compara¬
tively recent art. In any case these weedy plants became crossed
with other weeds in the genus Aegilops and the chromosomes mul¬
tiplied to give us the hexaploid bread wheats of today. The best
of the progenies of these weeds were probably unconsciously
selected and fell near the homes of our ancestors. Somehow, some¬
where, some genius among these ancestors decided that rather than
to rely on finding the grains, a better way would be to scratch the
soil and thereby promote their growth. Thus agriculture and the
dependence of man on a sedentary life was born.
A similar story can be told for the independent origin of indian
corn or maize, in the new world. Its origin is less well known than
that of wheat. It does appear to be related to teosinte (Euchlaena
mexicana) but to also have characters derived from a weedy
species of Tripsacum.
One of the fascinating developments of such weeds into plants
upon which we depend is the series of crops which European man
developed from a nondescript weed of the chalk cliffs of England
and France, a mustard, Brassica oleracea. From this unimposing
start have been derived cabbage by developing the terminal bud,
brussell sprouts by developing the lateral buds, cauliflower and
broccoli by developing the flower buds, and kale by developing the
leaves. Would that some genius among us find such promise in the
pigweeds of our garden!
One other food plant should be mentioned with respect to its
influence upon our history. The potato originated in the high Andes
where many varieties are grown. The conquerors of Peru intro¬
duced it to Spain during the 16th century and from there it spread
to all of northern Europe. It has become one of the world’s most
important crops. In Britain and Ireland it was the main crop fed
to the peasantry with perhaps a pig or two per family per year
allowed as a source of protein by the landlords who owned the land.
Such dependence upon a single crop was dangerous and when the
4
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
late blight fungus (a plant of course) hit the fields of Europe dur¬
ing 1845-1847 millions of the peasants across northern Europe
starved to death. Many others, especially from hard-hit Ireland,
migrated to North America, contributing to the large populations
of Irish along the eastern seaboard and affecting the destiny of
the United States. A very important development of this period
was the repeal of the “infamous*’ corn-laws of England which pro¬
tected the small grain grower of Britain from competition of grains
from the United States and Canada. John Peel (well known in a
song) was influential in the British Parliament in securing this
repeal. The increased import of grain from abroad made it neces¬
sary to secure ocean travel against privateers and pirates who then
operated with “permits” from the nations, and Britain promul¬
gated the doctrine of the freedom of the seas to all trade, and built
the tremendous navy necessary to enforce this doctrine. For many
decades this navy was the guarantor of the freedom of the seas,
and Britain was the world’s greatest seapower until the period of
World War II. We must admit that this doctrine of the freedom
of the seas has profoundly influenced the course of history, and
the potato and potato blight initiated it.
From one of our fiber plants, cotton, we have inherited some of
the most serious issues of today. Let me tell you some of its back¬
ground. Cotton originated from wild plants, some of Asiatic, and
some of North American origin. In India it has been cultivated for
several millenia. The Asiatic strains were undoubtedly known in
biblical times. The New World varieties had to await the discovery
of the Americas for their introduction.
In Europe, prior to the use of cotton, the main fiber used was
wool. It was a warm fiber suited for use in a cool moist climate.
Its original production was largely a home cottage industry, the
sheep being sheared, the wool spun by the housewife and the thread
woven either by the housewife or the itinerant weaver. Cotton
altered this picture of domestic tranquility. The new methods of
manufacture made possible a cheaper product. The cotton gin in¬
vented by Eli Whitney made it possible to get large quantities of
the fiber separated from the seed easily and the spinning machines
of Richard Arkwright (1768) and enormous weaving machines
made mass production possible. The Industrial Revolution had
begun with all its ills and abuses. It was a revolution which altered
the whole way of life of man, taking him far from the land, putting
him in cities and developing the immense urbanization of whole
nations. It was with the fiber of cotton that all of this began.
A further enormous sin may be laid to cotton. In the southern
part of the United States a plantation system based on the produc-
1969] Thomson — The Influence of Plants on Civilization 5
tion of dye indigo had evolved. An important blue dye was obtained
from this plant. The system was faltering in competition with the
dye indigo obtained from India where labor was even cheaper than
that of the slaves the planters of the south were importing from
Africa. The rise of the mills of cotton manufactures made the
demand for cotton so great that a rapid shift to cotton and tre¬
mendous expansion of the plantation system in the south occurred.
The importation of the negro slaves from Africa and their use as
labor for the plantation has led to a multitude of problems for our
country. We can blame the Civil War upon cotton, the exhaustion
of the lateritic soils of the south, the social ills of the south,
and the riots of today upon cotton. Truly this plant opened to us
a Pandora’s Box containing much evil.
From time immemorial the spices have been articles of trade,
sometimes of use only to the wealthy as a status symbol of greater
value than any commodity even the precious metals. Cloves, pepper,
and cinnamon found their way from the Orient during the Middle
Ages via long voyages, camel trains and arduous journeys. They
were prized for their flavors, yes, but in addition for the promotion
of perspiration, for aid to digestive processes, for preservatives,
and because of lack of refrigeration, to cover up the flavor of par¬
tially rotting meat, and were even used as deodorants by people
who believed that baths were dangerous and unhealthy. To avoid
the inevitable losses and tribute attrition of profits caused by the
long overland trade routes, the great voyages from Spain, Portugal
and Italy were undertaken. These may have commenced with
Marco Polo’s epic 24 year journey in the mid 13th century and
continued with those dates which every school child can recite for
you: Columbus 1492, Vasco da Gama 1497, and Magellan 1519-22.
Many were the wars and naval engagements fought in our history
to secure monopolies of the spice trade. Portugal, Spain, England,
and Holland fought for and sometimes won, sometimes lost, colo¬
nial empires whose products were the fragrant and profitable
spices. Let anyone think that we have not inherited a legacy of
problems from these plants and we shall let the names of Oriental
and south seas trouble spots roll from the tongue — Indonesia,
Macao, Ceylon, Malaysia, Hong Kong, to name a few.
The development of the overseas routes discovered during the
great period of exploration led to the need for navies to keep open
the routes and protect the trading vessels from piracy. That was
the day of wooden vessels, for it was not until the battle of Hamp¬
ton Roads in 1862 when the Monitor met the Merrimac that the
era of wooden ships began to end. The need for forests of oak for
the ships and of conifers for spars led to many problems as the
6 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
forests of Europe became exhausted. Naval operations around the
Baltic sea were necessary to insure Britain a supply of masts and
spars. Naturally this type of operation became objectionable.
Finally during the latter part of the 17th century North America
became a source of naval timbers and supplies. During the
Napoleonic Wars of the 19th century it was possible for Britain
to win the victories of Aboukir Bay and Trafalgar only because
she had access to the timbers of Canada for naval construction.
Lest we think that the movement of armies and navies caused
by plant resources is a phenomenon of only the past, something
which ended in the Victorian Period, let me hasten to call to your
attention some of the strategies of World War II. These were
determined in the Pacific Theatre of Operation in large part by
plants. In central America and on the Amazonian slopes of the
Andes and the Amazonian slopes of Colombia and Venezuela are
trees from which rubber is obtained. This product remained mainly
a curiosity until 1839 when Charles Goodyear discovered the proc¬
ess of vulcanization. This discovery makes it possible to use rubber
in the manufacture of tires for vehicles including those on which
our vast and mobile civilizations and armies are now completely
dependent. The rubber trees were eventually imported to Ceylon,
Malaya, and Indonesia where the principal plantations of the world
are located.
A second plant genus of the same region of northern South
America, Cinchona, supplies the world with quinine, the drug nec¬
essary to control malaria. Its introduction to the East Indies led
to the source of 90% of the world's supplies being the plantations
of Java. Without quinine, no army can effectively operate in the
tropics. Without the wheels to roll upon, and quinine to protect
against the scourge of malaria, our great armies would have been
impotent. The strategies of Japan in the Pacific were to cut us
from these vital supplies coming from the far reaches of the
Pacific. Our strategies had to include campaigns to regain control
of these vital plantations.
The quest for plant materials to treat the ailments of man is an
old one. Probably our ancestors in testing the edibility of plants
when they were in transition from hunters to hunters and
gatherers sampled everything in their environment and in some
cases found surprising effects ; laxative, emetic, hallucinatory,
soporific etc. The body of lore they accumulated was passed on as
an oral tradition by their medicine men; later the first books on
plants dealt mainly with their medicinal values. This traditional
background of botany still finds use today although many drugs of
today are now synthesized rather than extracted.
1969] Thomson— The Influence of Plants on Civilization 7
For the alleviation of pain we still may use cocaine from the
leaves of the cocoa tree and morphine from the latex of poppies.
Digitalin from the foxglove is important in the treatment of cer¬
tain heart diseases; atropine from belladonna finds many impor¬
tant medicinal uses; precursors of cortisone are obtained from
yams of the genus Dioscorea; and Rauvolfla yields reserpine which
has proven so effective in the treatment of mental ailments. The
tremendous effects on world health by the antibiotics obtained
from the mold fungi such as Penicillium must also be recognized.
Some of the extracts from plants contain addictive alkaloids as
morphine or its derivative heroin in the latex of the opium poppy
or nicotine in the tobacco plant. What have been the effects of such
plant products on man? It is not necessary here to do more than
remind one of the tremendous economic and social effects of these
addictions. It is an ironic twist of events that the addiction of the
nicotine user is the chief source of funds for the Outdoor Recrea¬
tion Act of Wisconsin, or that a major source of revenues for the
government is this same addiction. Many of us also certainly are
habituated, if not addicted to the milder alkaloid caffeine contained
in coffee. Sometimes too, we may be enlivened by the alcohol pro¬
duced by the yeast plants when carrying on anaerobic fermenta¬
tion in obtaining their energy for life processes. There are not
many other plant products, or even animal products, that have not
been utilized by man in seeking to harness the yeasts to his
desired aims.
Tonight I have spoken of but a few of the examples of the power
of plants in influencing man’s course of action. I could have spoken
of many more, of cacao and coffee, of tea, and of the forests and
the influence of paper, other foods and fibers, things to chew, an
amazing array of plants from far corners of the earth. But, I
should like to conclude with some thoughts concerning our future
relationships with plants. In the newspaper this past weekend was
a discussion of a vast project which was proposed for South
America. A dam would form an inland sea as large as western
Europe. The newswriter with remarkable insight commented that
he wondered what the significance could be of removing so much
of an area of trees from the oxygen regeneration system of the
world. This is part and parcel of the same problem in which we
use the fossil fuels of the earth, coal and petroleum, taking oxygen
from the atmosphere and releasing carbon dioxide by the millions
of tons, a process which Prof. Reid Bryson, one of our academy
members and a climatologist will tell us portends serious altera¬
tions in the climate of the earth. This too, Prof. Bryson tells us,
is correlated with problems caused by the removal of the vegeta-
8 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
tion of large areas of the earth by man and his domesticated ani¬
mals, especially the goat, leading to atmospheric dust pollution
which causes greater reflection of the radiant energy of the sun,
in turn thus cooling the earth and its climate. Continuation of this
process will certainly force man to alter much of his way of life
in the northern hemisphere. To reverse this process and to revege¬
tate the large areas of the world which once were green and sup¬
ported huge cities as those of the Mycenians and the Sumerians
in the region of Asia Minor seems well nigh impossible. The evi¬
dence seems incontrovertible that the loss of the vegetation of
these regions caused the decline of great civilizations.
A hitherto unsuspected influence of plants is only now making
itself felt. Henry Thoreau’s statement of it was borrowed for the
title of a recent publication of the Sierra Club “In Wildness Is The
Preservation Of The World”. Perhaps we can say that this is an
influence upon the soul of man ! Man was a creature of the edge of
the forest, perhaps of a savannah-like landscape. He feared the
deep forest, he feared the open prairie. Does he not cut down the
forest around his home to open it to sunlight? When travelling in
the Dakotas does he not seek a tree under which to picnic? Can he
bear the solid expanse of concrete and asphalt of the urban horrors
which have arisen today? Certainly he is never happy in them,
he escapes to the greener expanses of suburbia when he can and
is happiest when camping in what he can call the “wilds”. He has
come a full circle. From a native home in a world clothed in plants,
he came to a utilization of plants which led to vast cities in which
man scarcely felt any relationship to plants, so far was he from
the land. And now he has returned to a realization that plants are
necessary not just for economic values but merely because he feels
he needs them and is unhappy without them. This is the age when
the pressures upon the plants are so severe that the conscience of
man feels the need to grant the plants sanctuaries, when the
Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club become inner needs felt
by so many people. They are an expression of the power of plants
upon people, a green power whose influence will continue to be
needed no matter how far we progress in achievement. When we
reach for the stars, plants will ride with us, exchanging oxygen
for the carbon dioxide produced by the astronauts, a cycle with
which we started our thoughts tonight, the green power which is
indispensable to man.
THE RELATION OF HENRY JAMES’S ART
CRITICISM TO HIS LITERARY STANDARDS
Donald Emerson
Professor of English
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Henry James’s use of the representational arts as material for
fiction extends from the early “A Landscape Painter” of 1866 to
The Outcry of 1911. In the Preface to The Tragic Muse he speaks
of the fascination of the artist-life as “a human complication and
a social stumbling-block,” the conflict between the claims of art and
of society being, he feels, one of “the half-dozen great primary
motives.”1 He exploits this subject also in Roderick Hudson and in
many of the short stories. Although in fiction he treats problems of
the painter, the actor, and the sculptor, his art criticism and his
discussions of the problems of representation deal most frequently
with painting. The terms of painting enter into his criticism of
literature, a great deal of metaphor is drawn from this art, and he
alludes frequently to specific canvasses.
But as art critic James is an amateur, a lover of painting who
could never become the rigorous professional he made himself in
his proper field. Mr. John Sweeney, who has collected much of the
art criticism, emphasizes James’s reliance on personal impressions
in his role of an attentive spectator interested in questions of rep¬
resentation. He delighted in “shows,” and he made his investment
of time and interest yield a return for his developing critical sense.
As Mr. Sweeney points out, he never concealed the fact that he
found literary as well as plastic values in pictures, and uread pic¬
tures with an eye for their possible lurking donnee.”2
James’s criticism of painting is to be found in art reviews and
accounts of travel. The reviews appeared from 1868 to about 1882
and again, briefly, in 1897 ; the travel accounts which deal with
painting were written in the early 1870’s. Mr. Sweeney has col¬
lected the bulk of the reviews, and Transatlantic Sketches includes
most of James discussion of painting in his travel writings. The
great difference is that the travel accounts record personal, imme-
1 The Art of the Novel (New York, 1934), p. 79.
8 Henry James, The Painter’s Eye, ed. John L. Sweeney (Cambridge, Mass., 1956),
p. 12.
9
10 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
diate responses and discoveries which enriched James’s visits to
new places. The reviews are more reserved, but without being
impersonal.
All the accounts of painting are best seen in relation to James’s
criticism in general. In his career James is at first more the re¬
viewer and the critic than the writer of fiction, and the art review¬
ing begins some years later than the book reviewing. One notable
difference follows : Where the reviewing of books gives place to
extended critical essays in which James eventually speaks with the
authority of “a man of the craft,” as he later styles himself, the
art notices remain always the appreciations of an intelligent ob¬
server, and eventually cease.
James disclaims interest in technical criticism of painting; this
is a matter which is to be left to others.
There is a certain sort of talk which should be confined to
manuals and notebooks and studio records; there is something
impertinent in pretending to work it into literary form. ... It
is narrow and unimaginative not to understand that a very deep
and intelligent enjoyment of pictures is consistent with a lively
indifference to this “inside view” of them. It has too much in
common with the reverse of a tapestry.3
The “inside view” is precisely what makes James’s later literary
criticism uniquely valuable, yet the record of his enjoyment of pic¬
tures has its own interest, for his views on painting are related to
his inseparable concerns for the role of the critic and his assess¬
ment of the imagination of the producer in all artistic performance.
In his earliest literary criticism, which antedates any of the art
criticism, James takes the position that the critic must be opposed
to his author, bound to consider the work within the limitations
of subject imposed on him, without reference to extraneous theory
or critical dogma. He distinguishes between “great” criticism,
which touches on philosophy in the fashion of Goethe, and the prac¬
tice of Sainte-Beuve, which at this time he considers productive of
“small” criticism. It is, he maintains, the duty of the critic to “com¬
pare a work with itself, with its own concrete standard of truth,”
and to rely on his reason rather than his feelings.4 He makes a
Coleridgean distinction between imagination and fancy. Imagina¬
tion enables the writer to present recognizably living figures, to
whom the imaginative reader can respond; the merely fanciful
writer seeks cheap and easy effects because he recognizes no stand-
3 Review of Eugene Fromentin’s Les Mditres d’ Autrefois : Belgique-Hollande, Nation ,
23 (13 July 1876), p. 48.
4 Notes and Review by Henry Janies, ed. Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (Cambridge,
Mass., 1921), p. 102f.
1969] Emerson— Relation of James's Art Criticism 11
ard of truth or accuracy. “As in the writing of fiction there is no
grander instrument than a potent imagination/' James declares,
“so there is no more pernicious dependence than an unbridled
fancy/'5 Fancy alone may convey the impression of physical sur¬
roundings; the reconstruction of feelings and ideas requires
imagination.
Within a very few years James modifies this stand and takes a
sterner view of the function of the imagination, which he now
maintains should “hold itself responsible to certain uncompromis¬
ing realities.”6 Beyond this respect for fact, the imagination, by
sympathetic penetration of its subject, can convey the very color
of reality. He shortly adds that the working of the imagination is
connected with questions of both realism and morality; analytic
imagination, presenting a scene with “hard material integrity,”
can leave behind a certain moral deposit.7
At the same time he softens the tone of critical authority and
calls now for justness of characterization. The day of critical dog¬
matism, he holds, is over, and with it the ancient infallibility and
tyranny of the critic. It now seems to him his duty as critic to de¬
tach from a work under discussion “ideas and principles appreci¬
able and available to the cultivated public judgment.”8 At this point
James begins his discussions of painting, and it is at once clear
that the principles he has formulated for literature are to be ap¬
plied also to painting; justness of characterization of a canvas re¬
quires, quite as much as does analysis of a novel, an estimate of
the imaginative force behind its creation.
The bases of James's responses to painting and painters are: A
distinction between imagination and fancy; a concern for reality;
a search for justness of characterization; a fondness for the nar¬
rative or literary aspects of a canvas; and a demand for morality
and taste. They all appear in one of the earliest of his reviews of
an exhibition of paintings in which he begins a discussion of Alex¬
andre Decamps by naming this painter as representative of the
gifted class of artists who pursue effect without direct reference
to truth whether it be in literature, music, drama, or painting. Yet
he goes on to acknowledge Decamps' “penetrating imagination” as
warrant for a background much resembling, so far as it relates to
reality, “some first-rate descriptive titbit of Edgar Poe or Charles
Baudelaire.” And then James finds that, in default of reality, the
somewhat arbitrary and ambiguous air of grandeur and lustre is
6 Ibid., p. 32.
6 “Novels by the author of Mary Powell,” Nation , 5 (15 August 1867), p. 126.
7 Review of Gustave Droz’ Around a Spring, Atlantic, 28 (August, 1871), p. 251.
8 Review of Rebecca H. Davis’ Dallas Galbraith, Nation, 7 (22 October 1868)
p. 330.
12 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
the conception, rather, of “a supremely vivid fancy.” In compari¬
son, the juxtaposed canvasses of Eugene Delacroix reveal “a gen¬
erous fallibility which is the penalty of his generous imagination
. . . he is a painter whose imaginative impulse begins where that
of most painters ends.” It is not that Delacroix selects grotesque
or exceptional subjects, but that he sees them rather in “a ray of
that light that never was on land or sea — which is simply the light
of the mind.” James goes on to describe a picture of men around
a campfire, and he finds great fault with the drawing; but in the
picture, he feels, Delacroix has shown an eye for the “mystery” of
a scene which fuses expression and details into the harmony of
poetry. And when it comes to morality and taste, James can
describe a Daubiguy canvas as “a little blank and thin; but . . .
indefinably honnete” in the fashion of one of George Sand’s rural
novels.9
With variations this is the pattern of the early art reviewing, in
which James respects the definitions and discriminations he has
already made clear in his general critical effort. He deplores, in a
picture admittedly painted with precision and skill, the total lack
of what may be called “moral atmosphere.”10 He notes that Fox-
croft Cole’s pictures have rather less of “an imaginative or reflec¬
tive germ” than suits his taste and finds it a pity that a painter
should ever produce anything without suggesting its associations,
its human uses, and its general “sentimental value.” He discovers
that art is thoroughness and intelligent choice, and that beauty is
sincerity; that the artist who would avoid superficiality must deal
with the simple and the familiar ; that superficiality is the only vul¬
garity ; and that to be broadly real is to be interesting.11 Returning
to Decamps, he finds that his work is rich in “skill . . . invention
. . . force . . . apprehension of color . . . and insincerity ,” since his
prime warrant is his fancy.12 He feels that Winslow Homer “not
only has no imagination, but he contrives to elevate this rather
blighting negative into a blooming and honorable positive. He is
almost barbarously simple, and, to our eye, he is horribly ugly;
but there is nevertheless something one likes about him.”13 He
finds an extraordinary impression of “imagination, vigor, and
facility,” in the work of Gustave Dore.14
A comparison of the art reviews with the reviews of books and
the criticism of authors which James was multiplying at the same
9 “French Pictures in Boston,” Atlantic, 29 (January, 1872), p. 115-118.
10 “Pictures by William Morris Hunt, Gerome, and Others,” Atlantic, 29 (February,
1872), p. 246.
11 “Art,” Atlantic, 29 (March, 1872), p. 372 f.
ia “The Wallace Collection in Bethnal Green,” Atlantic, 31 (January, 1873), p. 72 f,
is “On Some Pictures Lately Exhibited,” Galaxy, 20 (July, 1875), p. 93,
14 “London Sights,” Nation, 21 (16 December 1875), p. 387,
1969] Emerson— Relation of James's Art Criticism 13
time shows how closely connected are his theories of criticism and
of the imagination in all fields. By 1872 he expresses a preference
for the method of Sainte-Beuve, whom he once slighted as a “small”
critic, over the supposedly scientific method of Hippolyte Taine.
While Taine attempts to knock loose chunks of truth with a blow
of his critical hammer, Sainte-Beuve rather disengages its diffused
and imponderable essence by patient chemistry, by dissolving his
attention in the sea of circumstances. James now considers Sainte-
Beuve’s provisional empiricism more truly scientific than the pre¬
mature philosophy of M. Taine.15 He begins to revise his own
critical practice, and the sympathetic essay on Turgenev of 1874
reveals something of the critical empiricism he praises in the
French critic. He finds Turgenev a searching observer, but even
more a man of imagination, universally sensitive, who surpasses
the French realists in appreciation of sensuous impressions and
at the same time appreciates impulses outside the realists’ scope.
He discusses Turgenev’s imagination, which he cannot praise too
highly for its “intensity and fecundity.” No novelist seems to
James to have created a greater number of living figures, to have
had so masterly a touch in portraiture, or to have mingled so much
ideal beauty with so much unsparing reality.16
Thus it is hardly surprising that at very nearly the same time
he can note Winslow Homer’s “perfect realism” while remarking
that although Homer is a genuine painter it is not his practice to
think, imagine, select, refine, or compose. He goes on in the same
review to say of another painter that he lacks intellectual charm,
a thing which James finds precious even to its being the only thing
of deep value in a work of art, since imagination or intellectual
elevation cannot be studied or acquired, whereas everything else
can.17 And just as he expresses fatigue that his self-respect re¬
quires his being analytical in observing pictures, he experiences
revulsion from literary criticism as he has practiced it. Examina¬
tion of paintings in Italy has persuaded him that the whole history
of art is the conscious expression of a single mysterious spirit.
He has worked off his juvenile impulse to partisanship, and he
now perceives a certain human solidarity in all cultivated effort.
“There comes a time,” he confesses in 1874, “when points of dif¬
ference with friends and foes and authors dwindle, and points of
contact expand. We have a vision of the vanity of remonstrance
and of the idleness of criticism.”18 Within the year he speaks of
criticism as “deep appreciation.”
16 Review of Taine’s English Literature, Atlantic, 29 (April, 1872), p. 469.
xo French Poets and Novelists (London, 1878), pp. 275, 318.
17 “On Some Pictures Lately Exhibited,” Galaxy, 20 (July, 1875), pp. 91, 93.
18 Review of Victor Hugo’s Quatrevingt-trieze, Nation, 18 (9 April 1874), p. 238.
14 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
During this same time he enlarges his conception of the imagina¬
tion, and of the imaginative force behind artistic construction.
Flaubert in Madame Bovary reveals what the imagination can
accomplish under a powerful impulse to mirror the unmitigated
realities of life.19 Emile Montegut’s “cultivated imagination” gives
out in his work “a kind of constant murmur of appreciation — a
tremor of perception and reflection.”20 The “true imaginative
force” enables Howells to give his readers not only the mechanical
structure of a dramatic situation, but also its atmosphere, mean¬
ing, and poetry.21 James cites also such negative examples as
Charles Kingsley, whose imagination died a natural death when
Kingsley turned didactic historian,22 and Bayard Taylor’s, which
was so cold it could not kindle the reader’s.23 When in 1875 he dis¬
cusses Balzac extensively for the first time his chief concern is the
quality of Balzac’s imagination, and in later essays he returns to it
again and again. It becomes for James the great explanatory fact
behind Balzac’s reality, his vividness, and his systematizing of the
Comedie Humaine. Its deficiences explain Balzac’s failures of por¬
trayal whenever he attempts to touch the moral life.24
This discussion of literary matters, which deliberately departs
from James’s concern with painting, serves two ends : It shows the
inseparable connection of his changing conceptions of the critic’s
role in his responses to both books and pictures, and it underscores
his developing sense of the crucial role of the imagination in all
artistic production. And since it deals with the formulations which
are most explicit in his writings of 1872 and 1875 it encloses, as in
a parenthesis, the bulk of the travel accounts subsequently col¬
lected as Transatlantic Sketches. It is no way surprising that these
accounts reflect also, with the intensity of vivid, immediate experi¬
ence, perceptions and responses to pictures which James had
learned elsewhere. The travels reinforce one’s inescapable sense of
connection in everything James wrote.
He rhapsodized in 1873 on Tintoretto, before whose work he
feels old doubts and dilemmas to evaporate and the conflict of
idealism and realism to be practically solved. That earlier sense
which led him to declare that a scene presented with hard material
integrity could leave behind a certain moral deposit now makes
19 Review of Gustave Flaubert’s Temptation of St. Anthony, Nation, 18 (4 June
1874) , p. 365.
"Review of Emile Montegut’s Souvenirs de Bourgogne, Nation 19 (23 July 1894),
p. 62.
21 Review of William Dean Howells’ A Foregone Conclusion, Nation, 20 (7 January
1875) , p. 12.
22 “Charles Kingsley,” Nation, 20 (28 January 1875), p. 61.
"Review of Bayard Taylor’s The Prophet: A Tragedy, North American Review,
120 (January, 1875), p. 193.
24 French Poets and Novelists, p. 114.
1969] Emerson — Relation of James’s Art Criticism 15
him speak of Tintoretto as “the most interesting of painters,”
whose indefatigable hand never drew a line that was not “a moral
line.” Tintoretto’s great merit, to James’s mind, is his unequalled
distinctness of vision : “When once he had conceived the germ of a
scene, it defined itself to his imagination with an intensity, an
amplitude, an individuality of expression, which makes one’s
observation of his picture seem less an operation of the mind than
a kind of supplementary experience of life.” Veronese and Titian,
by comparison, seem to James to be content with much looser
specification, so that to place them against Tintoretto is to measure
the difference between observation and imagination. Tintoretto
grasped the whole scene in his great dramatic compositions, and
his work conveys the impression that “he felt, pictorially, the
great, beautiful, terrible spectacle of human life very much as
Shakespeare felt it poetically.”25
The justness of characterization which James demands in
literary criticism is again, in his observations on painters and
painting, satisfied only with an account of the artist’s imagination.
He proceeds even by negative example with Domenichino, to him
a supreme example of “effort detached from inspiration . . . school-
merit divorced from spontaneity” for the production of examples
of how the artist must never paint. The intensity of James’s feel¬
ing is apparent in his introduction, into a travel account, of a fic¬
tional character, the head-master of a drawing academy who sadly
leads his pupils to the disheartening examples of this painter’s
work and explains,
“Domenichino had great talent, and here and there he is an
excellent model ; he was devoted, conscientious, observant, indus¬
trious ; but . . . his imagination was cold. It loved nothing, it lost
itself in nothing, its efforts never gave it the heart-ache. It went
about trying this and that, concocting cold pictures after cold
receipts, dealing in the second-hand and the ready-made, and
putting into its performances a little of everything but itself.”26
The same type of discrimination appears in James’s discussion
of Sandro Botticelli, whom he finds, in a certain way, the most
interesting of the Florentine painters. Although he acknowledges
indebtedness to Walter Pater he resolutely puts aside all that he
considers recondite in Pater’s interpretation of Botticelli and pro¬
ceeds in typical fashion to conclude, “A rigidly sufficient account
of his genius is that his own imagination was active, that his
fancy was audacious and adventurous. Alone among the painters
33 Transatlantic Sketches (Boston, 1875), p. 90 ff.
26 Ibid., p. 177.
16 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
of his time, he seems to me to possess invention .” Where the glow
of expanding observation sent Botticelli’s contemporaries to their
easels, Botticelli possessed a faculty which loved to play tricks with
the actual, to sport, wander, and explore on its own account.27
James’s individual judgments of painters or canvasses, of both
which numerous critics can give more just accounts, are less inter¬
esting than the bases of his judgments and their relations to his
literary criticism. Early and late examples in both fields show his
conviction that the quality of imagination in a work of art is all-
important. It is the power, he now feels, to conceive greatly and
to feel greatly, to organize irreproachably the work of art of what¬
ever kind, and to make it a kind of supplementary experience of
life. Of literature James speaks with an authority that is wanting
in his criticism of painting, for in dealing with books he can make
the kind of technical analysis he eschews in his reports of painters
and their work. He can thus, in 1877, condemn Whistler’s work
as unprofitable and uninteresting, and at the same time praise the
work of Edward Burne-Jones as having, for all its faults, “an
amount of imaginative force the mere overflow of which would
set up in trade a thousand of the painters who are more generally
accepted by the public.”28 Again, in the same year he can declare
that “a picture should have some relation to live as well as to paint¬
ing. Mr. Whistler’s experiments have no relation whatever to life ;
they have only a relation to painting,” while he praises the art of
Burne-Jones as the art of culture, reflection, intellectual luxury,
and aesthetic refinement, the art, in short, “of people who look at
the world and at life not directly . . . and in all its accidental
reality, but in the reflection and ornamental portrait of it fur¬
nished by art itself in other manifestations; furnished by litera¬
ture, by poetry, by history, by erudition.”29
James much later confessed to Charles Eliot Norton that he had
come to find the work of Burne-Jones uninteresting,30 but the
changed view is of less significance than that James’s insistence on
relations in art leads eventually to his conception of criticism as
in part the study of connections. Guided himself by the practice
of Sainte-Beuve, in 1880 he praised the Frenchman’s sense of his
role: “The critic, in his conception, was not the narrow lawgiver
or the rigid censor that he is often assumed to be ; he was the stu¬
dent, the inquirer, the observer, the interpreter, the active, inde¬
fatigable commentator, whose constant aim was to arrive at just-
27 Ibid., p. 300.
28 “The Grosvenor Gallery and the Royal Academy,” Nation, 24 (31 May 1877),
p. 320.
29 “The Picture Season in London,” Galaxy, 24 (August, 1877), p. 156f.
30 Letters, ed. Percy Lubbock (London, 1920), I, 341.
1969] Emerson — Relation of James's Art Criticism 17
ness of characterization.”31 Four years later he says, “The meas¬
ure of my enjoyment of a critic is the degree to which he resembles
Sainte-Beuve.”32
James’s experience as writer inevitably affected his criticism;
he more and more cited his own authority. One such authoritative
pronouncement is “The Art of Fiction,” of 1884, which charac¬
terizes the novel as a direct impression of life, the value of which
depends upon the intensity of the impression. The writer must
work from reality and experience, but reality has myriad forms,
and experience is never complete. “It is an immense sensibility
. . . it is the very atmosphere of the mind; and when the mind is
imaginative ... it converts the very pulses of the air into revela¬
tions.” “Imagination assisting,” the artist can deal with anything,
for experience is practically constituted of the gifts which are
designated as imagination: “The power to guess the unseen from
the seen, to trace the implications of things, to judge the whole
piece by the pattern, the condition of feeling life in general so
completely that you are well on your way to knowing any par¬
ticular corner of it.”33
This declaration explains why in James’s criticism in all fields
the imagination is so emphasized, why it is the ground of so many
of his discriminations, and why he insists upon a description of the
artist’s imagination as part of the discussion of his work. With
his enlarging view of criticism as practiced by Sainte-Beuve, James
is shortly to remark that works of art grow more interesting as
one studies their connections, this study being a function of intel¬
ligent criticism.34 He goes on to insist that everything depends on
the qualifications of the critic. “Curiosity and sympathy” form his
equipment.
To lend himself, to project himself and steep himself, to feel
and feel till he understands and to understand so well that he
can say, to have perception at the pitch and passion and expres¬
sion as embracing as the air, to be infinitely curious and incor¬
rigibly patient, and yet plastic and inflammable and determinable
. . . these are fine chances for an active mind.35
He characterizes himself when he speaks of the critic who has
no a priori rule but that a production shall have genuine life.36
31 “Sainte-Beuve,” North American Review , 130 (January, 1880), p. 56.
32 “Matthew Arnold,” English Illustrated Magazine, 1 (January, 1884), p. 242.
33 Partial Portraits (London, 1888), pp. 387, 389.
34 Essays in London (London, 1893), p. 160.
35 Ibid., p. 276.
36 Views and Reviews (Boston, 1908), p. 227.
18 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
James is well known to have remarked rather testily, “Nothing
is ever my last word about anything,” but for a variety of reasons
he gave over the criticism of painting, and one of his last words
has an almost valedictory note. It is his mature expression of the
importance which through his life he attached to art, the em-
balmer, the magician whom we can never speak too fair or whose
importance overstate. For art “prolongs, it preserves, it conse¬
crates, it raises from the dead. It conciliates, charms, bribes pos¬
terity ; and it murmurs to mortals, as the old French poet sang to
his mistress, ‘You will be fair only so far as I have said so.’ ”37
This may belong to the realm of deep appreciation, but it is no
longer criticism. Aside from the stresses of James’s desperate pre¬
occupation with the stage between 1890 and 1895, his return from
defeat there to the magic of his “own old pen,” and his disgust
with all journalistic practices and activities, is there not also a
partial explanation of James’s ceasing to write on painting in his
inability to conduct the kind of analysis which, with novelists, he
increasingly made a part of his criticism, and with no one so much
as himself? All the last critical essays bear a family resemblance,
and the artistic problem is always the general subject, as it is in
the Prefaces for the collective New York edition of James’s
own work.
A final illuminating statement of the office and the effect of
criticism completes the perspective of James’s changing views and
implies his neglect, in the late criticism, of painting. Painting had
been one of the great resources of his imaginative life, but he could
not write of it as he could of literature, the field in which he spoke
with the authority of the high title he gave himself as “a man of
the craft.”
The effect, if not the prime office, of criticism, is to make our
absorption and our enjoyment of the things that feed the mind
as aware of itself as possible, since that awareness quickens the
mental demand, which thus in turn wanders further and fur¬
ther for pasture. This action on the part of the mind practically
amounts to a reaching out for the reasons of its interest, as only
by its so ascertaining them can the interest grow more various.
This is the very education of our imaginative life ... we cease
to be instinctive and at the mercy of chance.”38
In its scope and development James’s criticism reveals the
growth of an artistic mind of high quality, and the evolution of his
standards explains the changing estimates he made of painters and
37 picture and Text (New York, 1893), p. 134 f.
38 Notes on Novelists (New York, 1914), p. 315.
1969] Emerson — Relation of James’s Art Criticism
19
writers. This itself is sufficient ground of interest, his views of the
painter’s art forming a long and interesting chapter in the whole
volume. The early advocate of science and logic turns from judg¬
ment to justness of characterization and at last to deep apprecia¬
tion, with his final word a demand that criticism promote the edu¬
cation of the imaginative life itself. A good deal of James’s artis¬
tic education came from pictures, and he was deeply responsive;
but as critic he was authoritative only in his own productive field.
VIOLENCE AND SURVIVAL IN THE NOVELS OF IRIS MURDOCH
Donald Emerson
Professor of English
University of Wisconsin— Milwaukee
Iris Murdoch is a contemporary Anglo-Irish novelist and philoso¬
pher who besides writing a monograph on Jean-Paul Sartre (1953)
continues to lecture and to produce papers in both her professional
fields since her resignation from Oxford. Beginning in 1954 she
has published eleven novels, none of which can properly be termed
a philosophical novel though each is related to the problems of con¬
temporary philosophy and to Miss Murdoch’s own developing
thought. She is an artist who believes that men are social creatures
who confront the intractibility of a contingent world in which their
concerns are not abstractions but personal relationships and the
confusing, unpredictable “stuff” of human life. She writes in full
awareness of the state of fictional art, with an inexhaustible in¬
ventiveness, humor, irony, and compassion ; and she has a high re¬
gard for the 19th century novel of character and plot although she
has attempted it less frequently than the patterned novel which
tends to abstraction and symbolism.
The novel is one of the contemporary modes of philosophy, and
Sartre has gone so far as to declare it a chief mode of expression
for his brand of existentialism. As a form it reaches an audience
indifferent to other statements, and whether existentialist or not
has a persuasiveness more powerful than discursive exposition. It
expresses more sensitively than other forms the motives and as¬
sumptions of men in action or, in some of its guises, the convictions,
amounting to assessments of the culture of their times, of its
authors. The novel is one of the chief cultural documents of the
age, and Miss Murdoch considers it “a picture of, and a comment
upon, the human condition.”
She regularly directs her attention to the principal strategies of
the novel in our time. In her criticism and her practice she distin¬
guishes four chief modes: the journalistic novel of thin characteri¬
zation and abundant detail ; the realistic novel of character which
is closely related to the great 19th century examples of, say, George
“Violence and Survival in the Novels of Iris Murdoch” was read at the meeting- of
the Wisconsin Academy in Eau Claire, May, 1968.
21
22 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Eliot or Tolstoy ; the symbolist, almost allegorical novel of the type
of William Golding’s The Spire, which she terms a “crystalline”
form; and the fantasy-myth which she herself produced brilliantly
in her first novel, Under the Net (1954) . Although much of the best
modern work has been done in the symbolist novel, she regards the
form with misgivings prompted by her conviction that interest in
issues rather than people is inappropriate in the novel. To her
thinking the novelist proper is “a sort of phenomenologist ... a
describer rather than an explainer,” whose eye should be fixed on
what we do rather than on what we ought to do. She thus insists
on “the stubborn irreducibility of persons” and the contingency of
experience, and finds Sartre’s impatience with the “stuff” of human
life crippling to his work.
Miss Murdoch is herself victim of the paradox which confronts
every novelist. On the one hand there is the bumbling confusion of
human personalities and relationships, on the other the demands of
the novel for some degree of formal coherence. The form has swung
between the wonderful, lifelike record of contingency which made
Henry James refer to the 19th century English novel as “the para¬
dise of the loose end,” and the contemporary tight, structured form
which results in what Miss Murdoch terms “dryness”. Against such
dryness she argues that the novelist must portray individuals who
are independent of their author and are not puppets to exteriorize
some psychological conflict of his own. As she also says, “A novel
must be a house fit for free characters to live in; and to combine
form with respect for reality with all its odd contingent ways is
the highest art of prose.” She demands respect for contingency, yet
she writes novels which have sometimes prompted her critics to
draw diagrams. In practice she has resolved the paradox of com¬
position with varying degrees of success in fictions which tend to
be well-structured although her characters are believably un¬
predictable and her own sense of the ridiculous conveys a lively
sense of their contingent world.
Some further preliminaries must be dealt with : Miss Murdoch’s
philosophical ballast; the relations between her work and that of
others; and her own development as a novelist. As an unreformed
academic she naturally draws upon her professional knowledge of
philosophy when she works as a novelist. In an excellent study,
Degrees of Freedom, Mrs. A. S. Byatt documents Miss Murdoch’s
indebtedness, sometimes in opposition, to Sartre. Wittgenstein’s net
of concepts furnishes the dramatic metaphor of the hero’s pre¬
dicament as well as the title of the first novel. Simone Weil’s life
and work illuminate, for example, the portrayals of suffering in
The Flight from the Enchanter (1956) and The Unicorn (1963).
1969]
Emerson — Novels of Iris Murdoch
23
There are allusions to Kant and Hegel, and to the religious con¬
cepts possible to a novelist who terms herself a Protestant “Chris¬
tian fellow-traveller.” Yet Miss Murdoch says there is little con¬
nection between her books and her academic thinking despite the
fact that their shape and moral bases owe something to philosophy.
When she published her earliest novels she was bracketed by
critics with such Young Angries of the 50’s as John Wain and
Kingsley Amis, and her third novel, The Sandcastle (1957), dis¬
appointed those who expected her to continue in a single vein. A
Severed Head (1961) was a further surprise which had even some
success of scandal— -How far could she go? — and was likened by
critics to the Restoration drama of Congreve. An Unofficial Rose
(1962), in which she made an ambitious attempt to regain the
advantages of the 19th century novel of character led to her being
categorized as a “lady novelist,” a term which was repeated with
all its denigrative connotations for The Nice and the Good (1968),
whatever it may mean.
Iris Murdoch is well read in her profession of novelist as in her
profession of philosopher, and awareness of the art affects her
work much as does her knowledge of philosophy — there is only
partial connection between the work she does and what, as critic,
she approves, yet the shape of her novels owes much to her critical
understanding of the art and of the developments which have
brought it to its present state. She began with two novels best
described as fantasy-myths, the first concerned with freedom for
the individual caught in the conceptual net, the second with the
meanings of power in the modern world. Both are social novels,
both owe something to existentialist thinking, and both maintain
a brisk pace in which respect for contingency leads at times to por¬
trayal of wild and hilarious improbabilities. Since then Miss Mur¬
doch has chosen to deal more frequently with inter-personal rela¬
tions, an emphasis which recalls that of Henry James. Her most
successful novel, The Bell (1958), has the solid life which Miss
Murdoch praises in the great 19th century novels, for it best dis¬
plays the “real apprehension of persons other than the author as
having a right to exist and to have a separate mode of being which
is important and interesting to themselves.” Other novels of this
type are The Sandcastle (1957), An Unofficial Rose (1962), The
Red and the Green (1965), and The Nice and the Good (1968). A
Severed Head (1961) is strikingly different from the other novels
in style and plot, and is an apparent attempt of Miss Murdoch’s
to make a comic substitution of the “hard idea of truth” for the
“facile idea of sincerity” with which, to her mind, both Freud and
Sartre are associated; and The Italian Girl (1964) is a feebler
example. There is one further division within the work: The Uni -
24 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
corn (1963) is a return from the realistic complexity of The Bell
type of novel to the patterned, mythic novel, no longer fantastic
in the fashion of the earliest novels, but stripped and contrived, as
is The Time of the Angels (1966).
Mrs. Byatt has found the central concern of Miss Murdoch’s
novels in the question of freedom, and it is an illuminating ap¬
proach; but other themes deserve analysis, among them violence
and survival. Four exemplary novels will serve: Under the Net,
The Bell, An Unofficial Rose, and The Time of the Angels. They
happen to have appeared at precise four year intervals since 1954,
but they are not strikingly better than others for illustrative pur¬
poses. They might equally be used to define such other recurrent
themes as the nature of love ; the relation between love and moral¬
ity; the recognition of reality, especially the reality of other per¬
sons ; or the conflict between reality and illusion.
Outward violence in Miss Murdoch’s work ranges from simple
theft to murder or suicide on the scale of action, from impulse to
premeditation on the scale of intention, from accident to catastro¬
phe within the workings of nature; but the inward violence of
aggression, subjugation, and enslavement is frequently far more
interesting than any outward event, as is the inward struggle for
freedom. The terms of survival encompass the degrees between the
unthinking safety of self-chosen ignorance, the achievement of
stoic endurance, and the liberation of self-awareness. But for Miss
Murdoch’s characters survival is not always possible nor even,
sometimes, desired.
Under the Net is the earliest of the three novels Miss Murdoch
has attempted in the first person, and from a male point of view.
It is a lively romp, wildly improbable at times, which conveys an
encompassing sense of London and, in a different way, of Paris.
Jake Donaghue is the ideal narrator for a piece filled with action
and ideas, for the substance of his life is the private conversation
with himself of a man who sees too much ever to give a straight
answer. Besides, in his half-outsider fashion he is as much a phi¬
losopher as Iris Murdoch. Beneath the tumultuous action there is a
seriousness which makes Jake’s final grasp of a direction for his
life meaningful and convincing, but there is none of the grimness
of final choices apparent in some later novels, none of the sense
of harried individuals pushed to intolerable limits. There is even
a good-natured quality about the violence, which occurs in great
variety. Why shouldn’t a sensible man carry a pick-lock and take
over his friends’ apartments when locked out of his room for non¬
payment? Why shouldn’t he, when his manuscript has been stolen,
steal a valuable dog which the thief has kidnapped? Or help his
1969]
Emerson — Novels of Iris Murdoch
25
friend break out of a hospital? Or escape from a riot in a film
studio by blowing a hole in the set? Or use a powerful detonator
of the type conveniently at hand in well-furnished apartments, to
blow open a wall safe? Jake’s sense of the passing of time, how¬
ever, at last turns him to other courses.
All work and all love, the search for wealth and fame, the search
for truth, life itself, are made up of moments which pass and
become nothing. Yet through this shaft of nothings we drive on¬
wards with that miraculous vitality that creates our precarious
habitations in the past and the future. So we live — a spirit that
broods and hovers over the continual death of time, the lost
meaning, the unrecaptured moment, the unremembered face,
until the final chop-chop that ends all our moments and plunges
that spirit back into the void from which it came.
Jake turns from the hand-to-mouth survival of his first thirty
years to the possibility of writing well, from the “ragged, inglori¬
ous, and apparently purposeless” life he has known to the possibil¬
ity of doing better work than in his first book, with a strength and
joy which make the moment “the morning of the first day.” His
survival is not endurance but a plunge into a life made new by
being newly understood. And he achieves the understanding for
himself.
Another novel filled with the odd contingencies of life followed
Under the Net, though more sombre in tone. Miss Murdoch then
turned to a less highly charged picture of domestic life and per¬
sonal relations, thence to The Bell, her best piece thus far. The
action of The Bell centers about an Anglican lay community and
the disruptive events which lead to its closing after a public scan¬
dal. It is far too rich a novel for easy summary, but the violence
of much of it indicates the direction which Miss Murdoch is tak¬
ing: From the casual, almost merry violence of the first novel she
has turned to more consequential acts, not because suicide is more
desperate an act than safe-cracking but because all the violence is
seen more meaningfully in relation to the values of religion and
philosophy. There is more depth to this novel than to the first, and
the study of violence in still later novels will show a progression
already apparent here. Yet the two principal characters are far less
intelligent than Jake Donaghue. Dora Greenfield is neither talented
as an artist nor gifted with common sense even in ordinary affairs ;
and Michael Meade is a weak, homosexual ex-schoolteacher who
fails in all relationships through fumbling attempts at tender-
minded goodness. It is Miss Murdoch who is intelligent in this
novel, though with that respect for her characters as having lives
of their own which she considers typical of the great novelists.
26 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Besides suicide, attempted suicide, adultery, and self-righteous
bullying there is the more subtle violence, increasingly apparent in
Miss Murdoch’s work, of the sins against love : indifference, failure
of feeling, and calculated betrayal. It is these which are destruc¬
tive; the violence is their product. And the terms of survival have
changed. For Dora and Michael there is no sudden life-enhancing
vision such as Jake Donaghue experienced; instead, there is a slow
progress and adjustment to their changed lives. Michael observes
that the events at Imber Court increase Dora’s substance ; there is
simply “more of her” after the dreadful events have passed.
Michael himself, in anguish over the death of a man he might have
saved, defeats thoughts of suicide by perfecting his suffering
through responsibility for the dead man’s half-mad sister. At last
he, like Dora, turns to the hope of life when he can “experience
again, responding with his heart, that indefinitely extended re¬
quirement that one human being makes upon another.”
After The Bell Miss Murdoch produced a witty, brilliant study
of sexuality in A Severed Head, but with An Unofficial Rose she
returned to what she terms “the novel proper,” and here there is
far less of the strangeness, amounting at times to the effect of en¬
chantment, elsewhere cast about her characters. Miss Murdoch’s
characters are never ordinary but they are sometimes fantastic;
the figures of An Unofficial Rose are believable without being com¬
monplace. More of this novel is related to the linked problems of
violence and survival than any other, yet the surface is compara¬
tively placid. There is one tumultuous scene and at least two sym¬
bolic murders, but with her shift of interest from social to personal
relations Miss Murdoch here subdues violence to those crimes only
possible between persons who have loved or, what is worse, have
failed of love. There is Hugh Peronett, who is willing to sell a pre¬
cious picture to finance his son Randall in an adultery the like of
which Hugh was never bold enough to attempt. The selfishness of
Randall includes a self-justifying and coldly rationalized hatred of
his wife Ann, at the same time that his acceptance of Hugh’s
money is a joyful symbolic murder of his father. The daughter of
Ann and Randall destroys her mother’s possibility of happiness by
ruthless deception which prevents Ann from ever enjoying the love
of a good man who has waited until Randall deserted her. Even
Hugh’s mistress of long ago manipulates Hugh, Randall, and Ran¬
dall’s new mistress with devilish skill. Yet they are not monstrous,
however they may seem, and they survive in their varied fashions
beyond such difficulties as are always, one character remarks,
solved by violence. For some there is simple forgetfulness — the
young will find other interests. For Hugh and his failing mistress
1969]
Emerson— Novels of Iris Murdoch
27
there is the anticipation of an early extinction which leaves Hugh
thinking only that a brief interval remains : “Perhaps he had been
confused, perhaps he had understood nothing, but he had certainly
survived. He was free. 0 spare me a little that I may recover my
strength; before I go hence and be no more seen.” Randall is simply
left in a besotted state with the mistress whom he may decide,
when sober, to leave. For Ann there is endurance in her ignorance
of those she has never known. “She had not known them. She did
not know herself. It was not possible, it was not necessary, it was
perhaps not even proper. . . . Tasks lay ahead, one after one after
one, and the gradual return to an old simplicity. She would never
know, and that would be her way of surviving.”
In her next novel, The Unicorn , Miss Murdoch turned more di¬
rectly to the problems of suffering and endurance, but in a form
radically different and equally exemplified later in The Time of the
Angels. It has been noted that her thought can be related to that of
other philosophers and her fictions to those of other novelists. The
Unicorn suggests the strangeness of Sheridan Le Fanu while its
subject is related to the anatomy of suffering diagrammed by
Simone Weil. Both influences are apparent in The Time of the
Angels, set in London but a corner of London isolated amidst
bombed-out acres, and fog-shrouded into a remoteness as strange
as that of any Irish coast. These two novels are departures from
the realism to which Miss Murdoch feels the novel must return to
recover its vitality. It is as though the modern fascination with
myth-making, abstraction, and the creation of patterned fictions
has some sort of irresistible appeal. Or possibly Miss Murdoch finds
realism in some ways inadequate and unsatisfying and seeks some¬
how to get more directly to the core of reality by rejecting com¬
monplace actuality, “a world in which people play cricket, cook
cakes, make simple decisions, remember their childhood and go to
the circus; not the world in which they commit sins, fall in love,
say prayers, or join the Communist Party.” She has moved, as has
been seen, from Jake Donaghue’s tumultuous social world to the
portrayal of personal relationships, thence to ever-tighter sets of
relationships in progressively restricted groupings of characters.
This has been accompanied by a deepening of meaning as she has
neglected the everyday world in which people play cricket and cook
cakes for the more intense world in which, if they do not pray,
they are concerned with God, man, suffering, and evil. And violence
has become ever more closely identified with evil, while suffering
has acquired an ultimate redemptive power. It is only fair to note
that the latest novel, The Nice and the Good (1968), returns, with
some modifications, to the realistic mode.
28 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
The Time of the Angels actually contrasts the commonplace
world with the enclosed, fantastic rectory dominated by the mad
atheist priest Carel Fisher, for into it intrude Carers younger
brother Marcus and the one-time mistress of Carel’s older brother
Julian, who committed suicide after Carel had seduced Julian’s
wife. The weird household includes Muriel, Carel’s daughter by his
deceased wife ; Elizabeth, the daughter of that adultery, with whom
Carel commits incest; and Pattie O’Driscoll, Card’s mulatto mis¬
tress and housekeeper. Other servants are a father and son, a
refugee pair, of whom the son is the more interesting because he
is a pathological liar. All is not the grimness of American Southern
Gothic with which in subject matter this novel surely could com¬
pete; there are scenes and encounters as funny as some in Faulk¬
ner, if sometimes equally macabre. Much of the violence is in the
past, and if theft, incest, and suicide are in the foreground, the
meaning of violence has changed. Carel Fisher is a Dostoevskyan
character sunk in debasement and at the same time a religious
seeker for whom God is dead. Not even evil is real to him any
longer. “There is only power and the marvel of power, there is
only chance and the terror of chance.” Carel’s most significant act
of violence is a blow to his brother’s face, for he is persuaded now
that only infliction of pain can prove the existence of others. When
his daughters discover the truth of their relationship and when
Pattie cannot remain with Carel, though she loves him, he kills
himself. And now it is not a question of survival so much as of
suffering. Pattie’s love is to be her own torment only. Muriel,
watching her father die, realizes she is “condemned to be divided
forever from the world of simple innocent things, thoughtless af¬
fections and free happy laughter and dogs passing in the street.”
She is bound to Elizabeth, and they will be each other’s damnation.
The ultimate violence and perversity of both The Unicorn and
The Time of the Angels belong to the literature of extremity, the
very thing which Miss Murdoch had avoided in her earlier work.
She has already gone on to another portrayal of a more easily
recognizable world in The Nice and the Good, but it is a world in
which, as before, violence is a fact to which survival or destruction
are alternatives. These themes will surely recur in the further work
of this endlessly Inventive and interesting novelist. They are cen¬
trally related to her conception of the human condition, and despite
her respect for a contingent world and irreducible persons Miss
Murdoch seems increasingly drawn to the symbolic novel in which
emphasis on violence and suffering is greater than in portrayals
in the realistic mode.
LIFE AGAINST DEATH IN ENGLISH POETRY:
A METHOD OF STYLISTIC DEFINITION*
Karl Kroeber
with Alfred L. Kroeber and
Theodora K. Kroeber
Our purpose in this paper is to illustrate a method of defining
configurations of literary style through the study of word-choice
patterns in poetry. Refined and extended, this method should make
possible more meaningful analyses of poetic movements and
counter-movements both within and across the conventional classi¬
fications of stylistic periods— neo-classic, romantic, modern, and
the like.
We began by counting words sure to have significance in poetry,
words such as nature , soul, spirit, and words referring to the emo¬
tions, the seasons, and so forth. We soon found ourselves over¬
whelmed by a wealth of possible directions and significances, so
we settled on a pattern of life and death words as a starting point,
examining four life words and four death words in thirty-five
poets, both British and American, beginning with Chaucer and
concluding with James Dickey, for a time span of nearly six hun¬
dred years.
Our technique is to determine the frequency of the same set of
words in (where feasible) the total work of each poet. This sort
of survey of course turns for its data to the standard concordances,
whose value has too often been underestimated. A mass of ex¬
tracted and ordered stylistic information lies shallowly buried in
every concordance, and this information may be illuminating and
significant in many diverse ways. For instance, Housman has much
to say of the soul, which he mentions thirty-four times in his seri¬
ous verse as against twelve mentions of flesh. But his concordance
also shows that he does not once use either the word spirit or the
word body — a fact that might easily escape the most devoted stu¬
dent’s observation. Yet this “negative fact” is essential to our
* The work reported on in this article was begun by my father, the late Alfred L.
Kroeber. Always interested in literature, he became especially intrigued during his
later years with problems of describing literary styles. This essay represents one of
the last scholarly investigations he initiated. Recent developments in techniques for
using computers to compile concordances make it feasible now to carry out systemati¬
cally the extensive stylistic analyses my father first envisaged nearly a decade ago.
Karl Kroeber
29
30 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
understanding of the function of soul and flesh in Housman’s
poetry.
There are as yet, unfortunately, no concordances for some ma¬
jor poets and still very few for minor poets. We are reluctant to
base findings on a sample which will someday be superseded by a
concordance : the latter is not only complete but also far more re¬
liable. We did, however, make some counts of life and death words
to give broader representation to our list. Except for Swinburne,
our samples are probably adequate, covering approximately a
moiety of each poet’s work. But these results are strictly provi¬
sional, both because they are not based on total output, and because
a running tally is almost surely less accurate than a formal con¬
cordance count.
Even these provisional findings, however, are adequate to illus¬
trate the nature of our method and (we hope) to encourage others
to undertake analogous studies. In work of this kind results are in
large measure additive. Indeed, it is our premise that only through
the accumulation of many investigators’ findings will such quanti¬
tative discriminations lead to deeper understanding of the qualities
of literary style.
We counted the nouns death and life, including of course their
plurals and possessives; the verbs die and live, including conjuga-
tional forms such as dies, dieth, died; the participles dying and
living; and the adjectives dead and alive. These eight have the
merits of being simple and unescapable Anglo-Saxon, and the four
of each set derive from one root. This last is not always the case- —
thus in German, death is Tod, but the verb for die shifts to sterben,
the Tod-derived verb tbten being used for kill.
Some features of our limitation to these four pairs are admit¬
tedly arbitrary, but we have made the limitation in the interest of
avoiding complications. Thus live as an adjective may have been
used more frequently by some poets than alive, but some concord¬
ances do not distinguish parts of speech, even mechanically group¬
ing the verb lives with the plural noun lives. Too many re-orderings
of concordance listings would have introduced a high degree of
error into work where at best mistakes are easy. Quick as a syno¬
nym might also have come into consideration, especially in earlier
poets. Deadly would perhaps have been desirable to include, but its
counterpart lively has moved out of the range of the correspond¬
ing meaning. Mortal might well have been significant, and one
could argue plausibly that the contrast of birth to death would be
at least as meaningful as that of life to death. The terms we chose
are certainly not exhaustive, but one step at a time seemed wisest
as a beginning, with consideration for consistency and for equal
1969] Kroeber — Life Against Death in English Poetry 31
pairing on the life and on the death side. The final goal of this
method is the creation of a series of something like “semantic
fields” upon which to base stylistic judgments. Our eight words,
then, should be regarded as the first segment of such a field.
The results of our count of the concordances plus our sample
counts are given in Table 1. Fourteen of the poets show an excess
of life words, twenty of death words. Collins, whose volume is
tiny, splits evenly. The general division, then, is not a half and
half one, and it is not random. Before 1815, and especially from
Milton on, most poets give preference to life; after 1815 death
takes the lead. Although clusterings seem most significant, the
inevitable individual exceptions are interesting.
The results of our counts have throughout been converted into
percentages to make them comparable. The absolute numbers in
the last three columns of the table are the totals of our counts,
included as indication of the reliability of the percentage figures.
We cannot invest with much significance the grand total. About all
that can be ventured from our absolute figures is that, for the six
centuries, life and death words are in approximate equality, and
that the total number of poets favoring one or the other may be
expected to be more or less in balance when it shall have become
possible to make a complete count of all of them. The significance
of variability in our count lies in periods and in individuals, not
in grand totals. We have not yet attempted the other obvious
“totaling” test — determining how large a part life and death words
play in the total vocabulary of each poet.
The series begins with Chaucer, our only Middle-English poet.
The concordance included but we excluded from his count the
Boethius and the Parson’s Tale as being in prose and The Romaunt
of the Rose as being an outright translation. Their inclusion, as a
matter of fact, would not very materially change his proportions —
by two percent only— but it would be inconsistent with the method
of our other counts. In Chaucer we discover a reasonable balance
between life and death, the death words being weighted over the
life ones by the small percentage of fifty-four to forty-six. Such
a balance sems proper to Chaucer, robust and sanguine of
temperament as he was but nonetheless a poet not yet out of the
Middle Ages and their preoccupation with the after life, and writ¬
ing a scant century before the addiction of popular North Euro¬
pean art to the macabre Dance of Death, the carrying off of the
damned, and their torments in hell. Chaucer’s life and death word
preferences lie near the presumable English poetical mean, to
judge by our other counts: small but pleasantly corroboratory evi¬
dence for the view that Chaucer was already within the generic
Table
32
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters
[Vol. 57
‘Figures for Dryden illustrate the slight inconsistencies produced by cumulative “rounding off.” These, however, seem a small price to pay for relative legibility'
1969] Kroeber . —Life Against Death in English Poetry 33
stream of preoccupation characteristic of subsequent English
poetry.
Spenser, the earliest Elizabethan for whom we have a full count,
shows a definite life preference, fifty-six percent life words, forty-
four percent death words (it is perhaps significant that our count
for Wyatt suggests his even heavier life preference). This orienta¬
tion makes one think of Spenser's inclination to the charming and
the pleasing and makes one recall that many early Elizabethans
shared these inclinations, at least in tolerance for the pastoral, the
decorative, and the allegorical in their literature, a toleration
which sometimes vanishes from sight under the full flood of the
tragedy and realism of the Shakespearean drama.
With Shakespeare one must decide which Shakespeare, His
sonnets lie within the Spenserian life-preference with fifty-nine
percent life words. But the sonnets constitute too small a part
of his work to have an over-all representativeness for him. Nor
are the 126 life-death words numerous enough for a surely valid
statistical sample, a matter of importance because Shakespeare's
sonnets show as high a bias for life as the work of any other early
poet in our list, and are surpassed only in the eighteenth century
by Goldsmith, Cowper, and Burns, and in the nineteenth by
Wordsworth, Emerson, and Browning. This weighting toward
life might be reduced by other lyrical verse of Shakespeare's which
we omitted from our count, mainly because of the contested author¬
ship of some of the poems. Shakespeare’s two narrative poems,
with their fatal and lamentative themes, are weighted toward
death in the proportion of three to two.
The bulk of the plays is so great and so much in excess of all his
other poetry that their death-life ratio, fifty-four to forty-six,
must, we believe, be regarded as the ultimately significant one.
There are surely some interesting differences between tragedies,
histories, and comedies buried in the gross total of life and death
words, but these differences we do not pursue here, since our pri¬
mary problem is the trend as it finds expression in successive
poets, not the variability due to theme and genre within one poet’s
work.
With Shakespeare’s drama we enter a more “modern” world, the
full Renaissance in England, attended apparently with a weighting
toward death which continues until Milton, although Herricks’
life-preference may not be an idiosyncratic phenomenon. Our
count for Donne, a decade later than Shakespeare, shows an im¬
pressive sixty-seven percent death preference; for Herbert, two
decades after Donne, the death preference drops to fifty-three
percent, close to- the count for Shakespeare’s dramas. Not to put
too fine a point on it, these ratios suggest that a sort of climax
34 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
of the death-orientation was expressed in Donne, which by the
time of Herbert and Herrick was lessening toward balance, evolv¬
ing, finally, to the definite life-preference initiated by Milton.
Donne’s is a considerable body of verse and his ratio of sixty-
seven percent death words is the highest for any poet until we
come to the turn of the nineteenth into the twentieth century. It
may well be that Donne’s preoccupation with death, which is
accompanied of course by remarkable intellectual sophistication,
accounts at least in part for the revival of Donne’s popularity in
the twentieth century.
We now discover, as we go down the list, a swing back to a life
preference, beginning with Milton and persisting until the full
weight of the romantic impetus started a long return swing to
death. During these one hundred and fifty years, Gray provides
the only exception to be found amongst the English poets for whom
there are complete concordances. It is indeed fitting that the author
of the “Elegy” and the traditional precursor of romanticism should
lean to the death side, but the total number of words, sixty-one
life and death words all told, is so small as to leave the preference
without much solid significance. And this block of a century and
a half of life-preference is impressive. The climate of mood, the
set of the culture, something beyond individual idiosyncrasy must
be part of the explanation of this long preference, for the poets
of this period could not have been more different in personal orien¬
tation, temperament, even in choice of subject-matter and of poetic
forms.
In the second half of the eighteenth century and the first decade
of the nineteenth, the life ratios run up into the sixties. Byron,
born a decade and a half after Wordsworth, shows, however, the
beginning of a counter-trend which fully manifests itself in Shelley
and Keats according to our table. We find, beginning with Shelley
and continuing as far as we go into the twentieth century, death
words to be in excess of life words. This is a period already ap¬
proaching in length the preceding one hundred and fifty years of
excess of life words over death words. The second period, however,
is not so consistently patterned as its predecessor: Emerson, Ar¬
nold, and Browning, particularly the last, are notable exceptions.
Browning uses the abstract noun life alone oftener than all four
death words together, and his total life-percentage is sixty-one,
matching Wordsworth’s high. It should be observed that Tenny¬
son’s death-preference is relatively slight, only the plays tilt him
strongly toward death. Since the dramas belong to the latter part
of his career they may be associated with the death slope that
gets steeper at the end of the nineteenth century and through the
first decade of the twentieth. Housman marks a trough, surely
1969] Kroeber — Life Against Death in English Poetry 35
to be connected with the negativistic culmination of fin-de-siecle
development. At any rate, the three great Victorian poets do not
advance the trend initiated by Shelley and Keats, nor do they link
up closely with the later nineteenth-century poets.
Housman’s contemporaries and successors on our list, Kipling,
Yeats, Eliot, might seem to mark a movement back toward a bal¬
ance between life and death. But our sampling of Thomas, by far
the most death-oriented of the poets tested, and of Dickey raises
doubts as to whether that balance has been achieved in our century.
Of course in the lower portion of our list a new factor enters.
Our limited figures, particularly for American authors, do not
permit us to judge whether the influence of time is greater than
that of country. Two outstanding exceptions to the death trend
since Shelley, Emerson and Browning, were born on opposite
sides of the ocean but within nine years of each other. But Arnold,
also with a life preference, is two decades later than Emerson.
Within the trend, on the other hand, are six of the Americans
(counting Eliot) whose indices run surprisingly close together.
Poe, often regarded as a melodramatic seer of blackness, shows 55
percent death words— but Whitman, Dickinson, Lanier, Eliot, and
even Dickey are all within two points of this percentage.
Besides the total life and death percentages discussed so far,
separate consideration of each of the eight words dealt with is
desirable. For instance, the percentaged frequencies in each column
of Table 1 can be rearranged in rank order according to their
size, instead of the time order of the poets. Thus for dying,
Thomas 11 percent and Eliot 8 percent would head the column,
Dickinson, 7, would be third, and then would come Keats, Kipling,
and Poe. The small end of the list would be constituted by Chaucer
and Wyatt. A long-term though somewhat wavering drift is evi¬
dent here — later poets on the whole run higher in this category—
whether the cause be primarily linguistic or stylistic.
The abstract noun life is used by the poets in our list with the
greatest over-all frequency of the eight words and also with the
highest maximum frequency. Cowper, Goldsmith, and Burns form
a cluster at the top of the rank order, joined only by Browning
and Emerson among later poets. Obviously, a very high frequency
of use of the noun life almost presupposes a majority of life
words. Consequently a rather high frequency of the noun life by
a poet who uses more death words marks an individual peculiarity.
Thus both Tennyson (29) and Whitman (31) are fond of the word
life, although their vocabularies are moderately on the death side
as a whole. Contrarily, Shakespeare tends to avoid the word life in
his sonnets, although his sonnet vocabulary is strongly life-
weighted. The prophets and lovers of mortality who come at the
36 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
end of the rank-order list with percentages for life below twenty
are Thomas 4, Housman 12, Kipling 15, Yeats 15, and, nearly three
centuries earlier, Donne 15, and Herrick 17. Donne is heavily
death-biassed, but Herrick, like Shakespeare in his sonnets, is
life-minded: they both prefer the verb live to the abstract noun.
At the top of our rank-order for death we find Thomas 40,
then Milton 31, his single high; at the bottom Emerson 8, and
Housman and Dickey, 10 each. Thomas of course is overwhelmingly
death-oriented, but the other poets in this sub-list are surprising.
Milton is on the life side in the total count; Emerson has the
highest proportion of life words (71 percent) and Housman of
death words (except for Thomas) among the poets. Emerson might
seem almost pathologically afraid of reference to death, but Dickey
shares his pattern of shunning one abstract noun but using the
other relatively frequently. Housman, however interested in death,
apparently dislikes abstract nouns. Instead of death he favors
dead and die , being behind only Dickey and Thomas and with Yeats
for dead, and over-all first for die.
It is the bulk of Paradise Lost, five times as long as Paradise
Regained, which puts Milton near the top for the noun death:
the frequency in Paradise Lost is thirty-four percent of the eight
words in question. But the fact remains that Milton was interested
to write the long poem of a lost Eden and lost immortality, even
though Milton initiates the long stretch of almost solid life-
preference. The poets who come next after Milton in liking the word
death are Whitman, 29, who favors nouns as such, and Shelley
and Swinburne, both 28, death-oriented and in this class surpassing
even Donne. The poet whose ratio for both the nouns life and
death together is highest is Burns, 62. He is abnormally low in
adjectives and in participles and is below average in the verbs
live and die. It is indeed a special lyrical genius that expresses
itself so spiritedly with abstract nouns.
Alive and dead are incomplete counterparts, living and dead
being opposites also. In any case, alive is not a specifically “poetic”
word, or has not often been so considered. Burns and Keats never
use it and no one uses it as often as dead. The poets who use the
adjective dead most often are, in rank order, Dickey 33, Thomas
21, Yeats 20, Housman 20, Tennyson plays 19 (poems only 13) ;
Donne’s 16 is relatively high in this category. As Tennyson’s plays
mostly came late in his life, it is clear that all of these high-rankers
wrote within the past century ; Donne shows himself once more as
a forerunner of the moderns. Heavy preoccupation with death in
general seems to carry with it some tendency to the more frequent
use of the stark and emotion-freighted adjective dead .
1969] Kroeber — Life Against Death in English Poetry 37
For live and die the tallies indicate what one might expect, that
use and preference are complex for verb forms. The two verbs
live and die are the next most frequent of our eight words after
the abstract nouns, while occasional individual rejection of one
or both of them is more extreme than for the nouns. For live high
rankings are early, the highest rankings in lyrics, Herrick 35,
the sonnets of Shakespeare 33 (but plays 18). The lyrical poems
of Milton, incidentally, run up to 32 percent in this class, although
the percentage for Milton as a whole is 19. Dryden and the eight¬
eenth-century poets pretty consistently run medium, with a 16-18
percent of live, carrying over into Wordsworth 17, Coleridge 15 in
poems but 22 in plays, Byron 15, and Arnold 17. With the full-
and post-romantic swing to the death side, live goes down further,
with two exceptions: Emerson 20 and Yeats 16. Emerson is gen¬
erally biased toward life, but Yeats leans the opposite way. His
idiosyncrasy is rather preference for verb over noun, reflected
also by his die 24, death 14.
As regards the use of die, two influences seem to be at work
which may reinforce or counteract one another. There is the
tendency for die to go up in frequency when death words generi-
cally are favored. But there appear to be, also, poets who like the
verb die as such, as compared with death or dead, and others who
specifically dislike it. The trio Housman, Kipling, and Yeats show
a strong preference for die over death; in Housman die is nearly
four times more frequent (37 to 10), in Kipling more than double
(33 to 14), in Yeats definitely in excess (24 to 14). Poe clusters
with these three (21 percent die to 14 percent death). All these
poets are strongly weighted toward death in general. There is,
however, a trickle of poets, and some of them major poets, who
favor death only mildly or even lean toward life but who are rather
fond of the particular word die. Such are Chaucer, 22 percent die
as against 18 percent death, but contrast only 13 percent live to
30 percent life; Herrick, 19:11; Pope, 21:13; Tennyson, 20:16.
What else may tie these four together we do not venture to say.
Emerson, too, though he is excessively partisan on the side of life,
to some degree favors die, at any rate it is the death word he least
avoids: death 8, dead 6, die 14, dying 1.
Finally, there are a few poets who are moderate in their over-all
life-death attitude, such as Milton, Whitman, and Eliot, whose die
frequencies are abnormally low: 9 percent for Milton, 5 for Whit¬
man, 4 for Eliot. Here a common factor is discernible, though it
has nothing to do with temperament; in fact, it is formal, even
grammatical. These three poets operate unusually little with verbs
and heavily with nouns, at any rate within our life-death sample.
Compare life plus death against live plus die: Milton 58:28; Whit-
38 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
man 60:11; Eliot 56:10. In fact, Eliot’s two verbs are surpassed in
frequency by the sum of their derived participles, 10:13. Whit¬
man’s piling up of inventories may account for his excess of nouns.
In Milton it is more likely his Latin models: in Virgil vita and
mors make up 59 percent of his equivalent eight life and death
word occurrences. Burns joins these three in his high proportion
of nouns (62:27), as already remarked, but unlike them he shows
an over-all heavy life bias.
Our two participles are relatively infrequent, and their separate
tallies hardly suggest configurations of period or group as do the
other six words, except as grammatical usage changed. There are
some marked differences, but they seem individual. Thus Spenser
and Wordsworth both run up to 11 percent for living, Milton to 8.
In each case the frequency is high relative to the verb live and it
does not extend to dying-die. These are probably personal idosyn-
crasies of these poets’ diction. They contrast markedly, for in¬
stance, with Shakespeare’s 3:18 for living-live, with the same
inclination manifest in his 1:17 for dying-die. We have just men¬
tioned Eliot’s opposite tendency, his participles rivalling or exceed¬
ing his verbs. It is conceivable that Eliot marks the beginning of
a turn in style. Thomas runs highest in the dying category with
11 percent, but of course he runs very high in all death words.
It seems more likely that Eliot’s staticism expresses a personal
peculiarity. But whether the low degree of periodic consistency in
the use of participles and the high degree of variability between
individual poets are functions only of our special set of life and
death words, or whether they extend to the grammatical form of
English poetry generally, is something that remains to be tested.
Table 2 serves as a partial summary of the most pronounced
personal bents, as well as period changes of taste and usage, in the
choice between the several life and death words. The poets are
again listed in chronological order, but their most positive prefer¬
ences are made explicit without statistics by citing for each poet
which word of our eight he used most often, then next most often,
finally third most often.
Although one might analyze the data in other ways, to be gen¬
uinely useful more detailed analyses should be integrated with
results derived from analogous compilations (and of course a more
complete representation of poets would be desirable) . No single
study of this type can claim to be generally meaningful, but a
series of interrelated investigations to establish something like a
“semantic field,” as we have suggested, would permit significant
advances in our understanding of the processes of literary style.
1989] Kroeber — Life Against Death in English Poetry
39
Table 2
Poet
Chaucer .
Wyatt .
Spenser .
Shakespeare, sonnets
narratives .
plays. . .
Donne .
Herrick .
Herbert . .
Milton .
Dryden. . .
Pope .
Gray .
Collins .
Goldsmith .
Cowper. . . .
Burns. .
Wordsworth. . .
Coleridge, poetry. . . .
plays .
Byron .
Shelley .
Keats . . .
Emerson. . . .
Poe .
Tennyson, poetry. . . .
plays .
Browning. . .
Whitman .
Arnold .
Dickinson. .
Swinburne .
Lanier .
Housman .
Kipling. . .
Yeats .
Eliot .
Thomas .
Dickey .
life
life
life
live
death
death
death
live
life
death
life
life
die
life
life
life
life
life
life
life
life
death
death + life
life
life
life
life
life
life
life
life
death
life
die
die
die
life
death
dead
die
death
death
life
life
life
die
die
death
life
death
die
life + death
live + dead
die
live
death
live
death
live
death
life
live
die
die
dead
die
death
live
death
life
death
dead
dead + life
dead
death
dead
life
death
live
live + die
death
die
live
dead
life
live -f die
live
live
live
death
die
live
death
live + die
dead
live + die
dead
die
die
dead
dead
death
live
dead
death
die
dead
dead
life
life
dead
die
death
So we conclude by pleading for increased recognition of the util¬
ity of some humble, often disregarded tools of literary scholarship,
concordances, word-indices, and the like. Properly used, these tools
can encourage the development of new kinds of critical insights.
Contrarily, without such tools even theoretical criticism is to a
degree handicapped. The lack of concordances for most writers of
prose fiction, for example, blocks off one pertinently related area
of stylistic criticism. The kind of investigation we have illustrated
40 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
suggests the possibility of establishing a sector of literary scholar¬
ship in which the systematic accumulation of research findings
would be feasible and rewarding. This research appears especially
valuable in forcing the scholar to test the limits of conventional
periodization and genre definition. Most students of literature
recognize these conventionalized definitions as not entirely satis¬
factory conveniences, which nevertheless, like all such conven¬
iences, finally tend to control our thinking. The technique of stylis¬
tic analysis proposed here provides one means for evaluating,
qualifying, and refining the received classifications of literary style.
JULIUS BUBOLZ FOUNDS AN INSURANCE COMPANY:
A STUDY IN RURAL LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY*
Walter F. Peterson
Lawrence University
On April 7, 1956, Julius Bubolz turned to his son and said, “Gor¬
don, how is the business coming in from the new territory?”1 Two
days later at the age of 93 years and seven months the founder of
the Home Mutual Insurance Company was dead.2 Alert and active
in the business to the very end, Julius Bubolz was born August 22,
1862, in Germany and at the age of seven emigrated to the United
States, settling with his parents on a farm in Winnebago County.
He attended public and parochial schools completing all the courses
offered at that time. In fact, he took the eighth grade course twice
as nothing was available beyond it. After clerking in a store for
an uncle he worked briefly on the railroad before buying an 80-acre
farm for $1,500 in 1882.3
This farm near Seymour, Wisconsin — a stake in a developing
society— provided a basic orientation for Julius Bubolz as he began
carving a livelihood out of the Wisconsin wilderness. Above all
he developed a respect for the land. Neighbors sold their timber
to lumber companies and thus stripped their land. Bubolz desper¬
ately needed the money to help pay the mortgage but he had a sense
of ecology and conservation generally lacking in the late 19th cen¬
tury. Trees on hilly portions of the farm were never cut so they
could protect the land from erosion. Flowers, animals, and birds
only added to the enjoyment of a family walk through the woods.
The farm eventually encompassed 242 acres.4
* The author was given unrestricted permission to use the files and records of the
Home Mutual Insurance Company. For the complete cooperation of the officers and
staff, the author is also most appreciative.
1 On August 24, 1965, all living children of Julius and Emelia Bubolz but two,
together with two grandchildren, were brought together at the Home Mutual Insurance
Company where they were interviewed in depth by Professor Walter Ebling, Univer¬
sity of Wisconsin. The author is indebted to Dr. Ebling and the Bubolz family for
this extended and perceptive interview which was recorded on tape. Ebling-Bubolz
Tape ; Gordon, p. 30.
2 Appleton Post— Crescent, April 10, 1956.
3 Ibid. Also, Capital University Bulletin , February, 1943, p. 3. Ebling-Bubolz Tape;
Gordon, p. 3, Amelia, p. 4. Card from Esther, September 12, 1965, in Home Mutual
Files.
4 Half of the land was described as “level, well drained, and suited for intensive
cultivation About one-third of the land was good cropland but had “quite a few
problems that will require good conservation practice ;” and the remainder was “not
suited for cultivation, but . . . for grass or trees.” Letter from Vernon G. Geiger,
Outagamie County Soil Conservationist, April 4, 1967. Ebling-Bubolz Tape; Gordon,
p. 30-31.
41
42 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Save for the purchase of the farm in 1882, 1884 was the key
year in providing the basic orientation for Julius Bubolz. Civic
interest led him into a variety of public offices. His first official
position was that of town clerk — a post he filled for 19 years.
Careers of 27 years as justice of the peace and 28 years as school
clerk also began in 1884. The next year he was appointed census
enumerator for the Town of Cicero.5 These positions developed the
variety of his contacts and his experience in administration and
public responsibility.
Bubolz was keenly aware of the importance of appearance. Only
21 and anxious to appear older, he grew a beard. He was enor¬
mously pleased that he was chosen town clerk in preference to a
clean shaven man 10 years his senior. The beard accomplished its
purpose. It helped him appear older when that was needed and 25
years later when he found it desirable to look younger, he shaved
it off.6
Emelia Jeske became Mrs. Julius Bubolz one month after Julius
was appointed town clerk. Emelia was distressed when he grew
the beard and equally distressed when he shaved it off a quarter
century later. She converted a Wisconsin homestead into a com¬
fortable and happy home. A warm and vital person, Emelia’s
pleasant exterior concealed a remarkable capacity for hard work,
managerial ability, drive, and determination. Fifteen children pro¬
vided the extra hands so useful on a Wisconsin farm.7
Shortly after their marriage Emelia said, “There is no blessing
on the community without a church, a place to worship our God.”
Julius solicited the support of 21 neighbors to found Emanuel
Lutheran Church of Cicero. As the guiding force Julius was elected
secretary of the congregation, a position he held for the next 61
years.8 A firm faith in God was coupled with a deep and abiding
faith in his fellow man. The church was, as many other pioneer
projects, a community venture. The farmers in the Seymour-
Cicero area built the roads and helped each other build barns and
harvest crops as well as build the church. Cooperation was essen¬
tial for progress — it was a way of life and it worked.
Faith, cooperation, and work might have sufficed in those pioneer
days had it not been for the periodic windstorms that ripped their
way through the area. Cooperation could rebuild a farmstead
destroyed by fire but when their fields were devastated along with
barns and homes these pioneers obviously needed more than storm
cellars. Moreover, the pioneer community was a debtor community.
6 Applet o7i Post Crescent, April 10, 1956. Capital University Bulletin , p„ 3. Card
from Esther, September 12, 1965.
6 Ebling-Bubolz Tape ; Esther, Gertrude and Gordon, p. 5.
7 Ibid. ; Amelia, p. 27, Amelia, Esther and Gordon, pp. 35—36.
8 Ibid. ; Gordon, pp. 5-6. Also, Capital University Bulletin, p. 3.
1969] Peterson— Bub olz Founds an Insurance Company 43
Mortgages were not cancelled by a tornado and it was a very long
year between harvests. In 1883 an August tornado destroyed
Julius Bubolz’’ first crop when he had the grain cut and in shocks.
The Cicero area survived another tornado in 1888.9 News of the
great cyclone that struck New Richmond, Wisconsin, on the eve¬
ning of June 12, 1899, filled the Cicero residents with dread. 115
people were killed, 500 injured, 100 homes completely destroyed,
and property damage was well .above $750, 000. 10 Julius Bubolz
knew that something could be done to spread the risk. He didn't
know just how, but he would find out.
The answer was found in mutual insurance but there were no
mutual windstorm companies operating in this part of rural Wis¬
consin . only mutual fire insurance companies. Windstorm insur¬
ance was unheard of in the Cicero community and many farmers
wondered whether such a company could operate successfully.
Mutual insurance simply means that it is owned by the policyhold¬
ers of the company. In this democratic arrangement the policy¬
holders elect directors who, in turn, elect officers who manage the
business, collect small sums as premiums, and pay the losses of
policyholders who have agreed to mutual protection. Management
includes setting up reserves for safe operation and then returning
what is left over as dividends to the policyholders. The mutual
handles insurance at cost, it is a cooperative project. Mutual insur¬
ance was not a new idea having been put into practice in London
in 1696. Benjamin Franklin brought the idea to America and
established the “Philadelphia Contributorship” in 1752. For the
next century the idea grew slowly but by 1900 over 1,100 mutual
companies had been formed. With such rapid growth many mis¬
takes were made and poor management resulted in many failures.
It was the task of Julius Bubolz to determine the principles for
sound management to insure survival.11
Through reading, inquiry, and some experience Julius Bubolz
was able to translate his thoughts into action. His stature as a
church and civic leader stood him in good stead for here was one
man in the Cicero community who could be trusted for honesty
and judgment. Early in 1900 he invited a group of his neighbors
9 50th Anniversary Bulletin , p. 3. In 1883 Julius Bubolz almost lost his farm as a
result of crop loss to wind. He was able to keep it only because he took a 12 per
cent second mortgage with the farm as security. This experience left an indelible
impression on his mind. Ebling-Bubolz Tape ; Gordon, pp. 20-21.
39 The Milwaukee Journal , June 13, 1899. The headline followed by decks of sub¬
heads read: <!A TORNADO KILLS AND MAIMS HUNDREDS OF WISCONSIN
PEOPLE : Hundreds of Dead, Dying- and Injured ; Tornado Strikes New Richmond
and Fire Completes Work of Destruction ; Men, Women and Children Crushed to
Death by Flying- Debris Without a Second’s Warning.”
11 John Bainbridg-e, Biography of an Idea; The Story of Mutual Fire and Casualty
Insurance , (New York, 1952'), pp. 20-21, 28. Also, Semi-Centennial History of the
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Mihuaukee, Wisconsin , 1859-1908,
(Milwaukee, 1908), pp. 25—29.
44 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
to his home and explained his plan to them. Based on this inter¬
est others were canvassed during* the next 60 days until 135 mem¬
bers comprised the original charter group. The plan of operation
was simple. Each member had an equal voice in the management.
Each promised to assume his share of the losses and expenses.
These men took care of themselves by helping each other. After
the fashion of the day, the original name was Farmers Home
Mutual Hail, Tornado and Cyclone Insurance Company of Sey¬
mour, Wisconsin — since Seymour was the nearest town. The first
policies were not the multi-claused documents of today but merely
simple memoranda with most of the contract written between the
lines. The company that was to be the Home Mutual Insurance
Company was chartered March 1, 1900. 12
Charles Ploeger, the largest dairy farmer in the county, was the
first president and held that office until 191 6.13 The president, how¬
ever, was little more than a figurehead whose sole responsibility
was to preside over meetings. As stipulated in the by-laws the real
power and responsibility resided in the secretary, Julius Bubolz,
who
“shall keep a record of proceeding's of all meetings of the members and
Board of Directors of the Company, preserve all Applications for Insur¬
ance, draw and countersign all orders on the Treasurer and prepare and
keep all proper books for the business of the Company, under the super¬
vision of the Board of Directors, and all Applications, Policy Registers
and other Books, Contracts and other Instruments as are required to be
kept at the home office and in his custody. He shall prepare and counter¬
sign all Policies of Insurance, Contracts of Agencies, answer all business
communications of the Company, prepare and render a statement of the
affairs of the Company for its annual meetings, and such other purposes
as may be required by law, to collect all dues and premiums or advance
assessments, pay all moneys belonging to the Company to its Treasurer
and take his receipt therefore, and perform all other duties usually per¬
taining to the office of Secretary in similar corporations.”14
However great his powers Secretary Bubolz did not have much
to exercise them on. At the end of the first year the pre¬
mium income was only $235. 24. 15 Company growth was slow as it
involved only one line of insurance and was initially sold only to
farmers in the immediate area. By December 1902, assets came
to only $316.92 with cash from premiums at $544.42 for a total of
$861. 34. 16
Growth continued, however, because Bubolz’ management was
based on integrity rooted in his faith, his close knit family, and
12 50th Anniversary Bulletin, p. 3. Capital University Bulletin, pp. 3, 15.
3)3 Data in Home Mutual Files.
14 Section 3, By-Laws of the Farmers’ Home Mutual Hail, Toimado and Cyclone
Insurance Company of Seymour , Wisconsin, March 1, 1900.
15 50th Anniversary Bulletin, p. 13.
133 Fourth Annual Report.
1969] Peterson — Bubolz Founds an Insurance Company 45
his interest in his fellowman. The company earned a reputation
for fair and honest dealing, the proof of this being found in the
settlement of losses. During 1902, seven farmers whose barns were
damaged by cyclones in Outagamie and Shawano counties had
settlements of from $2 to $69 for a total of $163. These losses and
claims paid as stated in the report, were “scaled down and com¬
promised.”17 Severe hailstorms in 1905 resulted in a small special
assessment of $79 on policyholders.18 But the frugal secretary
found that the annual expense of $20 for examination of the com¬
pany by the Insurance Commissioner would be waived if he
brought the books to Madison. In the future he did just that.19
During 1906, 401 policies were written or renewed increasing
the total to 1,800 covering $1,593,901 in risks.20 Since there were
only 13 losses the financial picture improved. By the close of 1914
the total number of policies in force had increased to 4,007. Risks
had increased to $7,666,443 and assets of $6,251.93.t21 By the close
of 1919 the policies numbered 6,398 with 147 “losses and claims
paid and scaled down and compromised during the year.”22 After
•20 years the company had paid out $42,192.88 in losses. Secretary
Bubloz had run it with such frugality that since 1900 the company
had never made a cyclone assessment and only three assessments
because of hail. In this respect it had the best record of all mutual
companies in Wisconsin and proudly boasted that it was “a com¬
pany of the people, by the people, and for the people.”23 In an inter¬
view in 1943 Julius Bubolz candidly ascribed his success to a com¬
bination of morality and practicality when he said, “Aside from
the ethics involved, it always pays more than it costs to be
honest.”24
If the integrity of Julius Bubolz provided the basis for public
recognition and more business, it was the managerial and social
skills of Emelia Bubolz that made much of this success possible.
Emelia became the manager of the farm and together with the
children virtually ran it so that Julius could devote more time to
the growing business for he solicited applications, kept the records,
and issued the policies. When this became too great a burden he
17 Ibid. In 1911 Julius Bubolz was elected Secretary-Treasurer. 50th Anniversary
Bulletin, p„ 5.
18 Sixth Annual Report. The discrepancy between the Fourth Annual Report rendered
in December of 1902 and the Sixth Annual Report in 1905 was resolved in the period
1903 and 1904. Continuity was maintained from the Sixth Annual Report on.
10 Julius Bubolz, “Address Commemorating- the 40th Anniversary of This Company,”
MS in Home Mutual Piles.
20 Seventh Annual Report.
21 Fifteenth Annual Report.
22 Twentieth Annual Report.
23 Julius Bubolz, “Address Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of This Company,”
MS in Home Mutual Piles.
24 Capital University Bulletin , p. 15. Also, 40 Y ears of Service, 1900-1940; Conven¬
tion Program and Life Story of the Progressive ‘ Home Mutual’,” p. 6.
46 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
drafted the children into the enterprise. Esther later recalled how
diligently she had to practice her penmanship so that she could
write well enough to help write policies:25 It wasn’t until 1914
under pressure of increased sales and extraordinary losses that the
secretary employed two office girls at $5.00 a week plus board. The
two day annual meetings were gala events.26 Although the formal
meetings were held in the Seymour Hotel the directors ate and
slept in the large Bubolz farm home for reasons of economy and
because they enjoyed the gracious hospitality of the hostess. It
might also have been because of the small director’s fee for they
received only $2.00 for attending a meeting plus train fare until
1924 when they were voted $3.00 per meeting.27
Economy was the watchword. For the first twenty years the
company made no contribution toward the rent, fuel, or light in
the Bubolz home. Then the directors allowed $50.00 a year until
1926 when it was raised to $100.00.28 Such economies in operation
saved the company enough money so that for the first 25 years the
premium charges were only 25$ per $100 for five years. When the
State Insurance Department required larger reserves the company
raised its rate to 30$ per $100. However, this was not sufficient
to take care of the large wind and hail losses of the late 20’s and
also build up a surplus so the rate was raised to 50$ per $100 for
five years in 1930. This rate was sufficient to meet all losses, build
a substantial surplus and make the company the largest and
strongest of its kind in Wisconsin. Through economy of operation
and strength of purpose Julius Bubolz served the interests of his
fellow farmers in Wisconsin.29
The decade of the 20’s was the heyday of big business. In this
period when men thought only in terms of profits and the key to
success was the stock market, the virtues of cooperation that were
part of the pioneer society and basic to mutual insurance came
under heavy attack. Reports of the annual meetings cast light on
this as Julius Bubolz and others briefed the agents on how to
handle attacks on the company. A rumor was circulated that the
company was in debt and ready to collapse. A careful review of
the financial report provided adequate rebuttal.30 Stock insurance
companies disseminated the report that mutual insurance com¬
panies across the country were failing. Charts were presented to
25 50th Anniversary Bulletin, p. 4. Ebling-Bubolz Tape; Esther, p. 8.
26 1}0 Years of Service, p. 4.
27 Ibid. 50th Anniversary Bulletin, p. 5. Ebling-Bubolz Tape; Esther and Amelia,
pp. 36-37.
28 JfO Years of Service , p. 4.
29 Ibid. Ebling-Bubolz Tape; Gordon pp. 13-14.
30 Julius Bubolz, “Secretary’s Annual Message,” Thirtieth Anniversary Bulletin,
P. 17.
1969] Peterson— Bub olz Founds an Insurance Company 47
indicate that the rate of failure for stock and mutual companies
was approximately the same.31
The primary criticism of mutual companies during the period
was that of socialism as the stock companies wrapped themselves
in the American flag and stood on a platform of capitalism. At the
annual meeting which celebrated the 30th anniversary of Home
Mutual, Henry Straight of Grand Rapids, Michigan, appealed to
history to vindicate mutual, insurance. He pointed out that Ren
Franklin brought the mutual insurance concept to America and
that Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall had stock in mutual
companies- - these the founding fathers. “Talk about socialism !”
said Straight. “Why, if this is socialism let us have a little more
of it.”32
To have more of it was distinctly possible, Straight added. The
mutual companies had a built-in advantage— they paid no divi¬
dends to stockholders. Their stockholders were the mutual policy¬
holders. From 1919 to 1924, 19 stock companies paid $93,036,096
in dividends to their stockholders.33 In mutual companies this
would have gone to policyholders. All that was needed was a sound
company, leadership, and able, hard working agents. By 1930 the
company had developed a number of agents of this caliber. Anton
Matheson of Manitowoc County, for example, wrote 400 policies in
1929 totalling $2.25 million.34
Nineteen thirty-one marked the end of an era for the com¬
pany and opened new horizons. It shed the vestiges of its pioneer
beginning when in 1931 it moved its headquarters from the Rubolz
farm to modern offices in the Zuelke Building in Appleton.35
Constantly increasing business and the desire to give all agents
and assureds the most rapid service possible made this move
imperative. A change of name was in keeping with the spirit
of the time. “The Farmers' Home Mutual Hail, Tornado and
Cyclone Insurance Company of Seymour, Wisconsin” had short¬
ened its name in 1926 to “Home Mutual Hail-Tornado Insurance
Company.” In 1932 it was streamlined to its present form “Home
Mutual Insurance Company.” Perhaps the greatest tribute to the
company's record of safety, service and low cost insurance pro¬
tection occurred at this time when four smaller windstorm com¬
panies in Wisconsin after thorough investigation voted to join with
Home Mutual rather than one of the 17 other Wisconsin mutual
31 Henry Straight, “Comparative Strength of Mutual and Stock Insurance,” Thirtieth
Anniversary Bulletin , p. 28.
32 Ibid.j p. 31.
88 Ibid.
**Ibid., p. 9.
85 The Story of Home Mutual , 1933, p. 2.
48 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
windstorm companies.86 The accent on change was also seen in per¬
sonnel. Gordon Bubolz, son of the founder and a recent graduate
of law school, became assistant secretary on September 10, 1926.37
A new generation was now on the scene to cope with a new era
of history which saw the U.S. plunged into depression and world
war.
At the annual meeting celebrating the 30th anniversary, Julius
Bubolz said, '‘This year the Home Mutual will be 30 years young.
I say it will be 30 years young because I believe the company has
not yet reached maturity, it has not reached the point where it
will no longer progress. To the contrary, I believe the Home Mutual
has reached a point where it has successfully gone through the
most dangerous period of its life, which is the period of infancy.
The Home Mutual has reached a point where it may anticipate a
great era of expansion.”88
He was absolutely correct. The assets in 1930 were $150,902 and
in 1967, $9,334,778. The surplus in 1930 was $19,645 and in 1967,
$1,884,346. At the end of three decades Home Mutual offered one
insurance line (windstorm and hail coverage) in one state (Wiscon¬
sin). In 1967 it wrote nine lines of insurance and was licensed in
17 states.89
Extensive and intensive studies have been made of Carnegie,
Rockefeller, and Morgan. There is no question but that they de¬
serve such attention for they helped build urban, industrial Amer¬
ica. In insurance we have the Bulkeley family, sole owners of
AEtna Life Insurance Company which, at the end of its Centennial
Year, 1953, had admitted assets of $2,370,717,579.40 But these
leaders of American industry and finance did not have a personal
or direct effect on Cicero and Seymour in the period 1882-1930.
Julius Bubolz did. As a leader in his community he played an im¬
portant role in the development of rural Wisconsin. In recogniz¬
ing the need for hail and windstorm insurance and acting to fill
that need, he exercised responsibility of the highest order. His am¬
bition was not wealth or fame but service to his fellow man. We
have here a study in rural leadership and responsibility.
38 Ibid., p. 8. The companies were the Wrightstown Morrison Mutual Cyclone In¬
surance Co. of Greenleaf, Wisconsin, the North Wisconsin Farmers Mutual Cyclone
Insurance Company of Poskin, Wisconsin, the Buffalo County Mutual Storm and
Cyclone Insurance Company and the Windstorm branch of the Price County Farmers’
Fire Insurance Company. Also, 1^0 Years of Service , p. 8.
37 50th . Anniversary Bulletin , p. 7. Also, Who’s Who in Insurance, (New York),
1968, pp. 104-105. Who’s Who in the Midwest, vol. 10, (Chicago, 1966), p. 143.
88 Thirtieth Anniversary Bulletin , p. 16.
39 Data supplied by Albin Severs, Vice President, Home Mutual Insurance Com¬
pany, April 23, 1968. The foundation was laid. The Home Mutual Group by 1968 was
capable of handling a customer’s complete financial plan — his fire afid casualty in¬
surance, life insurance and his investment program.
40 Richard Hooker, Aetna Life Insurance Company ; Its First Hundred Years, (Hart¬
ford, 1956), p. 224.
ANTI-GOLD RUSH PROPAGANDA IN THE WISCONSIN MINES
Watson Parker *
Gold rushes are made, not born. They do not spring* to life im¬
mediately upon the discovery of gold in far-off places, but arise,
instead, from the publicity given to such discoveries by a variety
of interested parties. Such propaganda, falling upon minds which
are naturally receptive to it, or upon those ears made preternat-
urally attentive by unhappiness or misfortune, can have volcanic
effects and move both men and mountains.
The rush to California received its most compelling impetus
when, on December 5, 1848, President James K. Polk proclaimed
that “the accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are
of such extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief
were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in
the public service who have visited the mineral district.”1 Thus did
Polk confirm the many rumors already widely prevalent concern¬
ing the riches of the land so recently ceded to the United States as
a result of the War with Mexico.
The Wisconsin lead mining region, which lies mainly in south¬
western Wisconsin, but includes parts of Illinois around Galena
and the Iowa mines around Dubuque, was peculiarly susceptible to
news of a new bonanza. The Walker Tariff of 1846 had permitted
Spanish lead to enter the United States at ruinous prices, while
the Wisconsin lead mines themselves, after nearly a generation of
productivity, had begun to penetrate below the ground water level,
and had become increasingly difficult and expensive to operate. A
lead mining population already made restless by declining prices
and increased costs of production was all too eager to seek its for¬
tune in the new mines of the far west.
The interest which the Wisconsin miners and their neighbors
took in California gold is perhaps best indicated by the large
amount of information which the Wisconsin newspapers of the
time found it advisable to print, quite evidently in response to a
considerable demand for news of the developing gold fields. “It is
* Watson Parker is an associate professor of history at Wisconsin State University —
Oshkosh. His special field of interest is the Trans-Mississippi West and its mining
frontier. His publications include Black Hills Ghost Towns and Others (privately
published 1964), and Gold in the Black Hills (University of Oklahoma Press, 1966),
as well as several articles and reviews on western subjects.
1 James D. Richardson, ed., Messages and Papers of the Presidents (Washington,
1900), IV, 636.
49
50 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
not our intention to foster anything like a mania with regard to
the California Gold Mines,” said the editor of the Galena Gazette,
“but our readers have a right to know the current reports, and we
have no desire to withhold them.”2 This equitable attitude was
reflected in the widespread publicity given to the President’s
December 5 address, the frequent printing of advice on how to
equip oneself for the trip to California, and on how to choose the
best route by which to go there, and in a multiude of published
letters from those who were on the way to, or who had at last
reached, the mines of California. News of the rush was in demand,
and few editors had sufficient fortitude to withhold it from their
readers.
The editors of the mining region, however, were thoughtful and
perspicacious men who realized that if favorable news and pub¬
licity could begin a gold rush, adverse propaganda could probably
slow one down, and retain in the lead mines at least some of those
sturdy citizens who might otherwise depart for California. These
editors began their campaign subtly by putting forward general
economic arguments against gold mining and inflation, by pointing
out that all is not gold that glitters, and that happiness and com¬
fort at home might in many cases be preferable to suffering and
riches on the Pacific coast. As news came back from those rushers
on the way to the mines the editors seem to have sought out tales
of difficulties, sickness, and privation on the routes, by either sea
or by land, that led to California. Disappointment in the mines,
too, was a frequent topic, and reports of disillusioned miners were
often prefaced by some sort of hortatory editorial “I told you so!”
to make sure that the Wisconsin readers got the point. This is not
to say, of course, that all the California news printed in the mining
region papers was hostile to the gold rush; that was far from the
case. Rather, the effort seems to have been to print all of the news,
both good and bad, but to give undue prominence to the bad news,
while publishing the good without comment. The editors apparently
knew that they could not shut off the gold rush, but they seem to
have hoped that they could slow it down.
The first point of attack against the rush lay in editorial state¬
ments about the undesirability of gold rushes in general. “The fatal
dowry of gold which that new territory has brought to the Union
is already producing its wonted effects. In the country itself all
the usual occupations of industry — all the ordinary pursuits of life,
are abandoned in the insane and insatiate thirst for treasure,”
cried the Galena Gazette .3 “Is the discovery of the Gold mines of
2 Galena Weekly North-Western Gazette , 27 December 1848.
3 Ibid., 17 January 1849.
1949]
Parker— Anti-Gold Rush Propaganda
51
California a blessing?” asked the Oshkosh True Democrat. “We
say that it is not; we go farther, we think it is an injury. It is
drawing men from producing to non-producing industry. There is
already money enough in the country, and more is only injurious.”4
The burning question of slavery in the new territories was quickly
raised by the Janesville Gazette which predicted that if the new
lands should “resound, like Mr. Polk’s plantation, with the crack
of the overseer’s lash and the groans of unrecompensed, hopeless
Toil then far better for us and for all had they been left to the bear
and the savage for ages to come.”5
Individual miners, as well as the nation as a whole, cautioned
the editors, would suffer from a gold rush. The mines would attract
“the most degenerate class of foreigners in the territory,” “the
refuse population more than the good population” herded together
with “no law, no government, no means of protecting life or prop¬
erty,”6 a population composed of “desperate ruffians” among whom
the honest miner might lose his life, if not his reputation. Indeed
the Galena Gazette laid great stress upon this latter attribute,
pointing out that “a man’s character is worth considerably more
than all the gold of California,” and that conditions in the diggings
might well “drive even a tolerably firm will and watchful con¬
science from the line of moral propriety.”7
The editors also hoped that appeal to sentiment would deter the
tender-hearted or weak-willed from attempting the trip to the
mines. “What recompense would all the gold in the world be,”
queried the Lancaster Herald , “for the burial of one of your dear
children ... in the sands of the Great Desert?”8 “Money can never
make good the deep distress, suffering, and death which will en¬
sue”9 warned the Janesville paper. Poetry, a feature more popular
in newspapers then than it is now, was used to discourage the gold
seeker. A touching “Father’s Advice to His Son, Leaving His Home
for California,” cautioned the prospective emigrant to make his
peace with both his God and his family before departing for the
mines :
Then, if beneath the evening star,
Beside the great Pacific’s wave,
Thou find’st an early tomb afar,
His grace will there thy spirit save.
* Oshkosh True Democrat , 23 February 1848.
5 Janesville Gazette , 28 December 1848.
6 Galena Gazette, 17 January 1849.
7 Ibid., 26 December 1848.
8 Lancaster Herald, 24 February 1849.
8 Janesville Gazette, 11 April 1850.
52 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Or if upon thy safe return,
Thou find’st no more thy father here,
Pay one sad visit to his urn,
Drop on his dust one filial tear.1"
More deliberate humor, generally in the form of parodies of
California news, or instructions, was frequently employed in the
attempt to make the prospective gold-rusher repent of his deci¬
sion. A “Treatise on the Yellow Fever (Golden Fever)” written in
imitation of the many columns of medical advice then common in
the news pointed out that in the early stages of the gold mania
“the disease might be easily counteracted by a small dose of com¬
mon sense” but that in more advanced cases “a pill composed of
five grains fear of Cholera, four grains of want of ready funds and
two grains of reason will frequently produce a decided improve¬
ment.” Inveterate cases, however, could be helped only by “an emol¬
lient embrocation of the comforts, ease and enjoyment of the
patient at home . . . applied to his mind by his wife or some other
female attendant.”11
The editors soon concluded that appeals to morality, sentiment,
or laughter would not long deter the westward rush of Wisconsin
miners ; they quickly turned to arguments addressed to the pocket-
books rather than the hearts of their readers. A Whig paper, for
example, pointed out that President Polk’s information about the
new territory might well be highly suspect, for Polk, said the
editor, “looks upon California as his bantling, and is extremely
anxious to have it settled.”12 Stories of gold were claimed to be
“exaggerated if not idle tales, calculated to draw the imaginative,
the restless and improvident away from their regular employ¬
ment.”13 Speculators who had California lands to sell were also
blamed for much of the favorable propaganda, for “persons hav¬
ing lots in that region which at this time sell at the rate of $2,000
for one 36 by 160 ft, desire to see a rush for gold.”14 Even if there
was gold in California, the editors agreed, a gold field some 150
miles long by 40 miles wide would not be quickly exhausted, and
the gold rusher had no need to participate in any hasty or ill-
considered emigration in order to get his share. The propaganda
which had a generation earlier produced a rush to the Wisconsin
mines was held up as an example of the disappointments which
the rushers might expect in California. One editor reminisced that
when the lead miners had come to Wisconsin “we found that it was
indeed true that some had made from $100 to $200 per day . . .
J0 Ibid., 26 April 1849.
11 Lancaster Herald, 13 January 1849.
12 Galena Gazette, 2 January 1849.
13 Janesville Gazette, 28 December 1848.
14 Mineral Point Tribune, 29 December 1848.
1949]
Parker — Anti-Gold Rush Propaganda
53
but . . . for every individual that had met with such good fortune
there were nine hundred and ninety-nine who barely eked out a
subsistence/’ 15
News from emigrants on their way to the mines was also a com¬
mon item in the papers of the lead region. One gold-seeker, writing
from Chagres on the Isthmus, reported that “it rains in these lati¬
tudes ten months a year” and that even during the dry season the
thunder and lightning were so terrific that they shook the ground
and left the rattlesnakes and alligators glassy eyed.16 During the
wet season he implied things were a good deal worse. Cholera and
smallpox were reported to be prevalent on the Isthmus, where they
wrought havoc among the weary miners waiting interminable weeks
to catch a northward ship to San Francisco. “Under these circum¬
stances,” said the Janesville Gazette, “nothing but infatuated reck¬
lessness is evinced in encountering such hazards, and the safe
return of the adventurers is a thing more to be hoped than
expected.”17
The Overland Trail to California, in spite of its hardships, was
both quick and cheap and thus attracted the greatest number of
gold rushers and produced a correspondingly large number of
letters-to-the-editor in the Wisconsin papers. One editor, summariz¬
ing reports from the various routes to the mines concluded that
“Those who have taken the overland route generally advise their
friends not to come that way, while others, taking the isthmus
route, give the same advice. For the present we are inclined to
consider the advice of each as good.”18
Many a letter reiterated this editorial conclusion. One emigrant
reported that St. Joseph, Missouri, the starting point of the Over¬
land Trail, was “filled with gamblers, thieves, swearers, and others
no better” and that “the most abandoned and iniquitous city in the
world would turn away with disgust from the exhibitions of
demoniac knavery and wickedness of St. Joseph.”19 Pressing west¬
ward into the desert, a correspondent reported that “not one man
in a hundred at home can imagine so poor and awfully wretched a
country as the valley of the Platte” and went on to assure his
readers that even this wilderness was “very rich indeed compared
with the remainder of the journey, from Fort Laramie to the base
of the California mountains.”20
The newspapers of the 1850’s seem to have devoted an im¬
mense proportion of their space to advertisements for patent medi¬
cines and nostrums reputedly good for the ills of man or beast.
15 Ibid., 20 February 1849.
16 Prairie du Chien Patriot, 14 March 1849.
17 Janesville Gazette, 22 March 1849.
18 Mineral Point Tribune, 1 March 1850.
10 Janesville Gazette, 16 May 1850.
20 Galena Gazette, 6 February 1850.
54 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Possibly this lively interest in diseases and their cure may have
led the editors to suppose that reports of the prevalence of sick¬
ness on the road to California might dissuade some of their readers
from making the journey. The steamer Mary, for example, was
reported to have begun a trip to Council Bluffs with four hundred
Mormon emigrants aboard, only to bury fifty-eight of them along
the way, victims of the dreaded cholera. Epidemics of both cholera
and smallpox swept the entire nation, but the editors stressed that
they seemed to strike with peculiar severity upon the plains where
privation and exhaustion made the emigrants especially susceptible
to their deadly ravages. “Not a day passes,” said an early letter
to the Galena Gazette, “that we do not meet with the graves of
those who but a month since left home with buoyant hopes and
light hearts.”21 Soon, however, the editors found it necessary to
abandon this particular line of argument, for the cholera struck
so vigorously in the lead mines that Galena in a single week lost
one per cent of its entire population, and the citizens may well
have begun to believe that even the plains might be healthier than
Wisconsin.
Strangely enough the threat of Indian attack on the Overland
Trail received very little mention. Only a few items on this sub¬
ject made their way into the newspapers, and these, in the light
of modern-day TV massacres, seem to have been minor and in¬
consequential scuffles. This lack of stories of Indian attacks, how¬
ever, was compensated for by the striking and gruesome quality
of the one story which did circulate widely — the tale of a “Horrible
Revenge” which was visited upon the son of a Mr. Green, of
Green’s Woolen Factory at Fox River:
It is reported while passing through a tribe of Indians, this young man,
naturally full of mischief, killed a squaw. The tribe, having become well
advised of the fact, hastened after the company and overtook them and
demanded the murderer. At first the demand was resisted but after the
Indians had informed them that they would destroy the company if their
request was not granted, the youth was surrendered into their hands.
They then stripped him and in the presence of his father and the whole
company, skinned him from his head to his feet.23
The story, of course, appears to be apocryphal, for it is attached
to a wide variety of western localities, and the name of the unfor¬
tunate victim is variously given as Green, Wasson, Picket, or Es-
terbrook. Nevertheless, as an invention designed to slow down
migration to California it was certainly a triumph of editorial
ingenuity. Even though it later had to be repudiated by the vari¬
ous papers which had published it, the tale has become firmly
21 Ibid.,, 26 September 1849.
22 Council Bluffs (Iowa) Frontier Guardian, 1 May 1850, exchanged from an earlier
issue of the Galena Jeffersonian.
1949]
Parker— Anti-Gold Rush Propaganda
55
fixed in western folklore. To this day a “Rawhide” pageant is
annually given by the townsfolk of Lusk, Wyoming. Each year
they find it necessary to get a new man for the “lead.”
A less painful problem, but one which was frequently men¬
tioned, was the lack of good food, and the consequent indigestion
to be encountered on the plains. One correspondent cautioned his
hungry readers against eating too many prairie dogs, for this
“causes considerable noise in the lower regions, about the time
one wants to sleep, but cannot, for the barking of the dogs.” He
further pointed out that “as wild meat is of a running breed, and
you of a tame one, you needn’t be surprised to find yourself run¬
ning the day after eating it.”23
Such experiences on the Overland Trail taken all together caused
many an emigrant to write back to his home-town paper that
“nothing on earth would ever induce me to undertake the trip
again,” or “had I known, or could I have had the slightest concep¬
tion of the discomfort of the route by land, I would certainly
never have started. No one, not experienced, can form the slightest
idea of the privation and suffering to which the traveller over these
plains is subjected.”24
Once in the mines, the emigrant was faced with a problem of
making ends meet. Some correspondents said that “California and
its gold mines are a perfect farce”25 and that there was hardly
any gold to be had. Others allowed that there was gold to be dug,
with the most onerous labor, but that the cost of living, with flour
$100 a barrel and other expenses in proportion, made it impossible
to save enough to make the trip worth the effort. The thought of
buying California whisky at $50 a gallon must have seriously dis¬
couraged a good many hard-drinking Cornishmen from ever leav¬
ing Wisconsin. The California rainy season, too, when no man
could work at all, but living expenses went on just the same, was
said to reduce the amount of gold a miner could lay by against
his return to the states when he had seen the “bullefant.” Even
if a miner worked for others and got paid in gold for his labors,
the chances were good that he might be given a spurious gold dust
made of sulphuret of iron, for the Mineral Point Tribune men¬
tioned that a New York manufacturer had “received an order for
700 lbs. of this worthless compound” for the San Francisco
market.26
With such conditions reported in the mines, it is small wonder
that many correspondents wrote, and editors happily printed, letter
after letter urging the lead miners not to come to California. “Any
23 Galena Gazette, 17 January 1849.
24 Ibid., 26 September 1849.
36 Ibid., 24 October 1849.
20 Mineral Point Tribune, 16 February 1849.
56 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
person doing a fair business had better remain at home,”27 said
one. “My advice is, to every one, to stay at home and be content
with whatever lot may befall him there, rather than risk health
and comfort,”28 wrote another. “Tell all those who are in good
circumstances at home not to come here, for they will surely re¬
pent it,”29 said a third. It may have been good advice, but print
it as they would, the editors of the lead region could not substan¬
tially diminish the rush of Wisconsin miners to the Pacific coast.
By 1850 over two hundred men from Mineral Point alone, includ¬
ing 17 percent of the town’s leading citizens, had left for the
mines, and it was estimated that adjoining towns had been simi¬
larly depopulated. Even the newspapers appear to have suffered,
for as a general thing 1850 shows a marked decline in both press
and editorial work, indicating that some of the newspapermen, at
least, may have departed for the California diggings.
The editors had done their best. Judicious selection of the news
from California and diligent editorial comment upon it, alike had
failed to stem the tide which flowed westward from the Wisconsin
mines. Once started, the California rush had been too big for the
editors to stop.
27 Galena Gazette, 1 May 1850.
28 Ibid., 20 March 1850.
29 Ibid., 6 February 1850.
OSHKOSH GRADUATES VIEW PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHING
IN LETTERS TO RUFUS HALSEY FROM 1905 TO 1907
Edward Noyes
Professor of History
Wisconsin State University — Oshkosh
To Rufus Halsey, president of the State Normal School at Osh¬
kosh from 1899 to 1907, student welfare was a matter of primary
concern. As a consequence, Halsey stressed close professional asso¬
ciation with the student body. He fostered an informal sociability
between faculty and pupils, and his administration witnessed a
great increase over that of his predecessor in establishment of
student academic and social organizations. Above all, Halsey be¬
lieved there was no substitute for personal relationships on campus,
and he considered a normal school whose enrollment exceeded five
hundred students to be approaching a danger point at which such
contact would be lost.
It was from the view of ensuring success in greater achievement
of student welfare that Halsey stressed a program of pupil guid¬
ance which included counseling on the presidential level. Halsey
not only wished the student on campus to have full benefit of presi¬
dential guidance, but also believed that if the institution were to
serve the “highest interests of the state,” its graduates should
have the privilege of like counseling. Moreover, he thought it
essential that the alumni have proper professional placement,
especially those persons qualified for more responsible positions.
If this objective were to be realized, there must be continuing
study of the graduate’s career, and according to Halsey personal
contact was the best mechanism for so doing. He told fellow admin¬
istrators during an all-normal school faculty institute held at Osh¬
kosh in 1900, “You do not know with sufficient definiteness just
what your graduates are doing,- — how rapidly they have grown
professionally . . . , unless by frequent correspondence or visits you
come into close touch with their work.”1
Halsey gave his ideas life by exacting a promise from graduates
that they write him twice a year about their employment problems
1 [Board of Regents of] Wisconsin Normal Schools, Proceedings of an Institute of
the Faculties of the Normal Schools, Held at Oshkosh, December 17-20, 1900 (Madi¬
son, 1901), pp. 305-306.
57
58 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
and professional objectives.2 As a result, a body of letters unique
in volume and scope among Oshkosh presidential files are present
today in his papers. Extending from 1905 to 1907, the correspond¬
ence is mostly of Wisconsin origin, but whatever the source, it is a
means for obtaining insights into teaching conditions in public
schools at the beginning of the present century. It also reveals
teacher attitudes toward those conditions.
Examination of the letters to Halsey discloses that adjustment
to community patterns was a matter of first concern to the new
teacher who often faced challenges to his or her capacity for
adaptability. Carrie A. Parent wrote, “When I reached Racine,
mud and rain welcomed me and immediately I found a dislike for
the place.” But a thoughtful superintendent had seen to it that
three Oshkosh graduates be on hand to greet her at the train, and
when each invited Carrie to dinner, things improved. Words could
not express her delight when she saw the eager faces of her fellow
alumni.3 From Stiles, Eva Whipple confessed that there were sev¬
eral reasons for her not wishing to continue teaching at Oconto
Falls. One was that en route to school she must walk over an im¬
mense hill and “Oconto Falls people never shovel snow in the win¬
ter.”4 From Theresa, Milton V. Jones informed Halsey that he had
a busy classroom schedule, but no social life. “The people are
pleasant,” he stated, “but that is about as far as it goes. The saloon
draws too much. With a population of about four hundred the town
supports eight saloons and two breweries.”5 Ruby V. Fuller voiced
a similar complaint at Elkhart Lake. Ruby remarked, “The town
is entirely German and I can neither speak nor understand Ger¬
man. Besides this the place is so decidedly immoral that I do not
care to stay. . . . They think of nothing but card-playing and beer
drinking Sundays and every other day in the week. There is no
English church. . . .”6 Not everyone could report to Halsey as hap¬
pily as did LaVergne Wood and John N. Stover. LaVergne taught
in her home town of Brandon and consequently faced no arguments
over which church she should attend and whether she should sing
in the choir.7 John taught at Cambridge where there were no
saloons and the residents were “rich, retired farmers who on the
whole believe [d] in good education, temperance, and churches.”8
2 State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Archives Division, Wisconsin State Univer¬
sity, Oshkosh, President, Alumni Correspondence, Letters Received, series 90/1/1-1,
Sara Bennett Jones to Halsey, September 11, 1905, mentions the requirement of writ¬
ing twice a year. Hereinafter, all citations of letters to Halsey will be by date only.
3 April 20, 1967. The letters cited in this article were written more than sixty years
ago and hence have no bearing on present conditions in the communities mentioned.
4 September 21, 1905.
5 April 28, 1906.
6 June 7, 1906.
7 April 8, 1906.
8 February 25, 1907.
1969] Noyes— Graduates View Public School Teaching 59
Not all the teacher-graduates experienced difficulty in adjusting
to community ways, even if they endured trying moments or were
homesick for parents and friends or perhaps their alma mater .
Resourceful individuals soon developed social outlets or became
absorbed in their new surroundings. W. W. Werndlandt was admit¬
tedly “ [un] acquainted with the rules of backwoods society" when
he arrived at Elcho, but he came to know the tough lumberjacks
and found the school board president courteous. And, although
his pupils uttered threats against him and some residents showed
“greed for the all-mighty dollar and . . . public recognition [sic],"
Werndlandt thought Rlcho a good place for “one interested in
human nature in all its phases."9 Moreover, teachers enjoyed occa¬
sional diversions from daily routine. At Embarrass, Louis U. St.
Peter taught, it is true, in a building he described as “ramshackle,"
but he was intrigued by Indians who came from Keshena to pick
cranberries in a marsh nearby and proceeded to stage a war dance
after consuming intoxicants bought with their wages. Louis
thought the dancing looked “very foolish," but even so he conceded
it was “most amusing."10
A great tide of immigration was sweeping America at the turn
of the century, and children of newcomers posed a worrisome prob¬
lem for some Oshkosh alumni, mostly over lingering traits asso¬
ciated with cultural or social backgrounds. From Hilbert, Emily N.
Cherosky outlined objections to the children’s habit of using the
German language at school. “I have told them they must not speak
German within the school grounds. Am I right in doing so?" she
queried.11 From Sheboygan, Perly Thackray confided that her class
were “all foreigners and [could not] speak a word of English,
some . . . came from Russia only a few months ago. I haven’t any
American children. . . Moreover, Perly regarded her pupils as
deficient in cleanliness and politeness. They did not know what to
do with their hands.1'2 Sophia Berge, who taught the first grade
at Norway, Michigan, found herself in a quandary over a class
entirely ignorant of English. “It is pretty hard to give these chil¬
dren regular first grade work," said Sophia.13 Catharine E. Dolan
wrote from Milwaukee that her pupils of foreign extraction were
“not nearly as bright" as youngsters she had taught elsewhere.14
And, Clara M. Calvert believed that if it were not for a strong
principal in her school at Iron Mountain, Michigan, “extremely
hard work" would result from disciplinary problems with immi-
9 December 9, 1905.
10 March 17, 1906.
11 November 8, 1906.
^ February 19, 1907.
1S May 6, 1907.
14 October 21, 1905.
60 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
grant pupils. To Clara, such children were “only about half
civilized.”15
But other Oshkosh graduates enjoyed the immigrant child. Ethel
C. O’Leary wrote from Ironwood, Michigan, that although she had
to “adapt” herself, she was “very proud of [her] fifty-two little
Finns and Sweeds [sic].”16 And, at Merrill, Wisconsin, Sara J.
Morissey thought her forty-two children who represented “nearly
every country in the Universe,” were “all lovely.” She wished that
Miss Rose Swart, the Oshkosh normal school supervisor of student
teaching, could visit her class. Sara said, “I know she would laugh.
The children have such queer expressions, their vocabularies being
so limited.”17 Josephine E. Gannon also enjoyed her immigrant
pupils. “They seem like flowers in a bud,” she remarked.18
Backward economic and social aspects of community life were
another concern to the Oshkosh teacher-graduate. From Sheboy¬
gan, Ida C. Brown alleged that in a majority of homes in her school
neighborhood, “every cent that can be spared from . . . getting the
bare necessities of life is spent in the saloon. I have called at many
. . . homes, and the standards of living in them, the conditions
under which the children are being raised are appalling.” Two
years later, she stated, “In our ward we contend with the hardest
of social conditions. Long before the pupils reach the fifth grade
they are ‘hard cases.’ ” Ida wished to instill ideals into her pupils
each of whom she believed to possess good traits. But the goodness
was often so deeply buried, months passed in uncovering it.19 From
the same city, Vesta Tibbits described poverty’s effect upon school
attendance. To assist with family income, many youngsters left
school at the fifth grade, and classes dwindled accordingly. In 1904,
there were [in her school?], fifty-six children in the fourth grade,
twenty-six in the sixth, and only eight in the eighth.20 Extra cur¬
ricular activities also felt the impact of the working pupil. Oscar B.
Thayer, teaching at Ashland, was unable to organize a football
team because parents were poor and it was necessary for their sons
to work after school to help earn the family livelihood.21 And, from
Mellen, Walter P. Hagman wrote that his pupils who were largely
of foreign parentage would not stay in school as required by law.
“Some children leave the very day they are fourteen,” Hagman
reported.22
15 March 9, 1906.
16 November 5, 1905.
17 March 6, 1906.
18 March 9, 1907.
19 October 8, 1905, and January 11, 1S07.
20 October 14, 1905.
21 October 28, 1905.
22 October 28, 1905.
1969] Noyes — Graduates View Public School Teaching
61
Historically, pupil disciplinary problems have troubled teachers,
and many of Halsey’s correspondents discussed lack of discipline,
especially on the part of their predecessors. Some brought him
their cares in this area. From Mondovi, Clara E. Tompkins
reported excellent results from administering corporal punishment
to three recalcitrants,23 and J. W. Riley was no less successful in
punishing an unruly youth at Racine. Riley was forced to take
stern measures, however, and said, “I got along all right with him
until today, when I had to give him an old timer , a gentle reminder,
a pusher, and a persuader. He is much taller than I . . . and tried
to handle me, ... he came out a bad second best.”24 But from
Nekoosa, Mabel M. Hall told a different tale. Mabel had attempted
to correct a naughty boy striking him “smartly across the
shoulder . . .” with a pointer, but the lad dodged and the blow fell
upon his head. Bleeding followed, and when a resultant investiga¬
tion ended, Mabel was jobless 25
The Halsey materials also contain abundant indications of
teacher unrest over low wages. Indeed, the average wage for
female teachers in the county schools of Wisconsin for the school
year 1906, was only $39.75 and that of males $62. 34.26 It was little
wonder that Daisy M. Rich, who was teaching at Marshfield,
thought wages “in most towns were not much more than enough
to live on,”27 and at Rhinelander, Clara Christensen commented,
“salaries are so low, and living expenses so high, that one can
hardly afford to stay. . . .”28
There were exceptions to the rule. W. A. Werndlandt enjoyed a
monthly salary of $70 at Elcho ; he remarked, however, “It is worth
it to live . . . here.”29 Edwin S. Billings was fortunate in receiving
a like sum at Footville in 1907, but the figure included pay for
essential janitorial duties. Thus, if a janitor were hired from his
income, Billings would suffer a wage reduction. Besides, he believed
that if the work were to be done properly he must do it himself.
“This is a serious objection to the position,” Billings observed.30
If board and room were high-priced and interest on teachers’
loans expensive, the financial aggravation was deeper. Catherine
E. Dolan’s school board at Mondovi not only held back a month’s
23 October 30, 1905.
24 January 23, 1906.
25 December 11, 1905.
28 Thirteenth Biennial Report of the Department of Public Instruction of the State
of Wisconsin July 1, 1906-June 30, 1908 (Madison, 1910), part II, p. 9, in volume II,
State of Wisconsin, Public Documents of the State of Wisconsin Being the Repoy'ts
of the Various State Officers •, Departments and Institutions, for the Fiscal Term
Ending June 30, 1908.
27 January 27, 1907.
28 April 22, 1907.
29 October 21, 1906.
30 April 23, 1907.
62 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
pay but also refused a contract until her second month of service.
Meanwhile, Catharine could borrow money in order to live, but the
interest she must pay was seven per cent.31 J. J. Rettles, who
taught at Westhope, North Dakota, earned fifty dollars a month,
but his board cost twenty-five. The authorities paid Rettles by war¬
rant, and if the treasury held sufficient funds, banks cashed the
paper at full value. Otherwise, they discounted it at five per cent,
thus reducing Rettle’s salary through no fault of his own.32
There were those teachers who exerted pressure on the authori¬
ties for salary increments. After receiving half-hearted promises
of an increase in pay, Idella D. Ray went so far as to warn her
board that following Christmas she would not return to her post
at Washburn. Idella’s pluck resulted in a hve-dollar-a-month incre-
ment which she thought was her due ; nevertheless, she told Halsey
that she felt guilty of misconduct.33 It was a happy exception to
most cases involving wages when George N. Murphy explained
that he had unexpectedly received five dollars more per month than
he had contracted for at Peshtigo — the board had decided to give
him the same rate as that of his predecessor. “I felt greatly
encouraged and have endeavored to give the people here full value
for their money,” he wrote.34
But for most teachers, finding a better paying position— -perhaps
in a big city — seemed the solution to inadequate income. This
meant that to aid those seeking higher pay as well as individuals
desiring professional advancement, Halsey became a one-man em¬
ployment bureau answering dozens of calls. He helped more than
one Oshkosh graduate to greater success, but he thought teachers
should help maintain salary standards by not accepting too low
wages.35
Compounding teacher unrest due to modest wages, were frustra¬
tions ranging through the course of professional life and experi¬
ence. Jennie Goesling deplored lack of opportunity for self-
improvement at Iron Mountain, Michigan,36 and at Peshtigo, Wis¬
consin, principal Robert Wendt considered buildings so poor and
crowded that good work was impossible. He decided to quit.37
John M. Lorscheter, writing from Granton, told Halsey in an un¬
dated letter of January, 1907, that he was teaching fifteen classes
a day and “The Board here has but little or no idea of what a
teacher can and should do. They think all that is necessary is to
31 July 17, 1905.
32 December 26, 1905.
33 December 22, 1905.
34 May 23, 1907.
35 Halsey to Agnes Haigh, August 8, 1908.
36 February 26, 1906.
37 February 27, 1906.
1969] Noyes— Graduates View Public School Teaching 63
keep good order, while teaching should be . . . secondary. . .
Lorscheter had reversed things, but had run into opposition in so
doing. He would have written more, but he told Halsey “it only
tires you to read our mournful tales.” And E. M. Pauly, principal
at Dunbar, was distressed over living conditions. “There is no pos¬
sibility of getting any house to live in except such as is overrun
with vermin,” he stated. Pauly wished he were back at Oshkosh
but nonetheless was attempting to inculcate his classes with the
ideals of his alma mater whose wholesome influence came back to
him “as sweetest remembrances and renewed inspiration.”38 From
Bayfield, Sara Bennett Jones remarked that she almost hated the
place because of parental interference with school work.39 Nor was
this, all At Footville, Edwin S. Billings thought it necessary to
take residence in a hotel where gossips could not reach him so
easily after a disturbance occurred over his re-grading the school.40
And at Catawba, Bert Williams lost his position when the towns¬
people “voted to have all female teachers.”41
But not all teaching situations were insurmountable. From Ab •
bottsford, Henry E. Policy reported, “The only trouble of any con¬
sequence this, year has been an attack by a village clergyman
(Presbyterian). He is greatly alarmed about the idea of evolution
that some h[igh] s[chool] pupils became interested in. He preached
against a study of it in any way. . . . Yet we are not much alarmed
for his influence in any matter is not very much.”42 And, although
Markesan did not offer social diversions, Alta L. Pepper informed
Halsey that her teaching assignment there was an improvement
over her former post at the Northern Hospital [for the Insane].
Alta wrote, “there isn’t the restraint and nervous strain experi¬
enced there.”43 From Mellen, Laura Walker wrote that she enjoyed
her work, and liked the progressive spirit and invigorating climate
of the North although “The thermometer registered fifty-two
degrees below zero last week.”44 And if R. M. Radsch experienced
difficulties in obtaining satisfactory pronunciation of English
words from his German pupils at Oakwood, Wisconsin, he found
the quiet life of the town delightful and “joy of joys, a fine com¬
pound microscope” with which he was attempting to duplicate
biological work he had once accomplished on the fourth floor of the
Oshkosh normal school building.45
38 April 13, 1 907.
39 February 17, 1906.
^November 17, 1906.
41 July 3, 1907.
42 January 19, 1907.
43 March 17, 1906.
^February 10, 1907.
^November 5, 1905.
64 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Finally, the teacher-graduate letters to Halsey reveal a pride in
the Oshkosh training program and a determination to fulfill the
mission of their alma mater. Not a few disclose the influence of
Halsey whose personal and professional standards were Arm and
unimpeachable. Oshkosh graduates often submitted their teaching
to self-appraisal, and if needed, determined to correct shortcom¬
ings. Sometimes they viewed the work of others with a critical eye.
At Ashland, Emma L. Saxton did not consider her principal— a
Milwaukee normal school alumnus — to be as thorough and progres¬
sive as an Oshkosh man would have been. “But I can forgive him/’
she wrote.46 Emma J. Schulze, whose schedule at Whitehall in¬
cluded English composition, Literary Readings I, II, and III, plus
Ancient and American history, civics, and all the music taught in
her school, was grateful that “One of best things I acquired there
[at the Oshkosh normal school] was a habit of systematic hard
work.” Moreover, Emma considered Oshkosh methods as “good as
gold” when put to the practical test.47 And, something of Halsey’s
image as an educator is discernible in a letter of Arthur Sperling
who taught at Random Lake. Sperling wrote, “One finds that to
conduct a school successfully, one has to gain the good will and
fellowship of the students, not by favoritism, but by square, open
dealing and careful judgment.”48 The same could be said of H. C.
Leister who wrote from New London, “The world, as a whole, has
no need for the pessimist and much less does the teaching profes¬
sion need the pessimist. The teacher must be an optimist.”49
Rufus Halsey died in July, 1907, as the result of a shooting acci¬
dent.50 With his passing, the students lost a sincere counselor and
warm friend devoted to serving their best interests. Halsey’s tenure
as, president of the Oshkosh Normal School was the shortest of its
kind, but no other presidential file discloses a similar relationship
existent between the alumni and the school head. To accomplish his
purpose of assisting the graduates, Halsey needed to follow the
students’ careers and to acquaint himself with their problems and
hopes. The students responded, and their letters, written in frank¬
ness, provide a documentary portrayal of the school and the teacher
of two generations ago.
46 February 4, 1907.
47 January 29, 1906.
48 December 8, 1905.
49 April 6, 1907.
50 See The Oshkosh Normal Advance, Memorial Issue, September, 1907, for reviews
of Halsey’s work as an educator, and the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, July 26, 1907,
for details concerning- his death.
GINSENG: A PIONEER RESOURCE
A. W. Schorger
Father Jartoux (1810), while in China, was ordered by the
Emperor to prepare a map of Tartary. He was at a village in the
latter country, when the natives brought him four ginseng plants
which they had collected in the mountains. A letter from him,
dated Peking, April 12, 1711, and published in Paris in 1713,
described the plant and its medicinal properties. He thought that
the plant would be found in other countries, particularly Canada.
The Jesuit missionary Lafitau (1718), stationed at the mission of
Sault St. Louis, chanced to read the letter and began, with the aid
of the Indians, a search for the plant which resulted in its discov¬
ery near Montreal in 1716. Two years later he published a mono¬
graph on ginseng in Canada. The new edition of the book contains
considerable information on the commercial history of ginseng in
Canada.
The Chinese have long considered ginseng to be a sovereign
remedy, and placed special emphasis on its virtue as an aphro¬
disiac. Kalm (1772), stated that the French used it for asthma,
stomach disorders, and promoting fertility in women. Medical sci¬
ence has been unable to confirm any of the claimed physiological
results.
The discovery of ginseng (Panax quinque folium) in Canada was
likened to that of gold in California and Australia. The root was
very profitable to the small traders since a pound costing 2 francs
in Quebec, sold as high as 25 francs in Canton. In one year there
was sent to China ginseng valued at 500,000 francs. In 1751,
owing to the great profit to be realized, the Compagnie des Indies
monopolized the ginseng trade. The price paid in Canada ultimately
rose to 80 francs (Garneau, 1882). This was a sufficient incentive
to send everybody into the woods, and ginseng was collected out
of season and regardless of age. In addition it was dried in ovens,
further lowering the quality. The product was unacceptable to the
Chinese, so that the Canadian trade decreased sharply by 1754, in
which year the exports dropped to 33,000 francs.
Kalm (1772), was in Quebec in August, 1749. He states that at
Quebec, in the summer of 1748, ginseng sold at six francs a pound,
65
66 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
though the usual price was five francs. The demand for ginseng
was so great that all the Indians near Montreal were searching for
the root so that the farmers could not hire, as usual, a single Indian
to assist in harvesting their crops.
The furcated root (Fig. 1) is in the greatest demand owing to
the fancied resemblance to the thighs of a man. The value of the
root, in the eyes of the Chinese, is enhanced by being rendered
semitransparent by steaming, sometimes in the presence of sugar.
The root should be five to seven years of age, and should not be
dug until the latter part of August and preferably in September
and October. Indiscriminate collecting has eradicated the plant
from much of its range which is largely east of the Mississippi.
Several states have passed protective laws. Wisconsin (1905)
passed a law prohibiting the digging of wild ginseng between Janu¬
ary 1 and August 1, or dealing in green ginseng between these
Figure 1. Root of ginseng (After Lafitau).
1969]
Schorger — Ginseng : A Pioneer Resource
67
dates. In 1923 the owner of the land was excepted from the restric¬
tions. The roots when dug should be washed thoroughly, and dried
carefully at a moderate temperature to prevent molding. About
two-thirds of the weight is lost in drying.
The fame of ginseng spread from Canada to New England, New
York, and westward. The first settlers of Vermont found the plant
in abundance. For a long time ginseng was purchased by most of
the retail dealers in the state, the roots in the “crude state” bring¬
ing 34 cents a pound (Thompson, 1853). It was supposedly discov¬
ered in western New England in 1750 (Williams, 1809). Rev.
Jonathan Edwards, in 1752, wrote to a friend in Scotland that
ginseng had been discovered at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the
year previous (Speer, 1870). The Albany traders were eager
buyers of the article for export to England. The discovery had a
demoralizing effect on the Indians. Young and old ranged far and
wide to collect it. This kept them from public worship, and when
in Albany to sell the product, they were subjected to various vices.
In 1773, the H Ingham, sailed from Boston to China with 55 tons
of ginseng (Williams, 1957).
The trade in ginseng, colloquially called “sang,” from the begin¬
ning was largely in the hands of the fur traders. The American
Fur Company handled the root. Astor is reputed to have made, in
1782, the first shipment of ginseng to China following the revolu¬
tion.* Astor (1910), in 1815, wrote to Ramsay Crooks that the
ginseng should reach New York by the first of May. Even today
most of the wild ginseng is purchased by fur buyers.
One of the early dealers in ginseng in New York was Sir Wil¬
liam Johnson (1721-65). His papers contain numerous references
to the trade. On November 29, 1750, he delivered 41 pounds of
ginseng. A letter of September 12, 1751, to Samuel and William
Baker, London, inquired for the price of ginseng to be expected in
England. He had most of the members of the Five Nations gather¬
ing ginseng, and, owing to its scarcity he had obtained only four
hogsheads over a period of three months. If ginseng sold under
12s. a pound he would be a loser. In 1752 he heard of ginseng
selling from 32s. to 40s. a pound. The plant could not have been
scarce for in 1766 the chief of the Tuscaroras asked for a trader
as it was plentiful in their country. A shipment of ginseng which
Johnson sent to London in 1759 was valued at £ 144.4.7. Ginseng
was highly profitable to the buyers in 1752, but the following year
they were nearly ruined. The Indians in Broome County, who had
* L. T. Williams, l.c. p. 344. The date at least is incorrect since Astor did not arrive
in America until 1783 and did not engage in the fur trade until the following year.
68 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
collected it in large quantities, however, benefited considerably
(Hawley, 1850) .
The Moravian missionaries (Beauchamp, 1916) among the New
York Indians in 1752, depended heavily on the ginseng which they
dug to furnish their necessities, such as blankets and shoes. When
they arrived at some of the Indian villages, they were nearly de¬
populated as the inhabitants were away gathering ginseng. The
demand for ginseng seems to have been low in 1755 for the mis¬
sionaries received for their roots only a traveler’s kettle from a
reluctant trader.
The noble, Daniel de Joncaire, Sieur de Chabert et de Clausonne,
was sent to the Bastile in Paris in 1761 to await trial for undoubt¬
ful corruption in handling supplies for Fort Niagara. He used
ginseng in his defense: “I enjoyed a prosperity acquired by the
most legitimate means. . . . This is the chief source of my for¬
tune. The craze for ginseng spread from Europe to Canada. My
connection with the Indians made it possible for me to profit by
this. They gathered this plant as much as I wished, at 15 livres
the pound ; it sold at Montreal for 24 livres. If this trade had lasted
a longer time, I could have made great loans to the State and the
King” (Severance, 1917).
Attempts were made frequently to propagate ginseng in Europe
though the seed will not germinate or the root grow if allowed to
dry. Barbe-Marbois (1929) was in the Oneida Reservation in Sep¬
tember, 1784, where he had engaged an Indian to collect five or six
barrels of ginseng to be shipped to France for transplanting. His
statement that, prior to the discovery of ginseng in America, the
supply from Tartary was so limited that in China it was worth its
weight in gold, shows the incentive.
The early settlers of New York also collected ginseng. The in¬
habitants of the town of Kirkland, Oneida County, were greatly
in need of food in 1789 on account of a crop failure the previous
year. A local merchant accepted ginseng in payment for supplies
in place of gold and silver (Durant, 1878). It is surprising that
the plant persisted in quantity for so long a period. Dwight (1822)
wrote in September, 1799, that the Brothertown and Oneida In¬
dians, near Clinton, New York, at that season, collect annually a
thousand bushels of ginseng for which they receive two dollars a
bushel. Most of it was sent to Philadelphia, thence to China.
Philadelphia remained for many years the principal port for ex¬
port. In 1752 it was hoped by the merchants of this city that a
market for ginseng could be created in England. This hope did not
materialize and by 1772 ginseng was no longer exported to Eng¬
land (Jansen, 1963). While Schoepf (1911) was at Laurel Hill,
1969]
Schorger — Ginseng: A Pioneer Resource
69
Pennsylvania, he met a man with two horses carrying 500 pounds
of ginseng bound for Philadelphia. Much was brought to Fort Pitt.
An energetic man could collect 60 pounds in a day. The price paid
was about a shilling sterling per pound. In going over the Al¬
leghany Mountains in September, 1794, Washington (Fitzpatrick,
1925) met “numbers of persons and Pack horses going in with
Ginseng.”
The members of the Moravian Mission (New Salem) on the
Huron River, northern Ohio, relied largely on ginseng for support.
Zeisberger (1885) recorded on August 29, 1787, that nearly all
the brethren were gathering ginseng. There was a great demand
for it, while skins were worthless. The price was $8.00 a bushel.
The plant was abundant in some places and scarce in others. Where
plentiful a man could collect a full half-bushel in a day. There was
a big demand for ginseng in Ohio in the period 1798-1808 (Hil¬
dreth, 1852).
Large amounts of ginseng were purchased by Daniel Boone in
Kentucky (Bakeless, 1939). Owing to the absence of an Indian
population, the collection of the roots must have been made largely
by the white settlers. He personally collected some ginseng. The
winter of 1787-88, he started up the Ohio in a boat containing
nearly 15 tons of ginseng. The boat overturned, and before the
cargo could be salvaged and transported to Philadelphia the price
had declined. Undismayed he had on hand 15 “caggs” of ginseng
in the fall of 1788.
According to the botanist Michaux (1805), ginseng in 1802 was
the only product from Kentucky that would bear the cost of trans¬
portation overland to Philadelphia. It was collected by people hav¬
ing some leisure, and by hunters who carried a digging tool in
addition to a rifle. A collector seldom dug more than 8 or 9 pounds
of the roots in a day. These roots were less than an inch in diame¬
ter even after an age of fifteen years. He received a shilling for
the dry roots which brought twice that amount in Philadelphia.
The process whereby the Chinese rendered the roots transparent,
i.e. by steaming, was considered a secret, although knowledge of
it was long known, and worth 400 piasters (dollars). Some of the
Philadelphia merchants paid six or seven piasters per pound for
the beneficiated roots.
Large quantities of ginseng were being sent to China from Wis¬
consin and Minnesota in the 1860’s (Speer, 1870). About 1845,
Green County, Wisconsin, was known as the “sang” country. The
supply was soon exhausted as men, women, and children devoted
their leisure time to collecting the roots. A. Ludlow of Monroe
purchased all that was available for shipment to New York. A
70 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
boy in 1846 within three months, collected 500 pounds for which
he received $0.22 a pound (Bingham, 1877). Much was collected in
the Bark River woods, Jefferson County, where it was abundant
(Warner, 1930). As late as 1900 ginseng could still be found in
the county in considerable amount. John Hooper obtained about
5000 plants annually during the three years 1904-1906, by per¬
sonal collection and purchase of a small number (Moore, 1940).
There does not appear to have been any early interest in the plant
in Dane County. In 1893, it was said of ginseng in the vicinity of
Madison: “Occasional in rich woods. Becoming rather rare”
(Cheney, 1893).
The collection of ginseng received much attention in Sauk
County. Charles Hirschinger, when ten years of age came with his
family to a farm near Baraboo in 1847. As an aid to the family,
he dug ginseng for which he received a few cents a pound (Cole,
1918). Mrs. L. H. Palmer, a widow, with the aid of her children
collected and sold at a dollar a pound, sufficient ginseng to pay the
mortgage on her place. Thousands of pounds were dug in the town
of Ironton. Though initially bringing a dollar a pound, the price
fell to fifty cents ; nevertheless, ginseng brought comfort to many
families. This was particularly true about 1859, when times were
difficult (Western Hist. Co., 1880). During June of this year the
merchants at Tomah were doing a thriving business in ginseng
which was to be found in quantity to the southward (Tomah,
1859). Plowever, a New York firm, Schiffelin Brothers and Com¬
pany, contributed a letter stating that ginseng was not in the best
of condition until fall, and should not be collected before that time
(Ripon, 1859).
Within a few weeks, in the spring of 1859, over $1200 had been
paid for ginseng collected in the valley of the Baraboo River. The
price of 12% cents probably represented that of the green root
(Baraboo, 1859). At this time the number of diggers of ginseng
in the Trimbelle woods, Pierce County, was estimated at 300. One
load of about 1200 pounds was noticed. The price of the green root
was 9 to 10 cents a pound. Fraudulent practices consisted in soak¬
ing the roots in water and inserting sand into the large ones
(Prescott, 1859).
Men and boys about 1860 were occupied in digging ginseng in
Dunn County. Haugen (1927) relates that in the summer of 1861
he went with a party to Maple Springs, town of Eau Galle, and
spent a month digging the roots. The men received six cents a
pound, and individuals sometimes dug as high as thirty pounds a
day. The boys received six dollars a month and board. In the spring
of 1864 speculators were paying fifteen cents a pound for the
1969] Schorger — Ginseng: A Pioneer Resource 71
green root at Menomonie. Ginseng to the amount of $8,000 had
been purchased (Menomonie, 1864). At the same time ginseng
was in great demand at Mauston (Mauston, 1864). The occupation
of George W. Shaffer, of Downsville, was farming and digging
ginseng (Forrester, 1891-92).
Ginseng was plentiful in 1866 in the town of Rock Elm, Pierce
County, and was worth ten cents a pound in the green state. The
ginseng trade revived at Ellsworth in the fall of 1875, and twenty
cents a pound was paid for it (Ellsworth, 1875). This price pre¬
vailed in 1878 (Ellsworth, 1878). Trade was active in 1879. E. L.
Davis advertised for 100,000 pounds of ginseng. Sanderson and
Campbell were shipping several hundred pounds weekly. The ini¬
tial price of thirty cents a pound soon fell to twenty cents (Ells¬
worth, 1879). E. R. Condit of the village of Rock Elm, in the fall
of 1880, had on hand two tons of ginseng which he had purchased.
It was “the only legal tender in exchange for goods at our store,
bringing 15 cents a pound” (Weld, 1906) . J. P. Fetherspil came to
the town of Springfield in 1896, and acquired a wide reputation as
a collector and grower of ginseng (Easton, 1909).
Ginseng was a boon to the settlers of Vernon County in the
years 1854-1856 (Rogers, 1907), as in the dry condition it brought
from $0.50 to $1.00 a pound (Union Publ. Co., 1884). Owing to
the scarcity of money, ginseng circulated as currency. In the town
of Liberty, a young couple about to be married, brought with them
an artistically arranged basket of ginseng with which to pay the
minister (Stout, 1899).
Most of the ginseng marketed in the northern counties was col¬
lected by the Indians. In the 1870’s, Fred E. Bailey had a trading
post at Rice Lake, Barron County. He hired Indians to dig ginseng
and trap furbearers (Gordon, 1922). Indians, in the 1880’s and
1890’s, came to Perkinstown, Taylor County, to collect ginseng,
which was also purchased from them in the town of Hammel
(Latton, 1947). John Brinkman, in Wood County, began trading
with the Indians about 1880. One season he bought nearly $8000
worth of ginseng, paying $2.00 a pound for it (Jones, 1923). Only
a few years prior to 1922, Indians came to Antigo, Langlade
County, to sell ginseng and other products which they had gathered
in the woods (Dessureau, 1922). In Lincoln County the Indians
obtained from $2.00 to $5.00 a pound (Drew, 1898).
The most extensive recorded experience in collecting ginseng is
that of Jabez Brown (1855) in Sauk County. His first entry is for
September, 1855. On the 25th of this month he dug a bucketful.
On July 16, 1858 he dug 15 pounds of green roots. He and his
father on September 10 dug about 20 pounds each, and each made
72 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
about $1.50. His entry for September 18 reads in part: “I hunted
sang all day but got but about half a bushel. I came home late
very tired. It is curious to see what excitement the Sang business
has got up in this country. All classes of men are digging. Some
make as high as three dollars per day. I have dug from ten to
about twenty pounds per day of green roots. In the extreme money
pressure it is all the article that will fetch cash or goods. Some
individuals have dug hundreds of lbs. and in Bad Ax, Sauk and
Richland Cos. thousands and thousands of lbs. have been dug. Men
go out with wagons and teams and provisions and bedding and
camp in the woods to dig Gin Sang.”
The fall of 1858 Brown began buying ginseng to take to market
at Richland Center where he arranged with a merchant to deliver
from two to four hundred pounds at 371/2 cents per pound. The
ginseng was purchased in small lots for which he paid from 30 to
32 cents a pound. On October 11, he and an associate sold 382%
pounds in Richland Center at 38 cents a pound. Within a few years
the price increased greatly. In July, 1870, a merchant at Richland
Center paid $3.00 per pound for the dry product, and the following
year $3.75 (Pease, 1870).
Statistics on the early trade in ginseng in Wisconsin are almost
entirely wanting; however, the state is reported to have shipped
ginseng to the value of $40,000 in 1858 and $80,000 in 1859 (Nash,
1895). As soon as the wild plant became scarce, attempts were
made to cultivate it. In 1877 it was stated that all attempts to grow
it in Wisconsin ended in failure. One man after spending several
hundred dollars was unsuccessful in growing it from seed (Ann.
Rept. 1877). Eventually the difficulties were overcome so that most
of the ginseng exported today is from cultivation. It is one of the
wild plants which does not conform readily to man’s ministrations.
The tribulations of the Fromm Brothers in growing it in Marathon
County have been well described (Pinkerton, 1953).
References
Ann. Rept. Com. Agr. for 1877. p. 545.
Astor, J. J. 1910. Letter, N. Y., Feb. 14, 1815. Wis. Hist. Colls. 19:369.
Bakeless, John. 1939. Daniel Boone. New York. p. 331.
Ba/raboo Republic, June 30, 1859.
Barbe-Marbois, F. 1929. Letters . . . 1779-1785. New York. p. 204.
Beauchamp, W. M. 1916. Moravian journals relating to central New York.
Syracuse, p. 113, 120, 122, 124-27, 132, 134, 138, 153-54, 203, 243.
Bingham, H. M. 1877. History of Green County, Wisconsin. Milwaukee, p. 118,
119.
Brown, Jabez. 1855. Diary. Wis. Hist. Soc. Library.
Chaney, L. S. and R. H. True. 1893. On the flora of Madison and vicinity.
Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. 9:72.
73
1969] Schorger — Ginseng: A Pioneer Resource
Cole, H. E. 1918. A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin. Chicago.
1:69, 84.
Dessureau, R. M. 1922. History of Langlade County, Wisconsin. Antigo. p. 2.
Drew, Lola E. [1898?] History of the Indians [of Lincoln County]. MS.
Wis. Hist. Soc.
Durant, S. W. 1878. History of Oneida County. New York. p. 457.
Dwight, T. 1822. Travels: in New England and New York. New Haven.
3:182.
Easton, A. B. 1909. History of the St. Croix Valley. Chicago, p. 920.
Ellsworth Herald, Aug. 4, 1875.
— - . June 19, 1878.
I - . June 11, 18, 25; July 2, 9, 1879.
Fitzpatrick, J. C. 1925. The diaries of George Washington. Boston. 11:289.
Forrester, G. 1891-92. Historical and biographical album of the Chippewa
Valley, Wisconsin. Chicago, p. 600.
Garneau, F. X. 1882. Histoire du Canada. Montreal. 11:154.
Gordon, S. and F. Curtiss-Wedge. 1922. History of Barron County, Wiscon¬
sin. Minneapolis, p. 198.
Haugen, Nils. 1927. Pioneer and political reminiscences. Wis. Mag. Hist. 11:
139.
Hawley, J. 1850. Journey to Onohoghgwage in 1753. Doc. Hist. N.Y. 2:1035.
Hildreth, S. P. 1852. Biographical and historical memoirs . . . settlers of
Ohio. Cincinnati, p. 308.
Jansen, A. L. 1963. The maritime commerce of colonial Philadelphia. Madi¬
son. p. 93.
Jartoux, Pere. 1810. Lettre. Lettres edifantes et curieuses. Toulouse. 18:97-
110; 1714. The description of a Tartarian plant called gin-seng. Phil.
Trans. Roy. Soc. London. 28:237-247.
Johnson, Sir William. 1921-1965. Papers. Albany. 1:311, 346, 373; 12:168;
13:126.
Jones, George O. 1923. History of Wood County, Wisconsin. Minneapolis.
p. 11.
Kalm, P. 1772. Travels in North America. London. 11:272-273.
Lafitau, Joseph Francois. 1718. Concernant la precieuse plante du gin seng
la Tartarie decouverte en Canada. Paris. 88 pp.; 1858. New ed. Montreal.
46 pp.
Latton, A. T. [1947]. Reminiscences and anecdotes of early Taylor County,
n.p. p. 33, 43.
Mansion Star. June 8, 1864.
Menomonie Lumberman . June 18, 1864.
Michaux, F. A. 1805. Travels to the westward of the Allegany Mountains.
London, p. 158, 207-212.
Moore, E. B. and R. Sanford. 1940. Spring flora on Farmer’s Island, Lake
Mills, Wisconsin. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. 32:71-74.
Nash, G. V. 1895. American ginseng: its commercial history, protection, and
cultivation. U.S.D.A., Div. of Botany, Bull. 16:22 pp.
Pease, D. E. 1870. Account book. Wis. Hist. Soc. Library.
Pinkerton, Kathrene. 1953. Bright with silver. New York. 364 pp.
Prescott Democrat. June 28, 1859.
Ripon Times. July 15, 1859.
Rogers, E. M. 1907. Memoirs of Vernon County. Madison, p. 52.
Schoepf, J. D. 1911. Travels in the Confederation (1783-1784). Philadelphia,
p. 236.
Severance, F. H. 1917. An old frontier of France. New York. 11:405.
74 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Speer, W. 1870. The oldest and newest empire. Cincinnati, p. 61.
Stout, Stanley. 1899. History of the town of Liberty, Vernon County, Wis.
MS. Wis. Hist. Soc.
Thompson, Z. 1853. History of Vermont. Burlington. 1:221.
Tomah Chief. June 25, 1859.
Union Publ. Co. 1884. History of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Springfield,
p. 664.
Warner, Mrs. Ambrose. 1930. Recollections of farm life. Wis. Mag. Hist.
14:196.
Weld, A. P. The story of Pierce County. Spring Valley Sun, Feb. 22, 1906.
Western Hist. Co. 1880. The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin. Chicago.
p. 626.
Williams, L. 0. 1957. Ginseng. Economic Botany 11:344.
Williams, S. 1809. The natural and civil history of Vermont. Burlington.
1:85-86.
Wisconsin. Chapter 194, Laws of 1905, Secs. 1481 a-e.
Zeisberger, D. 1885. Diary. Cincinnati. 1:366, 369; 11:48, 54.
LAKE SIZE AND TYPE ASSOCIATED WITH RESORT
LOCATIONS AND DENSITY IN NORTHEASTERN WISCONSIN:
I. ONEIDA— VILAS AREA
L. G. Monthey*
The University of Wisconsin
Madison , Wisconsin
Synopsis
Of the 2,450 lakes in the Oneida-Vilas region of Northeastern Wisconsin,
951 are named lakes and 301 of these were used by resort establishments
in 1964. They contained 1,206 resorts, or slightly over 25% of the State’s total.
In general, about three-fourths of the resorts were situated on drainage-type
lakes over 100 acres in size with a medium to high fertility rating. However,
over 10% were on lakes of 100 acres or less, and over 20% were on lakes
classed as low or very low in biological productivity. Further, about one-
fourth of all resorts had less than 40 acres of available water surface (per
resort), and one-fifth had a shoreline factor of less than 0.5 mile. Almost
4% of the resorts were on 21 shallow lakes which were subject to periodic
winterkill. Dwelling density on the resort lakes averaged 6 buildings per mile
of shore, with a range of 0 to 20 dwellings per mile. The larger resorts in
this region were, with few exceptions, on the larger drainage-type lakes with
medium to high productivity ratings. Certain guidelines for selecting or
evaluating resort sites are included in this report, which was presented at
the 98th Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and
Letters at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in April 1968.
Many tourist-lodging- businesses in Northern Wisconsin, and
particularly the so-called “resorts”, are situated on lakeshore lands.
This site provides atmosphere, esthetic qualities, and convenient
access to water-based recreation — swimming, boating, angling,
water skiing, nature study, and so on.f
* Extension specialist, travel-recreation industry, University Extension, The Uni¬
versity of Wisconsin.
T Water-oriented activities, which dominate the recreation picture in Northeastern
Wisconsin, have great appeal to a majority of our vacationing- tourists. A survey of
prospective vacationers in 1964, conducted by the Department of Resource Develop¬
ment and directed by Prof. I. V. Fine, showed that 52% of the people who were
interviewed had indicated water activities as their main pursuit while on their most
recent long- recreation trip. Sightseeing and “touring” were close behind — and prob¬
ably related to water as well. A study of tourist-accommodations people in 1962,
also by Fine, indicated that 76.8% of the operators in Northeastern Wisconsin con¬
sidered fishing as their main attraction with boating and swimming (also water-
based) a fairly close second at 59.7%. Only 10 percent of these operators said they
had no recreational waters on or adjacent to their premises.
In a 1959 study of tourist preferences. Fine found that the following activities
(and facilities) were rated “good to excellent” by high percentages of the vacationers
surveyed :
fishing — 46.3% boating — 88.1
swimming — 75.4 sightseeing — 92.3
The last-mentioned study also revealed that 62.9% of all recreational travelers who
vacation in Wisconsin during the mid-summer period (July and August) visited the
Northeast region.
75
76 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
The quality of recreation provided, as well as the probable suc¬
cess of a resort enterprise, is closely related to the quality of the
lake being utilized. Lakes vary greatly with respect to size, type,
fertility, depth, water clarity, shoreline, etc. Many lakes are too
small, too shallow, too infertile — or otherwise inadequate — to pro¬
vide good recreation, a quality environment, or high scenic values.
As this study shows, some of our resort establishments are located
on these low-quality lakes.
Wisconsin has over 8,700 lakes, of which nearly 60% (or 5,100)
are named. Only 13% of the total, or 1,134 lakes, are over 100
acres in size. At least 90% of our 4,500 resort enterprises are asso¬
ciated with this relatively small group of lakes— which range in
size from 100 acres upward to 137,700 acres (Lake Winnebago).
What lake characteristics and factors can be identified most
closely with resort locations and distribution? The purpose of this
report it to provide some general answers to this question.
A resort is defined as a visitor-housing business with accommo¬
dations for at least two families (six people or more) in a scenic
recreational environment.
This study included all of the resorts and resort lakes in Oneida
and Vilas counties in 1964. This area has over 25% of the state’s
totals for both resorts and lakes. The figures showed 1,206 resorts
on 301 lakes. Basic data on the lakes studied were obtained from
recent county inventories of surface water resources, as published
by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Data on
resort numbers were obtained from the State Board of Health and
by field surveys.
The 301 resort lakes comprised 12.3% of all lakes (2,450 total)
in the Oneida-Vilas area, and 31.7% of all the named lakes. This
area has a total of 951 named lakes, mostly over 10 acres in size,
including all of the larger ones. In addition there are 1,499
unnamed lakes, all under 100 acres and 92% under 10 acres in size.
Less than ten of these were used by resort establishments. Gen¬
erally speaking, the 2,150 lakes not being used are probably too
small, too infertile, too marshy, or otherwise not suitable for resort
development.
With respect to over-all quality, and especially biological produc¬
tivity, lakes are somewhat comparable to soils and soil fertility.
They vary greatly, just like farms or farm fields. There is fully as
much variation in productivity between landlocked lakes rated as
“very poor” and drainage lakes rated as “excellent” as there is
between a sandy, abandoned farm in northern Wisconsin and a
fertile, prairie-soil farm in southern Wisconsin.
1969]
Monthey — Lake Size and Type
77
What are the main factors involved in lake quality? From the
standpoint of resort utilization, or human recreation, the following
lake characteristics assume major importance:
1. TYPE— drainage, landlocked, spring, bog, etc.
2. SIZE— area, shape, configuration.
3. FERTILITY — water acidity, hardness, nutrient content.
4. DEPTH- — maximum depth, area under 5' depth, area over 10'
depth.
5. CLARITY — water color, turbidity, algae, etc.
6. SHORELINE — type, length, soils, vegetation.
There are other lake characteristics, of course, but the primary
lake-quality factors of (1) size, (2) depth, and (3) productivity
(fertility) would rate a high priority in the evaluation of any lake
for recreational purposes. The matter of lake type, or classification,
would also deserve careful consideration along with these basic
factors in the appraisal of a given lake for its potential or optimum
usage. Such things as water quality, lakeshore types, and shoreline
developments might be considered in addition.
This paper is concerned chiefly with the type of lakes used, the
size of lakes used, fertility ratings, and certain water-space fac¬
tors related to resort density. The resort counts and lake-inventory
data were compiled in 1964 and 1965. Subsequent studies will re¬
late resort distribution to other lake-quality factors, including
depth, water clarity, shoreline characteristics, and present usage
of the lakes concerned.
Classifying Resort Lakes
A lake is defined as an inland body of standing water, with
meandered shoreline, that is navigable at least 9 out of 10 years.
Some authorities say that a lake must have at least 10 acres of
surface water and that anything less than 10 acres is a “pond.”
However, our official inventory of surface waters in Wisconsin
includes named and unnamed lakes down to 1.0 acre (even smaller)
in total area. And, our studies of resort locations reveal that a
number of these establishments are presently located on lakes
under 10.0 acres in size!
As to classification of lakes by type, the following lake types are
recognized and have been identified in some or all of the Wisconsin
county inventories :
1. Drainage lakes— natural lakes and impoundments having both
inlets and outlets (affluent and effluent streams).
78 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
2. Landlocked lakes — lakes that are fed by seepage water; no
inlets and no outlets (water level is dependent on groundwater
table) .
8. Drained lakes — very similar to landlocked lakes; no inlet, but
have very small or intermittent outlets.
4. Spring lakes — somewhat similar to landlocked lake; seldom
have inlets, but have outlets of substantial flow.
5. Bog lakes — small, kettle-hole lakes with encroaching bog vege¬
tation, usually brown-colored water. (Normally acid if land¬
locked, but may be alkaline if connected with a stream.)
6. Impoundments — lakes with over 50% of the depth attribu¬
table to a manmade structure.
The two major categories, drainage lakes and landlocked lakes, are
often further divided into two subclasses: acid and alkaline. For
example, acid drainage lakes and alkaline drainage lakes are dif¬
ferentiated in some of the Wisconsin county inventories.
In this study of resort lakes in Oneida and Vilas counties, all
named lakes were included under three categories: (1) Drainage
lakes; (2) Landlocked lakes; (3) Spring lakes. All “drained” lakes
are classed as landlocked lakes, as are the bog lakes that have
no inlet or outlet. (All impoundments are included with the drain¬
age lakes.)
Each of these lake types has significant natural properties and
limnological characteristics peculiar to it, based on the general
chemical and physical properties. Production of plant and animal
life, for example, varies considerably with the type of lake.
In general, drainage lakes and spring lakes have the highest
fertility levels. Water sources for these two types have higher
mineral contents, because of their greater exposure to the soil and
subsoil minerals. The groundwater of spring lakes, as a general
rule, will have a greater mineral concentration than that of drain¬
age lakes. This fact is especially evident in the small spring lakes
with limited watersheds. Landlocked lakes generally have the low¬
est fertility levels, although some exceptions do occur. Within the
landlocked category, drained lakes are slightly more fertile than
the average (for seepage lakes) , while bog lakes are almost always
acid and relatively infertile.
Lake size is an important consideration. The smaller lakes often
have inadequate or limited space (water surface) for many activi¬
ties and, generally, are more readily injured by heavy pressures
and overuse. Some limnologists feel quite strongly that no motors
of any kind should be permitted on lakes under 50 acres in size.
There is considerable justification for this belief, although we feel
1969]
Mont hey — - Lake Size and Type
79
that a 40-acre minimum might be more appropriate. Large lakes
can sometimes be a problem too, because of large waves during
high winds, the increased difficulty in locating fishing grounds, or
the improved prospects for getting lost.
In this study of resort lakes, nine size categories were used
initially, but these are reduced to only four in this report. They
are as follows :
Lake Size Class Area of Surface Water
Class I —large 1001 Acres and up
Class II —medium large 501 to 1000 Acres
Class III— medium 101 to 500 Acres
Class IV— small 1 to 100 Acres
Threinen and others suggest three (3) lake-size categories as fol¬
lows: Small (under 100 A.); Medium (101 to 1000 A.); Large
(more than 1000 A.). However, in considering resort distribution
and lake usage in the Oneida-Vilas area, it seemed appropriate to
separate the medium-sized lakes of 101 to 500 acres from those of
501 to 1000 acres. Thus, the accompanying tables include these
two classes of medium-sized lakes. From the standpoint of resort
distribution, density and lake utilization, important differences
were found between them.
Resorts and Lake Type
Table 1 shows the distribution of resort establishments by type
and size of lake used. These data include all resorts identified by
the Board of Health in 1964 and all resort lakes in the Oneida-
Vilas region.
This area has a total of 951 named lakes and approximately one-
third of these, or 301 named lakes, contained all of the 1,206 re¬
sorts. Thus, over two-thirds (68.3%) of the named lakes had no
resorts on them. Many of the lakes in the latter group were size¬
able, good-quality ones, and this suggests a potential for future
resort development. The average size of the 301 lakes used by re¬
sorts was 390.6 acres, and the over-all density was 4.0 establish¬
ments per resort lake.
A large majority of the resorts (915) were located on drainage
lakes, although only 28 percent of the 951 named lakes were of this
type. Of the 267 drainage-type lakes, 60.7% or 162 had resorts on
them. The average lake size for this group was 482 acres, and the
average resort density was 5.6 resorts per lake.
Landlocked (or seepage-type) lakes were predominant among
the named lakes, comprising 62.0% of the total. However, only
101 of these 590 lakes (or 17.1%) had resorts, with a total of 189
Table 1. Resort Distribution by Type and Size of Lake in the Oneida-Vilas Area of Wisconsin
80 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
In addition, the Oneida-Vilas area has 1,499 unnamed lakes under 100A each.
1969]
Monthey—Lake Size and Type
81
establishments. The average size of the landlocked resort lakes
was 170 acres, and the average density was 1.9 resorts per lake
used.
The remaining 94 named lakes— 9.9% of the grand total — were
spring-type lakes. Two-fifths of these lakes (40.4%) had resorts.
The average size of spring lake used by resorts was 260 acres, and
the average resort density was 2.7 resorts per lake.
All in all, we find that slightly over three-fourths of all resort
enterprises in the region were located on drainage-type lakes,
15.7 % were on landlocked lakes, and only 8.4% were on spring-
type lakes. In fact, 72.5% of the 1,206 resorts were on 142 drain¬
age lakes of medium-to-large size (over 100 acres), and the resort
density on these lakes was 6.2 resorts per lake. It is noteworthy
that these 142 lakes comprise only one-seventh (14.9%) of the
total named lakes in the area, and only one-seventeenth (5.8%) of
the 2,450 lakes found in the two counties.
Resorts and Lake Size
There are 36 Class I lakes (over 1,000 acres each) in the Oneida-
Vilas area, of which 33 are drainage lakes and 3 are landlocked
lakes. Over two-thirds of them — 25 lakes— were used by resorts.
These lakes, which averaged 1,504 acres each, had a total of 281
resorts— or 23.3% of the 1,206 establishments. There was an aver¬
age density of 11.2 resorts per lake used.
Class II lakes (501 to 1,000 acres) in the Oneida-Vilas area
total 49, and 43 of them or 87.8% were used by resorts. Most of
these (33) were drainage-type lakes, with the remainder divided
equally between the other two types (5 landlocked and 5 spring
lakes). The number of resorts on them was 297 or 24.6% of all
resorts in the 2-county area. Resort density was 6.9 per lake used.
There are 235 named Class III lakes (101 to 500 acres) , of which
149 or 63.4% had resorts. This group of lakes (about 71% drain¬
age-type) had a total of 503 resorts, or 41.7% of the grand total,
and a density of 3.4 resorts per lake.
Finally, there were 641 named Class IV lakes (100 acres or less)
in this area, of which 84 or about 13.0% were used by resorts. Of
the 84 total, 55 were landlocked lakes, 20 were drainage-type, and
9 were spring type. These lakes contained 125 resorts, which is
10.4% of the total establishments in the area, and the density was
1.5 resorts per lake used.
It is interesting to note that almost 5% of all resorts in the
region were on 46 lakes under 50 acres in size, and 31 of these
lakes were either low or very low in fertility! As suggested previ¬
ously, practically all of the unnamed lakes were too small, too shal-
82 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
low, too marshy or too unproductive to be of interest to resort
operators. Oneida County has a total of 726 unnamed lakes (all
under 100 acres) of which 678 have less than 10 acres of water
surface. In Vilas County there are 773 such lakes, of which 710
are under 10 acres in size.
Water Area Per Resort
One index for measuring the resort density (or crowding) on a
given lake is the acreage of “available” surface water per resort — -
or WA/R ratio. This factor is obtained by dividing the total acre¬
age of the lake by the number of resorts thereon. Thus, a lake of
1,000 acres with 10 average resorts* on its shoreline would have a
WA/R value of 100. This is slightly higher than the average figure
for resort lakes of the Oneida-Vilas area. The average values for
our 12 categories of lakes used by the 1,206 resorts in the region
are shown in Table 2.
We note that 25.1% (303) of the 1,206 resorts were on lakes
with a WA/R ratio less than 40. These 303 resorts are on 78 lakes,
of which 53 are Class IV lakes (under 100 A), 23 are Class III
lakes (101 to 500 acres), and 2 are Class II lakes. The distribu¬
tion of these 303 resorts is as follows:
* The average cottage resort in northern Wisconsin has seven ( 7 ) cabins or cottages,
eight (8) boats and motors, and a capacity for about thirty (30) guests when filled.
Table 2. Surface Water Acreage per Resort (WA/R ratio) in the Onexda-Vilas Lake Region of Wisconsin
1969]
Monthey — -Lake Size and Type
83
84 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Thus, we see that 207 of these 803 resorts (which have WA/R
values under 40) are on 32 drainage-type lakes, of which 30 are
either small or medium in size. Another 71 resorts are located on
39 landlocked lakes, and 34 of these lakes are under 100 acres in
size. The remaining 25 resorts are on 7 spring-type lakes, of which
6 are less than 100 acres. It would appear that those resorts with
limited water surface are predominately on lakes under 500 acres
in size, with almost one-third of them on 53 lakes of less than 100
acres each.
About three-eighths (37.6%) of the 189 resorts located on land¬
locked lakes had a WA/R value of 40 or less; whereas only 22.6%
of the 915 resorts on drainage-type lakes were in this category.
For spring-type lakes, the 40-or-under group included 24.5% of
the 102 resorts located on them.
Well over half (62.2%) of the 1,206 resorts had a WA/R value
of 80 or less. Of these 750 resorts— each with 80 acres or less
water surface — 74 were on Class I lakes, 174 on Class II lakes, 385
on Class III lakes, and 117 on Class IV (small) lakes.
The WA/R factor varied from about 5.0 acres (Dog Lake and
Minnow Lake) to well over 1,400 acres (Ike Walton Lake) in
Vilas County. These were the extremes, and the values for lakes
in Oneida County fell within this range. No attempt was made to
separate lakes with high concentrations of private dwellings from
those with relatively low concentrations, but the dwelling density
(cottage and home numbers) per mile of shoreline was calculated
for 135 of the 301 resort lakes. (See Table 5 for summary.) It is
noteworthy that some of the lakes with the lowest WA/R values
also had rather high concentrations of private dwellings and cot¬
tages on their shores. This denotes a crowded condition which
could very well have deleterious effects. This may result in rapid
deterioration and a shorter life for the lakes concerned.
On a particular lake, the surface water acreage per resort
(WA/R value) is becoming more important each year, especially
with the rapid increase in private dwellings on the preferred lakes.
A WA/R value of 40 is considered minimal for a good-quality lake
with a low dwelling density (less than 10 cottages per mile of
shoreline). The average for all 301 resort lakes was 97.5 A.
The spatial requirements of certain aqua sports — notably speed¬
boating and water skiing — are rather great. These sports are pur¬
sued not only by resort guests, but also by residents and transient
visitors on most larger resort lakes. One lake authority has stated
that about 20 acres of water surface are needed for one power¬
boat and skier making a complete (360°) turn! Thus, a lake with
80 acres of surface area may serve very well for one cottage
1969]
Mont hey— Lake Size and Type
85
resort (averaging- seven rental cottages and 30 guests), but it
might be somewhat too small for two such establishments when
both are operating at or near capacity. If this same 80-acre lake
had three or four resorts on it, as some already have, along with
10 or 12 dwellings per mile of shore, the utilization conflicts on a
hot July day can be visualized quite readily. On most resort lakes,
the surface-water area must be shared with residents, cottage
owners, area fishermen, transient boaters, and other non-resort
people.
Three small lakes in Vilas county had less than 10 acres of
water surface per resort (WA/R values of 5, 6, 9), and all three
had private cottages as well, with an average density of 9 dwell¬
ings per lake! In the Oneida-Vilas area, there were 87 resorts
on 29 lakes which had WA/R values under 21 acres. Over half,
50 resorts, were on Class IV lakes (under 100 acres) ; the re¬
mainder of 37 were on Class III lakes. Landlocked lakes predomi¬
nated in this group; there were 17 of them with a total of 25
resorts, and all were Class IV lakes. There were nine (9)
drainage-type lakes with 47 resorts, and three (3) spring- type
lakes with 15 resorts. The lakes in this group had an average of
8.38 private dwellings on their shores, or about 6 per mile of shore¬
line. This figure approximates the average dwelling density for all
resort lakes in this region.
SL/R Ratio Studied
Another index of resort distribution on a given lake is the
amount of “available” shoreline per resort, or the SL/R ratio.
Since it is another measure of resort density, or crowding, it
further highlights the spatial requirements in resort-lake usage.
This value is obtained by dividing the total miles of shoreline on
a given lake by the total number of resorts thereon. The SL/R
values obtained reflect the average length of shoreline per resort
on specific lakes, disregarding the amount of lakeshore actually
owned by the resorts or other landowners on those lakes. The
average values (and resort distribution) for our 12 categories of
resort lakes are shown in Table 3.
For example, a lake with 12.0 miles of shoreline and 12 resorts
thereon would have an SL/R value of 1.00- — or somewhat less than
the average figures for the 2-county area. (Oneida county is 1.36,
while Vilas lakes have an average value of 1.11 miles per resort.)
It is true that those lakes having large numbers of resort estab¬
lishments are also attractive to second-home owners, and thus they
often have above-average concentrations of homes and cottages.
This tends to complicate the interpretation of SL/R values. How-
Table 3. Shoreline per Resort (SL/R Ratio) in the Oneida-Vilas Area of Wisconsin
86
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
1969]
Monthey—Lake Size and Type
87
ever, dwelling density is evaluated in a subsequent section of this
paper, and it can be related quite easily to the resort distribution
on each lake.
The SL/R value, in our opinion, should be at least 0.5 mile per
resort under average circumstances— especially on landlocked lakes
where there is no easy access or channels to other waters— and
particularly where the dwelling density exceeds 10 units per mile
of shore.
Why is “available” shoreline important? First, much of the
recreational activity on most lakes takes place within % mile of
the shore. The central area of a large lake — particularly one with¬
out islands— is used very little. Secondly, certain major activities
such as fishing and canoeing are high users of shoreline, and the
“acres per boat” or “people per acre” figures are less significant.
Thirdly, lakes vary greatly in shore length per 100 acres of sur¬
face. For example, Dollar Lake and Watersmeet Lake in Vilas
County are about 100 acres each. Dollar (nearly round) has 1.4
miles of shore, whereas Watersmeet (spider shaped) has 10.5
miles. Dollar (3 resorts) has an SL/R value of 0.47 miles; Water¬
smeet (8 resorts) has 1.3 miles. These are extremes, of course,
but they illustrate the point.
Of the 1,206 resorts in the Oneida-Vilas region, about 19.0%
(230 resorts) had SL/R values of less than 0.5 mile. Of this group,
38 were on Class I lakes; 60 on Class II lakes, 109 on Class III
lakes, and 23 on Class IV (under 100 acres). The big majority of
them (86.1%) were on drainage-type lakes. The remainder was
almost evenly divided (7.4% and 6.5%) between landlocked lakes
and spring lakes, respectively.
Resorts and Lake Fertility
A reasonably reliable index of lake quality, or biological produc¬
tivity, is the fertility rating or total alkalinity of the water in a
given lake. This is a key factor in the quality of resort lakes, since
it is not only associated with fishery yield and composition but also
the prevalence or abundance of algae, aquatic plants, plankton, etc.
Generally speaking, soft- water (acid) lakes are relatively infer¬
tile. Most landlocked lakes are of this type. On the other hand,
most hard-water lakes show a medium or high fertility rating.
This index, expressed as total alkalinity in Wisconsin lake inven¬
tories and determined by chemical tests, is a measure of the dis¬
solved solids (carbonates, bicarbonates, hydroxides, etc.) in a
sample of water. It is commonly reported as parts per million of
88 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
calcium carbonate (ppm CaC03) and is an indicator of lake pro¬
ductivity. The following classification is used to indicate fertility
ratings of the 301 resort lakes in this study:
In this report the last two categories are combined into one, i.e.,
“high” fertility. Lakes in this class are generally the most produc¬
tive and support a large population of fast-growing fish, other
organisms, and aquatic plants. Conversely, lakes rated as “very
low” or “low” are relatively unproductive — like a poor soil — with a
limited population of slow-growing fish and relatively clear, weed-
free water. Fish are sometimes stunted, especially if predators and
large fish are inadequate to control the population.
Table 4 shows the distribution of our 1,206 resorts by lake
fertility, type and size class. Four levels of fertility, or produc¬
tivity, are indicated for each of the 12 lake type-and-size categories.
The table reports both the number of resorts and the number of
resort lakes under each fertility class. It is noteworthy that 78.8%
of all resorts were on lakes of medium or high fertility; further
that 825 (86.8%) of these 950 resorts were on drainage-type lakes.
Thus, it appears that the great majority of resort establishments
have selected, wisely or by chance, resort lakes of good or above-
average productivity.
However, there were 256 resorts on 115 lakes of low or very low
fertility. They comprised over one-fifth (21.2%) of all resorts in
the region. Almost two-thirds of these resorts (161 establishments)
were on infertile landlocked lakes ; 90 were on drainage-type lakes ;
only 5 were on spring lakes.
At the “very low” level of water fertility — nr productivity —
there were 54 resorts on 42 lakes. Thirty of these lakes were small,
100 acres or less, and only two were over 500 acres in size. All 42
were landlocked lakes, and most of them were questionable or
undesirable sites for resorts, because of their small size and limited
fishery.
Table 4. Resort Distribution by Lake Type and Lake Fertility in the Oneida-Vilas Area
1969]
Monthey — Lake Size and Type
89
*NOTE — The figures in parentheses indicate number of lakes in each category.
90 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Dwelling Density on Resort Lakes
As mentioned previously, non-resort shoreline developments, in¬
cluding cottages, seasonal homes, year-round residences, camps and
marinas, affect lake usage by and water availability for resort
enterprises. Heavy usage by resorts plus a high concentration of
private dwellings can mean an overcrowded condition on the lake
concerned. However, both factors can be measured and evaluated,
separately and together, to determine the pressure on a given lake
in quantitative terms.
Table 5 indicates the cottage-dwelling density on 135 resort
lakes in Vilas County, where dwelling counts were taken. The
average number was 26.4 dwellings per lake, and the average
density was just under 6 dwellings per mile. This rates as a
“moderately-low” concentration when measured by the following
scale :
Dwellings per
Mile of Shoreline
1 to 4
5 to 10
11 to 20
21 to 30
31 to 50
51 and Over
Concentration or
Density Rating
Low
Moderately Low
Medium
Moderately High
High
Very High
On a given lake, the total number of dwellings (seasonal and
year around) is divided by the total miles of shoreline to determine
the dwelling density. On the resort lakes studied, this factor varied
from 0 to over 20/mile. For the 12 type-size categories of resort
lakes, the average dwelling density ranged from 1.18/mile to
9.55/mile, with the greatest variation among landlocked and
spring-type lakes. However, this value averaged approximately
6.0 per mile for each of the three major lake types, with spring
lakes (6.53) being slightly higher than the two other categories.
Class II landlocked lakes had the greatest dwelling density, 9.55
per mile. Class III spring lakes (with 8.14) and Class IV drainage
lakes (with 7.75) had the next highest densities in terms of dwell¬
ings per mile of shoreline.
As would be expected, the larger lakes have more dwellings
per lake, but somewhat fewer per mile of shoreline. However, the
differences in dwelling density were rather small, as the following
data indicate:
1969]
Monthey — Lake Size and Type
91
In general, lakes of the Oneida-Vilas region are relatively un¬
crowded in terms of dwelling density, especially when compared to
the majority of lakes in southern Wisconsin. Densities of 20 or
more dwellings per mile of lakeshore were evident in only a few
cases, mostly on smaller lakes. However, when a 100-acre lake has
a medium concentration of 11 or more cottages per mile of shore,
plus two or more cottage resorts of average size, we are beginning
to approach conditions that could easily lead to overcrowding in a
few years.
This study of dwelling density involved 3,564 private cottages
and homes on 135 resort lakes. This is almost one-third of all such
dwellings, which numbered approximately 12,000 in this two-county
area in 1964.
Lakes With Large Resorts
There were 25 resort establishments in the Oneida-Vilas area
which had 30 bedroom units or more. These enterprises were lo¬
cated on 22 resort lakes, which range in size from 110 acres
(smallest) to 3,870 acres. The lake type, size, and general charac¬
teristics of these 22 lakes are reported in Table 6.
In general, the larger resorts were located on the larger, better-
quality lakes. Although eight of the 22 lakes used were Class III
lakes (101 to 500 acres), almost two-thirds of them were Class I
or Class II lakes, and the average size of all 22 was over 1,000
acres. All but one of these lakes were of the drainage type, and
all but three were medium to high in fertility rating.
These lakes were also popular with cottagers and owners of pri¬
vate dwellings. Only one of the 22 lakes had no dwellings other
than resorts, and the other 21 averaged slightly over 7.0 dwellings
per mile of shoreline — or about 20% higher than the average
dwelling density for all resort lakes. However, this density was
more than doubled on four of the 22 resort lakes; these were lo¬
cated fairly close to a major city or village, which may account
for the higher densities of 14.5 to 17.4 per mile.
Table 5. Cottage and Home Concentrations on Resort Lakes (Vilas County Only)
92
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
cci
£ £
w.3.2
TS
£ <0
322
CO
£ £
<u.S .3
b£TD T>
^ <u <u
CO
UQ • CO
* ^
< : £ £
J li==3
ojfS’Bg
Qh
CO
U
1969]
Monthey — Lake Size and Type
93
Five of these 22 lakes appeared to be somewhat “crowded” al¬
ready — three of them almost certainly because of high dwelling
densities. (This will be verified by a field survey and study.) On
these five, the WA/R factor was less than 40 acres ; and the SL/R
factor ranged from 0.25 to 0.59 mile. These figures indicate a lim¬
ited water area and a rather low shoreline factor per resort, even
with a low dwelling density. But three of the five lakes are well
above average in this respect, having densities of 7.98, 11.13, and
14.52 per mile. These three lakes are definitely not the most
crowded lakes in the Oneida-Vilas area, but their example is note¬
worthy since each of them contains one of the area’s larger resorts
on its shores. Another lake in this group of five had two large re¬
sorts, but its dwelling density was only 3.48 per mile. Even so, one
of the two resorts was being subdivided into lakeshore lots, which
may be an indication of its operational problems and the low fertil¬
ity of the lake. It is believed, however, that problems of this nature
which result from over-use of lake resources can be foreseen or
better identified by using the space and shoreline factors previously
described, along with published information on lake type, depth,
fertility, etc.
Lake Depth Important Too
We have said very little about water depth, an important factor
in lake quality, because shallow lakes (under 10 feet of depth) are
often small and have been largely ignored by resort developers
and second-home builders. Such lakes have esthetic and wildlife
values, but are often limited as to fishery and boating or swimming
opportunities. Many of these shallow lakes, especially the land¬
locked variety, have a regular or periodic winterkill of fish; thus
they are often referred to as “winterkill lakes.” Wisconsin has
more than one thousand of this type.
Depth is usually a major factor in winterkill, since these lakes
generally have a maximum depth under 10 feet and are likely to
have a high percentage of their surface area under five feet deep.
However, shallow lakes of the drainage or spring type are fre¬
quently not subject to winterkill, whereas certain other lakes up
to 20 feet in maximum depth may have die-offs regularly.
Threinen’s reports indicate that there are approximately 546
lakes with a maximum depth of nine (9) feet or less in this two-
county area. The majority of these are small and unnamed, but at
least 16 of them are resort lakes. In fact, almost one-third of the
301 resort lakes have a maximum depth under 20 feet.
There are at least 118 known winterkill lakes in Vilas County
(with an average maximum depth of 6.1 feet), and probably as
Table 6. Lake Characteristics Associated with the 25 Largest Resort Establishments in the Oneida-Vilas
Area of Wisconsin
94 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
% b
Q a
O vO OO OO >a ' — OONKKOOO'Ni'N'^O^O^
rorO'— >r<is0^s00N':tl0N,^':^'' — O ^ ^ N O ■ —
^
ur\ *— tK'tKO'f^NvOK'tO'
oS jg
^3
OO^AOOOOf^’-|f^'^Nf,\
iaO^OONvOO'^O'^
MNiAO'-'KOO'i'O'A
fAOvOi'^OOO'AC'MJON
— — '0 — 0000
8*3
< b
iAOOOOKOO^NVA^K\0>AMiAO>A\0,tN'-iOO
NOx(y>^‘A(M(^>ANTtKOOKNKON(NiACOOO,tf,N
N'AOO00r^00Nv£)N'tf,\00,tiAN't00N>r.^ <
nNfS" — — — «
L M
— .S
£ 03
'2x'2xx'2'2'2x'2'2^x'2^'2'2'2'2>i'2'2
+
CO
QJ
8“
o5<
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOw-N^^tOI'x — O
OOroN>Air,O\000N""iA\DO,tNNvD'ti,O
KNVMA000',O'^r^t\0'^NO'£)ro00^iAKrt' — 1
OOvOOOfON^ — ' OO^OOw^i^irsi^^^c^c^cO — — < »— <
wr^N' — i > — i <— i > — i
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQjQ
u.
O
w
0.
>-
H
1969]
Monthey — Lake Size and Type
95
many more in Oneida County. A number of resort lakes are in this
group. This study revealed 46 resorts on 21 winterkill lakes, 30 in
Oneida County and 16 in Vilas County (almost 4% of all resorts).
All in all, there were 27 resorts on 16 lakes with a maximum depth
of nine feet or less, and a total of 333 resorts on lakes that were
under 20 feet in depth. Most of these shallow resort lakes, however,
were not subject to severe winterkill.
There are also some resort locations in this region that experi¬
ence a periodic “summerkiH” of fish, particularly in algae-laden
bays of fertile lakes. Both winterkill and summerkill conditions
tend to reduce recreational opportunities or esthetic values for re¬
sort guests, and lakes subject to them cannot be considered as good
sites for resort operation or development.
Summary and Discussion
There are 951 named lakes in the Oneida-Vilas area of North¬
eastern Wisconsin, of which 301 were used by resorts in 1964. Of
the 301 resort lakes, 162 were drainage type, 101 were landlocked,
and 38 were spring-type lakes. The distribution of resort enter¬
prises was 915 on “D” lakes, 189 on “L” type, and 102 on “S”
lakes. Almost three-fourths of all establishments were on “D”
lakes over 100 acres in size. About one-fourth of the resorts were
on Class I lakes (over 1,000 acres). Another fourth were on Class
II lakes (501 to 1,000 acres), and about two-fifths were on Class
III lakes (101 to 500 acres). The remainder (10.37%) were on
Class IV lakes (100 acres or less).
Well over half of all resorts (62.2%) had a WA/R ratio (water
acreage per resort) of 80 acres or less. One-fourth of them had
under 40 acres of water. About one-fifth had a SL/R factor of 0.5
mile or less, under i/2 mile of shoreline per resort. Over one-fifth
of all resorts were on 115 lakes of low or very low fertility; 78.7%
were on 186 lakes of medium or high fertility. Almost 5% of the
resorts were on 42 landlocked lakes of very low fertility, and well
over 3% were on winterkill lakes.
On these resort lakes, dwelling densities averaged almost six
buildings per mile of shore. Over 75% of all resorts and almost
75% of all dwellings were on drainage-type lakes.
A study of the lake characteristics associated with the 25 largest
resort establishments in the region was included. This group of 22
resort lakes averaged 1,024 acres each, and all but one were
drainage-type lakes. Only three of these lakes had a low fertility
rating, 14 were medium and 5 were highly fertile. Five of these
lakes showed signs of being overdeveloped, with low WA/R and
96 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
SL/R values coupled with above-average concentrations of dwell¬
ings. Dwelling densities for these lakes averaged slightly over
seven buildings per mile, with a range of 1.61 to 17.44 per mile,
compared to an average of 5.92 for all resort lakes. In general, the
larger resorts, all of which had 30 bedroom units or more, were
associated with the larger, more fertile, and better-quality lakes.
As a result of this study and related field observations, the fol¬
lowing comments and suggestions are offered:
1. Resorts should not be located on any lake under 50 acres in
size. In fact, it is felt that no motors or powerboats should
be operated on these small bodies of water, particularly land¬
locked lakes. Yet 4.6% of all resorts in the Oneida-Vilas area
were situated on lakes in this group.
2. It is questionable whether any resorts should be situated on
landlocked lakes smaller than 100 acres, as they are usually
infertile and easily damaged. Motors rated over 10 h.p. should
not be used on them. This region had a total of 68 resorts on
such lakes.
3. A minimum of 40 acres of surface water per resort is recom¬
mended on lakes where dwelling densities are low or moder¬
ately low (10 or fewer dwellings per mile). With medium
dwelling densities (11 to 20 per mile), the WA/R factor
should be at least 50 acres. When the density is greater, 21
or more dwellings per mile, this “space” value could be 60 or
higher. One-fourth of all lakes in the Oneida-Vilas area had
WA/R values under 40, and 87 resorts on 29 lakes showed
WA/R values of 20 or less.
4. The SL/R factor, miles of shoreline per resort, ought to be
0.50 or more, since most of the water-based recreation is
related to the use of shoreline. Yet 19% of all resorts in this
area had SL/R values of 0.50 or less, and 33 resorts on five
lakes had SL/R values under 0.25 mile.
5. Resort lakes should preferably have a fertility rating of
“medium” or higher. Those with a low — and especially a very
low — fertility rating just cannot withstand the present day
fishing pressures and produce game fish of satisfactory quan¬
tity or quality. Yet, 54 resorts (4.5% of all resorts in this
region) were located on lakes of very-low fertility.
6. The dwelling density on a given lake should be under 20 per
mile, if that lake is to provide the kind of seclusion and recre¬
ational opportunity that most resort guests are seeking when
they come to Northern Wisconsin. Only a few resort lakes in
the Oneida-Vilas area are now approaching this figure. How¬
ever, with the rapid increase in “second homes” and private
1969]
Monthey — Lake Size and Type
97
lake cottages, many lakes will probably become rather heavily
developed and thus lose their northwoods atmosphere, even
with land-use zoning and other building regulations.
7. Certain kinds of lakes should probably be avoided, by new
resort enterprises at least, aside from the basic size, type, and
fertility characteristics they possess. These lakes might
include :
a. Very shallow lakes where the maximum depth is under
10 feet, regardless of lake type.
b. Winterkill lakes with a known history of regular or
periodic fish die-offs during winter months because of
oxygen deficiencies.
c. Summerkill lakes with low-oxygen areas at certain
periods in the summer season.
d. Highly-acid, bog-type lakes with brownish water and
low fertility. Such lakes usually have a high percentage
of soft, marshy shoreline — and thus may never be
crowded — but their fishery is usually too limited and the
water color and quality is not desirable for recreationists.
e. High-algae lakes that produce greenish or brownish
“blooms” and scum quite regularly each summer. Such
lakes are usually highly fertile, and hence may be good
for fishing, but the odors and esthetic characteristics are
objectionable to swimmers, boaters and vacationers in
general.
f. Lakes seriously affected by pollutants of any type.
8. It is urged that a comprehensive lake use and conservation
plan be prepared as soon as practicable for each and every
inland lake of 500 acres or more in Wisconsin. Ultimately,
perhaps by 1975, a detailed plan could be developed for each
of our 1,200 lakes and flowages that are over 100 acres in
size. These inventory studies, which include the findings and
recommendations of qualified lake specialists, would provide
the following information :
1. Geographic description
2. Physical features (of lake and basin)
3. Water quality and chemical data
4. Aquatic resources
5. Shoreline and related resources
6. Present land use and development
7. Current and future problems
8. Protection measures needed
9. Lake use possibilities and future development
98 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
This report, which involved over 25% of Wisconsin’s resorts and
inland lakes, suggests that we need to take a more careful look at
our lake resources and how they are used. These resources are more
valuable with each passing year, but they also are quite vulnerable
to misuse and are highly perishable. In some cases, it appears that
lakes too small, too infertile, and too shallow are being used. A few
of the better lakes seem to be overcrowded already, and water
pollution is in evidence. Perhaps the time has arrived for a re-
evaluation and careful study of resort patterns and the resort lakes
being used or developed. Such an effort would help to insure the
protection of these most valuable resources and will benefit Wis¬
consin’s recreation industry as well.
References
Andrews, L. M. and C. W. Threinen. (1966) Surface Water Resources of
Oneida County. Conservation Division, Wis. Dept. Natural Resources,
Madison. 284 pp.
Birge, E. A. and Chauncey Juday. (1914) The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin.
Bulletin No. 27, Series 9, Wis. Geol. and Nat. History Survey, Madison.
137 pp.
Black, J. J., L. M. Andrews, and C. W. Threinen. (1963) Surface Water
Resources of Vilas County. Conservation Division, Wis. Dept. Natural
Resources, Madison. 318 pp.
Fine, I. V. (1966) Wisconsin and The Vacationer. Wisconsin Department Re¬
source Development, Madison, 25 pp.
Fine, I. V. and R. E. Tuttle. (1962) Wisconsin Vacation-Recreation Papers ,
Vol. II, No. 3. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 24 pp.
Fine, I. V. and E. E. Werner. (1960) The Wisconsin Vacationer, Wisconsin
Vacation- Recreation Papers, Vol. I, No. 11. University of Wisconsin,
Madison, 15 pp.
Humphrys, C. R. and J. 0. Veatch. Classifications for Michigan's Inland
Lakes. Water Bulletin No. 8, Dept. Resource Development, Michigan State
University, East Lansing. 18 pp.
Monthey, L. G. (1963) Classification and Inventory of Tourist-Lodging Busi¬
nesses in Wisconsin. Recreation & Touristry Notes RT-01, University of
Wisconsin. 10 pp.
Monthey, L. G. (1964) The Resort Industry of Wisconsin. Wis. Academy
Science, Arts & Letters Transactions, Vol. 53 — Part A, pp. 79-94.
Threinen, C. W. (1962) Some Spatial Aspects of Aquatic Recreation. Fish
Management Misc. Report No. 6, Conservation Division, Wis. Dept. Natu¬
ral Resources, Madison, 11 pp.
Wisconsin Lakes. (1968) WCD Publication 218-68, Conservation Division,
Wis. Dept. Natural Resources, Madison. 36 pp.
WCD Lake Use Report No. FX-31. Booth Lake, Walworth County, Wisconsin.
(1968) Conservation Division, Wis. Dept. Natural Resources, Madison.
16 pp.
GLACIAL GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN KETTLE MORAINE
STATE FOREST, WISCONSIN
Robert F . Black
Abstract
More than a century ago typical stagnant-ice features were
recognized and correctly interpreted in the world-famous Kettle
Interlobate Moraine in eastern Wisconsin. The common border of
the Green Bay and Lake Michigan lobes of late-Woodfordian age.
(Cary) is a drainageway established on and partly let down from
the surface junction of the two lobes. In the Northern Kettle
Moraine State Forest that drainageway, now 0.5 to 3.0 miles wide,
is a marked depression that is floored largely with stratified
elastics. Rising abruptly from the center of the depression are
numerous striking moulin kames and from the flanks numerous
crevasse fills, eskers, kames, and other stagnant-ice features that
constitute “end” moraines of the two lobes. The “end” moraines
are 0.5 to 3.0 miles wide and merge abruptly up ice into ground
moraine with drumlins and scattered stagnant-ice features. Abrupt
bends in the interlobate moraine seem related to bedrock topog¬
raphy and local direction of ice movement of the opposing lobes.
Many representative stagnant-ice features are preserved in the
Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest, but most of the moulin
kames are outside it. These kames are the best examples to be
found for hundreds of miles around and are among the best to be
found in the world. However, they are being destroyed rapidly
because of the demand for construction aggregates.
Introduction
Since its inception in 1937, the Northern Kettle Moraine State
Forest and environs has been one of the more popular public
recreational areas in Wisconsin. The center of the Forest is only
45 miles north of Milwaukee (Fig. 1) and serves especially the
heavily populated area from Chicago north to Green Bay. The
Forest contains many excellently developed and representative
glacial features which are internationally famous, but others even
more important or striking lie just outside it. The kettles — depres-
99
100 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 57
ssliicot
Ffgrscl^
Hlgii
r Men as ha/
■ — HM)
Vannli
’’’Two''”'
divers
afsmss " Yl WEitei aw'
■
Siaskferislge Ik g
llliiiil
H LAKE
Oshkosh :
WINNEBAGO.
St, tai mz
heveiaftti:
"MTcrove /
MtlefSViSfe
? ?eeb > >
isychs^ag
Stenbeiii;
tales
Shehoygon
^eoar Grov^
4/Tbefg$|j
®ap|||
§1 f*
iestufs;
f Port
[iSiCkSOfi
fSoc.Hi«
Brown:
/-Dee r
/Bayside
— RtwHilb ^.'1
—Fox Point
— Glendale,,-^
Whitefish Bay
I Shodi^ood'M
i~4¥a«watosa ,
Elm Grova-* -
— 'Milwaukee
itlhifel': M-lwaukee
on%s;'co?e n
Figure 1. Portion of the official Wisconsin State Highway Map, centering on
the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest.
1969] Black — Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 101
sions from the melting out of buried ice blocks — are the first in
the world to have been described adequately and interpreted cor¬
rectly (Whittlesey, 1860 and 1866; Chamberlin, 1877 and 1878;
White, 1964). Alden (1918, p. 308) cited the area east and north¬
east of Kewaskum (Fig. 2) as . . one of the finest examples of
terminal-moraine topography in the United States.” Many thou¬
sands of tourists and students each year who visit the Forest do so
in part because of their interest in the various glacial features,
of which many may be seen along the Kettle Moraine Drive (Fig.
2). It seems timely to outline for them the glacial history of the
area as we now know it, because the earlier literature is largely
out of print and not focused specifically on the Forest area.
The Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest includes some 24,000
acres in a very irregular area about 22 miles long and 1 to 4 miles
wide (Fig. 1). It extends from the vicinity of Glenbeulah in She¬
boygan County southwesterly and then southerly to the vicinity
of County Highway H, about three miles southeast of Kewaskum,
in Washington County. The Forest encompasses much of the area
along the common boundary between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan
Counties. In and adjacent to the Forest a variety of topographic
features rise abruptly some tens of feet to 200 or 300 ft. above
prominent lowlands. The precipitous wooded slopes interspersed
between typical well-kept Wisconsin farmlands (Fig. 3) and
abundant lakes (Fig. 4) makes the area especially photogenic. The
numerous lakes and the wooded hills and trails make for an ideal
vacation land close to major centers of population.
The Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest lies athwart the inter¬
nationally famous Kettle Interlobate Moraine. The moraine, as the
name implies, was built between two ice lobes — the Green Bay lobe
on the west and the Lake Michigan lobe on the east (Alden, 1918,
p. 308-309) — during Woodfordian time, between 13,000 and 22,000
radiocarbon years ago (Black and Rubin, 1967-68). This is the
“. . . master topographic feature of the whole series of glacial
deposits in eastern Wisconsin” (Alden, 1918, p. 235) which first
attracted the attention of early explorers. The moraine consists of
silt and sand and coarse, angular to well-rounded rock fragments
of the local light grey Niagaran dolomite particularly, but also of
rocks from northern Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, and Canada. The
composition and texture of the drift comprising the moraine varies
markedly from place to place within the area. The drift was
dumped between the two lobes of ice as they butted against each
other and was also deposited under and on top of the dirty ice
along that junction during the final stagnation and destruction of
the ice. Hence, some debris was deposited directly from the ice,
102 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Figure 2. Part of the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest and environs
showing the Kettle Moraine Drive and its relation to the major glacial fea¬
tures. Local direction of ice movement is shown by arrows. Base from por¬
tions of Campbellsport and Kewaskum topographic quadrangles of the U. S.
Geological Survey. Mapping was done largely from air photos, with local
field checks.
1969] Black — Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 103
Figure 3. Typical farm and wooded hills in the Kettle Interlobate Moraine,
1.5 miles south of Glenbeulah. Note light-colored, rounded cobbles of Niagaran
dolomite.
but other material was displaced and reworked by gravity move¬
ments and running water. Glacial-fluvial and glacial-lacustrine de¬
posits are especially common. The buried blocks of glacial ice
subsequently melted out, pitting the surface with thousands of
irregular kettles from a few feet (Fig. 5) to several miles in
extent.
A privately owned area within the northcentral part of the For¬
est, northeast of Dundee (Fig. 2), contains one of the most strik¬
ing groups of moulin kames (conical hills of drift deposited under
the ice) to be found anywhere in the world (Figs. 6 and 7).
[Moulin (moo'lan') Fr., is defined by Webster’s dictionary as “A
nearly vertical shaft in a glacier into which a stream of water
pours.” The debris carried in by the water is piled up at the base
of the moulin, building the moulin kame.] The kames should be
protected immediately from further exploitation as they are the
best examples to be found for hundreds of miles around. Several
104 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Figure 4. Butler Lake, a kettle lake, as seen from the top of the Parnell
esker, 2.5 miles northeast of Dundee.
less well developed or less “showy’’ moulin kames in another group
east and north of Kewaskum have already been destroyed.
Relatively few studies have been made of the glacial phenomena
in the Kettle Interlobate Moraine or of their detailed history. Much
of what we know was learned 50 to more than 100 years ago when
Wisconsin’s outstanding glacial geologists of that heyday were
active in their reconnaissance studies of the State. Far more in¬
formation yet awaits discovery through detailed systematic inves¬
tigations than we have learned in our various rapid reconnaissance
observations. This means that even the interested layman may un¬
earth critical discoveries which can perhaps provide important
clues to the geologic history of the area. The serious student will
use the following U. S. Geological Survey topographic maps in his
1969] Black — Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 105
Figure 5. Knob and swale topography, 1.5 miles southwest of Dundee. Some
rounded knobs are kames and others are till. The elongate ridges are cre¬
vasse fills; the ponds occupy kettles.
visit to the area : Kiel, Kewaskum, West Bend, Campbellsport, and
Sheboygan Falls. The place names used herein refer to those maps,
but they cannot be reproduced here.
The Kettle Interlobate Moraine was last mapped by Alden
(1918) as part of a reconnaissance in southeastern Wisconsin and
has hardly been touched since. Much study is needed to modify
his findings significantly or to understand fully the history of
individual forms or even of many large units. Different interpreta¬
tions are possible within the framework of existing data. However,
it seems clear that several local fluctuations of the two lobes were
involved during Woodfordian time. The junction thus is a zone of
partial mixing or interstratifying of material from each lobe. Out-
wash gravel and other glacial deposits were reworked and redepos¬
ited, commonly on pre-existing ice, as the junction shifted back
and forth.
The area is so large and diverse that it is not feasible nor neces¬
sary for purposes of this report to describe each feature. Rather,
106 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Figure 6. Moulin kames from left to right — McMullen Hill, Conner Hill, and
Johnson Hill — northeast of Dundee.
part of the area is subdivided largely by air photo interpretation
into mappable units or groups of similar geomorphic features
(Fig. 2). These are not pure units because of the almost infinite
detail available within any relatively small segment. Nonetheless,
they serve to emphasize such features as end moraines and
stagnate-ice or “dead-ice” moraine with knob and swale topogra¬
phy (Fig. 5), moulin kames (Figs. 6-8), outwash, eskers (Figs. 9
and 10), crevasse fills (Fig. 5), kettles (Figs. 4 and 5), and the
like. These and other features are described more fully later.
Because of its variety and superb development of “text-book”
features, its proximity to centers of population and heavy recrea¬
tional use, and its historical importance in the development of con¬
cepts in glacial geology, this area is one of the most important in
1969] Black — Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 107
Figure 7. Cut in Garriety Hill, a moulin kame northeast of Dundee.
the State. Further expansion of the Forest, in spite of high land
values, is exceedingly desirable and cannot wait long before many
features will be irrevocably lost.
General Description of the Moraine
In 1876 T. C. Chamberlin orally presented a paper to the Wis¬
consin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters on the extent and
significance of the Wisconsin Kettle Moraine (Chamberlin, 1878).
In those days when great geologists were formulating principles
of the concepts of glacial geology, Chamberlin was a true giant
among them (Fenton and Fenton, 1952). Although today some of
his words and phrases are no longer popular and editors would
cut and prune his remarks in order to save space, Chamberlin’s
description of the moraine bears the test of time so well that this
writer feels compelled to quote him directly. In describing the sur¬
face form of the moraine he wrote : “The superficial aspect of the
formation is that of an irregular, intricate series of drift ridges
and hills of rapidly, but often very gracefully, undulating contour,
108 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Figure 8. A small moulin kame, 0.3 miles southeast of Dundee.
consisting of rounded domes, conical peaks, winding and, occasion¬
ally, geniculated ridges, short, sharp spurs, mounds, knolls and
hummocks, promiscuously arranged, accompanied by corresponding
depressions, that are even more striking in character. These de¬
pressions, which, to casual observation, constitute the most peculiar
and obtrusive feature of the range, and give rise to its descriptive
name in Wisconsin, are variously known as 'Potash kettles/ Tot
holes/ Tots and kettles/ 'Sinks/ etc. Those that have most
arrested popular attention are circular in outline and symmetrical
in form, not unlike the homely utensils that have given them
names. But it is important to observe that the most of these de¬
pressions are not so symmetrical as to merit the application of
these terms. Occasionally, they approach the form of a funnel, or
1969] Black — Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 109
Figure 9. Part of the Parnell esker and Butler Lake, as seen from the air,
at a geologic marker.
of an inverted bell, while the shallow ones are mere saucer-like
hollows, and others are rudely oval, oblong, elliptical, or are ex¬
tended into trough-like, or even winding hollows, while irregular
departures from all these forms are most common. In depth, these
cavities vary from the merest indentation of the surface to bowls
sixty feet or more deep, while in the irregular forms the descent
is not unfrequently one hundred feet or more. The slope of the
sides varies greatly, but in the deeper ones it very often reaches
an angle of 30° or 35° with the horizon, or, in other words, is
about as steep as the material will lie. In horizontal dimensions,
those that are popularly recognized as ‘kettles’ seldom exceed 500
feet in diameter, but, structurally considered, they cannot be lim¬
ited to this dimension, and it may be difficult to assign definite lim-
110 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Figure 10. Part of the Parnell esker, near Butler Lake, as seen on the
ground.
its to them. One of the pecularities of the range is the large number
of small lakes, without inlet or outlet, that dot its course. Some of
these are mere ponds of water at the bottom of typical kettles, and
from this, they graduate by imperceptible degrees into lakes of two
or three miles in diameter. These are simply kettles on a large
scale.
“Next to the depressions themselves, the most striking feature
of this singular formation is their counterpart in the form of
rounded hills and hillocks, that may, not inaptly, be styled inverted
kettles. These give to the surface an irregularity sometimes fit¬
tingly designated 'knobby drift/ The trough-like, winding hollows
have their correlatives in sharp serpentine ridges. The combined
1969] Black — Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 111
effect of these elevations and depressions is to give to the surface
an entirely distinctive character.
“These features may be regarded, however, as subordinate ele¬
ments of the main range, since these hillocks and hollows are vari¬
ously distributed over its surface. They are usually most abundant
upon the more abrupt face of the range, but occur, in greater or
less degree, on all sides of it, and in various situations. Not un-
frequently, they occur distributed over comparatively level areas,
adjacent to the range. Sometimes the kettles prevail in the valleys,
the adjacent ridges being free from them; and, again, the reverse
is the case, or they are promiscuously distributed over both. These
facts are important in considering the question of their origin.
“The range itself is of composite character, being made up of a
series of rudely parallel ridges, that unite, interlock, separate, ap¬
pear and disappear in an eccentric and intricate manner. Several
of these subordinate ridges are often clearly discernible. It is usu¬
ally between the component ridges, and occupying depressions, evi¬
dently caused by their divergence, that most of the larger lakes
associated with the range are found. Ridges, running across the
trend of the range, as well as traverse spurs extending out from it,
are not uncommon features. The component ridges are themselves
exceedingly irregular in height and breadth, being often much
broken and interrupted. The united effect of all the foregoing fea¬
tures is to give to the formation a strikingly irregular and compli¬
cated aspect.” (Chamberlin, 1878, p. 202-204).
Chamberlin in actuality was referring to the surficial features
of the end moraine of what is now called the late Woodfordian or
Cary ice as it was deployed through the entire State of Wisconsin
and not just the interlobate moraine in what is now the Northern
Kettle Moraine State Forest. Nonetheless, his description can
scarcely be improved upon for the area.
In speaking of the nature of the material, Chamberlin (1878,
p. 205) emphasized that “. . . all the four forms of material com¬
mon to drift, vis. : clay, sand, gravel, and boulders, enter largely
into the constitution of the Kettle range, in its typical development.
Of these, gravel is the most conspicuous element, exposed to obser¬
vation .” Chamberlin (1878, p. 210) further recognized that most
bedrock units in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan were represented
in any one section of the drift, including native copper from Ke¬
weenaw Peninsula, but that the bulk of the drift was derived
locally. Thus, most gravel is composed of the local white to very
light gray Niagara dolomite, well rounded by water work. How¬
ever, we now know that more than one local advance of ice was
involved and that reworking of outwash gravel by later advances
112 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
was commonplace. Hence, some constructional forms contain non-
stratified gravel instead of till. Deposition of the reworked gravel
directly from ice without water working took place.
Other details of the moraine in Wisconsin were presented early,
and it was compared with its counterpart in other states (Cham¬
berlin, 1877 and 1883). In the latter paper, the term “interlobate
moraine” was first introduced (Chamberlin, 1883, p. 276) and
properly diagnosed as to origin in contrast to normal medial
moraines. A reconstruction of the ice flow directions (Fig. 11)
demonstrates conclusively the lobate character of the ice and the
opposing movements of the junction of the two lobes. This gross
story has changed little in the intervening 90 plus years.
Chamberlin’s important role in the development of the concepts
of glacial geology would not have been possible were it not for the
clear observations and lucid writings of his predecessors. In con¬
nection with the Kettle Interlobate Moraine, Charles Whittlesey is
singled out. It was he (White, 1964) who in the mid-1800’s first
recognized the “kettle moraine” and correctly interpreted the ori¬
gin of the kettle holes to buried glacial ice rather than to drifting
icebergs as was in vogue at the time. This was truly astonishing
insight, and is but one of the major accomplishments of that amaz¬
ing man.
The Greenbush Kettle, two miles south of Greenbush on the
Kettle Moraine Drive, has been favored with a geological marker
sign for years. It is one of the most symmetrical deep circular
depressions visible from the road. Many others are more irregular
(Figs. 4 and 5) but just as typical whether with or without water
in them.
In brief, the Northern Kettle Interlobate Moraine is conspicuous
because of its more abrupt irregularity and sharpness of feature
compared with the undulating ground moraine with smoothly con¬
toured drumlins and till-covered bedrock rises on both sides. The
light grey gravel of the Interlobate Moraine also contrasts mark¬
edly with the reddish brown and light yellowish brown sandy till
of the ground moraine. Neither its maximum elevation (1,311 feet
at Parnell tower, 5.8 miles northeast of Dundee) nor its general
relief of 100 to 200 feet are significantly different from the till
plains and drumlins adjoining. However, it is characterized by
major lowlands at 950 to 1,000 feet, such as that occupied by Long
Lake and the East Branch of the Milwaukee River. The flatness of
such lowlands and the abrupt rise of drift deposits flanking them
also emphasize the glacial features. Farming of the lowlands con¬
trasts with the wooded drift hills to spice the view.
1969] Black — -Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 113
Drainage
The Kettle Interlobate Moraine lacks an integrated drainage
network. Many closed depressions drain through the coarse gravel
below and do not need surface streams. Others intersect the ground
water table and have perennial ponds or lakes. Elkhart Lake, a
large kettle north of the Forest, with high land around it, drains
westward to Sheboygan Marsh and the Sheboygan River. Crystal
Lake, next south of Elkhart Lake, has no outlet. However, Mullet
River (see U. S. Geol. Survey topographic map — Kiel) flows by
only 1,4 mile to the southwest in its arc around the north end of
the Kettle Moraine Forest. It continues southeasterly and eastward
in a tortuous route to join the Sheboygan River at Sheboygan Falls.
Interestingly, those two rivers have adjoining headwaters, and
their uppermost courses are parallel yet flowing in opposite direc¬
tions about one mile apart northwest of Long Lake. Both rivers
have very intricate courses to Lake Michigan, probably in part
controlled by fracture patterns in the stagnating ice which per¬
mitted the supraglacial streams to superpose themselves on the
underlying drift and bedrock.
The East Branch of the Milwaukee River, flowing southward into
the Milwaukee River southeast of Kewaskum, drains most of the
Northern Kettle Moraine Forest proper. Its course follows the
trend of the moraine and generally lies almost precisely on the re¬
constructed boundary between the two lobes of ice. (This is some¬
what west of the boundary indicated by Alden, 1918, pi. 3). Prob¬
ably its origin dates back to the initial abutment of the ice of the
two lobes where it developed in the axial depression along that
junction. It has remained apparently in that position since.
In the wastage of the Lake Michigan lobe, however, additional
channels were formed on the stagnating ice. Mink Creek lies in a
channel that starts about two miles northeast of Parnell and flows
generally southerly past Beechwood in a course with abrupt right-
angle bends. These seem also to reflect the fracture pattern of the
ice as the initial stream was let down on the surface below. Many
other examples exist in the area, but no detailed three-dimensional
field study of any of them has been attempted. They need to be
integrated into the history of the Moraine.
Origin of the Glacial Features
Figure 2 shows the distribution of some glacial features that
characterize certain parts of the area. For convenience in the classi¬
fication, each unit is named for the most abundant or striking fea¬
ture or features it contains. These units are; Ground moraine (and
114 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
drumlins), drift, end moraine (or stagnate-ice or dead-ice mo¬
raine) , and special features such as moulin kames and eskers.
Ground moraine with drumlins and till-covered bedrock rises com¬
prises most of the area up ice from the front of both lobes. Small
stagnate-ice features in that unit are common. The orientation of
drumlins, fluted forms, and striae recorded by earlier workers and
summarized by Alden (1918, pi. 4) show clearly the regional move¬
ments of the ice of both lobes. Arrows on Figure 2 show local
trends of the ice recorded by drumlinoid or fluted forms. Even
though the general deployment of ice shown in Figure 11 and by
Alden (1918, pi. 4) is not expected to be changed in gross form,
detailed field work is needed to show ice movement in relation to
individual segments of the moraine. Bedrock striae formed in early
advances during Woodfordian time are not everywhere parallel
with the alignment of molded forms — the last to be produced.
In the area of Figure 2, stratified drift, including outwash,
glacial-lacustrine deposits and other water-formed features, are
almost as prevalent as end moraine or stagnate-ice or dead-ice
moraine formed more directly by the ice. The washed surfaces and
deposits reflect in part the cleaner ice of the two lobes juxtaposed
and in part the concentration of runoff along the junction of the
two lobes. The normal surface gradient up ice in each lobe would
have led water to the junction of the lobes, from which its escape
could only have been to the south along that junction. Such water-
worked stratified drift varies in size from the coarse, bouldery ma¬
terial of glacial streams to the sand, silt, and clay in ponded
water. Drift obviously has formed in places on buried ice blocks
to leave pitted outwash; elsewhere it seems that entire portions of
stream beds or lake sediments have been dropped down as con¬
tinuous ice below melted out. Most parts of the well-washed drift,
however, were formed adjacent to ice, but not on it. Original
stratification is preserved.
Even during deglaciation the widening and northward migrating
gap between the two lobes effectively concentrated glacial-fluvial
activity between the lobes. Thus, it was the locus for many striking
forms. Eskers (Figs. 9 and 10) and moulin kames (Figs. 6 to 8)
formed under the stagnate ice by subglacial streams fed through
moulins or openings through the ice sheet. Their subglacial wa¬
ters also flowed toward that same gap. Crevasse fills (Fig. 5),
topographically commonly like short eskers, were formed in cre¬
vasses open to the sky in part by supraglacial streams and in part
by mass movement of surface debris into the crevasses.
Small moulin kames are scattered throughout much of the area,
but none is better developed or displayed than those in the group
1969] Black — Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 115
Figure 11. Diagram showing glacial movements in eastern Wisconsin by T. C.
Chamberlin, 1876.
116 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
northeast of Dundee (Fig. 2). There, in the widest part of the
washed drift area, are some of the best moulin kames to be found
anywhere in the world. Beautifully conical hills, such as McMullen
(Fig. 6), Garriety (Fig. 7), Conner, and Johnson, rise at the
angle of repose of the material more than 100 feet above the flat,
washed, drift plain surrounding them. Numerous smaller kames,
only a few tens of feet high, are commonly less conspicuous among
the drift ridges and are too small to show on Figure 2. Many are
just as symmetrical as the larger ones in the lowlands. Other more
irregular moulin kames, such as Dundee Mountain (which has a
geologic marker), are also present and grade into crevasse fills or
into ice-walled lake deposits (openings so enlarged that lakes
formed within the glacial ice walls). Such forms originated where
melt waters on the ice dropped through moulins or crevasses,
dumping their detritus at the base. Openings ranged from nearly
vertical, circular pipes (moulins) to very elongate fractures and
rounded to irregular large openings; commonly, water and debris
were fed into the fractures at more than one place along the sides
and ends of crevasses, building irregular forms below the ice.
Many large fractures were fed not just with running water, but
also with mud flows, debris slides, and the like. Ponded water in
some also trapped deltas and lacustrine sediments. Thus, the mate¬
rial in such features as moulin kames and crevasse fills ranges
from normal till, through the available sizes of water- transported
material, to ponded sediments. The cross section of Garriety Hill
is typical (Fig. 7). It shows rounded to angular gravel, sand, silt
and clay deposited as unsorted till in irregular masses, and as
sorted sediment in alluvial flows, pond sediments, and the like.
Water that formed the northern group of moulin kames drained
westward under the ice to join the drainageway through Long
Lake Valley. Their channels are readily discernible on aerial
photographs.
End moraine and stagnate-ice or dead-ice moraine are not dif¬
ferentiated on Figure 2 because of their general similarity of ori¬
gin. The terms are used loosely here for lack of detailed under¬
standing of their genesis. They might have been subdivided for
descriptive purposes into those areas characterized by elongate
ridges and valleys and those with circular knobs and swales. In the
interlobate area all are believed to result from ice stagnation and
the melting out of blocks of ice of the appropriate geometry to fit
the surface depressions. Such geometry is predicated on the move¬
ment of the ice at the time the ice and debris were mixed, on its
fractures, or on the manner of burial by overriding ice, outwash,
debris slides, etc.
1969] Black — Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 117
The detailed deployment of the moraines in the Northern Kettle
Interlobate Moraine is of considerable interest in the reconstruc¬
tion of events as related to the flow of ice. From the vicinity of
Kewaskum north to Dundee and to Long Lake, the trend of the
Interlobate Moraine is almost north. From Long Lake the Inter¬
lobate Moraine turns fairly abruptly to the northeast to Elkhart
Lake where it again swings to the north. At least part of the ex¬
planation of the bends may lie in the topography of the bedrock
which unquestionably has exercised some control on the deploy¬
ment of the ice. The deep pre-glacial valley at Sheboygan Marsh
and Elkhart Lake must have provided relatively easy access for
the ice of the Green Bay Lobe, leading it more rapidly and farther
to the southeast than was possible over the bedrock hills south of
that Marsh. The hills restrained the ice of the Green Bay Lobe,
allowing the ice of the Lake Michigan lobe to push farther west¬
ward. Such kinks and bends in the terminal area are commonplace
along the entire late Woodfordian front in Wisconsin. They are of
considerable importance in understanding the development of such
features as are found in the Northern Kettle Interlobate Moraine,
but space does not permit their reconstruction here. Much field¬
work is called for to unravel the details of their history.
Small moulin kames in the stagnate-ice moraines are probably
contemporaneous with the related features, immediately preceding
kettle formation. However, the precise timing of the formation of
the main group of moulin kames versus the main moraines to west
and east is conjectural.
The writer hypothesizes that shortly after the two lobes butted
together, the thickness of ice gradually increased from 100 to 300
feet at the start to a thickness perhaps of several thousand feet
when the ice extended southward into the center of Illinois. Abla¬
tion (loss of ice) particularly by melting aided by a surface stream
at the junction of the two lobes would be countered by ice move¬
ment from the base of the ice sheet diagonally upward to that
junction at the surface. Upward flow at the terminal zones of gla¬
ciers is commonly at angles of 10 to 45 degrees, bringing debris
from the base toward the surface to replace ice lost in the ablation
zone and to maintain the surface profile of the glacier. When ice
was at its maximum thickness at the junction, the basal debris
may not have reached the surface. As the ice thinned during the
waning of the late Woodfordian glaciation, it would intersect the
surface. As thinning continued to perhaps 200 or 300 feet of ice,
fractures penetrated in favorable places, aided by meltwaters, to
the bottom of the glacier. In them the moulin kames, eskers, and
crevasse fills began to grow. However, at that time the thicker ice
118 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
away from the junction was continuing to move forward even
though the terminal zone was stagnate. The shear planes and flow
layers that brought debris up from the base presumably angled
obliquely downward and away from the actual surface junction of
the two lobes to the general location of the main moraines on both
sides of the drift area. At the locus of the moraines, basal ice and
debris were interstratified by flow of ice while the basal ice closer
to the junction was stagnated and remained relatively free of
debris. Thus, the two main moraines, one for each lobe, are in a
sense end moraines even though they do not mark the terminal
position of the ice nor were they deposited at the outer edge of the
ice. They represent the outer edge of the active ice for each lobe
and were separated by a zone of stagnate ice shaped like a very
broad, low wedge with its apex upward, at least during the waning
of the glaciation. It seems relatively clear that stagnation took
place over much of the area because so many small ice-contact,
washed-drift features are superposed on all other forms.
Conclusions
Many details of the reconstruction of the events that led to the
surface features in the Northern Kettle Interlobate Moraine are
imperfectly known. New topographic maps and aerial photographs
unavailable to Alden (1918) and earlier workers now permit an
analysis of surface forms to be made in far more detail than was
possible for him in his reconnaissance study. Surface analysis,
however, is only part of the story. Serious mistakes have been made
in the past in the interpretation of glacial forms by morphology
alone. Sub-surface exploration must be carried on concurrently
before a firm foundation can be laid that would permit us to change
significantly the gross picture of the Kettle Interlobate Moraine as
commonly accepted. Such detailed study has had little economic
incentive, but should be undertaken before gravel pit operations
remove or modify evidence that might be the key to part of the
story. A beautiful story can be constructed on evidence available,
but an even larger part of the story is still unsupported in fact.
The prospects in future study are especially intriguing.
Thus, in brief, the heavy use of the area for recreation and con¬
sequent loss of land for cottages and commercial development re¬
quire our immediate action to preserve many glacial forms, like
kames, eskers, and stagnate-ice features. Demands for gravel are
increasing and many glacial forms are being removed en toto. We
must protect not only the many striking forms but also the “nor¬
mal” forms now before they are exploited. Many shown in the
mapped area of Figure 2 are outside of the Forest proper. It is
1969] Black — Glacial Geology of Northern Kettle Moraine 119
hoped that some of the better ones ultimately will find their place
in the public trust. If not, the gravelly deposits will disappear as
have some moulin kames and crevasse fills immediately east of
Kewaskum, on the north side of Highway 28.
References Cited
\lden, William C., 1918, The Quaternary geology of southeastern Wisconsin:
U. S. GeoL Survey Prof. Paper 105, 356 p.
Black, Robert F., and Rubin, Meyer, 1967-68, Radiocarbon dates of Wis¬
consin: Wis. Acad. Sci., Arts, and Letters, v. 56, p. 99-115.
Chamberlin, T. C., 1877, Quaternary Formations — the drift: Chap. V, p. 199-
246, in Geology of Wisconsin, v. 2, 768 p. Commissioners of Public
Printing.
Chamberlin, T. C., 1878, On the extent and significance of the Wisconsin
kettle moraine: Wis. Acad. Sci., Arts, and Letters, Trans., v. 4, p. 201-
234.
Chamberlin, T. C., 1883, Terminal moraine of the second glacial epoch:
U. S. Geol. Survey Third Annual Report, p. 291-402.
Fenton, Carroll Lane and Fenton, Mildred Adams, 1952, Giants of geol¬
ogy: Doubleday and Co., 333 p.
White, George W., 1964, Early description and explanation of kettle holes:
Jour. Glac., v. 5, p. 119-122.
Whittlesey, Charles, 1860, On the drift cavities, or “potash kettles” of Wis¬
consin: Amer. Assoc. Advancement Sci., Proc., 13th meeting, 1859, p. 297-
301.
Whittlesey, Charles, 1866, On the fresh-water glacial drift of the north¬
western states: Smithsonian Contr. Knowledge, No. 197, 32 p.
Acknowledgements
Robert F. Black is Professor of Geology, the University of Wis¬
consin, Madison. Field work leading to this report was supported
by the National Parks Service, by the National Science Founda¬
tion, by the Research Council of the University of Wisconsin Grad¬
uate School from funds supplied by the Wisconsin Alumni Research
Foundation, by the Wisconsin State Highway Commission, and by
the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey.
AGE AND GROWTH OF THE WALLEYE IN LAKE WINNEBAGO
Gordon R. Priegel
Bureau of Research
Department of Natural Resources
Madison, Wisconsin
Introduction
The walleye, Stizostedion vitreum vitreum (Mitchill), is an
abundant sport fish in Lake Winnebago and connecting waters and
it attracts more fishermen to the Lake Winnebago area than any
other sport fish. This report describes the age and growth of this
species in Lake Winnebago and is part of a study on the life his¬
tory of the walleye.
Maintenance stocking of walleyes is not practiced in the study
area and accordingly this paper refers exclusively to a natural
population.
Materials and Methods
The 1,237 walleyes used in this study consisted of 1,017 yearling
or older fish collected during October and November, 1960 and 220
young-of-the-year walleyes collected from June — October, 1961. All
young-of-the-year fish were taken with 12-foot otter trawls while
Lake Erie type trap nets, 12-foot otter trawls and an A.C. shocker
unit were used to collect the older fish.
The length measurements of adult walleyes were made on fresh
specimens. The total lengths were measured to the nearest tenth of
an inch on a standard measuring board. The length measurements
of young-of-the-year walleyes were made on preserved specimens
(10 percent formalin). The weight of each fish was determined to
the nearest hundredth of a pound ; no young-of-the-year fishes were
weighed. All fish, for which length and weight were recorded
(1,017 fish), were used in the study of the length-weight relation.
Key scales from 1,237 fish were taken from above the lateral
line on the left side and came from the intersection of the third row
above the lateral line and the first scale row before the first dorsal
spine. The scales were impressed on cellulose acetate slides, 0.03
inch thick, by a roller press similar to that described by Smith
(1954). Butler and Smith (1953) demonstrated that this method
121
122 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
of preparation does not affect the measurements of scales. The ex¬
amination and measurements of scales were made by means of a
micro-projector at the magnification 44X. The length of each scale
and the distances from the focus to each annulus were measured
along the anterior radius most nearly collinear with the focus as
described by Hile (1954) and recorded to the nearest tenth of an
inch.
Ages were determined by counting the annuli and are given in
terms of completed years of life. They are expressed by Roman
numerals corresponding to the number of annuli so that fish in the
second year of life belong to age-group I (Hile, 1948).
Sex and state of maturity were determined for all fish except the
220 young-of-the-year fish collected in 1961. Determination of sex
in adult walleyes is easy as the testes have a whitish-gray appear¬
ance, and the ovaries are yellowish with readily visible eggs. Size
and shape of gonads, blood vessels on gonads, and color of gonads
were used to sex immature fish (Eschmeyer, 1950). In fish of com¬
parable size, the gonads are distinctly the wider in the female. The
testis tapers towards the apical and over a considerable portion of
its total length, while the region of tapering is much shorter in the
ovary. Ordinarily, at least one of the ovaries tends to be translu¬
cent. The dorsal blood vessel of the testis lies in a groove; that of
the ovary is on the surface. Veins are usually visible passing across
the ovary, while this cross-venation is not found on the testis.
The fecundity of 130 walleyes over a size range of 16.6-25.2
inches in total length and a range of 1.39-6.00 pounds was deter¬
mined. The ovaries from these walleyes were preserved in 10 per¬
cent formalin. The weight of each ovary was determined just prior
to sampling and a transverse section was made through an ovary.
The section was weighed, and the number of eggs within was de¬
termined by actual count. The section represented 1.2 to 7.4 per¬
cent of the entire ovary. The total number of eggs per fish was
estimated on a proportional basis.
Results and Discussion
1. Age and Growth
The precise time of annulus formation of Lake Winnebago wall¬
eyes was not established. Annulus formation probably occurs in
May or early June. Carlander (1945) reports that walleyes form
an annulus in late May or early June in Lake of the Woods, Min¬
nesota and Cleary (1949) reported the same for Clear Lake, Iowa.
1969] Priegel -Age and Growth of the Walleye 123
Use of the scale method to determine the age of the Lake Win¬
nebago walleyes is justified by the following observations :
1. Fish known to be young-of-the-year had no annuli on the
scales.
2. The number of annuli increased with the size of the fish.
The body-scale relationship was determined from the measure¬
ment of 1,237 walleyes which were grouped into half-inch groups
from 1.0 to 24.5 inches. The mean body length for each group was
plotted against the corresponding mean lengths of the anterior
scale radii and the relationship may be expressed as :
L = 1.443 + 3.171 (R)
where L = total length in inches
and R = anterior scale radius X 44
The body-scale relationship was linear.
The calculations of length at each annuli were made from meas¬
urements of the anterior radius applied in the formula :
Li = C + Si (L — C)
S
where Li is the length of the fish at the time of each annulus
formation, C is the length of the fish at the time of scale forma¬
tion, Si is the length of the anterior radius of the scale at each an¬
nulus, S is the length of the anterior radius at capture and L is
the total length of the fish at time of capture. The length of the
fish at the time of scale formation is 40 millimeters (1.6 inch) as
determined from close examination of 220 specimens (Priegel,
1964). The regression line of the body-scale relationship intercepts
the abscissa at 1.443 which is slightly less than the value deter¬
mined for body length at time of scale formation.
The average calculated lengths of males and females in different
age groups of walleyes gave evidence of sex differences in growth
rate so the data for males and females were kept separate (Tables
1 and 2.)
Two estimates of general growth are given in the bottom section
of Tables 1 and 2. One is based on the grand average calculated
total lengths and the second on the summation of the grand average
annual increments of length. The present discussion is based on
the sums of increments, since this curve should represent the aver¬
age growth that walleyes might have if the population was not
subjected to selective destruction of individuals with the more
rapid growth. (Figure 1.)
124 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Table 1. Calculated Total Length at End of Each Year of Life of Each
Age Group of Lake Winnebago Male Walleyes and Average Growth
for the Combined Age Groups
Table 2. Calculated Total Length at End of Each Year of Life of Each
Age Group of Lake Winnebago Female Walleyes and Average
Growth for the Combined Age Groups
Total Length (Inches)
1969]
Priegel — Age and Growth of the Walleye
125
Year of Life
Figure 1. General growth in length and annual increment in length of Lake
Winnebago walleyes. Males, solid line; females, broken line.
126 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Comments on general growth and a comparison of the growth
of the sexes are best made from Table 3 which was prepared from
data of Tables 1 and 2,
The total lengths of the sexes in the first year of life showed a
0.4 inch advantage for the females but a 0.1 inch advantage for the
males at the end of the second year of life. The advantage of the
females increased from 0.6 inches at the end of the third year to
4.0 inches at the end of the eighth year. If the 13-inch size limit
was still in effect, this difference in growth rate between male and
female fish would have affected the age at which the legal size was
reached. The male walleye took 4 years to reach legal size and the
female 3 years.
The greatest increase in length for both sexes took place during
the first year of life (6.0 inches for the females and 5.6 inches for
the males). The amount of growth dropped during the second year,
and the decrease continued for the females through the eighth
year; but, the males made nearly the same amount of growth each
year after the fifth year (0.6 inches to 0.7 inches).
Many authors have reported on the growth rates of walleyes in
various bodies of water (Table 4). The walleye population in each
individual body of water differs in growth rate from other bodies
of water. The greatest growth occurred in southern reservoirs,
Norris Reservoir and Clayton Lake.
The Lake Winnebago walleye is one of the slowest growing fish
when compared to the walleye populations mentioned in Table 4.
Only the growth rate of the walleye in Lake Gogebic, Michigan, is
similar to the Lake Winnebago walleye. Lack of forage fishes and
competition from other fish species (burbot, sauger and yellow
Table 3. Calculated Total Lengths (Inches) and Length Increments of
Male and Female Walleyes of Lake Winnebago in Different
Years of Life
Table 4. Calculated Growth of Walleyes Reported from Various Waters
1969]
Priegel—Age and Growth of the Walleye
127
GO
DJ
X
u
Z
<-—i CO
w cC
£ H
H <
Gd
ZI>
u
•) CO
-1 D
J O
< 2
od
H >
< &
D Q
3 W
< S
u g
wd
o W
2
PJ
>
<
I I I
I I I I
I I
co n
4> di
C 3
P
4) w
4) „
Id
j s
w T"?
co U
<u w
0
il
4P
co
4JT)
* g
co u
CO °6
>>
TJ
T3
cw gw
Z 2
M >>
<U 4>
bfi C
O 5
0*5
j^W
co
d
4J O'
g «
i— I co
;cW
d
CO w-
§8
•M CP
cd
0
§2
O'-'
z
128 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
perch) in Lake Winnebago are probably the limiting factors for
the slow growth rate in the walleye. The long spawning migration
(90 miles maximum) may also be a factor related to slow growth
since these migrations must result in great energy loss.
2. Age At Maturity
Only those females showing eggs forming in the ovary were con¬
sidered mature, and the males were considered mature if the testis
showed the characteristic whitish-gray color. Since all fish were
collected during the late fall, no difficulties were encountered be¬
tween distinguishing immature and mature fish.
The information on the age and degree of maturity of the wall¬
eye included in this sample is presented in Table 5. The average
age of maturity was considered as that age at which 50 percent of
the fish reach maturity. (Table 5). The male walleye would gener¬
ally be considered as mature at the end of the third year of life. At
the end of the sixth year of life, all males were mature. The female
walleye would be considered as mature at the end of the sixth year
of life. Only at the end of the eighth year of life were all females
mature. The males show a definite tendency to mature earlier in
life.
The average total length at which more than 50 percent of the
males are mature is 12.7 inches. The average total length at which
more than 50 percent of the females are mature is 18.9 inches. Hile
(1954) reported that 50 percent of the Saginaw Bay walleyes had
reached sexual maturity at 15.5 inches for the male and 17.0 inches
for the females. Eschmeyer (1950) for Gogebic Lake, Michigan,
showed that males mature at 12.2 inches in total length and females
at 15.4 inches. In Red Lake, Minnesota, males mature at age group
Table 5. Sex Composition of Age Groups of Lake Winnebago Walleyes
AND (IN PARENTHESES) PERCENTAGE MATURE
1969] Priegel- — Age and Growth of the Walleye 129
5 and females at age group 6 (Smith, Krefting, and Butler 1952).
Balch (1951) reported that about one-half of the male walleyes
are mature by the time they reach 15.5 inches and that one-half
of the females in the 17-inch group were mature in Northern Green
Bay waters of Lake Michigan.
3. Length- Weight Relation
Length-weight relation was calculated from fish grouped by half
inch total length intervals from 7.0 to 24.5 inches. There was no
significant difference between sexes so all fish were combined.
Length-weight relation of Lake Winnebago walleyes is expressed
by the regression:
Log W = -5.3596 + 3.2162 Log L
where W = weight in pounds
and L = total length in inches
In the graphical representation of the length-weight relation
(Figure 2) the smooth curve represents the calculated weights, and
the dots the empirical ones. The agreement of the calculated and
empirical weights was satisfactory. The discrepancies were more
pronounced among the larger fish; but, on the whole, distribution
of the disagreements had no particular trend. Discrepancies among
the larger fish resulted from the smaller number of fish and actual
weights were great enough to make relatively modest disagree¬
ments seem larger.
Calculated growth in weight (Table 6) was determined by ap¬
plying calculated lengths (sum of the average increments of
length) of Tables 7 and 8 to the length-weight relation. The an¬
nual increments of weight for the males increased irregularly,
while the annual increments of weights for the females showed a
gradual increase during the first six years. Increments in individ¬
ual years of life for the females were 0.05 pounds in the first year
of life to a maximum of 0.56 pounds in the sixth year of life. It
took the males five years to reach 1 pound and the females slightly
under 4 years to obtain 1 pound.
4. Fecundity
A few estimates have been published on the egg production of
the walleye, but most of these estimates have been made on a small
number of fish and the size range has been limited. Vessel and
Eddy (1941) who had the largest sample (62 fish) from Cut-Foot
Sioux Lake, Minnesota, estimated the egg production of walleyes
from 1.5 to 5.0 pounds at 39,000-128,000 eggs. Eschmeyer (1950)
estimated egg production from Lake Gogebic, Michigan, walleyes
Weight (Pounds)
130 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Figure 2. Length-weight relation of the Lake Winnebago walleyes. Dots repre¬
sent the empirical data and the smooth curve is the calculated data.
1969]
Priegel—Age and Growth of the Walleye
131
Table 6. Calculated Weights in Pounds at the End of Each Year
of Life of Lake Winnebago Walleyes
Weights are from the general length-weight relation and correspond to lengths
at the end of year of life on the general growth curve for scales taken above the lateral
line.
Table 7. Estimated Egg Production of Lake Winnebago Walleyes
Length
Groups
in Inches
(T. L.)
16.5- 16.9
17.0-17.4
17.5- 17.9
18.0-18.4
18.5- 18.9
19.0-19.4
19.5- 19.9
20.0-20.4
20.5- 20.9
21.0-21.4
21.5- 21.9
22.0-22.4
22.5- 22.9
23.0-23.4
24.0-24.4
25.0-25.4
Number
Sampled
1
1
6
6
11
15
24
21
12
13
7
6
2
3
1
1
Average
Weight
of
Fish
1.39
1.50
1.95
2.12
2.34
2.61
2.73
2.89
3.18
3.60
3.94
4.04
4.67
4.63
5.20
6.00
Average
Weight
of
Ovaries
(grams)
38.1
24.4
64.5
57.8
74.2
89.3
94.7
1C4.4
117.2
141.1
159.9
158.9
243.7
189.0
291.9
155.1
Average
Sample
Weight
of
Ovaries
(grams)
2.0
1.8
1.9
1.9
2.3
2.3
2.5
2.7
3.5
3.3
3.2
3.2
4.0
3.1
3.5
3.6
Average
Percent¬
age
of
Ovaries
Counted
5.2
7.4
3.2
3.3
3.3
2.7
2.8
2.6
3.1
2.4
2.0
2.1
1.6
1.7
1.2
2.3
Average
Calcu¬
lated
Number
of
Eggs
62,617
43,255
65,616
77,832
93,532
98,904
105,417
108,052
114,738
138,414
148,913
143,794
89,377
169,250
227,181
127,569
132 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
(34 fish) at 36,871-154,906 eggs for fish from 16.0-22.9 inches in
total length. Smith (1941) calculated that three Norris Reservoir
walleyes of 25.0-26.5 inches in total length produced from 77,500-
87,400 eggs.
The estimates of the egg production for walleyes by half-inch
size groups are given in Table 7. The egg production ranged from
43,255 eggs for a 17.4 inch, 1.50 pound walleye to 227,181 eggs for
a 24.2 inch, 5.20 pound walleye. The heaviest walleye (6.00 pounds
and 25.2 inches) had a count of 127,569 eggs.
Summary
1. Age determinations and growth histories were calculated by
the scale method from a sample of 1,237 walleyes.
2. Body-scale relation is expressed by the formula:
L = 1.443 + 3.171 R
where L = total length in inches
and R = anterior scale radius X 44
3. Difference in growth rate for the sexes was noted. The advan¬
tage of the females increased from 0.6 inches at the end of the
third year to 4.0 inches at the end of the eight year. If the 13-inch
size limit was still in effect, it would take the male walleye four
years to reach legal size and the female three years.
4. The annual increments of weight for the males increased ir¬
regularly while the annual increments of weight for the females
showed a gradual increase during the first six years. It took the
males five years to reach one pound and the females slightly under
four years to obtain one pound.
5. The average age of maturity was considered as that age at
which 50 percent of the fish reach maturity. The male walleyes
would be considered as mature at the end of the third year of life.
At the end of the sixth year of life, all males were mature. The
female walleyes were considered as mature at the end of the sixth
year of life. Only female fish at the end of the eighth year of life
were all mature.
6. The Lake Winnebago walleye is one of the slowest growing
walleye when compared to the walleye populations of other waters.
7. The egg production of the Lake Winnebago walleye ranged
from 43,255 eggs for a 17.4-inch, 1.50-pound walleye to 227,181
eggs for a 24.2-inch, 5.20-pound walleye.
1969]
Priegel—Age and Growth of the Walleye
13B
8. Length-weight relation is expressed by the formula :
Log W = -5.3596 + 3.2162 Log L
where W = weight in pounds
and L = total length in inches
Literature Cited
Balch, Robert. 1951. The age and growth of the yellow pike-perch, Stizoste -
dion v. vitreum (Mitchill) in the Green Bay waters of Lake Michigan.
Invest. Rpt. No. 652, Fish Mgt. Div., Wis. Cons. Dept., mimeo.
Butler, Robert L. and Lloyd L. Smith, Jr. 1953. A method for cellulose ace¬
tate impressions of fish scales, with a measurement of its reliability. Prog.
Fish. Cult., 15:175-178.
Carlander, Kenneth D. 1945. Age, growth, sexual maturity, and population
fluctuations of the yellow pike-perch, Stizostedion vitreum vitreum
(Mitchill) with reference to the commercial fisheries, Lake of the Woods,
Minnesota. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc., 73:90-103.
Cleary, Robert E. 1949. Life history and management of the yellow pike-
perch, Stizostedion vitreum vitreum (Mitchill) of Clear Lake, Iowa. Iowa
St. Univ. J. Sci., 23(2) :195-208.
Eddy, Samuel and Kenneth D. Carlander. 1939. Growth of Minnesota fishes.
Minn. Conservationist 69:8-10.
Eschmeyer, Paul H. 1950. The life history of the walleye, Stizostedion
vitreum vitreum (Mitchill) in Michigan. Bull. Inst. Fish. Res. (Mich.)
3:1-99.
Hile, Ralph. 1948. Standardization of methods of expressing lengths and
weights of fish. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 75:157-164.
- . 1954. Fluctuations in growth and year-class strength of the walleye in
Saginaw Bay. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fish. Bull. 56:7-59.
Priegel, Gordon R. 1964. Early scale development in the walleye. Trans.
Amer. Fish. Soc. 93 (2) : 199-200.
Rose, Earl T. 1951. Notes on the age and growth of Spirit Lake Yellow pike-
perch ( Stizostedion v. vitreum). Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 58:517-526.
Roseberry, Dean A. 1951. Fishery management of Claytor Lake, an impound¬
ment on the New River of Virginia. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 80:194-209.
Schloemer, Clarence L. and Ralph Lorch. 1942. The rate of growth of the
walleye pike, Stizostedion vitreum vitreum (Mitchill) in Wisconsin’s in¬
land waters, with special reference to the growth characteristics of the
Trout Lake population. Copeia. No. 4, pp. 201-211.
Schmulbach, James C. 1959. Growth of the walleye in the Des Moines River,
Boone County, Iowa. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci., 66:523-533.
Smith, Charles O. 1941. Egg production of walleyed pike and sauger. Norris
Reservoir fish differ from some species in other localities. Prog. Fish Cult.
54:32-34.
Smith, Lloyd L., Jr., Laurits W. Krefting and Robert L. Butler. 1952.
Movements of marked walleyes, Stizostedion vitreum vitreum (Mitchill)
in the fishery of the Red Lakes, Minnesota. Trans. Amer. Fish Soc.
81:179-196.
Smith, Stanford H. 1954. A method of producing plastic impressions of fish
scales without the use of heat. Prog. Fish Cult. 16:75-78.
Strong, Richard H. 1949. Growth of Norris Reservoir walleye during the first
twelve years of impoundment. Journ. Wildl. Mgt. 13 (2) : 157-177.
Vessel, Matt F., and Samuel Eddy. 1941. A preliminary study of the egg
production of certain Minnesota fishes. Minn. Bur. Fish Res. Invest. Rept.
26:26 pp.
REGULARLY OCCURRING FLUCTUATIONS IN YEAR-CLASS
STRENGTH OF TWO BROOK TROUT POPULATIONS
Ray J. White and Robert L. Hunt *
During a 12-year period (1953-04) year class strength of wild
brook trout (Salvelinus fontmalis) fluctuated rhythmically in two
central Wisconsin streams, Lawrence Creek (Adams and Mar¬
quette Counties) and Big Roche-a-Cri Creek (Adams and Wau¬
shara Counties). In this paper we discuss the nature of these
rhythmic year class fluctuations and examine some possible reasons
for their regularity.
Population dynamics of trout have been studied since 1953 in
Lawrence Creek primarily to test angling regulations (emphasis
switched to trout habitat management in 1964), and since 1957
in the Roche-a-Cri to assess effects of trout habitat management.
Normal statewide angling regulations for trout applied to the
Roche-a-Cri : season from early or mid-May until September 7, a
minimum legal size limit of 6 inches and a bag limit of 10 trout
per day. Angling pressure was greatest during seasons when trout
were most abundant. At Lawrence Creek, length of the fishing sea¬
son was the same, but 6 combinations of experimental restrictions
on size, bag and gear were tested in various parts of the stream
during 1955-64. Changes in angling regulations caused angler ex¬
ploitation of the trout population to vary greatly (Hunt, Brynild-
son and McFadden, 1962 ; Hunt and Brynildson, 1964; Hunt,
1964).
Description of the Streams
Although the streams lie only 18 miles apart, their physical,
hydrological and vegetational characteristics differ. Lawrence
Creek usually has somewhat better living conditions for brook
trout. The stream arises in a terminal moraine and flows eastward
through a rolling landscape of glacial drift. Our study area, extend¬
ing from the headwaters to an artificially impounded lake, com¬
prises 8.4 stream miles. The Roche-a-Cri, directly north of Law¬
rence Creek, flows westward from the same moraine across a
* Mr. White, formerly a Biologist 'with the Wisconsin Conservation Division, is now
at the Laboratory of Limnology, University of Wisconsin — Madison. Mr. Hunt is
leader of the Trout Research Group of the Wisconsin Conservation Division.
135
136 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
glacial outwash plain. The study area covered in this paper includes
the upper 6.1 miles of trout water. Each stream passes through
patches of forest, marshy meadows and thickets of brush. Many
distinct springs feed Lawrence Creek. Its discharge at the down-
stream end of the study area is about 25 cfs during periods of base-
flow. The streambed falls an average of 11.5 feet per mile. In con¬
trast, the Roche-a-Cri receives less ground water seepage and flows
through flatter terrain (its gradient = ca. 7 ft. /mile). At a point
4 miles below the stream’s source, baseflows vary from 5 to 9 or
more cfs depending on recent precipitation. Figure 1 contrasts the
relatively stable discharge of Lawrence Creek with the greatly
fluctuating streamflow of the Roche-a-Cri. Figure 2 shows monthly
low-flows for the Roche-a-Cri. These low-flow data give some indi¬
cation of varying limitations on space available to brook trout in
that stream.
With its greater discharge and steeper gradient Lawrence Creek
has larger areas of gravel streambed relatively free of sand and
silt. In summer and fall an abundance of watercress (Nasturtium
officinale) and veronica (Veronica connata) offer hiding cover for
trout and support a rich trout food supply. In the Roche-a-Cri,
Figure 1. Monthly mean streamflow discharges at gaging stations on Law¬
rence Creek (2.5 miles below its source) and on Big Roche-a-Cri Creek (3.9
miles below source).
1969] White and Hunt — Fluctuations in Brook Trout 137
Figure 2. Lowest streamflow discharge recorded each month at the Big Roche-
a-Cri Creek gage.
sand covers most of the bottom. Here, perhaps owing to the greater
variability of streamflow, watercress beds often do not develop
until autumn. Only in years of ample rainfall or during a general
trend of streamflow increase, for instance in 1959-60 (Figures 1
and 4) , does the Roche-a-Cri’s cress flourish in springtime or early
summer.
Three miles of the Roche-a-Cri that flowed through grazed land
were fenced during 1956-58 to keep cattle away from the stream.
Fencing allowed streambank vegetation to thrive and provide trout
with hiding places among twigs and leaves that dangled into the
water. From 1958 through 1962 current-deflectors and overhang¬
ing bank covers were constructed along 4 miles of stream in the
study area. These devices added more cover for trout and concen¬
trated the current to clean sand off streambed gravel.
The Trout Populations
Wild brook trout are the predominant fish in both streams. Dur¬
ing our investigations, trout population densities ranged from less
than 20 pounds per acre in some sections of both streams in poor
years to nearly 250 pounds per acre in upstream sections of both
streams during favorable years. But on the average, Lawrence
Creek maintained larger populations. The Roche-a-Cri’s main con¬
centration of brook trout occupies a section of stream approxi¬
mately equal to Lawrence Creek in length, but this section has only
half the surface area of Lawrence Creek.
Few wild brown trout ( Salmo trutta) or rainbow trout (S.
gairdneri ) occur in the Roche-a-Cri, though at times during sev¬
eral decades prior to the study these species were heavily stocked
in the study area as well as in the 20 or more miles of water tol-
138 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
erable to trout (but lacking spawning grounds) below the study
area. Even within the study area where brook trout reproduce
well, brown and rainbow trout spawn with poor success. At vari¬
ous times during the study small numbers of hatchery-reared
brown and rainbow trout moved into the lower portion of the study
area from stocking sites several miles downstream. During 1953-
60 about 1,200 age-0 and age-1 hatchery-reared brook trout were
also stocked annually in the study area as part of the routine fish¬
ery management program. However, in view of the usual high mor¬
tality of stocked trout during the first few weeks after release,
this stocking was probably a minor supplement to the total spring¬
time population of trout in the study area. Hatchery brook trout
are not included in the data to be discussed since the 1 % to 3% of
such stocked trout that survived to maturity did not contribute
significantly to total spawning. Other fishes common in the Roche-
a-Cri are: mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdi), pearl dace (Margaris-
cus margarita), creek chub (Semotilas atromaculatus ) , brook
stickleback (Eucalia inconstans) and white sucker (Catostomus
commersoni) .
Lawrence Creek is free of brown trout and has only a sparse
population of wild rainbow trout. The stream has not been stocked
with hatchery trout since 1948. Other than trout, Lawrence Creek
contains mottled sculpin, white sucker, creek chub, brook stickle¬
back and blacknose dace (Rhinichthys atratulus) .
Methods
Trout populations were estimated by mark-and-recapture elec¬
trofishing in April, prior to the angling season, and in September
soon after angling ceased.
In this paper September estimates of age group 0 are used as
initial measures of year class strength. Since age-0 trout are too
small in April to be efficiently captured by our electrofishing gear,
they could not enter into estimates at that time.
During electrofishings in September, 60% to 80% of the age-0
trout were marked by removing fins in combinations denoting year
class, i.e., the year of birth. Population estimate procedures, pre¬
cision of the estimates (± 2 to 6% for age group 0; ± 1 to 8% for
age group I, but generally around ± 2 to 4% for both groups) and
methods of calculating egg production annually are discussed by
McFadden (1961), Hunt et ah (1962) and Hunt (1966).
Results and Discussion
In both streams year-to-year fluctuations in abundance of age-0
brook trout followed a rhythm of alternating upward and down-
THOUSANDS OF TROUT
1969] White and Hunt — Fluctuations in Brook Trout 139
ward turns, that is, one having 2 years between peaks (Figure 3;
Table 1). Among the combined 20 data-years for the 2 streams,
encompassing 18 between-year changes in population level, the pat¬
tern was interrupted only once : the 1956-57 interval at Lawrence
Creek.
In Lawrence Creek numbers of age-0 brook trout present in
September varied from 4,166 in 1958 to 22,646 in 1959. The mean
number present during 12 successive Septembers was 10,712. The
strongest year class was 5.4 times larger than the weakest year
class and 2.1 times larger than the average numerical strength. In
the Roche-a-Cri over an 8-year period, the number of age-0 brook
trout present in September ranged from 2,012 in 1957 to 9,915 in
1960. Mean strength of the 8 year classes was 5,396. The strongest
year class was 4.9 times as numerous as the weakest year class and
1.8 times larger than the mean abundance (Table 1).
Keith (1962) suggests that most biologists would favor the
definition of “population cycle” as defined by Davis (1957) :
“In ecological usage the term ‘cycle’ refers to a phenomenon
that occurs at intervals. These intervals are variable in length,
but it is implied that their variability is less than one would
expect by chance and that reasonably accurate predictions can
be made.”
Figure 3. Numbers of brook trout in the study areas of Lawrence and Big
Roche-a-Cri Creeks. (Although no inventory of the Roche-a-Cri population
was made in spring, 1960, the number of age group I trout was probably low
since the 1959 year class was a weak one.)
140 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Table 1. Age Structure of April and September
Populations of Wild Brook Trout in Lawrence
and Big Roche-a-cri Creeks
Big Roche-a-Cri Creek
*Not yet calculated.
1969] White and Hunt — Fluctuations in Brook Trout 141
According to this definition the fluctuations we observed con¬
stitute cycles of offspring abundance. Both cycles followed 2-year
intervals, the shortest possible interval for an animal that repro¬
duces once annually. Although the frequency of fluctuation was
regular, levels of abundance did not always swing above and below
a long-term mean value, as would be necessary to meet the strict
mathematical definition of a cycle. Our contention is, however, that
there did seem to be a recurring ecological phenomenon worthy of
critical examination.
The rhythmic fluctuations in the 2 streams, while of equal fre¬
quency, were out of phase. In the years when Lawrence Creek con¬
tained large numbers of age-0 trout, the Roche-a-Cri had low
numbers. This phase difference persisted all 8 years of simultane¬
ous study.
The cycles persisted in both streams despite somewhat different
environmental characteristics and different general levels of trout
populations and they persisted despite large changes in density of
total stocks and in age composition of those stocks in each stream
(Table 1). Great variation in percentage of brook trout stocks
removed from Lawrence Creek by anglers also failed to upset the
cycle. Under liberal angling regulations — toward the beginning of
the study-anglers took 32% to 65% of preseason populations and
as much as 129% by weight. Under very restrictive size and bag
limits, angler exploitation fell to 1 % by number and 7% by weight
(Hunt et al., 1962). These relatively low angler harvests resulted
in higher populations of older trout and egg production became
less dependent upon age-I trout as more adults survived the fishing
season to spawn a second or third time. These changes in survival
rates and structure of the spawning stocks may have contributed
to the lower amplitude of fluctuations in age group 0 populations
in Lawrence Creek during the later years of our study. In the
Roche-a-Cri, the cyclic fluctuations also diminished in amplitude
toward the end of the study as populations of age-II and older
trout increased (Table 1). Progress in the management of trout
habitat may have induced these changes, but despite these trends
of improvement in the trout habitat and the trout population, the
cycle persisted.
It is especially interesting that the cycles were out of phase in
the 2 streams. Consequently it is unlikely that a climatological
factor was governing the cycles. If that component of the climate,
whatever it may be, which is most influential on trout would have
had an alternate-year fluctuation during the period of study, it
should have affected both trout populations similarly.
142 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
This is not to say that climatological changes failed to affect the
trout populations, and in particular age group 0. The highest age-0
population in the Roche-a-Cri, that of 1960, coincided with sharp
increases in precipitation (Figure 4) and in streamflow (Figure
2) during autumn 1959 through summer 1960. Not only was vol¬
ume of the Roche-a-Cri greater than usual in the spring and sum¬
mer of 1960, but in-stream vegetation, particularly watercress,
was comparatively lush during May, much earlier than in most
years. Space and concealment for young trout was undoubtedly
greater than normal-— and, judging by Tarzwell’s (1937) findings
on the food-harboring capacities of underwater vegetation, the
trout food supply was probably better too. Such rather sudden en¬
vironmental improvements, coinciding with whatever factors cause
the “even-year” (1958, 1960, 1962, etc.) peaking on the Roche-a-
in
UJ
i
o
z
z
o
<
CL
O
UJ
cr
Q.
Figure 4. Numbers of age-0 brook trout in September in Big Roche-a-Cri
Creek and records of precipitation from its vicinity. Plotted above each trout
level are precipitation for September through November of the 'preceding year
and precipitation during the 12 months (October-September) prior to trout
inventory, i.e. the approximate period covered by development of age group 0.
Precipitation data are from the Hancock Experimental Farm, 5 miles south
of the stream and from the U. S. Weather Bureau compilation for central
Wisconsin stations.
1969] White and Hunt — Fluctuations in Brook Trout 143
Cri, probably reinforced the upward amplitude for one year of the
cycle. Lawrence Creek, with a more stable hydrological regime,
appeared to have no unusual streamflow during 1960 (Figure 1).
Similarly but conversely, an environmental event in Lawrence
Creek could have accounted for the upset of the cycle in that
stream during 1957. According to qualitative observations by one
of the authors (White), watercress was unusually abundant in
Lawrence Creek that year. While regional rainfall was low in
1956-57 (Figure 4) and it is unlikely that local variation was great
enough to have stimulated aquatic vegetation through increased
streamflow; nevertheless, throughout most of the study area the
stream was walled with cress on each side to an extent not noted
since. Perhaps at no other time during our study did age-0 brook
trout in Lawrence Creek have such good hiding cover. Thus, there
is some reason to suspect that a low phase of the population cycle
was counteracted by an environmental change especially favorable
to survival of young trout during 1957. In any event, the cycle was
interrupted that year and thrown into a new phase, one having
highs in odd numbered years. Environmental crises, on the other
hand, might be expected to exaggerate cyclic lows and cancel highs,
but no phenomenon of this sort was evident.
Despite the unlikelihood that climate maintained the cycles,
monthly and seasonal streamflow data for the Roche-a-Cri (Fig¬
ures 1 and 2), were examined to see if there were any patterns
of fluctuation that coincided with the fluctuations of year class
strength in that stream. No similarities were found. However, since
our streamflow records did not cover the first year of the study and
were not complete with respect to high flows, a search was made
through precipitation data from a weather station near the Roche-
a-Cri. (There is none near Lawrence Creek) . One set of these data,
precipitation during September through November, showed a pat¬
tern of year-to-year fluctuations resembling that of the trout cycle
(Figure 4). While rainfall might be interpreted as having influ¬
enced streamflow at spawning time (October into early December)
and hence as having affected success of natural reproduction, there
is nothing in the streamflow data to support this contention.
Neither is September-N ovember precipitation significantly corre¬
lated with the following-year abundance of age group 0. Conse¬
quently, some mechanism intrinsic to both brook trout populations
and acting after the egg stage seems a more likely regulator of the
cycles.
If, as is the case in these two populations, age group I com¬
prises the great majority of the “mature” (age I and older) trout,
then such 2-year cycles could, given an initial disparity between
144 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
any two consecutive year classes, be simply and directly maintained
through the following processes: (1) domination of egg production
by age group I which results in alternate-year variation similar
to that of “even-year” and “odd-year” pink salmon (Onchyrhyn-
chis gorbuschka) populations (Neave, 1952 and 1958), (2) a sup¬
pressive effect (predation and/or competition) of age group I on
simultaneously occurring age-0 populations. Such suppression
would be strong and weak in alternate years. Should both proc¬
esses occur within the same population, they would complement
each other, that is, act in synchrony. High egg production would
push age group 0 upward one year and strong suppression by
numerous age I trout from the same year class would push age
group 0 downward the next year (Figure 5).
For these two brook trout populations, however, the first process
seems unlikely. Even though most of the egg production in most
years is attributable to age group I (Table 2), numbers of age 0
trout in September are not correlated with the numbers of eggs
from which they originated (Figure 6). Since mortality at the egg
and sac-fry stage is known to be less than 10% (McFadden, 1961)
and since June inventories (Hunt, 1966) show that age-0 mortal¬
ity progresses at a rather slow rate after the 4th or 5th free-
swimming month, most age 0 mortality — and, in fact, the greater
share of total mortality in the life of a year class— -takes place dur¬
ing the first few months following emergence of fry into the
stream.
The second regulatory mechanism, the suppression process,
seems more plausible. Age-I trout could be preying on age-0 trout
or could be limiting in some way the accessibility of a rather
fixed environmental resource. Indeed, numbers of age-0 trout in
Lawrence Creek are inversely and significantly correlated with
numbers of simultaneously occurring age groups I (Figure 7 and
Table 8). If age-I trout were determining the level of age-0
abundance, the time of this effect would most logically be during
- ->.
Figure 5. Curves of numerical trends within year classes of a hypothetical
brook trout population in which: (1) reproduction is entirely by age group I,
(2) strong year classes, producing high numbers of eggs, spawn strong year
classes, (3) weak year classes spawn weak ones, (4) many age-I trout are
present during the fry stages of weak year classes and (5) few age-I trout
exist during the fry stages of strong year classes. Survivorship after com¬
pletion of spawning is approximated from Lawrence Creek data (Hunt, 1966,
Appendix Table 22; and McFadden, 1961) and is kept uniform for all year
classes, thus eliminating compensatory complications. Were age group I
suppressing age-0 abundance, survivorship curves of weak year classes should
be considered steeper than shown here.
SPAWNING BY STRONG YEAR CLASS
1969] White and Hunt— Fluctuations in Brook Trout
145
DURING PERIODS OF HIGH FRY MORTALITY
Table 2. Estimated Number of Eggs Produced by Brook Trout of Various Age Groups in Law-
146
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
fa
<
fa
£
fa
Eh
O
H
fa
o
fa
fa
<
£ 02
fa m
9 fa
fa £
0 |
I*
Ph g
k 1-1
< %
g 2
£ fa
g§
fa n .
o
!z fa
c w
fa
fc
r^vfl'-'OONNO'OO'NK
NOOO'KOOOOOOf^Kn
NvOf^O'ONOOts^N'O
^hVwDvm^O'^vDK'-''^
ONt\Os\£>00c^t\00— '\0'— 1
<aKVnNKO,^sDO(7'00
CO Irv
I BS
I 00 t\
*— <
r4
I s I
I 00 I
lAf^O'vDOOvDOCJ'f^iAO
__<_Ot\coxt<oO— ■ cO
t\00v0nf^\0—'0'0(^0
c^f^'tO'00'-<NNO'-,>A
OO^N'tvO-'OOOOOOON
QOO-"Mr\OO^N^O
ICvCOsOCC^'^frCO' -
O\£J'tTtNNN00^VA,i<
OvKOONO';t^Or'NK'-
NO'A'O'Af^1 — 'OOOf'M^
'^fu-s(N\Dt\-^lO,--|rNSOsoo
— I I —I I CO CO CO
K KKKOOtX'tO'KOOxO
•— > 00 1 u-\ ir\ cO vr\ O CO irs O'
CiOOOOO'O'tOOO'O^ 1
vrs — i OO'rO'^KO'ONiA
OncOOO\DO''D’-hOO'cOCi
re > — iaO'c^vnOvDOOia^
i^O^OOics
n^icsONCOlJ'C — con
m vrs i/e iaUmaiavOvOvO^O
O'O'O'O'O'O'O'O'O'O'O'
bD
03
s_
t)
>
<
1969] White and Hunt — Fluctuations in Brook Trout
147
THOUSANDS OF EGGS
Figure 6. Numbers of age-0 brook trout in Lawrence Creek in September
plotted against numbers of eggs from which they developed. Numbers by the
points denote year classes. Solid points are those for year classes coinciding
with lower-than-average April abundances of age group I.
spring when fry mortality is greatest. Hence, age-0 levels would
be more closely correlated with springtime rather than autumn
levels of age group I. The coefficient of correlation for age groups 0
against April age-I populations is higher than the correlation for
age groups 0 against September age-I populations (Table 3), but
with the low number of observations involved, the difference
between the 2 coefficients is not statistically significant.
148 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Table 3. Coefficients of Correlation and Values of Student’s t for
Regressions of Numbers of Age-0 Brook Trout in September on
Numbers of Older Trout in Lawrence Creek During 1953-64
^Significant at the 0.05 confidence level,
n.s. =not significant at the 0.05 level.
Numbers of age-0 trout are not correlated with numbers of trout
older than age-I. Perhaps body size or behavior of these older trout
reduce interactions with post-emergent young.
Cannibalism or competition for space and/or food are the sorts
of processes that would tend to cause an inverse correlation such
as that in Figure 7.1 Cannibalism has been cited in other studies
as a factor accounting for changes in abundance of young fish, but
conclusive evidence of cannibalism in our streams is lacking.2 For
1 A disease-crowding- process would seem a further but less likely possible mechanism
behind the observed relationship. All we know of disease in these streams is that
almost every brook trout carries gill copepods ( Salmincola edwardsii), that emaciation
of smaller trout due to this burden appears worse than that of larger trout, and that
during times of high trout population density the number of copepods on each trout’s
gills appears greater than during population lows. It is thought that the passing on
of relatively high infestations of copepods by the higher populations of age-I trout
to fry would be too erratic to account for the inverse relationship of age-0 and age-I
densities (Figure 8).
2 Cannibalism was postulated as the governor of a possible 4-year cycle among
brown trout in 2 New Zealand streams (Burnett, 1959 — another out-of-phase cycle!).
Survival of stocked fingerling brook trout increased when older brook trout were re¬
moved from a lake (Smith, 1956). When the number of larger trout in a small lake
increased, survival of stocked fingerling rainbow trout decreased (Miller and Thomas,
1957). There are logical yet indirect indications that predation on sockeye fry
/, Onchyrhynchus nerka) by smolts and residual non-migrants of preceding strong year
classes may cause the 4-year cycle of that salmon in the Fraser River (Ricker,
'1950). In a mixed population of warm water fishes in an Illinois lake, 4- or 5-year
cycles of abundance were attributed to predation by dominant broods of crappies
(Pomoxis sp. ) but no data on predation were furnished (Thompson, 1941).
1969] White and Hunt— Fluctuations in Brook Trout
149
THOUSANDS OF AGE I BROOK TROUT IN APRIL
Figure 7. Numbers of age-0 brook trout in September plotted against age-I
abundance during April of the same year in Lawrence Creek. Numbers by the
points denote the year classes of age groups 0. Correlation is significant at
the 0.05 confidence level (Table 2).
150 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
example, during 1960-66, we examined 1,400 stomachs of age-I-
and-II brook trout collected in all seasons by daytime electrofishing
and angling. Not a single case of cannibalism was found (unpubl.
data of R. L. Hunt and D. A. White). To account for even 10%
of the average mortality of age group 0 between emergence and
mid-J une, each fish in the average population of older trout during
that time would have to consume approximately 15 fry per day.
However, no fry were found in 160 stomachs collected from adult
trout during such a 5-month period. Although cannibalism among
brook trout has been demonstrated elsewhere,3 there are no indica¬
tion that it takes place on a scale sufficient to account for the hun¬
dreds of thousands of fry that perish in Lawrence Creek and
Roche-a-Cri each spring.
Competition rather than predation seems a more likely relation¬
ship between age-0 and age-I brook trout, especially in view of the
investigations of LeCren (1965) who varied the numerical density
of brown trout fry in small experimental waterways and found
their survival and growth to be inversely density-dependent. This
result was apparently due to ferritorial behavior. Fry not able to
secure a territory drifted downstream and died by starvation
usually between 20 and 40 days before feeding began. Density-
dependent “disappearance” of age-0 trout from Lawrence Creek
is indicated in analyses of September age-0 levels as a function
of egg production plus age-I abundance (McFadden, in press). A
rough representation of such an analysis can be seen in the nega¬
tive slope of the solid black points in Figure 6. Greater dispersal
of young from main nursery areas in years of higher age-0 density
(Hunt, 1965) implies that the apparent compensatory mortality
in Lawrence Creek prior to September may be partially attrib¬
utable to movement downstream out of the study area. If space
competition from age-I trout is similarly affecting fry or finger-
lings, this could account for the observed numerical relationships
between the 2 age groups, and for the 2-year cycle of yearclass
abundance.
Although the number of age-0 trout that disappear is not corre¬
lated with the number of contemporary age I trout (Figure 8), age
3 Following release of several thousand brook trout fry into a small Ontario stream,
collection of 16 age-I-and-II brook trout mainly by means of a flashlight and handnet
at night revealed 4 stomachs containing fry, the greatest number in any one stomach
being 8 (H. C. White, 1924). After stocking fry in a Prince Edward Island stream,
319 “adult and yearling” brook trout were captured, “those whose stomachs were
distended” (number not reported) were examined, and only one fry was found (H. C.
White, 1927). In sections of the same stream, screened to permit only certain types
of predators to operate on fry stocks of known size, comparison of mortality rates
led to the conclusion that “competition and cannibalism” by larger trout were greater
menaces to fry than were predation by birds or sticklebacks ( Eucalia inconstans), but
no proof of cannibalism was put forth (H. C. White, 1927 and 1930).
1969] White and Hunt— Fluctuations in Brook Trout
151
group I may act as a “level-setter” of year class strength. The
“rather fixed environmental resource”, be it space, food or what¬
ever, could determine a general numerical density (carrying
capacity) to which age group 0 must diminish each year regard¬
less of the number of age-I trout. With this carrying capacity at a
level of (for instance) 40,000 to 80,000 fry, the greatest share of
post-emergence mortality has occurred by the time this level is
attained. The amount of additional fry mortality that might be
dependent upon the density of age I trout would be a relatively
small component of total fry mortality but an important component
in the ultimate determination of year class strength. While such a
mechanism may bring cannibalism back into the realm of possi-
CL
LU
10
Figure 8. Absolute mortality of brook trout in Lawrence Creek during the
10 to 11 months from the egg stage to the next September plotted against
number of age-I trout present during April of this period. Numbers by the
points denote the year classes of age groups 0.
152 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
bility, the negative evidence regarding such predation in Lawrence
Creek makes competition seem the more likely process needing
further investigation.
To investigate more closely relationships between stocks of age-I
and age-0 trout, experiments similar to those of LeCren (1965)
should be conducted utilizing various sizes and densities of age-I
trout introduced as factors modifying existing fry-space relation¬
ships. Suppression of age-0 brook trout by older brook trout could
also be tested under the more natural conditions in our streams by
measuring survival of trout fry at selected high and low spring¬
time densities of older trout. Low densities of older trout could be
achieved by electrofishing to remove them in winter after the
spawning season. High densities could be attained by stocking wild
brook trout from other nearby streams.
Our study points up the need for identifying the causes of mor¬
tality among wild trout fry and for direct observation of behavioral
relationships between age groups and size groups of brook trout
under wild conditions.
Acknowledgements
For helpful suggestions during preparation of the manuscript,
we are grateful to D. R. Thompson and W. S. Churchill of the Wis¬
consin Conservation Division, Madison, and to A. Buckmann, M.
Gillbricht and G. Hempel of the University of Hamburg, Germany.
References Cited
Burnet, A. M. R. 1959. Some observations on natural fluctuations of trout
population numbers. N. Z. J. Sci. 2:410-421.
Davis, D. E. 1957. The existence of cycles. Ecology 38(1) : 163-164.
Hunt, R. L. 1964. Evaluation of fly-fishing-only at Lawrence Creek (a three-
year progress report). Misc. Res. Rept. No. 10 (Fisheries). Wis. Conserv.
Dept., Madison, Wis. (mimeo).
- . 1965. Dispersal of wild brook trout during their first summer of
life. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 94 (2) :186-188.
- . 1966. Production and angler harvest of wild brook trout in Law¬
rence Creek, Wisconsin. Tech. Bull. No. 35. Wis. Conserv. Dept., Madison,
Wis.
- , and O. M. Brynildson. 1964. A five-year study of a headwaters
trout refuge. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 93 (2) : 194-197.
- , O. M. Brynildson and J. T. McFadden. 1962. Effects of angling
regulations on a wild brook trout fishery. Tech. Bull. No. 26. Wis. Conserv.
Dept., Madison, Wis.
Keith, L. 1962. Wildlife’s ten-year cycle. University of Wisconsin Press.
LeCren, E. D. 1965. Some factors regulating the size of populations of fresh¬
water fish. Mitt. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 13:88-105.
1969] White and Hunt — Fluctuations in Brook Trout
153
McFadden, J. T. 1961. A population study of the brook trout, Salvelinus
fontinalis . Wildl. Monog. No. 7.
- . (In press.) Dynamics and regulation of salmonid populations in
streams. A symposium, “Salmon and Trout in Streams”, sponsored by
the H. R. MacMillan Lectures in Fisheries at the University of British
Columbia, February 22-24, 1968.
Miller, R. B., and R. C. Thomas. 1957. Alberta’s “pothole” trout fisheries.
Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 86:216-218.
Neave, F. 1952. “Even-year” and “odd-year” pink salmon populations. Trans.
Roy. Soc. Canada XLVL: 55-70.
- . 1953. Principles affecting the size of pink and chum salmon popula¬
tions in British Columbia. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Can. 9 (9) :450-491.
Ricker, W. E. 1950. Cycle dominance among the Fraser sockeye. Ecology 31:
6-26.
Smith, M. W. 1956. Further improvement of trout angling at Crecy Lake,
New Brunswick, with predator control extended to large trout. Can. Fish
Culturist 19:13-16.
Tarzwell, C. M. 1937. Experimental evidence on the value of trout stream im¬
provement in Michigan. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 66:177-187.
Thompson, D. F. 1941. The fish production of inland streams and lakes. In A
symposium on hydrobiology. Univ. of Wis. Press: 206-217.
White, H. C. 1924. A quantitative determination of the number of survivors
from planting 5,000 trout fry in each of two streams. Contr. Can. Biol.
Fish. n. s. 2(9) : 137-139.
- . 1927. A preliminary report on trout investigation in Forbes Brook
P. E. I. in 1925 and 1926. Contr. Can. Biol. Fish. n. s. 3(15) :365-376.
- . 1930. Trout fry planting experiments in Forbes Brook P. E. I. in
1928. Contr. Can. Biol. Fish. n. s. 5 (8) : 203-212.
DISTRIBUTION, STANDING CROPS, AND DRIFT OF
BENTHIC INVERTEBRATES IN A SMALL WISCONSIN STREAM'
John J. Peter ka?
Department of Natural Sciences
Wisconsin State University
Platteville , Wisconsin
Abstract
Bottom samples showed genera of Tricorythodes , Stenonema ,
Cheumatopsyche and Chimarra occurred more frequently at down¬
stream than upstream stations, while Neophylctx occurred only
near the main spring. Principal organisms found in the stream
drift were Gammarus pseudolimneaus Bousfield and Baetis vagans
McDunnough. Both had higher drift rates at night than during
the day. Total stream drift of Gammarus caught upstream
apparently did not affect the drift caught 152 m downstream.
Introduction
The many small spring-fed streams in southwestern Wisconsin
appear to be excellent for studies of the ecology of an entire stream
and its watershed. They are short (some less than 800 m) and
narrow (some 0.3 m wide) ; they receive a constant supply of
spring water ; and they appear productive in benthic invertebrates.
The purpose of this study, undertaken in one such stream, was
(1) to determine the standing crops of its principal organisms
and (2) to measure the kinds and quantities of organisms (drift)
carried by the stream current.
Stream drift, an important source of food to fishes, has been
reported by Needham (1938), Bendy (1944), Waters (1962 a),
Miller (1963), and others. Waters (1962 b) used drift rates and
standing crop measurements to determine the production of inver¬
tebrates appearing in the drift. The feasibility of using his method
in this stream was examined.
1 A grant from the Research Board of the State Universities of Wisconsin supported
the research.
2 Present address : Division of Natural Sciences, North Dakota State University,
Fargo, North Dakota 58102.
155
156 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Description of the Stream
Samples were taken from Bear Branch (local name), a small
stream in Grant County, Wis. (T3N, R2W, Sec. 32). The stream
flows south and receives a constant supply of water from a spring
located 1,675 m from the mouth at the Little Platte river. Stream
widths range from .6 to 2.5 m. Average depths in riffle areas are
7 to 10 cm. Following rainstorms, water levels had extreme fluctu¬
ations. A normal discharge rate, during October 1965, was 0.21
m3/sec. Above the spring, the stream is often dry and no samples
were taken there.
The temperature of the spring water is fairly constant through¬
out the year, ranging from 9.0 to 9.5°C in 1965. During the sum¬
mer, water temperatures increased rapidly downstream from the
spring. For example, on 1 August 1965, temperatures were 14.0,
16.5, 19.0, 23.0, 24.0 and 28.0°C at the respective distances below
the spring of 180, 240, 300, 485, 850 m and at the mouth. In the
winter, relatively warm spring water resulted in higher tempera¬
tures near the spring than downstream. On 24 January 1965, the
temperature dropped from 9.0°C at the spring to 7.0 and 4.0°C at
240 and 850 m, respectively, below the spring.
Because the stream is shallow, water temperatures fluctuate
during the day. At 240 m below the spring, they were 13 to 15 °C
October 16, 8 to 10°C October 23, and 8 to 9°C November 19, 1965.
Total alkalinity of the stream water during July 1966 ranged
from 303 to 308 ppm, as determined by titration with .02N H2S04,
and methyl orange as an indicator.
The upper 300 m of the stream is relatively straight, with pools,
riffles and a growth of watercress, Nasturtium officinale. Below
this, the stream meanders and widens. No trees or shrubs overhang
it, and its banks are well-cropped by cattle.
Materials and Methods
Bottom samples were collected in riffle areas of the stream with
a sampler (Waters and Knapp, 1961), which encompassed 0.1 m2
of bottom; the mesh size of its net was 256 jn. Three stations were
sampled. Stations 1 and 4, located 60 and 240 m, respectively,
below the spring, will be referred to collectively as upstream areas ;
station 15, 910 m below the spring, as the downstream area.
Organisms found in the drift were captured with stationary nets
(Waters, 1962 a,b) . Each was made of 256 ^ mesh Nytex3 nylon
netting, and fitted to a 0.3 X 0.2 m frame made of brass welding
8 Trademark of Tobler, Ernst and Traber, Inc., New York.
1969] Peterka — Invertebrates in Small Wisconsin Stream 157
rod. The nets were held in place by iron rods driven into the
stream bed.
To establish the total daily drift passing from riffle areas, the
stream was completely blocked by drift nets at the downstream
end of the station 4 riffle for 24-hr periods on 7 June, 31 August-
1 September and 22-23 October 1966, and at the downstream end
of a riffle at station 2 (91 m below the spring) on 7 June. The nets
were lifted, emptied and replaced in intervals usually ranging from
1 to 3 hrs.
Wet weights were determined by centrifuging the organisms in
wire-mesh cones to remove surface moisture, and then weighing
them to the nearest 0.0001 g on an optical analytic balance.
Samples were preserved in 5% formalin and no corrections were
made for weight loss caused by preservation.
Results
Qualitative Analysis of Bottom Samples
Invertebrates found in bottom samples from one station were
sometimes scarce or absent at others. Nymphs of mayflies belong¬
ing to the genera Tricorythodes and Stenonema were common at
station 15, infrequent at station 1 and absent at station 4 (Table
1). Those found at station 1 were probably carried from above the
spring, where cursory inspection indicated their presence. The
species Baetis vagans McDonnough, dominant mayfly nymph of
the upstream stations, was less frequent and abundant downstream.
Table 1. Percent Frequency Occurrence of Invertebrates Found in 0.1 m2
Bottom Samples Taken from September 1965 Through April 1966
158 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 57
Of the Trichoptera larvae, the genera Cheumatopsyche and
Chimarra were found more frequently downstream than upstream.
Hydropsyche occurred with about equal frequency in both areas.
Neophylax was restricted to station 1. Gammarus pseudolimnaeus
Bousfield was always present in upstream areas, but less frequent
downstream.
There was no detectable difference among stations in the fre¬
quency occurrence of the other major groups of organisms in the
bottom samples: Turbellaria (Dugesia) ; Annelida (Enchytraei-
dae) ; Decapoda (Orconectes) ; Hydracarina; Hemiptera; Megalop-
tera (Sialis) ; Coleoptra (Elmidae, Dytiscidae) ; Diptera (Chry-
sops, Tipula, Antocha, Limnophora, Atherix) ; Simuliidae;
Tendipedidae ; Gastropoda ( Physa, Limnaea, Ferissia); and Pele-
cypoda (Sphaerium).
Quantitative Analysis of Bottom Samples
At station 1, Gammarus comprised 51% of the total weight of
11 combined samples, trichopteran larvae, 38%, Baetis, 2%. The
remaining 9% was mostly chironomid larvae.
At station 4, Gammarus comprised 22% and trichopteran larvae
63% of the combined weight of 21 samples. Baetis comprised 2%;
the remaining 13% was largely chironomid larvae.
At station 15, Gammarus comprised only 6%, trichopteran lar¬
vae 62%, mayfly nymphs 1% of the combined weight of 4 samples.
The remaining 31% was mostly dipteran larvae of which chirono¬
mid larvae contributed a little more than half.
In the upstream areas, the maximum standing crop for any one
sample collected from 11 September 1965 to 4 April 1966 was
0.36 g/0.1 m2 at station 4 for Baetis nymphs on 2 April 1966. Two
major emergences of Baetis were directly observed: one from late
October through November and another from early April to early
May. The maximum standing crop for trichopteran larvae, mostly
Hydropsyche, was 7.4 g/0.1 m2 at station 4 on 15 January 1966.
For Gammarus, the maximum standing crop was 2.5 g/0.1 m2 at
station 4 on 14 November 1965 and 6 February 1966.
Measurement of Drift
Gammarus and Baetis nymphs were the major components of
the drift. Other organisms included chironomid larvae and adults
and occasionally other dipteran larvae. Fig. 1 shows the hourly
drift rates of Gammarus and Baetis on 7 June 1966, indicating
greater total drift at night for both species. Drift rates of Gam¬
marus were nearly identical at stations 2 and 4 (Fig. 1, Table 2),
1969] Peterka — Invertebrates in Small Wisconsin Stream 159
Figure 1. Drift rates of Gammarus and Baetis in
g/hr at station 2 (solid line) and station 4 (broken
line) on 7 June 1966. Stippled area indicates time of
daylight.
whereas the hourly drift rates of Baetis were generally larger at
station 2 than at 4.
The average standing crops, determined from two bottom
samples taken at each station on 8 June 1966 were 0.10 (range
0.067 to 0.126 g) and 0.03 (range 0.040 to 0.019) g/0.1 m2 for
Baetis at stations 2 and 4, respectively; and 1.48 (range 0.12 to
2.85) and 1.21 (range 0.658 to 1.754) g/0.1 m2 for Gammarus at
stations 2 and 4, respectively. The higher drift rates of Baetis at
station 2 may be the result of higher standing crop at that station,
while the nearly uniform drift rates of Gammarus correspond to
nearly identical standing crops at both stations.
The total stream drift of Gammarus is less variable than that
of Baetis (Table 2), ranging from 2.7 to 13.3 g per day, a factor
160 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Table 2. Total Stream Drift (g/day) of Gammarus and Baetis, for
Three 24-hr Periods, 1966
Total Stream Drift in G/Day
*No samples taken.
of approximately 5; whereas the total stream drift of Baetis
ranged from 0.34 to 5.00 g per day, a factor of approximately 15.
Discussion
Tricorythodes, Stenonema, Cheumatopsyche, and Chimarra were
more frequent at downstream than at upstream stations, while
Neophylax occurred only near the spring. The principal organisms
found in the stream drift were Gammarus and Baetis . While Gam¬
marus is abundant in the drift during most of the year, Baetis
occurs in significant quantities only during late winter — early
spring and late summer— early fall, periods just preceding major
emergences. The maximum standing crop of Baetis of 3.6 g/m2
reported in this study is low when compared with the maximum
standing crop of 10.0 g/m2 reported in Valley Creek, Minn.
(Waters, 1962 b). These low standing crops may limit the use of
the drift method (Waters, 1962 b) for estimating production rates
in Bear Branch.
A diurnal periodicity of drift rates for both Gammarus and
Baetis agrees with results reported by several workers and
reviewed by Waters (1965). A clearer picture of the diurnal
periodicity might have resulted in this study if shorter sampling
intervals had been used and if possible disturbances by cattle in
the stream had been eliminated.
The complete blockage of the stream with drift nets at station 2
on 7 June 1966 did not influence the drift of Gammarus entering
the nets which also completely blocked the stream at station 4. This
suggests the drift is not accumulative from upstream to down¬
stream areas for distances of at least 152 m.
1969] Peterka — Invertebrates in Small Wisconsin Stream 161
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Robert F. Meyers for his help in collecting and
processing the data and Bryon L. Stephens for his permission to
conduct the study on his land.
Literature Cited
Dendy, J. S. 1944. The fate of animals in stream drift when carried into
lakes. Ecol. Monogr. 14:333-357.
Muller, Karl. 1963. Diurnal rhythm in “organic drift” of Gammarus pulex .
Nature. 198:806-807.
Needham, P. R. 1938. Trout streams. Comstock Pub. Co., Ithaca, New York.
233 pp.
Waters, T. F. 1961. Standing crop and drift of stream bottom organisms.
Ecology. 42:532-537.
- . 1962 a. Diurnal periodicity in the drift of stream invertebrates. Ecol¬
ogy. 43:316-320.
- . 1962 b. A method to estimate the production rate of a stream bottom
invertebrate. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 91(3) : 243-250.
- . 1965. Interpretation of invertebrate drift in streams. Ecology. 46(3) :
327-334.
- ., and R. J. Knapp. 1961. An improved stream bottom fauna sampler.
Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 90(2) : 225-226.
BIOLOGY OF THE COREIDAE IN WISCONSIN
T. R. Yonke 1 and J. T. Medler*
From July 1, 1962, through June 15, 1967, numerous observa¬
tions and collections were made of various members of the order
Hemiptera. Special interest centered around species in the alydid-
coreid-rhopalid complex. Much of the literature in these groups
has been of a taxonomic nature with relatively little or no work
reported on the biologies and held histories of the respective spe¬
cies. To fill this void in the knowledge of the Coreoidea a study
was initiated on the biologies and held histories of members of the
Alydidae, Rhopalidae and Coreidae that are found in Wisconsin.
Previously information was reported on the biologies of 4 spe¬
cies of Alydidae in Wisconsin, including Megalotomus quinque -
spinous (Say) (Yonke and Medler, 1965) ; Alydus conspersus
Montandon, A. eurinus (Say) and A. pilosulus Herrich-Schaeffer
(Yonke and Medler, 1968). Limited observations have been con¬
ducted on 2 Rhopalidae, Corizus crassicornis (Linnaeus) and Har-
mostes reflexulus (Say) (Yonke and Medler, 1967).
This is a report on the study of the Coreidae in Wisconsin. Ten
species have been recorded for the state. Three species were ex¬
tremely rare — Anasa armigera (Say), Chariesterus antennator
(Fabricius), and Leptoglossus oppositus (Say). Coriomeris humilis
Uhler and Merocoris distinctus Dallas were uncommon. Five spe¬
cies frequently encountered were Acanthocephala terminalis (Dal¬
las), Anasa tristis (DeGeer), Archimerus alternatus (Say),
Catorhintha mendica Stal, and Euthochtha galeator (Fabricius).
The hrst 4 species mentioned were not collected by the authors,
but were represented in the Department of Entomology Museum,
University of Wisconsin.
Of the latter 5 species the squash bug, A. tristis , has been thor¬
oughly studied. The squash bug is of economic importance on the
cucurbits. The most comprehensive work to date was that of Beard
(1940). Also, the biology of C. mendica has been adequately deter¬
mined (Balduf, 1942, 1957). For the other 8 species, however,
instructor, Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin. Presently Assistant
Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.
Information given in this paper was submitted in partial fulfillment of the require¬
ments for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Entomology at the University of
Wisconsin.
a Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
163
164 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
there is no published information on the biologies except for
Blatchley (1926) who presented only a few brief notes. The prin¬
cipal part of this text reports studies conducted on A. terminalis,
A. alternatus, and E. galeator.
Methods and Materials
Collection trips were made throughout southern Wisconsin from
April until December in order to obtain field information. The
principal collection sites were at Gibraltar Rock, Columbia County ;
Devils Lake State Park, Ferry Bluff and Parfreys Glen in Sauk
County; and Wyalusing State Park, Grant County.
Surveys were made by net-sweeping of prairie, woodland, and
disturbed “weedy” habitats to determine if the bugs were present.
If encountered, a more intensive search of the area was made to
determine the host plants and make observations.
The term, host plant, is used here to denote the actual feeding
of the bug on a particular plant in the field. A “collection record”
signifies only that the specimen was collected from a particular
plant which may or may not have been a host plant and for which
no feeding was observed.
A special attempt was made to collect parasitized specimens and
rear out the adult parasites. All adults and nymphs observed in
the field with Dipterous eggs on them were brought back to the
laboratory, and the specimens placed in rearing cartons where
they were held until the parasites emerged. Field collected eggs
were also placed in laboratory rearing cartons in an attempt to
obtain Hymenopterous parasites. All stages of coreids found in
the field were brought alive to the laboratory in Madison and
placed in 1 pint rearing containers. This technique was developed
by Scheel, Beck, and Medler (1956). The substitute food used in
the laboratory cartons consisted of fresh green beans (Fig. 1).
The food was changed 2 or 3 times a week or as needed. Nymphs
and adults of E. galeator and later instar nymphs and adults of
A. alternatus and A. terminalis fed well on this diet.
Rearings in the laboratory were used to complement field infor¬
mation and to some degree determine the biology of these bugs.
The term “laboratory biology” is employed to designate that the
bugs were reared under laboratory conditions and on a substitute
non-natural food. The cultures were maintained at room tempera¬
ture (25 ± 4°C), and approximately normal daylight.
Daily records were kept on preoviposition period, the number of
eggs produced, incubation period, oviposition period, time spent in
each instar, copulation frequency and duration, and adult longevity.
Notes were made on any peculiar or interesting habits exhibited
1969] Yonke and Medler — Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 165
Figure 1. Feeding aggregation of 7 second-instar nymphs of Euthochtlia
galeator on the laboratory diet of fresh green bean.
166 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
by these insects. The old cartons and cotton rolls were replaced
with fresh ones approximately every 3 weeks or as needed to re¬
duce contamination.
Results and Discussion
Acanthocephala terminalis (Dallas)
The main held study area for this species was at Ferry Bluff
(Sauk County) where it was collected from June through Septem¬
ber. Additional observations and collections were made at Wyalus-
ing State Park, Devils Lake State Park, and Parfreys Glen.
Figure 2 shows the seasonal occurrence of A. terminalis in south¬
ern Wisconsin during 1962-1967. There was 1 generation per
year. Adults appeared June 13 and were found throughout the
summer until September 24. Members of the overwintered genera¬
tion were collected and brought to the laboratory where gravid
females oviposited bright whitish eggs. No eggs or hrst-instar
nymphs could be found in the held; therefore, the data for these
stages were obtained from eggs laid by females while transporting
them to, or in, the laboratory. No eggs were oviposited by females
collected from the held after July 15. Of 47 eggs obtained in this
manner all but 2 hatched in from 7-14 days (x = 9.68). Data pre¬
sented for Instar 1 were determined by recording the dates of
eclosion. Second-instar nymphs were collected in the held from
June 30-August 11 ; third-instar nymphs from June 30-August 11 ;
fourth-instar nymphs from July 8-August 11; and hfth-instar
Adult
Insfar 5
Instar 4
a>
§* Instar 3
<s>
Instar 2
Acanthocephala terminalis (Dallas)
overwinter
t > m > t* 4 , i-4
M
'Instar 1
'Egg
30
July
Sept.
30
Oct.
Figure 2. Seasonal occurrence of Acanthocephala terminalis in Wisconsin,
1962-1967, showing inclusive dates and actual collection records (peaks).
1969] Yonke and Medler — Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 167
nymphs from July 23-September 24. Eggs and first- and second-
instar nymphs would have to occur in the field earlier, and third-
and fourth-instar nymphs later than figure 2 shows. Also, it was
expected that there was an overlap in late July and August of
the occurrence of the overwintered adults and the new summer
generation adults. Fifth-instar nymphs collected from the field and
brought into the laboratory began molting into the adult stage as
early as July 27. On August 10, 1966, 1 second-, 3 third-, 4 fourth-,
and 4 fifth-instar nymphs were collected on Vitis riparia Michx.
at Ferry Bluff.
Three host plants were established for the nymphs and adults of
A. terminals (Table 1). Four females were found at Wyalusing
State Park feeding on the tender shoots of staghorn sumac, Rhus
typhina L., on June 18, 1964; as was a second-instar nymph on
July 12, 1965. Second- through fifth-instar nymphs and adults were
collected over the entire season at Ferry Bluff from both V. riparia,
river grape, and Physocarpus opulifolius (L.) Maxim., nine-bark.
Fifth- instar nymphs and adults were also collected from V. riparia
at Parfreys Glen on August 18, 1966. Both nymphs and adults
were observed feeding on the succulent stems and petioles of these
plants. One fourth-instar nymph was found feeding on the upper
surface of a leaf of V. riparia.
Adults were easily disturbed and were very rapid fliers. Imma-
tures were occasionally found resting on the upper surfaces of
leaves but more frequently they were hidden under leaves or along
the main stems of the plants. This secretive habit along with their
dark color made them somewhat difficult to find. At no time were
they in great abundance.
Immatures and adults were also collected from Fraxinus sp.
(ash), Rubus (Eubatus) sp. (blackberry), Tilia americana L.
(basswood), Desmodium acuminatum (Muhl.) Wood (tick tree-
foil), TJlmus rubra Muhl. (slippery or red elm) (Table 1). No
feeding was observed in any of these instances so that no definite
host plant association could be made ; however, it was possible that
any or all were fed on and could have served as hosts.
No parasites were obtained from either nymphs or adults, and
no parasite eggs were found on any of the bugs.
Field collected specimens were brought to the laboratory and
placed on green beans in the cartons. Although individuals from
the first-instar nymph to the adult stage fed on this diet they did
not do well. Nymphal mortality was very high from the second-
instar through the fifth. Only 2 individuals went through their
entire development from egg to adult on beans. One female spent
3, 9, 6, 8, and 17 days in each of the 5 respective stadia for a total
of 43 days ; the other, a male, spent 4, 9, 7, 13, and 28 days in the
Table 1. Host Plant Kecords of Acanthocephala terminalis, Archimerus alternatus •, and Euthochtha galeator
168 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
><>< II I I I I I I X I I II I I II II X
r i h-- n i 101 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 ix 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 IX 1
I lx* I I XX II lx I lx 1 lx Ixx
I I I I I I I
ir\ ltn Lr\ w~\ w-\ ltn
a. 4
1 1 1
I I I I I I I I I I I IX I I I I I I I I I
tu
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I lx I I I
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ri 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
a .2
S23
<5,3
CO
E
•Z v.
so8
^ S'S-2
M i I
-O 50
a ^3
d£
^ *
. C fco
3-s‘a-e » §3-1
2 .3 ,9* a w S-q a
^ *0 cs S 2 c
b § IS ? d
a
■Cl <*>
o a
- s -
• • «0 3 Q C •
| o £ g g
dj 5
■S c »s
§
1 (Continued)
1969] Yonke and Medler — Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 169
,0 3
EE a
clt
^ - o
co VJ '•£ §
E 3 I ^
sS|§
a a a
aS.Q
a-fyc
O -3 ^ O- O r* O O g
- txo K ^ Q Q
3 o c J- <o§.5 3 •§ .§>■§* a
?*>~3 3 ^ ^ ~ ~o -o *^033 fc ~
Q,Q,0(0i^c<^a<c0c0c0c0bO2>
a 3 3 '
c
2 aw
3-2
^ ~o
3 a
3 <o
TJ
CO
>>
3
C
cn
CO
X,
a
E
>>
c
170 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
5 stages for a total of 61 days. Out of 66 adults, both field collected
and laboratory reared, 34 were males and 32 were females. The
time spent in nymphal development was 58.2 days (Table 2) based
on accumulated mean values. Values for Table 2 were compiled
primarily from data on second- through fifth-instar nymphs col¬
lected from the field and brought to the laboratory.
Growth ratios were fairly consistent (Yonke and Medler, In
Press, a). The closeness of fit for the values indicated a uniform
growth rate, and therefore tended to substantiate the data pre¬
sented in Table 2 on the time required for nymphal development.
However in comparing laboratory data from Table 2 with field
occurrence records in Figure 2, the time required for nymphal
development would appear to be longer in the laboratory than in
the field.
Anasa tristis (DeGeer)
The following observations in Wisconsin were consistent with
the biology of this species as determined by Beard (1940) in Con¬
necticut. The squash bug was not especially abundant in the state.
On July 23, 1963, 7 eggs wore collected from the upper surface
of a leaf of a squash plant. Four hatched on July 27, and 1 on
July 28. They molted to the second instar on July 30, but then
died. Two fifth-instar nymphs collected from squash plants on
September 17, 1963, molted to the adult on September 29.
Four adults were also collected and placed on green bean in the
laboratory. They were observed copulating frequently, but no eggs
were laid. They lived for 42, 183, and 190 days, respectively.
Eleven fourth- and fifth-instar nymphs and 4 adults were collected
from squash on September 21, 1963. A Dipterous larva emerged
from an adult squash bug and pupated on October 8. After 76
days an adult T. pennipes emerged. Another T. pennipes was
Table 2. Duration of Nymphal Stadia of Acanthocephala terminalis
in the Laboratory
1969] Yonke and Medler— Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 171
placed in the carton and the 2 were observed copulating twice;
however, no eggs were deposited on the coreids.
Archimerus alternatus (Say)
The main study areas for this species were at Parfreys Glen,
Wyalusing State Park, Ferry Bluff, Gibraltar Rock in Columbia
County, and Devils Lake State Park. This was the most abundant
species of the Coreidae found in Wisconsin.
Figure 3 shows the seasonal life history of A. alternatus in Wis¬
consin during 1962-1967. There was 1 generation per year with
overwintering in the adult stage. Adults were found continuously
from June 2-October 8. This species was well represented in the
museum collection of the Department of Entomology, University
of Wisconsin. These records showed its occurrence from May 12-
October 9. An overlap of overwintered adults and those of the new
summer generation probably occurred in late July and August
Eggs were found in the field on June 13, 15, 29, and July 1 and 13.
First-instar nymphs were collected in the field from June 28-
July 13; second-instar nymphs from June 18-August 11; third-
instar nymphs from June 29-August 27 ; fourth-instar nymphs
from July 8-September 1; and fifth-instar nymphs from July 15-
September 26. Eggs and first-instar nymphs would have to occur
in the field earlier and first-and fourth—instar nymphs later than
is shown in Figure 3.
Table 1 lists the plants on which eggs, nymphs, and adults of
A. alternatus were collected in Wisconsin from 1964-1967. Adults
Archimerus alternatus (Say)
A . .a. . . 1 OVERWINTER
Instar 5
Instar 4
q Instar 3
uj
Instar 2
▲
M
Instar 1
Egg
10 20 30 10 20 31 10 20 31 10 20 30 10 20
June July Aug. Sept. Oct.
Figure 3. Seasonal occurrence of Archimerus alternatus in Wisconsin, 1962-
1967, showing inclusive dates and actual collection records (peaks).
172 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
of this species tended to aggregate on certain species of plants in
June. On June 13, numerous adults were found copulating on rag¬
weed, Ambrosia trifida L., and goldenrod, both Solidago gigantea
Ait. and S. altissima. Adults were found feeding in the apical
region of the stem of S. altissima. These plants grew in open
fields or near the edges of woods. On June 14, 1966, in a stand of
oak with a maple-basswood understory located 5 miles south of
Platteville in Grant County, 4 pair of adults were found feeding
on Aster sagittifolius Willd. (Figure 4) and 1 male on bedstraw,
Galium concinnum T. & G. However, no eggs were found on any
of the plants in the area. In an open area at Parfreys Glen on
July 15, more than 40 adults were found on a group of Desmodium
acuminatum (Muhl.) Wood plants. From 2 to 7 adults were found
feeding a few inches below the apex of each of the developing
stems. Their feeding caused wilting and death of the stem. Many
pairs of adults were copulating and 7 individually laid eggs were
found, of which 2 were on the upper surface and 5 on the under
surface of leaves of D. acuminatum. They were collected and
brought to the laboratory where they hatched— 2 on July 28 and
30, and July 1, and 1 on July 2. Adults continued to be found
predominantly on D. acuminatum throughout the entire season.
This same group of plants was examined on July 16, 1966, and
over 30 adults, but no eggs, were found. An abundance of adults
were also found on them on June 24 of that year. These observa¬
tions would indicate that A. alternatus migrated to D. acuminatum
in June. Oviposition occurred primarily on these plants, but eggs
could also be found scattered over plants growing nearby. One egg
was found on the stem of Agrimonia gryposepala Wallr. growing
right next to the clump of D. acuminatum. Females also frequently
oviposited on the dorsal surfaces of the head, thorax or wings of
other females or males in the vicinity. The eggs would be carried
on these adults until they hatched. This would undoubtedly aid in
dispersal of the insect.
Adults were also found feeding on horse-mint, Monarda fistulosa
L., and the sunflower, Helianthus decapetalus L., in June. In addi¬
tion adults were collected from, but not observed feeding on, Aster
sp. and Robinia pseudoacacia L. in June. One egg was found on
the underside of a leaf of may apple, Podophyllum peltatum L.
Nymphs were predominant in the months of July and August.
That the second through fifth nymphal stages were especially
abundant on D. acuminatum (Table 1) was indicated by the re¬
spective numbers present: July 7, 1965, 13 second- and 1 third-
instar nymphs; July 8, 1964, 6 second-, 29 third- and 9 fourth-
instar nymphs; July 8, 1966, 44 second- and 3 third-instar nymphs;
July 22, 1966, 17 second-, 21 third-, and 1 fourth-instar nymphs;
1969] Yonke and Medler— Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 173
Figure 4. Archimerus alternatus adults feeding on Aster sagittifolius on June
13, 1966, Grant County, Wisconsin.
174 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
August 3, 1965, 1 second-, 10 third-, and 16 fourth-instar nymphs;
and on August 24, 1966, 8 fourth- and 58 fifth-instar nymphs. Two
other legumes also served as host for second- through fifth-instar
nymphs. They were readily found on hog-peanut, Amphicarpa
bracteata, (L.) Fern, and fourth- and fifth-instar nymphs less fre¬
quently on D. dellenii Dari. On August 18, 1966, 5 fourth- and
fifth-instar nymphs were found feeding on the latter species in
the apical portion of the stem and on leaf petioles. Nymphs in all
stages were generally found in a resting position, inclined anterior
to posterior at about a 30° angle, whenever they were not feeding.
First- through fourth-instar nymphs appeared to be obligopha-
gous. In contrast, fifth-instar nymphs exhibited an interesting
feeding habit in that the number of host plant species that they
fed on increased, therefore, being similar to the polyphagous habits
of the adult stage.
It was not until the fifth-instar that nymphs appeared to move
about much over the vegetation. No early-instar nymphs were
found on any plants except the host plants as previously noted.
However, fifth-instar nymphs were found resting and feeding on
ragweed, both A. art emisii folia L. and A. trifida; on honewort,
Cryptotaenia canadensis (L.) D. C. ; and on D. canadense (L.)
D. C. On September 1, 1966, they were observed feeding on white
snakeroot, Eupatorium rug o sum Houtt. Also, many fifth-instar
nymphs continued to feed on D. acuminatum even after seeds were
produced (Fig. 5) .
The distribution of A. alternatus may eventually be shown to
coincide with the distribution of D. acuminatum. This would be
over the entire eastern United States and include the southern
two-thirds of Wisconsin (Fassett, 1939).
Adults collected in September were found feeding on the daisy,
E. annus and on skunk cabbage, Symplo carpus foetidus (L.) Nutt.
Adults were also found on Aster sp., A. trifida, and Solidago spp.
The reactions of all of the plants were similar where feeding
pressure was great, that is, where 2 or more bugs fed for a pro¬
longed period. Adults feeding in June (Figure 4) and second-
through fifth-instar nymphs were all found to produce the same
effect. The terminal portion of from 2 to 6 inches above the feed¬
ing loci gradually turned black and died. Where feeding pressure
was severe early enough in the season no flower or seed production
occurred.
Adults exhibited a death feign whenever they were disturbed.
They would drop from the plants and remain motionless in the
litter for as long as 5 minutes.
Two new parasite records were obtained from eggs of A. alter¬
natus. Two eggs of this species were collected at Wyalusing State
1969] Yonke and Medler— Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 175
Figure 5. Fifth-instar nymph of Archimerus alternate feeding- on the seed
petiole of host, Desmodium acuminatum.
176 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Park on June 29, 1964. One was from the underside of a leaf of
may apple. From it 7 Hymenopterous parasites, both males and
females, of Ooencyrtus clisiocampae (Ashm.) (Encyrtidae) ,
emerged on July 12. These adults were placed in a rearing carton
with 5 eggs of A. alternatus oviposited in the laboratory and an¬
other generation of parasites was obtained from these eggs. Egg
parasitism will be discussed in greater detail under Euthochtha
galeator.
Another Hymenopterous parasite, a female Anastatus pearsalli
Ashm., emerged from the other field collected egg of A. alternatus.
The date of emergence was not known. On July 13, 1965, while
collecting along a roadside 3 miles west of Sauk City 1 egg of
A. alternatus was found on a blade of grass. It was brought to
the laboratory and on September 8, 1965, a female A. pearsalli
emerged.
Six adult T. pennipes were reared from A. alternatus in Wiscon¬
sin. The only previous report of this parasite-host relationship was
given by Patton (1958) who listed it from Florida.
The following specimens were all obtained at Wyalusing State
Park. One female collected on June 14, 1963, produced a Dipterous
larva on June 22. It spent 11 days in the pupal stage and emerged
into an adult on July 3. A male collected on June 18, 1964, pro¬
duced a larva on June 22, which spent 12 days in pupation before
it emerged an adult. Another male collected August 5, 1964, pro¬
duced a larva on August 11. It spent 14 days in pupation. In addi¬
tion 3 T. pennipes adults were obtained from field collected fourth-
or fifth-instar nymphs that were reared to the adult stage in the
laboratory. The parasites emerged on August 17 and 24, and Sep¬
tember 9, and spent 13, 12, and 16 days, respectively, in pupation.
Upon examination of the exuviae of these bugs no parasite eggs
were found, indicating that they had been parasitized in the field
at least 1 instar prior to when they were collected. They then
molted and carried the larva with them until they emerged an
adult. The presence of the parasite, therefore, does not necessarily
result in the death of the nymph. This is consistent with the ob¬
servations of Beard (1940) on the behavior of the larva in nymphs
of the squash bugs.
Out of 27 second- and third-instar nymphs collected on June 29,
1964, at Wyalusing State Park, 2 second-instar nymphs were each
found to have 1 Dipterous parasite egg on the dorsal surface of
the abdomen. One molted to the third instar on July 1, and the
other on July 2, leaving the parasite eggs on their cast skins. Ex¬
amination under the microscope showed that 1 was in the process
of cutting its way out of the egg and the other was still intact
1969] Yonke and Medler — Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 177
within the egg. These eggs fit the description of Worthley (1924)
for T. pennipes and were probably of that species.
Trichopoda pennipes adults mated in the rearing cartons and 1
female deposited 15 eggs on an adult female of A. alternatus. A
Dipterous larva emerged after 15 days, pupated, and spent 15
days in the pupal stage before molting into an adult.
Desmodium acuminatum plants were collected from the field on
July 16, 1965, placed in pots, and brought into the laboratory to
facilitate observation of the behavior of the first 3 instars of A.
alternatus.
Groups of 5 bugs which hatched on the same day and were all
of the same instar were placed on each set of plants. A set con¬
sisted of 3 to 5 stems per pot. Three groups of 5 first-instar nymphs
each were placed on the upper surfaces of the leaves of 3 sets of
plants. All 15 bugs remained for 3 or 4 days on the leaves where
they were placed. Three of the 15 were observed with their stylets
inserted through the leaf surface, and most nymphs showed a dis¬
tended abdomen indicating that they fed in the first instar. Shortly
after molting, the second-instar nymphs began to migrate over the
plants. Eight were feeding on the petioles of the flowers or seeds
within 1 day after molting. The other 7 nymphs escaped from the
plants.
Second- and third-instar nymphs after being removed from the
rearing cartons and placed on the leaves immediately began moving
over the plants, but again they were always found feeding on the
stem or petioles within 2 days after release.
On July 2, 1966, plants of D. acuminatum were collected from
the field, potted, and brought into the laboratory. They were placed
in 1 of 2 rearing cages. Again nymphs were observed. Five first-
instar nymphs from the laboratory cartons and 2 second-instar
nymphs collected the same day from the field were released on
the bottom of the cage. The first instars remained there for 2 days
and then moved onto the plants and took the “resting position” on
the undersides of leaves. However, within 10 minutes 1 of the
second-instar nymphs had moved onto the plant and began feeding
on the main stem about 4 inches down from the tip of the 18-inch
long stem. Two days later the other second-instar nymph assumed
a position immediately next to the first. The 2 bugs remained
together for 3 more days before moving. Behavior of the third-
instar nymphs was similar to that of the second.
Nymphs and adults would gather together and feed at about the
same position on the stem even though other stems in the same
set of plants were free of any bugs. This aggregation behavior
was found in the field. It was also found in the laboratory on
D. acuminatum in the rearing cages, and on green bean in the
178 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
rearing cartons (Figure 6). The bugs produced the same feeding
stress on the plants grown in the laboratory as was found in the
field, causing the apical portions of the stems to die above the
feeding loci.
Some observations were conducted on these bugs in the rearing
cartons in the laboratory. Third- through fifth-instar nymphs and
adults fed well on green beans; however, the development of the
second-instar nymphs on this diet was impaired.
Cultures were established each year from eggs obtained from
females or nymphs collected in the field in June. Adults were ob¬
served copulating frequently in the rearing cartons. Eggs of this
species were oviposited singly as were those of A. terminalis.
Heidemann (1911) reported that the eggs of Ar chimeras calcara-
tor (Fabricius) were laid in a row, but not joined. Although oc¬
casionally A. alternatus would lay a few eggs in an irregular row
there was no definite oviposition pattern. He also reported 14
“chorial processes” for the egg. The number of micropylar proc¬
esses found for A. alternatus were considerably greater, as noted
under the description of the egg of this species (Yonke and Med-
ler, In press b). A mean of 2.1 eggs per day (n = 17, range = 1.0-
4.5) were oviposited by females in the laboratory, with a mean
value of 57 eggs (n = 17, range = 10-128) for the total number
of eggs oviposited per female. The maximum number of eggs laid
in any 1 day by a single female was 15. The mean oviposition
period was 37.2 days (n = 17, range = 5-120). Although it may
not be applicable to a univoltine species overwintering in the adult
stage, a mean preoviposition period of 33.5 days (n = 17, range =
22-58) was observed in the laboratory.
The mean incubation period of 67 eggs was 13.4 days with a
range of from 10-20 days. Out of 258 eggs oviposited in the labo¬
ratory 85.3% hatched.
Eclosion took place by means of a pseudopercular cap. The bug
forced it open by means of a series of pulsating movements. The
cap split first at its most ventral point and then proceeded posterio-
dorsally. This took only a few minutes.
Nymphal development took 48.6 days (Table 3) based on an
accumulation of the means. The values, except for those of Instar
2, employed in construction of Table 3 were obtained from observa¬
tions on nymphs feeding on green beans in the rearing cartons.
Since this species did not develop from egg through to adult on
beans the values for Instar 2 were obtained from observations of
second-instar nymphs that developed on D, acuminatum in the
laboratory rearing cages. The time spent in nymphal development
agreed favorably with the data presented on seasonal history in
Figure 3.
1969] Yonke and Medler — Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin
179
Figure 6. Feeding aggregation of 8 second-instar nymphs of Archimerus
alternatus on the laboratory diet of fresh green beans.
180 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Table 3. Duration of Nymphal Stadia of Archimerus alternatus
in the Laboratory
1Values presented for Instar 2 were taken from observations of the bugs on Desmodium
acuminatum in rearing cages.
The growth ratios were very constant for this species. (Yonke
and Medler, In press b). The closeness of fit for the values indi¬
cated a uniform growth rate and, therefore, tended to substantiate
the data presented in Table 3.
Out of 484 adults either collected in the field or reared in the
laboratory 231 were males and 253 were females.
Deformed antennae in the form of a reduction in the size and
number of segments were observed on some bugs reared in the
laboratory. It was thought that this might have been due to the
non-host diet. However, examination of field collected adults also
produced specimens with similar abnormalities.
Catorhintha mendica Stal
Adults, eggs, and nymphs were collected from Mirabilis nycta -
ginea growing on railroad embankments in Dane, Jefferson, Rock,
and Sauk counties. They were not found on any other plant. Early-
instar nymphs were collected from under the involucral bracts
which enclosed the flowers and seeds, and later-instar nymphs fed
on the petioles. Additional observations of this bug and its host
were made at Kankakee, Illinois. On September 3, 1966, many
adults and 151 nymphs were collected of which there were — 1 first-,
8 second-, 56 third-, 78 fourth-, and 9 fifth-instar nymphs. Adults
and nymphs were collected from the field and brought alive to
the laboratory where they were placed on green beans. Adults fed
readily and lived from 3-85 days, but the nymphs did not survive.
Females laid from 2-7 eggs per batch (n = 20, x — 3.5). They
hatched in from 5-8 days (n — 28, x = 6.4). These data are in
agreement with the data presented by Balduf (1942) for this
species.
1969] Yonke and Medler — Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 181
Euthochtha galeator (Fabricius)
The main field study area for this species was at Parfrey’s Glen.
Additional observations and collections were made at Wyalusing
State Park, as well as a few other locations.
Figure 7 shows the seasonal occurrence of E . galeator in Wis¬
consin during 1962-1967. There was 1 generation a year with
overwintering in the adult stage. Adults were found from May 25-
October 8. No adults were found between July 6 and August 11
indicating that the overwintered adults died off at about that time.
This species was well represented in the museum collection of the
Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin. These rec¬
ords showed its occurrence from May 5-October 27. There were
no records between July 13 and August 6. Field collected nymphs
brought back to and reared in the laboratory began molting into
the adult stage on July 25.
Eggs were found in the field from June 13-July 20. First-instar
nymphs were collected in the field from June 13-July 13; second-
instar nymphs from June 13-August 3; third-instar nymphs from
July 13-August 10; fourth-instar nymphs from July 18-August
10; and fifth-instar nymphs from July 24-September 19. Eggs and
first-instar nymphs would have to occur in the field earlier, and
third- and fourth-instar nymphs later than Figure 7 shows.
On June 13, 1963, while collecting at Wyalusing State Park, 13
eggs and first-instar nymphs of E. galeator were found on the
upper surface of a leaf of Aster ericoides L. growing in an open
field. The bright red nymphs were still aggregated about the eggs
Euthochtha galeator (Fabricius)
Adult
Instar 5
Instar 4
<D
0> . ^
0 Instar 3
Cn
Instar 2
Instar 1
4 OVERWINTER
Egg
21 31 10 20 30 10 20 31 10 20 31 10 20 30 10 20
May June July Aug Sept Oct.
Figure 7. Seasonal occurrence of Euthochtha galeator in Wisconsin from
1962-1967 (peaks).
182 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
when they were collected. On the same date a cluster of 18 more
eggs were found on Urtica dioica L., nettle. They were brought
back to the laboratory and placed in a rearing carton. Eight first-
instar nymphs hatched on June 29 and 1 on June 30. Also on June
28, 12 encyrtid parasites, 0. anasae (Ashm.), emerged from 4 of
these eggs. This constituted a new host record for 0. anasae, there
being no previous published association of this parasite and host.
These adults were placed in a carton with eggs of E. galeator ob¬
tained from females in the laboratory. The adult parasites died by
July 20, and were removed from the carton. On July 80, the eggs
were examined under the microscope and found to have many
small oval masses about the inner surfaces of the chorions. They
also were dark in color, in contrast to the reddish or gold color of
the normal eggs. More than 70 adult parasites emerged from the
eggs on August 1 ; 17 more parasites on August 2 ; 4 on August 4 ;
and 1 on August 5. Some parasites escaped from the carton so an
exact count could not be made. Both males and females of 0. anasae
were obtained. An unsuccessful attempt was made to obtain an¬
other laboratory generation of parasites.
Six eggs of E. galeator were found on June 16, 1964, on a blade
of grass growing on the sandy bank along the Wisconsin river at
the Mazomanie Wildlife Refuge, Dane County. They were posi¬
tioned in a line, end to end. Five hatched on June 22 and 1 on
June 23.
On July 10, 1965, 6 eggs were found oviposited on the upper
surface of a leaf of wild plum, Prunus americana Marsh. Closer
observations revealed slightly raised brown spots on the leaf where
7 more eggs had been laid but were no longer attached. One adult
Hymenopterous parasite, Anastatus pearsalli, emerged from 1 egg
of E. galeator on August 11, and 5 more emerged, each from a
single egg, on August 12. Anastatus pearsalli failed to parasitize
laboratory reared eggs and they died by August 14.
Two additional batches of eggs were found. In 1 there were 11
eggs that had already hatched, and in the other there were 14 eggs.
Ten eggs of the latter batch hatched in the laboratory on July 16,
and 4 hatched on July 17. All 3 batches of eggs were found in a
disturbed weedy habitat at Parfrey’s Glen. In the same area on
July 13, 1965, 8 first-instar nymphs were observed in aggregation
resting on the upper surface of a leaf of Rhus glabra L. and 9 eggs
that had hatched were found on the underside of the leaf.
On July 12, 1964, 7 encyrtid parasites, 0. clisiocampae, obtained
from an egg of A. alternatus collected in the field on June 29, 1964,
were placed in a rearing carton with 20 laboratory eggs of E.
galeator. The parasites were observed on the eggs and on July 27,
numerous parasites emerged from all 20 E. galeator eggs. A total
1969] Yonke and Medler — Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 183
of 124 parasites were obtained from these and 5 additional labora¬
tory eggs of A. alternatus which were also present in the carton.
Six host plants were found for nymphs and adults of E. galeator
(Table 1). They were determined by observations of the bug feed¬
ing on the respective plants in the field. The host plants were
Agrimonia gryposepala Wallr. or roots fibrous, Achillea mille¬
folium L., Aster pilosus Willd., M. fistulosa or horsemint, D. acu¬
minatum, and Quercus ellipsoidalis E. J. Hill. Of these plants,
adults were found feeding and copulating most frequently on A.
gryposepala. Since adults had been found frequently at Parfrey’s
Glen on A. gryposepala in June of 1966, special trips were made
in June of 1967 to see if the bugs could be located on these plants
again. On June 4, 4 pairs of bugs were found on 4 separate clones
of A. gryposepala, 5 were feeding and 2 pair were copulating. On
June 15 another pair was found copulating on this plant.
While a male E. galeator was being observed feeding on a petiole
of A. millefolium, a female flew to the plant and approached the
male, but flew away when disturbed. Adults were often found in
June resting on the leaves of composites. Both males and females
were swept with a net from Solidago altissima Mill, on June 13,
1966, at the Mt. Hope Conservation Area in Grant County.
Second-instar nymphs were found feeding on Q. ellipsoidalis
and D. acuminatum and fifth-instar nymphs on A. pilosus and A.
gryposepala.
Nymphs and adults were collected also from A. bracteata,
Aureolaria grandiflora var pulchra (Benth.) Pennell, Cary a sp.,
and Ulmus rubra Muhl. Therefore, it would appear that E. galeator
is not monophagous, but rather can and does utilize a number of
host plants representing different families.
Adults exhibited a death feign. Whenever disturbed they would
either drop from the plant and remain motionless, or fly away
quickly.
Nine adult Dipterous parasites, T. pennipes, were reared in the
laboratory from 4 male and 5 female field collected adults. There
were no previous published records of T. pennipes from E. galea¬
tor. Four parasites were obtained from adults collected at Parfreys
Glen on June 24, 1966. Larvae emerged from the bugs and pupated
on June 27, July 2, 10, and 20, 1966; and spent 18, 15, 14, and
20 days respectively, in their pupal stages. Adult parasites did
not live longer than 7 days and although they were observed copu¬
lating they did not oviposite on the bugs in the rearing cartons.
One female E. galeator that was parasitized laid 3 batches of 19,
10, and 12 viable eggs. A female and a male collected on July 1,
1966, each produced a parasite on July 6 and 12, respectively.
184 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
The 1 obtained from the female emerged an adult on July 26, but
that from the male died in the pupal stage.
On August 4, 1964, a fifth-instar nymph of E. galeator was col¬
lected at Parfreys Glen and brought to the laboratory where it
molted into an adult male on August 25. On September 3, a Dip¬
terous larva, T. pennipes, emerged from it and pupated. No para¬
site egg was found on the exuvium of the fifth instar indicating
that it had been parasitized in an earlier instar and had success¬
fully molted with the larva inside. A female was collected from
Mazomanie Wildlife Refuge on August 23, 1963. A larvae emerged
from it and pupated on August 24 and emerged to an adult on
September 9.
One male E. galeator was collected from Kankakee, Illinois, on
August 6, 1965, brought back alive to Madison, and placed in a
rearing carton. On August 9, a parasite emerged, pupated, and on
August 27 emerged as an adult.
From 1 to 5 parasite eggs were found randomly oviposited over
the bodies of the bugs.
Some observations were conducted on the bugs in the rearing
cartons to gain information on their biology. Both nymphs and
adults fed readily on the laboratory diet of fresh green beans.
Cultures were established each year from eggs obtained from
females, eggs, or nymphs collected from the field in June. This
species oviposited its eggs in batches similar to those of A. armi-
gera and A. tristis, with a mean number of 16.0 eggs per batch
(number of batches = 62, range = 2-32). In 22 observations indi¬
vidual females oviposited from 3-19 batches of eggs with a mean
of 8.2 batches per female. The greatest number of eggs oviposited
by a single female in the laboratory was 259.
A mean time of 6.0 days (n = 60, range = 1-24) elapsed be¬
tween oviposition of individual batches of eggs. Generally when
only 1 or a few days passed between oviposition fewer eggs were
oviposited per batch. In 14 observations a mean time of 40.7 days
were spent in the oviposition period, with a range of from 11-89
days.
A delayed preoviposition period ranging from 26-143 days
(n = 5, x = 95.6) was observed for females reared in the labora¬
tory from the nymphal stage. These females would have normally
overwintered and not copulated or oviposited until the following
spring. This delayed preoviposition time was a reflection of that
behavior. In Tact, a preoviposition period, if defined as the time
elapsing between the molting of the insect to the adult stage until
first oviposition, would not be a pertinent part of the biology of a
univoltine species that overwinters as an adult.
1969] Yonke and Medler — Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 185
The period of incubation for 566 eggs oviposited in the labora¬
tory ranged from 7-17 days with a mean time of 12,9 days. Out
of a total of 720 eggs obtained in the rearing cartons 636 hatched,
or 88.3%.
Eclosion took place by means of the pseudopercular cap. The
bug forced it open by means of a series of pulsating movements.
The cap split first at its most ventral point and then proceeded
posterio-dorsally. This took only a few minutes.
First-instar nymphs were observed in the rearing cartons with
their stylets inserted in green beans. It was assumed that they
were feeding; however, they would successfully develop in the
absence of any food during that stadium as long as moisture
through the wick was available. In fact these nymphs were
lethargic and frequently aggregated on or near the eggs until they
molted into the second instar. Second- through fifth-instar nymphs
spent much of the time feeding.
Nymphal development took 54 days, with the second, third, and
fourth stadia being about equal (Table 4). This was based on an
accumulation of the means. These laboratory data agreed fairly
well with the field occurrence records given in Figure 7.
The growth ratios were fairly consistent (Yonke and Medler, In
press c). The closeness of fit for the values indicated a uniform
growth rate, and therefore tended to substantiate the data pre¬
sented in Table 4.
Frequently nymphs aggregated while feeding. Figure 1 shows
an aggregation pattern of 7 second-instar nymphs feeding in a rela¬
tively small area on 1 of the 2 green beans present in the rearing
carton. One additional bug was present in the carton.
Out of 206 adults either collected in the field or reared in the
laboratory 102 were males and 104 were females. Adults generally
Table 4. Duration of Nymphal Stadia of Euthochtha galeator
in the Laboratory
186 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
survived for a long time. Two adults collected from the field in
June lived 204 and 212 days under laboratory conditions.
Merocoris distinctus Dallas
This species occurs in Wisconsin, although nowhere common.
Adults occurred from June 9-October 26. Also, 1 adult was re¬
corded for “April.”
One adult was collected while sweeping Midway Prairie,
La Crosse County, on June 15, 1967. Another adult was observed
on June 17, 1967, at Crex Meadows, Burnett County, associated
with a carrion spot on the pavement of a road. One fifth-instar
nymph was collected September 1, 1964, while sweeping a dis¬
turbed weedy area at Parfreys Glen ; however, continued sweeping
and investigation of individual plants did not produce more. It
was held on green bean in the laboratory, molted into an adult on
October 5, and died on October 17. There is apparently 1 genera¬
tion per year in Wisconsin with overwintering in the adult stage.
One adult each was collected on September 80, 1963, and October 2,
1965, on goldenrod, from Curtis Prairie, University of Wisconsin,
Arboretum, Madison.
Summary
From July 1, 1962, through June 15, 1967, numerous observa¬
tions and collections were made of coreid species found in Wiscon¬
sin. Ten species were recorded. Anasa armigera (Say), Charies -
terns antennator (Fabricius), and Leptoglossus oppositus (Say)
were extremely rare. Coriomeris humilis Uhler and Merocoris dis¬
tinctus Dallas were uncommon. Five species frequently encoun¬
tered were Acanthocephala terminalis (Dallas), Anasa tristis (De-
Geer), Archimerus alternatus (Say), Catorhintha mendica Stal,
and Euthochtha galeator (Fabricius).
The field histories and laboratory biologies were determined for
Acanthocephala terminalis, Archimerus alternatus and Euthochtha
galeator. All 3 species went through 1 generation a year in Wis¬
consin and overwintered in the adult stage.
Adults of Acanthocephala terminalis were collected in the field
from June 13 to September 4. No parasites were found for this
species. Three host plants determined for nymphs and adult were
Physocarpus opulifolia (L.) Maxim., Rhus typhina L., and Vitis
riparia Michx. Eggs had an incubation time of 7 to 14 days (mean
= 9.7). The mean time spent in nymphal development was 58.1
days.
Adults of Archimerus alternatus were collected in the field from
June 2 to October 8. They were found feeding on Solidago altis -
1969] Yonke and Medler — Biology of Coreidae in Wisconsin 187
sima Mitt., Aster sagittif olius Willd., and Galium concinnum T.
& G. in early June. They moved from these plants to Desmodium
aciminatuo (Muhl.) Wood, tick trefoil, on which oviposition gen¬
erally occurred. First-through fourth-instar nymphs were restricted
to D. acuminatum, D, dilienii Dark, and Amphicarpa bracteata
(L.) Fern., hog peanut. Fifth-instar nymphs fed on these 3 plants
and also fed on a number of other plants, including Ambrosia
artemisiifolia L., Ambrosia trifida L., Cryptotaenia canadensis
(L.) D.C., Desmodium canadense (L.) D.C., and Eupatorium
rugosum Houtt. Host plants of the summer generation adults in¬
cluded those recorded for the immatures, and in addition Erigeron
annus (L.) Pers., dairy; and Symplocarpus foetidus (L.) Nutt.,
skunk cabbage. Feeding on all plants occurred on the stems and
petioles, causing the terminals above to wilt.
Two hymenopterous parasites were obtained from field-collected
eggs of A. alternatus. They were Ocencrytus clisiocampae (Ashm.)
(Encyrtidae) and Anastatus pearsalli Ashm. (Eupelmidae) . These
were new records. Adults of the dipterous parasite, Trichopoda
pennipes Fabricius (Tachinidae) , were reared from field-collected
adults.
Feeding aggregations of Archimerus alternatus were observed
both in the field and in the laboratory for nymphs and adults. A
mean number of 2.1 eggs per day was oviposited by females in the
laboratory. Incubation took 13.4 days. The mean time spent in
nymphal development was 48.4 days.
Euthochtha galeator adults were collected in the field from May
25 to October 8. The 6 host plants found for nymphs and adults
were Agrimonia gryposepala Wallr., Achillea millefolium L., Aster
pilosus Willd., Monarda fistulosa L., D. acuminatum (Muhl.)
Wood, and Quercus ellipsoidalis Hill.
Three parasite species were obtained from field-collected eggs
and adults of E. galeator. They included 2 Hymenoptera, A. pear¬
salli Ashm. and Ooencyrtus anasae (Ashm)., and 1 Diptera, T.
pennipes Fabricius. These were new records. In addition, C. clisio¬
campae parasitized E. galeator eggs in the laboratory.
A feeding aggregation was also observed for nymphs of E.
galeator. This species oviposited its eggs in batches (mean = 16.0
eggs per batch). A mean time of 6.0 days elapsed between oviposi¬
tion of individual batches of eggs. Incubation of eggs took 7 to 18
days (mean = 12.9). The mean time spent in nymphal develop¬
ment was 54 days.
References Cited
Balduf, W. V. 1942. Bionomics of Catorhintha mendica Stal. (Coreidae,
Hemiptera). Bull. Brooklyn Entomol. Soc. 37:158-166.
188 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
- . 1957. The spread of Catorhintha mendica Stal. (Coreidae, Hemiptera).
Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 59:176-185.
Beard, R. L. 1940. The biology of Anasa tristis, DeGeer with particular refer¬
ence to the tachinid parasite, Trichopoda pennipes Fabr. Conn (New
Haven) Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 440:594-679.
Blatchley, W. S. 1926. Heteroptera or true bugs of Eastern North America.
The Nature Publishing Co., Indianapolis. 1116 p.
Fassett, N. C. 1939. The leguminous plants of Wisconsin. Univ. Wis. Press,
Madison. 157 p.
Heidemann, 0. 1911. Some remarks on the eggs of North American species
of Hemiptera-Heteroptera. Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 13:128-140.
Patton, C. N. 1958. A catalogue of the larvaevoridae of Florida. Fla. Entomol.
41:29-39, 77-89.
Scheel, C. A., S. D. Beck, and J. T. Medler. 1956. Feeding and nutrition of
certain Hemiptera. Proc. Tenth Int. Congr. Entomol. 1956: 303-308.
Worthley, H. N. 1924. The biology of Trichopoda pennipes Fab. (Diptera,
Tachinidae), a parasite of the common squash bug. Psyche 31:7-16,
57-77.
Yonke, T. R., and J. T. Medler. 1965. Biology of Megalotomus quinques -
pinosus (Say). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 58:222-224.
- . 1967. Observations on some Rhopalidae (Hemiptera). Proc. N. Central
States Branch Entomol. Soc. Amer. 22:74-75.
- . 1968. The biologies of 3 species of Alydus in Wisconsin (Hemiptera:
Alydidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 61:526-531.
- . In Press a. Description of the immature stages of Coreidae:
1. Euthochtha galeator. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer
- . In Press b. Description of the immature stages of Coreidae:
2. Acanthocephala terminalis. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer
- . In Press c. Description of the immature stages of Coreidae:
3. Archimerus alternatus. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer.
HOST RECORDS AND PHENOLOGY OF LOUSE-FLIES
ON WISCONSIN BIRDS
Nancy S. Mueller, Helmut C . Mueller, and Daniel D. Berger
Introduction
Louse-flies (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) are ectoparasites which
feed on the blood of birds and mammals. Most species infest birds
and are agile, elusive creatures that spend most of their lives well
hidden and protected by the feathers of their hosts. Reproduction
depends on at least one mating and involves the production of one
young at a time. Embryonic and larval development of the off¬
spring occurs within the body of the female fly. Shortly before
pupation the larva is dropped from the fly and falls from the bird
to the ground. Some species overwinter as pupae, while others
emerge in one to several months. Each new adult must find a suit¬
able host within a few days after emergence, and mating depends
on the presence of both sexes on the same host. These interesting
flies are relatively rare in collections because few entomologists have
access to large numbers of living, wild birds and most ornithol¬
ogists who handle wild birds have neither the time nor the interest
to devote to the ectoparasites.
A list of records of louse-flies for Wisconsin and surrounding
states as well as some information about the habits of the flies is
found in MacArthur (1948). Bequaert’s (1952-1956) monograph
on the Hippoboscidae of North America provides an exhaustive
compilation and analysis of all aspects of the life histories, dis¬
tribution and taxonomy of Hippoboscidae in North America. Our
present knowledge of the life history, distribution and host rela¬
tions of the louse-flies which live on passerine birds has benefited
from the recent increase in the use of mist-nets and Helgoland
traps for capturing wild birds. Bennett (1961) collected louse-flies
from passerine hosts in Algonquin Park, Ontario, between mid-
May and mid-September in 1957-1960 and kept some of the flies
on captive birds to study their longevity and host preferences.
Workers in Britain (Corbet, 1956b, 1961; Hill, 1962, 1963) and in
Scandinavia (Hill et al., 1964) studied the distribution, life his¬
tories and host preferences of three species of Ornithomyia dur¬
ing the summer, when these louse-flies are most abundant. Much
189
190 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
less is known about the louse-fly infestation of migrating and win¬
tering birds or about the louse-flies of raptorial birds at all seasons
of the year.
In the present study we have analyzed records of louse-flies col¬
lected in Wisconsin from a wide variety of raptorial and passerine
birds. Most of the specimens were taken during spring and autumn
migration, but we also collected flies on hawks and owls in winter.
This report is based on data from a total of 1,281 individuals of
eight species of Hippoboscidae taken on 695 individuals of 60
species of birds.
Techniques
Raptorial and passerine birds have been trapped regularly dur¬
ing spring and autumn migration at the Cedar Grove Ornitholog¬
ical Station, located on the western shore of Lake Michigan about
64 km north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A description of the station
area is found in Mueller and Berger (1966). Birds were checked
for Hippoboscidae during a total of 11 autumns and 6 spring sea¬
sons, beginning in 1955; during this period 4,898 raptorial birds
and 58,979 passerine birds and woodpeckers were handled.
A concerted effort was made to check each captured raptorial
bird for the presence of Hippoboscidae. Hawks were trapped
individually in nets and usually removed from the netting immedi¬
ately after capture. The usual method of checking for louse-flies
on hawks and owls was to blow on the feathers or to spread them
by hand. The disturbed flies darted among or on the feathers,
seeking shelter in another region, or flew to the person handling
the bird or, less frequently, to a window of the banding labora¬
tory. A few flies were certainly overlooked or otherwise escaped
capture. The flies were captured manually and immediately doused
with alcohol or water to immobilize them momentarily until they
could be secured in small vials.
Passerines and a few smaller raptorial birds, such as the
Sharp-shinned Hawk and small owls, were taken in mist-nets set
in dense brush. The mist-nets were checked at approximately 40
minute intervals, and the birds removed from the netting as
quickly as possible. Passerine birds were transported to the labora¬
tory in opaque containers, and then segregated according to species
in sorting cages made of wire screen of 0.2 mm mesh. Some trans¬
fer of flies from one bird to another may have occurred as the
birds were being transported to the laboratory; however, we be¬
lieve that the darkness in the containers drastically reduced the
activity of the birds and probably also the movements of the flies.
Most flies that remained on their hosts until they reached the
laboratory became a part of our collection. Undoubtedly more flies
1969] N. Mueller, H. Mueller and Berger — Flies on Birds 191
would have been collected from passerine hosts if the birds had
been checked for ectoparasites immediately on capture and prior to
their removal from the nets, but the time and facilities available
did not permit a more thorough collection of flies from passerine
birds.
Hawks and owls were also obtained from the State Experimental
and Game Farm at Poynette, Wisconsin, during the period of au¬
tumn through early spring in the years of 1958 through 1963 and
on several occasions in the autumns of 1956 and 1964. A total of
475 hawks and 137 owls was handled. These birds had been taken
in steel traps set on poles, and they were held for one to several
days in aviaries before examination, with separate enclosures for
owls and hawks. Most of the birds were Great Horned Owls (135)
and Red-tailed Hawks (316), although 7 other raptorial species
were represented. The birds were transported in individual burlap
bags to Madison, Wisconsin, where they were checked for ectopara¬
sites, measured, banded and released.
In addition, hawks and owls were captured with the Bal-chatri
trap (Berger and Mueller, 1959) in the central and southern part
of Wisconsin, principally during the spring migrations. Species
from which louse-flies were collected were the Red-tailed Hawk,
Broad-winged Hawk, Sparrow Hawk, Great Horned Owl, Barred
Owl and Long-eared Owl. They were either checked immediately
for flies, banded, etc., or they were first transported to a suitable
banding laboratory. A number of persons contributed flies taken
from birds caught in a number of localities, and we have no accu¬
rate record of the number of hawks and owls handled.
Louse-flies which were collected prior to 1958 were pinned and
dried. Since dried debris and badly shrunken abdomens made
sexing difficult, subsequent collections were preserved in 70 per
cent ethanol, with each vial containing all flies taken from a single
host. Except for the few individuals which had been mutilated
at the time of capture, those louse-flies preserved in alcohol re¬
mained in excellent condition for determination of species, sex,
and occurrence of phoresy and mites. MacArthur’s (1948) key to
the Hippoboscidae of the Eastern United States was used for
preliminary identification of the flies. The more exhaustive key of
Bequaert (1954, 1955, 1956) was used to reexamine all individuals
which appeared in any way unusual. Specimens of Ornithomyia
were checked against the key of Hill et al. (1964). Woodman’s
(1954) key was used for the identification of Mallophaga.
Host Records
Eight species of Hippoboscidae were collected, but only three
of these were at all common: Lynchia americana (896 specimens),
192 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Ornithomyia fringillina (267), Ornithoica vicina (102), Ornithoc-
tona erythrocephala (7), Lynchia nigra (5), Lynchia angustifrons
(1), Lynchia albipennis (1), and Microlynchia pusilla (1). M. pu-
silla is a new record for Wisconsin and neighboring states (cf.
MacArthur, 1948). Louse-flies were found on 11 species of Falconi-
formes, 6 species of Strigiformes, 2 species of Piciformes and 41
species of Passeriformes. Many of these are new host records for
Wisconsin and neighboring states (cf. MacArthur, 1948), indicated
by a superscript “a” in Table 1. Host records new to North
America (cf. Bequaert, 1956; Bennett, 1961) are indicated by
superscript “b”.
The number of birds of each species on which flies were found
and the total number of birds handled provide a crude minimum
estimate of infestation (Table 1). These data are incomplete for
the following reasons: (1). A plus ( + ) mark notation in the “No.
Handled” column of Table 1 indicates that additional members
of this species were trapped by the Bal-chatri and the exact
number is not known. (2). Passerine birds were not examined as
thoroughly as were raptorial birds. (3). No data are presented
for species of birds from which no louse-flies were taken. A com¬
plete list of the passerine birds taken in autumn at Cedar Grove
can be found in Mueller and Berger (1968).
The sex could be determined for 1,107 of the 1,281 specimens;
the condition of the rest of the specimens, most of which were
collected prior to 1958, precluded determination of sex. Taking the
sample as a whole, 88 per cent of the flies were females. This un¬
balanced ratio in our sample is undoubtedly a result of our collect¬
ing in late summer and autumn; since females live longer than
males, they dominate samples taken after the period of emergence
of the adults (cf. Bennett, 1961; Hill, 1963).
Ornithoica vicina is an extremely small louse-fly that is easily
overlooked. We first observed this species in August 1959 in the
ears of a Great Homed Owl. A total of 120 Great Horned Owls
has subsequently been checked for the presence of louse-flies, and
23 individuals yielded a total of 71 female and 2 male 0. vicina,
all from the ears. Seven specimens of this fly were found in the
ears of a Barred Owl, and one specimen each was found in the ear
of a Screech Owl and a Saw-whet Owl. A variety of other raptorial
birds and passerines harbored this fly on the body plumage, but not
in the ears (Table 1) . We found no other species of louse-fly in the
ears of any bird. Although 0. vicina was reluctant to move from
the ear of an owl, this fly was observed to escape from passerines
caught in mist-nets, alighting momentarily on the person handling
the bird before flying away. Because of their small size, these flies
were harder to find on body plumage than in the ears. Despite this
1969] N. Mueller, H. Mueller and Berger — Flies on Birds 193
Table 1. Host Records for Hippoboscidae Collected in Wisconsin, 1955-65
194 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Table 1. Host Records for IIippoboscidae Collected in Wisconsin,
195 5-6 5 — ( C on tinued )
1969] N. Mueller, H . Mueller and Berger — Flies on Birds 195
Table 1. Host Records for Hippoboscidae Collected in Wisconsin,
1955-65 — ( Continued )
aNew record for Wisconsin and neighboring states (cf. MacArthur, 1948).
bNew record for North America (cf. Bequaert, 1952-56; Bennett, 1961).
*Total includes flies not sexed because the specimen was mutilated or dessicated.
■(Represents a minimum number of birds of this species handled; we have no
record of the number of birds trapped by the Bal-chatri.
xSixteen birds harbored more than one species of fly.
°Scientific names of birds are given in the appendix.
bias in collection probabilities, we feel strongly that owls are im¬
portant hosts for this species. This was suggested, but with reser¬
vations, by Bequaert (1953) .
0. vicina is apparently not very selective as to host; it is quite
adaptable to life on a number of species, both passerine and rap¬
torial. On the Great Horned Owl and the Barred Owl infestations
may be heavy, and the same bird is likely to harbor Lynchia
americana on the body plumage. We found 14 cases of Great
Horned Owls infested with both species of fly, and one individual
caught at Wild Rose, Wisconsin, in August carried 14 0. vicina in
the ears and 7 L. americana on other parts of the body. We col¬
lected no more than one individual 0. vicina from any passerine
bird, and Bennett (1961) found that O. vicina was much less com¬
mon on passerine birds in Algonquin Park than Ornithomyia
fringillina.
Ornithomyia fringillina is resident on a variety of birds; it
prefers passerines, but shows little host specificity (cf. Bequaert,
1954) . We have records from 6 species of raptorial birds, 2 wood¬
peckers, and 38 species of passerine birds (Table 1). This louse-fly
196 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
is not common on raptorial birds, even on those such as the Sharp-
shinned Hawk which feed principally on passerines; only 10 of
1,860 Sharp-shinned Hawks caught at Cedar Grove were infested
with this species. Our collection indicates no pronounced prefer¬
ences among passerine hosts, and infestations of all species were
light (cf. Table 1). Our data from passerine birds are in no way
comparable with those of Bennett (1961) for Algonquin Park. The
relative infrequency of even the most common louse-flies on
passerine birds at Cedar Grove (Table 1) can be attributed both
to the collecting techniques and to the fact that we handled birds
after the peak of infestation (cf. Bequaert, 1954: 137-138; Ben¬
nett, 1961).
Bennett (1961) felt that certain passerines were favored over
others, particularly those Fringillidae, blackbirds, and thrushes
that inhabit the environment near the ground. In Britain and
Scandinavia, where there are three species of Ornithomyia, there
may be stronger host-preferences than those of 0. fringillina in
the New World (cf. Hill, 1962b). According to Hill (1962b) and
Hill et al. (1964) the “important hosts” for 0. fringillina in the
Old World are exclusively small passerines, mostly hedgerow
species; on larger passerines and on raptorial birds 0. fringillina
appears to have been supplanted by the larger fly, 0. avicularia,
whereas 0. chloropus prefers birds which frequent moorlands.
We found Ornithoctona erythrocephala only on hawks. This
very large louse-fly was found on the Sharp-shinned Hawk, the
Broad-winged Hawk, and the Sparrow Hawk (Table 1). One
Sharp-shinned Hawk had both 0. erythrocephala (1 individual)
and L. americana (2 individuals), and a Broad-winged Hawk had
one 0. erythrocephala and one L. americana. These are our only
records of infestation of an individual host by more than one
species of fly, excepting those Great Horned Owls that carried
0. vicina and L. americana.
Lynchia americana was found on 15 species of raptorial birds
(Table 1) . The only specimen from a passerine was on an Evening
Grosbeak on 10 November 1963, and this individual (a male) could
have been a stray which took up temporary residence on the
grosbeak. These flies were generally reluctant to vacate their
raptorial hosts even when the bird’s feathers were disturbed ; most
specimens were collected as they darted among the feathers,
although some flew to the person handling the bird. Infestations
were often heavy, e.g. 17 Great Horned Owls, 8 Red-tailed Hawks
and 3 Goshawks had more than 6 L. americana: the greatest
individual infestation was 23 L. americana on a Great Horned Owl.
L. americana prefers large raptorial birds with large-feathered,
loose plumage which provides both a good hiding place and an
1969] N. Mueller, H. Mueller and Berger — Flies on Birds 197
environment which does not deter movement of flies as does a
densely feathered, compact plumage. Only one L. americana was
found on a falcon, on a Sparrow Hawk on 7 September 1956 ; none
were found on 241 Pigeon Hawks and 81 Peregrine Falcons, both
of which have relatively compact plumage. The Great Horned Owl
is clearly favored; nearly 60 per cent of the Great Horned Owls
captured at Poynette and Cedar Grove carried on the average four
of these flies. Other species on which this fly is common are the
Red-tailed Hawk and the Goshawk and probably the Swainson’s
Hawk and the Barred Owl. Small hawks and owls are much less
likely to harbor L. americana: for example, only 1.5 per cent of
1,860 Sharp-shinned Hawks and one of 234 Saw-whet Owls were
infested.
Until recently Lynchia fusca (Macquart 1845) was considered
a distinct species; MacArthur (1948) called it “The Owl Fly”
(also cf. Bequaert, 1953:264). However, after reexamination of
the specimens, Bequaert (1955) was convinced that L. fusca is
conspecific with L. americana, and Maa (1963:35) supports this
synonomy. Using MacArthur’s (1948) key we found that these
Lynchia were in fact difficult to distinguish and that the one
host on which louse-flies consistently showed the characters of
L. fusca was not an owl but the Broad-winged Hawk (specimens
of “L. fusca” were found on 9 of the 12 Broad-winged Hawks
from which L. americana were taken in the spring) . Other flies
with characters of “fusca” were on a Sharp-shinned Hawk (in
April), a Red-tailed Hawk (in August) and three Great Horned
Owls (September, November and December). MacArthur (1948)
reported no “L. fusca” from Wisconsin and only one record for a
neighboring state (on a squirrel in Michigan!). We see no reason
why L. fusca should not be considered conspecific with
L. americana.
We have collected 5 Lynchia nigra in Wisconsin; two from
Sharp-shinned Hawks (1 May and 9 May 1964), one from an un¬
known hawk on 29 April 1965, one from a Broad-winged Hawk on
4 May 1958 and one from a Sparrow Hawk on 4 April 1958. We
also found a L. nigra on a Sparrow Hawk in Zapta County, Texas,
on 7 January 1956. According to Maa (1963:115) this species is
essentially Neotropical; the Wisconsin specimens were most likely
transported some distance on their hosts during spring migration.
Two other species of Lynchia were taken from hawks in Wiscon¬
sin : a male of L. albipennis on a hawk on 12 May 1965 and a male
of L. angustifrons on a Broad- winged Hawk on 5 May 1961. Since
L. albipennis apparently prefers Ciconiiformes (cf. MacArthur,
1948; Maa, 1963), it is unusual to find one on a hawk. Spring and
198 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
summer records of L. angustifrons from the United States and
southern Ontario are probably strays (cf. Maa, 1963).
A male Microlynchia pusilla was found on a Catbird at Cedar
Grove on 4 May 1965. This is the only record of M. pusilla from
Wisconsin (cf. MacArthur, 1948) and the northernmost record
for North America (cf. Bequaert, 1955; Maa, 1963). Also present
in our collection is an individual of this species from a Harris
Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) in Kennedy County, Texas, on 22
January 1956. This species is fairly common in southwestern
United States (Bequaert, 1955), but its presence on a hawk is un¬
usual (cf. Bequaert, 1955; Maa, 1963).
Phenology
We found only one species of louse-fly, Lynchia americana, to be
present in the adult stage all year round in Wisconsin. One species,
Ornithoica vicina, was found in every season except spring;
Ornithomyia fringillina was present only in late spring, summer
and fall. Four species ( Ornithoctona erythrocephala, Lynchia
albipennis, Lynchia angustifrons, and Lynchia nigra) were found
only in spring and presumably were carried into Wisconsin on
migratory hosts that winter in southern areas. The occurrence of
Microlynchia pusilla can be considered accidental. A detailed ac¬
count of the seasonal occurrence of the eight species of louse-flies
follows, based on our collections and supplmented with information
from Bequaert (1952-1956) and Bennett (1961).
Ornithoica vicina was absent from birds trapped in Wisconsin
during late winter and spring; our earliest record was from an
Eastern Kingbird on 14 June 1958, six weeks earlier than Bennett
(1961) found it in Algonquin Park. This species was present, but
not common, on passerine birds during fall migration. The only
heavily infested individuals were owls in August and throughout
fall and early winter. The latest date on which a male was taken
was 23 October, but females were taken as late as 24 January in
the ears of Great Horned Owls. Since these flies were not found
in late winter and throughout the spring, our data cannot support
Bequaert’s (1953:265) hypothesis that owls represent a temporary
reservoir of overwintering flies that are held in reserve to infect
passerine migrants in the spring.
In Algonquin Park, Bennett (1961) reported the peak of
abundance in late August and none later than early October.
Bennett (1961 :401) found that at a constant temperature of 75° F
the time required for metamorphosis in O. vicina varied consider¬
ably around a mean of 78 days and that developmental time at 75°
was prolonged by interspersing an extended period of chilling at
1969] N. Mueller, H. Mueller and Berger — Flies on Birds 199
45° F. Apparently females of this species live for at least 4
months, but males may not live longer than one month (Bennett,
1961:396).
Our data and those of Bennett (1961) suggest that the popu¬
lation of 0. vicina gradually builds up during the summer by the
emergence and reproduction of flies that overwinter as pupae,
not by overwintering adults or by the introduction of any signifi¬
cant number of flies from the south on spring migrants. The
persistence of adults into late January argues for the emergence
of flies during the fall, presumably from pupae deposited during
the summer. The last males die in late fall and no females survive
beyond mid-winter. It is possible that there is an alternation of
diapause and non-diapause generations in northern North America
such that adults emerging from diapause pupae during June and
July give rise to a non-diapause generation that emerges in August
or September and reproduces until December or January, giving
rise to a second generation that overwinters in a pupal diapause.
Alternatively, the overwintering pupae may not have a true dia¬
pause, which requires chilling, but they may simply remain dor¬
mant through the cold season and resume development with the
return of warm weather.
Ornithomyia fringillina is rare in Wisconsin in spring; from
nearly 9,500 passerine birds trapped between 1 April and 10 June
we collected only three specimens of this fly, two in late May and
one in early June. These are more than a month earlier than previ¬
ous records for northern North America (cf. Bequaert, 1954;
Bennett, 1961). We caught more passerine birds during September
than during any other month, and it is not surprising that most
of our collections of 0. fringillina are also from September. We
found no males after late September and no females after early
November. In Algonquin Park, Bennett (1961) collected no
0. fringillina until mid- July; he reported the peak of abundance
in the two-week period around August 1. Assuming an early Au¬
gust peak for 0. fringillina in Wisconsin, then the decline in
infestation of passerines was already well underway when we
began netting birds in late August at Cedar Grove.
The absence of this species in late fall and through the winter
and its extreme rarity in spring and early summer argues against
the overwintering of adults, even on migrant hosts in their winter
home, and against the introduction of any significant number of
adults on spring migrants. According to Bequaert (1954) O. fring¬
illina is confined to cool temperate areas, occurring in northeastern
United States from 3 July to 6 November. Bennett (1961) and
Hill (1963) present evidence that this species has an obligatory
diapause with a period of chilling necessary for development to
200 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
resume. We suspect that as metamorphosis occurs through June
and July the numbers gradually build up until mid-August and
then slowly decline as adult mortality proceeds without further
emergence of adults in fall. In this way the emergence of flies
appears to coincide with the reproduction of the hosts (cf. Hill,
1963). In Algonquin Park, Bennett (1961) found O. fringillina
on 10 per cent of adult passerine birds and 17.5 per cent of
immatures; he presents experimental evidence that these flies,
when confined with birds in small cages, select immature birds
over adults, and he suggests that adults may be more efficient
at catching and eating the flies. In nature these flies may not
actively select immature birds, but they may be more frequently
found on immature birds because these hosts are both more acces¬
sible and more abundant than adults at the time the flies emerge.
Ornithoctona erythrocephala was occasionally found on hawks
in spring. Bequaert (1954) considers this genus essentially tropical
with little evidence that the adults or pupae can withstand cool
temperate winters in North America. He suggests (p. 200) “that
it is introduced there afresh every spring on some migratory
breeding host”.
The incidence of infestation of raptorial birds by Lynchia
americana shows a peak during the fall, with fairly large num¬
bers of females and a few males present through the winter and
spring, particularly on the Red-tailed Hawk and the Great Horned
Owl (Table 2). Although we have very few summer records be¬
cause of very little trapping, males appear to be as common as
females in late July and during the first half of August, with an
increasing preponderance of females in the fall and winter. The
persistence of both sexes suggests that breeding may occur year-
round, but with the number of adults gradually decreasing during
the winter. Some adults are undoubtedly brought up from the
southern states on migrant hosts in spring, but the population is
not substantially augmented until eclosion of new adults in
summer.
Bennett (1961:396) found that adult females of L. americana
survived in captivity for 4-5 months, whereas most males lived
only 15-20 days. The length of the pupal stage is temperature
dependent and interrupted without ill effect by prolonged chilling
at 45° F (p. 401). If reproduction does occur in Wisconsin in
winter, it would seem that the pupae must be resistant to tempera¬
tures far below 45°, even below freezing, for prolonged periods.
It would seem that development of this species does not depend
on a period of chilling but that cool temperatures are not deleteri¬
ous to development.
Table 2. Incidence of Lynchia americana on Hawks and Owls Taken at Cedar Grove and
1969] N. Mueller, H. Mueller and Berger — Flies on Birds
201
E-i
z
>*
o
Pk
202 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
The persistence of adults in winter and spring suggests that
pupae deposited during summer and early fall emerge before
cold weather sets in ; those deposited in late fall and winter remain
dormant through the winter, emerging after a suitable period of
warmer weather in spring and early summer. During late winter
and spring the population decreases due to gradual mortality of
adults, and a lower level of infestation is maintained until meta¬
morphosis of pupae is completed or until sufficient numbers of
infested migrants have returned. The coincidence of numbers of
“L. fusca” on Broad-winged Hawks in spring might indicate the
‘‘importation’’ by hawks of a population of L. a mericana that lives
year-round on birds of a more southern distribution.
According to Bequaert (1955), L. americana may not occur
north of 48° 10' north latitude, which is approximately the
Canadian border in the central and western United States. We
suspect that the range of this fly extends as far north as that of
its hosts, which in the case of the Goshawk and Red-tailed Hawk
is well north of the U.S.-Canadian border. There are few records
of this fly from Mexico and farther south, and in western and
southern states it is less common than L. nigra (Bequaert, 1955).
The birds on which we found L. americana were, in fact, those
which winter north of the Mexican border, and the only records
we have for L. nigra are from the spring and from hawks that
winter farther south.
Lynchia albipennis , L. angustifrons and L. nigra are tropical
species (cf. Bequaert, 1955) that are occasionally introduced on
spring migrants and apparently do not overwinter in a northern
climate. Microlynchia pusilla is essentially tropical and rare north
of the southwestern United States (Bequaert, 1955). Our specimen,
taken from a Catbird in May, undoubtedly “migrated” north from
Central America with its host.
Phoresy and Infestation by Mites
The attachment of chewing bird lice (Mallophaga) to Hippo-
boscidae is frequently cited as an example of phoresy, the wingless
louse using the winged louse-fly as a means of transportation
(references in MacArthur, 1948:385-387; Bequaert, 1952:163-
174; Corbet, 1956a). This phenomenon is difficult to explain be¬
cause each species of Mallophaga is believed to feed exclusively on
feathers and epidermis of hosts of a given species. Ornithomyia
fringillina, which is the most common carrier of the lice, is found
on a variety of host species, and flies which have been experi¬
mentally marked for individual identification have been followed
to individuals of several species of birds (Corbet, 1956b; Bennett,
1969] N. Mueller , H. Mueller and Berger — Flies on Birds 203
1961). The lice would presumably not benefit from being trans¬
ported to a host of a different species, and the louse-fly would
not seem to be a good host for the lice to parasitize. Bequaert
(1952:163) suggests that phoresy of Mallophaga by Hippoboscidae
is “on the borderline of true parasitism”.
The incidence of phoresy, at least by 0. fringillina, is too high
to be accidental. Bequaert (1952) reported phoresy by 6 per cent
of some 500 O. fringillina and less frequently by a number of
other species of Hippoboscidae, including Ornithoica vicina, Orni-
thoctona erythrocephala, Lynchia americana, and Lynchia albi-
pennis. MacArthur (1948) found 14 cases, 4 per cent of the total
flies examined, and Bennett (1961) reported phoresy by 22.8 per
cent of 0. fringillina collected in 1957, with the highest frequency
in July and much less in late August and early September.
We found 30 cases (11.3 per cent) of phoresy by O. fringillina
and one by our only specimen of Microlynchia pusilla (a female
Briielia on the fly taken from a Catbird on 4 May, 1965). Avian
hosts for flies that carried lice were a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a
Yellow-shafted Flicker and 11 species of Passeriformes. In view
of the diversity of bird species, it is perhaps surprising that all
lice were in the genus Briielia and appeared to be of the same
species; adult female lice predominated. All 30 cases of phoresy
by O. fringillina in our collection occurred in summer and early
autumn (2 in July, 1 in August, 23 in September, and 4 in Oc¬
tober). The lice were firmly imbedded in the integument of the
louse-flies by their mouth parts, and the lateral surfaces of the
abdomen were preferred places of attachment; in only one case
was a louse attached to the prothorax. All were facing in the same
direction as the flies.
The infestation of Hippoboscidae by epidermoptid mites (Aca-
rina) is considered true parasitism (cf. MacArthur, 1948:387;
Bequaert, 1952:142-160). We found mite clusters on 52 O. fringil¬
lina (26.6 per cent) and on three L. americana; the latter is a
species not previously recorded as parasitized by mites (cf.
Bequaert, 1952). The mites were of the genera Microlichus and
Myialges. Hosts for the L. americana which carried mites were
two Broad-winged Hawks trapped in April and one unidentified
hawk in October. The mite-infested 0. fringillina were on 18
species of passerine birds and one Pigeon Hawk, all trapped dur¬
ing autumn migration (2 in August, 31 in September, 18 in
October, and one sometime in fall). Mites preferred the underside
of the wings in the vicinity of the large veins, and they were rarely
found elsewhere on the flies, such as on the abdomen or the upper
surface of the wings. Mites usually consisted of a cluster formed
by a female and her eggs or young. Clusters were often present on
204 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
the underside of both wings, and only the immature mites tended
to stray to other parts of the fly’s body.
Summary
In the years 1955 through 1965 more than 5,000 hawks and owls
and nearly 54,000 passerine birds were trapped alive in Wisconsin,
and louse-flies were collected. Most birds were caught during au¬
tumn and spring migrations. A total of 1,281 individuals of eight
species of Hippoboscidae was taken from 695 individuals of 60
species of birds. Only three species of louse-fly were common:
Ornithoica vicina, Ornihomyia fringillina, and Lynchia americana.
O. vicina was most frequently found in the ears of the Great
Horned Owl. O. fringillina was found on a wide variety of passer¬
ines and on 6 raptorial species, with no obvious host preferences.
Lynchia americana clearly preferred hawks and owls, especially
those with large-feathered, loose plumage. Hawks returning from
the south occasionally harbored other species of Hippoboscidae:
Lynchia nigra, L. albipennis, L. angustifrons and Ornithoctona
erythrocephala. One specimen of Microlynchia pusilla was found on
a Catbird.
The winter climate is probably the most important factor affect¬
ing the occurrence of a given species of fly in Wisconsin. Those
species which cannot tolerate cold during the pupal stage (e.g.
O. erythrocephala, L. albipennis, L. angustifrons, L. nigra , and
M. pusilla) occur in Wisconsin only as vagrants and have essen¬
tially no chance of becoming permanently established. The pupae
of O. vicina and L. americana can tolerate cold with a temporary
suspension in development, and O. fringillina has a true diapause
that depends on a period of chilling in order for development to
resume (cf. Bennett, 1961). Adults of L. americana may over¬
winter on resident hosts, even perhaps continuing to reproduce,
but there is no supplementation of their numbers until spring mi¬
gration brings in adults that have emerged in the south or until
local temperatures become suitable for emergence of new flies.
Adults of species infesting migratory birds travel south on their
hosts in autumn and die with or without reproducing in the south.
Lice of a species of Briielia (Mallophaga) were found attached
to 11.3 per cent of the Ornithomyia fringillina. Phoresy was also
found in one specimen of Microlynchia pusilla. Parasitic mites
of the genera Microlichus and Myialges were found on the wings
of three Lynchia americana and 26.6 per cent of the O. fringillina.
Acknowledgments
Most of the data for this study were obtained while the authors
were engaged in a study of bird migration in Wisconsin. The
1969] N. Mueller, H. Mueller and Berger — Flies on Birds 205
following persons helped with the collection of louse-flies:
F. and F. Hamerstrom, E. Bishop, C. Sindelar, D. Seal, J. Oar,
J. Weaver, E. Schluter, and P. Drake. The Wisconsin State Ex¬
perimental and Game Farm at Poynette gave us raptorial birds
trapped on their premises Mites were identified by Professor
G. W. Wharton, Ohio State University. Many of the collections
were made during the course of a study of bird migration sup¬
ported by a grant (GB-175) to Professor J. T. Emlen from the
National Science Foundation.
References Cited
Bennett, G. F. 1931. On three species of Hippoboscidae (Diptera) on birds
in Ontario. Can. J. Zool., 39:379-406.
Bequaert, J. C. 1952-53. The Hippoboscidae or louse-flies (Diptera) of mam¬
mals and birds. Part I. Structure, physiology and natural history.
Entomol. Amer., 32-33 (N.S.) : 1-442.
Bequaert, J. C. 1954-56. The Hippoboscidae or louse-flies (Diptera) of mam¬
mals and birds. Part II. Taxonomy, evolution and revision of American
genera and species. Entomol. Amer., 34-36 (N.S.) : 1-611.
Corbet, G. B. 1956a. The phoresy of Mallophaga on a population of Omitho-
myia fringillina Curtis (Dipt., Hippoboscidae). Ent. Mon. Mag. 92:207-
211.
Corbet, G. B. 1956b. The life-history and host-relations of a Hippoboscid fly
O mi thorny ia fringillina Curtis. J. Anim. Ecol., 25:403-420.
Corbet, G. B. 1961. A comparison of the life-histories of two species of Orni-
thomyia (Diptera, Hippoboscidae). Entomol. Gaz., 12:24-31.
Hill, D. S. 1962a. Revision of the British species of Ornithomyia Latreille
(Diptera: Hippoboscidae). Proc. Royal Ent. Soc. London, (B), 31:11-18.
Hill, D. S. 1962b. A study of the distribution and host preferences of three
species of Ornithomyia (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) in the British Isles.
Proc. Royal Ent. Soc. London, (A), 37:37-48.
Hill, D. S. 1963. The life history of the British species of Ornithomyia
(Diptera: Hippoboscidae). Trans. Royal Ent. Soc. London, 115:391-407.
Hill, D. S., W. Hackman, and L. Lyneborg. 1964. The genus Ornithomyia
(Diptera: Hippoboscidae) in Fennoscandia, Denmark and Iceland. Notulae
Entomologicae, 44:33-52.
Maa, T. C. 1963. Genera and species of Hippoboscidae (Diptera) : types,
synonymy, habits and natural groupings. Pacific Insects Monog., 6:1-186.
MacArthur, K. 1948. The louse-flies of Wisconsin and adjacent states (Dip¬
tera: Hippoboscidae). Bull. Public Museum City Milwaukee, 8:367-440.
Mueller, H. C., and D. D. Berger. 1966. Analyses of weight and fat varia¬
tions in transient Swainson’s Thrushes. Bird-Banding, 37:83-112.
Mueller, H. C., and D. D. Berger. 1968. The relative abundance of species
caught in mist-nets during fall migration at Cedar Grove. Passenger
Pigeon, 29:107-115.
Woodman, W. J. 1954. Mallophaga of Wisconsin, (unpub.) PhD Thesis, Univ.
of Wisconsin, Madison. 281 pp.
206 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 57
Appendix
(Scientific names of birds* infested with Hippoboscidae)
* American Ornithologists’ Union. 1957. Checklist of North American Birds. Ameri¬
can Ornithologists’ Union, Baltimore, Md.
1969] N. Mueller, H . Mueller and Berger — Flies on Birds 207
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin
Rufous-sided Towhee
Slate-colored Junco
Tree Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Carpodacus purpureus
Spinus pinus
Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Junco hyemalis
Spizella arborea
Zonotrichia leucophrys
Zonotrichia albicollis
Passerella iliaca
Melospiza lincolnii
Melospiza georgiana
Melospiza melodia
Nancy S. Mueller is a native of Ohio. She received her B.A. from
the College of Wooster and her M.S. and Ph.D. (Zoology) from
the University of Wisconsin. She presently teaches embryology at
North Carolina State University at Raleigh. Her husband, Helmut,
is a native of Milwaukee and holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees
from the University of Wisconsin. He currently teaches animal
behavior and vertebrate zoology at the University of North Caro
lina at Chapel Hill. Daniel D. Berger is also a native of Milwaukee,
where he operates a small business and yet manages to spend about
half of his time on his avocation, ornithology. He is a veteran of
several ornithological expeditions to the arctic. All three have
collaborated for some years in studies of bird migration at the
Cedar Grove Ornithological Station in Sheboygan County.
WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS & LETTERS
Madison, Wisconsin
OFFICERS 1968-69
President
Adolph A. Suppan
School of Fine Arts
The University of Wisconsin — ■
Milwaukee
Vice-President (Sciences)
John A. Cummings
Department of Biology
Wisconsin State University —
Whitewater
Vice-President (Arts)
Mary Ellen Pagel
1111 North Astor Street
Milwaukee
Vice-President (Letters)
Charles D. Goff
Department of Political Science
Wisconsin State University —
Oshkosh
President-Elect
William B. Sarles
Department of Bacteriology
The University of Wisconsin —
Madison
Secretary
Eunice R. Bonow
Department of Pharmacy
The University of Wisconsin —
Milwaukee
Treasurer
Jack R. Arndt
University Extension
The University of Wisconsin —
Madison
Librarian
Jack A. Clarke
Department of Library Science
The University of Wisconsin —
Madison
APPOINTED OFFICIALS
Editor — Transactions
Walter F. Peterson
Department of History
Lawrence University, Appleton
Editor — Wisconsin Academy Review
Ruth L. Hine
Wisconsin Conservation Division
Madison
Chairman — Junior Academy of Science
Jack R. Arndt
University Extension
The University of Wisconsin — Madison
The Academy Council
ing past presidents of the
Paul W. Boutwell
A. W. Schorger
Henry A. Schuette
Lowell E. Noland
Otto L. Kowalke
Katherine G. Nelson
ACADEMY COUNCIL
includes the above named
Academy.
Ralph W. Buckstaff
Joseph G. Baier
Stephen F. Darling
Robert J. Dicke
Henry A. Meyer
Merritt Y. Hughes
officers and the follow-
Carl Welty
J. Martin Klotsche
Aaron J. Ihde
Walter E. Scott
Harry Hayden Clark
John W. Thomson
ccetLry^O
letters
50C.73
W1W&3
Vol. LVIII — 197<
* * :* l ,"v | ’»
Cover Design by Arthur Thrall, Lawrence University
TRANSACTIONS OF THE
WISCONSIN ACADEMY
OF SCIENCES, ARTS
AND LETTERS
LVIII— 1970
TRANSACTIONS OF THE
WISCONSIN ACADEMY
Established 1870
Volume LVIII
THE CREATIVE TEMPER IN A COMPUTERIZED SOCIETY 1
Adolph A. Suppan
TOWARD DESIGN IN THE VERNACULAR 9
William A. King
MUSIC AS VIBRATIONS AND AS FLYSPECKS 15
Donald W. Krummel
VICTOR BERGER: SOCIALIST CONGRESSMAN 27
Frederick I. Olson
WHEN SEDITION LAWS WERE ENFORCED:
WISCONSIN IN WORLD WAR I 39
John D. Stevens
POLICE IN A LARGE SOUTHEASTERN
WISCONSIN COMMUNITY 61
John C. H. Oh
TRENDS IN WISCONSIN’S TOURIST-LODGING INDUSTRY 71
L. G. Mon they
TOPOGRAPHIC INFLUENCE ON TORNADO TRACKS AND
FREQUENCIES IN WISCONSIN AND ARKANSAS 101
Robert G. Gallimore, Jr., and Heinz H. Lettau
THE OTTER IN EARLY WISCONSIN 129
A. W. Schorger
VENTIFACTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CAMBRIAN-
PRECAMBRIAN UNCONFORMITY AT
NEKOOSA, WISCONSIN 147
Ronald W. Tank
PALEO-GEOGRAPHIC IMPLICATIONS OF CLAY BALL DEPOSITS
UNDER VALUER AN TILL IN EASTERN WISCONSIN 153
Barbara Zakrzewska
NOTES ON THE ECOLOGY OF THE HARVEST MOUSE,
RE1THRODONTOMYS MEGALOTIS , IN
SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN 163
Gerald E. Svendsen
AN ANNOTATED CHECK LIST OF THE GEOMETRIDAE
(LEPIDOPTERA) OF WISCONSIN 167
Charles V. Coveil, Jr.
FOUR NEW SPECIES RECORDS OF SIALIS
(MEGALOPTERA: SIALIDAE)
FOR WISCONSIN 185
K. J. Tennessen
JUNCUS EFFUSUS. I. THE SITUATION IN WISCONSIN 187
Seymour H. Sohmer
GROWTH POTENTIAL OF WISCONSIN NATIVE
PINES ON WEED-INVADED SOILS 197
S. A. Wilde
CORIXIDAE (WATER BOATMEN) OF WISCONSIN 203
William L. Hilsenhoff
TROPHIC NATURE OF SELECTED WISCONSIN LAKES
237
Lloyd A. Lueschow, James M. Helm, Donald R. Winter
and Gary W. Karl
ANNOTATED LIST OF THE FISHES OF WISCONSIN 265
Marlin Johnson and George C. Becker
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN
NO. 60 TILIACEAE AND MALVACEAE— BASSWOOD
AND MALLOW FAMILIES 301
Fred H. Utech
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN NO. 61.
HYPERICACEAE— ST. JOHN’S-WORT FAMILY 325
Fred H. Utech and Hugh H. litis
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN
NO. 62. COMPOSITAE VI. COMPOSITE FAMILY VI.
THE GENUS AMBROSIA— THE RAGWEEDS 353
Willard W. Payne
BIOGRAPHIES
373
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
is an annual publication devoted to the original, scholarly investigations of
Academy members. Sound manuscripts dealing with the state of Wisconsin
or its people are especially welcome, although papers by Academy members on
topics of general interest are occasionally published. Subject matter experts
will review each manuscript submitted.
Contributors are asked to forward two copies of their manuscript to the
Editor. The manuscript should be typed and double spaced on 8V2 x 11" bond
paper. The title of the paper should, be centered at the top of the first page
of the manuscript and should be typed in capital letters throughout. The
author's name should appear in capital and lower case letters, and should
be underlined and centered directly below the title. A note identifying the
author by institution or background should be placed at the top of a fresh
page, immediately after the text of the article. Upper right hand page nota¬
tions from the second page on should read 2 — Brown, 3 — Brown, 4 — Brown, etc.
The cost of publishing the Transactions is great. Therefore, articles in excess
of twenty-five printed pages will not normally be accepted. In the rare instance
in which a longer paper is approved, the contributor may be asked to help
subsidize publication.
Documentary footnotes should appear at the end of the paper under the
heading “References Cited.” Supplementary or explanatory notes of material
too specialized to appear in the text itself should be typed on a separate sheet
entitled “Footnotes” and appended to the section entitled “References Cited.”
Contributors should avoid unnecessary documentation wherever possible. Other
matters of style should be in harmony with current practice in the subject
matter area.
Galley proofs and manuscript copy will be forwarded to the author for
proofreading prior to publication; both should be returned to the Editor within
two weeks. Papers received on or before July 15 will be considered for pub¬
lication in the current year. Papers received after that will be considered for
publication the following year.
Contributors will be given five offprints of their article free of charge.
Additional offprints in sets bf 100, 200, etc. may be ordered at the time galleys
and copy are returned to the Editor. Price will vary according to quantity
desired and the length of the article.
Manuscripts should be sent to:
Professor Walter F. Peterson
Editor, Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy
Lawrence University
Appleton, Wisconsin 54911
ADOLPH A. SUPPAN
U8th President of the
WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND LETTERS
THE CREATIVE TEMPER IN A COMPUTERIZED SOCIETY*
Adolph A. Suppan
I
I begin this talk with a short poem. I ask all of you to reserve
your aesthetic judgment until I reveal the author.
Darling sweetheart
You are my avid fellow feeling
My affection curiously clings to your
passionate wish.
My liking yearns for your heart.
You are my wistful sympathy,
My tender liking.
Yours beautifully,
M.U.C.1
You will notice that the initials of the author are M.U.C. I am
certain everyone realizes that the quality of the writing is some¬
what below the standard of Shakespeare, Keats or T. S. Eliot ; that
is, of course, because M.U.C. is a beginner, and it may be some
time before he rates a “B” in creative writing.
M.U.C. is the Manchester University Computer, and I let him
introduce this talk to show that in an age of technology, in a so¬
ciety already dominated by the computer, its tentacles reach every¬
where.
We are all personally aware of the prevalence of the computer;
it is programmed for everything from manufacturing automobiles
to finding ideal mates for single people. Hospitals employ computers
to analyze a patient’s ailment, count his blood cells, and compare his
symptoms with the size of his bank account. Department stores use
them not only in their business offices (for inventories, purchasing,
billing) but to regulate escalators and revolving doors. Schools use
data-processing systems to enroll their students, grade their ex¬
aminations, and decide how much to sock (hit) them for in the
alumni gift campaign.2 An aircraft factory, wanting to know the
equation concerning the distance a plane could fly on a given
* Address of the retiring- President, delivered at the 99th annual meeting of the
Academy, May 3, 1969.
1 Quoted in A. J. Parisi, “The kinetic movement : technology paces the arts,”
Product Engineering , Dec. 2, 1968, p. 34.
2 Corey Ford, “A Guide to Thinking,” Think , Jan. 1961, p. 12.
1
2
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
amount of fuel, with a certain type of wing*, had the answer in
seven minutes. A man with an old-fashioned desk calculator would
have taken seven years; pencil and paper calculation would have
taken six generations. In what we call our ordinary lives, computers
provide everything from bank balances to ticket reservations to
personal horoscopes.3
The computer does have its flaws and its disadvantages. Recently,
translating a Russian proverb, “Time flies like an arrow,” a com¬
puter came out with “Time flies enjoys eating arrows.”4 More
seriously, some authorities wonder if programmed learning might
not affect man’s reasoning process to the extent that he might
accept ideas without studying or questioning them ; some scientists
also worry that constant graphic presentation might alter the ability
to conceptualize.5 Others fear that the computer will enable gov¬
ernments to exert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen.6
II
These are some phases of the overall thrust of the computer in
our lives; I come now to the main theme of my talk today — the
influence of a technological age and the computer upon the creative
artist in our society.
It is, of course, to be expected that artists react individually and
differently to massive developments and events. It is also natural
that the reaction can be both benevolent and malevolent. Certainly
many painters, sculptors, composers, playwrights, and choreograph¬
ers show by their works that they have been influenced by the tech¬
nological thrust of our society. A reputable music critic, Frederic
Grunfeld, has judged Europe’s most successful piece of avant-
garde music to be Rolf Liebermann’s Les Echanges, an automated
symphony for business machines, which proved to be the major
attraction of a trade exhibit at the Swiss National Exposition in
Lausanne. Liebermann, known in the United States for his Con¬
certo for Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra, has scored this
percussive composition :
. . . for 156 office machines and mechanical devices, including typewriters,
adding machines, cash registers, perforators, tape-moisteners, telephones
and what-have-you, led by a computer with a mambo beat. The whole
thing takes less than three minutes, but it points the way to a solution of
all those problems with temperamental prima donnas and dictators of the
baton.7
a John Lear, “Can a Mechanical Brain Replace You?” Collier’s , Apr. 4, 1953, p. 62.
4 Dr. Warren S. McCullock, quoted in New York Times , Apr. 24, 1966.
15 “Obsolescence for the Printed Word,” Think, Jan.-Feb., 1969, Vol. 34, No. 7, p. 19.
0 Zbigniew Brzezinski, quoted in Arthur P. Mendel, “Robots and Rebels,” The New
Republic, Jan. 11, 1969, p. 16.
7 Frederic Grunfeld, Hi Fi/ Stereo-Review , Dec., 1964.
1970] Suppan — Creative Temper in a Computerized Society 3
Two years ago in New York, more than forty artists and engi¬
neers produced nine evenings of kinetic art which they titled
“Theatre and Engineering.”8 In Los Angeles recently, the County
Museum of Art announced a project to “mate” art and industry,
involving thirty-one companies and twelve artists at work in five
plants.9 Leading artists-in-residence will stay at the company plants
for twelve weeks. Larry Bell, one of the artist-constructionists in¬
volved, is “group-thinking” with staff members of the Rand Cor¬
poration. He says :
. . . we’re discussing light, color perception, architecture, what art really
is. We’ve found out that artists and corporations and technologies can
co-exist and make each other’s lives productive.30
A recent exhibition in New York’s Whitney Museum of Modern
Art was filled with objects that simply would not leave the viewer
alone. According to a review in the Milwaukee Journal , all of them
were electronic, all of them glowed, and some of them did even
more than that: they growled, spun, flashed and hummed; they
didn’t just sit there, they performed. The review went on:
The theatricality of the exhibition hits the viewer from the start. The
show is called “Light: Object and Image,” and it is installed entirely in
the dark. The darkness sets the mood, as one steps into those darkened
galleries, as the light goes dim and the catalog becomes unreadable, one
waits with fascinated expectation for the performance to begin. Mysterious
machinery bleeps and hums. Magical surprises have been promised. The
intangible aura of show biz is in the air.11
The highly-respected American painter, Robert Rauschenberg,
has created a “theatre piece” which begins with an authentic tennis
game with rackets wired for transmission of sound. The sounds of
balls hitting rackets control the lights. During the game, the sounds
turn out the lights one by one. At the game’s end, the hall is totally
dark. But the darkness is illusory ; the hall is actually flooded with
infrared light invisible to the human eye. A modestly choreographed
cast of from 300 to 500 persons enters to be observed and projected
by infrared television onto the screens.12 Another artist is produc¬
ing computer drawings based on mathematical equations and using
a light source or cathode-ray tube.13
One might suggest that the artists who are “collaborating” with
the computer might have some reason to fear its ultimate victory
8 “Single Channeled You Mustn’t Be,” New York Times, Feb. 5, 1967.
9 Grace Glueck, “Coast Art — Industry Project Blossoms,” New York Times , Apr. 17,
1969, p. 54.
10 Larry Bell quoted in Ibid.
11 Paul Richard of Washington Post, in “Light Show Flashes in New York,” Milwau¬
kee Journal, Aug. 25, 1968, Part 5, p. 6.
12 Richard Kostelanetz, “The Artist as Playwright and Engineer,” New York Times
Magazine, Oct. 9, 1966, p. 22.
13 A. J. Parisi, op. cit., p. 36.
4 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
over them. A. M. Noll tells of an ingenious experiment which, to
all intents and purposes, revealed that the computer could possibly
out-create the creative artist. He (Noll) gave 100 people an original
Mondrian drawing and a drawing made by a computer in Mon¬
drian’s style. He asked them to judge which drawing was artis¬
tically superior, and which was produced by a machine.
Of all those asked, only 28 per cent correctly identified the computer pic¬
ture and 59 per cent preferred it to the Mondrian . . . People who said
they liked modern art preferred the computer-drawn picture, three to one.14
Noll comments: “I don’t know whether this is overestimating the
computer’s artistic ability or underestimating Mondrian’s.”15
Some artists, however, are not too fearful. John R. Pierce says
that:
... it isn’t too early for artists and programmers to study man and his
arts on the one hand, and the computer and its potentialities on the other,
hotly and realistically. We must decide whether men and machines should
work gravely or wackily to produce works that are portentous or delicious.
The choice is open, and I hope it won’t be made too solemnly.16
The jarring question for the artist, however, remains: Can the
computer itself produce art, thus by-passing the artist?17 You will
remember both the computer poem I used in the introduction and
the episode of the fake Mondrian.
Ill
As I have already shown, there is a trend of cooperation toward
the computer and its possibilities, evidenced by numbers of artists
in our society. This is countered by a mood of rebellion which is
also evident in other directions taken by the arts. In saying this,
I am, of course, fully aware that the artist, being the type of per¬
sonality he is (more of that later), has often been a revolutionary
in any age. I need only cite such a giant as Beethoven, whose works
are now selected for the conservative portions of our symphony
programs. His third symphony, considered by many to mark a
tremendous advance in the entire history of music, outraged con¬
vention by its inclusion of a funeral march. His fifth symphony
was condemned by a contemporary composer and critic as “an
orgy of vulgar noise.”18
^A. M. Noll in John R. Pierce, “Portrait of a Machine as a Young- Artist,” Science ,
Art and Communications , C. N. Potter, New York, 1968, p. 151.
15 John R. Pierce, Ibid., p. 151.
10 John R. Pierce, Ibid., p. 158.
17 A. J. Parisi, op. cit., p. 27.
^Wallace Brockway and Herbert Weinstock, Men of Music, New York, 1950, p. 190.
1970] Suppan — Creative Temper in a Computerized Society
5
Some artists of our time, like Jean Tinguely, design machines
that make their own commentary on the machine. In a recent work
titled Homage to New York, he presented an assemblage of a piano,
machine parts, bicycle parts, a weather balloon, and fireworks,
which was programmed to be seen by an audience for a number of
hours; after which the “machine” destroyed itself.19 Nor is this
tendency in the arts limited to sculpture. In theatre there is also a
trend toward improvisation in the form of “happenings.” The
“aleatory” music of John Cage, dependent entirely upon contingency
or chance, is drawing crowds (and some Brooklyn cheers) wher¬
ever he appears. One of his compositions, titled U minutes, 33
seconds, consists of a pianist sitting at the piano without playing a
note and then leaving. I understand that when asked “Where is the
music?” Cage replied that it is in the sounds you hear in the audi¬
ence while they are just sitting there.20 The distinguished critic
of the New York Times, Harold Schonberg, writes:
Basically the entire avant-garde manifestation is revolt, unease, a pro¬
found dissatisfaction with current social, religious and cultural standards.
At basis is the feeling that nothing means anything, certainly not when
the Bomb has taken the place of God in so many minds as the ultimate
disposer of the earth. The avant-garde in the arts, deriding the romantic
concept of “beauty/’ has deliberately substituted an anti-ethical concept
that is intended to demolish the great ethos upon which all art of the past
was based.21
Joseph Wood Krutch testifies further to this rebellion. He sug¬
gests that artists have, “in their own way, signed off from their
civilization almost as effectively as has the cultivated manufacturer
of the shapeless dream.”22
Another observer predicts that:
If today’s trend continues in theatre, we may all look forward to an in¬
flux of poorly-constructed plays covering up their inadequacy with a
generous hunk of pornography, a liberal sprinkling of four-letter words
and a sugar coating of poetry. This pretense at “free expression” is really
no more avant-garde than a ready-mix cake.23
The jarring messages given by the rebellious artist to his society
correspond with the free admission that he is disgusted with its
dehumanization of human life as well as its despoilation of nature.
This is a revolt, whether we relate it to our military-industrial com¬
plex or to our mass-society. Even the individual’s name is on the
19 Nathan Knobler, The Visual Dialogue, New York, (n.d.), p. 204.
20 Summarized from Look Magazine, Jan. 9, 1968, p. 45.
21 Harold C. Schonberg-, “Art and Bunk, Matter and Anti-Matter,’’ New York Times,
Sept. 24, 1968.
22 Joseph Wood Krutch, “The Creative Dilemma,” Saturday Review, Feb. 8, 1964,
P. 17.
23 “To the Editor,” New York Times, July 28, 1968.
6
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
[Vol. 58
way to becoming meaningless. He is identified merely as a group of
numbers by his student admissions office, his insurance man, or his
gas station attendant.
IV
This evidence relating to the artist's confrontation with tech¬
nology and the computer should be followed by the direct question :
Why is the creative temper even more necessary to our technological
society than to any past society?
A recent psychological study of creativity — The Creative Person
— made by a group of psychologists on the University of California-
Berkeley campus, is very informative here. It concludes (and I sum¬
marize) that the creative person is inclined to be interested and cur¬
ious, more open and receptive than others ; that he is strongly moti¬
vated to achieve in situations where independence of thought and
action are called for ;24 that he has an openness to experience, a free¬
dom from crippling restraints and impoverished inhibitions, and a
delight in the challenging and unfinished.25
These characteristics marking the creative temper (and I must
quickly point out that the creative scientist, as well as the creative
artist, was considered) make me ask: In our society — shadowed by
urbanization, mechanization, and over-population — where the per¬
son is in danger of becoming a non-person, is not the creative in¬
dividual a last defense?
It is by now a truism to state that these qualities of character —
independence, originality, open-mindedness — are more needed than
ever by our society. These qualities are needed to challenge the
forces a technological society has set in motion, forces that obliter¬
ate personality psychologically, not to speak of what can take place
when computer-programmed missiles obliterate us physically.
Truly, as the arts of a civilization have often served to symbolize
a nation's achievement or failure, the treatment of its artists has
revealed the degree of freedom or oppression within its borders.
One might therefore say that our age, more than any other, will be
judged by future historians in relation to how it realizes the debt
it owes to these free, independent spirits who might help prevent a
society from melting its men into ciphers.
This implies, of course, the need for a greater recognition of
the creative individual and his contribution to our culture. As
Archibald MacLeish has said :
What’s wrong is not the great discoveries of science . . . What is wrong
is the belief . . . that information alone will change the world. It won’t.
^Donald W. MacKinnon, “What Makes a Person Creative?,” Saturday Review ,
Feb. 10, 1962, p. 17.
25 Ibid., p. 69.
1970] Suppan — Creative Temper in a Computerized Society
7
Information without human understanding is like an answer without its
question — meaningless. And human understanding is only possible through
the arts.26
The arts and humanities provide meaning and purpose to our
lives. The artist— in many different ways — probes, searches, and
reinterprets reality so as to make our lives deeper, wider, and richer
because of his efforts. When we need a jolt, he jolts us, with disso¬
nances or happenings ; when we need a shock, he shocks us, often to
tell us that we’re taking the wrong road.
I am fully aware of Plato’s overt reason for excluding poets
from his Republic — -fear of the emotional influence of great art.
But I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that what Plato was really
worried about was that the rebellious, independent, poets would
upset the applecarts in his neat, controlled, structured, little state.
Certainly our nation is in danger of being computerized beyond
belief, organized beyond belief, and benumbed beyond belief by the
offerings of the mass media — so much so that the high prophet of
the electronic revolution, Marshall McLuhan, has changed his gospel
from “the medium is the message” to “the medium is the massage.”
The creative temper, as I have emphasized in this talk, can re¬
mind, prod, and inspire us to sustain the value of the person in a
non-personal world.
26 Archibald MacLeish, “Thoughts on an Age that Gave us Hiroshima,” New York
Times, July 9, 1967, Section 2, p. 1.
TOWARD DESIGN IN THE VERNACULAR
William A. King
There exists in this country a discontent, an almost voiceless
potential, with little direction and few spokesmen. This discontent
is the result of our lack of aesthetically satisfying visual and
tactile experiences. It is a voiceless potential because it is the un¬
spoken yearning for harmony and proportion that every man seeks
consciously or unconsciously in his surroundings. There is little
direction because few in positions of decision-making are concerned
with the yearning. Little effort is directed toward giving a unity of
expression.
Each one of us is part of this underground potential. Its basis is
in the biological and psychological needs which should be reflected
in the way we live and in the things we use. The way we live is ex¬
pressed in a jumble of diversions. We are surrounded by cacophony,
foul air to breathe and offensive visual experiences.
Phonographs look like antique chests, plastics imitate marble,
kitchens imitate other factories and are merely as efficient. From
the design of the development house (boxes within a box) to the
form of the latest automobile, there is no effort at appealing to
any one aesthetic sense. There is instead only a confusion of many
directions. The recent epidemic of ludicrous tail fins on our auto¬
mobiles is symptomatic of our plight. But if there is discontent, it
may be asked, why is there no public protest? Perhaps because
man, in his infinite capacity to adapt, shuts out what is intolerable.
He no longer notices the unacceptable, just as the soldier in battle
can ignore sights of death and mutilation.
In this paper I wish to trace the development of this phenomenon
of life today.
In eighteenth-century America, before the industrial revolution
had a strong grip, the objects of daily use expressed in a natural
way the lives of the people of that time. There was a dialogue be¬
tween the artisan and the user of his product. The consumer knew
what he wanted and he got it; the craftsman was qualified by his
sensitivity and his apprenticeship. Since there was this natural
alliance between the artisan and the consumer, the results were
generally satisfying. It was in the design of useful things that the
American showed his creative genius. Creative impulses, untram¬
melled by tradition, were released. The character of early American
9
10 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
design was summed up by James Fenimore Cooper, in Notions of
the Americans (1828) : “I have seen more beautiful, graceful and
convenient ploughs in positive use here, than are probably to be
found in the whole of Europe united. In this single fact may be
traced the . . . character of the people,, and the germ of their future
greatness. Their axe is admirable for form, for neatness, and for
precision of weight . . . the actual necessities of society supply an
incentive to ingenuity and talent, that are wanted elsewhere . . .
the vast multitude of their inventions ought to furnish food for
grave reflection to every stranger.”
Mass production was possible in the 1830*8, and it gave almost
everyone machine-made chairs, carpets and wallpaper. Designers
tested the limits of the machine in their competition to come up
with the most ornate product. Expediency took the place of art.
Walter D. Teague writes of this industrialization : “While the
Revolution had none of the grace and charm of childhood, it had
the clumsiness, the ineptness, the unintentional cruelty and the
pains of a gigantic, lumbering, grimy, immaturity. It had, too,
the eagerness and vitality of youth ... It accepted as a matter of
course that the new industrial system on which the whole new
scheme of life was based should proliferate in sinister black
factories that blighted the lives of their workers ... It re¬
ceived with uncritical acceptance the floods of crudely em¬
bryonic wares that poured from these factories to supply our
needs ineptly, while they swamped our lives in ugliness.”
The end result of the surfeit of badly designed products in this
country was that no one was satisfied, as the craftsman and con¬
sumer were satisfied in a less complex age.
The disparity between man striving for beauty and the ugliness
of the world is not new. In England Josiah Wedge wood endeavored
to solve the problem in the mid-1700’s by enhancing commercial
pottery with applied decoration, which emphasized already existing
beauty. William Morris a century later counseled, through modified
medievalism, that man should ignore the machine entirely and re¬
turn to the days of handicraft. “As a condition of life, production
by machinery is altogether an evil . . . art must be produced by
the people and for the people, as a happiness for the maker and
the user.” And he insisted on the importance of aesthetic considera¬
tions in the design of even insignificant objects, an idea which has
had far ranging implications up until the present. Perhaps his most
important contribution was the establishment of arts and crafts
schools throughout England where young designers studied the
possibilities for functional yet beautiful design.
1970]
King — Toward Design in the Vernacular
11
Morris’ ideas were followed in Europe by the movement called
Art Nouveau. Art Nouveau, as its name suggests, attempted to
create a new style. International in character, it was known as
Art Nouveau in Belgium and France, Sezession in Austria, Jugend-
stil in Germany and stile lihertd in Italy. The Belgian Henry van
de Velde, one of its leaders, urged . . a logical structure of prod¬
ucts, uncompromising logic in the use of materials, proud and frank
exhibition of the working processes.”
Significantly for industrial design, the German Hermann Mu-
thesius advocated the study of “railway stations, exhibition halls,
bridges and steamships . . . whose shapes are completely dictated
by the purposes they are meant to serve.” In 1907 Muthesius
founded the Deutscher Werkbund, which was a step away from the
arts and crafts (Jcunstgewerbe) toward a true industrial art. Its
ideal was stated in Muthesius’ inaugural address : “There is no fixed
boundary between tool and machine. Work of a high standard can
be created with tools or with machines, as soon as man has mastered
the machine and made it a tool.” Standardization was the goa(, and
it was only through it that reliable taste could be achieved.
The arts and crafts movement inspired by William Morris in
England made its impact in the United States in the 1880’s. Ex¬
amples of this influence are the glassware of Louis Comfort Tiffany
in New York and the Rookwood pottery of Maria Storer in Cincin¬
nati. These were aesthetic protests against the poor quality of
factory production.
In more modern times serial production, since its standard is
that of indefinite repetition of objects, has changed the attitude
of the consumer. Uniqueness or skill of craftsmanship is no longer
a consideration; only the design is important. Novelty, however,
has increasingly occupied the minds of merchandisers. Designers
have borrowed criteria from cybernetics and feel that overfamilar-
ity produces obsolescence. The greatest amount of pleasure is de¬
rived from newness, because of its ability to surprise us. These
ideas have their roots in the writings of the English empiricist
Burke, who formulated a functionalist attitude toward art.
Burke writes in A. Philosophical Inquiry into the Sublime and
Beautiful (1756) : “When we examine the structure of a watch,,
when we come to know thoroughly the use of every part of it,
satisfied as we are with the fitness of the whole, we are far enough
from perceiving anything like beauty in the watch work itself . . .
the effect is previous to any knowledge of the use, but to judge of
proportion, we must know the end for which any work is designed.”
He shows the distinction between beauty and proportion and fitness
and knowledge of use. And in the same work he states: “Indeed
beauty is so far from belonging to the idea of custom, that in reality
12 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
what affects us is that manner is extremely rare and uncommon.
The beautiful strikes us as much by its novelty as the deformed
itself . . . For as use at last takes off the painful effect of many
things, it reduces the pleasurable effect in others in the same
manner.”
Concepts such as those expressed by Burke underwent consider¬
able change in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Functional¬
ism, which was originally understood in its materialistic meaning,
now took on psychological implications. Beauty became synonymous
with function. Louis Sullivan maintained that “form follows func¬
tion.” In the 1920’s the Bauhaus set out to educate the industrial
designer in the premise that beauty and utility meet in the well-
designed object. Such men as Klee and Kandinsky, the architects
Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer, adapted the new principles
of the arts to the unique requirements of serial production. It was
hoped that the lowest possible cost would produce the best aesthetic
result. Industry would be furnished with functional designs which
were clearly made by machines.
With the rise of the Nazis in Germany the Bauhaus was closed.
Many of its faculty came to America, and the works of Gropius at
Harvard, Moholy-Nagy at the Chicago School of Design, Kepes at
M.I.T. and Mies van der Rohe in the Chicago area have had their
impact. America’s own Frank Lloyd Wright had more influence
on Europe than on his own country. Walter D. Teague, Henry
Dreyfuss, Raymond Loewy, and Charles Eames have also made an
impact with designs ranging from steamships and telephone re¬
ceivers to bent plywood chairs.
In America the emphasis is on styling. The change is on the sur¬
face. Objects change form with what is thought to be the latest
mood of the consumer. When aerodynamics occupies the primary
concern all objects take on free flowing lines. The theory of entropy
of communications hopes to produce the maximum amount of sur¬
prise by a deluge of new styled products. It is held that the greatest
amount of information is supplied by a form which, because of
its newness and unforeseeableness, gives the greatest amount of
surprise. The amount of information is in direct proportion to its
degree of surprise. When the form is repeated too often, there is a
diminishing amount of information (the form is ignored by the
consumer.) The idea that novelty produces aesthetic pleasure takes
on cynical overtones and gives rise to planned obsolescence.
The benefits of the machine are obvious in our time, and there
can be no turning back. The Bauhaus offered an answer to the
problem of designing intelligently for the machine. It seems that
much of the message has fallen on deaf ears. It would seem that the
manufacturer has not discovered that additional dimension, and
1970] King — Toward Design in the Vernacular 13
this keeps his product from being well designed. Much of the prob¬
lem centers around the appropriateness of form and the function of
decoration. Surely novelty is not the only thing which will appeal
to the public.
Many business establishments are aware of the necessity of pre¬
senting an image in plant and administrative office appearance.
The best architects are often engaged for this purpose. Why then
is the consumer product shoddy in so many instances? An indus¬
trial designer, Richard S. Latham, says : “The quality of materials
used and the characteristic details become more skimpy and in¬
appropriate, until finally it appears that the worst design, the most
inept craftsmanship and the least beautiful workmanship have
been relegated to the individual consumer, with higher orders of
skill and execution reserved for industrial products, and the high¬
est order of concept and execution reserved for products that hu¬
man beings will hardly ever see.”
Industrial design is the only really popular art form. It has the
influence to educate the public in the positive values of modern
art. Our condition suggests that manufacturers are not seeking pro¬
fessional ideas in the solution of design problems. College and uni¬
versity departments of industrial design have been trying to edu¬
cate students for more than a quarter of a century to solve these
problems in an honest way. And yet their efforts are not very
apparent. Imitation of handicraft is not an honest solution, and
the machine does not do it willingly. Perhaps the market analysts
are second guessing the public. Perhaps businessmen are afraid to
disturb the situation which has arisen from the misuse of ma¬
chines by misguided men.
Susanne K. Langer addressed herself to the problem in Feeling
and Form : “The artisan-craftsman has been superseded by the in¬
dustrial designer; and industrial design is next to architecture in
shaping the visual scene. So it is in our things — our countless
things, multiplied fantastically praeter necessitatem — that we must
find some significance : a look of simple honesty in ordinary utensils,
of dignity in silverware, and of technological elegance in our
machines.”
The time is long overdue for industry to bring its products into
line with the limitations and the advantages provided by machine
production. Forceful leadership by designers and businessmen is
called for. Design in the vernacular can be achieved. It can bring
a grace to our lives which has been absent.
MUSIC AS VIBRATIONS AND AS FLYSPECKS
Observations of a Music Bibliographer on the Unifamiliar Effects and
Inherent Perniciousness of His Chosen Objects of Research.
Donald W. Krummel
It is one of the curiosities of our language that “live” music
should be that which will not survive. Like fruit, music keeps in
cans or when frozen.
Like so many other human achievements, music has been pre¬
served in written records. We know the past not through our
memory of events but through documentary evidence, most of it
preserved on paper. Axiomatically, that music which predates our
written records is pre-historic ; so then also is any music which we
may hear which has not been notated or recorded. Paper enables
the musician to benefit from the past. As we shall see, it also com¬
mits him to the past, developing his art into one of understanding,
interpreting, learning from, and building on the basis of the past.
This study undertakes to survey the relationship between music
and its documents, in terms briefly of (1) basic reasons; (2) his¬
tory; (3) effects; and (4) future prospects. The subject itself in¬
evitably evokes a wide range of responses, from precarious specula¬
tions to the most painful of truisms (“tear up his scores, and where
is Beethoven?”). While I shall hope to develop the speculations out
of some of the more significant of the truisms, quite clearly my
conclusions are contemporary and highly personal rather than the
product of any timeless reasoning. The activity of handling musical
documents, I believe, could not have found the meaning which I am
here proposing without the benefit of rather basic and widespread
changes in our general intellectual attitudes during the past few
years.
To be sure, we have always had misgivings about our musical
heritage being preserved on paper. We concede that, until record¬
ings came along, we were completely dependent on notation for
saving our great musical masterworks. But we still feel the need
to be both skeptical and demeaning of the paper. The notes we
laughingly pass off as flyspecks, of which there are two varieties :
the dead dots which our tiresome scholars study and analyze, and
the silly dots which our mad composers trace in order to make the
great idiotic compositions of today. The flyspecks are a mere re¬
flection of the action, the harmonious vibrations in which is em-
15
16 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
bodied music itself. The fact remains that, without notation and
its painstaking formulation and study, our music itself would be an
achievement far less significant than what we know and enjoy
today — considerably less well developed, clearly an anachronism in
our age, truly pre-historic.
What has led Western Man to go to the trouble of committing
music to paper? First and most obvious is our belief that a musical
entity is suitable for and deserves re-performance, which can best
be accomplished through preservation — that its sounds, or at least
their component relationships, ought to be heard again. This belief
may be based on two attitudes. One is a moral, even a religious re¬
sponsibility (“we must save this”) , the other a volition which comes
from enjoyment (“we want to save this”). We believe — and quite
correctly — that oral tradition is fallible, that the passing of a mes¬
sage by word of mouth is not trustworthy, especially when the mes¬
sage is complicated.
Apart from preservation, we wish or need to accommodate a
middle man. Divisions of labor usually result as our civilization be¬
comes more sophisticated; in this instance the creator becomes
separated from the re-creator, that is, the composer from the per¬
former. Sound itself is transmitted by performer to audience ; the
notation enables the composer to communicate with the performer.
Behind both, apart from but governing both, as something of a
Platonic ideal, is the abstract concept of the work of music itself.
Third, we seek a wider circulation of a work. The music be¬
comes part of the repertoire, not of one performer exclusively, but
of many. Thanks to notation, the performer no longer needs to
commit the work to memory. We are thus involved in the act of pub¬
lishing, which requires promotion and publicity.
Implicit is the attitude that music should be shared by per¬
formers — an admirable sentiment at any time, and probably the
exception in the larger course of music history. Such generosity
departs from the practice of the artist’s repertoire being a closely
guarded secret. In eras of great virtuosity, to be sure, the notation
may become the merest of outlines, in which case the publication is
no act of generosity at all. The masterful performer shares the text
with his colleagues, and then in comparison to them shows his
superiority of skill and taste.
Finally, somewhat opposite to altruistic sharing is sharing for
profit. Music becomes a commodity, a means of making money, a
basis for commercial gain. Subject to copyright — a “literary” or
“intellectual property,” of all things — it provides the musician with
a means of survival. He can flout the gods who had prescribed his
1970] Krummel — Music as Vibrations and as Fly specks 17
lot as one of starvation, and, with exceptional luck, get rich and
lose his musical soul entirely.
Out of such considerations, notation on paper — for all intents
and purposes a permanent medium — has joined forces with an art
form which is essentially fleeting and impermanent, made up of
vibrations which are produced, resonate for an instant, and are
gone — which live and die in the tragedy of immediacy. (The word
“evanescent” was a favorite in describing it in the Romantic era.)
In their essence sound waves, and therefore musical compositions,
are momentary, and this we should not forget : such is their limita¬
tion, also their virtue, and their significance today.
The commitment of music to paper thus results in an alliance
between two media, one visual and the other aural, one directed to
the ear and the other to the eye. When the occasional and inevitable
family conflicts arise between the two, the notation always loses.
This is as it should be, since music was originally, and is essentially,
sound and not paper.
We can see the way notation loses out as we follow the current
fashion of pondering our everyday idioms. We adapt an old mili¬
tary expression and speak of a performer “facing the music,” mean¬
ing that he has chosen to do his own thing which is not J. S. Bach’s
own thing. The printed page then brings him rudely back to or¬
thodoxy. (Thus, in current colloquialism, have our flyspecks func¬
tioned as the fall guys in the Great Creative Cop-out of Western
civilization.)
We also use the German term Augenmusik — music of the eyes —
in speaking of a composition which is more rewarding in study
than in listening. The term is not precisely appropriate: a better
term might be Koyfmusik — “head” music, or at least “heady”
music. If the fact be known, there has been very little true Augen¬
musik in the sense of music pleasing to the eye. As a graphic art,
musical notation through history has fared very badly indeed.
There have been very few great masterpieces of music book produc¬
tion. The thrilling prints of Petrucci, the first great music printer,
and the handsome early engraving of Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas
come to mind; but beyond this even the most experienced music
bibliographer will have trouble finding examples of which he can
be proud. The early twentieth century saw several attempts to make
music beautiful on the page through specially prepared music type
faces, fine paper, elegant design, and tasteful decoration. The re¬
sults were hardly successful. Music which is visually attractive
almost inevitably, and most unfortunately, becomes affected in its
appearance. The performer wants his instructions stated in as
clear and unornamented a version as possible — and in view of the
18 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
speed and exactitude .with which he must grasp his instructions,
his needs are indeed critical. In printing, better an ugly legible
statement than a beautiful illegible one. Similarly in publication:
better an ugly edition of good music than a handsome edition of
bad music.
Through the course of Western history, at least up to the twen¬
tieth century, music has found permanence by imitating the printed
book. Music has enjoyed a free ride in the vehicle of literary texts;
and as a result music has had to go where the literary vehicle was
willing and able to go. This influence has yet to be extensively
studied or appreciated. At this point, then, a survey of the main
events in this history is in order.
We find the earliest notation of Western music, as it is traced
back to the Middle Ages, already involving either numbers or words.
Pitch levels are based on mathematical relationships. The names
of these levels are assigned with word syllables, as in solmisation,
or later with the letters of the alphabet themselves. Musical rhythm
is derived either from the natural rhythm of spoken words, or later
from mathematical subdivisions of time duration.
With the invention of printing in the mid-fifteenth century, the
development of music printing a few decades later, and the emer¬
gence of music publishing soon after 1500, music becomes all the
more strongly committed to words. One admires and is fascinated
by the achievement of the early craftsmen who conceived the first
music type faces; one also respects their output, which provided
the permanence for most music written during a span of two cen¬
turies. Musical notation by 1500 had already come to resemble what
we know today, to the extent that it consisted of symbols arranged
in a line, like the letters of a word. To be sure, the staff lines them¬
selves caused the printer some difficulties which he never solved
completely ; but it is hard to doubt that movable type, as soon as it
was invented in the days of Gutenberg, was destined to be applied
to music. Early type could not directly designate instructions for
musical color or harmony. These two elements, we might observe,
are in themselves less significant in Renaissance and early Baroque
music than they were to be later.
Someone someday will perhaps defend the hypothesis that print¬
ing contributed to the transition from polyphonic music to that of
the continuo period. Would figured bass have been adopted if per¬
formers could have had printed chords to read (and, by having
had more of them to read, would have learned to sight-read them) ?
Was there also in the late Renaissance, as part of some larger sub¬
conscious arch of civilization, a need and desire for “line,” for
simple linear construction in music? For the first time, man dealt
1970] Krummel — Music as Vibrations and as Flyspecks 19
extensively with books, where one thing happens at a time ; and at
this time his imagination and interests were first being stimulated
by a knowledge of exploration and travel, involving a person going
to only one place at a time: perhaps such factors helped to dis¬
courage polyphony, in which several lines are presented at one time.
The great sixteenth-century commercial empire of music pub¬
lishing, based on movable type, finally collapsed and was replaced
around 1700. As early as 1620, new music type faces were seldom
being designed. This is only a detail in the story of this period, to be
sure — the Thirty Years War and the various forms of puritanism
had ravaged Europe, and in fact new type faces of any kind were
rarely to be seen. In music, the old type was used in religious service
books, in treatises— again reflecting a tie to the printed word —
and in popular song anthologies. Progressive instrumental music
suffered in particular. No notes were available for rapid passage-
work, and chords could be constructed only by carefully chipping
two or more pieces of type and fitting them together.
We can thus add the upheaval of 1700 to our list of those musical
revolutions which have obligingly happened every century, on the
century. In this instance, liberation was not from a tired and cor¬
rupt artistic tradition, but from a book trade best suited to doing
other things. Music from this time forward was on its own course
in the publishing world, using engraved plates rather than mov¬
able type. With independence came also the loss of the usual chan¬
nels of distribution and registration control : the librarian today
can seldom rely on the standard historical bibliographies for evi¬
dence on published music. The circulation of some music even went
underground, although partly for reasons of control over per¬
formance : Italian opera, for instance, conquered Europe not
through transmission in typeset editions or even engravings, but
through a highly developed manuscript copying network.
We can also plot a two-hundred-year historical cycle: music
printing around 1500, music engraving around 1700, and sound
recording around 1900. The implications of the last development
are perhaps the most staggering of all. The marvelous Siamese-
twin conveniences — permanent storage of the sound itself, and
mass-media distribution of sound — are obviously very great tech¬
nological “breakthroughs.” Typically, they have eliminated produc¬
tion workers (i.e., musicians) and require more service workers
(i.e., managers and electronics repairmen). At the same time, the
surviving production workers are infinitely more effective: they
reach a wider audience, and incidentally get paid slightly better.
But typically the inventions have also led to many of the ills which
beset music today: the virtual elimination of regional non-con¬
formity; audience apathy; the decline of “live performances,” at
20 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
least of the institution of formal concerts ; and in time perhaps the
elimination of the performer, the composer in the de-specialized
world of tomorrow communicating directly with his audience by
creating his own sounds. Even now, the craft of music engraving
is dying. Nobody is really sure what music publishers themselves
are up to, and while they claim to be happy, neither the composers
nor Wall Street seems to care much for them. The era of music on
paper may thus now be regarded as the proper domain of the his¬
torian. It has become part of the past from which we are expected
to learn something. What then is our heritage of music on paper?
What characteristics of our music are the result of paper? We
have considered what we want when we commit music to paper:
more important is what we actually get. In what ways — pace Mc-
Luhan and the ambiguous verb which he has taught us to say to¬
gether — “is” the medium the message? We speculate and surmise,
but with no real certainty: there is of course no parallel civiliza¬
tion with music not committed to paper with which we could make
a clinical comparison. Even so, we can develop several lines of rea¬
soning which tell us what the marriage has done to one of the part¬
ners. From this we can anticipate the freedom and to a lesser
degree the loneliness which will characterize the newly found
single life.
Let us begin with McLuhan’s concept of the linear-— the idea
of progression from one point to another, such as we experience
in countless ways : reading a text from one word to the next, travel¬
ing from one place to another, reasoning logically step by step,
growing from childhood to adulthood. Before printing we com¬
municated in “auditory” rather than “physical” space. Our com¬
munication, being mostly oral, took place in time rather than
through the two-dimensional visual surface of paper or other
documents.
It is wrong to say that auditory space is not linear, as I some¬
times think (but am really not quite sure) McLuhan would have
us believe. In its various forms — primitive, pre-Renaissance, and
that since the invention of printing — music is always committed
to a temporal “line.” Line as perhaps been emphasized, or more
systematically conceived, since the invention of printing. The de¬
vices for notating the elements of music were fixed long before the
Renaissance, and then accommodated in movable type. Rameau's
formulation of the harmonic progressions in the eighteenth century,
the monumental Western codification of its practices, is a complex
system of rhetoric and logic rather than a grammar or spelling
guide, the appropriate counterpart to the succession of words on a
1970] Krummel — Music as Vibrations and as Fly specks
21
printed page. When confused by new music even today we say “I
don’t follow,” as if we were lost in an argument or discussion.
Line, the term we use for the sequence of sounds in time, is an
essential dimension to all music, the other dimension being the
variety of the sounds occurring in a single moment — color, and in
a static sense, harmony. Line has certainly been conspicuous in the
art music which we most highly esteem. We admire and are moved
by music which brings out the “long line,” be it an Urlinie in
Schenker’s musical analysis or the delicate spinto affectations of
a great lyric soprano. Italian and German music, one might
speculate, are generally more linear than French. The frequent
abandonment of line is regarded as a hallmark of the new music,
foreshadowed by the Romantic color made possible by the technol¬
ogy which produced the modern symphony orchestra. Composers are
supposed to delight now in bright bursts of sonority— perhaps for
purposes of being non-linear, unconsciously or self-consciously,
possibly also to wake us up and keep us awake, and perhaps be¬
cause the two are one in the same. In many of the non-Western
musics, I am told, the linear element is also less conspicuous. Even
in the most advanced music of the future, line is inevitable, since
time — like physical space — has dimensions. Music always has a
line, although it is possible that because of printing the line is
more conspicuous.
Second, the printed page of music offers escape — a refuge from
the bright glare of musical sound. The metaphor of a “bright glare”
of course, is logically inappropriate, and in the same way as
musical “color” is. Coming from the world of light rather than
sound, it is useful only by way of suggesting the peculiar way in
which sound engulfs us. Sound varies in loudness, and usually the
hearer can locate the source of the sound. But we can not avoid
sound by turning our head as we can avoid looking at a visual
object.
It is important for a listener to be able to get away from music.
This was felt as early as the Renaissance, when the audience came
to be placed further away from the performers, especially the large
groups of performers. Thanks to opera, the proscenium arch
tended to be used for music as soon as it was devised for
the theatre. In more recent eras the classic escape at a concert has
of course been sleep. Today earphones offer a further element of
privacy. Having the music we want when we want it is an unpre¬
cedented and staggering blessing, the only limitation being our
ability to absorb very much of it at one time. We will still want
and need to get away from it at times. It may prove to be one of
the typical ironies of history that, at the very moment when we
22 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
have the totality of the musical repertoire available, we will least
care about it or need it.
Third, paper makes possible analysis : the printed page helps us
comprehend music by allowing us a limited and a different access
to it, enabling one set of senses to be reinforced by another. Music
on paper lends itself to a varied manner of comprehension, the lay¬
ing out flat on a two-dimensional surface making possible an im¬
pression of the totality at a glance. The score becomes a map of
the terrain; and while there is admittedly no way to know the
countryside better than through a good walk, we can correct many
of our errors if we take along the map.
Fourth, and most important in many ways, is the prospect of
betterment made possible largely through analysis. The composer
can study the past and learn from it. He learns to hear his music
“in his mind's ear” as interpreted through his eyes ; and from this
he can discover his own errors and correct them, his weaknesses
and strengthen them. In an abstract way, his work can evolve in
its perfection. He can work as a Beethoven, re-examining his
achievements and thereby building an organically conceived type
of music — keeping in mind all the time, of course, that there are
also Mozarts who are no less great for having comprehended
intuitively so many of the relationships which are to him so
thoroughly a rational process.
Fifth, paper offers tangibility. Sound, being impermanent, is also
undependable. We ask the man we deal with to “put it in writing” ;
and we argue endlessly after a concert, always about what the per¬
former accomplished, often even about what sounds actually were
heard. Control becomes possible with the printed page — the per¬
former's job becomes one of making music in terms of conditions
spelled out, the degree of freedom depending on the music. Stravin¬
sky would have the conductor of Le Sacre acting largely as a cuing
metronome ; the composer of Neapolitan opera, of a concerto arriv¬
ing at a cadenza, or of a pop tune intended for a jazz combo, draws
in only the rough sketch, asking the improvising performer to take
off like a liberated bird, making sure only that the flight follows
the suggested course or lands at the right airport. In all such situa¬
tions, the written notes, being fixed, are the means of control.
Through our copyright laws, they take on the characteristics of
real estate and personal property. They get bought and sold, and
have resulted in music industries as concerned with self-perpetua¬
tion as our great corporations. The notes engender their own laws
and rules ; and they get hauled into court because of those
regulations.
Finally, they also get us into heaven, if they’re good enough.
Permanence, and the prospect for improvement, together lead to
1970] Krummel — Music as Vibrations and as Fly specks 23
immortality — to timeless musical monuments, the concept of the
heroic Romantic musical genius leaving footprints on the sands of
time. Through paper, music, long assailed by puritanism as sinful
and ungodly, achieves revenge, offering its favored practitioners
its own brand of salvation apart from the rules and regulations of
the church: in effect, “instead of getting to heaven by being good,
live it up, write a great symphony, and you’ll make it.”
It is thus much in order here to recall a lovely old German canon
with the following text :
Himmel und Erde mussen vergeh’n,
Aber die Musici, bleiben besteh’n.
Literally translated, “Heaven and earth must pass away, but the
musicians will always remain.” Really quite outrageous. Today the
words would probably read instead,
Soon the Establishment ceases to swing,
Leaving musicians a-doing their thing.
Or, as our feelings may become more specific, “When our institu¬
tions collapse of their own cumbersomeness, our cultural centers
go bankrupt, our paper turns to pulp— then we’ll be left with
music.” The innocuous Sdngervereine who perpetuated this ditty
certainly never thought of doing any such thing, but they have
indeed brought us face to face with the doom of the flyspecks, the
fall of the gods, the movement of the tide which will smooth the
sand, erasing the footprints of the 3 B’s.
The Armageddon we are talking about is not in itself the great
battle going on today for social change, the eradication of poverty,
or the rise of the non-white races — although the two are con¬
nected: music is part of society, and there are obvious parallels
between our social and our musical establishments. By way of a
brief digression, we might observe that even if the parallels did
not exist, music would almost surely play a conspicuous role in
social conflict. Its well-known emotional appeal is only half of the
picture. Existing as it does in time, music is the very essence of
change, of creating beauty in a context of impermanence. In days
of uncertainty, it is symptomatic that we should so often hear the
expression, “Play it by ear.” To the musician the phrase means
memorizing the notes and then executing them. The world of com¬
merce flatters him by defining it even more broadly, as going into
a difficult situation with no fixed course of action at all in mind.
Music’s message is less obvious than that of words and pictures ;
thus it becomes the medium for reflecting those pulses and
24 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
rhythms, those subconscious feelings and sensations which other
forms are unable or unwilling to express or reflect. Music may be
harmless and lovely in its purity as an autonomous art form ; but
as a means to an end, it can much too easily also be highly potent,
intellectually stultifying as only an emotional appeal can be. If
musicians are less “involved” today than their music is, perhaps
this is because they can see the whole process of reform as merely
one more mind-blowing operation, at least at the stage where music
gets into the act. They can be sympathetic with the cause of social
justice; but they also have strong impressions of how democracy in
America has preferred mayhem and inanities on television to live
artistry — how popular education has produced technicians rather
than humanists, and how the more abundant life resulting from
the battle against poverty is conceived largely in terms of Gross
National Product.
Musicians perhaps have a better pipeline than we give them
credit for. Their music has frequently revealed some important
things about ourselves which we were not ready to accept. But
they have also been all too quickly ridiculed for the attitude “My
kingdom is not of this world” or “after all the blue meanies get
bumped off, we meek little rascals will inherit the earth — the Bible
tells us so.” Thus it is well to return to the little German canon to
note that the word is “Musici,” and not “Musica” : what will re¬
main is not the music itself, but the musicians. We really must be
allowed to stretch the point here and say that music-making is what
will remain. The musicians’ bodies and talents, like their composi¬
tions, must be regarded as part of the Himmel und Erde which will
pass away. The musical experience is fixed in the human condition,
and beyond this in the vibrations of the stars.
Music on paper has obviously played a large role in the process
by which music has become increasingly committed to the past.
Fifty to a hundred years ago, concerts came to favor the “tried and
true” at the expense of the present. Within the past fifty years,
our musicologists have sought to fill in the gaps in the panorama
of Western musical development. Today the musical experience is
largely an archival experience, our values those of the historian.
What we make of our musical past may bother our sense of honesty,
and quite appropriately. Hitler loved and used his Wagner; and the
modern administrator loves and uses his Machiavelli. But to deny
that our most cherished musical experiences are important to us
and in some way bettering is dangerously close to a denial of that
vague but important link between the humanities and humanity.
We all piously insist on a need for musical vitality. The price
may be expensive indeed. Probably we would need to abandon the
institutions which encumber our music, not only the flyspecks and
1970] Krummel — Music as Vibrations and as Fly specks 25
recordings in our libraries but also the stultifying etiquette of our
concert life. Also vulnerable are the concert halls themselves — in¬
deed they are probably the very proof of Parkinson’s “law” about
institutions deteriorating when they move into an edifice properly
suited to their image of themselves. Along with all of these monu¬
ments, alas, must go the Art of Fugue and Messiah , the Mozart con¬
certos and the Beethoven quartets, Otello and even Wozzeck. We
will never excel them — such is one of the obvious assumptions to¬
day, and whether inherently true or false, it will be true as long
as we believe it.
With this in mind, I must take exception to a well-intentioned but
wrong-minded defense of the arts in our society today on the basis
of their excellence. We do indeed need excellence; and the level of
excellence in the arts is indeed high enough to be a model for
other activities today. The experience of music, like that of her
sister arts, is one of stimulation, accomplishment and pleasure;
and such being the case, the already high level of excellence will
be further heightened by competition in an inevitably overcrowded
profession. In practical terms, the results are likely to be less happy.
For economic reasons — supply and demand, together with the tech¬
nological “breakthrough” in sound recording mentioned earlier —
the Gradus ad Parnassum is missing some steps near the top. The
boy who practices seldom gets to Carnegie Hall. The excellence
toward which the vast army of our educators must work must be
fitted into a context in which amateurism, rightly and understand¬
ably, equals amateurishness, in which local pride is often an emo¬
tionally charged but valid excuse for quality. The ascent from the
great plains, vast if less arid than we imagine, to the Olympian
heights, is sudden, steep, and with frightening odds against sur¬
vival. “It’s warm in here— -yes, perhaps for violinists” ; and there¬
fore, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the cotton patch.” And
as a result, the Global Village Philharmonic will soon be impeccably
performing the opera omnia of Western music, giving us with
pushbutton convenience all the listening pleasure we want. Rather
than justify music on the practical grounds of its excellence, one
should perhaps accept its total uselessness as its greatest virtue —
it does less harm than politicians or scientists. Far better one
should hope and work for the impractical, unpredictable, but now
highly possible: an aesthetic right-headedness of some sort, com¬
parable to the recent moral righteousness over Viet Nam in this
country, serving to remind us that the musical experience is more
rewarding in achievement than in gratification, being in es¬
sence a creative art rather than a consumer commodity.
Rather than justifying music in terms of an administrative value
in our society today, it would be nice to think that we might seek
26 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
to apply one of the administrator’s favorite laws of positive think¬
ing : when faced with two alternatives, come up with a third which,
with instinct and effort going for it, will prove to be brilliantly ap¬
propriate. Can we keep the past without being its slave? The mind
boggles at what the answer might involve : but experience leads to
the hunch that somebody will be singing about it before the mind
stops boggling.
A dispassionate and analytical glace at the popular music of
today will perhaps help to renew our faith. Its texts usually tend
to strengthen our respect for the social values of adolescents ; and
similarly, its musical content leads to a sanguine hope that a new
creative era is at hand. In comparison with most of the popular
(and much of the classical) music of the past, its content is indeed
richly varied, imaginative, and frequently quite skillful in its con¬
struction.
As for the future of music on paper, this is altogether more pre¬
dictable : the dictator is alive and well and living in central Siberia,
available for academic appointment. As long as performers and
scholars continue to work with the past, the examination of a
composer’s documents will be a necessary experience, not to men¬
tion a moving one. As for the composer today, the notion that he
learns from the past appears to be temporarily out of fashion. The
Romantic genius saw the past as irrelevant in the light of a divine
blessing, and so the composer of today sees it as subverting his
originality, no longer relevant. The fact of the matter of course is
that composers of any age develop their craft, a skill in the handling
of their materials. In the learning experience, musical documents
will maintain their importance. They are the giants, in the medieval
metaphor of Bernard of Chartres, from whose shoulders the dwarfs
of succeeding generations will be able to see more, and more distant
things.
It is more than a cunning trick of a parsimonious librarian to
suggest that our repertoire be shifted, quietly and en bloc , to his
watchful custody. The care and feeding, and to a degree even
the protection of the giants (sensitive as they are, and susceptible
to disease, despite their great strength) should belong to specialists,
and not the general public. Rather than become infatuated with
the giants, or throw stones at them, our society will be far happier
helping our midget composers climb onto the giants’ shoulders-—
perhaps watching a few of them become giants in their own right.
Musicians learn first to read music, then to recognize the danger
of playing the notes and missing the musical experience. As his¬
torians we examine our notation and come to appreciate what it has
enabled us to have in our music; we should then look to its larger
function, as both a preserver of and a stimulant to music itself.
VICTOR BERGER: SOCIALIST CONGRESSMAN
Frederick I. Olson
Between 1910 and 1929 Victor Berger had not one but three con¬
gressional careers.1 A single term from 1911 to 1913 coincided
with, indeed was a major element in, the high tide of the Socialist
party movement, both in Milwaukee and in the nation. His second
career included no service in the House of Representatives, simply
two election victories without seating in 1918 and 1919, and it sig¬
nified his constituents' distaste for the first World War and their
defiance of the federal government and the Wilson administration.
Berger’s triumphal return to Congress after his election in 1922,
and his reelection in 1924 and 1926, were personal victories, devoid
of the Socialist party import of 1910 and the anti-Wilson political
symbolism of the 1918 and 1919 triumphs.2 His defeat for a fourth
consecutive term in 1928 removed the greatest prop for his pride
and the major recompense for his party’s decline. Nearing 70 and
deprived of the regular income from his congressional salary, he
now prepared to sell his majority stock interest in the Milwaukee
Socialist daily which he had dominated since its founding in 1911,
as a further step in the reorientation of his personal life. His party
and his movement shattered, his Congressional seat gone, his news¬
paper about to pass under the control of others, Berger may have
lacked that will to live which could overcome the injuries he sus¬
tained in a streetcar accident in the summer of 1929. On August 7,
1929 he died.
Nonconformity in politics came early to Berger. Born and edu¬
cated in the decaying Austro-Hungarian empire, he migrated with
his family to America in his late teens. He settled down in Mil¬
waukee in the 1880’s, amidst social and political turbulence which
exposed him to emerging labor politics and to single tax, anarchist,
and socialist solutions to the social problem.3 An omnivorous
1 This paper was read at the annual meeting of the Organization of American His¬
torians in Dallas, April 19, 1968.
2 For a somewhat different analysis of Berger as congressman, see Sally M. Miller,
“A Socialist Represents Milwaukee,” Historical Messenger (Milwaukee County His¬
torical Society), 22:132-138 (December 1966).
3 Edward J. Muzik, Victor L. Berger, A Biography, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,
Northwestern University, 1960; and for shorter sketches of Berger: Max and Edna
Albers Lerner, “Victor L. Berger,” Dictionary of American Biography , XXI (N.Y.,
1944), 72-75, and “Victor Louis Berger” in Dwight L. Agnew et al., eds., Dictionary
of Wisconsin Biography (Madison, Wis., 1960), 33-34.
27
28 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
reader, he built a large personal library on social issues. He loved
disputation and found in German Milwaukee of the 1880’s and ’90’s,
with its Turn societies and its beer saloons, congenial companions
to argue with. Such reading and discussion convinced him that one
could accept a comprehensive theory for the solution of social ills.4
Through the 1890’s Berger evolved a workable social philosophy
to account for the future in terms of the past. This was Marxian
socialism with its major components of the class struggle, economic
determinism, social revolution, and wage, profit, and capital con¬
cepts. Like so many other Americans of the age who embraced
Marxian socialist doctrine, Berger acquired a point of view, a sys¬
tem of analysis, and stereotyped rhetoric which clung to him for
life. But he was soon convinced by socialist revisionism, especially
of the Bernstein variety, and he was sufficiently American to realize
the inapplicability of pure scientific Socialism to conditions in the
United States. Moreover, he seems to have been impressed by the
openness of American political institutions, their availability to all,
even the immigrant, through easy naturalization, universal man¬
hood suffrage, liberal qualifications for public office holders, and,
at least locally, a fluid party system. Berger became above all a con¬
servative or reform socialist politician with a burning desire to win
public office for himself and for his fellow socialists.5 6
Even while evolving their socialist theories in informal discus¬
sions during the 1890’s, Berger and his Milwaukee colleagues had
participated in local politics through the Populist party. But Berger
also sought to convert Eugene V. Debs to socialism and his Ameri¬
can Railway Union into a socialist political movement. The found¬
ing of the Social Democracy of America in July 1897, followed by
the chartering of the first branch in Milwaukee, was to Berger a
first step toward the very political action which the leadership of
the new organization had prohibited. Thus, in order to nominate
a candidate for mayor in Milwaukee’s spring 1898 elections,
Berger’s branch was obliged to seek special permission from the
Social Democracy’s national executive committee.
The next decade was critical in the evolution of an effective so¬
cialist movement in the United States and of a powerful Socialist
party in Milwaukee. Berger’s approach to the propagation of so¬
cialism was strongly political from the start. He persuaded the
4 Part of Berger’s impressive personal library may be identified in the collections of
the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Library. Among1 his less scholarly Socialist
party associates and among Milwaukeeans generally Berger’s library and his reading
habits took on a legendary character.
6 In addition to Muzik’s dissertation, see Roderick Nash, “Victor L. Berger : Making
Marx Respectable,’’ Wisconsin Magazine of History } XLVII (Summer 1964), 301—308,
and two convenient collections of Berger’s own views: Berger’s Broadsides (Milwaukee,
1912) and Voice and Pen of Victor L. B&>~gerT: Congressional Speeches and Editorials
(Milwaukee, 1929).
1970] Olson — Victor Berger: Socialist Congressman 29
Milwaukee Socialists after 1898 to endorse candidates for almost
all elective offices in metropolitan Milwaukee and many in Wis¬
consin, until they matched the Republican and Democratic slates
in city, school board, county, state, and congressional elections.
Socialist candidates won seats in the city council, the county board,
and the state legislature as early as 1904; for the remaining quarter
century of Berger’s life his Milwaukee party always held a sub¬
stantial number of elective public offices.
Under Berger’s leadership the Socialists not only ran candidates
for office — they ran them to win. Berger adjusted Marxian theory
and party doctrine in order to gain votes, particularly when an
election victory was in sight. For electoral expediency he accepted
regulation of utilities as a practical, short term alternative to public
ownership. And on many other occasions he shrewdly calculated
the effect of platform planks and candidate selection on Socialist
vote tallies, not excluding the tactical advantages to be gained by
an occasional abstention from competing with the two old parties
for an office. Indispensable to Berger’s party was its alliance with
local trade unions and union leaders, without incorporating such
unions into the party structure.6
Berger carried his absorption in Socialist politics two steps fur¬
ther. He adapted to Milwaukee and Wisconsin an essentially
European concept of party organization and party discipline, con¬
trary to Republican and Democratic traditions. Berger’s party im¬
posed stringent requirements and procedures on access to member¬
ship. It organized ward and foreign language branches as its basic
units and coordinated them through a strong county central com¬
mittee. It eschewed the open direct primary in the very state which
popularized that device. Instead it determined party nominees
through its own machinery. Candidacies for public office were in¬
tended to be, and to a large degree were, party not personal affairs.
In theory this meant that a faithful party member dutifully ac¬
cepted any draft and as faithfully swallowed his personal ambition
if someone else were preferred to him. In fact it obviously wasn’t
that simple. Reputations, brokerage, personal friendship, and per¬
sonal popularity all played a role in party endorsements. Proven
vote getters and popular party figures like Berger, Hoan, Seidel,
Gaylord, Ameringer, Minkley, and Heath usually received the elec¬
tion opportunities they wanted. They were nonetheless expected to
campaign as Socialist party agents. This meant endorsing the party
6 Marvin Wachman, History of the Social-Democratic Party of Milwaukee 1897-1910
(Urbana, Illinois, 1945) ; Frederick I. Olson, The Milwaukee Socialists, 1897-1941,
unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1952 ; and Olson, “The Socialist
Party and the Union in Milwaukee, 1900-1912,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, 44
(Winter 1960-61), 110-116.
30 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
platform and guaranteeing, if elected, to carry it out, on penalty
of expulsion from membership or even involuntary removal from
office. Campaigning had to be ticketwide, but the party handled all
campaign arrangements and expenses, financing the latter through
monthly dues, a checkoff from the salaries of officeholders, party
benefit functions, and levies on the treasuries of friendly labor
bodies. Never in American history, perhaps, has a political organ¬
ization woven so tight a web over so many members as that which
enmeshed the Milwaukee Socialists. It is not surprising that some
opportunists joined the party to gain the support of so formidable
an organization. And there were always some members who re¬
belled at the required pledges of loyalty and of money, at the ex¬
pulsions and the purges, at the irritating limitations on their
political independence, and their number grew when party fortunes
waned and party decay appeared. As the genius who conceived and
organized this tight structure, Berger was charged with being a
boss, at first by his anti-Socialist political opponents, but soon by
his enemies within the party.7
Berger’s masterplan for pragmatic political action also included
influence in national party affairs in order to protect Milwaukee
autonomy from national interference. For years his nearly im¬
pregnable spot on the party’s national executive committee provided
Berger the necessary oversight. His vigilance extended to the na¬
tional party’s constitution, its election platforms, even the party
name. Berger understood the need for a strong national move¬
ment to parallel Milwaukee’s, but especially after the high tide of
party ballots in 1912, he preferred to preserve the party’s show-
place in Milwaukee at almost any cost.8
Socialist political strength in New York, Chicago, and Los
Angeles was always overshadowed by its major party opponents,
however large their vote tallies by Socialist standards. Socialists
were relatively more important in Berkeley, California, Haverhill,
Massachusetts, Reading, Pennsylvania, Bridgeport, Connecticut,
and elsewhere. But Berger’s troops were the best organized and the
most successful of all. Among the nation’s large cities Milwaukee
alone seemed to justify the “socialist” label.9 The first Socialist
victories in 1904 foreshadowed the landslide of 1910 when the party
won city council and county board majorities and elected its can¬
didate for mayor. Berger knew that as long as party labels pre¬
vailed in local elections, his Socialists could win pluralities in three
way races. Beginning in 1912 Republican and Democratic fusion
7 Olson, Milwaukee Socialists, 55-84.
8 David A. Shannon, The Socialist Party of America , A History (N.Y., 1955), 17,
21-25, 62-63, 258-60.
9 Shannon, Socialist Party, 8-4 2, 188-89.
1970] Olson — Victor Berger: Socialist Congressman 31
and non-partisan election laws virtually eliminated such leverage,
yet the Socialists continued to win selected elections.10
If Berger was a boss, he declined to play the traditional role
entirely behind the scenes. He ran for public office regularly, a visi¬
ble target for his intraparty opponents and his anti-Socialist ene¬
mies. In the 1910 landslide he finally won election as an alderman-
at-large and for a year or so played the major role in Mayor Seidel’s
administration.
But Berger’s ambition was to be Congressman. He ran as early
as 1904 in Wisconsin’s Fifth Congressional District, and beginning
in 1910 he never missed a campaign for that seat. Berger emerged
in the 1904 balloting as a possible threat to the incumbent Repub¬
lican William H. Stafford by polling over 10,600 votes, or 33.8%
of the total, for second place. His opponent, a colorless conserva¬
tive, was a native Milwaukeean, 35 years old, a graduate of Harvard
law school and a bachelor, who had won the seat for the first time
in 1902. Between that date and Stafford’s last victory in 1930, he
or Berger won every Fifth District election. Over that period the
seat was vacant for 2 years, Stafford served for 20 years, and
Berger for eight. Curiously enough Berger and Stafford faced each
other only 9 times in 14 Congressional contests between 1904 and
1928.11
What kind of district could alternate between a colorless con¬
servative Republican and the first Socialist ever elected to Con¬
gress? A major clue is found in the changing relationships among
three major parties. While Stafford and Berger remained con¬
stants, their Democratic opposition varied. Moreover, old party
fusion succeeded against Berger three times. And once Stafford
failed to win the Republican nomination. But the Fifth clearly bore
the marks of a swing district, even after Berger and Stafford were
gone. From Stafford’s defeat in the Roosevelt landslide of 1932 to
the election of Democrat Henry S. Reuss in 1954, three Democrats
and two Republicans divided 22 years into seven segments, the
longest consisting of three consecutive terms. Reuss had already
made the seat safely Democratic before reapportionment reshaped
it out of all resemblance to its 1904 character. Altogether, fickle
Fifth District voters changed Congressman 14 times in 52 years.
Only Stafford, at the very beginning of this period, won as many
as four consecutive terms. He also shared with Berger and Staf¬
ford’s immediate successor in New Deal days a run of three con-
10 For contrasting1 views, see Myron L. Anderson, “Milwaukee Election Law That
Boomeranged,” Milwaukee Journal , December 20, 1959, and Erich C. Stern, “The
Non-Partisan Election Law: Reform or Anti-Socialism?”, Historieal Messenger (Mil¬
waukee County Historical Society), 16:8-11 (September 1960).
11 For election statistics, see the biennial Wisconsin Blue Books (Madison, Wiscon¬
sin, odd years), and biennial reports of the Board of Election Commissioners of the
City of Milwaukee (Milwaukee, various dates).
82 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
secutive terms. But seven times the incumbent failed to win even a
second consecutive term.
Redistricting created a district in 1901 which joined the north
half of the city of Milwaukee and the north and west suburban and
rural-farm areas of Milwaukee County with villages and wealthy
farm sections of Waukesha County to the West, the latter account¬
ing for slightly more than a fifth of the District's voters. The com¬
bination of rural-farm- village with big city was a major cause of
party alternations. Across the near north side of the city of Mil¬
waukee stretched a band of German settlement which pro- ,
vided the core of the Socialist strength. The Germans as a whole
were frugal, law-abiding members of the working class or lower
middle class. Many were Socialist party members; others were
sympathizers who often voted Socialist. In the suburbs, as well as
in the rural and farm areas of Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties,
lived business, professional, and farm folks, typically middle class
and traditionally Republican. Scattered in both counties, but
heavier in the city of Milwaukee, were traditional Democrats who
were predominantly Roman Catholic and Irish or German. To win,
the Socialists and the Republicans were obliged to woo not alone
the independent voter, but the normally Democratic voter as well.
The redistricting of 1901 put two Congressional seats within the
grasp of city of Milwaukee voters for the first time. Ten years later
the detachment of Waukesha County made the Fifth District even
more urban in character; and nearly half a century later, with all
of Milwaukee County urban, the central city portion was divorced
from the north suburban, and the latter was joined once again to
the contiguous suburbanizing portions of Waukesha County.
Berger’s election in 1910 gave the Socialist party its first House
member, and Milwaukee its first labor-oriented congressman since
1886. The only other Socialist party member ever to win a House
seat was Meyer London of New York; his three terms between
1915 and 1923 neatly complement Berger’s subsequent victories to
suggest a unique character for all Socialist congressional triumphs.
One of Berger’s successors in the Fifth after the second World War
was ex-Socialist Andrew J. Biemiller, who had passed through La-
Follette Progresslvism into the Democratic party.12
The propaganda value of Berger’s election for the Socialist
party all over the nation can hardly be exaggerated. Electing So¬
cialists to common councils and state legislatures was clearly not
enough, for only Congress could legislate the major components of
socialist doctrine. The Socialists had to demonstrate their capacity
to capture Congressional seats if they were to move the nation
12 Olson, Milwaukee Socialists, 197-99, 271-72; Milwaukee Journal, September 30 and
October 23, 1955 ; Shannon, Socialist Party, 9, 11-12, 158.
1970] Olson — Victor Berger: Socialist Congressman 33
towards socialism, and up to 1910 their propaganda about the
relentless tide of Socialist votes notoriously lacked confirmation on
this point. Berger thoroughly enjoyed the personal glory of be¬
coming the first Socialist congressman, but he had to picture him¬
self as a foretaste of growing numbers of Socialists, not as an ef¬
fective instrument itself. Quips about caucusing in a telephone
booth merely emphasized his ineffectiveness, for as a minority of
one he could be readily tolerated. Patronage and his other per¬
quisites as a Congressman appealed strongly to Berger, but Mil¬
waukee Socialists had gained far more tangible party benefits from
their other local victories.
In the House Berger was no social revolutionary. He claimed that
he represented not alone— or not primarily — the Fifth District, but
the working class and all the Socialist voters of the nation. He
often acted prudently by doing errands for any of his constituents,
even the anti-Socialist or non-Socialist as well as his known sup¬
porters. As the sole Socialist Representative he tried to be true to
his apocalyptic role. For their propaganda value he sponsored
futile Socialist measures such as old age pensions and national
ownership of railroads and communications. His speeches and news
handouts were designed not to win votes in Congress but to present
Socialist positions and gain Socialist converts outside the halls of
Congress. His occasional deviations from the party line to please
his Milwaukee constituents brought prompt censure from the party
faithful while failing to secure his reelection. His most effective
action, in calling for an investigation of the textile workers strike
at Lawrence, Massachusetts, depended, as he well knew, on support
from and tolerance by colleagues in Congress whom he felt obliged
to castigate at every opportunity. A gregarious person who had
enjoyed social acceptance by his ideological enemies in Milwaukee,
Berger could not now isolate himself from the fellowship of the
House of Representatives. Most evident was the gratification of his
desire for personal acceptance by fellow Congressmen. That he
never recovered from the fascination of his first Congressional ex¬
perience is witnessed by his biennial efforts to regain his seat for
the rest of his life.
But the crudest dilemma in Berger's congressional service arose
not from compromise of his socialism but from diversion of his
energies. His central role in the Milwaukee party organization made
his absence in Washington and his attention to Congressional duties
costly to the Milwaukee movement. The persistent financial strain
of ordinary party activities now extended to building a labor temple
and founding a daily newspaper, the latter a part of the publishing
complex from which Berger drew a salary. The long planned So¬
cialist daily Milwaukee Leader appeared December 7, 1911, coinci-
34 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
dental with the opening of the 62nd Congress. While Berger
espoused Socialist doctrine on the floor of the House in the Spring
of 1912, the Leader limped along, powerless to prevent a Socialist
administration wiped out by a fusion ticket, and the Milwaukee
rout in the municipal elections. From afar Berger saw the Seidel
Socialists rent by dissension in their leader’s absence.13
Nor could Berger return for the fall campaign in time to develop
a winning tactic against Stafford’s coalition with the Democrats.
Berger’s plurality in 1910 had been a slim 350 or 1% of 35,224
ballots. The resulting anti-socialist fusion, although incomplete,
reduced Berger’s vote but slightly from 38% to 35 or 36%, yet
provided Stafford with margins of 1,908 in 1912, 3,946 in 1914,
and 3,649 in 1916. After his 1912 defeat Berger adopted the correct
party stance, lamenting that the millions of Americans who had
voted Socialist were deprived of a voice in Congress.
Between Berger’s defeat in 1912 and his khaki election victory
of 1918 the Milwaukee Socialists entered a new era. The momentum
of local and national election gains and party membership growth
was lost between 1910 and 1912. Within Milwaukee and Wisconsin
politics the Socialists settled down to a respected but limited role.
When Dan Hoan was reelected city attorney in 1914 and recaptured
the mayor’s office for the Socialists two years later, no one could
foresee how long he would hold it or how remotely Socialist his
administration would become before his defeat in 1940. 14
Some Socialists including Berger did foresee the catastrophic
potential of the first World War as early as 1914. But America’s
Socialists were obliged to reconcile their doctrinaire war beliefs
to the votes of their European brethren on the war credits. Initially
Berger maintained in his Mihvaukee Leader a peace posture which
was distinguishable from pro-Germanism. Stafford rather than
Berger embraced an opportunistic pro-German position in 1914
which helped him win easy reelection. Gradually, however, Berger’s
reaction to the war took on a more pro-German, anti-French and
anti-British tone, not surprising in one who was born and educated
in Central Europe. It became more difficult for Berger to apply
simple Socialist tests to the events preceding the entry of the United
States into the war, and he seems to have convinced himself that
the defeat of Germany must be avoided because it would destroy
the most promising socialist party in Europe and thus in turn
weaken the American movement. Fortuitously, Berger’s cultural
preference for Germany coincided with the prejudices of his Mil-
w Miller, loc. cit. ; Olson, Milwaukee Socialists, 247-54; Olson, “Milwaukee’s First
Socialist Administration, 1910-1912 : A Political Evaluation,’’ Mid- America, 43 (July
1961), 197-207.
u Olson, Milwaukee Socialists, 271-72, 310-11.
1970] Olson — Victor Berger: Socialist Congressman 85
waukee constituents and reinforced his concern for the fate of
German socialism.
Stafford could outbid Berger for the critical German votes in the
Fifth District as long as President Wilson did not invoke federal
power against Berger. But when Wilson's Postmaster General re¬
voked the Leader's second class mailing privilege on October 3,
1917, and his federal attorney brought indictments against Berger
and four alleged Socialist co-conspirators under the Espionage Act
on March 9, 1918, Berger was cast as a martyr to an all-powerful
government which could not tolerate dissent. Berger, who had con¬
curred in his party's condemnation of the American declaration of
war, in his newspaper and by other acts and utterances had crit¬
icized many government policies and practices in prosecution of
the war. But he had every reason to believe that he had remained
within the letter of the law. That his opposition to the Wilson ad¬
ministration, or rather the latter's prolonged persecution of him
for his beliefs, had election appeal was demonstrated in April 1918
when he polled 110,478 votes, or over 25%, in a senatorial election
against a pro-war Republican and a Wilson Democrat. Most sig¬
nificant, concentration of Berger's votes gave him a plurality in the
Socialist stronghold of Milwaukee.
In the November 1918 congressional race Berger won handily
despite the pending federal indictment. The Democrats, hoping to
convert Wilson’s call for a Democratic Congress into their first
victory in the Fifth District, defected from their fusion agreement
to make their first serious challenge since 1908. But they merely
gained second place while Berger drew enough traditional Republi¬
can and presumably German votes from Stafford to produce the
largest plurality of his six victories, 5,470 votes.15
What Berger had regained at the polls, his erstwhile colleagues
in the House now withheld. Between his election and the convening
of Congress his indictment was converted in federal district court
in Chicago into a conviction, with a sentence of 20 years from Judge
Kenesaw Mountain Landis. While out on bail Berger fought to be
seated, but the House refused him on November 10, 1919, by a 311
to 1 vote. Congressional reasoning was that Berger had given aid
and comfort to the nation's enemies and thus invoked the third
section of the Fourteenth Amendment, which required denial of his
seat. Berger promptly stood for the Socialists in the December 1919
bye-election resulting from the vacancy, and as promptly was re¬
elected by nearly 5,000 votes over his fusion opponent with the
attractively Teutonic name of Bodenstab. Again Congress applied
the Fourteenth Amendment to keep Berger from serving.
16 Ibid., 339-40, 355-56, 374-84.
36 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
By 1920 Berger could not so readily capitalize on anti- Wilson
sentiment. For once fusion was so thorough it not merely weakened
the Democratic effort as it had in 1912, 1914, and 1916, but it
actually eliminated all non-Socialist candidacies but Stafford’s.
Even Berger was not safe from Republican exploitation of anti¬
war and anti- Wilson sentiment, and Stafford won by a 6,773 ma¬
jority, the largest margin of any of their nine contests.10
Yet in defeat Berger was preparing for ultimate vindication. First
of all, he appealed his conviction to the United States Supreme
Court, which set aside Landis’ sentence on January 31, 1921, and
the Harding administration dropped the case without further effort.
Next, in the favorable Wisconsin election climate of 1922, wherein
a sympathetic Senator LaFollette also won triumphant reelection,
Berger defeated Stafford by a 3,771 majority, or 6.7 %, in another
two way race, a most dramatic reversal of 1920. Without dissent he
was now seated. And in the next two elections he survived the
Coolidge landslide and the almost total eclipse of his own party
everywhere, including serious setbacks in Milwaukee. But a presi¬
dential contest between Hoover and Smith in 1928 was too formida¬
ble for him to deal with. Hoover’s candidacy capitalized on the
fragile prosperity of the era, Smith’s on Milwaukee’s resentment
over Prohibition. For the first time in 10 years the Democratic
nominee for Congress polled over 20% of the vote, and Berger
lost to Stafford by 709. It was his last race.17
As the first Socialist Congressman in 1911, Berger had sym¬
bolized his party’s potential, and both his sense of party responsi¬
bility and his vision of the future had dictated the ideological role
he must play. But by 1923 he had survived the terrible buffetings
of the war period — persecution of his newspaper, prosecution of
himself as a subversive, and double denial of a House seat — while
his party, swollen by the transient growth of the war era, split
wide open nationally over the Russian revolution and then de¬
clined sharply. What Berger salvaged of Milwaukee Socialism drew
no nourishment from a national movement that struggled simply to
maintain its name and headquarters. The hopefulness of its 1910
victories had given way to despair in the 1920’s. The Berger brand
of gradualist socialism, which had seemed so promising under
Mayor Seidel, had deteriorated into a housekeeping version called
sewer socialism under Mayor Hoan. It took great faith in a socialist
16 Ibid., 384-88; Edward J. Muzik, “Victor L. Berger and the Red Scare,” Wisconsin
Magazine of History, XLVII (Summer 1964), 309—18; Hearings Before the Special
Committee Appointed under the Authority of House Resolution No. 6 Concerning the
Right of Victor L. Berger to be Sworn in as a Member of the Sixty— Sixth Congress
(2 v., Washington, 1919); Zechariah Chafee, Jr., Freedom of Speech (N.Y., 1920),
310-33.
17 Olson, Milwaukee Socialists, 388—90, 441—42, 448-50.
1970] Olson — Victor Berger : Socialist Congressman B7
future even to maintain a party organization from election to elec¬
tion. Ideological disputation, long the stock in trade of Socialists,
gave way to factionalism, personality differences, and a scramble
for personal preferment.
Thus Congressman Berger no longer claimed a socialist, only a
Milwaukee, constituency. No one seriously expected a Socialist
revival, even in Milwaukee. All one hoped for was to sustain the
present officeholders and quiet the dissidents who wondered aloud
what had happened to the fiery zeal of 1900. The respect Berger
had once sought for his party and his movement he now craved for
himself. He was not so much a lone Socialist in Congress ; London
had been that too, for three terms. He was rather the vindicated
victim of a war time hysteria. The U. S. Supreme Court, Fifth Dis¬
trict voters, and the House itself had in turn confirmed this. While
he retained his love for the stereotypes of non-revolutionary so¬
cialist programs and socialist rhetoric, he spoke in Congress most
commonly about international affairs and the issues and conse¬
quences of the war. Set apart from most Congressmen by his
Central European upbringing and his informed interest in the
larger movements of Europe and the world, he addressed himself
to the deepening American disillusion with the war and the war
settlement and to relations among the great powers of Europe.
Here and there an underlying socialist analysis shone through, but
generally the viewpoint was more personal and his major concern
over civil liberties and Prohibition reflected election needs. Today
his remarks reflect the shallowness of contemporary comment ; then
they drew attention to his education, his reading, and his essentially
foreign cast of mind.18
If Berger continued to stand apart from his House colleagues as
in 1911, it was due less to his Socialist label than to his personal
independence. Yet he enjoyed far more than in 1911 friendships
with other House members. The respect of some who differed from
him most like John Nance Garner is reflected in their farewell re¬
marks, while the friendly Fiorello LaGuardia saw Berger as “a
pioneer, popularizing ideas of political and social reform long before
they are accepted by the many, and while they are still frowned
upon by the majority and denounced by political leaders.”19
Berger’s election as the first Socialist in Congress had been a
natural by-product of his obsession with local Socialist political
activity. He had fashioned in Milwaukee the most thoroughgoing
and durable political organization the American Socialists ever
saw, and thus won for himself not only a Congressional seat but
18 Ibid., 442-48. Berger, Voice and Pen, passim.
19 Congressional Record, 70 Cong., 2 sess. LXX (Mar. 4, 1929), 5275.
38 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
a place in the Socialist pantheon along with Debs, Hillquit, London,
Hoan, and Thomas. But before his death in 1929, the socialist con¬
viction and optimism which had sustained his early party activity
had given way to personal advancement and despair. “The Socialist
party of Milwaukee/' he had told his closest friends, “will not
survive my death by six months." He was wrong. He had already
outlived it.20
20 Olson, Milwaukee Socialists, 451-52, 573—74.
WHEN SEDITION LAWS WERE ENFORCED:
WISCONSIN IN WORLD WAR I
John D. Stevens
Today, with television and Broadway shows satirizing public
officials, with militants calling for armed rebellion, with young
men chanting, “Hell no, we won’t go,” it is important to remember
that it was not always so.
Certainly it was not so during World War I, when men went to
prison for chance remarks in bars, rooming houses and on street
corners, when the Post Office hounded foreign language papers out
of business, when wearing an Industrial Workers of the World pin
made you, automatically, a disloyalist.1 Such “crimes” were prose¬
cuted under local ordinances, state sedition laws, and primarily
under federal statutes. This paper attempts to examine the en¬
forcement of these federal laws in Wisconsin, which had the na¬
tion’s highest proportion of German descendants and one of the
nation’s most active and successful socialist parties.2
Although President Wilson had been urging an internal security
law since December, 1915, Congress could not agree on one, so
the United States entered the war with only the Conspiracies Act
of 18613 and the Treason Act of 1862.4 Neither reached individual
utterances.
The federal security package included five major laws which cur¬
tailed expression: Threats Against the President Act,,5 Selective
Service Act,6 Espionage Act,7 Trading-with-the-Enemy Act,8 and
Sabotage Act.9 These were supplemented by many presidential
1 See e.g. Chafee, Zechariah Jr., Free Speech in the United States (1941) ; Johnson,
Donald, The < Challenge to American Freedoms (1963) ; Scheiber, Harry N., The Wilson
Administration and Civil Liberties (1960).
2 See Petersen and Fite, Opponents of War 1917-1918 (1957) ; Preston, William Jr.,
Aliens and Dissenters (1963), and Maxwell, Robert S., Emanuel L. Philipp, Wisconsin
Stalwart (1959), discuss Wisconsin’s reputation for disloyalty.
3 12 U.S. Statutes 284
4 12 U. S. Statutes 589. This law was used to convict some anarchists; cf., Goldman
v. U.S. , 245 U.S. 474 (1918)
6 39 U.S. Statutes 919.
6 40 U.S. Statutes 76.
7 40 U. S. Statutes 217, with amendment, 40 U.S. Statutes 553. The 1918 amendment
sometimes is referred to as the Sedition Law.
8 40 U.S. Statutes 425.
»40 U.S. Statutes 533.
39
40 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
orders and directives.10 These five laws will be discussed in chrono¬
logical order, with particular emphasis on their enforcement and
effects in Wisconsin.11
Threats Act
Spurred by the growing menace of war, the House of Representa¬
tives passed the act in June, 1916; the Senate concurred in Febru¬
ary, and the President signed it on Valentine’s Day, 1917. There
had been suggestions for such a law since the 1901 assassination of
President McKinley.
The brief law provided up to five years and $1,000 fine for mail¬
ing any “threat to take the life or to inflict bodily harm upon the
President of the United States.” Federal courts interpreted
“threats” quite broadly, to mean something akin to the fifteenth-
century English high treason law which made it a crime to imagine
the death of the sovereign. By June 1918, 85 persons had been con¬
victed under the law, and in Wisconsin nearly twice that many
had been indicted.12 Two men were convicted and five others pleaded
guilty during the war. Penalties ranged from $100 to 18 months in
prison. Without a broad interpretation of “threats,” it seems un¬
likely any of them would have been convicted.13
A Racine policeman was the first person indicted under the law
in Wisconsin. Allegedly he told another man that Wilson would be
shot within 30 days and that if no one else did it, he would do it
himself. During his trial in May, 1918, he denied making the last
part of the statement and said the first was based on astrology. He
said he was discussing astrology with another man when a third
person overheard the conversation and reported it to federal offi¬
cials. The jury was not impressed, and he was sentenced to 18
months in Leavenworth Prison.
Both indictments brought in the Eastern District were against
Shawano County men, and both were joint actions under the
Threats and Espionage Acts. One man had allegedly said, “If I was
drafted I would take a straight shot for President Wilson’s house
and would do away with him if I got the chance.” His case was
dismissed in March, 1919, without coming to trial. The other was
indicted and tried for saying in a private home in the presence of
10E.G., Alien Enemies Proclamation (April 6, 1917); Federal Employees Loyalty
Order (April 7, 1917) ; Order Creating- Committee on Public Information (April 14,
1917) ; Cable and Telegraph Order (April 28, 1917) ; Order Establishing Board of
Censorship (October 12, 1917).
11 Unless otherwise specified, information on Wisconsin cases was taken from federal
court records in the Federal Records Depository at Chicago ; in some cases, details
were added by contemporary newspapers.
12 Report of the Attorney General (1918), p. 56.
13 Among decisions holding that the threat need not be communicated to the President
were U.S. v. Strickrath , 242 F. 151 (1917) ; U.S. v. Jasick, 252 F. 931 (1918) ; U.S. v.
Metzdorf, 252 F. 933 (1918) ; U.S. v. Stoho , 251 F. 689 (1918).
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laws Were Enforced
41
three other persons, “The President is the one that caused this
war. He ought to be killed and if I had the chance I would kill him
in a minute.” The jury refused to convict him, perhaps because the
trial came a month after the Armistice. It should be noted that
the only Threats Act indictment which resulted in a conviction in
the Eastern District was also the first one brought there.
On the other hand, in the Western District the first man indicted
entered a plea of guilty and got off with the lightest penalty of all,
a $100 fine. In October, 1917, he allegedly said:
We ought to clean out the White House. Wilson wants to be shot
before they shoot the Kaiser. If Wilson is not shot before he
gets out of office, he will be after he gets out of office if he doesn’t
get out of the country.
Indictments were returned in March, 1918, against three men
and one woman. The case against an Ashland man who was also
indicted under the Espionage Act for saying “I’d kill the President
like a dog” never came to trial. A German-American from Mara¬
thon County was sentenced to six months in the Milwaukee County
House of Correction for saying, “I am a socialist. President Wilson
is a son of a bitch and I would hang him if I had my way.”
A young Eau Claire County farmer was indicted for saying that
if he had an airplane he would “get that damned Wilson” and that
if he were drafted he “would like to kill that goddamned Wilson.”
He pleaded guilty but told the judge he had been drunk. Unmoved,
Judge Sanborn sent him to Leavenworth for a year and a day. The
wife of a butcher at Milladore in Wood County, after hearing of
the sinking of the Tuscania troop ship, which was carrying a large
contingent of Wisconsin troops, allegedly threatened to put a bullet
in the head of President Wilson. She was convicted in a one-day
trial in August, 1918, and sentenced to six months in the Eau Claire
County Jail or a fine of $500. She chose the latter.
A Dunn County man pleaded guilty in March, 1918, to saying,
“The President ought to have been killed long ago, and if some¬
body does not do it, I will.” He served 30 days in the Eau Claire
County Jail for his indiscretion.
The final case was not related to the war at all and indicates how
broadly the statute was being interpreted by federal judges. A
Prairie du Chien man, three weeks after the Armistice, allegedly
said, “I will shoot Wilson, the son of a bitch, if the country goes
dry July 1.” He was indicted May 12, 1919, and two weeks later
entered a guilty plea. He was sentenced to 30 days in the Dane
County Jail.
42 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
By most standards, none of these 10 persons posed much of a
threat to President Wilson. For that reason, it might be instructive
to review the only statement recorded about the purpose of the law
by the author himself. During the congressional debate, Representa¬
tive Webb said, “The man who makes the threat is not himself
very dangerous, but he is liable to put devilment in the mind of
some poor fellow who does try to harm him (the President) .”14
Although no one can tell how much “devilment” the quoted re¬
marks put in the minds of hearers — especially since the indict¬
ments did not indicate the context of most of the remarks — it seems
unlikely that the hearers in Wisconsin posed much threat to the
President. The same could be said about other persons reported in
the newspapers as arrested under the Threats Act but who were
not actually indicted.
From 1921 until World War II, the law was a virtual dead
letter. Three cases under the Threats Act were appealed during
the war and two have been appealed since. The Threats Act re¬
mains on the statute books, in peace as well as war time, and in
1962 was broadened to protect the Vice-President or other per¬
son next in line for the presidency, as well as the President-elect
and the Vice-President-elect. It was 1965, in the aftermath of the
Kennedy assassination, before Congress passed a law which pro¬
tected the life of a President.15
Selective Service Act
The conscription law of 1917 made it a crime to discourage men
from registering or serving in the military services. There were
widespread fears of draft riots such as those of the Civil War, but
they were not realized.
In spite of Governor Philipp’s later recollection that there was
no opposition in the state to the draft “save now and then an in¬
dividual,” the dockets of the two federal courts in the state con¬
tain the names of hundreds of men indicted for draft violations,
most of which were quietly dropped when the men “volunteered”
for immediate army duty. Attorney General Gregory assured a
congressman in July, 1918, that this was the usual procedure for
men failing to register. He said that through June 8, there had been
8,802 actions under the draft laws through the nation; of these,
4,064 dealt with failure to register.16
From among the many indictments under the draft act, five
Wisconsin cases have been singled out which resemble closely in-
u Congressional Record , 65 Cong-., 2d Session, 9377.
is The Threats Act now is 18 U.S. Code Annotated , Section 871.
16 Philipp, "Wisconsin’s War Activities,” Wisconsin Blue Book, (1919), pp. 301-303;
Congressional Record, 65 Cong., 2d Session, 528.
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laws Were Enforced 43
dictments brought under the Espionage Act for expression. One, in
fact, was a joint draft-espionage action.
This involved nine members of a “Holy Roller” fundamentalist
religious colony in Barron County who were indicted in March,
1918. When they appeared in court June 3, they refused to plead,
but instead made anti-war religious speeches. The judge ordered
a not guilty plea entered in their behalf and placed them in jail
when they refused to post bond. The men were indicted on 13
counts based on 16 separate speeches, personal letters, personal
advice, and articles in their paper. After a three-day trial which
ended July 20, all were found guilty. The leader was sentenced to
15 months at Leavenworth, and three other members were sent
there for a year and a day. The other six were given terms of three
to six months in county workhouses, although four of the six were
permitted the option of paying fines of $250 to $500.
In another case, in June, 1918, three men were indicted jointly
under the draft and espionage measure, but the indictment has
been lost. A newspaper reported that their arrest at Ashland was
for saying Wilson was responsible for the war and for the sinking
of the Lusitania.
A wealthy Grant County farmer was convicted by a jury in
1918 and sentenced to a year and a day at Leavenworth plus a fine
of $1,000. He was indicted on five counts and convicted on two,
including the following statement made to draft-age men :
This is a rich man’s war and we would not have this war if
it had not been for the rich girls in the United States marrying
English lords. We had no business to start this war. The issue
that Wilson was elected on was not to start war. They loaded
supplies for the Allies on boats and hired a few Americans and
put them on those boats and they were killed and this started
the war. We had no cause to be in this war. The Germans killed
no Belgian citizens and there are no orphans in Belgium or
France that were caused by the war. The Germans have done
no worse than Americans have done to Germans. We have no
business in this war. We went into it to protect the money that
was loaned to the Allies. The money interests hired a few Ameri¬
cans to ride on those ships so that if they were killed we could
get into the war.
The jury, according to a newspaper, was out for only a half
hour in convicting the 58-year-old father of seven.
This was the only case in which the judge’s charge to the jury
was preserved in the archives. It was given by special judge Evan
A. Evans. In his charge, Evans denied the defense attorney’s con-
44 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
tention that such words had to be spoken to a person already in the
service or who was about to be called ; it was enough that they be
spoken and there be some reasonable chance that they might some¬
how be conveyed to a soldier or potential soldier.
The fourth draft case involving expression was that of a Wood
County man whose remarks were made in Polish in the summer
of 1918 to some prospective draftees. After a one-day trial he was
sentenced to six months in the county workhouse and fined $500
for saying:
The kaiser will fare along better than ever because he has
made peace terms with Ukrania, but the kaiser will pay no
attention to the papers that were signed. It is coming to it that
President Wilson will have to crawl on his knees to kiss the
kaiser’s boots. The submarines will work havoc with American
boats. They have sunk nine boats and of a total of 1,000 persons
on those boats, only 40 were saved.
It is difficult to imagine where the Wood County man got his
“facts,” but the jury decided that his remarks could frighten some
rural Wisconsin lads enough that they might not fulfill their mili¬
tary duties.
The most celebrated draft case in the state had nothing to do
with free expression directly but much to do with it indirectly.
This was the action against Congressman John M. Nelson of Madi¬
son and his draft-age son, Byron.
To understand the free expression implications of the case, one
needs to bear in mind that Nelson had voted against most war
measures, including the declaration of war. He had been in Con¬
gress since 1906 and was clearly identified with the La Follette
wing of the Republican Party. (In 1924, he managed La Follette’s
presidential campaign.) He had alienated many Republican “regu¬
lars” in Congress by his role in the 1908-1910 fight to prune the
powers of Speaker Joe Cannon.
When, in August, 1917, the federal district attorney announced
that he would seek indictment of the congressman’s son for not
registering for the draft, Nelson realized that he was the real tar¬
get. Nelson knew his way around Capitol Hill and had many
friends. On September 4, he sent a long letter to Attorney General
Gregory refuting one by one the charges against his son. Byron
was charged with not registering on “Duty Day”; however, those
residing in foreign countries were specifically excluded from the
registration requirement, and Byron had been managing a family
farm in Alberta since May 5. This was 15 days before the draft
act was enacted, 28 days before the President’s proclamation estab-
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laivs W eve Enforced 45
lishing the registration date, and a month and two days before
the registration day itself. Nelson said that at the time he had
asked his son to go north he had no way of knowing what the terms
of the act would be. His son had worked on the farm during sum¬
mers while attending the University of Wisconsin. Nelson even
sent Gregory a published “Roll of Honor” which showed that his
son ranked fourth among students in donating their time during
the spring to work on the university farm. Nelson further assured
Gregory that in May he had received assurances from the Provost
Marshal General that persons living abroad did not have to register
for the draft. He had reaffirmed this in person with the Provost
Marshal on September 1 after reading of the district attorney’s
intention to prosecute. Nelson cashed in some of his other political
debts. For example, he convinced Speaker Champ Clark to write a
confidential note to the Postmaster General on his behalf.17
In October, Byron pleaded not guilty to the draft evasion charge
in the federal court in Madison. In late November, the Congress¬
man was indicted for conspiracy to avoid the draft and his son for
failure to register. Both entered pleas of not guilty and were re¬
leased on bond. One month later, on January 3, the federal judge
quashed both indictments. Although the irate district attorney told
the press that he would appeal the judge’s decision, he did not.
That was the end of the case, at least in the courts.
Although the Nelson case was over in the courts, it was “retried”
at the polls in the spring primary, and Nelson lost; however, he
won back his seat in 1920 and held it until defeated by a gerry¬
mander in 1932.
Espionage Act
If, as John Roche suggested, World War I was a “black mass
celebrated by the elected leaders of the American nation,”18 then
surely the Espionage Act must be considered its litany.
Only two provisions of the lengthy law affected free expression.
Section 3 of Title I made it a crime to interfere with the military
or recruiting services, while Title XII made it illegal to mail matter
which violated other sections of the law. Strictly construed, these
would have had little effect on expression.
That they were not so construed was shown by the number of
prosecutions. Chafee wrote that 877 persons were convicted under
Section 3 and more than 100 publications banned from the mails
under Title XII. Chafee based his figure on annual reports of the
Attorney General, which for the two federal courts in Wisconsin
17 Nelson to Gregory, May 4, 1917, and Clark to Nelson, December 14, 1917 in John
M. Nelson Papers, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Box 1.
18 Roche, John P., Quest for the Dream 49 (1963).
46 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
were too low. Other estimates ran higher, but it seems likely that
there were at least 2,000 actions and 1,000 convictions under Sec¬
tion 3. Virtually all were for expression.19
Punishments under the law were harsh. At least 35 persons went
to prison for the maximum 20 years and another 58 for 10 to 15
years; others received shorter sentences and fines. Still, the man
who directed the law’s enforcement admitted that there was not a
single proven case of sabotage in the nation after the declaration
of war, and Charles and Mary Beard concluded the law did not
catch one bonafide spy or saboteur.20
Twelve days after the United States declared war, Senator Lee
Overman of North Carolina introduced an omnibus measure which
covered such diverse security matters as the embargo, conveying
secrets to foreign agents, passports, impounding enemy vessels and
counterfeiting the government seal. He described it as substantially
the same measure which the Senate passed during the previous
session but which died in the House.
Both in the press and on the floor, most of the controversy cen¬
tered on a section which provided five years in prison and a $10,000
fine for publishing information declared by the President to be
useful or even possibly useful to an enemy. There was much less
attention to Section 3 of Title I which, as enacted in 1917, provided
20 years in prison and $10,000 fines for anyone who while the
United States was at war should willfully make or convey false re¬
ports or false statements with intent to interfere with the opera¬
tion or success of the military or naval forces of the United States
or to promote the success of its enemies: and whoever, when the
United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause
insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in the mili¬
tary or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct
the recruitment or enlistment service of the United States.
Title XII allowed the Postmaster General to refuse to convey any
letter or printed matter “advocating or urging treason, insurrec¬
tion, or forcible resistance to any law of the United States.” Maxi¬
mum penalties were set at $5,000 and five years, in prison.
In introducing the measure, Senator Overman assured his col¬
leagues the measure in no way limited freedom of the press or of
individuals to comment on governmental policies. He assured them
that the courts could be trusted to interpret the law in a reasonable
manner.21
For three days, the Senate debated the press censorship section,
but in the end rejected it. The House accepted the mail section with
10 Chafee, op. cit., supra note 1, at p. 52.
20 O’Brian, John L., National Security and Individual Freedom, 49-50 (1955) ; Beard,
Charles and Mary, The Rise of American Civilization, Volume II, 644 (1927)
21 Congressional Record, 65 Cong-., 1st Session, 778-781.
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laws Were Enforced
47
a few minor wording changes over the warnings of its only socialist
member that Title XII would be the death knell for minority opin¬
ion press in this country. The bill passed, 260-106. The Senate then
debated the bill for two days in executive session and for three
more in public. On May 12, the Senate defeated the censorship
section and later at attempt to reinstate it. The upper chamber
prohibited postal inspectors from opening sealed letter and adopted
the bill, 77-6. Wilson signed it June 15. Once shorn of its press
censorship section, the Espionage Act was greeted by newspapers
either with praise or with indifference.22
Early in 1918 the Attorney General requested an amendment to
Section 3 to protect government bonds from criticism. The Senate
Judiciary Committee broadened the amendment to cover disparag¬
ing remarks about the flag, the military forces, the Constitution or
form of government. The amendment, sometimes called the Sedition
Act of 1918, provided 20-year prison terms for remarks which in¬
terfered, even remotely, with the war effort or aided the enemy.
The sponsoring committee admitted the amendment was quite
superfluous since most district judges had interpreted the 1917
law to cover such offenses. During the seven days of debate, at
least five senators said that such an amendment would help quell
the mob spirit in the land. Gregory used the same argument in
his 1918 report.23
The Senate strengthened Title XII, permitting the Postmaster
General to refuse even to pick up or deliver mail during the war
at addresses using the mails in violation of the act, thus crimping
socialist and radical defense committee collections. On April 9, the
Senate refused to incorporate even the protections of the 1798
sedition law, excluding truthful remarks made with good motives.124
Of the 92 indictments in Wisconsin under the Espionage Act —
several in conjunction with the Threats, Draft or Trading acts —
all but two involved expression. Since most judges and juries used
ill tendency as their standard from the beginning, the 1918 amend¬
ment made little difference.
Analysis of the preserved indictments shows that the offensive
remarks fell into certain logical categories, shown in Table 1. A
few representative Wisconsin cases will be discussed for each
category.
Thirty-six indictments included remarks praising Germany or
the Kaiser or expressing the belief or hope that Germany would
22 Congressional Record, 65 Cong-., 1st Session, 847, 871-887, 1590-1596, 1698-1701,
1717-1720, 1750-1780, 1807-1841, 2055-2072, 2087-2113, 2166-2196, 2241-2270.
23 Congressional Record, 65 Cong-., 1st Session, 3002-3004, 4559, 4562, 4633, 4637,
4645-4646, 4710, 4764-4771, 4824.
24 Congressional Record, 65 Cong’., 1st Session, 4562-4563, 4637, 4784, 4826, 4835-
4839, 4895-4898, 5541. Procedural safeguards did little to protect defendants under the
1798 law, according to Smith, James M., Freedom’s Fetters 421-424 (1952).
48 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Table 1. Types of remarks indicted under Espionate Act
1917-1918 in Wisconsin
Praising Germany . 36
Criticizing U. S . 35
“Rich man’s war” . 32
Criticizing Allies . 17
Insulting flag, uniform . 9
Criticizing bonds . 19
Criticizing food laws . 9
Criticizing charities . 15
Obstructing recruiting . 17
Praising ship sinkings . 3
(Total exceeds 90 because some indictments were for multiple remarks)
win the war. Such remarks seem more likely to produce a brawl
than a breach of national security. While society has an interest
in preserving peace and tranquility, punishing a man for remarks
on this ground alone is like punishing a rich man for keeping money
around to tempt thieves. A similar breach of peace rationale has
all but disappeared from American criminal libel law.25
Two Wood County men were convicted for remarks favoring
Germany in July, 1917. One, a 44-year-old native of Prussia, was
sentenced to two years in prison for saying, “I wish the war would
end and the Kaiser would win. Yes, God damn it. We will never
have good times until the Kaiser wins.” Although he had lived in
the United States for seven years, his record showed that in 1914
he had been denied citizenship papers because he was not a “law
abiding and peaceful” man. The jury was sworn in one morning,
heard five government witnesses plus the defendant in the after¬
noon, and convicted him before nightfall.
The other man was a Pole employed at a Grand Rapids paper
mill. Three fellow workers, through an interpreter, told the court
the man had said the Kaiser was sure to win the war and to sink
all the American troop ships. The defendant told the court that 25
years before he had fled Europe after killing a German officer who
disciplined him. His court-appointed attorney told the jury that
surely it could not find this man disloyal or pro-German. “He is
the only man in this courtroom who bears on his body a scar in¬
flicted by the brutality of Teutonic autocracy.” After hearing the
prosecutor tell them that their only duty was to decide if the words
had been spoken, not to judge their criminality, the jury proved
it certainly could find the Pole guilty. It took them only 90 minutes
to convict him, and the judge imposed a six-month term in the
county workhouse and a $500 fine. A Madison druggist who long
25 Anon. “Constitutionality of the Law of Criminal Libel,” 52 i Columbia Laiv Rev.
521 (1952).
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laws Were Enforced 49
had been prominent in German-American societies pleaded guilty
to similar remarks and was fined $2,000.
Even doubting the worst about the enemy could get a man in
trouble, as it did a prosperous 68-year-old Grant County farmer
who, among other statements, expressed disbelief about reports of
German atrocities. (After the war, investigations showed that
nearly all such tales were untrue.) The principal prosecution wit¬
ness was a neighbor who had a long-standing grudge with the de¬
fendant over a land transaction. This hostile witness testified he
heard the farmer say, ‘The Germans killed no Belgian citizens and
there are no orphans in Belgium or France that were caused by the
war. The Germans have done no worse than Americans have done
to Germans. .
The farmer, the father of seven including a soldier in France,
denied making such statements,, but the judge ruled the neighbor’s
testimony admissable as he did that of two representatives of the
Council of Defense who said there had been rumors about the
farmer’s disloyal remarks on other occasions. The jury took 35
minutes to convict. The sentence : a year and a day at Leavenworth
prison plus a $1,000 fine.
Thirty-three indictments quoted criticisms, often quite pointed,
of the American conduct of the war. Some of the offensive remarks
said the Administration was too zealous, others that it was
lethargic. Such opinions would seem to pose small danger to the
success of a war; at least the United States managed to win World
War II without prosecuting such criticisms.
One of the heaviest punishments — 15 months in prison — was
meted out to a 37-year-old Russellite evangelist from Milwaukee
who was arrested at Plover in Portage County. He was convicted
on four counts in a one-day trial at Eau Claire in July, 1918. His
remarks, delivered in Polish, were translated thus in the indict¬
ment :
The Constitution of the United States says that the govern¬
ment of the United States cannot compel a person to go to an¬
other country to fight, but Wilson has spoiled the Constitution,
and is compelling men to go to other countries to fight. President
Wilson started the war and he is now going to run away.
A socialist attorney at Milwaukee was indicted in October, 1918,
for telling two men (including a judge) that the United States had
no business in the war and that its army should not be in Europe.
On another date, he allegedly told a woman at Whitefish Bay, “You
are upholding the cruelest and most abominable form of govern¬
ment in existence.”
50 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
A traveling salesman from Minneapolis was indicted in the
Western District of Wisconsin for a remark he allegedly made in
1918 in a Portage store. He was accused of saying, “This Govern¬
ment was not ready for war. If Mexico were to rise up we could
not protect our own country. The President and the Administration
are to blame.” He was indicted three weeks after the Armistice but
his case was dismissed six weeks later.
A Milwaukee machinist was indicted for questioning the constitu¬
tionality of the draft law, and a former postmaster at Fall Creek
got into trouble for questioning the constitutionality of the Espio¬
nage Act. Both cases were dropped without coming to trial, but the
circumstances surrounding the Eau Claire County case are worth
considering.
Six men called on the former postmaster to see why he had not
taken his assigned “quota” of $500 in Liberty Bonds. Allegedly he
told them, “The Government of the United States is dishonest.
Freedom of speech has been abridged by the espionage law. Free¬
dom of the press has been denied by the espionage law.” The solici¬
tors told the commissioner who heard the complaint that they had
been chased off with a shotgun, but the ex-postmaster said he did
not threaten them. He said he was carrying the gun because they
were waiting for him when he came in from hunting. As to the
remarks, he admitted criticizing the espionage legislation but denied
saying the nation was dishonest. Although he never was penalized
under the law, he was under indictment until July, 1920.
The most frequent words quoted in indictments were “rich man’s
war.” The term had been part of the vocabulary of socialists, Wob-
blies and other anti-capitalist radicals for many years. In the case
of the socialists, at least, they were saying the same things in Ger¬
many about the capitalist Junkers. Some of the remarks included
under this heading were close equivalents, but all indicated a
belief that it was a money war.
Since it is impossible to prove the cause of any war — historians
have suggested more than 100 causes for the American Civil War,
and a century after the shooting seem no closer to an agreement
than they were at the time — a statement about its being a “rich
man’s war” can be considered no more and no less than an opinion.
Certainly it is not a false report.26
A socialist who ran for the assembly from Sauk County in 1916
was indicated in 1918 for telling two neighbors it was a rich man’s
war. He pleaded guilty and was fined $500, the same fine imposed
on a Medford physician who ran for sheriff as a socialist and made
similar remarks during his campaign. A Wood County man was
211 Anon., “The Espionage Cases,” 32 Harvard Law Rev. 417 (1919),
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laws Were Enforced 51
sent to the workhouse for three months after pleading guilty to
calling the war a “millionaire's graft."
Criticizing Great Britain or France was apparently as serious an
offense as criticizing the United States' war effort. The first indict¬
ment under the war statutes brought in the Western District was
for such remarks. The owner of a Madison hotel allegedly told some
draft-eligible Italian- Americans that since the war was being
fought for England’s benefit they ought to head back to Italy to
avoid the draft. At the time of his arrest in August, 1917, the fed¬
eral district attorney was quoted in the press as saying, “This thing
of saying we are fighting for England must stop. I am going to
have all such persons tried if I can obtain indictments for them.
Any other remarks tending to honeycomb our solid front and to
give comfort to the enemy and cause disloyalty among our soldiers
will be summarily dealt with if I have my way." The hotel owner
pleaded not guilty and was released on bond. Two years later the
case was dropped without coming to trial.
The 1918 amendment was a new wrinkle in American law, pro¬
tecting symbols from offensive words. Nine Wisconsin indictments
referred to verbal attacks on the flag or military uniforms.
On August 17, 1918, there was great excitement in the little
Racine County town of Corliss. Men and women were scurrying
about,, stringing up bunting and flags for a Red Cross parade. The
town marshal was just stepping back to admire the decorations
when he saw a threshing rig heading straight for the biggest Amer¬
ican flag, draped from a wire across the main street. Apparently
the rig operator did not hear the warnings. Suddenly the top of
his stream machine caught the flag, yanked it down, and devoured it.
Three or four men raced out and waved down the operator, who
pulled over to the side of the road. Over the terrible roar of the
machine, they carried on an animated conversation about how he
had ruined the flag.
“Keep the damned flag out of the road," the operator shouted
back. “It’s a public highway."
Three months later, the operator was indicted for insulting the
flag, not as one might expect for tearing it down, but rather for
calling it a “damned flag." He pleaded guilty and was fined $200.
As was pointed out earlier, the original excuse for requesting the
1918 amendment was to protect government securities from dis¬
paraging remarks. Attacks on Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps
were quoted in 19 Wisconsin indictments.
For telling three other men that the government “makes men
buy bonds so that they can get their wages away from them," and
that the bonds would be worthless after the war, a Richland Center
socialist was sent to Leavenworth for a year and a day. It cost a
52 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
man from near Wausau $500 to say that the bonds would not be
worth 40 cents on the dollar after the war. Unfortunately for him,
he made the remark in the presence of the vice-president of the
local Loyalty Legion. A Washburn man told a Liberty Bond sales¬
man that the bonds were no good for the poor man. Tried and
convicted nearly a year after the Armistice, he was fined $200.
Truth certainly was no defense, since a Taylor County man was
fined $1,250 for saying the money from bonds was being used to
help England defeat Germany. A Grant County farmer who said
“they can’t make us buy any bonds” was fined $600.
Although there was no rationing, a federal Food Commissioner
in each state enforced rules against hoarding and profiteering.
Eight Wisconsin indictments mentioned criticisms of the food
controls; however, of these cases, one stands out because it was
one of only two to be reversed on appeal and one of the few to
involve a prominent state politician, John M. Becker, circuit court
judge at Monroe for 21 years.
Becker was a lifelong Democrat who supported La Follette’s
stand against the war; in fact, Becker promoted a referendum on
whether the nation should enter the war. The election was April 8,
1917, the very day Wilson went before Congress to ask a declara¬
tion of war. The vote was 954 to 95 against entering the war.27
Two days later, Becker addressed a patriotic rally, urging all
citizens to be loyal to the nation once war was declared. He threat¬
ened criminal libel actions against those circulating rumors he had
been charged with “aiding the enemy.” In August, Becker hinted
and in January confirmed that he would run for governor on an
anti-war platform. His candidacy, however, was short-lived, be¬
cause the Attorney General announced that Wisconsin law pro¬
hibited anyone from holding a judicial post and running for another
office.28
Becker’s troubles were only beginning. In May he was indicted
under the Espionage Act for saying on February 5 :
The idea of having an administrator of fuel and food is ridic¬
ulous. There is no shortage of food. The idea of a shortage of
food is being preached by agents employed by corporations for
their own gain, and going about the country on high paid salaries.
This is a rich man’s war. We won’t have peace as long as these
high-salaried fellows have jobs to protect. There is no labor
shortage. There is no seed shortage. Farmers, beware of taxes,
war taxes, which must be paid in July.
27 Monroe Evening Times , March 23-April 4, 1917.
28 Monroe Evening Times, April 5—6. May 10 and November 19, 1917, and January
8, 1918.
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laws Were Enforced 53
(His jury refused to convict on a second count based on testi¬
mony from a German woman bitter at Becker over settlement of
her husband’s estate.)
The Circuit Court of Appeals detailed the circumstances sur¬
rounding the meeting at which Becker’s food remarks were made.
Because Green County had failed to meet its quota in the first two
Liberty Loans, the state Council of Defense insisted the county
council be reorganized. The county board called a meeting for this
purpose, but because of a storm, only six of the 27 elected board
members showed up. These six got into an informal discussion with
50 or 60 spectators, and in the ensuing session Becker spoke for
15 to 20 minutes. Two witnesses swore that the thrust of his re¬
marks were patriotic and that the statements quoted in the indict¬
ment were taken out of context. Other witnesses admitted they
were talking among themselves and could not hear what Becker
was saying. The appellate court reversed the conviction on the
grounds that the words were not unpatriotic. The court also objected
to testimony introduced during the trial about how many Liberty
Bonds the defendant had purchased and to the fact that one wit¬
ness gave a Sunday dinner to the other witnesses.29
The trial was conducted at Eau Claire in August, 1917. One wit¬
ness collapsed from the heat. Almost none of Becker’s questions
were about the food remarks but dealt with personal attitudes and
his gubernatorial platform. At one point the special deputy district
attorney called the platform “bunk.” Two friends helped Becker
down from the stand after the long afternoon. The jury consisted
of 10 farmers, one miller and one mechanic. After a week of testi¬
mony, it took them six hours to convict Becker. Wolfe told reporters
he considered the conviction an important one since it might “deter”
lesser individuals who might be inclined toward disloyalty.
On August 16, Becker was sentenced to one year in federal peni¬
tentiary on each of three counts, the sentences to run consecutively.
He was released on $20,000 bond, pending the appeal which was
decided October 5, 1920.
Upon his conviction, the state Attorney General ordered Becker
to vacate his office. A successor was appointed and sworn in. After
the reversal, Becker sued to recover his lost salary, but the Attorney
General ruled against him on the ground that state law required
resignation only for conviction of an infamous crime and the Espio¬
nage Act did not so qualify. The Attorney General told Becker the
earlier order had been only “advisory” and that he complied of his
own volition.30
29 Becker v. U.S., 268 F. 195 (1920).
30 Opinions of the Attorney General (1920), pp. 529-534.
54 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
By April, 1917, there were 159 voluntary war relief agencies in
the United States, all conducting fund drives. The Red Cross alone
collected more than $400 million during the war.31 Fifteen Wis¬
consin indictments quoted criticisms of the war agencies. It was
in the conviction of Louis B. Nagler of Madison32 that the legal
principle was established that such criticism could be prosecuted
under the Espionage Act.
Nagler, like Becker, was a prominent supporter of La Follette.
While assistant secretary of state, he published a letter in the
Madison paper defending the senator’s anti-war stand. His indict¬
ment resulted from remarks in November, 1917, to solicitors for
the Red Cross. He told them he was through “contributing to your
private grafts.” He named the YMCA, the YWCA and the Red
Cross and said “not over 10 to 14 per cent of the money collected
goes to the soldiers or is used for the purpose for which it is col¬
lected.” His indictment reasoned that since the Red Cross was
chartered by Congress, it was a “government agency” within the
meaning of the Espionage Act. Although the YMCA and YWCA
were not chartered, they were engaged in similar morale work and
logically should be covered, too.
Nagler’s trial was scheduled immediately before Becker’s, and
the district attorney made it clear they were to be showcase trials.
His jury of 10 farmers, a miller and a railroad employee (five of
whom had relatives in the army) wasted little time in convicting.
The Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, and to the
defense contention that such a decision would encompass even the
Jewish Relief Agency, the Knights of Columbus and the Salvation
Army, the court wrote, “With this position I agree.” In July, 1921,
the United States Supreme Court remanded the case for a new
trial, at which point it was quietly dropped. Nagler certainly was
not cowed during the appeal. He even wrote a congratulatory
letter to Victor Berger on his fine showing in the 1918 senatorial
election.33
Among the other 14 Wisconsin indictments which included com¬
ments about voluntary agencies, all but one were based on replies to
solicitors. The exception was a Milwaukee woman who said it was
foolish to sew for the Red Cross since the rich people took all the
garments and they never reached the soldiers. Her case was dropped
without coming to trial.
The tragedy which brought the war home to many Wisconsin
citizens was the sinking of the troop ship Tuscania in the spring of
31 Cutlip, Scott M., Fund Raising in the United States 110-139 (1965).
32 U.S. v. Nagler, 252 F. 217 (1918). See Nagler, “A Fragment of War-Time History,”
121 The Nation 568 (1925).
Nagler to Becker, Nov. 8, 1918, in Socialist Party Papers, Milwaukee County His¬
torical Society, Milwaukee, Box 23.
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laws Were Enforced
1918. Soldiers from many Wisconsin communities went down with
the ship. Those who lost friends or relatives were not in the mood
for snide remarks about the incident.
For example, a Port Huron man went to jail for six months for
remarks about the effectiveness of German submarines. One man
was fined $300 for saying he hoped the Germans sank every ship
that we sent across the sea, while another pleaded guilty to a fed¬
eral charge arising out of his remark that “All those who go across
ought to be at the bottom of the ocean.”
Section 3 seemed to be aimed at persons who tried to keep others
from fulfilling their duties, either by not registering or enlisting
or by disobeying superior officers; still, few prosecutions had any¬
thing to do with recruiting.34
Fifteen Wisconsin cases did involve some actual counseling. The
most prominent man convicted for such an offense was a former
state legislator and president of the Marathon County Telephone
Company. During his eight-day trial in September, 1918, the prose¬
cution called 27 witnesses, including the secretary of the Cassel
town draft board who testified that Schilling had dissuaded more
than 70 men from enlisting. The trial judge permitted testimony
about his niggardly contributions to war charities and about his
alleged hoarding of food, although neither was mentioned in the
indictment. The jury was out only three hours before convicting.
The next day the judge sentenced him to 18 months in prison plus
a $3,500 fine.
A Lithuanian who had lived in this country for 16 years went
to prison for a year and a day for saying he would not register and
for telling others they were fools for doing so. A Racine man al¬
legedly advised some Armenians not to report for the army if
called, and he too was sentenced to a year and a day.
Four other indictments cited remarks questioning the legality,
not of the draft but of sending drafted men overseas; however,
none of these cases came to trial.
Trading Act
During the summer of 1917, the House devoted three days and
the Senate two to enacting this omnibus measure, whose primary
purpose was to establish guidelines for seizing and holding prop¬
erty owned by alien enemies, particularly German corporations.
Not until the final 15 minutes of debate was there any mention of a
provision affecting expression, and then there were two. One was
virtually a carbon copy of the new Section 3 later added to the
34 Apparently no prosecutor even attempted to prove injury to military procurement
or allow a jury to consider possible effects of utterances. Nelles “In the Wake of the
Espionage Act,’' 111 The Nation 684, (1920).
56 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Espionage Act. After its defeat (because the sponsoring Commerce
Committee did not want such an unrelated section in the act) , Sena¬
tor William H. King then proposed a requirement that all German-
language publications print a parallel English translation. Penal¬
ties were to be $500 or a year in prison. King explained that he
earlier had proposed a total ban on foreign-language publications,
but that this measure was bottled in committee. The Utah Demo¬
crat asserted that his regulation “certainly works no great hard¬
ships’’ on any publisher while at the same time providing a good
check on sedition for the postal officials and for neighbors. A spokes¬
man for the Commerce Committee said he thought the Postmaster
General already had sufficient censorship powers under the Espio¬
nage Act and expressed the hope that this irrelevant section would
not be tacked on to the Trading Act. It was anyway, and the bill
went to conference committee. The committee greatly expanded the
mail section to cover publications in any foreign language. Instead
of publishing English translations in adjoining columns, publishers
now had to file such translations in advance of publication with
local postmasters. Only material which dealt in some way with
the war was covered by the requirement. The Speaker overruled
objections that the conferees had exceeded their authority by add¬
ing new classes of crimes to the mail section, and the House
adopted the report by voice vote.35
Most of the newspapers affected by the new regulations were
one- or two-man operations, working on a tiny financial margin.
Because filing translations cost both time and money, many foreign-
language newspapers closed down. Others began publishing in
English or tried to make their contents totally bland. That the
latter tactic was not always successful for avoiding trouble with
the federal officials is illustrated by the Auer case, described below.
Auer’s was one of seven actions brought under the Trading Act
in Wisconsin. Three of the actions involved possession of explosives
and had no expression connotations and are not considered here.
Four actions did involve expression under the mail section of the
Trading Act. One of these was a joint action with the Espionage
Act.
Jacob J. Auer, a crotchety old man, was the editor and publisher
of a little German-language weekly, the Eau Claire Herold. Most of
his readers apparently were about his age. The younger generation
had learned English in the schools and read “American” publica¬
tions instead. Even his closest friends and relatives testified that
old Jacob was senile and that sometimes he “acted strangely.” He
had been in this country more than 30 years and had been bitterly
ss i Congressional Record , 65 Cong-., 1st Session, 4840-4879, 4907-4930, 4968-4989,
6949-6958, 7007-7025.
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laws Were Enforced 57
disappointed a few years before the war when he was not appointed
postmaster of Eau Claire.
In his edition of December 6„ 1917, Auer published an editorial
entitled, “Uncle Sam’s Army Threatened by Slow Destruction.”
The menace he was describing was not the German army, but the
United States Army’s policy of giving all its recruits smallpox
vaccinations. The article was long, rambling and none too coherent.
Auer did not file a translation of it with the postmaster for advance
clearance, nor did he submit the next week’s issue, which quoted
Hindenberg as charging the United States had used the submarine
as an issue to enter the war on the side of the Allies. His December
27 edition carried an editorial which suggested Germany’s enemies
were on the verge of collapse. In subsequent weeks, he attacked
those citizens who were persecuting everything which was German,
praised the German-Russion peace treaty and cautioned his readers
not to believe everything they read in the press about how many
German ships the Allies were sinking. He did not file translations
of any of these articles, the local postmaster told a citizens’ protest
committee meeting which met on March 15. The postmaster said
Auer had filed translations of some other articles and editorials,
however. The public meeting, which was sponsored by the county
Council of Defense passed a resolution “to personally notify J. J.
Auer that his attitude on the war, as expressed by said articles is
seditious and disloyal, and warn him against publishing like arti¬
cles in the future.”
Auer hardly had the opportunity, since he was arrested by the
federal marshal eight days after the meeting. The marshal waited
until after Auer had put out that week’s issue before taking him to
Madison for arraignment. He was formally indicted in June, 1918,
under both the Espionage and the Trading Acts.
He first entered a plea of not guilty and then tried to change it
to nolo contendere. The special assistant federal district attorney
objected because such a plea carried with it only a fine, not im¬
prisonment. The judge refused the plea and Auer pleaded guilty.
Before sentencing, a Civil War veteran and long-time friend of
Auer spoke on his behalf. He said there had been a noticeable de¬
cline in Auer’s mental capacity during the last two years, a fact
confirmed by both Auer’s wife and his son. His relatives testified
that the old man had purchased Liberty Bonds and had contributed
to the Red Cross and other fund drives. The son told the judge that
he did not think that his father really understood the translation
regulation.
The prosecution charged the judge to show no mercy in assign¬
ing sentence. The judge said he was unmoved by the claims of
mental incompetence since the articles seemed clearly written to
58 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
him; however, he would be merciful because of Auer’s advanced
age. His version of mercy was a year and a day at Leavenworth.
If Auer’s case seemed somewhat pitiful, consider the fate of poor
Jacob Mueller, who edited the German-language Dodge County
Pioneer at Mayville. In his edition of August 16, 1918, he ran a
front-page story about Auer’s conviction, adding at the end :
Since October 6, 1917, the German newspapers have been under
the knout and have not been permitted to print any war news
unless a true translation is filed with the postmaster. Since we
have no desires to pester police with translations we print abso¬
lutely no war news. We are not going to be caught.
Mueller was wrong about that. The district attorney thought
Auer’s conviction was “war news.” With some earlier articles, this
one formed the basis for his indictment in March, 1919. Mueller
pleaded guilty and got off with a $50 fine. After all, the war had
been over for four months.
Until March 4, 1918, there had been two German weeklies in
Mayville, but on that date the Dodge County Banner had switched
to English. Ever since, it had been attacking Mueller for supporting
Victor Berger and for having no principles. When Auer was con¬
victed the opposition paper wondered editorially if Mueller would
relay that information to his readers. He did, much to his later
regret.
On October 24, 1918, about two weeks before a special Senate
election in Wisconsin in which he was a candidate, Victor Berger
and four other officials of the Milwaukee Leader were indicted
under both the Trading and Espionage acts. Among other charges,
they allegedly had failed to file translations of some letters to the
editor which had been written and published in German. The five
were released on bond and the case finally was dropped in 1922.
Sabotage Act
That there were few prosecutions under this broad statute, which
punished “malicious destruction or injury to property, no matter
how essential the property might be to the conduct of the war,”
probably can be attributed to the fact that it was enforced by the
Justice rather than the Post Office Department and that it was not
signed until less than seven months before the Armistice. It is
ironic that the federal government waited so long to prohibit overt
acts of sabotage when it was so prompt to prohibit speech which
might incite such overt acts.
There were three actions under the Sabotage Act in Wisconsin,
two of them against employees of the E. I. du Pont Demours Com-
1970] Stevens — When Sedition Laws Were Enforced 59
pany powder plant at Barksdale in Bayfield County. Plant guards
were deputized by the sheriff and they kept a wary eye on “agita¬
tors.” They were also stringent in their enforcement of the rule
against having matches within the plant gates. One employee was
arrested in July, 1918, and charged under the Sabotage Act for
carrying four concealed matches in his socks. Two weeks later an¬
other employee was arrested for carrying 12 matches in his socks.
In the only Sabotage Act case tried in Wisconsin, a Milwaukee
man was convicted by a jury for throwing ice tongs into plant ma¬
chinery; however, the trial judge ordered the case dismissed for
reasons not made clear in the preserved record.
There was a marked difference in enforcement in the two dis¬
tricts of Wisconsin. Not only were half as many persons indicted
under the Espionage Act in the more populous, more socialist, more
German Eastern District, but a far higher proportion of cases were
dismissed without coming to trial. Table II compares the activity
in the two districts.
Apparently the major variable was the vigor of the enforcers.
Certainly the laws were interpreted quite differently by different
federal judges.36 Chafee pointed out that although Massachusetts
38 The Department of Justice issued 204 “Interpretation of War Statutes” bulletins
in an effort to increase consistency.
Table 2. Actions under Federal War statutes in Wisconsin
60 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
had large military posts, a major port of embarkation, many war
plants, and a large alien enemy population (to say nothing of the
anti-English population of Irish) , there was not a single Espionage
Act indictment in the Bay State. The District Attorney simply re¬
fused to bring any, and Chafee said there was no rash of sabotage
there as a result.37
Even more striking was the contrast in punishments in the two
districts. In the East, the three defendants who pleaded guilty were
fined a total of $900, and none of them went to prison. The three
convicted in the Eastern District each went to Leavenworth for
a year.
By contrast, the 85 defendants who pleaded guilty in the West
were fined $600 but sentenced to 28 years and 2 months in prison.
The 19 convicted were fined $13,100 and sentenced to prison and
workhouses for a total of 26 years and 3 months.
The only prison sentences of more than a year and a day came
in the Western District, where one man (Becker) was sentenced
to three years,, two others to two years, one to 18 months and an¬
other to 15 months. All were for violations of the Espionage Act.
Thirteen men (10 of them in the West) received the year-and-a-
day sentences. Eleven others were sentenced to terms of 30 days to
six months in various county workhouses.
The two heaviest fines were both in the Eastern District and both
were for violations of the Espionage Act. One man was fined $2,000
and another $1,250. No other fine exceeded $500.
In total, the 96 men convicted or entering guilty pleas to war
statute violations of the Espionage Act in the two Wisconsin courts
were sentenced to 57 years and 5 months in prison or workhouses38
and fined $14,600.
During World War II, there were almost no actions against “dis¬
loyal” expression under any of these five laws, although all were
on the books in slightly altered form. There were no such actions
in Wisconsin. The civil liberty picture of World War II was a much
brighter one in spite of the blot of the Japanese evacuation. Perhaps
it was because the Administration was more enlightened, or the
society was less naive, or there were fewer internal threats. Or
perhaps it was because the nation profited from the black mass of
World War I.
37 Chafee op. cit., supra note 1, at pp. 59-60.
38 If Berger had not been convicted of Espionage Act violations and sentenced to
20 years in the Northern District of Illinois, Berger v. U.S., 255 U.S. 22 (1921), it is
likely he would have been tried on one of the three cases pending in the two Wisconsin
federal courts ; in such case, Wisconsin’s penalty total might have been 20 years
higher.
POLICE IN A LARGE SOUTHEASTERN
WISCONSIN COMMUNITY
John C. H. Oh
Abstract
This is a study of the local law enforcement personnel, who not
only possess but often exercise a great deal of discretionary power
in the course of administering the laws and ordinances in their
local communities. Their general attitudes and the manner of con-
tacting with the public have very important consequences upon the
society. Yet, we know very little about these people.
The present study is based on the analysis of the survey ques¬
tionnaires returned by police officers of a large southeastern Wis¬
consin community. It was designed to answer the following three
questions :
1. How the police officers felt about the role of the Supreme
Court in the criminal justice system in American society, par¬
ticularly in regard to some of the recent Court decisions deal¬
ing with the constitutional rights of the suspect— in the area
of criminal law and procedures;
2. How they felt about the law and order— their general atti¬
tudes toward violence, civil rights, and social order;
3. And, how they felt about themselves— their general attitudes
toward their work and status in the community.
The study shows that police officers generally have a very low
regard toward the U. S. Supreme Court, that the majority of
police officers tend to develop an inferiority complex in their work
(because they believe that the public does not extend due recogni¬
tion to the police officers), and that they are excessively protective
of their own work and quite unreceptive to any kind of criticism
toward the police officers everywhere. It must be cautioned that
these findings are only preliminary and suggestive; however, any
concerned reader cannot help but to conclude that it is an urgent
national task to intensify our efforts to train the police officers
with the ideals of democracy and constitutionalism either through
in-service or out-service training, or both.
61
62 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Introduction
In recent years social scientists have made some significant con¬
tributions to the understanding of two related questions concern¬
ing the community power structure — “where power lies” and “who
makes decisions” in the political communities. Consequently, we
probably know more about the “men at the top” at both govern¬
mental and non-governmental levels in various political communi¬
ties than ever before.1 On the other hand, we know very little about
the middle and/ or lower level of the governmental personnel,
because the same social scientists have generally shunned conduct¬
ing any systematic studies on them. One such area of neglect is the
local law enforcement personnel. These people-— whether they are
called constables or sheriffs or police officers — not only possess but
often exercise a great deal of discretionary power in the course of
administering the laws and ordinances in their local communities.
Their general attitudes and their manner of contact with the public
have very important consequences for the society.
The present study is based on the analysis of the survey ques¬
tionnaires returned by 55 of 73 police officers of the Waukesha
Police Department during the period of October 14-21, 1968. A
brief description of the community being surveyed is in order.
Waukesha has experienced one of the most rapid population
increases among Wisconsin’s cities and is a city of 36,339 people
according to a special census of 1966, as compared to 30,004 in
1960 and 21,233 in 1951. (Waukesha County, which is seated in
the city, had an increase of 326.5% during the period 1910-60,
which was the fastest population growth rate among the state’s 70
counties.) The city was the fourth largest in the Greater Milwau¬
kee Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area,2 which in 1968 con¬
tained an estimated population of 1,458,100, of which only 83,931
(or 5.8%) were Negro. The city itself had only a dozen or so
Negro families, since the bulk of the Negro population in the area
resided in the central city (Milwaukee). It must be noted, how¬
ever, that the city is not a suburb of the central city in the strictest
sense, because if is a booming industrial community on its own
with a number of nationally-known manufacturing firms (i.e. It
had some 23 banking and savings and loan associations with total
assets of over $150 million at the end of 1966). 3
1 See Floyd Hunter, Community Power Structure ( 1953 ) , Robert Presthus, Men at
the Top (1964), Robert A. Dahl, Who Governs ? (1961), and Arnold M, Rose, The
Power Structure ( 1967 ) , among- others.
2 The area covers at least 38 separate governmental units which include four counties,
15 cities, 15 villages, and four towns.
3 U.S. Census of Governments, 1962 ; State of Wisconsin, Blue Book, 1968 ; Milwaukee
Sentinel, 1969 Wisconsin Almanac (January 7, 1969).
1970] Oh— Police in a Wisconsin Community 63
Politically, Waukesha residents have generally voted for Repub¬
lican candidates. In the latest election they again voted heavily
Republican for the presidency, the state-wide ticket (for the gov¬
ernor and four other constitutional officers), the state assembly-
man, the state senator, and for the U. S. congressman. The only
Democrat who received the plurality of votes in the city was an
independent-minded, popular U. S. senator.
As far as the incidence of crime is concerned, it was reported
that Waukesha had a total crime index of only 295 in 1967, which
was not only far below the national average of similar size cities
but also lower than the state average of 1,121.1 and that of the
Milwaukee SMSA’s 1,613.2. This lower crime incidence may be par¬
tially due to the fact that Waukesha's full-time police employee
rate of 1.8 was far in excess of an average number of officers per
1,000 inhabitants for the same size communities in the state and
the nation as a whole.4
The present study was designed to answer the following three
questions :
1. how the police officers felt about the role of the Supreme
Court in the criminal justice system in American society, par¬
ticularly in regard to some of the recent Court decisions deal¬
ing with the constitutional rights of the suspect in the area
of criminal law and procedures;
2. how they felt about law and order — their general attitudes
toward violence, civil rights, and social order;
3. and, how they felt about themselves — their general attitudes
toward their work and status in the community.
We felt that October, 1968, was the most opportune time for this
type of study because many of the questions used in the survey
were the same kind of issues raised by the various candidates in
their election campaigns. Our actual subjects included 37 uni¬
formed patrolmen and 18 detectives and police executives. The data
in Table 1 show that there were some marked differences between
these two groups of officers, in that patrolmen were in general
younger (51% under age 30 compared to only one of 18 detectives
in that age group), better educated (38% to 17% for some college
work), and less experienced in police work (an average of six
years service for the former as compared to 13 years for the lat¬
ter) than detectives and executives.
4 Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports, 1967 (August 27, 1968).
Table 1. Age and Education of Police Officers
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
ill
> a
s §
o
<
CQ
<
z
o
H
<
U
D
Q
W
Q ^
y W
5S
>£,
H
U
W
H
W
a
b
W bo
gju
o
u
c8
c f)
COl
sD ^ Tf sD
|
in
o
o
r^N tx
c-n — '
Q
Z £
w 3
5 o
□ *
5 - ^
o, gca
P|
fc <
U
D
Q
fxl
o mi
g3>
o
U
co
z
D
8“i
O 1-rH
COl
-^OOVSvO
vrs r^N
O
o
co ro |
^ 00
kn^n
co O'
ro vr\
co o£
Pi W
W CQ.
y s;
fcc D
u* y
06
o o o
r*"\ ^ ir\
AAA
o <u <u 7?
<y <u w ^
u w w 11
« w <U >
CQfflCQO
>_;
CO
^ UTS
T3
£
D
O
S-,
bfi
O
cd
X!
c
o
w
o
D
Tj
<0
<
*
1970]
Oh — Police in a Wisconsin Community
65
On the Supreme Court and the Criminal Justice
Our study shows that police officers generally have a very low
regard for the U. S. Supreme Court, to such an extent that the
very legitimacy of the highest court is being questioned. Almost
unanimously (93%), they felt that the Court in its recent decisions
dealing with criminal law and procedures has reduced sharply the
effectiveness of the police. However, it was found that such gen¬
eral negative attitudes toward the Court did not prevail consist¬
ently when we asked them a series of questions concerning their
particular attitudes toward several selected court decisions which
dealt with the constitutional rights of the suspect. They were
specifically asked about these five decisions of the Court : Miranda
vs. Arizona (1966) ; Mapp vs. Ohio (1961) ; Mallory vs. TJ . S.
(1957) ; Gideon vs. Wainwright (1963) ; and Escobedo vs. Illinois
(1964). (In asking their reactions to these cases, we described the
essence of the decisions and elicited their reactions, instead of by
the official legal citations.)
First, as to their reactions to the Miranda decision, we asked
the police officers whether the Court ruling that requires them to
inform a suspect of his constitutional rights before questioning
him interfered with their performance of duties. The data5 show
that a great majority of detectives and executives (72%) who
must question the suspect in the course of their investigatory work
felt that it interfered with their work, while only 22% felt it did
not. The uniformed patrolmen were almost divided evenly. This
change of attitude (from their general negative attitude toward
the Court) is very significant in view of the fact that the Miranda
decision was the most comprehensive requirement laid down by the
Court to protect the constitutional rights of the suspect from
being infringed upon by the law enforcement officials.
Surprisingly, in the next three cases we find that there were
more police officers agreeing with Court opinions than disagree¬
ing. In the Mapp decision, 49% agreed with the Court that evi¬
dence obtained by illegal searches and seizures cannot be intro¬
duced into a state court, while 47% opposed it. In the case of the
Mallory decision, only 71% felt that the Court decision (requiring
a prompt arraignment of the suspect) is a reasonable one, but
80% stated that it did not interfere with their work in any way.
The overwhelming majority (82%) also said that they agreed with
the Gideon decision (which requires a state to provide free counsel
for defendants who cannot afford a lawyer) .
5 Additional statistical supporting- data are deleted throughout the paper. They are,
however, available from the author upon request.
66 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
The police officers in general find the Escobedo decision most
objectionable. The Court in 1964 ruled in this case that a defend¬
ant has a right to have his lawyer with him when he is being ques¬
tioned by police officers. Seventy-one per cent of the respondents
(88% of the detectives and executives and 65% of the uniformed
patrolmen) indicated that this decision interfered with their inves¬
tigative work. Altogether 56% of the officers felt that it was a bad
decision. It must be emphasized that what they objected to most
was not that the defendants should be given free counsel to defend
themselves but the Court ruling that permits the presence of a
lawyer at the time of their questioning of the suspects. In this
sense, the Escobedo case is the main cause of the Supreme Court’s
unpopularity among the police officers.
On Social Order, Violence and Civil Rights
Our study shows that police officers are generally conservative
toward issues such as social order, violence and civil rights. We
first asked them the following open-ended question : “There is
much discussion over the police action that took place during the
1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Please indicate
how you feel about the incident, including whether or not you feel
that the Chicago police over-reacted in the situation.” Almost all
the respondents (95%) felt not only that the Chicago police did
not over-react in the controversial incident but also that what they
did was proper because, as one officer indicated, “the demonstra¬
tors were forewarned and if they didn’t want to get hurt
they should not have been there.” Not one officer said that the Chi¬
cago police should have handled the situation differently-— in direct
contrast to the findings of the Walker Report. Even with Chicago
Mayor Daley’s very controversial order “to shoot to kill the loot¬
ers” (as reported by the mass media during the disturbances),
only 11% indicate that they did not agree with the mayor.
When asked “How do you feel about alleged police brutality?”
83% of the officers claimed that not only does it not exist but such
a charge is part of a conspiracy to undermine the police through¬
out the country. In reply to another question on civil disorders in
our cities and college campuses, 96% of the officers stated that
maximum (rather than minimum) force should be used in quelling
such disorders. A substantial majority (69%) also felt that there
is too much violence on T.V. and in the movies.
It is significant to note that police officers in general felt that
in order to stem the rising crime rate the criminal offenders must
be given much stiff er penalties than they receive now. Fifty-one
per cent of the officers (61% of the detectives and executives and
1970]
Oh — Police in a Wisconsin Community
67
46% of the uniformed patrolmen) favor capital punishment for
persons convicted of crimes such as first degree murder, kidnap¬
ping, sabotage or treason, in spite of the fact that the state of Wis¬
consin does not allow capital punishment. When asked “whether
they felt we needed stiffer penalties in cases involving misdemean¬
ors and/or felonies/’ 64% indicated that there should be stiffer
penalties for misdemeanors, and almost all the officers (97%) felt
the same way toward felonies (the major crimes) . In a near unani¬
mous opinion, they opposed the parole system as now being prac¬
ticed in the United States, because they strongly feel that when a
criminal is given a specific sentence — whether it is life imprison¬
ment or a specified number of years of confinement — he should be
forced to serve it without being released on parole.
Politically, too, police officers generally leaned toward the con¬
servative side. They have a higher voting turnout than the general
population, for 78% of them voted in 1964 (it would have been
much higher if 12% were not under the voting age). In that elec¬
tion year, of those who revealed their actual vote (69%), they
voted almost two to one in favor of Johnson (45%) to Gold water
(24%). However, when asked “Which of the candidates (Nixon,
Humphrey, Wallace) have you decided to vote for in 1968?” 35%
favored Wallace, 33% Nixon, 5% Humphrey, while 27% were
either undecided or gave no response. What surprised us most was
that this particular community had not experienced any civil dis¬
order per se in recent years, and yet in view of their general atti¬
tude toward law and order, a substantial majority of officers
(68%) were attracted to either Wallace or Nixon.
On the Role and Status Perceptions of Police Officers
Generally, police officers possessed a strong sense of community
service, dedication, and altruism. Sixty per cent of all police people
and at the same time serving the community best through law en¬
forcement work. Another 29% felt that the profession gave them
a sense of job security. Only 4% felt that police work gave them
excitement and adventure not to be found in other lines of work,
while 2% chose it because of family tradition.
However, they also agreed that the general public does not ex¬
tend due recognition to the police officers. The data show that al¬
though higher ideals motivated them to choose the law enforcement
profession, a majority of police officers (58%) tend to develop an
inferiority complex in their work, for they believe that the public
generally tends to look down on them socially. Eighty per cent of
the officers also felt that they are not being rewarded in terms of
salaries and fringe benefits as they think they deserve. (This salary
68 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
schedules of this police department ranged from about $580 to
$900 per month depending upon rank and seniority of the officers).
One surprising finding was that when asked whether they would
advise young people to go into police work, 74% answered affirma¬
tively. It suggests that their lower reputational perception is largely
due to the general public's apathy toward police work, because most
police officers believe that they are contributing something positive
to the general well-being of the community.
Finally, it must be pointed out that police officers are not only
conscious of their own status but quite defensive about their work
and the police everywhere. We have already shown how sensitive
and defensive they were to the charges of police brutality and the
Chicago convention incident. To further check on this feeling we
asked them the following question: “What educational require¬
ments do you feel police officers should have?" The data show that
51% of all the respondents felt that education beyond high school
is needed, but only 4% felt they should have a college degree. There
is, however, marked difference between the relatively younger uni¬
formed patrolmen and the somewhat older detectives and execu¬
tives, since 60% of the former stated that police officers should
have more than a high school education as compared to only 34%
of the latter. These attitudes tend to reflect their own educational
background, for within this department not only is there no single
college graduate but the formal education of the detectives and
executives is comparatively lower than that of the uniformed
patrolmen. (In this connection, it is interesting to not that the
governor of Wisconsin early this year proposed the establishment
of a state-run police academy to train all police officers within the
state.)
Conclusion
These findings are not entirely unknown, for both the Kerner
Report and the National Crime Commission Report made it clear
that police officers in general have one of the lowest formal educa¬
tional attainments among all the professional groups in the country.
Some of the disturbing findings are that :
1. The majority of police officers tend to develop an inferiority
complex in their work, in spite of the higher ideals that mo¬
tivated them to choose the police profession (because they be¬
lieve that the public does not extend due recognition to the
police officers).
2. They are excessively protective toward their own work and
quite unreceptive to any kind of criticism toward police officers
anywhere (e.g. their reactions to the Chicago violence).
1970]
Oh— Police in a Wisconsin Community
69
3. They generally believe that social order can best be main¬
tained by the maximum use of force by law enforcement
officers and by imposing much stiffer penalties upon the crim¬
inals than they are given today.
4. They apparently have very little faith in the Supreme Court
of the United States — the highest court deciding questions of
law and the official body for interpreting the U.S. Constitution.
It must be cautioned that these findings are only preliminary and
suggestive; however, any concerned reader cannot help but con¬
clude that it is an urgent national task to intensify our efforts to
train police officers with the ideals of democracy and constitu¬
tionalism either through in-service or out-service training, or both.
It may well be that eventually education beyond high school (either
college education or relevant police education through police acad¬
emies or special institutes) must become the mandatory require¬
ment for all those who seek a police career.
TRENDS IN WISCONSIN’S TOURIST-LODGING INDUSTRY
L. G. Monthey
Highlights
This research study included all of Wisconsin’s lodging establishments that
were inspected by the State Board of Health during the years 1961 to 1968,
inclusive. It reports significant changes in the number, distribution, seasonality,
size, and type of tourist-lodging establishments in that period.
Wisconsin lost 1,019 establishments between 1958 and 1968; approximately
two-thirds of these were seasonal businesses,, primarily resorts. However,
the State’s total capacity in bedroom units (B.U.) has remained near 80,000
for 11 years or longer.
Since 1961 the total number of hotels dropped 21%; resort-type businesses
declined 14%; motel establishments increased 16%.
Small establishments with less than 10 B.U. decreased 16%, while the num¬
ber of large enterprises (30 B.U. or more) increased 17%.
Motels were the only type of T-L establishment that increased in all size
classes, seasonal and year-round, during the 8 years.
Among the seasonal establishments (open 9 months or less) only the motel-
type business showed a gain in both firms and B.U. capacity. Likewise, motels
were the only type to show a large increase in average size, going from 13.8
to 18.5 B.U. in 8 years.
The number of year-round establishments also declined, but their total B.U.
capacity went up about 5,000 during the period. The number of year-round
resorts dropped 14% between 1961 and 1968.
The biggest losses in both number of establishments and total B.U. capacity
occurred in the northeast and northwest regions of Wisconsin.
Tourist accommodations, and the housing enterprises which
provide them, are an important part of Wisconsin’s $900 million
travel-recreation industry. However, significant changes have
taken place within this business since 1960. This study is an at¬
tempt to determine and measure some of these changes over a
period of years, also to identify and quantify the important
trends that are taking place in the tourist-lodging industry (here¬
inafter referred to as the “T-L industry”), which is in a state of
rapid transition.
The methods used are similar to those employed in an earlier
study entitled “The Resort Industry of Wisconsin.” (Wis. Acad.
Transactions, Vol. 53/Part A/ 79-94, 1964.)
In order to obtain comprehensive inventories of Wisconsin’s
T-L business, State Board of Health inspection records and mail¬
ing lists for the years 1961 through 1968 were used. The appro¬
priate data were coded for each establishment, transferred to IBM
cards, and the results compiled by data-processing techniques. Four
71
72 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
major categories were used in classifying T-L businesses: (1)
Hotel type; (2) Motel type; (3) Resort type; (4) Other. The
establishment’s name was used to categorize each business, and
each category was then studied in detail as to the distribution,
number, size, and seasonality of the establishments it contained.
An Eleven-Year Look
Thanks to an earlier study of the tourist-overnight accommoda¬
tions in Wisconsin,* we can go back to the year 1958 for some
limited data on the total number of establishments, their season¬
ality and bedroom unit (B.U.) capacity. This enables us to trace
a few of the major trends over an 11-year period (1958-68).
The number of T-L establishments has declined markedly, but
the total capacity for housing visitors has held its own. In 1958
there were 7,842 firms offering about 79,000 B.U. to the traveling
public. By 1968, the number of businesses had dropped to 6,823 —
a decline of 1,019 establishments — but the total B.U. capacity re¬
mained near 80,000 units. (Note Tables 1-a and 1-b.)
A seasonal establishment is one which operates less than 9
months during a given year. Of the one thousand T-L establish¬
ments that have disappeared since 1958, over two-thirds were sea¬
sonal in nature and predominantly resort-type businesses, as we
shall see later. It is noteworthy that the greater part of this de¬
cline, both in total establishments and in seasonal businesses, has
occurred since 1965. This suggests that certain trends, at least,
have accelerated during the past few years.
Tables 1-a and 1-b show not only the big losses in T-L estab¬
lishments — 673 seasonal and 346 year-round — over the 11 years,
but also a substantial drop of almost 5,000 in seasonal B.U.
* By Fine and Tuttle, School of Business, University of Wisconsin.
Table 1-a. Overall Summary: Changes in the total number and
SEASONALITY OF WISCONSIN TOURIST-LODGING ESTABLISHMENTS
DURING THE PERIOD 1958-1968.
1870] Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry
73
Table 1-b. Overall Summary: Changes in the total number and
SEASONALITY OF BEDROOM UNITS (B.U.) AVAILABLE AT WISCONSIN
Tourist-Lodging Establishments during the period
1958-1968.
An Eight-Year Study
We now depart from an 11-year comparison and concentrate on
a more detailed 8-year analysis of T-L establishments. Except for
the above-mentioned tables, all of the remaining statistical mate¬
rial — including figures and discussion — relates to the period 1961-
68 inclusive. Generally speaking, data for the years between 1961
and 1968 are not included herein, since most of the changes and
trends observed are quite consistent throughout the period studied.
Thus, virtually all of the data used here relate only to the years
1961 and 1968.
Despite changes in the number, type and distribution of T-L
establishments, the total visitor-housing capacity has remained
near 80,000 B.U. and has not varied as much as 3% since 1958.
However, the number of year-round B.U. has increased about 5,000
since 1961, reaching a high of 37,087 in 1968. A comparable de¬
cline in seasonal B.U., from 47,600 to 42,600, has tended to off¬
set this gain. In other words, 60% of all B.U. were provided by
seasonal establishments in 1961 as compared to only 53% in 1968.
It is interesting to note, however, that about 73% of all establish¬
ments, statewide, were classed as seasonal in both years.
Table 2 involves the main categories of T-L establishments and
includes the total B.U. capacities and number of firms under each
category for the years 1961 and 1968. A few definitions may be in
order at this point.
Some Definitions
A hotel is defined as a lodging house, usually more than two
stories high, having five or more bedroom units and (usually) a
public lounge or lobby plus food service. Most Wisconsin hotels
were built prior to World War II.
74 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Table 2. Overall Summary: Changes in the Type and B.U. Capacity of
Wisconsin Tourist-Lodging Establishments between 1961 and 1968.
A motel is a T-L establishment, usually on one level and seldom
with over two floors,, having five or more bedroom units and a con¬
venient auto-parking space on the premises at no extra charge to
the guests. The distinction between hotels and motels is usually
quite clear for the small establishments with fewer than 20 B.U.
However, there is almost no definable difference between medium¬
sized and larger hotels and motels (usually called motor hotels),
except for structural age. Virtually all of the latter are less than
20 years old, whereas very few hotels of the traditional type have
been built since 1950. In any case, our motel category includes the
newer motor hotels.
A resort is defined as a T-L business situated in or near a scenic
and/or recreational environment. In Wisconsin a resort- type estab¬
lishment is usually on or near the water, either a lake or river, but
not always.
Our fourth category of establishments, designated as “Other”,
includes all types of T-L businesses that cannot be identified under
the three classifications listed above.
As Table 2 shows, there have been some significant changes in
the types of T-L establishments between 1961 and 1968. Hotels
and resorts have diminished in number. The hotel total dropped
from 583 to 457 during the 8 years, a decline of over 20%. Motels,
on the other hand, increased by 15% and showed a gain in capacity
of almost 7,000 B.U. The totals for resort-type establishments show
a loss of 660 firms and a drop of about 4,200 B.U. since 1961. The
“Other” (miscellaneous) category of T-L establishments had a
significant loss in the number of businesses, but it gained about
300 B.U. during the 8 years. This group is predominately tourist
homes and rooming houses, but youth camps, guest farms, dude
ranches, and many other kinds of housing facilities are included
among its 1,209 establishments.
1970] Monthey - — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry 75
In 1961 resort-type establishments comprised 61.7% of all T-L
businesses in Wisconsin; in 1968 they still made up 60.1% of the
total. Meanwhile, the motel category increased from 11.8% to
15.5% of the total in just 8 years, and the hotel group declined
from 7.6% to only 6.7%.
Size of Establishments
As Table 3 indicates, there were some noteworthy changes in
the size of housing establishments during the 1961-68 period.
In 1961, for example, the average size of T-L establishments
was about 10.4 B.U. — ranging from 8.8 B.U. for seasonal properties
to 16.5 for year-round businesses. By 1968 the over-all average had
increased to almost 12 B.U. per establishment, with the seasonal
businesses showing only a slight increase to 8.5 B.U. and the year-
round operations rising sharply to 20.3 B.U. in average size.
The number of small establishments has been dropping rapidly,
especially since 1965. Those with less than 10 bedrooms comprised
64.7% of all lodging places in 1961„ but they declined to 61.3% of
the total by 1968. In 1961 there were 4,995 such businesses offering
a total of 23,046 B.U. to the public. Eight years later there were
4,181 establishments and 19,229 B.U. in this l-to-9 size class, which
reflects a loss of 814 establishments and 3,800 B.U. between 1961
and 1968. This drop, the largest in any size group studied, was
especially noticeable in the 5-to-9 B.U. range.
The intermediate group of establishments with 10 to 19 B.U.
also declined in number, dropping from 1,937 to 1,806 properties
and showing a loss of almost 1,500 B.U. during the 8 years. This
group, however, still makes up a substantial segment of the indus¬
try. It included 25.1% of all Wisconsin T-L businesses in 1961 and
26.5% in 1968, providing about 30% of the State’s 80,000 B.U. in
the latter year.
Table 3. Overall Summary: Changes in the Size Classification of
Wisconsin Tourist-Lodging Establishments between 1961 and 1968.
76 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
It is probably significant that all size categories under 20 B.U.
per establishment showed substantial declines in capacity, with a
total loss of 945 businesses and 5,295 bedroom units between 1961
and 1968.
Meanwhile, those properties with 20 or more B.U. increased
from 10.2% of all T-L businesses in 1961 to 12.2% of the 1968
total. There were 784 such firms with a total of 31,886 B.U. in
1961 ; by 1968 this group included 835 businesses with 36,581 units.
This 20-plus category provided 39.7% of the State's B.U. total in
1961 and 45.9% of it in 1968.
There was a most substantial gain of over 4,600 units in the
group of larger establishments with 30 or more B.U. per business,
which comprised 5.5% of the T-L firms in 1968. However, the one
category showing the largest increases of all — both percentage¬
wise and in B.U. capacity — was the 100-plus group which gained
nearly 3,000 units from 17 additional establishments. Here we ob¬
serve a 34% increase in the number of businesses and a 35% gain
in B.U. in only 8 years, 1961-68.
Table 4 shows the 1961-68 comparisons of Wisconsin T-L estab¬
lishments as to type, seasonality, number, and bedroom (B.U.)
capacity. It also indicates the average size of establishment under
each classification, both seasonal and year-round, and under the
combined totals for each year.
Fewer but Larger
These data clearly illustrate the fact that, in general, Wiscon¬
sin's T-L establishments are getting fewer in number but larger in
size. But they also reflect some significant variations among the
major categories of establishments. For example, the impact of the
newer motels and motor hotels on the traditional hotel-type opera¬
tion is quite apparent from these figures.
The general decline in resort-type establishments is also evident
in Table 4, where we note a loss of 660 businesses and 4,200 B.U.
since 1961. Our data indicate that the greater portion of this resort
loss has occurred since 1964, when the rate of decline for these
establishments accelerated to about 4% per year.
The only group of T-L businesses which has increased steadily
in both number of establishments and in B.U. capacity over the
8-year period is the motel category. This group has also shown the
largest gain in average size of business (B.U. per establishment).
The remainder of this report will consider in more detail the
major changes taking place, as well as apparent trends,, within
each of the four main categories of T-L businesses. The geographic
nature of these changes, especially the regional trends and patterns
involved, will also be presented and discussed.
Table 4. Type, Seasonality, and Average size of Wisconsin Tourist-Lodging Establishments,
Comparing 1961 and 1968.
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry
c n c/)
s^cq
'w £ a)
id O N
■§4^
0 o >
B 6 d<
OZZ
DC
V) OT .
c-gD
Iddd
JZ Cw'
ot C w
id O N
&
f-j'o'o >
uu . . ^
H o o<
OZZ
2
c-gD
<d T; •
gZ>CQ
”ci £ <u
id O N
&
£WCQ d
^'o'o ^
[t] £-i
OT CO
§la
£Da
"S £ <u
id O N
4-J U M
CO <11 Kf\
LilCQ d
oC o o g
4 o d*^
pzz
O
C/) OT
C'gffl
JZ c •-
^ 5^
.o o w
<s
(/) w (U i-
ULSCQ £
£ d o ^
O^z
H
77
78 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Geographic Distribution
Thus far, we have concentrated on statewide totals, summaries,
breakdowns, and changes in the T-L industry. It might be appro¬
priate, at this point in the study, to examine the geographic distri¬
bution of T-L establishments in Wisconsin on a county-by-county
basis. Figure 1 does this for the years 1961 and 1968 (upper figure
is ’68), including all types of lodging businesses.
It is noteworthy that only 12 of the 72 counties did not show a
decline in the number of T-L establishments, and only 6 counties
Figure 1. The Distribution of Wisconsin Tourist-Lodging- Establishments in
1961 and 1968, showing the totals for each county. The upper figure is the 1968
count; the lower is for 1961. These totals include all types and sizes of lodging-
businesses.
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin's Tourist-Lodging Industry 79
had an increase of 10% or more. Numerically, however, only two
counties could claim substantial gains in their total of T-L estab¬
lishments: Door gained 45; Waupaca gained 42; and La Crosse
ranked a poor third with a gain of 7 over the 8-year period. All
of the northern counties except Washburn showed substantial de¬
clines since 1961, with Oneida’s loss of 142 topping the entire state.
Percentagewise, Iron County was the “leader” with a drop of
35.7% in its T-L businesses.
It is also interesting to note, on a comparative basis, some of the
regional patterns involved in the significant changes and trends
affecting the T-L industry since 1961. This will be done by a series
of state maps, each showing selected data by geographic regions,
comparing 1961 and 1968 figures.
The seven regions used in this analysis are the so-called “state
planning regions”, which group the 72 Wisconsin counties as
follows :
V. West Central
Barron
Buffalo
Chippewa
Dunn
Eau Claire
Jackson
Pepin
Pierce
Polk
St. Croix
Trempealeau
VI. Northwest
Ashland
Bayfield
Burnett
Douglas
Iron
Price
Rusk
Sawyer
Washburn
VII. Northeast
Florence
Forest
Langlade
Lincoln
Marinette
Oconto
Oneida
Vilas
These county groupings, or regions, are delineated in Figure 1
80 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
The regional totals of both T-L establishments and their bed¬
room units are shown in Figure 2 for the years 1961 and 1968. The
average size of establishment (in B.U.) is also shown for each of
the regions. Although all of the regions had an increase in size of
business (B.U. per establishment) , this gain varied from 0.2 B.U.
for the Central Region to a high of 4.6 B.U. in the Southeast
Region. All of the regions except for II (East Central) and III
(Southeast) showed losses in B.U. capacity, with the largest drops
recorded in Region VII (—1,746) and in Region VI (—826). Both
of these regions are in northern Wisconsin. They had a combined
loss of 489 T-L establishments during the 8 years, almost exactly
half of the total loss ( — 898) registered by the entire state!
The other region showing a relatively large loss of T-L busi¬
nesses since 1961 is the Southeast (Region III), which had 259
fewer firms in 1968. Altogether,, these three regions (III, VI, VII)
accounted for 78% (698 firms) of the statewide loss of T-L estab¬
lishments during the period.
Figure 3 gives similar 1961-68 information, also on a regional
basis, for the seasonal T-L establishments in Wisconsin. This group
includes almost 75% of all T-L businesses. Again, we note that the
two northern regions (VI and VII) had a combined loss of slightly
over 400 establishments and almost 3,100 B.U. — mostly resort-type
accommodations — over the 8-year period.
The average size of establishment (figures in parentheses) varies
to only a small degree — from region to region — with these seasonal
T-L businesses. It ranged from 6.2 B.U. to 8.9 B.U. in 1961, and
from 5.6 B.U. to 9.9 B.U. to 1968, with a state-wide average of
TOAl -|o£ft
Figure 2. The Regional Distribution of Tourist-Lodging Establishments (all
types) in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968.
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry
81
Figure 3. The Regional Distribution of Seasonal Tourist-Lodging Establish¬
ments (all types) in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968.
about 8.5 B.U. There was a much greater fluctuation in the average
size of year-round establishments, which ranged from 10.0 B.U.
to 32.4 B.U. among the various regions during the years studied.
Hotel-Motel Trends
The analysis of hotel establishments as to number, size, sea¬
sonality, and B.U. capacity is shown in Table 5 for the years 1961
and 1968. The regional distribution and inventory of Wisconsin
hotels (all types and sizes) for 1961-68 appears in Figure 4.
Figure 4. The Regional Distribution of Hotel-type Establishments (all sizes)
in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968.
Table 5. The Number, Size Classification, Seasonality, and B.U. capacity of Wisconsin Hotel Establishments in
1961 and 1968.
82 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
[Vol. 58
OvOO'-
(NOr^I\
W-\ <— i C\ O'
t\ ^
CO — '
03
ca
a
00
sQ
O'
T
co
X
O
X
icoOC'N
O-Cv O
-h(S(Sia
CO sO sO
00 f<Mc
O' u-v rc 00
—i — < cc
— 00 O O'
CO 00 C O
^ 00 — ^
CC 00 • — 1 CO
^ CO
03
03
Q
sO CO ■ — I l\
i'O'tN'O
I O' "'F
rc 00 fx O'
•— cc 00
CC CO ICN
ic\ ^ ^ cc
xDOOOic
ITS < — I — I
co t\ t\
vO
O'
T
x
o
X
irv 00 00 — I
00 cM\
CO — ' ^
O'OOK't
XO--
O rc
— < co
s£) cc rc cO
o'
Z
co
H
zi
X
s
c
o
c£
Q
DJ
CQ
z
<
J
u
UJ
to
z
X
CQ
X
CQ
O' H
o X
X.
CQ
X* , co
oSo2
° O
7 sj-
gpc£
c o £ —
coZX
Changes (8 years) . (-40) (-1,005) (-86) (-2,591) (-126) (-3,596)
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin's Tourist-Lodging Industry 83
For the purposes of this study, both hotels and motels are classi¬
fied into three size groups as follows:
Approximately one-fourth of the small-size hotels and one-fifth
of the medium-size group were lost during this 8-year period, ac¬
cording to Table 5, with heaviest losses in the seasonal ranks. These
two size groups alone showed a net loss of 119 establishments and
2,500 B.U. Large hotels (100 B.U. or more) also dropped down¬
ward, from 41 to 34 establishments, causing the loss of another
1,100 B.U. — or 3,600 in all for the hotel universe.
Table 6 gives essentially the same kind of information for motels
and motor inns as Table 5 provides for hotels.
Although the number of hotels dropped by 126, mostly in the
small and medium-size classes, the number of motels increased by
141 establishments. Most of the additional motel enterprises were
in the year-round category, and in the medium-size and large-size
groups. It is interesting to note, however, that the motel-type busi¬
nesses increased numerically in every size class, both in the sea¬
sonal and in the year-round categories. In fact, motels were the
only type of seasonal T-L operation to show any significant in¬
crease in number during the 1961-68 period.
The 8-year increase in total motel capacity exceeded 6,900 B.U.,
and thus it has more than offset the total loss of hotels and hotel
rooms since 1960. Hotels provided 24.4% of all B.U. in Wisconsin
in 1961, but this percentage dropped to 20.0 by 1968. Meanwhile
the motel-type enterprises, which increased from 11.8% to 15.5%
of all T-L businesses, provided 15.7% of all B.U. during 1961 and
24.5% of the State’s total in 1968.
Besides increasing in number, Wisconsin’s motels have increased
quite markedly in their average size. In 1961 only 16% of our motel
establishments were 20 B.U. or larger in size; and this medium-to-
large group provided a total of 4,650 B.U. — only about half of
what the small (5-to-19 B.U.) group offered. By 1968 the “20-plus”
group comprised 24% of all motels and was providing 10,950 B.U.,
exceeding the small-size group by 2,400 B.U. In 1961, 28.5% of the
915 motels were classed as seasonal establishments ; this percentage
dropped to 26.8% for the 1,056 motels in 1968, although the actual
number of seasonal motels rose from 261 to 283.
Figure 5 shows the regional distribution of Wisconsin motel
establishments in 1961 and 1968. The growth in number of motel
Table 6. The Number, Size Classification, Seasonality, and B.U. Capacity of Wisconsin Motel Establishments in
1961 and 1968.
84 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry
85
Figure 5. The Regional Distribution of Motel-type Establishments (all sizes)
in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968.
establishments has been fairly uniform among the seven regions.
However,, the increased motel capacities in 1968 (see regional B.U.
totals) clearly indicate that the largest gains were in Regions II
and III (East Central and Southeast), where over two-thirds of
the 6,900 additional B.U. were located.
The three southernmost regions (II, III, and IV) contained well
over half of the hotel and motel establishments in Wisconsin, and
about two-thirds of the hotel-motel B.U. as well, in 1968. These
same regions also showed the greatest gains in motels and the
largest losses in hotels during the 8-year period.
Resort-type Establishments
Resorts, despite a substantial decline in numbers, continued to
make up 60.1% of all T-L establishments in 1968 compared to
61.7% 8 years earlier. In 1961, 83.0% of all seasonal T-L busi¬
nesses were of the resort type; by 1968 this percentage was still
82.1%.
In 1961 resorts provided 50.4% of all B.U. in the State, compared
to 45.5% eight years later. However, the great bulk of these were
seasonal units— -32,800 out of 36,200 B.U. — 90.6% in 1968 com¬
pared to 92.1% in 1961.
Resort-type establishments continue to be highly seasonal in Wis¬
consin, despite many promotional efforts and overtures— -largely by
state and regional tourist organizations and agencies — to encourage
and expand year-round housing for visitors. In 1961 seasonal re¬
sorts comprised 93.2% of all resort establishments, and the per-
86 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
centage was exactly the same in 1968. Thus, less than 7% of all
resort-type businesses are open for 9 months or longer each year,
and these are generally located at or near winter-sports facilities.
Because resort-type businesses are considerably smaller than
hotel-motel establishments, on the average, a different size classi¬
fication is used in this study to show what has taken place. This
breakdown (together with the 1961 and 1968 totals) is as follows:
Size Class B.U. Range 1961 Totals 1968 Totals
Small 1 to 9 B.U. 3,202
Medium 10 to 29 B.U. 1,468
Large 30 or more B.U. 91
2,708
1,301
92
Although these categories show the general trend in resort-type
establishments between 1961 and 1968, they may not give an ade¬
quate picture of what is taking place within the so-called “resort
industry” in recent years. Thus, a more detailed size breakdown
for resorts is given in Tables 7-a and 7-b.
Small Resorts Are Declining
When we separate the “small” resort group into the l-to-4
B.U. size — which we term non-commercial establishments — and the
5-to-9 B.U. size, some important differences are readily seen. They
are depicted in Tables 7-a and 7-b, which classify the Wisconsin
resort inventory by size and seasonality for 1961 and 1968, includ¬
ing a breakdown of the B.U. provided by these establishments and
the appropriate totals. For the small-resort category as a whole,
there was a loss of 2,473 bedrooms — a drop of 16.5% in capacity —
during the 8-year period. However, whereas the l-to-4 class lost
only 10% or 455 B.U., the 5-to-9 group dropped nearly 20% or
2,017 B.U. Similarly, the non-commercial group declined only 11%
in number of businesses, while the 5-to-9 class dropped slightly
over 20%. In some areas the l-to-4 class of establishment actually
increased in numbers, and it is reasonable to assume that many
of these “businesses” are actually recently-built, private cottages
or summer houses that are rented out during the prime vacation
months of July and August.
Of the 4,639 B.U. lost by small- and medium-size resorts-— those
with less than 30 B.U. per firm- — 3,886 or 83% were from establish¬
ments in the 5 to 19 B.U. range. Apparently the resorts in this size
bracket are closing down more rapidly than those in either the
l-to-4 class or the 20-plus group, possibly because they have the
least to offer in the way of economic returns. Yet the percentage
of Wisconsin resort establishments in the l-to-19 B.U. range has
1970]
Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry
m
o
H
CQ
◄
m
fa
£
H
§
w
m oo
TH <£>
3 05
9^
W O
H fa
H
fa
fa
fa
fa
fa
o
m
&a
&
c/)
8
o
oo
O cc
— ' O sD O
c^n 00 cc <V
rc O vO tv
ON 00f^ tv. its
00 (V tv CN 00
rv O <v
cc oo .O 0(7
NO ro tv vO O
(V »r\ - •— i Tf irs Tf
w-\ tv
tv — '
00 00
vO ~ '
tv Vn
o <v
0ON. ON
O ^ O' o
^ — i O' c^
■'f
tv
^ O'
o o
O' O'
— < CO
o o
<u
>
o
T>
C
0 CO
£
sO
Table 7-b. Classification of Wisconsin Resort-type Establishments as to Size, Seasonality, and B.U. capacities
for 1961.
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
ir\
Ij'N O'
U-s CN
O vO
O 00
c<! c\
sO —
CN O'
Vs CN
x£) irs
vO O'
— ' o
cc O' 00 Tf ■ — i
ics \0 —
vrs
^ O'
O O
<o
>
O
^ C
o ft
4-1 o
o o
C^\ i—i
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin's Tourist-Lodging Industry 89
declined but little — from 93.1% to 92.3%— since 1961. In terms of
total B.U. at resorts, this group still provided nearly 74% of our
resort capacity in 1968.
Unfortunately, there has been no significant increase in either
the medium-size or the large-size categories of resort-type busi¬
nesses to offset the decline in small establishments. Thus, the loss in
small firms and their B.U. capacities tends to approximate the
total loss for the resort industry as a whole.
Resort Distribution
Figure 6 shows the regional distribution of all Wisconsin resort
establishments in 1961 and 1968. In both years, over 60% of the
resort enterprises and about two-thirds of the total resort B.U.
were located in the two northern regions. In fact, Region VII (the
Northeast) alone has long had well over one-third of Wisconsin's
resorts and almost 40% of the total resort B.U. capacity in the
entire state.
Figure 6-a shows the geographic distribution of all resort-type
businesses which operate on a year-round basis (open 9 months or
longer each year) . The number of establishments in this group has
not increased in recent years. In fact, the total of these “all year”
resorts has dropped from 322 to 276 since 1961. However, the total
B.U. capacity of these enterprises has increased about 6.0% — from
3,203 B.U. to 3,402 B.U. over the 8 years.
Figure 6-b depicts the 1961-68 regional distribution of small re¬
sorts with less than 10 B.U., which comprise about two-thirds of
Figure 6. The Regional Distribution of Resort-type Establishments (all types
and sizes) in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968.
90 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vo-1. 58
Figure 6-a. The Regional Distribution of Year-round, Resort-type Establish¬
ments (all sizes) in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968.
all resort-type establishments in Wisconsin. Both the number of
businesses and the total B.U. are shown for each of the seven re¬
gions. It is noteworthy that in both years, over 55% of the small
resorts and over 60% of the units they provide are located in Re¬
gions VI and VII of Northern Wisconsin. These are also the regions
in which the greatest losses of small resorts have occurred.
Figure 6-c details the regional distribution of medium-size (10
to 29 B.U. class) resorts in Wisconsin for the years 1961-68. Over
70% of these establishments were located in the two northern re-
Figure 6-b. The Regional Distribution of Small Resort-type Establishments
(less than 10 B.U.) in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968.
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry
91
Figure 6-c. The Regional Distribution of Medium-size, Resort-type Establish¬
ments (10 B.U. to 29 B.U.) in Wisconsin for the years 1961 and 1968.
gions during both 1961 and 1968. The heaviest losses in medium-
size resorts occurred in these two regions and in Region III (South¬
east) during the 8-year period.
Figure 6-d reflects the distribution of Wisconsin’s largest resorts
(those with 30 or more B.U.) in 1961 and 1968. As can readily be
noted, both the number of establishments and the B.U. capacities
are relatively small. Except for some changes among the regions,
there have been no major gains or losses during the 8 years studied.
Perhaps the most significant change has been in the average size of
Figure 6-d. The Regional Distribution of Large Resort-type Establishments
(30 B.U. and over) in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968.
92 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
establishment, which has gone up about 4.5 B.U. per firm. Over
one-half of these larger resort-type establishments and about 50%
of the total B.U. capacity they provide are situated in the two
northern regions. However, the major increase in room capacity
since 1961 has occurred in Region III (SE).
Other T-L Establishments
All other types of T-L establishments, particularly those not
tallied as hotels, motels or resorts, are categorized and totalled in
Table 8 for the years 1961 and 1968. This catch-all group is classi¬
fied as to size, seasonality, and B.U. capacity. Since the average size
of establishment is relatively small, the size classification used is
identical with that used for resort-type establishments. This
“Other” category includes such diverse types as tourist homes,
rooming houses, seasonal dormitories (often called “camps”), dude
ranches, vacation farms, clubs, taverns, truck stops, and a variety
of other lodgings. Over two-thirds of them have less than 5 B.U.,
and the bulk of these very small ones are private homes with one
or more rental bedrooms.
Table 8 shows a loss of 249 “other” T-L establishments between
1961 and 1968, and well over 90% of these were in the small (1 to
9 B.U.) category. Taken together, these businesses represented a
loss of 888 B.U. However, this twas more than offset by a gain of
1,189 B.U. from additional establishments in the large category.
Figure 7 shows the regional distribution of Other T-L estab¬
lishments in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968, including the number of
Figure 7. The Regional Distribution of Other Types of T-L Establishments (all
sizes) in Wisconsin for 1961 and 1968.
Table 8. Classification of Other Tourist-Lodging Establishments in Wisconsin as to Size, Seasonality and B.U.
Capacity in 1961 and 1968.
1970]
Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry
00 O c-n
cc — i cc CO
OON —i
O'
co
00
CO ITS sD
— 00 ^
O r<» — ■
O' Vn
(V-S ,
vr\ O
s O O'
co — 1
\0 vr\ O'
tr\ *—t
O'
< — i irs
O' t\
O 00
00 O
O O' —
sD — ' — ■
5 ©
© CN
tC +
+
cO O
O' —
94 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
businesses and the total B.U. capacities for each of the seven re¬
gions. Although this group represents about 17.7% of the State’s
T-L establishments — almost two out of every ten — it accounts for
only 10% of the total B.U. capacity. This indicates the relatively
small size of the average establishment in this category, which
would be even further reduced if several of the large seasonal
dormitories were excluded from it.
Because such a high percentage — over two-thirds in 1968 — of
the other establishments are in the seasonal category, it is likely
that a substantial number of them are of the resort type, possibly
100 or more. However, since the firm name does not provide us
with a positive identification, we will leave them where they now
repose in the unclassified “other” group. In any case, it is unlikely
that they would add more than 8 or 4 percent to the present resort
inventory.
Summary and Observations
Many questions have been raised concerning facts and trends in
the travel-recreation industry of Wisconsin, mainly because there
has been no regular compilation or analysis of year-to-year data
concerning the various businesses involved. Such a “data bank”
is essential if we are to identify and measure the changes or trends
in this industry or any other field of economic activity.
This study was undertaken in an effort to shed some light on
what has taken place in the tourist-lodging business over a period
of years (1958-68). Special emphasis is given to changes in the
number, size, type, distribution, and seasonality of lodging estab¬
lishments between 1961 and 1968. However, an earlier study pro¬
vides us with some data on T-L establishments in 1958, which en¬
ables us to observe a few 11-year trends.
In 1958 there were 7,842 T-L businesses in Wisconsin, which
provided a total of 79,100 B.U. for the traveling public. By 1968 the
number of establishments had dropped to 6,823 — a decline of 1,019
firms — but the total capacity remained at 79,700, or essentially
the same as it was 11 years earlier. About 70% of the drop in estab¬
lishments involved seasonal-type businesses, including 660 resort
operations.
How serious is this situation? Are we in danger of losing an im¬
portant segment of our travel-recreation industry in Wisconsin?
Some touristry-business leaders have said “yes” as they point to the
drop in the number of enterprises. However despite the drop of
12% in the inventory of T-L businesses, the State’s total capacity
to house vacationers and other visitors has not decreased. It is
true that we have lost many of the smaller seasonal establishments
— especially cabin courts and cottage resorts — and that certain
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry 95
areas have lost more heavily than other parts of the State. But
the number and size of other types of facilities have increased sub¬
stantially, tending to offset these losses. Campgrounds, for example,
are not considered in this report but have increased six-fold since
1958.
These and certain other trends, as noted in this report, do not
necessarily spell hardship for the lodging industry or disaster for
any group of operators within it. More than likely, these changes
simply reflect the shifts and internal adjustments of an industry
in transition. And there has apparently been no great economic loss
in either business income or in the overall value of T-L facilities.
However, certain geographic areas lost more heavily than others in
terms of number of businesses and in their total capacity to house
visitors. (The two northern regions, for example, dropped sub¬
stantially in seasonal B.U. capacity.) In addition, some types of
T-L businesses appear to be at more of a disadvantage than others
in competing for the tourist’s dollar.
The smallest establishments showed the largest decreases in
number. Those with fewer than 10 B.U. showed a net loss of 814
businesses and over 3,800 B.U. since 1961 — a drop of 16%. This
category continues to be a fairly large one, however, since it still
provided 19,300 B.U. in 1968 (almost 25% of the State’s total).
Meanwhile, the number of large T-L enterprises with 30 B.U. or
more increased from 326 to 374 — about 17% — with a gain of al¬
most 5,000 B.U.
As mentioned previously, seasonal establishments have suffered
the largest numerical losses since 1961. But contrary to a widely-
held notion, the number of lodging businesses that are open to the
traveling public on a year-round basis has not increased in recent
years. The number of seasonal establishments declined by 13%
(from 5,733 to 4,995) during the 1961-68 period, while the year-
round firms dropped about 8% from 1,983 to 1,828. However, the
total number of year-round bedrooms did increase, going up about
4,400 B.U. since 1961 and almost offsetting the loss of 5,000 sea¬
sonal B.U. during the same 8 years. While there is undoubtedly
less demand for certain types of seasonal accommodations, the pri¬
mary reasons for the sharp dip in summer-only establishments in
Wisconsin since 1961 appear to be economic ones. First, they have
not been able to generate sufficient income to cover the increased
costs of operation during the 1960s. Also, the booming market and
soaring prices for recreational real estate (especially good lake and
river shoreline) have encouraged many unprofitable lodging busi¬
nesses to sell their property at a handsome price over and above
their total investment. A recent study of Northeast Wisconsin by
Staniforth and others reported that resort sales in that area were
96 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
bringing prices equal to about twice the owner’s total investment,,
on the average. When they are sold, practically all of these prop¬
erties pass out of the lodging business and go over to another use,
usually residential.
As to type-of-establishment trends, the biggest declines were
noted in the hotel-type and the resort-type businesses. Hotel num¬
bers declined 21%, from 583 to 457, while the number of estab¬
lishments classified as resorts dropped about 14 %— from 4,761 in
1961 to 4,101 in 1968. Despite this substantial decline in resort
numbers, the percentage of Wisconsin T-L businesses that can be
identified as resort-type establishments dropped only a little (from
62% to 60%) during the 8-year period.
Motels, on the other hand, increased about 15% to a 1968 total
of 1,031 establishments and 19,500 B.U., certainly a noteworthy
gain in only 8 years. In general, Wisconsin’s T-L establishments
are getting fewer but larger, while the State’s total capacity for
housing guests — travelers of all types — has remained fairly con¬
stant at about 80,000 B.U. since 1958.
Trend of the Times?
At first glance, the disappearance of over 1,000 T-L establish¬
ments in just a few short years seems almost a tragedy. But it is
probably in keeping with the general trends of our fast-moving
age. These include the trends toward : ( 1 ) bigger business places ;
(2) greater efficiency; (3) more one-stop services; (4) more full¬
time or round-the-clock operations. Farm businesses have been get¬
ting fewer but larger since before World War II. We have seen
what has already happened to many small businesses, including
neighborhood groceries and small gasoline stations. The same
trend seems to be taking place in our Wisconsin T-L industry. The
small, inefficient, part-time operations are gradually disappearing.
Meanwhile the more-successful businesses are getting bigger, or
more specialized, with a greater array of services and conveniences
for their guests and other customers.
It has been said that time is the greatest innovator of all in our
type of economy. Most of us tend to stall until the change is forced
upon us. Time is particularly relentless when people and businesses
are slow in adapting to new demands, changes, and opportunities.
The obsolete facility, the inefficient business, and the apathetic
operator usually drop out of the game. This is undoubtedly a major
factor in the substantial decline of hotels and resort-type establish¬
ments in Wisconsin.
In most areas, the traditional hotel is fast becoming an antique,
particularly the smaller ones in our smaller cities. Many of the
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry 97
older hotels were built on a downtown, railroad-oriented site that
is no longer convenient to modern-day travelers. Today we find
some of them being converted to apartments, offices, shops, and
other uses. Still others have just “hung on”, hoping for better days
as they watch their business volume dwindle. In any case, these
older hotels are gradually being replaced or superseded by modern
motels and motor hotels, which provide better accommodations,
more and better services, and greater convenience in location, park¬
ing, and highway access.
Not only are motel establishments displacing hotels in most com¬
munities, but they are also moving into new areas, attracting new
business, and expanding their initial plants and facilities at a fairly
rapid rate. They are the only type of T-L enterprise in Wisconsin
to show a sizeable growth in both number of establishments and
total bedroom units. They have increased in all size classes, both
seasonal and year round.
An explanation for the large decline in resort-type establish¬
ments, most noticeable in the 5-to-19 B.U. range, is not so easy to
develop. Despite a rising population, an affluent society, increased
urbanization, and more leisure time, there appear to be fewer cus¬
tomers for the traditional type of cottage-resort facilities — partic¬
ularly those with no food service and limited opportunities for
family recreation. Even with longer vacations and greater travel
expenditures, the clientele for most of the older resort establish¬
ments — those who depend on the long-term (full week or longer)
vacationers’ trade— has not increased. The reasons are not entirely
clear, but there are several major trends in vacation-travel prefer¬
ences and leisure-time pursuits that may have some bearing on this
question.
One of these has been the great increase in the number of camp¬
ing enthusiasts since 1961, when the Athletic Institute and the
American Camping association reported 5,500,000 participants. By
the year 1966 there were 37,000,000 participants — an amazing gain
of 670% in only 6 years — according to these organizations.
A closely-related factor is the cottage-on-wheels movement, which
includes the owners and users of all types of recreational vehicles
— campers, travel trailers, pick-up coaches, motorized homes, and
so on. This group numbers approximately 10 million at present, in¬
cluding almost 2 million American families who wish to transport
their own housing while on vacation trips. These citizens have be¬
come “campers deluxe” who wish to travel first-class and visit a
lot of country, seldom staying at a single site more than 2 or 3
days. For this reason, we might call them “recreational nomads.”
We have witnessed an amazing increase in recreational vehicles
since 1960. About 83,000 were manufactured in 1961, compared to
98 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
395,000 in 1968. The total number in use is expected to exceed two
million by 1970, according to the Recreational Vehicle Institute,
which is the industry’s trade association. This new development
has undoubtedly had a considerable impact already on the tourist¬
lodging business in most parts of the country.
There is another important factor that probably has affected the
demand for resort accommodations in recent years. This is re¬
flected in the great and growing demand for second homes and
other types of recreational real estate here in Wisconsin.
More and more families want to have their own little “resort”
in the form of a vacation cottage, a summer home, a farm, or a
little retreat back in the woods. Some want solitude, but others
want to be where the action is. In either case, and regardless of
what they seek, these people want to nestle down on a private plot
and have their own lodging in or hear their favorite recreation
center. They And it imperative to have a recreational territory that
they can hold, either as owners or under long-term leasing. Their
numbers are increasing every year in Wisconsin, as well as other
states. Because of their habits and their importance to the economy
of many communities, we identify this group of people as the
“recreational nestlers” — or seasonal residents.
In 1960 there were approximately 55,000 seasonal dwellings in
Wisconsin, compared to over 96,000 in 1966. They ranged from
hunters’ cabins to large, elaborate summer homes that cost well
over $25,000 to build. Every family that buys or builds its own
recreational nest in Wisconsin ceases to rent vacation accommo¬
dations from our T-L businesses. Furthermore, these private sea¬
sonal dwellings are also used frequently by relatives, friends and
business associates of the owners. Quite a few of them are rented
out regularly during the summer period and, since they are sub¬
ject to inspection by the Board of Health, a considerable number
of them are included in the l-to-4 B.U. category of resorts and
“other” establishments. This may explain why this size class of
T-L businesses has maintained its total numbers better than the
5-to-9 and 10-to-19 B.U. classes, which have shown greater losses.
Since there were fewer than 30,000 rental cottages throughout
the state in 1968, including some obsolete units, the importance of
private-cottage rentals (and complimentary usage) cannot be ig¬
nored as a market factor that affects both the demand for rental
cottages and their prices.
With the tremendous increase in the number of both nomads and
nestlers in our recreational landscape, especially during the past
2 years, we can expect even greater changes in our tourist-lodging
industry of the future. These are not the only two groups affecting
1970] Monthey — Wisconsin’s Tourist-Lodging Industry
99
the picture, of course. But, they are of prime importance in de¬
termining what happens to our 5,000 seasonal establishments,
which still represent about three-fourths of all lodging businesses
in Wisconsin.
Bibliography
Cooper, Rollin; R. A. Christiansen, S. D. Staniforth, and A. Johnson.
(1968) Cabin Resort Income in the ‘Near North \ Research Report 35,
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences, The University of Wisconsin,
Madison.
Fine, I. V. (1966) Wisconsin and The Vacationer. Wis. Dept, of Resource
Development, Madison.
Fine, I. V. and R. E. Tuttle. (1966) Private Seasonal Housing in Wisconsin.
Wis. Dept, of Resource Development, Madison.
Fine, I. V. and R. E. Tuttle. (1963) The Tourist Overnight Accommodations
Industry in Wisconsin. Wis. Dept, of Resource Development and The
University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Fine, I. V. and E. E. Werner. (1961) The Tourist-Vacation Industry in Wis¬
consin. Wis. Dept, of Resource Development and The University of Wis¬
consin, Madison.
Monthey, L. G. (1963) Classification and Inventory of Tourist-Lodging Busi¬
nesses in Wisconsin. Recreation & Touristry Notes RT-011, University
Extension, The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Monthey, L. G. (1964) The Resort Industry of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Academy
of Sciences, Arts and Letters Transactions, Vol. 53 (Part A), pp. 79-94.
Sielaff, R. O. (1963) The Economics of Outdoor Recreation in the Upper Mid¬
west. The University of Minnesota, Duluth.
Staniforth, S. D., R. A. Christiansen, and R. Wolter. (1965) Cabin Resort
Income in Northern Wisconsin. Wis. Agr. Experiment Station Bulletin
No. 576, The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Trends in American Living and Outdoor Recreation. (1962) Study Report
No. 22, Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, Washington.
TOPOGRAPHIC INFLUENCE ON TORNADO TRACKS AND
FREQUENCIES IN WISCONSIN AND ARKANSAS'
Robert G. Gallimore, Jr., and Heinz H. Lettau
Introduction
It has been known for some time that tornadoes appear less fre¬
quently in mountainous terrain. Furthermore, spatial variations in
tornado formation might also be related to surface temperature,
as indicated by Kuhn, Darkow and Suomi (1958).
This study concerns a possible relationship between tornado fre¬
quency and topography, as well as the thermal structure of the
earth/air interface. Specifically, the distribution of tornadoes in
Wisconsin and Arkansas was studied to test the assumption that
topography is a significant factor. Detailed information on tornado
frequencies can be found in the literature (Flora, 1958). The over¬
riding conclusion is that the annual variation of tornado outbreaks
depends primarily on the progression of the seasonal storm track.
A reduction of frequencies in northern Arkansas and Missouri
may indicate suppression by the Ozark, Boston and Ouachita
Mountains. Corresponding relationships can be detected by con¬
sidering detailed tornado maps like those prepared for Wisconsin
by Burley and Waite (1965).
One difficulty with such comparisons, however, must be con¬
sidered. Since tornadoes are reported by people, the lower popula¬
tion in mountain regions may offer partial explanation for a rela¬
tively small number of reported tornadoes. Reduced horizontal
visibility and less efficient communication in forested, mountainous
or hilly areas are additional factors. Nevertheless, tornadoes leave
their marks on the ground for a number of years and many of
these will eventually be detected. In this study it is assumed that
topography has a real influence which overrides that of a low
population density.
Part I : Arkansas Investigation
Regional and Seasonal Variations of Tornadoes in Arkansas
Since Arkansas has interesting regional variations in tornado
development, it was chosen for a preliminary study of possible ter-
1 Part of this research has been sponsored by the United States Army Electronics
Command, Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, under Grant
No. DA-AMC-2 8-043—6 6— G24.
101
102 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
rain effects. Maps published by Asp (1956) and reproduced in Let-
tau (1967) suggest two distinct tornado “alleys” and two belts
with considerably lower frequencies which will be referred to as
“shunted” regions. The southern alley lies in the flat Gulf coastal
plain while the north-central alley lies in the Arkansas River Val¬
ley. The two shunted belts are the Ozark and Boston Ranges, lo¬
cated north of the Arkansas River valley, and the Ouachita Moun¬
tains, located in the west central area.
Method of Investigation — Terrain Spectra
The main problem of this study was to obtain a quantitative
measure of the difference between alleys and shunted belts. Five
longitudinal sections were chosen in the prevailing direction (or
close to it) of the tornado paths. Three of these strips covered the
main tornado alleys and the two others the shunted regions; they
varied in length from 120 to 200 miles. On a topographic map of
Arkansas (1 to 500,000), with 250-foot contour intervals, terrain
heights were read along these strips at one mile intervals. Portions
of three of the resulting terrain profiles are illustrated in Figs. 1
and 2.
The single most significant statistical parameter is the total
variance of terrain heights for each strip. More resolution is pro-
ALLEY I
la)
DISTANCE (MILES)
Figure 1. Terrain profile in Arkansas tornado alleys. Top profile in Gulf
Coastal Plain and bottom profile in Arkansas Eiver Valley.
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks
103
DISTANCE (MILES)
Figure 2. Terrain profile in Arkansas “shunt region,” located north of Ar¬
kansas River Valley in the Ozark and Boston Ranges.
vided by spectral analyses of the height-data, showing relative con¬
tributions of different wavelengths or wavenumbers to the total
variance. In order to compare the spectral densities of each strip,
estimates were normalized. The range of wavelengths covered in
this treatment was 2 to 34 miles (corresponding to wavenumbers
from 0.5 to 0.029 cy/mile). A total of 17 lags was used. Aliasing
was not a problem in the short wavelengths since height values
were smoothed by interpolation between the generously spaced
contour intervals. In fact, too much smoothing may have resulted
since resolution was not optimum, particularly in the coastal plain.
The results of this spectral analysis will be labeled “Zones 1 to
5” from south to north. Zones 1, 2 and 4 are tornado alleys and
Zones 3 and 5 the shunted belts. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the ter¬
rain profiles of Zones 1, 4 and 5, respectively.
Results and Conclusions of Spectral Analysis
The results were plotted on a log-log diagram, with the ordinate
being the spectral density (p) and the abscissa being the wave-
number (k) or correspondingly the wavelength (1/k). In* Fig. 3,
the spectral densities for tornado alleys can be compared with that
for shunted belts. The averages were computed by an arithmetical
mean of the logarithm of the estimates. The individual and aver^
aged variances corresponding to Fig. 3 are summarized in Table 1.
A significant characteristic of a spectrum is the exponent :: n —
d(log p)/d(log k). Its overall numerical value in Zone 4 (tornado
104 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
IQO
10"'
I0'2
10
,-3.
10'
10*
I0"1 10°
WAVENUMBER (CY/MI)
Figure 3. Normalized spectral plots of Arkansas terrain separately
averaged for “tornado alleys” and “shunt regions.” Comparative slope
lines for several indicated values of the exponent n are indicated in
upper right corner. Averaged standard deviations are given in legend.
(Averages were computed by averaging the log of the spectral
estimates. )
alley) is near —2 while for Zone 5 (shunt zone) it is close to — 1
for large wavenumbers and near —3 for small wavenumbers. Zone
1 has a very pronounced value of n = —3 in medium and small
wavenumbers. It is apparent that similar tornado alleys may have
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks
105
Table 1. Variance and Arithmetical Mean of Terrain Heights in
Arkansas for Tornado Alleys and Shunted Zones. Variance
AVERAGES WERE COMPUTED LOGARITHMICALLY.
different terrain characteristics ; reference can also be made to the
discussion in Lettau (1967, p. 5 to 7).
The general differences are best evidenced in Fig. 3 ; the terrain
spectra for tornado alleys “fall off” nearly at n = —3 for all wave-
numbers, while the shunted belts show n = —3 only for small
wavenumbers and possibly for the largest wavenumbers. At about
10 mile wavelength the two plots diverge with n = — 1 prevailing
for the shunted belts. It is apparent that the terrain in tornado
alleys is smoother, or more “wave like,” than in shunt regions.
A value of n = —3 indicates that within a large family of terrain
features of different sizes, the individual heights of the “obstacles”
are proportional to their base-lengths. In other words, n = —3 in¬
dicates the same slope angles, or hill-steepness, regardless of base-
length or wavenumber. However, the value of n — —1 indicates
that the smaller the base-length the steeper the slope. Thus, Figure
3 suggests a “critical” baselength (or wavelength) of about 10
miles, since the shunted belts are distinguished by a change from
n = —3 to n — —1 at and beyond wavenumbers of about 0.1 cy/
mile. It could be surmised that tornadoes, when encountering a ter¬
rain type with n about equal to — 1, at wavelengths smaller than
about 10 miles, will be inhibited from either sustaining themselves
or possibly even deevloping. In the intermediate case of n = —2
(as in tornado alley 4) the terrain may not appear rough enough
or still too close to being wave-like to affect tornadoes.
Part II : Wisconsin Investigation
Tornado Statistics
Quite distinct from that of Arkansas, main tornado activity in
Wisconsin occurs from March to September with peak intensity in
May and June, and a secondary peak in September. The most
106 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
destructive and longest tracked tornadoes appear in the months of
April, May and June. Out of 52 severe tornadoes (according to
criteria of Burley and Waite, 1965), 42 occurred during Septem¬
ber and the spring months. About 83% of all Wisconsin tornadoes
arrive from azimuths between west and south. In July and August,
however, many of these storms arrive from the northwest, prob¬
ably in connection with the frequent northwesterly flow aloft dur¬
ing middle summer. Since the overall synoptic pattern is weak dur¬
ing the summer, the resulting tornadoes are less intense and
usually have short tracks. This study will consider tornadoes which
are outstanding with respect to both path-lengths and intensity.
Some bias may have resulted from the fact that the number of
reported tornadoes has nearly doubled in the last 10 years of a 50
year record.
In Wisconsin neither topographical features nor the relations
between terrain and tornado frequency are as clear-cut as in
Arkansas. Fig. 4 shows the number of tornadoes by county from
1916-1964. Tornadoes are relatively frequent in most west-central
counties, but no distinct north-south variation exists. In some sum¬
mer situations, extreme eastern counties may be “saved” by cool
air off Lake Michigan. Tornado frequency increases towards the
west to a maximum in central Iowa. The typically flat or gently
rolling, unforested farmland of central and western Iowa, which
is essentially open, plowed fields in the spring, offers a relatively
smooth and heat-absorbing surface probably favorable for tornado
formation, while eastern Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin, with
forested hills, bluffs and deep river valleys as well as occasional
flat ridges, seem to reduce tornado activity. . , .
The distribution of outstanding Wisconsin tornadoes, particu¬
larly the long tracked ones, suggests two “alleys” — -the rather pro¬
nounced “west central alley” and the secondary “southern alley.”
The west central alley is an extension of the region of large fre¬
quency of tornadoes in south central Minnesota. The incidence of
tornadoes may be less affected by Wisconsin’s unglaciated area
than is the ability of these storms to sustain themselves over long
distances. Between the two “alleys” there is less reduction of tor¬
nado incidence than in the shunted regions of Arkansas.
The two alleys of Wisconsin are frequented at different times of
the spring season. The majority of the southern-alley tornadoes
occur in April and May, while the west-central alley is most often
frequented in June, simultaneously with a jump in tornado activ¬
ity in both southern Minnesota and west central Wisconsin. This
region of Minnesota is flat open farmland, much like that of cen-
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks
107
Figure 4. Number of reported tornadoes by county, 1916 to 1964 (after Burley
and Waite, 1965). Superimposed lines (short-dash for “alleys” A and D, and
long-dash for “shunted areas” B and C) indicate paths chosen for investigation.
tral Iowa. July and August tornadoes seem to show no “alleying,”
and often move in a southeasterly direction, but their rarity pro¬
hibits further discussion of topographic effects.
In general east to west trends, population density in Wisconsin
is negatively correlated with frequency of tornadoes. However, in
Central Wisconsin, just south of the main tornado alley, a sparsely
populated area surrounds the forested region including many cran¬
berry bogs east of the hills near the Mississippi River. Conse-
108 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
quently, the lower population in areas between the two alleys
requires some qualifying of terrain-tornado alley relations based
on presently available statistics.
Profiles of Topography and Terrain Slopes
Four topographic profiles were chosen. Two of them followed
the tornado alleys and the remaining two were in the region of
relatively low tornado frequency. All of these strips extended into
adjacent states to the west. The profiles were labeled A, B, C and
D from south to north ; A and D represent tornado alleys, while C
and B correspond loosely to shunted belts. Table 2 gives the
geographic locations of these four strips.
Initially it was planned to use a radioaltimeter (type AN/APN-
22) in the Cessna 310 twin-engine aircraft employed in previous
work at the University of Wisconsin Department of Meteorology
(see Lenschow and Dutton, 1964), but the available system was
found unworkable. Consequently, the study of terrain profile struc¬
ture was based on topographic maps. The airplane, however, was
useful in measuring profiles of surface temperature along the
selected topographical sections. Bolometric sampling of surface
temperature was done every second, which corresponds to one
sample every 1/20 of a mile. To ensure comparable detail, terrain
heights were taken from 7.5 minute (scale 1 to 62,500) Geological
Survey Quadrangles. Because these maps are often only plani-
metric, a portion of Wisconsin’s shunted belt could not be analyzed.
The contour intervals on the topographic quadrangles proved satis¬
factory for readings at intervals of 1/20 mile. The actual horizon¬
tal increment used was 247 feet, or about 79 meters.
For an illustration of terrain structure, heights were plotted in
Figs. 5 and 6 every 4,940 feet. As can be seen from Table 2, the
variance of height in the shunt region exceeds that of the tornado
alleys, but the difference is less than in Arkansas. Moreover, the
Table 2. Geographic Statistical Data of Topographic Profiles in
Wisconsin in connection with Tornado Statistics.
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau— Tornado Tracks
109
BOO - p I F St W t F |FSW| F F&W F I W I FfiW
BROKEN Ac
MISSISSIPPI R.
9/18/67
FAIR - BROKEN Sc
FAIR Cu
9/12/67
DISTANCE (MILES)
Maw . f a w , w paw f
' — L. WISCONSIN V WISCONSIN R. '-MISSISSIPPI R.
FLOOD PLAIN 9/IS/67
FAIR - BROKEN Ac Q BROKEN Cu Ac Acc
<c „li iliiiiMiiiArr^ -' - —
9/12/67
FAIR a
BROKEN a
FAIR Cl
20
40
SO 80
DISTANCE (MILES)
Figure 5. Terrain and surface temperature profiles of September 12 and 18,
1967, for Wisconsin Strips A and B (top is A). A new landmarks and a
general description of the characteristic surface and sky conditions are also
given. (Note: M •*= marshland, F = open field and farmland, and W := wood¬
land.)
110 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
FT
600
WISCONSIN R.
KJCKAPOO R. VALLEY — ^
FAJR Cu
DISTANCE (MILES)
MISSISSIPPI R.
FT
1400- - F a M
CHIPPEWA R
Fa v/ |
MISSISSIPPI R:
FA1R Cu
FAIR
60 CO
DISTANCE (MILES)
Figure 6. Terrain and surface temperature profiles of September 22 and 29,
1967, for Wisconsin strips C and D (Top is C). A few landmarks and a
general description of the characteristic surface and sky condition are also
given. Note: M = marshland, F — open field and farmland^ and W-'= wood¬
land.
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks
111
variance along- the shunted Strip B in Wisconsin is about the same
as that of the Arkansas River tornado alley. If the frequency of
tornadoes reported in Wisconsin were equal to that in Arkansas,
Strip B might possibly not be considered typical of a shunted belt.
The results of spectral analysis (presented later) bear this out to
some degree. Strip C appears more representative of Wisconsin’s
rugged unglaciated area as well as more reliably centered in
a shunted belt than Strip B. However, the terrain variation in this
shunted zone is far less than in Arkansas. The fact that some
active tornadoes do indeed track over this area implies a weaker
relation between shunted belts and terrain roughness than is
apparent in Arkansas.
The terrain profiles show that unlike the other profiles, D has
relatively large variation in very long wavelengths. This implies
that “Alley D” is relatively smoother than the other strips at short
and medium wavelengths. The flat terrain west of the Wisconsin
portion of D coincides with a region of notorious tornado activity
during June.
Figure 7 suggests that tornadoes may shy away from varying
slopage, i.e., terrain roughness and downslope. The positive rela¬
tion of tornado frequency with upslopes toward the East may fur¬
ther be enhanced by middle and late afternoon heating.
Tornado frequencies appear to depend on somewhat different
mechanisms than other convective phenomena. Hail and heavy
rainfall are also known to be dependent on terrain slope, elevation,
and roughness as well as distribution of woodlands. Hail intensity
not only appears positively related to upslope, but unlike tornadoes
it is positively related to downslope, roughness and woodlands
(Stout, 1962). Rainfall patterns show a similar relationship except
that downslopes likely reduce convective instabilities and hence
reduce thunderstorm rainfall.
During spring, thunderstorm cells tend to move northeasterly;
considering the previously mentioned topographical relations, this
appears to be the main reason for maximum hail and rainfall in
the hilly areas west and northwest of Madison and in the North¬
ern highlands generally north of the west central tornado alley.
Most of this information can be found in Wisconsin Weather (Wis¬
consin Statistical Reporting Service, 1967).
Terrain Spectra
Spectral analyses were performed on the terrain profiles defined
in Table 2, with a total lag of 200. Figures 8 and 9 show examples
of individual spectra for Strip A (alley) and C (shunt). The spec¬
tra were plotted by computer versus increasing period. The left
vertical line indicates the Nyquist wavelength of the Arkansas
112 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 7. Wisconsin terrain slopes for Strips A, B, C and D, given in per-
ctntage (positive for upsloping to the east) over 5.6 miles. The mean slope is
indicated to the right of the corresponding strip.
investigation, and the right vertical line the 10-mile wavelength
critical for the Arkansas shunted belts.
In view of the different total variance and the structure of the
profiles of Figs. 6 and 7, it is not surprising that the spectra are
also different. The plots of A, B and D are almost identical with a
“critical” wavelength near one kilometer. For longer wavelengths
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks
113
Figure 8. Normalized terrain spectrum of Wisconsin, Strip A (tornado alley) .
Vertical lines represent 2 to 10 mile spectral band covered in Arkansas spectral
analysis.
the exponent (n) is near —2 whereas for shorter wavelengths n
is close to —3. Strip C differs from this pattern. Here the exponent
increases continuously for decreasing wavelengths starting near —2
and gradually changes to zero for wavelengths less than one kilo¬
meter. Short wavelengths contribute more variance in the shunted
region C than in A, B or D.
In the 2 to 20 mile wavelength band, the spectra for A, B and D
are similar to that of the Arkansas River Valley, which has a total
variance reasonably close to these 3 strips. The exponent n is about
—2. In marked contrast, C has a spectral variance in this band
much like the shunted belts of Arkansas. Its total variance, how¬
ever, is considerably smaller than in any of these belts but larger
114 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 9. Normalized terrain spectrum of Wisconsin, Strip C (shunt). Ver¬
tical lines respresent 2 to 10 mile spectral band covered in Arkansas spectral
analysis.
than in the other Wisconsin strips. Due to the difference in
sampling intervals for the Arkansas and Wisconsin investigations
we cannot say at present how realistic this comparison is.
Averaged spectral estimates for the two tornado alleys and the
two shunted strips are illustrated in Fig. 10. Since the spectrum of
B resembles more that of A than C, combination of B with C may
not yield a representative average of the shunted belt of Wiscon¬
sin. More representative of a shunted strip would probably have
been a profile from La Crosse to northern Juneau and Adams
counties, but topographic maps were not available for this region.
A discontinuity in the spectra appeared at a wavelength of
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks
115
Figure 10. Normalized spectral plots of Wisconsin terrain sepa¬
rately averaged for “tornado alleys” and “shunt regions.” Com¬
parative slope lines are indicated in upper right corner. The two
vertical lines are the 2 to 10 mile wavelength band covered in
Arkansas spectral analysis. (Averages were computed by averag¬
ing the log of the spectral estimates.)
116 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
about one kilometer. The exponent n is near — 1 for the shunted
belt and near —3 for the alleys. For longer wavelengths, including
the 2 to 20 mile wavelength band, both graphs suggest n = —2.
The case n =■ — 1 implies increasing hill steepness and fairly uni¬
form hill heights with decreasing wavelength, while n =' —3 indi¬
cates a uniform hill steepness and, thus, with heights decreasing
with decreasing wavelength. The fact that the split appeared near ;
one kilometer instead of around 10 miles (found critical for Arkan¬
sas) could be the result of more detailed data collection in
Wisconsin.
The near-zero value of the exponent n for short wavelengths i
( < 1 km) of the shunted region C suggests pronounced steepening ,
of slope with decreasing base length of the hills. It would be inter¬
esting to know if this is typical of other shunted areas like those
of Arkansas. Furthermore, a critical wavelength around 10 miles
corresponds to the “scale” of thunderstorms, while a critical wave¬
length near one kilometer corresponds to the “scale” of tornadoes.
This might suggest that only tornadoes and not thunderstorms are
significantly affected by topography in Wisconsin.
Surface Temperature Measurement from an Airplane
Surface temperature was measured, along the terrain profiles
shown in Fig. 4, with the aid of a Barnes IT-3 Infrared Ther¬
mometer (bolometer) mounted in the baggage section of a Cessna
310 twin engine aircraft. This bolometer has a 3° field of view cor¬
responding to a circle of about 15.7 meter radius on the ground,
at 300 meters flight altitude. The technique is described by Len-
schow and Dutton (1964).
Before each flight, a pre-check of the system was made with
water baths of varying temperatures. Check flights over Lake Men-
dota were also included on the day of a run, to insure proper func¬
tioning of the instruments when airborne. Sometimes the bolom¬
eter indicated a spurious rise of about 1° C of the Lake Mendota
temperature after considerable time in the air, but such discrep¬
ancies were within error tolerance. Although all instruments were
shock-mounted, some vibrational noise still occurred, and an elec¬
tronic filter was used to remove it for spectral analysis of tem¬
peratures. The use of this filter, however, introduced some addi¬
tional problems that will be discussed later.
According to Stefan-Boltzman’s law, radiation emitted by a sur¬
face depends on both its emissivity and its temperature. Since
emissivity (e) varies over different surfaces, errors will be intro¬
duced regardless of the accuracy of the calibration. An 8% change
in emissivity corresponds to about a 6° C change in measured sur-
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks
117
face temperature (Lenschow and Dutton, 1964). Except in dry
sandy areas, variations as large as 8% in emissivity are not likely
in Wisconsin.
Radiation entering a bolometer depends on the radiation emitted
by the environment. For the bolometer used, the radiometer filter
was an 8 to 14 micron passband, with nearly zero response out¬
side, with insignificant dependency on temperature. For the type
of surfaces encountered in Wisconsin, the emissivity was assumed
nearly constant for all wavelengths in the band of the filter. Errors
resulting from this assumption can be reduced if the surrounding
radiation is as small as possible. Tanner and Fuchs (1966) showed
that the equivalent black-body temperature departs from the actual
surface temperature by less than 1° C for Sudan grass (e — 0.976)
and alfalfa (e = 0.977). However, Lorenz (1966) noted that for
an emissivity of 0.925, the difference could be as large as 8.5° C.
In general, the apparent surface temperature is sufficiently close
to the actual radiation surface temperature provided the bolometer
is not located far above the ground. Menon (1967) discussed sur¬
face temperature corrections for flights over Lake Michigan and
Lake Superior. He found that errors of ± 0.5° C can be expected,
without corrections, at 300 meter heights.
Table 3 summarizes the results of the calibration flight over
Lake Mendota on August 21, 1967 ; a comparison of bolometric
water temperature (Tb) with the lake temperature measured from
a boat (Tw) showed a difference of about 0.5° C at 300 meters. The
dew point was relatively high. As expected, the measured bolo¬
metric temperature decreases with height.
It should be pointed out that the bolometer “sees” an area (for
our flights) of about 776 m2. It records an average radiation tem¬
perature over this area that tends to be slightly higher than the
Table 3. Results of Bolometric Flight over Lake Mendota on August 21,
1967. Ta IS THE AIR TEMPERATURE MEASURED FROM AIRPLANE, Tb IS BOLO¬
METRIC WATER TEMPERATURE, Tw IS WATER TEMPERATURE MEASURED
FROM A BOAT. SIMULTANEOUS RECORDINGS AT TRUAX FIELD
SHOWED A DRY-BULB TEMPERATURE OF 21° C AND A
DEW POINT OF 15° C.
118 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
true area mean surface temperature. Lenschow and Dutton (1964)
discussed this problem and found such errors to be less than 1° C,
which was considered tolerable for this investigation.
Data Collection and Effect of Weather
The temperature trace on the “Visicorder” was read (for the
same number of points as the terrain height data) by a specially
designed chart reader, and data automatically punched on cards,
then transformed into surface temperature with the aid of a com¬
puter-program and a linear equation.
Of a total of 14 flights, five (4 near noon and one at dawn)
covered strips A and B, two were over strip C near noon, and two
were over strip D in the early afternoon. Table 4 lists the resulting
means and variances as well as the time and date of each flight.
It should be noted that the effect of the 5-sec filter is to reduce the
variance but not to alter the mean of the actual surface tempera¬
ture series. Temperature profiles were included in Figs. 5 and 6
together with the general characteristics of the terrain “land¬
marks” and sky conditions.
The day-to-day variation in surface temperature is due to
changes in insolation (which depends on cloudiness, season, lati¬
tude, etc.), albedo, emissivity, wind (speed and prevailing direc¬
tion), thermal admittance of the soil, and air temperature and
moisture gradients. Significant daily variations in some of these
parameters occur even when the same air mass prevails over a
region for several days. The days chosen to measure the surface
Table 4. Mean Surface Temperature and Standard Deviation (deg C)
FROM BOLOMETRIC FLIGHT OVER THE FOUR “STRIPS” IN WISCONSIN
Indicated in Fig. 4.
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau ■ — Tornado Tracks
119
Table 5. Average Maximum Air Temperature (in °C) for Triplets of
Weather Bureau Climatological Stations Located near Bespec-
tive Strips. Values with asterisks are averaged minimum
AIR TEMPERATURE.
temperature were selected with the intent to isolate some of the
dominant parameters. Tables 5 and 6 provide information on air
temperature, wind and total isolation for the days and regions.
The difference between moist and dry surface conditions is illus¬
trated by comparing the profiles of September 12 and 18 for Strips
A and B. Due to preceding rainy days, the overall variation on the
18th is relatively small. Reduced insolation due to overcast cloudi¬
ness also significantly damps out temperature variability. In gen¬
eral, flights were scheduled only when cloudiness was expected to
be light, but, unfortunately, in view of the approach of autumn,
Table 6. Partial Summaries of Weather and Climatological Data
Pertinent to Bolometric Flights. Values in parentheses are
MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS DURING THE DAY.
120 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
this requirement was often relaxed. The flight of September 18
over Strip A was under heavy cloudiness and showed reduced
standard deviation of surface temperature. Several examples —
notably October 5 of Strip A, September 12 of Strip B and Sep¬
tember 18 of Strip A- — illustrate how periods of overcast cloudiness
can induce long “trending” in the surface temperature record.
On a given day when the soil was wet, the mean surface tem¬
perature was relatively close to the average maximum air tempera¬
ture of the nearest climatic stations. The mean surface tempera¬
ture was found generally higher than the air temperature for fair
skies and relatively dry soils. The two dawn flights (October 3 and
5) show mean surface temperatures higher than the average mini¬
mum station temperature. The variance was also found fairly high
indicating that warmer ground inversions were probably being
measured as part of the effective radiative surface. Temperature
trends under variable conditions appear to substantiate Lambert’s
investigation of thermal response of a Sumac canopy (1967) to
cloud shadows.
Table 6 shows lowest average windspeeds on the 18th (Madison)
and 29th (Minneapolis) of September. The large surface tempera¬
ture variations on the 29th in comparison with the 22nd probably
resulted from drier soils and low wind speeds. The 18th and 21st
appear to have sufficiently identical soil and sky conditions that the
significant difference in average wind speed appears to be the cause
of the lower variance of the latter. It should be noted that the
times of these two flights differed by about 3 hours. Obviously, the
available information was insufficient to determine the full effect
of air motion on surface temperature.
Influence of Land Use and Surface Types
Figures 5 and 6 provide a general description of the distribution
of surface types along the strips. Farmland and irregular spaced
forests will respond differently to solar heating. The selected inter¬
val (4940 ft.) for plotting the temperature profiles suppresses
these effects because rain and cloudiness affected most of the
samples taken along Strips A and B ; hence this discussion will be
primarily concerned with Strips C and D.
The relatively high surface temperatures west of the Mississippi
River over Strips C and D coincide with areas of extended, har¬
vested fields of brown color. High readings also occurred in other
regions of dominantly open farmland. Lowest mid-day tempera¬
tures generally appeared in the marshy and scrubby vegetated
areas. Mixed areas both flat or hilly showed considerable variation
but have on the average a mean temperature between that of farm¬
land and marshy land. The relatively high surface temperatures
1970] Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks 121
observed near the Mississippi River along Strip A are over a
region with some hills but less forested than either R or C. In es¬
sence, these findings agree with the results reported by Lenschow
and Dutton (1964) for central and southern Wisconsin.
The total sample of surface data was unfortunately too small to
establish conclusively differences between tornado alleys and
shunted strips. Several factors can be mentioned : First, the period
studied did not coincide with the maximum tornado season, while
the surface structure, both in open and forested areas, varies sea¬
sonally; for example, deciduous forests are leafless during April
and early May, cornfields are bare in spring but not in late sum¬
mer and fall, whereas for hay and wheatfields the reverse is true.
A relatively warm band of nearly 20 miles (Fig. 6) in Minnesota
is interesting and invites further study, because of high tornado
incidence in June in this region. The high variance of strip D
(Table 4) is probably also connected with this farm area. Second,
warm regions of smaller scale (several miles or less) appear
rather frequently and may contribute to randomness of convection
phenomena. Third, a portion of the variances of several of the days
were influenced significantly by cloudiness and soil moisture. More
information is needed on surface temperature response under vary¬
ing weather conditions before inferences on relationships between
temperature structure and tornadoes may be reached.
Variance Spectra of Surface Temperature Profiles
Spectral analysis was performed on the surface temperature
data in the same manner as for topography. Smoothing of the ter¬
rain data was a direct result of the interpolation on topographic
maps. The effect of filtering on the measured surface temperature
had to be considered in more detail. The bolometric averaging over
a circular area of 15.7 meter radius may tend to increase the expo¬
nent n at the high frequency end of the spectrum. These forms
of smoothing of temperature and terrain data probably eliminated
some aliasing problems. Also, a 5-sec filter was used to help pre¬
vent aliasing, but because it damped out important amplitude
variations in intermediate wavelengths, the unfiltered spectral esti¬
mates had to be recovered, following a method described by Dut¬
ton (1962).
A test was conducted to compare a “red noise” spectrum against
the actual spectra. (For a detailed discussion of “red noise spec¬
tra” see Gilman, et ah, 1963.) In particular, for a “null” hypothesis
the “red noise” was considered the underlying continuum or actual
population from which the direct estimates were just random
samples. A plot of the “red noise” estimates corresponding to Sep¬
tember 22 of Strip C is given in Fig. 11. Conditions for the other
122 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 11. Red noise spectrum of surface temperature corresponding
to September 22, 1967, of Wisconsin Strip C (“shunted strip”). Esti¬
mates based on a sample one-lag autocorrelation coefficient equal to
0.9697. Chi-square confidence lines are given in dashed curves.
1970] Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks 123
dates were similar. For a testing*, it is assumed that the ratio of
the sample estimate to the continuum estimate is a chi-square vari¬
able divided by the number of degrees of freedom. In this way, a
confidence (acceptance) region can be specified about each con¬
tinuum value, according to Tukey. The estimates of September 22
differed significantly from the red noise continuum at the 5% level
of significance. The sample curve appears to follow simple per¬
sistence in short (<600 meters) and long wavelengths, while inter¬
mediate wavelengths suggest a “white noise” shift. Many of the
other spectral graphs also show this tendency.
For further tests, fitting lines were placed by sight through the
short and intermediate period regimes. Figure 12 illustrates a pair
of such lines as well as the confidence limits pertinent to Strip A
of September 11. The regimes of simple persistence and “near¬
white-noise” are well contained inside these confidence limits.
Numerous spikes and overall noisiness in the direct spectra appear
to be statistically insignificant. However, more data would be
needed to verify the validity of this statement. Recurring maxima
or “spikes” might indeed prove physically real for an individual
terrain profile.
The results above indicate that by and large, the intermediate
“waves” of 0.5 to 5 km are made up of a random distribution of
temperature oscillations. This may correspond to the fact that the
arrangements of forests, lakes, towns, variable crop fields, and
pastureland are of the order of intermediate wavelengths and tend
to be fairly irregular. They include the dominant homogeneous
features introduced by man. As dominating features get smaller,
the temperature response decreases rather strongly.
One important exception was found on September 18 over Strip
B, where the spectral density suggested an exponent n of less than
1. The wet soil and extensive cloudiness present on this day could
have resulted in the damping of major randomness in intermediate
wavelengths.
For the terrain spectra previously discussed, a comparison was
made with the red noise spectrum. Figure 13 illustrates the red
noise spectrum corresponding to Strips A and C. The topographies
of A, B and D all have a high degree of simple persistence, while
“white noise” in smaller wavelengths of C causes substantial devia¬
tion from red noise, although some persistence in long wavelengths
may prevail.
Concluding Remarks
The results of this study seem to pose more questions than
answers. The fact that “alleys” and “shunted regions” exist sug¬
gests the qualitative picture of tornadoes shying from “rough” ter-
124 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 12. Lines (placed by sight) fitting spectral curve of surface
temperature for September 11, 1967, of Wisconsin Strip A (“tornado
alley,,)< Confidence lines are also indicated.
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau — Tornado Tracks
125
Figure 13. Red noise spectra corresponding to terrain of Wisconsin
Strips A (“tornado alley”) and C (“shunt strip”). Estimates were
based on one-lag autocorrelation coefficients 0.9874 and 0.7078 re¬
spectively for Strips A and C. Chi-square confidence lines are also
given.
126 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
rain. We tried to understand roughness on a quantitative scale in
order to explain how terrain may affect these storms. This has been
attempted through the use of spectral analysis for selected one¬
dimensional terrain profiles. In order to measure roughness which
is representative of a region, a two-dimensionly approach will be
needed to determine the full variability of surface structure.
Surface temperature is one measure of how a surface type
responds to the supply of solar energy, but variations in the many
factors governing thermal response make it difficult to specify tor¬
nado-suppressing and tornado-supporting trends. One possible ap¬
proach would be to parameterize conditions for each “mosaic”
element of a complex land/air interface like that in Wisconsin and
develop a theoretical model of thermal response to radiative forc¬
ing functions, as that of “climatonomy” proposed by Lettau (to be
published). Full parameterization of surface conditions must in¬
clude a measure of aerodynamic roughness, of albedo and emis-
sivity, of moisture availability, and the thermal admittance of the
submedium. This study provided new information on surface
roughness and its effect on surface temperature variability. One
important result could be that features smaller than about 600
meters appear to have little significance for surface temperature
variations. With the establishment of such limiting criteria the
task may not be overwhelming.
Very little is known about how local supplies of sensible and
latent heat are utilized in severe convective storms. Mesoscale
meteorology has not had the benefits of intensive research that
larger scale studies have. Even less is known on the generation of
hail and tornadoes. Further research on the basic dynamics and
energetics of the mesoscale is certainly needed.
Acknowledgments
Commentary by Professor John Kutzbach proved very helpful
in the interpretation of variance spectra. Thanks goes to Profes¬
sor Charles R. Stearns for his assistance and advice concerning
the instrumentation phase of the project. Additional gratitude is
conveyed to Russell Johnson for his patience and help in main¬
taining a reasonable operation of the bolometer. And finally, Mr.
Rollie Mack (pilot) and Mr. Sherman Hallen are acknowledged
for their complete cooperation in scheduling successful flights.
References Cited
Asp, M. 0., Geographical Distribution of Tornadoes in Arkansas, Monthly
Weather Review, 8U (4) ; 143-145, 1956.
Burley, M. W, and P. J. Waite, Wisconsin Tornadoes , Transactions of the
Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, Madison, Wis., 1965.
1970]
Gallimore and Lettau— Tornado Tracks
127
Dutton, J. A., Space and Time Response of Airborne Radiation Sensors for
the Measurement of Ground Variables, Journal of Geophysical Research
67(1); 195-204, 1962.
Flora, S., Tornadoes of the United States, University of Oklahoma Press,
Norman, 1953.
Gilman, D. L., F. G. Fuglister and J. M. Mitchell, Jr., On the Power
Spectrum of “Red Noise,” Journal of Atmospheric Science, 20; 182-184,
1963.
Holloway, J. L., Jr., Smoothing and Filtering of Time Series and Space Fields,
Advances in Geophysics J; 351-389, Academic Press, New York, 1958.
Kuhn, P. M., Darkow, G. L. and Suomi, V. E., A Mesoscale Investigation of
Pre-tornado Thermal Environments, American Meteorological Society,
Bulletin. 39(4); 224-228, 1958.
Lambert, J. L., The Experimental Investigation of the Thermal Response of a
Sumac Canopy, Master's Thesis (Meteorology), University of Wisconsin,
1967.
Lenschow, D. H., and J. A. Dutton, Surface Temperature Variations Meas¬
ured from an Airplane over Several Surface Types, Journal of Appl
Meteorol., Vol. 3, pp. 65-69, 1964.
Lettau, H., Small to Large-Scale Features of Boundary Layer Structure over
Mountain Slopes. Proc. Symposium on Mountain Meteorology, Fort Collins,
Colorado, Colorado State University, Dept. Atmosph. Sci., 1967, Paper
No. 122, pp. 1-74.
Lorenz, D., The Effect of the Long-wave Reflectivity of Natural Surfaces on
Surface Temperature Measurements Using Radiometers, Journal of Appl.
Meteorol., 5(4): 421-430, 1966.
Menon, V. K. and Ragotzkie, R. A., Remote Sensing by Infrared and Micro-
wave Radiometry, Technical Report No. 31, Task No. NR 387-022, pre¬
pared under ONR contract No.: 1202(07), University of Wisconsin, 1967.
Stout, G. E., Factors Influencing the Climatological Distribution of Hail in
Flatlands, Nubila, V(l) : 73-84, 1962.
Tanner, C. B. and M. Fuchs, Infrared Thermometry of Vegetation, Agronomy
Journal 58: 567-601, 1966.
Wisconsin Statistical Reporting Service Publication, Wisconsin Weather:
Causes, Variations, and Effects, Madison, Wisconsin, 1967.
Wolford, L. V., Tornado Occurrences in the United States, U.S. Department
of Commerce, Technical Paper No. 20, 1960.
THE OTTER IN EARLY WISCONSIN
A. W. Schorger
The otter (Lutra canadensis) was one of the most valuable furs
sought by trappers. During the period 1835-1848, the Northern
Outfit of the American Fur Company, located on Madeline Island,
collected annually an average of 1555 pelts. Based on trapping
records the otter was about as plentiful as the beaver. It was much
easier, however, to discover the presence of beaver than the wan¬
dering otter, so that most trappers devoted their attention to this
mammal. The otter has a popular appeal from the ease with which
the young can be tamed, a marked contrast to the viciousness of the
other mustelids, the skunk excepted. The young in Wisconsin are
born mainly in April and May (Knudsen, 1956).
Size
Reference books vary widely on the size and weight of otters.
Coues (1877) wrote that there was great variation. The average
was 4 to 4.5 feet in length, though some individuals attained 5
feet. According to Jackson (1961 :383) the total length of adults is
35.4 to 48 inches, and the weight 15 to 20 pounds, rarely to 30
pounds in males. Hamilton (1943) gives a length of 35.4 to 43.3
inches,, and a weight of 12 to 15 pounds, the latter being seldom
exceeded. Otters in Main weighed from 18 to 20 pounds, 25 being
exceptionally heavy (Hardy, 1911:331). Heavy weights have been
recorded. On February 17, 1771, George Cartwright (1911:50)
shot an otter weighing 33 pounds. A Carolina old male was 4 feet
long and weighed 23 pounds; and a specimen from Texas was 4
feet and one inch in length and weighed 20 pounds (Audubon and
Bachman, 1851). An adult female (Lutra c. sonora) collected at
Montezuma Well, Arizona, was 51.2 inches in length and weighed
19.5 pounds (Bailey, 1931) ; and an adult female from Idaho was
45.3 inches in length and weighed 19 pounds (Merriam, 1891).
I do not know of any data on the dimensions and weights of en¬
tire Wisconsin otters given by fully trustworthy observers. George
Knudsen of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has
examined a large number of carcasses obtained from trappers.
Quite fresh carcasses of adult males weighed 19 to 22 pounds;
length from tip of nose to tip of tail vertebrae 46 to 48 inches. The
129
130 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
green skin with adhering fat would add an additional 3 to 4 pounds.
The carcasses of adult females weighed 15 to 18 pounds, and the
lengths were 44 to 45 inches (Unpublished).
Food
The food of the otter consists primarily of fish and crayfish, with
some mussels, amphibians, insects, and birds. In 1680 Hennepin
(1903) appropriated a paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) which an
otter was eating along the Wisconsin section of the Mississippi.
Along the banks of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers Featherstonhaugh
(1836) found great quantities of mussel shells left by otters and
muskrats. D. Cartwright (1875:60) found a bushel of the heads of
bass, supposedly rejected by the otter, in the Lake Superior region.
One trapper reported to Knudsen (1957:61, 62) that he watched
otters catch five northern pike and eat only the heads; while an¬
other stated that he saw a “lot of bass heads” on the ice. For some
unknown reason the heads of bass appear to be undesirable. Jack-
son (1961 :388) observed in Bayfield County an otter eating a chub,
beginning at the head. At Great Bear Lake, Mackenzie District,
otters usually took the heads of the fish caught in nets and left
the bodies (Richardson, 1829). It has been stated that all but the
tail of a fish is eaten, and that when plentiful the otter may take
only a bite or so from the head of each fish captured (Godwin,
1935). Apparently the head is the most desirable part of most
species of fish. A study by Knudsen (1957 :53) of the food habits
of otters that had been trapped revealed the following frequency
of occurrence: fish 90 percent, crayfish 50 percent, insects 20 per¬
cent, and debris 30 percent. In frequency of occurrence of fish, game
fish were 30 perent and rough fish 80 percent.
Otters will dive deeply to secure food. Ben Gustavson, a com¬
mercial fisherman of Bayfield, Wisconsin, on February 24, 1939,
found a drowned otter on one of his baited set lines. The bait was
in 42 feet of water and 500 feet from the shore of Bass Island,
one of the Apostle group (Waskow, 1939; Scott, 1939).
The teeth become worn with age and kind of food. An old male
in Carolina had teeth much worn (Audubon and Backman, 1851).
An otter trapper near Sturgeon Bay was believed to be old since
“his teeth were nearly all gone,” that is worn (Sturgeon Bay, 1896) .
The teeth of sea otters (Enhydra lutra) approximately 4 to 5 years
old show marked wear, induced apparently by the preferred diet of
the individual ( Barabash-N ikif orov, 1962). The teeth of some of
the Wisconsin otters examined by George Knudsen were “worn to
the bone.
1970] Schorger — The Otter in Early Wisconsin 131
Trails
Otters are great travelers and seldom stay long in one place.
They will take to land to cross from one stream or lake to another
and make cutoff trails at the bends of streams. Cartwright (1875:
60, 61) states that he has known them to cross from the head of
one stream to another, a distance of two miles. He termed the trails
portages. The winter of 1837-38 Kingston (1879) and companion
explored the Lemonweir River for pine timber. Concerning their
return down the river he wrote. “Following the otter trails or
slides cutting the bends of the river, we found the distance greatly
shortened.”
Trapping
There is no clear description of the method by which the Indians
took otter prior to the availability of the steel trap. Hennepin
(1903:517) stated merely that the Indians caught otters in traps
and killed them with arrows or shot. Lahontan (1905) wrote : “These
Traps are made of five* Stakes plac'd in the form of an oblong
Quadrangle, so as to make a little Chamber, the Door of which is
kept up, and supported by a Stake. To the middle of this stake they
tye a string which passes thro’ a little fork, and has a Trout well
fastened to the end of it. Now, when the otter comes on shoar, and
sees this bait, he puts above half his Body into that fatal Cage,
in order to swallow the Fish; but he no sooner touches, than the
string to which ’tis made fast pulls away the Stake that supports
the Door, upon which an heavy and loaded Door falls upon his Reins
and quashes him.” This was a deadfall.
The deadfall could be used only on land while the steel trap could
be set on land and in the water. Cartwright (1875:62) opposed a
set on land. He favored setting the trap in about four inches of
water where a slide entered and on the side of it. The reason for
this is that the otter’s fore feet are short and wide apart so that
if the trap were placed in the middle of the slide the feet were un¬
likely to touch the pan of the trap. Regarding trapping at the slide,
Newhouse (1874) states: “Spencer J. Clarke, . . . who formerly
trapped in Wisconsin, recommends setting the trap where the
Otter comes out of the water in the following position : The Otter
swims to the shore, and as soon as his fore feet strike the ground
his hind feet sink to the bottom and he walks out erect. Find the
point where the Otter’s hind feet strike the bottom, and set the
trap there.” The otter is frequently abroad in the daytime so that
formerly many were captured by shooting.
* “Five” should read “small”. It is petits in the original (Lahontan. 1703. Nouveaux
voyages . . . dans 1’Amerique Septentrionale. Le Haye. p. 85).
132 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Utilization
The Indians used the skin for medicine bags and ceremonial
purposes. Carver (1784) was at a dance in western Wisconsin
when: “I could not help laughing at a singular childish custom I
observed they introduced into this dance . . . Most of the members
carried in their hands an otter or martin’s skin, which being taken
whole from the body and filled with wind, on being compressed
made a squeaking noise through a piece of wood organically formed
and fixed in its mouth. When this instrument was presented to the
face of any of the company, and the sound emitted, the person re¬
ceiving it fell down to appearance dead.”
The fur is very durable and equalled only by that of the wolverine,,
On the basis of 100 for otter, the wearing quality of other aquatic
mammals such as beaver is 90 percent and muskrat 45 percent
(Innis, 1927) . The skins are used for collars, trim, and ladies coats.
Trappers were frequently forced to eat the animals they caught.
On February 17, 1771, George Cartwright (1911:66) wrote in his
journal that otters are “hard and strong eating.”
Prices
The largest market for otter fur was China. This fact is ex¬
pressed frequently in the correspondence of the American Fur
Company. On November 30, 1821, R. Crooks wrote to J. J. Astor
that the otters will go to China (Am. Fur Co.). H. H. Sibley of
Fort Snelling was informed on April 7, 1840, that the only hope
for otters was resumption of trade with China; and on December
25, Pierre Chouteau and Company of St. Louis was told that there
was only a limited demand for the furs for caps. A letter of April
4, 1843, to Joseph Rogers, Toronto, stated that the supply of pelts
exceeded the demand of the market in Canton.
Considerable value was placed on otter in 1760 in Milwaukee by
an English trader who refused payment for supplies except with
otter and the finest fox skins (Western Hist. Co., 1881). The prices
of the pelts varied with the demand and quality. In August, 1820,
the American Fur Company credited Porlier and Rouse of Green
Bay with 50 otters at $3.53 each. R. Crooks wrote on April 23,
1822, to J. J. Astor that $3.75 would be paid for Lake Superior
otter, and $3.25 for those from the St. Peter (Minnesota) River.
Four days later he wrote to S. Abbott at Mackinac to pay only $3.00
for otter since there were on hand the entire collections for 1820
and 1821. In June, 1827, 13 otters from La Bulle (Wausau) were
invoiced at $2.50 each.
The pelts received in 1835 from Solomon Juneau of Milwaukee
were graded and priced as follows: No. 1, $7.00; No. 2, $4.50; No.
1970]
Schorger — The Otter in Early Wisconsin
133
3, $2.25; and cubs $0.75. Juneau in 1840 made several purchases
at prices ranging from $5.00 to $7.00. Myrick and Weld (1843),
merchants at La Crosse, in 1843 purchased pelts at the very low
price of 20 shillings ($2.50). In November, 1847, the prices paid
at Prairie du Chien were: No. 1„ $4.00; No. 2, $3.00; No. 3, $2.00;
and No. 1 cub, $0.50-$0.75. The winter of 1856-57, in Buffalo
County, Cooke (1940) was pleased to receive $2.00 for an otter
pelt. Low prices prevailed in 1859 at Eau Claire (Eau Claire, 1859) ,
the range being $0.75 to $3.00. In 1880, in Waukesha County, the
pelts were said to be worth $9.00 to $20.00 (Western Hist. Co.,
1880).
Abundance
In the first half of the 19th century, the otter appears to have
been somewhat more abundant than the beaver in the Great Lakes
region. Compilation of 159 inventories at various posts of the
American Fur Company gave 51,067 beavers and 65,781 otters,
a ratio of 1 beaver : 1.29 otters. There are insufficient data to de¬
termine the number of otters collected in Wisconsin in any one
year. It has been possible from the papers of the American Fur
Company possessed by the Wisconsin Historical Society to com¬
pile for a number of years the collections made by the Northern
Outfit at La Pointe, Madeline Island (Table 1). Essentially all of
the pelts were taken in northern Wisconsin. The principal subposts
were at Lac du Flambeau and Lac Court Oreilles. The year 1835,
e.g„ represents the pelts taken during the winter of 1834-35.
The table shows a steady decline in the number of otters taken.
Fur statistics show fluctuations in numbers, but there does not ap¬
pear to be any cyclic phenomenon for the otter (Hewitt, 1921).
During the 1968 season, 1007 otters, with an average value of
$21.50, were taken in Wisconsin, so that the present status of the
species is gratifying.
Table 1. Otters Collected at La Pointe
134 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Distribution
The otter is generally found on rivers, large creeks, and interior
lakes. Large lakes such as Michigan are less attractive; however,
when Fonda (1868) was carrying mail between Green Bay and
Chicago the winter of 1827-28, an otter or a fisher would glide from
the ice-fields to a retreat in the bank of the lake. The otter has been
recorded for nearly every county in the state. More recent records
and specimens examined are to be found on the map by Jackson
(1961:384). According to Strong (1883) it was to be found occa¬
sionally in the northern half of the state. Subsequently Cory (1912)
gave it an increased range, “the greater portion of Wisconsin.”
That the otter still has a wide distribution is to be seen in Fig. 1
1970]
Schorger — The Otter in Early Wisconsin
135
where the harvest in 1968 is shown by counties. The early records
and place names are shown in Fig.2. The Sea Lion and Seal lakes
of northern Wisconsin, not plotted, presumably were named from
the otter through erroneous identication. A swimming otter re¬
sembles a seal.
Adams.— It was stated in 1919 that the otter no longer occurred
(Cole and Smythe, 1919). This statement must have been made
from lack of sufficient information as it is still quite common along
the Wisconsin.
Ashland.— In the spring of 1885 E. B. Gordon and H. A. Mallory
had a fine lot of otter and other furs taken near Glidden (Glidden,,
1885). In the early months of 1885, George and Frank Bell trapped
on the headwaters of the Bad River, said to be 15 miles west of
136 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Penokee, and caught a number of otters (Ashland, 1885). The
farthest west tributaries of Bad River are in the town of Marengo,
about 10 miles from Penokee.
Otter Island is one of the Apostle group.
Bayfield. — A Mr. Hayward of Bayfield had a fine lot of otter pelts
(Bayfield, 1877). Jackson (1908) and Cory (1912) examined speci¬
mens from the county. At present it is one of the best otter counties.
Brown. — The otter killed by a farmer with a heavy whip (Green
Bay, 1895) was very probably traveling on land.
Buffalo. — The family of Cooke (1940) settled within five miles of
Gilmanton in the fall of 1856. His father did much hunting and
trapping, and otter was among the furs marketed.
Burnett. — Curot (1911) was in charge of a post on the Yellow
River the winter of 1803-04. His entries show that he purchased
16 otters.
Calumet. — An otter was shot near Chilton (Chilton, 1880). Two
were killed by N. Cheseboro near Clinton in 1887 at which time
otters were rarely seen (Chilton, 1887). One was killed near
Brothertown in April, 1897 (Chilton, 1897) ; and another was
trapped at Forest Junction, town of Brillion, in March, 1899 (Chil¬
ton, 1899).
Chippewa. — Cartwright (1875:245), the winter of 1857-58,
trapped otters on O'Neil Creek, town of Eagle Point. In the spring
of 1865, otters were being caught in large numbers (Chippewa
Falls, 1865). A large shipment of furs made by Mairet, Allen and
Company of Chippewa Falls contained many otters (Chippewa
Falls, 1871) ;
Otter Lake, town of Colburn, is drained by Otter Creek which
flows north then west into Yellow River. Lttle Otter Creek rises
in the town of Thorpe, Clark County, flows south by west and enters
the Wolf River in the town of Delmar,, Chippewa County.
Clark.— The winter of 1844-45, Manly (1927 :56) and companion
while trapping on the Black River above Neills ville found two
otters coming towards them on the ice. One was killed, the other
escaped. At the time of settlement of Neills ville, 1844, otter and
other mammals were plentiful (Neillsville, 1873; French, 1875;
Curtiss-Wedge, 1918) .
Columbia. — The American Fur Company received from the Por¬
tage post 6 otters in 1827, and 17 in 1840. Wayne B. Dyer came to
the present site of Columbus in 1843 and trapped many otters
along the Crawfish (Butterfield, 1880). A few otters had been ob¬
served during the past year in the Wisconsin River between Kil-
bourn (Wisconsin Dells) and Portage (Cole, 1918).
1970] Schorger — The Otter in Early Wisconsin 137
Crawford . — In the early days H. L. Dousman had at Prairie du
Chien a tame otter that would catch fish for him “at his bidding”
(Bunnell, 1897).
Otter Creek, town of Kickapoo, flows east into the Kickapoo.
Dane. — When Stoner (Madison, 1899) came to Madison in 1838.
the surrounding marshes and streams were full of otters and other
game. The first settlers who arrived at Mazomanie in 1843 found
otters and other fur bearers common (Kittle, 1900). A large otter
was trapped on the north shore of Lake Mendota on April 18, 1854
(Madison, 1854). One was captured by D. A. Waterman, of the
town of Rutland, in the Yahara near Lake Kegonsa in March, 1891
(Madison, 1891; Carr, 1891). According to Brown (1915) it oc¬
curred formerly at Lake Wingra.
Dodge.— Two otters were taken at Fox Lake in December, 1858
(Fox Lake, 1858). One weighing 16.5 pounds was killed by L.
Rushlow at Beaver Dam Lake in April, 1860 (Beaver Dam, 1860).
Another was caught at Fox Lake in January, 1867 (Fox Lake,
1867). A large otter was trapped in 1877 in the town of Elba by
E. Sweet (Portage, 1877). A trapper caught two in the Horicon
Marsh in November 1884 (Delevan, 1884). The winter of 1887-88
one was trapped in the town of Portland (Waterloo, 1888). Ac¬
cording to Snyder (1902) the otter was common at the time of
settlement. In the early 1890’s Adam Ergotz, a former professional
trapper, found a slide on Beaver Dam Lake but could not catch the
otter. One was captured since 1890.
Door. — An otter, then rare, was caught by R. Haash at Forest-
ville in the spring of 1887 (Sturgeon Bay, 1887). One weighing 20
pounds was trapped at Lilly Bay in March, 1896 (Sturgeon Bay,
1896) . Lilly Bay is on the Lake Michigan shore near Clark Lake.
Douglas. — In the spring .of 1766 while Henry (1921) was at Che-
quamegon Bay, the Chippewa went to war with the Sioux. A battle
was fought at a river which was undoubtedly the Brule, as it was
the traditional battle place for the two tribes. They returned with
a rich cargo of furs and Henry purchased from them and other
Indians 150 packs of beaver and 25 packs of otter and marten
skins. The Brule was a noted stream for trapping. When Allen
(1834) was at La Pointe in 1832 he was informed that the trading
posts on this river took in primarily muskrats, bears, and otters.
Cram (1841) reported that at the proper season the Indians re¬
sorted to the Brule to trap otter and beaver which occurred through¬
out its length; however, their numbers had been greatly reduced.
Cory (1912) examined specimens from the county.
138 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Dunn. — The winter of 1857-58, Cartwright (1875) and com¬
panions caught otters on Pine Creek, town of Sand Creek, and on
Gilbert Creek, town of Lucas. Altogether the party of three caught
50 otters, most of them in the county.
Otter Creek, the two branches of which rise in the town of Wil¬
son, flows south into Hay River, town of Otter Creek. Little Otter
Creek rises in the later town and flows west into Otter Creek.
Eau Claire. — In the fall of 1883 “several more” otters were
caught in Seven Mile Creek, town of Seymour (Eau Claire, 1883).
Charles Martin, the famous hunter, caught an otter near Augusta
in October, 1897 (Augusta, 1897).
Otter Creek rises in the town of Otter Creek, flows northwest
and empties into the Eau Claire, town of Seymour.
Florence. — C. Hanson while hunting along Pine Creek, town of
Long Lake, in October, 1884, saw seven otters and killed three of
them (Florence, 1884).
Fond du Lac. — In 1852, a few miles east of Fond du Lac, otter
and other game were “too numerous to attract much attention”
(Titus, 1936). In 1881 the capture of an otter on the west side of
Lake Winnebago by Jacob H. Horn resulted in the comment that it
was the first taken in many years (Fond du Lac, 1881) .
Forest. — Two males were killed two miles west of Crandon on
February 12, 1908 (Jackson, 1910). Cory (1912) examined speci¬
mens from the county.
Otter Creek rises in Otter Springs, town of Lincoln, and flows
northeast into the Peshtigo. A second Otter Creek, town of Wabeno,
flows southeast into Otter Lake.
Grant.- — The fall and winter of 1845-46, Robert and William Mc¬
Cloud, at Muscoda, purchased otter and other furs from the Indians
(Butterfield and Ogle, 1884). In the spring of 1858, Austin Birge
captured a large otter in the bluffs along the Mississippi (Prairie
du Chien, 1858).
Iowa.— Cory (1912) examined specimens from Arena.
Otter Creek rises in the town of Dodgeville and flows north into
the Wisconsin.
Iron.— Otter Lake is in the northern end of the town of Oma.
Jefferson. — The Coe (1908) family settled on the west bank of
Rock River, town of Ixonia, in 1839. The following winter Indians
camped on the opposite bank and caught otter and other fur
bearers. In 1855, while going down Bark River, Cartwright (1875:
161) shot an otter. Within two weeks he and a companion captured
sixteen. In the spring of 1879, an otter was shot in the town of
Hebron (Fort Atkinson, 1879). Six large otters were taken at
Waterloo early In 1881 (Waterloo, 1881). According to Hawkins
1970]
Schorger — The Otter in Early Wisconsin
139
(1940) the otter was never common at Faville Grove, and it dis¬
appeared from the Crawfish River about 1883. About 1882 an
otter was trapped at Faville Grove and another at Mud Lake, town
of Lake Mills. In April, 1887, Frank Tooker shot one on Bark River
at Ft. Atkinson (Ft. Atkinson, 1887). A very large otter weighing
25 pounds was killed on Bark River by Roy Chase the spring of
1890 (Ft. Atkinson, 1890). In July, 1901, there was an otter slide
at Lake Koshkonong, section 34, town of Summer (Jackson, 1908).
Juneau. — The winter of 1837-38, Kingston (1879) and com¬
panion traveled down the Lemonweir, following the otter trails. In
December, 1890, George Dillon of Lemonweir, town of Lemonweir,
trapped an otter 44 inches in length (Mauston, 1890).
Kenosha.- — In a letter dated November 7, 1837, Quarles (1933)
wrote from Southport (Kenosha) that otters were very plentiful on
his contemplated farm on Fox River, and sought information on
trapping them. In autumn Indians came from the north to the town
of Salem and camped on the Fox River. Here deer,, otter, and some
other fur bearers were abundant (Lyman, 1916).
Kewaunee. — The otter was reported scarce when one was taken
late in 1886 a few miles west of Kewaunee (Kewaunee, 1886). An
otter, the first in many years, was seen in April, 1893, in East Twin
River, town of Carlton (Kewaunee, 1893). One was caught in the
town of Ahnapee in October, 1894 (Ahnapee, 1894). In October,
1896, quite a number were shot along the Kewaunee River (Kewau¬
nee, 1896). M. Vesseley trapped a large otter in the town of West
Kewaunee in January, 1897 (Kewaunee, 1897).
LaCrosse. — At the time of settlement there were otters in Lewis
Valley through which flows Fleming Creek (Sisson, 1955). There
were brought to La Crosse the pelts of four otters which were
trapped a few miles from the city the winter of 1880-81 (La Crosse,
1881).
Lafayette. — Jesse Shull came to the present site of Shullsburg in
1818 and established a post to trade for furs (Gregory, 1932). In
so sparsely wooded a county, it is probable that otter and an occa¬
sional beaver were the only valuable furs obtainable.
Otter Creek rises in the town of Mineral Point, Iowa County, and
flows south into the Pecatonica.
Langlade. — Otters were among the fur bearers taken (Dessureau,
1922). Cory (1912) examined specimens from the county.
Otter Lake is in the town of Elcho. There is also a small Otter
Lake in the northwest corner of the town of Parrish.
Lincoln. — Two otters were trapped in May, 1884, on Pine River,
town of Pine River (Merrill, 1884).
Otter Lake is in the town of Skanawan.
140 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Manitowoc. — August Sprecht, in January, 1894,, complained of
the ravages of otters at his carp pond at Mishicot (Manitowoc,
1894). In the fall of 1895, Joseph Stangel caught in the town of
Two Creeks an otter weighing 27 pounds (Kewaunee, 1895). An¬
other was shot by Peter Zinn in the fall of 1896 (Two Rivers,
1896). The winter of 1897-98, trappers at Neshoto (Shoto), town
of Two Rivers, captured five otters (Two Rivers, 1898).
Marathon. — In the early days Michael De Jar din, a Chippewa,
assisted his father at Mosinee in trapping otter and other fur
bearers which were plentiful (Ladu, 1907). The small post of the
American Fur Company at La Bulle (Wausau) shipped 13 otters
in 1827.
Marinette. — Stanislaus Shappus reported that he had on hand
June 27, 1834, at the American Fur Company post on the Menomi¬
nee River, only one pack of furs in which were some otters. On
June 5, 1835, he had 80 otters. A black otter was trapped on the
Peshtigo in December, 1875 (Marinette and Peshtigo, 1875). In
November, 1889, two otters were killed near the village of Peshtigo
(Marinette, 1889). The fall of 1895, Gus Wendt caught two otters
up the Peshtigo (Peshtigo, 1895). One was shot in November, 1898
(Peshtigo, 1898) . At that time the capture of the fourth otter near
the village of Peshtigo was reported (Marinette, 1898). The same
fall Tom Bone trapped two otters six miles up the Menominee
(Marinette, 1898.1).
Otter Lake is in the town of Pembine. Otter Creek, town of Silver
Creek, flows east into the Peshtigo.
Marquette. — On December 5, 1824, Jacques Porlier wrote to A.
Grignon that he had obtained 12 otter pelts from the Indians at
Buffalo Lake (Porlier, 1911). In 1849 there were otters and other
fur bearers (Acme, 1890) . In July, 1880, a den of young otters was
discovered at the foot of Buffalo Lake. They were being raised on
a bottle (Montello, 1880). An otter was seen swimming in the mill
pond at Westfield, October 1, 1882. It evaded capture (Montello,
1882).
Milwaukee. — The otter was listed by Lapham (1853) as one of
the indigenous mammals of the county.
Monroe. — In the late fall of 1844, Manly (1927 :52) found sign of
otter on the headwaters of the Lemonweir and set traps.
Oconto. — J. I. Bovee caught two otters on the upper Pensaukee
in the spring of 1884 (Oconto, 1884). In the fall of 1885 an otter
was caught in Leigh (Lee) Lake, town of Bagley, and another was
shot within the corporate limits of Oconto (Oconto, 1885). A large
otter was killed in December, 1886, a few miles west of Oconto
where it was considered rare (Oconto, 1886).
1970] Schorger — The Otter in Early Wisconsin 141
Oneida. — Specimens from the county were examined by Jackson
(1908).
Outagamie.— In April, 1873, Louis West shot an otter on the
edge of the city of Appleton (Appleton, 1873).
Black Otter Lake is in the town of Hortonia. It is drained by
Black Otter Creek which flows north into the Wolf.
Pepin. — On April 16, 1888, Benjamin Dickinson shot an otter
on Plumer (Plummer) Lake (Durand, 1888). It was 4 feet in
length from tip to tip and weighed 20 pounds. The lake, in sections
30 and 31, town of Durand, has nearly disappeared.
Polk. — According to Surface Water Resources of Polk County
(1961), Otter Lake with an area of 8.3 acres is in the town of
Milltown.
Racine. — Dr. H. V. Ogden had in his collection a skull from the
town of Waterford (Cory, 1912). On December 12, 1879, Charles
Graves speared near Waterford an otter weighing 20 pounds
(Waterford, 1879). E. Alaxson, in April, 1886, killed one otter and
wounded another which escaped (Waterford, 1886) .
Richland. — C. C. Derrickson caught a black otter in Willow
Creek, in the town of Willow (Richland Center, 1889).
Rock. — Caswell (n.d.) came with his parents to section 7, town of
Fulton, in 1837. At that time there were many otters. On February
24, 1839, Ogden (1839) wrote in his diary that he saw two otters
in the town of Milton, presumably on Otter Creek. This creek's
name was derived from the number of otter slides on its banks
when first surveyed (Guernsney, 1856; Smith, 1872). An otter was
captured alive on Bass Creek in the town of Rock in January, 1870
(Janesville, 1870). In the spring of 1876 an otter was taken at
Otter Creek near Milton (Janesville, 1876). In June, 1902, Jack-
son (1961:383) saw tracks along Otter Creek, section 5 (probably
3) town of Milton.
Otter Creek rises in the town of Lima, flows west into the town
of Milton, then north into Lake Koshkonong.
Sauk. — Canfield (1870:38) stated that the otter was “quite
plentiful." In March, 1887, a trapper of North Freedom caught an
otter four feet in length in the Baraboo River where there were
several others (Wonewoc, 1887). Occasionally seen along the Wis¬
consin River (Cole, 1922).
Otter Creek rises in the town of Freedom, flows south and enters
the Wisconsin 1.5 miles below Sauk City.
Sawyer. — The American Fur Company on July 22, 1822, re¬
ported 80 otters among the furs received from Lac Court Oreilles.
142 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Sheboygan. — In 1859 a boy caught two young otters near She¬
boygan (Sheboygan, 1859). Otters were present and their skins
were purchased by traders (Buchen, 1944). Prior to 1870 the In¬
dians took in the town of Rhine about $800 worth of deer, muskrat,
and otter in a season (Gerend, 1920).
Otter Pond, very small, is in the northwest corner of the town of
Plymouth.
Taylor. — The summer of 1885, A. Bonneville of Medford was
keeping two young otters as pets (Medford, 1885).
Trempealeau. — James Reed, a well known trapper, settled at
Trempealeau in 1840 when otter was one of the abundant fur
bearers (Pierce, 1915). In the spring of 1850, Grignon (1914)
traded with the Indians who had trapped up the Trempealeau and
secured a fine lot of furs including otter. Two otters were seen on a
slide on the Trempealeau as late as 1880 (Bunnell, 1897). The
species disappeared long ago (Curtiss-Wedge, 1917).
Vernon. — The winter of 1839-40 Robert Douglas came upon an
otter using a slide on the Bad Axe River (Polleys, 1948). Mather
(1896) and his trapping companion caught several otters on the
headwaters of the Kickapoo (erroneously called the Bad Axe) the
winter of 1855-56.
Otter Creek rises in the town of Webster, flows southeast, and
enters the Kickapoo at La Farge.
Vilas . — Perrault (1909-10) in 1791 bought of Dufund Dufault
the furs, including one pack of otter, for which he had traded at
Lac du Flambeau. The winter of 1804-05 Malhiot (1910) was in
charge of a post at this lake. On October 5, 1804, his inventory of
furs included 44 otters, and on May 21, 1805, he recorded a return
of 20 otters. Cram (1841) stated that the Lac Vieux Desert region
was tolerably well provided with otters. In the spring of 1857 H. P.
Poler of Eagle Lake arrived in Wausau (1857) with furs includ¬
ing otter. Jackson (1910) had the report that during the winter
of 1908-09 otters were quite common at Oak Lake and Mamie Lake,
which are at the Michigan boundary.
Otter Lake is in the town of Lincoln, and Otter Rapids on the
Wisconsin River about five miles west of the village of Eagle River.
Walworth. — W.H.M. came to the town of East Troy in 1845.
Honey Creek was full of fish, and lakes and streams were “alive
with muskrat, mink, and otter” (Burlington, 1882). In the early
days otters were seen occasionally, the town of Sugar Creek being
mentioned specifically (Western Hist. Co., 1882). The Indians
hunted otter in the vicinity of Lake Geneva (Simmons, 1875).
Otter (Wandewaga) Lake is in the northeast corner of the town
of Sugar Creek.
1970] Schorger — The Otter in Early Wisconsin 143
Washburn.— At present one of the most productive counties for
otter.
Waukesha— A settler who came to Waukesha in the spring of
1841 wrote that an otter would occasionally plunge into the Little
Fox (Waukesha, 1890). Two young otters were captured by Rolla
Clark at Big Bend, town of Vernon, near the Fox River in April,
1876 (Waukesha, 1876). About a dozen otters were taken in a
month’s time during the past season (c. 1880) by A. Vieu, who
lived near Little Muskego Lake, town of Muskego (Western Hist.
Co., 1880). An otter measuring three feet and eleven inches was
shot at the head of Eagle (Spring) Lake. It was carrying a trap
(Kaukauna, 1889).
Waupaca. — Otter Lake is in the southeastern part of the town
of Farmington.
Waushara. — A farmer living a few miles north of Wautoma is
said to have trapped a large otter (Chilton, 1889.1).
Winnebago— At the Menominee payment at Lake Poygan in
1847 the Indians traded a large number of otter and other furs
(Anon., 1847).
References
Acme Publ. Co. 1890. Portrait and biographical album of Green Lake, Mar¬
quette and Waushara counties, Wisconsin. Chicago, p. 313.
Ahnapee (Algoma) Record. 1894. Oct. 18.
Allen, Lieut. J. 1834. Journal of an expedition into the Indian country . . .
in 1832. House of Rep., 23rd Cong., 1st Sess., Doc. 223, Ser. No. 257. p. 26.
American Fur Company Papers. Wis. Hist. Soc.
Anon. 1847. Menominee payment. Watertown Chronicle Nov. 3.
Appleton Post. 1873. April 17.
Ashland Press. 1885. March 28.
Audubon, J. J. and J. Bachman. 1851. The quadrupeds of North America.
New York. 11:4, 5.
Augusta Eagle . 1897. Oct. 30.
Bailey, V. 1931. Mammals of New Mexico. N. Am. Fauna 53:323.
Barabash-Nikiforov, I. I. 1962. The sea otter. Jerusalem, p. 43.
Bayfield Press. 1877. June 27.
Beaver Dam Citizen. 1860. April 12.
Brown, C. E. 1915. Lake Wingra. Wis. Arch. 14:79.
Buchen, G. W. 1944. Historic Sheboygan County, n.p. pp. 53, 57, 67.
Bunnell, L. H. 1897. Winona and its environs. Winona, pp. 331-32.
Burlington Free Press. 1882. Sept. 26.
Butterfield, C. W. 1880. The history of Columbia County, Wisconsin. Chicago.
p. 666.
- and G. A. Ogle. 1884. History of Crawford and Richland counties,
Wisconsin. Chicago, p. 899.
Canfield, W. H. 1870. Outline sketches of Sauk County. Third sketch. Baraboo.
P. 38.
Carr, C. F. 1891. Otter. Wis. Nat. 1:128.
Cartwright, David W. 1875. Natural history of western wild animals. Toledo.
144 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Cartwright, Capt. George. 1911. Labrador journal (1792). Boston.
Carver, J. 1784. Three years travels through the interior parts of North
America. Philadelphia, p. 118.
Caswell, Lucien B. n.d. Reminiscences. Wis. Hist. Soc. Ms. p. 19.
Chilton Times. 1880. Dec. 4.
- . 1887. Dec. 3.
- . 1897. April 24.
- . 1899. March 18.
- . 1899.1. March 25.
Chippewa Falls Union. 1865; Madison State Journal March 30.
- Democrat. 1871. June 1.
Coe, E. D. 1908. Reminiscences of a pioneer in the Rock River country. Proc.
Wis. Hist. Soc. for 1907. p. 191.
Cole, H. E. 1918. A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin. Chicago.
1:122.
- . 1922. Summary of the archeology of western Sauk County. Wis.
Arch. n.s. 1:83-84.
- and H. A. Smythe. 1919. Adams County. Wis. Arch. 18:46.
Cooke, W. W. 1940. A frontiersman in northwestern Wisconsin. Wis. Mag.
Hist. 23:295.
Cory, C. B. 1912. The mammals of Illinois and Wisconsin. Chicago, p. 331.
Coues, E. 1877. The fur-bearing animals of North America. Washington, p.
299.
Cram, Capt. T. J. 1841. Report on the survey of the boundary between the
state of Michigan and the territory of Wisconsin. Senate, 26th Cong.,
2nd Sess. Doc. 151. pp. 12, 13.
Curot, M. 1911. A Wisconsin fur-trader’s journal. 1803-04. Wis. Hist. Colls.
20:396-471.
Curtiss-Wedge, F. 1917. History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. Chicago,
p. 71.
- - - . 1918. History of Clark County, Wisconsin. Chicago, p. 37.
Delavan Enterprise. 1884. Nov. 26.
Dessureau, R. M. 1922. History of Langlade County, Wisconsin. Antigo. p. 25.
Durand Pepin County Courier. 1888. April 20.
Eau Claire Free Press. 1859. Jan. 20.
- 1883, Oct. 11.
Featherstonhaugh, G. W. 1836. Report of a geological reconnaissance made
in 1835 . . . Green Bay and the Wisconsin Territory . . . Washington, p.
123.
Florence Mining News. 1884. Oct. 18.
Fond du Lac Commonwealth. 1881; Arena Star. March 25.
Fonda, J. H. 1868. Early Wisconsin. Wis. Hist. Colls. 5:230.
Fort Atkinson Union. 1879. March 28.
- . 1887. April 15.
- . 1890; Whitewater Register April 17.
Fox Lake Gazette. 1858. Dec. 14.
- Representative. 1867 ; Beaver Dam Citizen Jan. 31.
French (Swisher), Bella. 1875. Neillsville and Clark County, Wisconsin.
Am. Sketch Book 1(5) :222.
Gerend, A. 1920. Sheboygan County. Wis. Arch. 19:170-71.
Glidden Pioneer. 1885. April 2, 9.
Goodwin, G. G. 1935. The mammals of Connecticut. Conn. Geol. Nat. Hist.
Surv. Bull. 53:72.
Green Bay Advocate. 1895. Jan. 31.
1970]
Schorger — The Otter in Early Wisconsin
145
Gregory, J. G. 1932. Southwestern Wisconsin. Chicago. 1:665.
Grignon, A. 1914. Recollections. Proc. Wis. Hist. Soc. for 1913. p. 118.
Guernsey, 0. 1856. History of Rock County. Janesville, p. 41.
Hamilton, W. J. 1943. The mammals of eastern United States. Ithaca, p. 151.
Hardy, M. 1911. The otter. Forest and Stream 76:331, 371.
Hawkins, A. S. 1940. A wildlife history of Faville Grove, Wisconsin. Trans.
Wis. Acad. Sci. ... 32:59.
Hennepin, L. 1903. A new discovery of a vast country in America (1698).
Chicago, p. 517.
Henry, A. 1921. Travels and adventures. Chicago, p. 197.
Innis, H. A. 1927. The fur trade of Canada. Toronto, p. 116.
Jackson, H. H. T. 1908. A preliminary list of Wisconsin mammals. Bull. Wis.
Nat. Hist. Soc. 6:27-28.
- . 1910. The distribution of certain Wisconsin mammals. Bull. Wis.
Nat. Hist. Soc. 8:89.
- . 1961. Mammals of Wisconsin. Madison.
Janesville Gazette. 1870. Jan. 20.
- . 1876. May 16.
Kaukauna Swn. 1889. April 12.
Kewaunee Enterprise. 1887. Dec. 3.
- .. 1893. April 7.
- . 1895. Nov. 15.
— - . 1896. Oct. 6.
- . 1897. Jan. 22.
Kingston, J. T. 1879. Early exploration and settlement of Juneau County.
Wis. Hist. Colls. 8:373.
Kittle, W. 1900. History of the township and village of Mazomanie. Madison.
p. 11.
Knudsen, G. J. 1956. Preliminary otter investigations. Wis. Pittman-Robert-
son Quart. Prog. Rept. 15(2) :132, 139.
- . 1957. Preliminary otter investigations. Wis. Pittman-Robertson
Quart. Prog. Rept. 15(4) : 51-69.
La Crosse Daily News. 1881. Feb. 23.
Ladu, E. A. 1907. Early and late Mosinee. Wausau, p. 107.
Lapham, I. A. 1853. A systematic catalogue of the animals of Wisconsin.
Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc. for 1852. 2:338.
Lyman, F. H. 1916. The city of Kenosha and Kenosha County, Wisconsin.
Chicago, p. 344.
Lahontan, Baron de. 1905. New voyages to North- America. Chicago, p. 113.
Madison Argus and Democrat. 1854. April 19.
- — ■ State Journal. 1891. March 6.
Malhiot, F. V. 1910. A Wisconsin fur-trader’s journal, 1804-05. Wis. Hist.
Colls. 19:223, 225.
Manitowoc Pilot. 1894. Jan. 18.
Manly, W. L. 1927. Death Valley in ’49. Chicago.
Marinette Eagle. 1889. Nov. 16.
- . 1898. Nov. 19.
- . 1898.1. Nov. 26.
Marinette and Peshtigo Eagle. 1875. Dec. 11.
Mather, Fred. 1896. Men I have fished with. Forest and Stream 47:331, 371.
Mauston Star. 1890. Dec. 18.
Medford Star and News. 1885. Aug. 8.
Merriam, C. H. 1891. Biological reconnaissance of Idaho. N. Am. Fauna 5:82.
Merrill Northern Wisconsin News. 1884. May 23.
146 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Montello Express. 1880. July 3.
- . 1882. Oct. 7.
Myrick and Weld. 1843. Account book. Wis. Hist. Soc.
N eillsville Republican. 1873. Oct. 18.
Newhouse, S. 1874. The trapper’s guide. New York. p. 40.
Oconto Enquirer. 1884. March 6.
- . 1885. Oct. 31.
- . 1886. Dec. 12.
Ogden, G. W. 1839. Diary at Milton, Wisconsin. Copy Wis. Hist. Soc.
Perrault, J. B. 1909-10. Narrative of the travels and adventures of a mer¬
chant voyageur. Mich. Hist. Colls. 37:559.
Peshtigo Times. 1895. Nov. 9.
- . 1898. Nov. 12.
Pierce, E. D. 1915. James Allen Peed. Proc. Wis. Hist. Soc. for 1914. p. 116.
Polleys, A. D. 1948. Stories of pioneer days in the Black River Valley. Black
River Falls, p. 16.
Porlier, J. 1911. Letter December 5, 1824. Wis. Hist. Colls. 20:363.
Portage Democrat. 1877. April 13.
Prairie du Chien Leader. 1858. April 3.
Quarles, J. V. 1933. Letters. Wis. Mag. Hist. 16:299.
Richardson, J. 1829. Fauna boreali-americana : quadrupeds. London, p. 58.
Richland Center Rustic . 1889. Dec. 7.
Scott, W. E. 1939. Swimming power of the Canadian otter. Jour. Mamm.
20:371.
Sheboygan Times. 1859; Madison State Journal May 9.
Simmons, J. 1875. The history of Geneva, Wisconsin. Lake Geneva, p. 9.
Sisson, O. S. 1955. Lewis Valley. La Crosse Co. Hist. Sketches 8:11.
Smith, I. T. 1872. Journal, 1835-36: early settlement of Rock County. Wis.
Hist. Colls. 6:425.
Snyder, W. E. 1902. A list, with brief notes, of the mammals of Dodge Co.,
Wis. Bull. Wis. Nat. Plist. Soc. 2:123.
Stoner, G. W. 1899. Early Madison. Madison Democrat Dec. 3.
Strong, M. 1883. List of the mammals of Wisconsin. In Geology of Wisconsin.
Madison. 1:437.
Sturgeon Bay Independent. 1887. April 8.
- Advocate. 1896. March 28.
Titus, W. A. 1936. The westward trail. Wis. Mag. Hist. 19:414.
Two Rivers Chronicle. 1896. Sept. 8.
- . 1898. Jan. 4.
Waskow, B. 1939. Bayfield otter. Wis. Consv. Bull. 4(4) :61.
Waterford Post. 1879. Dec. 18.
- . 1886. April 8.
Waterloo Journal. 1881. Jan. 20.
- . 1888. March 1.
Waukesha Freeman. 1876. April 13.
- . 1890. July 10.
Wausau Central Wisconsin. 1857. May 13.
Western Hist. Co. 1880. History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Chicago,
p. 385.
- . 1881. History of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Chicago, p. 56.
- . 1882. History of Walworth County, Wisconsin. Chicago, pp. 316, 938.
Wonewoc Reporter. 1887 ; Arena Rural Eye March 19.
VENTI FACTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CAMBRIAN-
PRECAMBRIAN UNCONFORMITY AT
NEKOOSA, WISCONSIN
Ronald W. Tank
Technological advances in science and engineering have enabled
geologists to approach many of the problems of geology with a high
degree of sophistication and precision. Radiometric dating has led
to our modern concept of time, geophysical techniques have enabled
the exploration geologist to locate new ore bodies, and observations
by satellites have improved our understanding of the structure of
the earth. However, the nature of the rock record argues against
the suggestion that someday technology will enable the geologist to
solve all the problems of earth history with similar precision. One
reason is that wherever sedimentary rocks are studied there are
gaps or unconformities marking interruptions of the stratigraphic
record. In 1788 James Hutton first recognized these temporal
breaks in the rock record, and later Charles Darwin, in his monu¬
mental Origin of Species , emphasized the “imperfection of the
geologic record”. These imperfections have frustrated the efforts
of historical geologists for almost two centuries.
In Wisconsin, more of geologic time is probably represented by
uncomformities, or temporal breaks, than is represented by the
rocks themselves. For example, approximately 600 million years
have elapsed since the beginning of Cambrian times (Holmes,
1959). The post-Precambrian rock record of Wisconsin records
less than 200 million years of this interval in earth history. There
are many small gaps in the stratigraphic record of Wisconsin, but
one of the largest and most noteworthy gaps occurs at the con¬
tact between the Cambrian and Precambrian rocks (Weidman,
1907, Atwater, 1935, Raasch, 1950, Thwaites, 1957). The Cam-
brian-Precambrian unconformity is perhaps the most striking and
universal break in the succession of rocks covering the earth. The
period of world-wide erosion associated with this unconformity
was called the Lipalian interval by Walcott (1910), who was in¬
trigued by its possible relationship with the problem of the first
appearance of a rich fauna in the rock record. The areal extent
of this unconformity in Wisconsin in shown in Figure 1. Although
the map pattern of the unconformity traces a sinuous line across
the entire state, actual exposures are limited to only a few quar¬
ries and river valleys.
147
148 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 1. Map of Wisconsin showing Nekoosa locality and northern limit of
Cambrian-Precambrian contact (dashed line) from geologic map of Wisconsin
by Bean (1949).
The purpose of this paper is to report on the occurrence of
ventifacts in the exposure of the Cambrian-Precambrian uncon¬
formity at Nekoosa, Wisconsin. Ventifacts are stones that have
had their surfaces or shape modified by wind-driven sand. Their
surface is generally characterized by a high polish and by a variety
of facets, ridges and pits. They are rarely found in older rocks
but are not uncommon in Recent and Pleistocene materials. Several
specimens collected from modern environments are shown in
Figure 2. Ventifacts are useful as indicators of prolonged wind
erosion commonly associated with the desert, polar or beach en-
1970] Tank — C ambrian—Pre cam b rian Unconformity
149
Figure 2. Modern ventifacts collected from the Green River Basin, Wyoming
(specimen a; sandstone), Terry Andrae State Park, Wisconsin (specimen b;
basalt) and Mojave Desert, California (specimen c; vein quartz).
vironment. Although the writer has been unable to find ventifacts
at other exposures of the Cambrian-Precambrian unconformity,
Parker (1965) reports an occurrence near Crivitz, Wisconsin and
Wentworth and Dickey (1935) report an occurrence near Chip¬
pewa Falls, Wisconsin.
The Nekoosa exposure is located along the east bank of the Wis¬
consin River and extends from the foot of the mill dam of the
Nekoosa Edwards Paper Company to a point approximately 200
yards downstream (SW *4, NW M i, SE Section 10, T 21 N,
R 5 E, Wood County, Wisconsin). Cambrian Dresbach Group sand¬
stones outcrop along the east bank of the river and are in non-
conformable contact with Precambrian gneiss and schist near river
level. The contact represents an old erosion surface with approxi¬
mately four feet of relief at this exposure.
Unaltered Precambrian granite gneiss and schist are exposed
near the dam. The gneiss and schist are cut by numerous quartz
and granite veins, and the entire exposure is interrupted by numer¬
ous joints. High water levels during the summer of 1968 prevented
a more detailed examination of these rocks, but Weidman (1907)
150 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
reports northeast strikes and steep dips in the schist plus schistose
greenstrone. Above the unaltered gneiss and schist is a zone of
altered schist which ranges from a few inches to five feet in thick¬
ness. The quartz veins are unaltered in this zone, but textures and
banding in the schist are only faintly visible. The altered schist is
locally overlain by yellowish-gray, structureless, kaolinitic clay up
to 6" thick. Fine- to medium-grained, cross-bedded, orthoquartzitic
sands of the Dresbach Group overlie the clay, or, where the clay
is absent, rest directly on altered schist. A thin bed of pebble
conglomerate is generally present at the base of the Dresbach
sands.
Two vein quartz ventifacts were discovered in situ at Nekoosa.
Specimens “a” and “b” in Figure 3 were taken from the contact be¬
tween the pebble conglomerate and the highly-altered clayey schist.
Although the ventifacts cannot be correlated to a specific vein,
they were most probably derived from nearby quartz veins that
cross-cut the gneiss and schist and represent a residual weathering
Figure 3. Ventifacts (specimens a and b) from Cambrian-Precambrian con¬
tact and cobbles of vein quartz (specimens c and d) from bed of Wisconsin
River; Nekoosa, Wisconsin.
1970] Tank — C am b rian-Precam h rian Unconformity
151
product. Specimen “a” measures 6.50 x 6.00 x 3.55 cm. and speci¬
men “b” 7.59 x 5.58 x 2.88 cm. The basal surfaces are somewhat
pock-marked and several distinctly developed facets are present.
The facets are well-worn, smooth and slightly curved and form
well-developed ridges where they intersect.
Two cobbles collected from the river bed adjacent to the out¬
crop are illustrated as specimens “c” and “d” in Figure 3. These
specimens are representative of the numerous rough-surfaced cob¬
bles that are present on the river bed. These cobbles were prob¬
ably released from quartz veins through modern stream erosion
and should not be confused with the ventifacts.
The world-wide extent of the Cambrian-Precambrian unconform¬
ity indicates a general lowering of sea-level and correspondingly
high-continentality. The ultimate cause of the lowering of sea-level
in late Precambrian time is unknown. Some geologists have sug¬
gested late Precambrian glaciation, while others have suggested
epeirogenic movements or even extraterrestrial forces. Whatever
the cause, the agents of erosion operating on the exposed con¬
tinents were certainly as varied then as they are today. The occur¬
rence of ventifacts at the top of the Precambrian erosion surface
at Chippewa Falls, Nekoosa and Crivitz indicates that during the
late Precambrian wind erosion was an active agent in Wisconsin.
References
Atwater, Gordon, 1935, The Keweenawan-U pper Cambrian unconformity in
the upper Mississippi Valley: Kansas Geol. Soc. 9th Ann. Field Conf.
Guidebook, p. 316-320.
Bean, E. F., 1959, Geological Map of Wisconsin.
Darwin, Charles, 1859, On the origin of species by means of natural selec¬
tion, London, Murray.
Holmes, Arthur, 1959, A revised geological time-scale: Edinburgh Geol. Soc.
Tr., v. 17, p. 183-216.
Hutton, James, 1795, Theory of the earth with proofs & illustrations, v. 1 &
2, Edinburgh, v. 3, London, 1899.
Parker, Allen, 1965, Cambrian-Precambrian contact in Wisconsin: unpub¬
lished senior thesis, Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin.
Raasch, G. O., 1950, Current evaluation of the Cambrian-Keweenawan bound¬
ary: III. Acad. Sci . Trans., v. 43, p. 137-150.
Thwaites, F. T., 1957, Map of buried Precambrian of Wisconsin: Univ. Wise.
Geol. & Nat. Hist. Survey.
Walcott, C. D., 1910, Cambrian geology and paleontology: Smithsonian
Miscel. Coll., v. 57, 412 p.
Weidman, Samuel, 1907, The geology of north central Wisconsin: Wise. Geol.
and Nat. Hist. Survey, Bull. 16, ser. 4, 497 p.
Wentworth, C. and Dickey, R., 1935, Ventifact localities in the United States:
Jour. Geol. V. 43, p. 97-104.
PALEO-GEOGRAPHIC IMPLICATIONS OF CLAY BALL DEPOSITS
UNDER VALDERAN TILL IN EASTERN WISCONSIN
Barbara Zakrzewska*
The late Valderan glacial deposits of eastern Wisconsin are dis¬
cussed in the general literature on Pleistocene geomorphology (1)
as well as in specific papers (2). There is, however, no mention in
this literature of red clay ball deposits found under the Valderan
till just north of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, in a north-south trending
ridge in Sec. 31, T20 N, R25 E (Fig. 1). In this ridge numerous
distinct layers of red clay balls are found in stratified sands and
silts which are overlain by 7 to 10 feet of red Valderan till.
The clay balls vary from less than half an inch to four inches in
diameter, with one to two inches being the predominant size.
Usually the size of the clay balls varies less within a given layer
than between layers. The balls have a high degree of sphericity,
but some have a flat ring around them suggesting rolling in one
direction. They are composed of red blocky clay and contain small
pebbles, or occasionally a large pebble as a core, but do not have a
conspicuous coating of gravel. The balls occur in layers imbedded
in and separated by stratified coarse and fine sands, silts, and very
small pebbles (Fig. 2). The overlying red Valderan till usually
rests on an undisturbed surface of sand or silt but occasionally is
partly interbedded with them or contains sand lenses. (Figs. 3, 4).
The literature reviewed suggests that similar clay balls have been
found in other areas, including contemporary beaches. The old but
comprehensive paper on “armored mud balls” by Bell (3) deals
with clay balls formed on stream bottoms. Leney and Leney (4)
discuss clay balls found in outwash in front of a moraine. Kugler
and Saunders (5) describe clay balls formed on present beaches
backed by unstable marl and clay cliffs providing, through land
sliding, lumps of clay which are rolled by waves into round balls.
The characteristics of clay balls found near Two Rivers and their
stratigraphic and topographic positions suggest that they probably
formed under beach-nearshore conditions in front of an ice sheet
heavily laden with red clayey till.
* I would like to acknowledge extensive assistance in data collection and interpreta¬
tion received during the field stage of this study from Howard Deller, a geography
graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The idea of curling mud
cracks developing into clay balls is predominantly his.
153
154 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 1.
An analysis of the geomorphic history of Eastern Wisconsin
and further study of the topographic and geographic positions of
the clay ball deposit suggest its significance in the reconstruction
of the paleogeography of Eastern Wisconsin.
It is generally accepted that the red Valderan deposits, of which
the clay balls seem to be composed, are derived partly from re¬
worked mid-Wisconsin till and partly from red lake sediments
transported from Lake Superior (2, Petersen and others, p. 187)
during the retreat of the Cary ice through channels established
across Upper Michigan and connecting Glacial Lake Keweenaw in
the Lake Superior area with Glacial Lake Chicago (2, Murray, p.
1970] Zakrzewska—^-Clay Ball Deposits in Wisconsin
155
SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION
OF THE STRATIGRAPHY
OF THE RED CLAY BALL DEPOSITS
AT TWO RIVERS, WISCONSIN
jcale:
>7
>2
Blocky red clay with subangular
boulders up to 10 T in diameter
Thin layers of buff-colored sandy clay
Large red clay balls imbedded in well
sorted sand
Buff-colored fine sand
Large red clay balls in buff-colored
sand
Well stratified coarse sand and small
pebbles
Small red clay balls in sand
Alternating layers of fine, clayey
sand and stratified coarse sand
Figure 2.
153). The advancing Valderan ice later eroded these red silts and
clays, mixed them with the underlying materials, and deposited
them as the red clayey till on the uplands of eastern Wisconsin (6) .
In front of the advancing Valderan ice the lake level of the Lake
Calumet stage of Glacial Lake Chicago rose to 620 feet (7). Dur-
156 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 3. Clay Balls in Stratified Sands and Silts
under Valderan Till, Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
ing the retreat of the Valderan ice, extensive marginal lakes formed
in which the red glacio-lacustrine sediments, also found in this
area, were laid down (2, Petersen and others, p. 187).
Many of the glacial events of Eastern Wisconsin have been re¬
constructed through the study of the Two Creeks Forest bed site
at Two Creeks, Wisconsin, eleven miles north of the area of this
study. Wilson suggested (8) and others confirm (9) that the Two
Creeks Forest grew in tins area on mid-Wisconsin till and lake
deposits during the low stage of Lake Calumet, called Lake Bow¬
man- ville (7), which probably stood at the 580 feet level (1,
Thwaites and Bertrand, p. 859). Readvance of the ice in the Val¬
deran glacial substage caused the lake to flood the Two Creeks site
and bury the forest in stratified clays, silts, and sands. Subsequent
1970] Zakrzewska — Clay Ball Deposits in Wisconsin
157
Figure 4. Typical Clay Ball in Stratified Sand under
Valderan Till, Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
advance of the ice broke the trees and covered the site and the
surrounding area .with almost 10 feet of red till. According to
Th waites and Bertrand (1) and Hough (9, p. 98), well developed
Calumet stage level beaches have not been discovered in Eastern
Wisconsin. This paper reports on field evidence of what is probably
a buried beach of the Calumet II stage of Glacial Lake Chicago.
As the clay balls found near Two Rivers occur in several layers
in generally undisturbed stratigraphic sections underlying Valderan
till (in which we found a large tree log probably derived from the
nearby Two Creeks Forest bed), it can be suggested that in this
locality the advancing Valderan ice was fringed by a shallow mar¬
ginal lake or a lagoon formed behind offshore sand bars. As a re¬
sult of wave erosion or melting along the advancing Valderan ice,
158 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
small chunks of clayey Valderan till were brought to this marginal
lake. The high degree of cohesion and compactness of the till, or
its frozen state, could have kept the clay chunks from disintegrat¬
ing. In the shore environment the chunks of till were probably
rolled on the beach by successive waves until they acquired a high
degree of sphericity. Evidence supporting the suggestion that the
clay balls may represent beach environment was found at the
nearby Point Beach State Park. Red clay balls are present on the
inner part of the beach where red clay (probably from parking
lot construction) projects through the sand. These balls must have
been formed recently by waves which reached the clay bed, de¬
tached segments of it, and rolled them into round balls. Shallow
lakes or lagoons with waves of smaller magnitude could have pro¬
vided a more suitable environment for clay balls to be preserved
in successive layers of sands and silts varying in thickness from
several inches to a few feet. Xntermittently-dry lagoon bottoms
could have also provided thick flakes of red clay curling up between
dessication cracks, easy to roll into oval clay balls when washed
over by small waves. However, while several elongated clay balls
composed of layered rather than blocky clay have been found at the
site of study, most balls are composed of blocky red clay containing
small pebbles.
The present topographic setting of the study site further con¬
tributes to the understanding of the paleogeographic conditions in
the area during the formation of the red clay balls. The mile-long
north-south trending ridge in which the clay balls are found
reaches an elevation of about 640 feet above sea level (see Fig. 1)
and is located one and a half miles west from the present shore of
Lake Michigan. It rises about 30 feet above a gently sloping plain
whose eastern edge is marked by a north-south trending 600 feet
contour line interpreted to be an abandoned shoreline of Glacial
Lake Nipissing (1, Thwaites and Bertrand, Plate 8). Immediately
east of this shoreline lies the Point Beach State Park consisting of
a broad overgrown lagoon fringed on the east by crescent-shaped,
north-south trending, parallel alternating lagoons and sand bars
forming a peninsula-like projection into Lake Michigan. These
ridges and lagoons are of post-glacial origin and are not covered by
glacial till. The north-south trending ridge in which the buried
clay balls are found may be a remnant of a beach ridge analogous
to the present beach ridges located to the east of it. On the basis
of its altitude, the ridge may be interpreted to be a part of the
Glacial Lake Calumet II shoreline, whose elevation is estimated at
620 feet (7). The maximum elevation of the ridge is just over 640
feet, and the elevation of the buried beach ridge, overlain in places
by as much as 10 feet of Valderan till, is not much over 630 feet.
1970] Zakrzewska — Clay Ball Deposits in Wisconsin 159
The clay ball deposits are located below that elevation, or around
620 feet. Since the beach ridge is buried by the Valderan till, the
lake whose shoreline it represents must have existed just prior to
the maximum extent of the Valderan ice.
Wayne and Zumberge summarize the chronology of glacial lakes
in Lake Michigan Basin as shown in Table 1.
Inasmuch as the clay balls are found in the upper strata of water-
deposited sands and silts which appear to be of Two Creeks age
and are overlain by the red Valderan till, they had to be formed
at the end of the Two Creeks period but before the maximum ad¬
vance of the Valderan ice. It is therefore suggested that they rep¬
resent a beach ridge of Glacial Lake Calumet II.
A search for other sites containing layers of clay balls which
would further help interpret the site described was conducted
through a 75 square mile area around Two Rivers (in ten sand and
gravel pits), but similar beach-ridge deposits were not found. A
distinct layer of red clay balls was found at only one other place :
Table 1.
Source: W. Wayne and J. Zumberge, The Quaternary of the United States, p. 7b.
160 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
a small sand and gravel pit on a gently rolling upland immediately
adjacent to and south of West Twin River valley, just west of
Shoto (Sec. 29, T19 N, R24 E) . The site is located seven miles from
the shore of Lake Michigan at an approximate elevation of 620
feet. The layer of clay balls found here lies below 620 feet and is
imbedded predominantly in gravel deposits, overlain by about five
feet of well sorted sands, and about two feet of buff-colored till
containing ice wedges. A few small clay balls are present in the
lowest layers of the sand, but the underlying gravel deposits con¬
tain most of the red clay balls, which are of varying sizes up to 7
inches in diameter and have an occasional distinct pebble armor
around them. The clay balls in this site are less consistently round ;
many are oval or cigar-shaped with a flat ring suggesting rolling
in one direction. Inasmuch as red till is not present in this area,
though the area is mapped as Valderan (6, p. 170), the red clay
balls were probably brought into this locality with outwash gravels
from an area of red Valderan till and, therefore, differ in origin
from the clay balls at Two Rivers. Furthermore, the clay balls at
Shoto do not occur in a distinct ridge parallel to the shores of Lake
Michigan beach. Therefore, there is little to suggest at present
that they represent a beach ridge environment such as that at Two
Rivers.
A few scattered red clay balls were also found near Sheboygan,
which is located about 35 miles south of Two Rivers, but the topo¬
graphic and stratigraphic conditions again were different from
those at Two Rivers. Horn (2, p. 174) found one clay ball south¬
west of Omro, west of Lake Winnebago, imbedded in sand under 20
feet of stratified material covered by 6 to 12 feet of red Valderan
till. However, distinct clay ball layers, such as those at Two Rivers,
were not reported. All these sites, therefore, though containing clay
balls, are not comparable to the site at Two Rivers and do not con¬
tribute directly to its interpretation. Further search may, however,
reveal sites which are comparable to that at Two Rivers.
In summary, the field findings presented in this paper suggest
that marginal lakes, probably with fluctuating water level, fringed
the advancing Valderan ice near Two Rivers. The clay ball deposit
is interpreted to be a beach ridge of Glacial Lake Calumet II, which
was present in this area just prior to the maximum advance of
the Valderan ice. The deposit appears to be a beach deposit because
of the presence of distinct layers of highly spherical clay balls im¬
bedded in stratified sands and silts, similar to clay balls found on
nearby modern beaches, and because of the topographic position of
the clay balls in a north-south trending ridge roughly parallel to
the shores of Lake Michigan basin. The deposit is inferred to rep-
1970] Zakrzewska — Clay Ball Deposits in Wisconsin 161
resent a beach ridge of Glacial Lake Calumet 11 on the basis of its
geographic position, its specific elevation, and, through its strati¬
graphic position, its place in the chronology of geomorphic events
of this area. This conclusion assumes that the sequence of geo¬
morphic events proposed in the literature reviewed (7) is correct.
Further search around Lake Michigan for sites containing layers
of clay balls imbedded in beach deposits under Valderan till may
help determine whether the deposit described in this paper rep¬
resents the shoreline of Glacial Lake Calumet II, and may help map
this shoreline. Findings of this nature should help reconstruct the
paleogeography of Eastern Wisconsin during the most recent ad¬
vance of the continental ice into this area (10).
References Cited
1. Alden, W. C., “Quaternary Geology of Southeastern Wisconsin,” U.S.G.S.
Prof. Paper 106 (1918) ; Thwaites, F. T., “Pleistocene of Part of North¬
eastern Wisconsin,” G.S.A. Bull. 54, 84-144 (1943) ; Frey, J. C., and
Willman, H. B., “Classification of the Wisconsin Stage in the Lake Mich¬
igan Glacial Lobe,” III. G. S. Circ. 285, 1-16 (1960) ; Wright, H. E.,
Jr., and Frey, D. C., (ed.), The Quaternary of the United States (Prince¬
ton Univ. Press, 1965) ; Thwaites, F. T., and Bertrand, K., “Pleistocene
Geology of the Door Peninnsula, Wisconsin,” G.S.A. Bull. 68, 831-880
(1957) ; Black, R. F. and M. Rubin, “Radiocarbon Dates of Wisconsin,”
Trans. Wise. Ac. Sci. LVI, 91-115 (1967-68).
2. Murray, R. C., “The Petrology of the Cary and Valders Tills of North¬
eastern Wisconsin,” Amer. Jour. Sci. 251, 140-155 (1953) ; Horn, M. E.,
“A Pedological Study of Red Clay Soils and Their Parent Materials in
Eastern Wisconsin,” Ph.D. Thesis (Univ. of Wise., 1960) ; Lee, G. B.,
Janke, W. E., and Beaver, A. J., “Particle Size Analysis of Valders Drift
in Eastern Wisconsin,” Science 138, 154-155 (1962) ; Janke, W. E.,
“Characteristics and Distribution of Soil Parent Material in the Val¬
deran Drift Region of Eastern Wisconsin,” Ph.D. Thesis (Univ. of Wise.,
1962) ; Petersen, G. W., Lee, G. B., and Chester, G., “A Comparison
of Red Clay Glacio-Lacustrine Sediments in Northern and Eastern
Wisconsin,” Trans. Wise. Ac. Sci. LVI, 185-196 (1957-68).
3. Bell, H. S., “Armored Mud Balls — Their Origin, Properties, and Role in
Sedimentation,” Jour. Geol. 48, 1-31 (1940).
4. Leney, G. L., and Leney, A. T., “Armored Till Balls in the Pleistocene
Outwash of Southeastern Michigan,” Jour. Geol . 65, 105-106 (1957).
5. Kugler, H. G., and Saunders, J. B., “Occurrence of Armored Mud Balls
in Trinidad, West Indies,” Jour. Geol. 67, 533-565 (1959).
6. Black, R. G., “Valders Glaciation in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan — A
Progress Report,” Univ. of Michigan Great Lakes Research Oivision
(1966), pp. 169-175, suggests that these deposits are present only in
northeastern Wisconsin, though originally they were also recognized in
northwestern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
7. Wayne, W. J., and Zumberge, J. H., “Pleistocene Geology of Indiana and
Michigan,” in Wright and Frey, op. cit., (footnote 1), Fig. 6, p. 76. It
is apparent from Bretz, J. H., “The Double Calumet Stage of Lake
Chicago,” Jour. Geol. 67, 675-684 (1959) that he and Hough (footnote
162 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
9) do not agree on the interpretation of Glacial Lake Chicago. For this
reason the correlations compiled by Wayne and Zumberge from writings
by both Bretz and Hough are used in this paper.
8. Wilson, L. R., “The Two Creeks Forest Bed, Manitowoc County, Wiscon¬
sin,^ ” Trans . Wise. Ac. Sci. 27, 31-46 (1932) ; and “Further Fossil Studies
of the Two Creeks Forest Bed, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin,” Torrey
Bot. Club Bull. 66, 317-325 (1936).
9. For example: Hough, J. L., “The Prehistoric Great Lakes of North
America,” Amer. Scientist 51, No. 1, 100 (1936) ; or Wayne, W., and
Zumberge, H., op. cit., pp. 73-80; or Thwaites, F. T., and Bertrand, K.,
op. cit., pp. 859-860.
10. I thank Professors K. Nelson and N. Lasca of the Department of Geol¬
ogy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, for their comments on the
ideas contained in the early version of this paper, and Professor J.
Flannery and the UWM Cartographic Laboratory for the preparation
of illustrations. Figure 4 was provided by Mr. Charles Collins.
NOTES ON THE ECOLOGY OF THE HARVEST MOUSE,
REITHRODONTOMYS MEGALOTIS, IN
SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN
Gerald E. Svendsen
Introduction
The harvest mouse, Reithrodontomys megalotis , occurs through¬
out most of the central and western United States and Mexico. It
is the most widespread of all species of harvest mice, preferring
thick stands of grass (Hall and Kelson, 1959). Local abundance
depends on a variety of vegetation that provides food at all sea¬
sons. Uncultivated fields and areas having grasses bearing large
seeds are favored. In Wisconsin, as far as is known, the distribu¬
tion of this species is limited to the driftless region, and it favors
more or less open, grassy, neglected fields, grassy borders of cul¬
tivated fields, and grain fields (Jackson, 1961).
The first specimens of the harvest mouse collected in Wisconsin
were taken in La Crosse county in 1930 by Vernon Bailey, and
Francis Hammerstrom procured a specimen from Juneau county
in 1936 (Jackson, 1961). Subsequent specimens were collected from
Columbia and Sauk counties by Hansen (1944a). Personal records
include specimens from La Crosse, Wood, and Vernon coun¬
ties. Hansen (1944a) and Jackson (1961) recognize this harvest
mouse to be Reithrodontomys megalotis pectoralis, but Hooper
(1952) and Hoffmeister and Warnock (1955) find it indistinguish¬
able from Reithrodontomys megalotis dychei.
This paper presents some observations on habitats used by this
animal, population densities, and a record of some relationships
with associated species in southwestern Wisconsin.
Methods and Materials
Population and vegetation analysis were determined in a 9 acre
field which has not been under cultivation for 8 years. This neg¬
lected field is bordered on the north by a wooded area, on the east
by a wet marsh, and on the west and south by a 3 track railroad
right-of-way and cultivated fields planted in soybeans and corn.
The abandoned field is essentially isolated from any other area of
similar vegetational composition. A snap trap grid was arranged
163
164 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
in 1 acre plots with traps stationed every 30 feet. The grids were
run for six consecutive nights and the population estimates were
made from data based on the removal of the animals (Zippen,
1958).
Vegetational analysis was accomplished by randomly selecting
five 1 meter plots within the grids and determining species compo¬
sition. Light intensity was measured with a light meter at noon on
a clear sunny day, and expressed as percent of overhead light.
Habitat Preference
Trapping efforts in the wooded area, the marsh, the railroad
right-of-way, and in the cultivated fields yielded no harvest mice.
The only habitat from which the harvest mouse was collected was
the abandoned field. This field is in an early stage of succession,
with sapling elm, oak, and sumac (%-! inch d.b.h.) at a density
of 3 to 5 per acre. The ground cover is dense, total foliage cover is
90 percent. Light intensity at ground level is 15 to 20 percent of
full sunlight. The areas of sparse vegetation are due to places
where animals’ digging and denning activities have brought
up large quantities of sand.
Seventy-two percent of the total species of plants are the grasses
Phleum, Agropyron, and Panicum, and the legumes Lespedeza and
Trifolium. The forbes Aster, Asclepias, Aplopappas and Solidago,
the grasses Andropogon, Elumus and Setaris, the blackberry
Eubatus, and the composites Tragopogon and Taraxacum make up
23 percent of the plants. The remaining 5 percent of the species
are woody plants and other grasses and forbes.
Average height of the vegetation varies from 12 to 20 inches,
with no ground litter over most of the area. The soil is a sandy
loam with very good drainage. The mice live mainly in burrows.
Population Density of Reithrodontomys
The population density of Reithrodontomys megalotis was meas¬
ured in the falls of 1967 and 1968 in the abandoned field where
previous trapping indicated the presence of a substantial popula¬
tion of this species. The fall population, estimated by the removal
method, was 18 animals per acre. This represents 0.046 animals
per trap night. The spring trapping yielded 0.012 animals per trap
night. The fall population based on animals per trap night is almost
four times that of the spring population. Hansen (1945) estimated
a maximum density of harvest mice in foxtail-smartweed cover
type as 2.4 per acre. Birkenholz (1967) estimated a fall population
of 17 animals per acre in central Illinois.
1970] Svendsen — Ecology of the Harvest Mouse 165
Associated Species
The harvest mouse is found in the same area with a variety of
other small animals. Peromyscus maniculatus is the only species
which outnumbers the harvest mouse. The estimated density of
Peromyscus maniculatus is 72 animals per acre, representing 56
percent of the total population of animals in the old field study
area. The percent of the total population represented by the other
animals is Reithrodontomys megalotis 14 percent, Blarina brevi-
cauda 10 percent, Microtus pennsylvanicus 7 percent, Mus musculus
4 percent, Peromyscus leucopus 4 percent, Zapus hudsonius 3 per¬
cent, Bor ex cinerus 1 percent, and Spermophillus tridecemlineatus
1 percent.
Eleven percent of the total population is composed of two species
of predators Blarina brevicauda and Bor ex cinerus , the former be¬
ing the most common. Peromyscus leucopus were all captured not
more than 30 feet from the edge of the woods. These individuals
were probably wanderers from the woods rather than permanent
residents of the field. Microtus were trapped mainly in areas of
the field where lespedeza and clover were especially thick, and in¬
frequently over the rest of the field. Mus, Zapus, and Peromyscus
were continually trapped with the harvest mouse, especially in
areas of the field where the seed-bearing plants were more com¬
mon. These four species appear to compete directly with one an¬
other. Zapus hibernates from late October to May and at this time
would be removed from competition, and Catlett and Shellhammer
(1962) suggest that Mus and Reithrodontomys form a cospecies
social hierarchy and that little competition exists between these
species. Peromyscus maniculatus appears, therefore, to compete
most strongly with the harvest mouse throughout the year in this
study area.
Discussion
It can be assumed that clearing of woodlands and establishing
grasslands and grainfields has aided the distribution of the harvest
mouse. Birkenholz (1967) reports an eastward range extension in
Illinois during the past century in response to the clearing of wood¬
lands. The harvest mouse populates new habitats suddenly and
attains a high local abundance if the habitat alteration favors its
establishment. These habitats are usually transitory resulting in a
decrease in abundance if the vegetation composition becomes less
favorable.
The harvest mouse can become established in these local and
transitory habitats in two ways. Individuals from widely distri¬
buted but small and relic populations can populate the new areas,
166 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
or a saltatorial colonization can occur from isolated, well-populated
pockets. Saltatorial colonization by vertebrates is considered un¬
likely by Smith (1957), although Leopold (1947) reports that out¬
lying individuals are common in species in the process of expand¬
ing their range.
Five years of intensive trapping of all types of habitats has
yielded only one harvest mouse from an area which could be con¬
sidered nontypical, and Hansen (1944) reported catching one indi¬
vidual on a juniper bluff. The trapping data would, therefore,
favor saltatorial colonization of new areas, due to the lack of indi¬
viduals, representing a scattered population, in nontypical habi¬
tats. It is reasonable that saltatorial colonization can take place if
the harvest mouse has a tendency to wander, and if it has a low
degree of motivation to return home. Fisler (1966) reported that
the homing tendencies of the harvest mouse would be best
described as nonrandom throughout the terrain and that the mice
lack motivation to return home from unknown areas.
References Cited
Birkenholz, Dale E. 1967. The harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys megalotis)
in Central Illinois. Trans. Ill. State Acad. Sci., 60, No. 1.
Catlett, R. H., and H. S. Shellhammer. 1962. A comparison of behavorial
and biological characteristics of house and harvest mice. J. Mamm. 43:
133-144.
Fisler, George F. 1966. Homing in the western harvest mouse, Reithrodon¬
tomys megalotis. J. Mamm. 47 : 53-58.
Hall, E. R., and K. R. Kelson. 1959. The mammals of North America. The
Ronald Press Co., New York. 1083 p.
Hansen, H. C. 1944a. A new harvest mouse from Wisconsin. Field Mus. Nat.
Hist., Zool. Ser. 29: 205-209.
Hansen, H. C. 1945. Small mammal census near Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin.
Trans. Wisconsin Acad. Sci., 47: 161-164.
Hooper, Emmet T. 1952. A systematic review of the harvest mouse (Reithrod¬
ontomys) of Latin America. Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool., Univ. Mich., no. 77.
Jackson, H. H. 1961. Mammals of Wisconsin. Univ.'of Wisconsin Press, Madi¬
son, 504 p.
Leopold, A. 1947. The distribution of Wisconsin hares. Trans. Wise. Acad.
Sci., Arts and Letters, 37 : 1-14.
Smith, P. W. 1957. Analysis of post-Wisconsin biogeography of the prairie
peninsula region based on distribution phenomena among terrestial verte¬
brate populations. Ecol. 38 : 205-219.
Zippen, C. 1956. An evaluation of the removal method of estimating animal
populations. Biometrics, 12 : 163-189.
AN ANNOTATED CHECK LIST OF THE GEOMETRIDAE
(LEPIDOPTERA) OF WISCONSIN1
Charles V. Coveil, Jr.
Upon completing the task of identifying some 1,700 undetermined
specimens of Geometridae for the University of Wisconsin Insec-
tarium, I felt that a Wisconsin list of this family of moths would
be useful to lepidopterists. To this end I examined additional mate¬
rial: 1,300 more specimens from the University of Wisconsin;
1,800 specimens from William E. Sieker; and over 2,000 specimens
taken by Harold Bower. Over 7,000 specimens provided the data
in this list, and localities in at least 30 counties are represented.
Previous check lists including Wisconsin Geometridae are those
of Rauterberg (1900), Fernekes (1906), and Muttkowski (1907),
all of which are restricted to Milwaukee County. I have not in¬
cluded their records here because of subsequent changes in nomen¬
clature of species, and because some of their identifications are
dubious (e.g., Fernekes, p. 54, lists Melcmchroia cephise Cramer, a
Florida species). However, most of their records are corroborated
here; and other species are recorded from Wisconsin for the first
time.
Although this list is based upon specimens I have actually ex¬
amined, a few records are included which were taken from recent
revisionary literature. These cases are so noted in the text, and
appropriate references are cited.
The nomenclature and arrangement of taxa follow generally
those of McDunnough (1938) , since that list has long been the basis
for organization of most collections of North American moths. I
have used Forbes (1948) and the revisionary works of McDun¬
nough, Rindge, Capps, Rupert, and others as aids in my determina¬
tions; consequently some digressions from McDunnough (1938)
have been made here. Numerous genera, such as Semiothisa, badly
need revisionary study. It therefore follows that certain long-stand¬
ing errors in nomenclature are unfortunately continued in this list.
These must wait for future correction.
Most of the specimens studied were collected by the following,
each listed with the localities where he made most of his captures :
Harold Bower (Lake Katherine in Oneida County, Milwaukee, and
1 University of Louisville Publications in Biology (New Series) No. 110,
167
168 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Wausau) ; Louis Griewisch (Green Bay and other “Brown County”
labels) ; Gary Lachmund (Sauk City) ; Gary Ross (Florence
County) ; and William E. Sieker (Bailey’s Harbor in Door County,
other “Door County” labels, and Madison). All of the Bower speci¬
mens are in the Los Angeles County Museum, and most of the
Sieker and Lachmund material is in my collection; the rest is at
the University of Wisconsin.
I am deeply indebted to the following for their contributions to
this effort: Dr. Roy D. Shenefelt, Curator of the University of
Wisconsin Insectarium, and his project assistants, Lutz J. Bayer
and Isabel Arevalo, for providing material and important informa¬
tion; William E. Sieker of Madison and Gary Lachmund of Sauk
City for numerous specimens; Lloyd M. Martin, Los Angeles
County Museum, for making the Bower collection available; Dr.
Frederick H. Rindge, American Museum of Natural History, for
nomenclatural advice; and Patricia K. Liles, my curatorial assist¬
ant, for compiling data. I am also very grateful to Dr. John A. Dil¬
lon, Jr., Dean of the Graduate School, University of Louisville, for
making graduate school funds available to me for the visit to the
Los Angeles County Museum.
Family Geometridae
Subfamily Brephinae
1. Brephos infans Mbschler Apr. 10-May 7
Lake Katherine, Oneida Co.
2. Leucobrephos brephoides Walker
Synonym hoyi Grote was described from Wisconsin.
Subfamily Oenochrominae
3. Alsophila pometaria Harris Apr. 18; Oct. 25-Nov. 5
Crandon; Madison; Wausau, Marathon Co.
Subfamily Geometrinae
4. Nemoria mimosaria Guenee May 14- July 11
Bailey’s Harbor; Florence Co. ; Griffith State Nursery, Wood
Co.; Lake Katherine; Marinette Co.; Wausau.
5. Nemoria rubrifrontaria Packard May 20- June 27
Lake Katherine; Sauk City; Vilas Co.
6. Dichorda iridaria Guenee May 31- June 7
Door Co.; Sauk City.
7. Synchlora liquor aria Guenee
Lake Katherine. This is, according to Ferguson (1969),
subspecies albolineata Packard.
1970]
Coveil — Geometridae of Wisconsin
169
8. Synchlora aerata Fabricius June 11-Aug. 27
Columbia Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison; Trout Lake, Vilas
Co.; Sayner; Wausau. These records include rubrifrontaria
Packard, synonymized by Ferguson (1969).
9. Chlorochlamys chloroleucaria Guenee June 4-Sept. 8
Belleville; Columbia Co.; Door Co.; Green Bay; Harrisville;
Madison; Rusk Co.; near Sayner, Vilas Co.; Wausau.
10. Hethemia pistaciaria Guenee June 11-July 10
Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine.
11. Mesothea incertata Walker May 10-30
Cranmoor, Wood Co.; Lake Katherine; Marinette Co.
Subfamily Sterrhinae
12. Metasiopsis balistaria Guenee May 14- July 22
Boscobel St. Nursery, Grant Co.; Dane Co.; Griffith St.
Nursery, Wood Co.; Milwaukee; Sturgeon Bay, Door Co.
13. Scopula cacuminaria Morrison June 18-Sept. 13
Lake Katherine; N.E. Price Co.; Wausau.
14. Scopula quadrilineata Hulst (probably June-Aug.)
“Wis.” on pin label.
15. Scopula ancellata Hulst Aug.
Bailey’s Harbor.
16. Scopula junctaria Walker May 7- July 26
Bailey’s Harbor ; Crandon ; Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine.
17. Scopula limboundata Haworth June 10-Aug. 16
Bailey’s Harbor; Crandon; Dousman; Florence Co.; Lake
Katherine ; Madison ; Marinette Co. ; Milwaukee ; Sauk City ;
Trout Lake, Vilas Co. Known widely as enucleata Guenee.
18. Scopula frigidaria Mdschler July 3
Florence Co.
19. Scopula inductata Guenee May 30-Sept. 14
Columbia Co.; Door Co.; Gordon Nursery, Douglas Co.;
Green Bay; Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; Sauk
City ; Waushara Co.
20. Idaea demissaria Hlibner May 25-July 21
Door Co.; Madison. Fletcher (1966, p. 12) synonymizes the
familiar St err ha Hlibner to Idaea Treitschke.
21. Haematopis grataria Fabricius May 31-Oct. 4
Badger Ordnance Works, Sauk City ; Boscobel ; Brown Co. ;
Columbia; DeForest; Door Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison;
Milwaukee; Rusk Co.; Sauk City; Tower Hill State Park,
Iowa Co. ; Washburn Co. ; Waushara Co. ; Wood Co.
170 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters
[Vol. 58
22. Calothysanis amaturaria Walker July 14-Sept. 14
Columbia Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison.
23. Pleuroprucha insulsaria Guenee June 9- Oct. 1
Dane Co.; Door Co.; Lake Katherine; Milwaukee.
24. Cyclophora pendulinaria Guenee May 21-Sept. 4
American Legion State Forest, Oneida Co. ; Lake Katherine ;
Rusk Co.; Trout Lake; Wausau.
25. Cyclophora packardaria Prout June 16-Aug. 29
Lake Katherine.
Subfamily Larentiinae
26. Acasis viridata Packard May 16-31
Lake Katherine.
27. Nyctobia limitaria Walker May 1-June 9
Lake Katherine.
28. Nyctobia anguilineata Grote and Robinson May 28
Lake Katherine.
29. Cladara atroliturata Walker Apr. 15-May 22 ; Aug. 9
Lake Katherine.
30. Lobophora nivigerata Walker May 18- July 12
Brown Co.; Dane Co.; Florence Co.; Green Bay; Lake
Katherine; Sauk City; near Sayner, Vilas Co.
31. Heterophleps refusata Walker June 20- July 12
Florence Co.; Milwaukee; Wausau.
32. Heterophleps trignttaria Herrich-Schaffer June 17-July 11
Madison; Milwaukee; Wausau.
33. Dyspteris abortivaria Herrich-Schaffer June 4-Aug. 11
Madison; Selzer Farm near Holy Hill.
34. Trichodezia albovittata Guenee May 26-July 23
Kewaunee Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Madison ; Milwaukee.
35. Oporophtera bruceata Hulst Oct. 15-Nov. 12
Lake Katherine; Wausau.
36. Triphosa affirmaria Walker Apr. 19-Oct. 28
Dane Co.; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Wausau. Known
widely as haesitata Guenee.
37. Hydria undulata Linnaeus June 11-Aug. 15
Door Co. ; Dousman ; Florence Co. ; Kenosha Co. ; Lake
Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee.
38. Coryphista meadi Packard May-Sept. 10
Dane Co.; Green Bay.
1970]
Covell — Geometridae of Wisconsin
171
39. Eupithecia miserulata Grote May 30-Oct. 19
Columbia Co.; Dane Co.; Door Co.; Florence Co.; Lake
Katherine; Rusk Co.; University of Wisconsin Arboretum,
Madison.
40. Eupithecia castigata Hubner June 12-26
Lake Katherine.
41. Eupithecia paipata Packard
Florence Co.; Vilas Co.
42. Eupithecia transcanadata MacKay
Lake Katherine.
43. Eupithecia columbiata Dyar Apr. 30-May 24
Lake Katherine. Determined by Bower as subspecies erpata
Pearsall.
44. Eupithecia herefordaria Cassino and Swett June 9-Sept. 15
Columbia Co.; Florence Co.
45. Eupithecia carolinensis Grossbeck June 10
Lake Katherine. Determined by R. Leuschner.
46. Eupithecia russeliata Swett May 24- July 27
Lake Katherine.
47. Eupithecia indistincta Taylor July 10
Trout Lake, Vilas Co.
48. Eupithecia coagulata Guenee July 21-Aug. 22
Lake Katherine; Milwaukee; Wausau.
49. Eupithecia perfusca Hulst June 18- July 20
Lake Katherine. Determined by Bower as subspecies
youngata Taylor.
50. Eupithecia ravocostaliata Packard Apr. 26-30
Lake Katherine.
51. Horisme intestinata Guenee May 30-Aug. 23
Bailey’s Harbor; Brown Co.; Green Bay; Lake Katherine;
Milwaukee; Sauk City.
52. Eustroma semiatrata Hulst June 10- Aug. 4
Crandon; Lake Katherine near Hazelhurst; N.E. Price Co.
Known widely as E. nubilata Packard.
53. Eulithis diver silineata Hubner June 24-Aug. 30
Brown Co. ; Florence Co. ; Kenosha Co. ; Madison ; Milwau¬
kee; Sauk City; Wausau. Fletcher (1966, p. 15) cites diver -
silineata as type of Eulithis Hubner [1821] which ante¬
dates Lygris Hubner [1825].
54. Eulithis gracilineata Guenee June 24-Sept. 16
Brown Co.; Griffith State Nursery; Madison.
June 9
May 19- June 17
172 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
55. Eulithis testata Linnaeus June 14-Sept. 5
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Wausau.
56. Eulithis molliculata Walker June 14-Aug. 20
Milwaukee ; Platteville.
57. Eulithis destinata Mdschler July 3-Aug. 22
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine.
58. Eulithis explanata Walker
Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine.
59. Eulithis xylina Hulst
Lake Katherine.
60. Diactinia silaceata Hiibner
Forest Co.; Lake Katherine.
61. Plemyria georgii Hulst
Lake Katherine.
June 24-Aug. 25
July 6-Aug. 2
June 14-Sept. 16
Aug. 11-18
62. Dysstroma citrata Linnaeus June 4-Sept. 1
Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Trout Lake.
63. Dysstroma hersiliata Guenee June 19-Aug. 28
Bailey’s Harbor; Crandon; Dodgeville; Door Co.; Florence
Co.; Lake Katherine; Washburn Co. ; Wausau.
64. Stamnodes gibbicostata Walker Aug. 31-Sept. 4
Lake Katherine.
65. Hydriomena transfigurata Swett May 11
Dane Co. This is subspecies manitoba Barnes and McDun-
nough.
66. Hydriomena perfracta Swett May 6-June 24
Lake Katherine; Vilas Co. near Sayner.
67. Hydriomena divisaria Walker May 6-July 16
Lake Katherine; Vilas Co. near Sayner.
68. Hydriomena renunciata Walker May 11-Aug. 5
Bailey’s Harbor ; Dane Co. ; Door Co. ; Florence Co. ; Green
Bay; Griffith State Nursery; Lake Katherine; Milwaukee;
Summit Lake, Langlade Co.; Trout Lake; Waterloo; Wau¬
sau.
69. Xanthorhoe lacustrata Guenee May 29-Aug. 10
Door Co. ; Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Madison ; Milwau¬
kee; “Peaks Lake” (this is probably Peat’s Lake, Brown
Co.) ; Wausau.
70. Xanthorhoe emendata Pearsall May 21- Aug. 1
Lake Katherine; N.E. Price Co.
71. Xanthorhoe ferrugata Linnaeus May 21-Aug. 29
Bailey’s Harbor; Columbia Co.; Door Co.; Florence Co.;
Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; Wausau.
1970]
Coveil — Geometridae of Wisconsin
173
72. Xanthorhoe algidata Mbschler July 10-Aug. 3
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; N.E. Price Co.
73. Xanthorhoe iduata Guenee June 20-July 8
Lake Katherine.
74. Xanthorhoe abrasaria Herrich-Schaffer June 22-Aug. 23
Columbia Co. ; Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine.
75. Xanthorhoe luctuata Denis and Schiffermiiller May 28-Aug. 1
Forest Co. ; Lake Katherine.
76. Xanthorhoe intermediata Guenee May 17-Oct. 13
Dane Co. ; Door Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Milwaukee Co. ; Spen¬
cer; Spooner; Univ. Wise. Arboretum, Madison.
77. Mesoleuca ruficillata Guenee May 27-Aug. 21
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Milwaukee; “Peaks Lake” ;
Wausau.
78. Epirrhoe alternata Muller June 10-Aug. 6
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Wausau.
79. Spargania magnoliata Guenee June 10-Aug. 12
Crandon; Lake Katherine; N.E. Price Co.; Wausau.
80. Percnoptilota obstipata Fabricius May 3-Oct. 13
Bailey's Harbor ; Columbia Co. ; Florence Co. ; Green Bay ;
Grant Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; Rusk
Co. ; Sauk City ; Spooner ; Sturgeon Bay, Door Co.
81. Percnoptilota centrostrigaria Wollaston May 19-Oct. 31
Bailey's Harbor ; Brown Co. ; Door Co. ; Florence Co. ; Green
Bay; Lake Katherine ; Madison; Milwaukee; Sauk City;
Washburn Co.
82. Rheumaptera hastata Linnaeus June 11-July 6
Green Bay ; Kewaunee Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Madison ; Mil¬
waukee ; “Peaks Lake.”
83. Perizoma basaliata Walker
Lake Katherine; N.E. Price Co.
84. Earophila vasiliata Guenee
Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine.
85. Earophila multiferata Walker
Lake Katherine; Madison.
86. Venusia comptaria Walker
Lake Katherine; Milwaukee.
87. Hydrelia condensata Walker
Lake Katherine; Milwaukee.
88. Hydrelia inornata Hulst
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine.
July 4-30
Apr. 26- June 9
May 17-June 10
Apr. 25-May 19
June 5-July 1
June 10- July 20
174 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
89. Hydrelia albifera Walker July 3-25
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine.
90. Eudule mendica Walker June 10-July 24
Bailey’s Harbor; Florence Co.; Green Bay; Griffith State
Nursery; Kenosha Co.; Madison; Mather; Milwaukee;
Oconto Co.; “Peak’s Lake”; Sauk City; Trout Lake, Vilas
Co.; Wausau.
Subfamily Ennominae
91. Bapta semiclarata Walker May 15-July 6
Crandon ; Door Co. ; Marinette ; Washburn Co.
92. Bapta vestaliata Guenee May 29-July 11
Bailey’s Harbor; Blue Mounds; Brown Co.; Florence Co.;
Green Bay; Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee.
93. Bapta glomeraria Grote May 3-31
Lake Katherine; Waupaca.
94. Cabera quadrifasciaria Packard June 7-24
Green Bay; Sauk City. Fletcher (1966, p. 12) shows Deilinia
Hiibner (1825) to be a junior objective synonym of Cabera
Treitschke (1825).
95. Cabera variolaria Guenee June 20-Aug. 12
Bailey’s Harbor; Brown Co.; Florence Co.; Forest Co.;
Madison; Milwaukee; N.E. Price Co.
96. Cabera erythemaria Guenee May 28-Aug. 26
Bailey’s Harbor; Brown Co. ; Florence Co. ; Green Bay; Mil¬
waukee; N.E. Price Co.
97. Apodrepanulatrix liber aria Walker
Rindge (1949, p. 293) states that this species ranges “to
Wisconsin.”
98. Syrrhodia cruentaria Hiibner June 25
Milwaukee.
99. Isturgia truncataria Walker May 11-June 29
Crandon; Lake Katherine; Marinette Co.
100. Heliomata cycladata Grote June 2 6- July 2
Brown Co.; Sauk City.
101. Semiothisa aemulataria Walker May 21 -July 30
Bailey’s Harbor ; Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Madison,
Dane Co. ; Marinette Co. ; Sauk City ; Wausau.
102. Semiothisa ulsterata Pearsall June 5-22
Lake Katherine; Vilas Co.
103. Semiothisa minorata Packard June 25- July 13
Dane Co.; Lake Katherine; Trout Lake; Wausau.
1970]
Coveil — Geometridae of Wisconsin
175
104. Semiothisa bisignata Walker June 23-Sept. 13
Bailey's Harbor ; Florence Co. ; Green Bay ; Lake Katherine ;
Madison; Trout Lake; Vilas Co.; Wausau.
105. Semiothisa bicolorata Fabricius May 19- July 26
Lake Katherine.
106. Semiothisa distribuaria Hiibner May 5-July 19
Arena, Iowa Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison; Trout Lake;
Wausau.
107. Semiothisa punctolineata Packard Sept. 7
Dane Co.
108. Semiothisa granitata Guenee May 29-Aug. 15
American Legion State Forest, Oneida Co. ; Bailey’s Harbor ;
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison; Trout Lake; Vilas
Co.; Wausau. This name represents a complex of several
species, needing revisionary study.
109. Semiothisa oweni Swett May 28-July 11
Lake Katherine.
110. Semiothisa sexmaculata Packard
Florence Co.; Green Bay; Lake
111. Semiothisa denticulata Grote
Milwaukee; Poynette.
112. Semiothisa eremiata Guenee
Dane Co.
113. Semiothisa orillata Walker May 24-Aug. 29
Bailey’s Harbor ; Dane Co. ; Door Co. ; Florence Co. ; Green
Bay; Lake Katherine; Madison; Sauk City; Wausau.
114. Semiothisa ocellinata Guenee July 8-Oct. 3
Kenosha Co.; Madison; Milwaukee.
115. Semiothisa mellistrigata Grote May 15-Aug. 25
Belleville; Crandon; Door Co.; Florence Co.; Green Bay;
Madison; Milwaukee; Oconto Co.
116. Semiothisa snoviata Packard Aug. 30
Columbia Co.
117. Semiothisa gnophosaria Guenee May 13-Aug. 17
Bailey’s Harbor ; Dane Co. ; Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ;
Madison; Wausau; Wood Co.
118. Itame pustularia Guenee June 5-Sept. 8
Bailey’s Harbor; Brown Co.; Florence Co.; Green Bay;
Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; N.E. Price Co.;
Sauk City ; Trout Lake ; Wood Co.
May 13-Aug. 9
Katherine.
June 23-Aug. 1
July 12
176 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
119. I tame ribearia Fitch May 15-July 80
Belleville ; Dodgeville, Iowa Co. ; Madison ; Milwaukee ; Sauk
City; Wausau.
120. Itame argillacearia Packard June 9- July 23
Bailey’s Harbor; Lake Katherine.
121. Itame occiduaria Packard June 28- July 20
Lake Katherine.
122. Itame evagaria Hulst June 20-Aug. 2
Crandon; Lake Katherine; Madison; N.E. Price Co.; Wau¬
sau.
123. Itame fulvaria deVillers June 12- July 10
Crandon; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Spooner; Summit
Lake; Wood Co.
124. Itame subcessaria Walker June 21 -Aug. 20
Crandon; Florence Co.
125. Itame coortaria Hulst June 5-July 30
Door Co. ; Madison ; Milwaukee ; Sauk City.
126. Itame anataria Swett July 7-13
Lake Katherine.
127. Itame bitactata Walker July 3-Aug. 4
Lake Katherine; N.E. Price Co.
128. Itame loricaria Eversmann June 19-July 13
Lake Katherine; Wausau.
129. Eumacaria latiferrugata Walker June 1-Aug. 28
Griffith State Nursery; Lake Katherine; Sauk City; Wau¬
sau.
130. Thysanopyga intractata Walker
The type of synonym gausaparia Grote is from Wisconsin.
131. Hesperumia sulphuraria Packard June 18-Aug. 4
Madison; Wausau.
132. Ematurga amitariei Guenee May 30-Aug. 10
Crandon; Marinette Co.; Vilas Co.
183. Eufidonia notataria Walker June 7- July 23
Griffith State Nursery, Wood Co.; Lake Katherine; Mari¬
nette Co.; Northern Highlands; Vilas Co.
134. Eufidonia discospilata Walker June 10-22
Lake Katherine; Vilas Co.
135. Orthofidonia tinctaria Walker May 8-June 17
Lake Katherine; Sauk City.
136. Hypagyrtis pustularia Hiibner July 4-Aug. 21
Lake Katherine; Wausau.
1970]
Coveil — Geometridae of Wisconsin
177
137. Hypagyrtis subatomaria Wood June 4-Aug. 23
Dane Co.; Douglas Co.; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; N.E.
Price Co. ; Trout Lake.
138. Hypagyrtis piniata Packard June 19-Aug. 6
Bailey’s Harbor; Florence Co.; Gordon, Douglas Co.; Grif¬
fith State Nursery, Wood Co.; Madison; Summit Lake;
Trout Lake, Vilas Co.
139. Tornos scolopacinarius Guenee
Rindge (1954, p. 221) includes “southern Wisconsin” in
his range notes for this species.
140. Melanolophia canadaria Guenee Apr. 27- July 22
Bailey’s Harbor; Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee;
Patton Lake Spur, Florence Co.
141. Melanolophia signataria Walker May 14- July 3
Bailey’s Harbor; Lake Katherine; Patton Lake Spur, Flor¬
ence Co.
142. Protoboarmia porcelaria Guenee June 10- Aug. 12
Bailey’s Harbor ; Florence Co. ; Sayner ; Summit Lake.
143. Cleora manitoba Grossbeck May 8-July 13
Lake Katherine.
144. Pseudoboarmia umbrosaria Hiibner June 2 9- July 28
Crandon; Lake Katherine; N.E. Price Co.
145. Stenoporpia p o lygrammaria Packard June 27
Waushara Co.
146. Anavitrinella pampinaria Guenee May 8-Sept. 15
Bailey’s Harbor ; Bone Rock, Sauk Co. ; Columbia Co. ; Gays
Mills; Griffith State Nursery; Lake Katherine; Madison;
Patton Lake, Florence Co.; Neshkoro; Platteville; Sauk
City ; Waushara Co.
147. Iridopsis larvaria Guenee June 20- July 20
Bailey’s Harbor; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine.
148. Anacamptodes ephyraria Walker June 29-Aug. 12
Crandon; Florence Co.; Forest Co.; Lake Crandon; Lake
Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee.
149. Anacamptodes humaria Guenee May 5-Aug. 14
Griffith State Nursery; Lake Katherine, near Hazelhurst;
Madison; Neshkoro.
150. Anacamptodes vellivolata Hulst May 8-Aug. 22
Lake Katherine; Wausau.
151. Aethalura anticaria Walker May 30-July 3
Lake Katherine.
178 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
152. Ectropis crepuscularia Denis and Schiffermiiller
Apr. 15- Aug. 5
Arbor; Boscobel State Nursery; Door Co.; Florence Co.;
Grant Co.; Lake Latherine; Madison; Milkaukee; Patton
Lake, Florence Co.; Vilas Co.; Northern Highlands; Wau¬
sau.
158. Phaeoura quernaria Abbott and Smith May 19- July 11
Bailey’s Harbor; Door Co.; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine;
Milwaukee; Neshkoro. One reared larva emerged Apr. 4.
154. Phigalia olivacearia Morrison Apr. 17-May 7
Dane Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; Wausau.
155. Phigalia titea Cramer Apr. 18-May 12
Griffith State Nursery; Lake Katherine; Madison; Mil¬
waukee.
156. Palaeacrita vernata Peck March 13-Apr. 28
Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; Wausau.
157. Erannis tiliaria Harris Oct. 6-Nov. 2
Brown Co.; Dane Co.; Kewaunee Co.; Lake Katherine;
Madison; Wausau.
158. Biston ursaria Walker Apr. 12-May 23
Dane Co.; Griffith State Nursery; Lake Katherine; Madi¬
son; Milwaukee; Wausau.
159. Biston cognataria Guenee May 15-Sept. 19
Arlington; Bailey’s Harbor; Boscobel State Nursery; Brown
Co.; Columbia Co.; DeForest, Dane Co.; Green Bay; Lake
Katherine; Madison; Marinette Co.; Milwaukee; Sauk City;
Trout Lake, Vilas Co. ; Washburn Co.
160. Eugonobapta nivosaria Guenee June 28-Aug. 12
Bailey’s Harbor ; Door Co. ; Florence Co. ; Madison ; Milwau¬
kee; Sauk City.
161. Lytrosis unitaria Herrich-Schaffer June 24- July 30
Madison; Sauk City; Wausau.
162. Euchlaena serrata Drury “May”; June 28-Aug. 14
Bailey’s Harbor; Brown Co.; Dousman; Door Co.; Green
Bay; Griffith State Nursery; Lake Katherine; Madison;
“Peaks Lake”; Sauk City; Sturgeon Bay.
163. Euchlaena obtusaria Hubner June 9- July 19
Bailey’s Harbor; Crandon; Dane Co.; Door Co.; Florence
Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; Summit Lake.
164. Euchlaena effecta Walker June 18-July 30
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison; Wausau.
1970] Coveil — Geometridae of Wisconsin 179
165. Euchlaena johnsonaria Fitch June 9-Aug. 29
Bailey’s Harbor; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison;
Marinette Co.; Sauk City; Trout Lake; Wausau; Wood Co.
166. Euchlaena amoenaria Guenee June 22
Marinette Co.
167. Euchlaena marginata Minot May 30-July 8
Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Vilas Co.; Waushara Co.
168. Euchlaena tigrinaria Guenee June 14-July 15
Bailey’s Harbor; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Milwau¬
kee ; Summit, Langlade Co.
169. Euchlaena irraria Barnes and McDunnough June 17-July 10
Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Madison ; Marinette Co. ;
Sauk City.
170. Euchlaena milnei McDunnough July 1
Sauk City.
171. Xanthotype sospeta Drury June 6-Aug. 25
Bailey’s Harbor; Brown Co.; Crandon; Door Co.; Florence
Co.; Green Bay; Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee;
“Peaks Lake”; Rusk Co.; Sauk City; Shawano Co.; Star
Lake; Trout Lake, Vilas Co.
172. Xanthotype urticaria Swett July 5-Sept. 8
Arpin; Brown Co.; Columbia Co.; Florence Co.; Lake
Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; Wausau.
173. Campaea perlata Guenee June 1-Oct. 2
Bailey’s Harbor; Columbia Co.; Door Co.; Florence Co.;
Lake Katherine; Madison; N.E. Price Co.; Oneida Co.;
Patton Lake; Sauk City; Summit Lake, Langlade Co.;
Trout Lake, Vilas Co.; Verona; Wausau.
174. Gueneria basiaria Walker July 8-11
Florence Co.
175. Homochlodes fritillaria Guenee May 28- July 23
Door Co.; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Vilas Co.
176. Tacparia deter sata Guenee May 21- July 8
Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Madison.
177. Lozogramma subaequaria Walker May 1 9-Aug. 10
Brown Co.; Dane Co.; Florence Co.
178. Cepphis armataria Herrich-Schaffer Apr. 21-Aug. 24
Bailey’s Harbor ; Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Madison ;
Milwaukee ; Washburn Co.
179. Plagodis ser inaria Herrich-Schaffer May 22- June 27
Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Sauk City.
180 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
180. Plagodis keutzingi Grote July 1-13
Bailey's Harbor ; Door Co. ; Madison.
181. Plagodis fervidaria Herrich-Schaffer May 24- July 5
Bailey's Harbor; Brown Co.; Dane Co.; Door Co.; Sauk
City.
182. Plagodis alcoolaria Guenee May 17-July 29
Bailey's Harbor; Dane Co.; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine;
Madison; Milwaukee; Patton Lake; Sauk City; Vilas Co.
183. Plagodis pklogosaria Guenee Apr. 30- Aug. 1
Bailey’s Harbor ; Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Milwaukee ;
Sauk City; Trout Lake; Wausau. I have seen typical phlo-
gosaria, p. keutzingaria Packard, and p. purpuraria Pears¬
all.
184. Anagoga occiduaria Walker May 29- July 12
Bailey’s Harbor; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Vilas Co.
185. Hyperetis amicaria Herrich-Schaffer May 29-Aug. 29
Bailey’s Harbor; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison;
Marinette Co.; Milwaukee; Patton Lake; Rush Co.; Vilas
Co. ; Wausau ; Waushara Co.
186. Hyperetis alienaria Herrich-Schaffer May 2 2- July 4
Bailey's Harbor; Brown Co.; Florence Co.; Green Bay;
Lake Katherine; Milwaukee; “Peaks Lake”; Wausau.
187. Nematocampa filamentaria Guenee June 4-Aug. 26
Bailey's Harbor; Florence Co.; Madison; Milwaukee; Rusk
Co. ; Rust Lake ; Sauk City.
188. Metarranthis hypochraria Herrich-Schaffer Apr. 13-Aug. 10
Brown Co. ; Door Co. ; Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Madi¬
son; Marinette Co.; Milwaukee.
189. Metarranthis broweri Rupert May 29-July 8
Bailey's Harbor; Dodgeville; Florence Co.; Madison.
190. Metarranthis apiciaria Packard May 29
Lake Katherine.
191. Metarranthis warneri Harvey June 4-6
Wausau; a paratype $ of M. warneri capp sarin Rupert
collected 4 June, 1932, is from Madison.
192. Metarranthis duaria Guenee May 28- June 20
Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; Vilas Co. ; Wausau;
Waushara Co.
193. Metarranthis amyrisaria Walker May 27-July 4
Bailey's Harbor; Florence Co.; Madison.
194. Metarranthis angularia Barnes and McDunnough July 8
Milwaukee.
1970]
Coveil — Geometridae of Wisconsin
181
195. Metarranthis obfirmaria Hlibner June 80
Milwaukee.
196. Metanema inatomaria Guenee May 29-Aug. 15
Bailey's Harbor; Dane Co.; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine;
Milwaukee ; Rusk Co. ; Sauk City ; Waushara Co.
197. Metanema determinata Walker June 17-Aug. 16
Bailey's Harbor; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Milwau¬
kee ; Rusk Co. ; Summit Lake.
198. Selenia alciphearia Walker May 7- June 7
Lake Katherine.
199. Selenia kentaria Grote and Robinson Apr. 30- July 22
Florence Co. ; La Crosse ; Lake Katherine.
200. Ennomos subsignarius Hiibner June 19-Sept. 10
Bailey's Harbor; Brown Co.; Florence Co.; Green Bay;
Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee.
201. Pero honestaria Walker May 16-Sept. 1
Bailey’s Harbor; Brown Co.; Dane Co.; Green Bay; La
Crosse; Madison; Milwaukee; Platteville; “Shaw” (prob¬
ably Shawano) Co.
202. Pero morrisonaria H. Edwards May 28- July 9
Dane Co.; Door Co.; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; Wash¬
burn Co.
203. Pero marmorata Grossbeck July 29-Aug. 9
Dane Co. ; Platteville.
204. Caripeta divisata Walker June 23-Aug. 14
Door Co.; Florence Co.; Lake Katherine; N.E. Price Co.;
Northern Highlands, Vilas Co.; Trout Lake; Wausau.
205. Caripeta piniata Packard May 2 6- Aug. 5
Lake Katherine ; Northern Highlands ; Trout Lake ; Wausau.
206. Caripeta angustiorata Walker June 4-Aug. 6
American Legion State Forest, Oneida Co.; Florence Co.;
Lake Katherine ; Trout Lake, Vilas Co. ; Washburn Co. ;
Wausau.
207. Lambdina athasaria Walker May 13- July 8
Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Sauk City.
208. Lambdina fiscellaria Guenee July 10-Oct. 5
Bailey's Harbor; Columbia Co.; Dane Co.; Ephraim; Lake
Katherine ; Shanty Bay.
209. Besma endropiaria Grote and Robinson June 1-July 15
Bailey’s Harbor; Boscobel State Nursery; Florence Co.;
Lake Katherine; Madison; Milwaukee; Patton Lake; Sauk
City.
182 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
210. Besma quercivoraria Guenee May 28-Aug. 19
Arlington; Dane Co.; Florence Co.; Green Bay; Griffith
State Nursery; Lake Katherine; Madison; Neshkoro;
Platteville; Sauk City.
211. Cingilia catenaria Drury Aug. 9— Oct. 2
Columbia Co.; Eau Claire; Lake Katherine; Madison;
“Peaks Lake.”
212. Cingilia canosaria Walker July 11-Oct. 10
Bailey’s Harbor; Dousman; Lake Katherine; Wausau;
Wood Co.
213. Cingilia pellucidaria Packard
Lake Katherine.
Sept. 7-0 ct. 4
214. Sicya macularia Harris June 5-Aug. 18
Bailey’s Harbor; Door Co.; Florence Co.; Griffith State
Nursery; Lake Katherine; Madison; Sauk City; Trout Lake.
215. Deuteronomos magnarius Guenee July 30-Nov. 11
Arlington ; Bailey’s Harbor ; Brown Co. ; DeForest ; Green
Bay; Kenosha Co.; Lake Katherine; Madison; Middleton;
Milwaukee; “Peaks Lake”; Sturgeon Bay; Trout Lake.
216. Apicia confusaria Hiibner June 4- Aug. 29
Bailey’s Harbor ; Brown Co. ; Cedar Grove ; Door Co. ; Dous¬
man; Griffith State Nursery; Madison; Marinette Co.; Mil¬
waukee ; Oconto Co. ; Sauk City.
217. Patalene puber Grote and Robinson Aug. 7
Dane Co.
218. Tetrads crocallata Guenee May 29-July 8
Brown Co. ; Door Co. ; Florence Co. ; Lake Katherine ; Madi¬
son ; Milwaukee ; Sauk City.
219. Tetrads cachexiata Guenee Apr. 21- July 29
Bailey’s Harbor ; Door Co. ; Florence Co. ; Green Bay ; Madi¬
son; Milwaukee; Patton Lake; Sauk City; Spooner.
220. Ahbottana clemataria Abbott and Smith May 14-Sept. 26
Bailey’s Harbor; Boscobel State Nursery; Door Co.; Flor¬
ence Co.; Griffith State Nursery; Lake Katherine; Milwau¬
kee Co.; Patton Lake; Sauk City; Wausau.
221. Sabulodes thiosaria Guenee May 2 9- June 30
Lake Katherine.
222. Prochoerodes transversata Drury June 18-Oct. 5
Bailey’s Harbor; Ferry Bluff; Florence Co. ; Lake Kath¬
erine ; Madison ; Milwaukee ; “Peaks Lake” ; Rusk Co. ; Sauk
City; Wausau.
1970]
Coveil — Geometridae of Wisconsin
183
References
Capps, H. W. 1943. Some geometric! moths of the subfamily Ennominae hereto¬
fore associated with or closely related to Ellopia Treitschke. Proc. U.S.
Nat. Mus. No. 93, pp. 115-151, 10 pis.
Ferguson, D. C. 1969. A revision of the moths of the subfamily Geometrinae
of America north of Mexico (Insecta, Lepidoptera). Peabody Mus. Bull. 29,
251 pp., 49 pis.
Fernekes, V. 1906. List of Lepidoptera occurring in Milwaukee County. Bull.
Wisconsin Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 4, nos. 1-2, pp. 39-58.
Fletcher, D. S. 1966. Some changes in the nomenclature of British Lepi¬
doptera. Ent. Gazette, vol. 17, pp. 9-18.
Forbes, W. T. M. 1948. Lepidoptera of New York and neighboring states. Part
II. Cornell Univ. Exp. Sta. Mem. No. 274, 263 pp., 255 figs.
McDunnough, J. H. 1938. A check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada and the
United States of America, Part 1. Mem. Southern Calif. Acad. Sci., vol.
1, 275 pp.
- 1949. Revision of the North American species of the genus Eupithecia
(Lepidoptera, Geometridae). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 93, art. 8,
pp. 537-728, 20 figs., 7 pis.
- 1954. The species of the genus Hydriomena occurring in America
north of Mexico (Geometridae, Larentiinae) . Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.,
vol. 104, art. 3, pp. 241-358, 185 figs., 3 pis.
Munroe, E. G. 1959. The phlogosctria complex of the genus Plagodis (Lepi¬
doptera, Geometridae). Can. Ent., vol. 91, pp. 193-208, 63 figs.
Muttkowski, R. A. 1907. Additions to the lepidopterous fauna of Milwaukee
County. Bull. Wisconsin Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 128-133.
Rauterberg, F. 1900. List of Lepidoptera of the County of Milwaukee. Bull.
Wisconsin Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 111-126.
Rindge, F. H. 1949. A revision of the geometrid moths formerly assigned to
Drepanulatrix (Lepidoptera). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 94, art.
5, pp. 235-298, 14 figs.
- 1954. A revision of the genus Tomos Morrison (Lepidoptera, Geo¬
metridae). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 104, art 2, pp. 181-236, 35
figs.
— - 1956. A revision of the American species of Deilinia (Lepidoptera,
Geometridae). Amer. Mus. Nov. No. 1810, 23 pp., 30 figs.
- 1964 A revision of the genera Melanolophia, Pherotesia, and Mel-
anotesia (Lepidoptera, Geometridae). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol.
126, art. 3, pp. 243-434, 163 figs., 9 pis.
- 1966. A revision of the moth genus Anacamptodes (Lepidoptera,
Geometridae). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 132, art. 3, pp. 177-243,
53 figs.
- 1967. The North American moths of the genus Earophila Gumppen-
berg (Lepidoptera, Geometridae). Amer. Mus. Nov. No. 2306, 12 pp., 9 figs.
- 1968. A revision of the moth genus Stenoporpia (Lepidoptera, Geo¬
metridae). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 140, art. 2, pp. 67-134, 16 pis.
Rupert, L. R. 1943. A specific revision of the genus Metarranthis (Lepidoptera,
Geometridae, Ennominae). J. New York Ent. Soc., vol. 51, pp. 133-158,
3 pis.
■ - 1949. A revision of the North American species of the genus Plagodis
(Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae). J. New York Ent. Soc., vol. 57,
pp. 19-49, 5 pis.
FOUR NEW SPECIES RECORDS OF SIALIS
(MEGALOPTERA: SIALIDAE)
FOR WISCONSIN
K. J. Tennessen
There has been very little collecting of adult Megaloptera in Wis¬
consin since Ross’s work on the Sialidae in the 1930’s, when he re¬
ported finding two species in this state, Sialis mohri and S. velata.
While recording distribution data on the order Megaloptera during
the summer of 1968, I found four additional species of Sialis that
had not been previously recorded from the state. The identifications
have been confirmed by Dr. Ross. The new records are as follows :
Sialis vagans Ross. Twelve males and six females of this species
have been taken, as it appears to be quite common, especially in the
north-central area. Collection dates range from June 2 in the south
to June 20 in the north.
County Records — Clark, Dane, Forest, Polk, Price, Taylor, Wash¬
burn, Waukesha, Waushara.
Sialis itasca Ross. Three males were taken, and the species ap¬
pears to be as widespread as S. velata. The collection dates, June 10
and 20, indicate that this species emerges comparatively late in the
seasonal succession of species.
County Records — Bayfield, Florence, Jefferson.
Sialis infumata Newman. Only two males of this species have
been collected, one each from two central counties, indicating that
it may not be as common as the former species. The collection date
was June 5.
County Records — Clark, Wood.
Sialis americana (Rambur) . Three males and seven females were
collected on June 12 near the Mississippi River in Grant County.
The surrounding area was quite unique, like a lagoon, and there¬
fore this species most likely does not occur much further inland
due to a habitat restriction. Adults were present in fair abundance.
The collection date suggests a comparatively late emergence period.
County Record — Grant.
In addition, the following new county records were found for
the two previously reported species :
Sialis mohri Ross. Kenosha County, Racine County.
Sialis velata Ross. Winnebago County.
185
186 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
The specimens are in the University of Wisconsin collection.
Future collecting, especially early in May and June, will un¬
doubtedly discover new county records as larvae have been found in
a large number of streams and lakes; but as there is yet no key
separating the larvae, species determinations must rely on adults.
References Cited
Ross, H. H. September, 1937, Studies of Nearctic Aquatic Insects. Illinois
Natural History Survey Bulletin. 21:57-78.
The research was carried out when the author was an undergraduate stu¬
dent at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
JUNCUS EFFUSUS. I. THE SITUATION IN WISCONSIN
Seymour H. Sohmer
J uncus effusus is a species with world-wide distribution (Wei-
mark, 1946). It is a relatively hardy perennial and can withstand
considerably more abuse than most of the other species in the genus.
Postgalacial conditions in Wisconsin may have been ideal for colo¬
nizing elements of the species. Indeed, such was probably the case
wherever land was uncovered by the melting ice. It is believed, in
this regard, that colonizing elements from disjunct populations of
the species may have entered Wisconsin after the last retreat of the
ice (litis, 1968).
As would be expected of a species with a wide distribution, the
variations of form in Juncus effusus are numerous. Many varia¬
tions have been described for North America, and many more could
probably be named. The difficulty and confusion here is the same as
in other widely distributed species, in that there are as many opin¬
ions regarding the basis for the delimitation of these varieties as
there are taxonomists involved. The hopeful goal in these situations
is a compromise between taxonomic conservatives and radicals.
Certainly there are more variations in this species that can be
easily delimited from one another on a general and practical basis
than Gleason (1952) would recognize, but probably less than the
number of varietal names presently available. One should strive to
avoid carrying the recognition of variations too far. In such a case
the logical conclusion is ultimately to describe and name all varia¬
tion present. This is not only cumbersome and impractical, but the
same variation may not be present some years hence — even disre¬
garding the destructiveness of man to his environment. A great
deal of the individual variation may be due more to environmental
differences than genetic ones. (Snogerup, 1963. Sohmer, unpub¬
lished). A method of dealing with such a situation is shown by
Davidson and Dunn (1967).
The varietal names listed below are presently available to de¬
scribe the variations of Juncus effusus in North America. It is
pointed out that though some of these varietal names may not be
valid, in the author’s opinion, they will be used to describe the
species in Wisconsin where applicable. The question of validity may
187
188 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
be determined at a future date by systematic work now underway
in the author’s laboratory.
Var. compactus Lejeune et Courtois FI. Belg. ii. 28 (1831), also
see Fernald and Wiegand (1910).
Var. conglomeratus Engelm. in Gray, Manual, ed. 5, (537, 1867),
also see Fernald and Wiegand (1910).
Var. decipiens Buchenau in Engler’s Bot. Jahrb. Xii. 229 (1890),
also see Fernald and Wiegand (1910).
Var. exiguus Fernald and Wiegand (1910).
Var. gracilis Hooker, FI. Bor. Am. ii 190 (1840).
Var. brunneus Engelm., Trans. St. Louis Acad. ii. 491 (1868).
According to Fernald and Wiegand (1910) Juncus effusus var.
hesperius Piper is synonomous with this.
Var. pacificus Fernald and Wiegand (1910).
Var. caeruleomontanus St. John (1931).
Var. solutus Fernald and Wiegand (1910).
Var. pylaei (Laharpe) Fernald and Wiegand (1910).
Var. costulatus Fernald (1922).
In Wisconsin the species demonstrates a considerable amount of
individual variation, principally within the variety pylaei. This
variation, however, does not appear spatially related to given areas.
The information concerning the species in Wisconsin that will be
presented here has come through study of the specimens available
from the herbaria of the Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota
as well as the Milwaukee Public Museum. The variable characters
measured were: culm length; number of flowers per inflorescence;
length of bract subtending the inflorescence (but in the species ap¬
pearing as a continuation of the culm) ; width of culm above the
sheath; length of perianth parts; length of capsule; and length of
seed. Figure 1 illustrates the distribution of the species in Wiscon¬
sin as revealed by the specimens mentioned above. There are re¬
ports from 45 counties. Among the specimens available the sepals
were found to exceed the petals in most cases. The length of the
former ranged from 1.9 mm (N. C. Fassett #22676, Chippewa
County) to 3.9 mm (H. Brawn #69228, Forest County). The cor¬
relation between sepal and petal length is illustrated in figure 4.
Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the occurrence of petal and sepal vari¬
ability by county within the state.
There were no significant differences observed in the length or
the shape of the seeds. They were found to vary between .5 and .6
mm in length and were generally fusiform.
The bracts varied between 6 cm (D. F. Grether #6855, Jackson
County),, and 38 cm (R. Melville #397). The latter was two-thirds
the length of the culm itself.
1970]
Sohmer — Juncus Effusus
189
Figure 1. Distribution of Juncus effusus in Wisconsin. Each symbol represents
an individual. Information from herbarium specimens of the University of
Wisconsin, University of Minnesota, and the Milwaukee Public Museum. Map
provided by H. litis.
The most striking variability is expressed in the length of these
culms and the number of flowers per inflorescence. Only mature
plants with intact culms and inflorescences were utilized. The length
of these culms in mature specimens was found to vary from 25 cm
(L. S. Cheney, #1068, Oneida County) to 118 cm (N. C. Fasset,
#16190, Oneida County) . It is interesting to not that the minimum
and maximum lengths examined occurred in populations within
190 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figures 2 and 3. Spatial relationships of artificial groupings of petal and
sepal lengths by county within Wisconsin. Each symbol represents one or more
individuals within each county whose specific character attributes fall into the
artificial groups shown. 2-petal lengths; 3-sepal lengths.
Figure 4. Scatter diagram illustrating the correlation between petal and sepal
lengths. Each symbol represents an individual.
1970]
Sohmer — J uncus Effusus
191
Table 1. Variability in Culm Length and Flower Numbers in Wisconsin
Representatives of Juncus Effusus
the same county. The number of flowers was found to vary from
11 (H. H. litis, #6882, Juneau County) to 870 (C. Gossel #1398,
Clark County) per inflorescence. Table 1 illustrates the proportions
of the individuals studied that fall into artificial groups based on
culm length and flower number.
There does not appear to be a relationship between the number of
flowers per inflorescence and location within the state. This is
shown in Figure 6. Nor is there an apparent relationship between
culm length and location. The shortest and tallest plants, on the
basis of the specimens available, seem to have equal probability of
occurring anywhere in the state. This is illustrated in Figure 5. The
correlation between culm length and the number of flowers per
inflorescence is illustrated in Figure 7.
The varieties pylaei and solutus are found within the state, with
the former much more frequent. There is also a dubius report for
var. costulatus from Lincoln county. Most members of variety
solutus appear in the northeastern part of the state, with scattered
reports elsewhere. Some individual examples of Juncus effusus are
shown in figures 8-12. Figure 13 represents the distribution of these
varieties within the state by county.
Summary
Specimens of Juncus effusus from the herbaria of the Univer¬
sities of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the Milwaukee Public
Museum were studied with regard to the kind of variation present.
It appears that two varieties are established in the state (pylaei
and solutus ) and possibly a third ( costulatus) . There is a consider¬
able amount of individual variation within the delimited varieties,
which is not, however, apparently correlated with space within the
state of Wisconsin.
192 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figures 5 and 6. Spatial relationships of the variability present in the length
of culm and number of flowers per inflorescence respectively. Each symbol
represents at least one individual within each county whose specific character
attribute falls into an artificial group as shown.
Figure 7. Scatter diagram illustrating the relationship between culm length
and number of flowers per inflorescence. Each symbol represents an individual.
Figures 8-12. Examples of variation in Juncus effusus in Wisconsin. 8-Var.
pylaei, L. S. Cheney #1068, Oneida Co.; 9-Var. solutus, N. C. Fassett #16190,
Oneida Co.; 10-Var. solutus, N. C. Fassett #5699, Ashland Co.; 11-close-up of
inuorescence of plant in figure 10; 12-close-up of inflorescence of plant in
figure 9.
194 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
13
Varieties of
ef/usus in Wisconsin
Figure 13. Distribution of the varieties recognized in Wisconsin. Each symbol
represents at least one report for the variety within a county.
Acknowledgements
The aid of Dr. H. H. litis, curator of the Herbarium, University
of Wisconsin, Madison, in obtaining specimens for study and his
advice are gratefully acknowledged. The monetary aid, in part, of
the institutional Studies and Grants Committee of Wisconsin State
University, La Crosse, is also gratefully acknowledged here. This
aid has permitted the use of student assistance and helped defray
the cost of an extensive field trip.
1970]
Sohmer — -J uncus Effusus
195
References Cited
Davidson, Robert A. and Rosalie A. Dunn, 1967. A correlation approach to
certain problems of population-environment relations. American Journal
of Botany 54(5) : 529-538.
Fernald, M. L. and K. M. W|57 (&4, 1910. The North American vacations of
Juncus effusus. Rhodora 12(137) : 81-93.
Fernald, M. L., 1922. Expedition to Nova Scotia. Rhodora 23: 239.
Gleason, H. A., 1952. The New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora of the
Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Volume I, page 388
New York Botanical Garden, New York.
Hartley, Thomas G., 1966. The Flora of the “Driftless” Area. The University
of Iowa Studies in Natural History 21(1) : 1-174.
Iltis, Hugh H., 1968. Personal communication regarding the possible move¬
ments of certain plants after the last glaciation.
Snogerup, Sven, 1963. Studies in the genus Juncus III. Observations on the
diversity of chromosome numbers. Botanisk Notiser 116(2): 142-145.
St. John, Harold, 1931. New and noteworthy Northwestern plants, part 5.
Research Studies, State College of Washington.
Weimarck, H. 1946. Studies in Juncaceae. With special reference to the species
in Ethiopia and the Cape, Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift 40(2) : 141-178.
GROWTH POTENTIAL OF WISCONSIN NATIVE
PINES ON WEED-INVADED SOILS'
S. A. Wilde
“No knowledge can he rated as science unless it is anchored in
mathematics. ” — Rene Descartes
A reasonably reliable prediction of the outcome of tree planting-
can seldom be made without an appraisal of the growth-depressing
effect of competing ground vegetation. In most cases, the amount
of water and nutrients taken away from trees by ground cover
plants is closely related to their biomass, the oven-dry weight of
tops and roots. Knowledge of this factor is essential for determina¬
tion of the expected yield of trees to be planted, for establishment of
suitable tree spacing, and for estimate of the cost of either chemical
or mechanical eradication of weeds.
This paper reports a method for determination of the biomass of
weed cover and the expected yield of plantations of Wisconsin na¬
tive pines, Pinus banksiana, P. resinosa, and P. strobus.
Determination of Expected Site Index
The expected site index of the proposed plantation is established
on the basis of determination of four soil constituents (Wilde et al,
1964) : fine earth (F), organic matter (H), available phosphorus
(P2O5), and available potassium (K20). The site index of the stand
or the average height of a stand at 50 years (I) is obtained by solu¬
tion of the following simplified regression equation, adjusted to
meet requirements of the three native pines of Wisconsin.
I = (8.1 + 0.2 F% + 2.8 H°/o + 0.03 P0O5 lbs/a +
0.01 K20 lbs/a) X 8.4
An application of this equation may be illustrated by an ap¬
praisal of Plainfield sand, a widely distributed non-podzolic soil of
Wisconsin glacial outwash. Let us assume that this soil of the
proposed planting site has the following composition: fine earth
(silt and clay particles)— 9%, organic matter — 2%, available P205
1 Contribution from Soil Science Department, University of Wisconsin, in cooperation
with and supported in part by the Wis. Dept, of Natural Resources. Publication ap¬
proved by the Director of the Wis. Agr. Exp. Sta., Madison, Wis.
197
198 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
— 40 pounds per acre, and available potassium— 100 pounds per
acre. Consequently:
I = (8.1 + 0.2 X 9 + 2.8 X 2 + 0.03 X 40 + 0.01 X 100) X
3.4 = 56.8 feet
The site index corresponds to definite yields of timber produced
at various ages by different tree species. Thus, for the calculated
site index of about 57, the volumes expected at the end of a short,
40-year rotation would be 30 cords for jack pine, 34 cords for red
pine, and at best 20 cords per acre for white pine. Because 0.7 cords
per acre is the minimum average annual increment, promising un¬
der Wisconsin conditions a reasonable financial return, the calcula¬
tion indicates that the analysed soil has a too low productive po¬
tential for planting white pine.
The equation under discussion was derived from analyses of non-
phreatic sandy soils of Wisconsin supporting about 300 plantations
of jack pine, red pine, and white pine of different site indices and
of age range from 15 to 37 years (Wilde et al., 1965). The dis¬
closure of an intimate correlation between growth of forest stands
and physico-chemical properties of soils, rendered by this equation,
presents a remarkable by-product of recent progress in soil analysis,
forest mensuration, and statistics.
The degree of the equation’s reliability can be inferred from
Tables 1 and 2, incorporating the average results of soil and timber
analyses published in 1965 (Lit. cit.) . A substitution of these re¬
sults into the equation and subsequent comparison of calculated
site indices with those reported in yield tables (Wackerman et al.,
1929, for jack pine; Wilde et al., 1964 for red pine; Gevorkiantz
Table 1. Average State of Soil Fertility Factors of Soils Supporting Jack
Pine, Red Pine, and White Pine of Different Site Indices
(After Wilde et al., 1965).
1970]
Wilde — Growth of Wisconsin Native Pines
199
Table 2. Average Growth of Jack Pine, Red Pine, and White Pine
Plantations on Soil of Different Productivity Ratings; as
Given in Table 1 (After Wilde et al., 1965).
and Zon, 1930, for white pine) give a picture of a rather astonish¬
ing accuracy (Table 3) .
Nearly all deviations of calculated values from those given in
the yield tables are well within experimental error. The maximum
deviation of the calculated site index for jack pine of low site
quality (3 feet) is due to the deficiency of organic matter in soils of
this group and the presence of a large fraction of nutrients in the
form of silicate minerals which are decomposable by mycorrhizal
rootlets,, but not by weak extracting solutions (Wilde and Iyer,
1962; Spyridakis et al., 1967).
Determination of the Biomass of Weed Cover
The average weight of tops and roots of weeds is determined by
excavating entire plants on several 1/10,000 acre plots (2.1 by 2.1
foot squares). Sampling is done at random, and the number of
samples required for obtaining an acceptable standard deviation
depends on type of soil and nature of ground cover. In many in¬
stances a half dozen sampled quadrats are sufficient for an area
as large as 40 acres.
The obtained information facilitates in reaching a decision on
tree spacing most advantageous with regard to potential site index,
biomass of weeds, species and age of trees to be planted, and other ^
conditions (Wilde et al, 1968).
Next, the tree planter must establish the approximate age of the
plantation (n) at which the biomass of weeds (b) will be reduced
to the harmless level of less than 2 tons per acre. The total of the
200 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Table 3. Relation Between the Predicted and Actual Site Indices.
*A large number of white pine of low site quality were underplantings suppressed
in growth by overhead canopy of aspen and were excluded from statistical analysis.
As should be expected, both the calculated and actually determined height growth of
white pine plantations on fertile soils by far exceeded the maximum of the yield tables
obtained largely on the basis of indigenous stand of this tree (75 feet at the age of 50
years), which undoubtedly lost a fraction of their height increment in the struggle with
weeds and volunteer trees.
biomass (G), present in the plantation through the years, is then
determined from the formula :
G = 0.7 bn
For trees with heavy crowns, such as red pine, growing* on fertile
soils at a spacing of 4 by 4 feet, the n period is about 15 years. How¬
ever, at 6 by 6 foot spacing this period is extended to approximately
25 years.
With weed cover of blueberries,, sweet fern, and other heath
plants weighing 10 metric tons per acre, total biomass of a 4 by 4
foot red pine plantation would be :
G =. 10,000 X 0.7 X 15 = 105,000 kg/a
A similar calculation for a red pine plantation, established at a
spacing of 6 by 6 feet, gives the active weed biomass of 175,00 kg/a.
Determination of the Loss of Timber Volume Due to
Competition of Weed Cover
Evapotranspiration of weeds consumes under Wisconsin condi¬
tions approximately 85 kg of water per kilogram of oven-dry bio¬
mass (Wilde et al., 1968) . On the other hand, production of one
kilogram of merchantable wood, having specific gravity of 0.32-
0.35, requires close to 1,200 kg of transpiration water (Wilde, 1967;
1970]
Wilde — Growth of Wisconsin Native Pines
201
Shaw et al, 1968). Therefore, the loss of timber (L) is expressed
by the formula :
85 G
“ 1200
0.07 G
Assuming active weed biomass of a 6 by 6 foot red pine planta¬
tion to be equal to 175 m.t. per acre, the loss of timber would be :
L = 175,000 X 0.07 = 12,250 kg/a
This weight of oven-dry wood of specific gravity 0.35 approaches
14 cords.
In the event calculated site index of the proposed plantation is
60, the expected maximum yield of fully stocked stand at the end
of a 40-year rotation should be 40 cords per acre. Actually in our
case the volume is likely to be 40 — 14 or 26 cords.
The given calculation, featuring 35% loss of merchantable tim¬
ber, is based on observations in Wisconsin. In this state tree plant¬
ing on weed-invaded soils was usually accomplished by plowing
deep and wide furrows which greatly reduce adverse effects of
weed competition. On the other hand, losses of timber volume ex¬
ceeding 50% were recorded in our study in plantations established
without adequate ground preparation.
Competing vegetation deprives trees not only of water but also
of nutrients. However, this loss is of a temporary nature ; suppres¬
sion of weeds by tree crowns in time returns nutrients to the planta¬
tions cycle via mineralization of plant remains.
Summary
The productive potential of planting sites for Finns hanksiana,
P. resinosa, and P. strobus is predicted on the basis of soil analysis,
simplified regression equation, and biomass of weeds. Under local
conditions pine plantations require about 1,200 kg of water to pro¬
duce 1 kg of merchantable wood of approximate specific gravity of
0.35,, whereas evapotranspiration of ground vegetation consumes
circa 85 kg of water per kg of oven-dry tissues. In turn, each kg of
weed biomass present in the plantation through the years reduces
production of merchantable wood by 0.07 kg. At this rate, planta¬
tions established on soils with a heavy cover of heath plants may
suffer within a 40-year rotation a loss of timber exceeding 15 cords
per acre.
References
Gevorkiantz, S. R., and R. Zon. 1930. Second-Growth White Pine in Wiscon¬
sin. Wis. Agr. Exp. Sta., Res. Bull. 98. Madison, Wisconsin.
Shaw, B. H., R. R. Maeglin, and S. A. Wilde. 1968. Soil water supply — its
consumption by forest stands and weed cover. Adv. Frontiers of Plant
Sci. 21:141-155.
202 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Spyridakis, D. E., G. Chesters, and S. A. Wilde. 1967. Kaolinization of
biotite as a result of coniferous and deciduous seedling growth. Soil Sci.
Soc. Proc. Amer. 31:203-210.
Wackerman, A. E., R. Zon, and F. G. Wilson. 1929. Yield of Jack Pine in
the Lake States. Wis. Agr. Exp. Sta., Res. Bull. 90. Madison, Wisconsin.
Wilde, S. A. 1967. Production of energy material by forest stands as related
to supply of soil water. Acta for. fenn. 1,2:31-44.
Wilde, S. A., A. Giordano, B. H. Shaw, A. W. Fedkenheuer, and W. T. Seip.
1968. Tree Spacing in Forest Plantations as Related to Soils and Revenue.
Coll, of Agr. and Fife Sciences, Univ. of Wis., Bull. 589. Madison, Wis¬
consin.
Wilde, S. A., and J. G. Iyer. 1962. Growth of red pine (Pinus resinosa) on
scalped soils. Ecology 43:771-774.
Wilde, S. A., J. G. Iyer, Ch. Tanzer, W. L. Trautmann, and K. G. Wat-
terston. 1964. The growth of red pine (Pinas resinosa,, Ait.) plantations
in relation to fertility of non-phreatic sandy soils. For. Science 10:463-470.
Wilde, S. A., J. G. Iyer, Ch. Tanzer, W. L. Trautmann, and K. G. Wat-
terston. 1965. Growth of Wisconsin Coniferous Plantations in Relation to
Soils. Univ. of Wisconsin, Res. Bull. 262. Madison, Wisconsin.
Wilde, S. A., B. H. Shaw, and A. W. Fedkenheuer. 1968. Weeds as a factor
depressing forest growth. Weed Res., 8:196-204.
Wilde, S. A., G. K. Voigt, and J. G. Iyer. 1964. Analysis of Soils and Plants
for Tree Culture. Oxford Books Co., New Delhi, India.
CORIXIDAE (WATER BOATMEN) OF WISCONSIN'
William L. Hilsenhoff1 2
In 1948 H. B. Hungerford published his monumental monograph
on the Gorixidae of the Western Hemisphere, which included a
monograph on the Trichocorixa by R. I. Sailer. In it are keys, de¬
scriptions and the recorded distribution for all the known species.
Numerous collection records were listed from the four states that
border Wisconsin, especially from Michigan and Minnesota, but
records from Wisconsin were meager, with only 23 species re¬
ported from this state.
In November and December of 1965, large aggregates of corixids
were collected from the Wisconsin River and its tributaries. These
were mixtures of several species, many of which had not previously
been reported from Wisconsin. Subsequent sampling showed that
these aggregates occurred only in the late fall, when corixids ap¬
parently congregate in the larger streams to spend the winter.
These aggregates often contained 15 or more species, with one
collection from the St. Croix River in Douglas County on November
20, 1968, containing 23 different species.
Since it was obvious that Wisconsin’s Corixidae were largely un¬
known, an effort was made to collect Corixidae from all areas of the
state in 1968, with a special emphasis on collecting from larger
streams in October and November to take advantage of the large
aggregations of wintering individuals. Collections were made in
all counties, but some counties were sampled more thoroughly than
others, or were sampled at times more advantageous for collecting
corixids. From 1962 through 1968, nearly 22,000 corixids were col¬
lected and identified,, and of the 47 species that were collected, 25
are new records for the state. All specimens were preserved in 70 %
ethanol and have been deposited in the University of Wisconsin
Insect Collection, along with detailed collection data.
Keys to the Wisconsin species, maps of their distribution, com¬
ments on their distribution, abundance, and identification, and a
1 Approved for publication by the Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment
Station. Research supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources.
2 Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706.
203
204 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 1. Hesperocorixa obliqua (modified from Hungerford 1948). A. Dorsal
view of male. B. Ventral view of male. C. Lateral view of female. D. Foreleg
of male.
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
205
summary of the collection records are reported below. The keys are
adapted from those of Hungerford (1948), Sailer (1948), and
Brooks and Kelton (1967). Figure 1 illustrates the morphological
terms used in these keys. Records of previous collections from Wis¬
consin and from its neighboring states are summarized from
Hungerford (1948) and Sailer (1948), since there have been no
records published for these states since 1948. Descriptions and
illustrations of the various species are not included, because Hun¬
gerford and Sailer have thoroughly described and illustrated all
of the species.
Figure 2. Collections of Wisconsin Corixidae, 1962-1968, of the genera Calli-
corixa, Cenocorixa , Corisella, Palmacorixa, Ramphocorixa, and Trichocorixa.
206 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 3. Collections of Wisconsin Corixidae, 1962-1968, of the genus Hespero-
corixa.
Key to Wisconsin genera
1. Rostrum without transverse grooves; pronotum without trans¬
verse dark bands _ Cymatia
Rostrum with transverse grooves; pronotum with transverse
bands although they may be indistinct _ 2
2. Entire hemelytral pattern usually effaced ; upper surface of male
pala deeply incised; vertex of male acuminate; both sexes with
palar claw serrate at base ; less than 5.5 mm long _ Ramphocorixa
Hemelytral pattern distinct, although limited areas may be ef¬
faced in some species _ 3
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
207
• S. bicoloripennis
° S. defecto
©S. mulleWensis
Figure 4. Collections of Wisconsin Corixidae, 1962-1968, of the genus Sigara.
0
• S. johnutoni
OS. knighti
©S. Irantfifloroto
3. Small shining corixids, the males with sinistral asymmetry ; apex
of clavus not, or scarcely, exceeding a line drawn through costal
margins at nodal furrows _ Trichocorixa
Male asymmetry dextral ; apex of clavus plainly exceeding a line
drawn through costal margins at nodal furrows _ 4
4. Pruinose area at base of claval suture short and broadly rounded
at apex,, usually about % as long as postnodal pruinose area;
prothoracic lobe truncate _ Hesperocorixa
Pruinose area at base of claval suture narrowly rounded or
pointed at apex and almost as long as postnodal pruinose area;
prothoracic lobe rounded _ 5
208 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
[Vol. 58
Figure 5. Collections of Wisconsin Corixidae, 1962-1968, of the genus Sigam .
5. Markings on clavis transverse, those on corium transverse,
longitudinal, or reticulate _ 6
Markings on clavus and corium narrow and broken, usually
open reticulate with many interconnections _ 7
6. Corial pattern transverse and with little contrast; male strigil
absent; male pala with two rows of pegs _ Callicorixa
Corium usually with contrasting pattern, either transverse,
longitudinal, or reticulate; male strigil present; male pala with
one row of pegs (2 exceptions) _ Sigara
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
209
7. Rear margin of head sharply curved, embracing a very short
pronotum; interocular space much narrower than the width of
an eye _ Palmacorixa
Rear margin of head gently curved; interocular space about
equal to the width of an eye _ 8
8. Smooth, shining insects ; male pala triangular ; prothoracic lobe
tapering to a narrowly rounded apex _ Corisella
Rastrate, hairy species _ 9
9. Eyes protuberant with inner anterior angles broadly rounded;
postocular space broad _ Dasycorixa
Eyes normal; postocular space narrow _ Cenocorixa
Callicorixa White 1873
Two species of Callicorixa probably occur in Wisconsin, but only
C. audeni was collected. The second species, C. alaskensis Hunger-
ford 1926, has been recorded from Michigan, Pennsylvania, New
York;, and New Hampshire to the east of Wisconsin, and from
Utah, Montana, and Wyoming to the west. It has also been found
in most of the Canadian Provinces.
Key to Wisconsin species
1. First tarsal segment of hind leg unicolor ous _ C. audeni
First tarsal segment of hind leg infuscated on distal third _
_ C. alaskensis
Callicorixa audeni Hungerford 1928
Distribution and abundance : Common in the northern half of the
state (Fig. 2B), with three being collected as far south as Adams
County.
Identification : This species can be separated from other Calli¬
corixa that may occur in Wisconsin by the lack of a dark spot on
the first tarsal segment of the hind leg. The black prothoracic lobe
of almost all Wisconsin specimens serves to separate this species
from all other Wisconsin corixids. The females may be most easily
confused with female Sigara alternata (which may have a smoky
prothoracic lobe), but can be distinguished by their longer, more
acutely pointed metaxyphus, by a slightly wider mesoepimeron,
and by light markings that often extend all the way across the
corium.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 1. 3, 2 $ ; Ashland Co. 19 3, 12 $ ;
Barron Co. 1 $ ; Burnett Co. 1 $ ; Chippewa Co. 1 $ ; Clark Co.
1 3 , 1 $ ; Douglas Co. 8 3,7 2 ; Eau Claire Co. 13,29; Florence
Co. 54 3 , 65 $ ; Forest Co. 17 3,20 $ ; Lincoln Co. 14 3,30 $ ;
210 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Marathon Co. 15 3 , 22 9 ; Marinette Co. 2 $ ; Oconto Co. 1 3 ;
Oneida Co. 5 3„ 8 $ ; Price Co. 10 3 , 14 2 ; Rusk Co. 6 3 , 10 2 ;
Sawyer Co. 4 3,4 2 ; Taylor Co. 9 3,9 2 ; Vilas Co. 12 3 , 9 2 ;
Washburn Co. 1 2 . Totals: 398 individuals, 71 collections, 21
counties.
Previous Records: None. Recorded from Michigan and Minne¬
sota.
Cenocorixa Hungerford 1948
Only two species, C. dakotensis and C. utahensis, have been col¬
lected in Wisconsin, but both are rare. A third species, C. bifida
(Hungerford) 1926, has been collected nearby in Minnesota and
could occur in Wisconsin. Both Wisconsin records were from large
lakes in the extreme northwest, and perhaps intensive collecting
of such habitats would yield additional specimens and specimens of
C. bifida as well.
Key to Wisconsin species
1. Last tarsal segment of hind leg black or dark brown ; hind femur
pubescent for about one-third its length _ C. dakotensis
Last tarsal segment pale; hind femur pubescent for at least 40%
of its length _ 2
2. Shining costal area just anterior to nodal furrow longer than
middle tarsus; male peg row entire _ C. bifida
Shining costal area just anterior to nodal furrow equal to middle
tarsus in length; peg row of male pala divided _ C. utahensis
Cenocorixa dakotensis (Hungerford) 1928
Distribution and Abundance: Apparently rare in the western
part of the state (Fig. 2A).
Collection Records: Douglas Co. 1 2 . Totals: 1 individual, 1
collection, 1 county.
Previous Records : None. Reported from Illinois and Minnesota.
Cenocorixa utahensis (Hungerford) 1925
Distribution and Abundance: Apparently rare in the western
part of the state (Fig. 2A) .
Collection Records: Douglas Co. 1 3. Totals: 1 individual, 1 col¬
lection, 1 county.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Iowa.
1970]
211
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
Corisella Lundblad
Two species have been collected in Wisconsin, and it is unlikely
that any others occur in this state. The members of this genus are
rare in Wisconsin.
Key to Wisconsin species
1. Less than 6.5 mm long; hind tarsus embrowned _ C. tarsalis
More than 6.5 mm long; hind tarsus pale; pattern of clavis
effaced at inner, basal angle _ C. edulis
Corisella edulis (Champion) 1901
Distribution and Abundance: Rare in Wisconsin, it has been col¬
lected only in the southwestern part of the state (Fig. 2A).
Collection Records: Dane Co. 1 $ ; Lafayette Co. 2 $, 6 $.
Totals: 9 individuals, 2 collections, 2 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Iowa and Minnesota.
Corisella tarsalis (Fieber) 1851
Distribution and Abundance: Rare in Wisconsin, this species ap¬
pears to be confined to the southern two-thirds of the state (Fig.
2A) .
Collection Records: Columbia Co. 1 $, 2 $ ; Door Co. 1 S ; Wau¬
kesha Co. 2 $ . Totals: 6 individuals, 4 collections, 3 counties.
Previous Records: “Parco” (probably Portage Co.) 1 $ . No
records from adjoining states.
Cymatia Flor 1860
The only described North American species, C. americana Hus¬
sey 1920, has not been found in Wisconsin but should occur in the
northern half of the state. It has been reported in Michigan and
Minnesota.
Dasycorixa Hungerford 1948
One species, D. hybrida (Hungerford) 1926, has been collected in
Minnesota and could occur in the northwestern part of Wisconsin.
Hesperocorixa Kirkaldy 1908
Twelve species of Hesperocorixa have been collected in Wiscon¬
sin, eleven in this present study. Four of these species are very
common. One additional species, H. nitida (Fieber) 1851, probably
212 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
occurs in Wisconsin, since it has been found in all four of the
neighboring states. Its distribution is generally southern,, and it
would most likely be found in the southern counties of the state.
Key to Wisconsin species
1. Mesoepimeron at level of scent gland osteole as broad or broader
than the lateral lobe of the pro thorax _ 2
Mesoepimeron plainly narrower than the lateral lobe of the
prothorax _ 6
2. Mesoepimeron at level of scent gland osteole about equal in
width to the lateral lobe of the prothorax; a conspicuous V-
shaped yellow band bordering the apex of the corium _
_ H. atopodonta
Mesoepimeron plainly broader than the prothoracic lobe _ 3
3. 8 mm long or longer ; tip of metaxyphus blunt or truncated _
_ H. kennicottii
7.5 mm long or less ; tip of metaxyphus pointed _ 4
4. Dorsal surface of hind femur with two stout spines _
_ H. minor ella
Dorsal surface of hind femur armed with many spines _ 5
5. Corial pattern crossbanded _ H. michiganensis
Corial pattern in longitudinal series _ H. semilucida
6. Pattern of hemelytra reticulate; pronotum nonrastrate _
- H. laevigata
Pattern of hemelytra not reticulate; pronotum rastrate _ 7
7. Pronotal disc short, less than half as long as wide _
_ H. scahricula
Pronotal disc more than half as long as wide _ 8
8. Color pattern of corium effaced laterally _ H. lucida
Color pattern normal _ 9
9. Pale bands of corium beyond hemelytral suture forming slender
transverse series. Membrane not plainly separated from corium
- II. vulgaris
Pala bands of corium beyond hemelytral suture in an inter¬
rupted transverse series. Membrane may be distinctly sepa¬
rated from corium _ 10
10. Hind femur with a row of about 10 spines ventrally on distal
portion of rear margin _ H. nitida
Hind femur with only about 6 spines on rear margin _ 11
11. Corium and membrane not separated by a coalescing of the
pale figures; upper distal angle of male pala acutely, obliquely
produced _ H. obliqua
Corium and membrane separated by a coalescing of the pale
figures _ 12
213
1970] Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
12. Interocular space almost equal to the .width of an eye ; metaxy-
phus as broad as long; male pala rounded at tip; male strigil
oval _ _ _ H. lobata
Interocular space much narrower than width of an eye; met-
axyphus longer than broad; male pala truncated at tip; male
strigil very long _ H. interrupta
Hesperocorixa atopodonta (Hungerford) 1927
Distribution and Abundance : This species is found throughout
Wisconsin (Fig. 3B) and is very common in the northern two-
thirds of the state.
Identification: The mesoepimeron that is the same width as the
prothoracic lobe and the conspicuous V-shaped yellow band border¬
ing the apex of the corium readily distinguish this species. The
male pala with the last peg out of line is also distinctive.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 14 <2, 11 2 ; Ashland Co. 26 £,
30 2 ; Barron Co. 1 £, 1 2 ; Burnett Co. 9 £ , 2 2 ; Chippewa Co.
16 £ , 15 2 ; Clark Co. 5 £ , 4 2 ; Columbia Co. 1 £ , 2 2 ; Crawford
Co. 2 £ ; Dane Co. 12 £ , 9 2 ; Douglas Co. 32 £ , 33 $ ; Dunn Co.
7 £ , 8 2 ; Eau Claire Co. 29 £ , 33 2 ; Florence Co. 89 £ , 92 2 ;
Fond du Lac Co. 2 £ , 4 2 ; Forest Co. 20 £„ 22 $ ; Grant Co. 1 $ ;
Green Co. 1 £ , 1 $ ; Green Lake Co. 1 $ ; Iowa Co. 5 £ , 3 $ ;
Juneau Co. 65 £, 93 $ ; Kenosha Co. 1 £ ; Langlade Co. 1 £ ; Lin¬
coln Co. 77 £,58 2 ; Manitowoc Co. 1 2 ; Marathon Co. 45 £, 36
2 ; Marinette Co. 1 £ , 2 2 ; Marquette Co. 1 2 ; Milwaukee Co. 5
<2,5 2; Monroe Co. 1 <2, 4 2 ; Oconto Co. 7 £,12 2 ; Oneida Co.
9 £ , 10 2 ; Ozaukee Co. 1 <2 ; Polk Co. 5 <2 , 8 2 ; Portage Co. 9 £,
12 2 ; Price Co. 25 $ , 39 2 ; Racine Co. 1 £ ; Richland Co. 3 <2 ,
5 2 ; Rusk Co. 40 $ , 45 2 ; Sauk Co. 2 $ , 4 2 ; Sawyer Co. 8 $ ;
Taylor Co. 9 $ , 9 2 ; Trempealeau Co. 42 <2, 36 2 ; Vilas Co. 15 £ ,
16 2 ; Washburn Co. 7 £, 6 2 ; Waupaca Co. 17 £,92; Winne¬
bago Co. 22 £ , 28 2 ; Wood Co. 5 £, 4 2 . Totals: 1U09 individuals,
11*5 collections, U7 counties.
Previous Records: Bayfield Co. 2 2 ; Dane Co. 6 £, 7 2 ; Douglas
Co. 1 £, 1 2 ; Fond du Lac Co. 1 £ , 1 2 ; Polk Co. 1 2 ; Rusk Co.
1 2 ; Sauk Co. 2 2 ; St. Croix R. 3 2 ; Wisconsin 2 £ , 2 2 . Also
reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Hesperocorixa interrupta (Say) 1825
Distribution and Abundance: The only Wisconsin record is one
male collected at Beaver Dam (Dodge Co.) by W. E. Snyder in
1909 (Hungerford 1948). Most of the records for this species are
from states south of Wisconsin, indicating that it would most likely
occur in the southern part of the state.
214 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Identification: A series of specimens from the Snow Collection
was examined. This species is similar to H. lobata, but can be sepa¬
rated from that species by its narrow interocular space, which is
only % the width of an eye. In H. lobata the interocular space is
about 12/13 the width of an eye. The metaxyphus is longer and
more pointed than that of H. lobata. Males have a pala that is
truncate at the tip as compared to the rounded pala of H. lobata,
and they have a very elongate and large strigil. H. interrupta can
be separated from the smaller H. nitida by the characters given
in the key.
Previous Records: Dodge Co. 1 8. Also reported from Illinois
and Michigan.
Hesperocorixa kennicottii (Uhler) 1897
Distribution and Abundance: This species is common in all but
the extreme southeastern corner of the state, where it was not
collected but probably occurs (Fig. 3C).
Identification: This species is very distinctive. It has a very wide,
pale mesoepimeron, a metaxyphus that is truncate or broadly
rounded at the tip, and a golden-brown membrane that is almost
devoid of markings and is separated from the corium by the wide,
yellow, V-shaped border of the corium.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 1 8,2 2 ; Ashland Co. 1 2 ;
Barron Co. 1 8 ; Columbia Co. 2 8 ; Crawford Co. 4 8,2 $ ; Doug¬
las Co. 23 8, 34 2 ; Dunn Co. 1 8 , 3 2 ; Florence Co. 2 8 , 5 $ ;
Forest Co. 3 2 ; Iowa Co. 1 8 ; Juneau Co. 1 $ ; Langlade Co. 1 8 ;
Lincoln Co. 20 <2,11 $ ; Marathon Co. 18 8 , 28 $ ; Marquette Co.
1 8 ; Oconto Co. 1 8,1 $ ; Oneida Co. 2 8,1 2 ; Polk Co. 1 2 ;
Portage Co. 1 8,2 2 ; Price Co. 1 2 ; Rusk Co. 2 8,1 2 ; Sauk
Co. 2 2 ; Sawyer Co. 12,2 2 ; Taylor Co. 1 8,2 2 ; Trempealeau
Co. 3 8 ; Washburn Co. 8 8 , 3 2 ; Waupaca Co. 1 8 , 8 2 ; Winne¬
bago Co. 47 £,50 2 ; Wood Co. 1 8,2 2 . Totals: 309 individuals,
51 collections, 29 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 44 8 , 75 2 ; Douglas Co. 1 8 . Also
reported from Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.
Hesperocorixa laevigata (Uhler) 1893
Distribution and Abundance: Although apparently rare in Wis¬
consin, having been collected from only two sites (Fig. 3C), at
one of these sites it was abundant and thousands could have been
collected. This is a common western corixid, and Wisconsin is east
of its principal range.
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
215
Identification: The reticulate pattern and non-rastrate pronotum
set this species apart from all other Hesperocorixa.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 1 $ ; Iowa Co. 24 S, 36 2.
Totals: 61 individuals, 2 collections, 2 counties.
Previous Records : St. Croix R. 1 $ (Hungerford 1948) . Also re¬
ported from Illinois and Minnesota.
Hesperocorixa lobata (Hungerford) 1925
Distribution and Abundance: Although collected in only live
northern counties in this study (Fig. 3C) , its distribution in the
United States (Hungerford 1948) and a previous collection from
Dane County indicate that it probably occurs throughout the state.
Identification: The separation of this species from H. interrupta
was discussed under H. interrupta. The male pala is rounded at the
tip, and is not as illustrated by Hungerford (1948). A series of
specimens from the Snow Collection was studied, as well as those
collected in Wisconsin.
Collection Records: Barron Co. 3 $ ; Chippewa Co. 1 & ; Florence
Co. 4 3,3 2 ; Polk Co. 1 $ , 1 $ ; Washburn Co. 2 $ . Totals: 15
individuals, 5 collections, 5 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 1 S, 1 2 . Also reported from Mich¬
igan and Minnesota.
Hesperocorixa lucida (Abbott) 1916
Distribution and Abundance: A distinct rarity in Wisconsin,
H. lucida was collected from only two counties in northern Wiscon¬
sin (Fig. 3D). Its distribution to the south of Wisconsin indicates
that it may be found in all parts of the state.
Identification: The lack of markings on the clavis and the effaced
markings of the corium separate this species from other Hespero¬
corixa.
Collection Records: Douglas Co. 1 3, 1 2 ; Lincoln Co. 1 $ .
Totals: 3 individuals, 2 collections, 2 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Illinois and Michigan.
Hesperocorixa michiganensis (Hungerford) 1926
Distribution and Abundance: Although it was also collected in
the extreme south, the distribution is mostly throughout the north¬
ern two-thirds of the state (Fig. 3A). In the north this is a very
common species.
Identification : The mesoepimeron is pale,, much lighter than
either H. minorella or H. semilucida , the other two small Hespero-
216 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
corixa with a wide mesoepimeron. The pale markings on the mem¬
brane are also more distinct than in either of these two species.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 6 3,5 2 ; Ashland Co. 45 3,
20 2 ; Barron Co. 4 3, 10 2 ; Burnett Co. 31 3 , 15 $ ; Clark Co.
7 3,5 $ ; Dodge Co. 1 3 ; Douglas Co. 10 3,8.$; Eau Claire Co.
2 3, 9 $ ; Florence Co. 203 3, 197 2 ; Forest Co. 82 3 , 99 2 ;
Green Co. 1 3,2 2 ; Juneau Co. 1 2 ; La Crosse Co. 1 3 ; Langlade
Co. 3 2 ; Lincoln Co. 72 3, 84 2 ; Manitowoc Co. 2 2 ; Marathon
Co. 42 3,29 2 ; Marinette Co. 2 3,1 2 ; Marquette Co. 33,1 2 ;
Monroe Co. 1 2 ; Oconto Co. 30 3 , 12 2 ; Oneida Co. 22 3 , 17 2 ;
Outagamie Co. 1 2 ; Polk Co. 3 3,6 2 ; Portage Co. 4 3,2 2 ;
Price Co. 53 3 , 60 2 ; Rusk Co. 33 3 , 5 2 ; Sauk Co. 1 3 ; Sawyer
Co. 7 3 , 12 2 ; Taylor Co. 14 3, 7 2 ; Trempealeau Co. 10 3, 22 2 ;
Vilas Co. 26 3, 44 2 ; Waupaca Co. 4 3,2 2 ; Winnebago Co. 3 3,
4 2 ; Wood Co. 7 3,7 2 . Totals: 1U22 individuals, 120 collections,
35 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 1 3,3 2 ; Douglas Co. 3 3, 7 2 ;
Wisconsin 2 2 . Also reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Hesperocorixa minor ella (Hungerford) 1926
Distribution and Abundance: A very common species of Hespero¬
corixa that is widely distributed throughout the northern two-
thirds of the state (Fig. 3A) . It is most abundant in the far north.
Identification: This very dark species can be distinguished by
the two spines on the dorsal surface of the hind femur.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 1 3„ 10 2 ; Ashland Co. 18 3,
18 2 ; Barron Co. 1 3 ; Burnett Co. 3 3,7 2 ; Chippewa Co. 2 3,
2 2 ; Clark Co. 2 3,5 2 ; Douglas Co. 17 3, 39 2 ; Dunn Co. 2 3,
3 2 ; Eau Claire Co. 36 3 , 54 2 ; Florence Co. 434 3, 458 2 ;
Forest Co. 195 3, 260 2 ; Iron Co. 8 3 , 20 2 ; Jackson Co. 3 3,
4 2 ; Juneau Co. 18 3 , 14 2 ; Langlade Co. 1 2 ; Lincoln Co. 44
3 , 78 2 ; Manitowoc Co. 1 2 ; Marathon Co. 14 3,30 2 ; Marinette
Co. 4 3,3 2 ; Marquette Co. 1 3 ; Monroe Co. 1 3,1 2 ; Oconto
Co. 38 3 , 66 2 ; Oneida Co. 62 3„ 119 2 ; Outagamie Co. 1 2 ;
Polk Co. 1 3 ; Portage Co. 7 3,6 2 ; Price Co. 29 3 , 52 2 ; Rusk
Co. 62 3 , 58 2 ; Sauk Co. 1 2 ; Sawyer Co. 25 3 , 34 2 ; Shawano
Co. 1 3,1 2 ; Taylor Co. 12 3, 12 2 ; Trepealeau Co. 1 2 ; Vilas
Co. 198 3 , 231 2 ; Washburn Co. 11 3 , 21 2 ; Waupaca Co. 3 2 ;
Waushara Co. 2 3, 1 2 ; Winnebago Co. 5 3, 6 2 ; Wood Co. 4 3,
7 2 . Totals: 2889 individuals, 125 collections, 39 counties.
Previous Records: Douglas Co. 1 3 ; Wisconsin (no sex or
number) . Also reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
217
Hesperocorixa obliqua (Hungerford) 1925
Distribution and Abundance: This species was collected only in
the extreme southern part of the state, where it is uncommon
(Fig. BD) .
Identification: The acute and obliquely produced upper distal
angle of the male pala is distinctive, but the females closely re¬
semble those of the much more abundant H. vulgaris. The pale
transverse lines of the corium are shorter in H. obliqua , and seldom
traverse the entire coriurq, while the longer lines of H. vulgaris
extend entirely across the corium in the basal third.
Collection Records: Dane Co. 5 S, 4 $ ; Kenosha Co. 5 $ , 9 $ ;
Racine Co. 1 $ ; Rock Co. 1 S, 1 $ . Totals: 26 individuals, 6 col¬
lections, A counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan
and Minnesota.
Hesperocorixa scabricula (Walley) 1936
Distribution and Abundance: Apparently rare in Wisconsin, this
species was collected only from one site in Florence County (Fig.
3D). Its occurrence in Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota suggests
that it may occur throughout Wisconsin.
Identification: Readily distinguished by its large size and the
very short pronotal disc.
Collection Records: Florence Co. 5 $ . Totals: 5 individuals, 1 col¬
lection, 1 county.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Illinois, Michigan, and
Minnesota.
Hesperocorixa semilucida (Walley) 1930
Distribution and Abundance: This uncommon species is appar¬
ently distributed throughout the southern half of the state (Fig.
3D), although it has not been collected in the extreme southeastern
counties.
Identification: The small size and wide mesoepimeron distinguish
this species,, H. minorella, and H. michiganensis. The mesoepimeron
is dusky, as in H. minorella , but the arrangement of the corial pat¬
tern into a definite longitudinal series separates it from both H.
minorella and H. michiganensis.
Collection Records: Crawford Co. 3 $ , 7 $ ; Green Co. 1 $ ;
Richland Co. 6 4 ? ; Trempealeau Co. 1 $ , 1 $ ; Waupaca Co.
3 $ ; Winnebago Co. 1^,1 $ . Totals: 28 individuals, 9 collections,
6 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Illinois and Michigan.
218 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Hesperocorixa vulgaris (Hungerford) 1925
Distribution and Abundance: This species is very common
throughout the state (Fig. 3B) .
Identification: The narrow metaxyphus, the lack of any pale
figures separating the corium from the membrane, and the long,
narrow, transverse pale markings of the corium distinguish this
species. The truncated tip of the male pala is slightly indented at
the middle.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 10 £,10 2 ; Ashland Co. 1 £,
4 $ ; Barron Co. 21 £,29 2 ; Brown Co. 1 £ ; Buffalo Co. 1 £ ;
Burnett Co. 5 £„ 5 $ ; Chippewa Co. 3 £,11 $ ; Clark Co. 1 £,
6 2 ; Columbia Co. 10 £, 10 $ ; Crawford Co. 1 $ ; Dane Co. 39 £,
22 $ ; Dodge Co. 7 £ , 11 $ ; Door Co. 1 £ ; Douglas Co. 16 £,17
$ ; Eau Claire Co. 34 £, 42 2 ; Dunn Co. 3 £ ; Florence Co. 12 £,
112; Forest Co. 5 £ , 5 2 ; Fond du Lac Co. 1 2 ; Grant Co. 2 £,
2 2 ; Green Co. 16 £,13 2 ; Green Lake Co. 3 £, 42 ; Iowa Co.
8 £ , 12 2 ; Jackson Co. 4 £ , 1 2 ; Juneau Co. 5 £, 11 2 ; Kenosha
Co. 24 £ , 13 2 ; La Crosse Co. 1 £ , 1 2 ; Langlade Co. 2 £ „ 3 2 ;
Lincoln Co. 6 £ , 7 2 ; Manitowoc Co. 1 £ , 2 2 ; Marathon Co. 12
£ , 6 2 ; Marquette Co. 5 £, 1 2 ; Milwaukee Co. 30 £,39 2 ;
Monroe Co. 3 £, 2 2 ; Oconto Co. 2 £ , 9 2 ; Oneida Co. 1 £, 1 2 ;
Outagamie Co. 6 2 ; Ozaukee Co. 1 £,2 2 ; Polk Co. 6 £, 3 2 ;
Portage Co. 2 £ ; Price Co. 6 £,15 2 ; Racine Co. 22 £,12 2 ;
Richland Co. 3 £ , 5 2 ; Rock Co. 2 £, 6 2 ; Rusk Co. 6 £„ 17 2 ;
Sauk Co. 24 £ , 33 2 ; Sawyer Co. 6 £ , 7 2 ; Taylor Co. 3 £ , 5 2 ;
Trempealeau Co. 25 £,22 2 ; Vernon Co. 2 £, 1 2 ; Vilas Co. 2
£, 2 2 ; Walworth Co. 28 £ , 45 2 ; Washburn Co. 1 £, 1 2 ; Wash¬
ington Co. 1 £ , 1 2 ; Waukesha Co. 4 £ , 8 2 ; Waupaca Co. 2 £,
2 2 ; Waushara Co. 3 £, 2 2 ; Winnebago Co. 52 £, 78 2 ; Wood
Co. 2 2 . Totals: 1083 individuals, 160 collections, 59 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 1 £,19 2 ; Dodge Co. (no num¬
bers) ; Douglas Co. 1 £, 2 2 ; St. Croix R. 8 £ , 6 2 . Also reported
from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.
Palmacorixa Abbott 1912
Three species of Palmacorixa occur throughout Wisconsin, but
none of them is very common. The males of the three species are
easily distinguished, but the females are very difficult to separate,
especially those of P. nana and P. buenoi. The identification of the
females collected in this study is based on the following key, and
on other criteria listed under each species, but the separation of
P. nana from P. buenoi remains uncertain.
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
219
Key to Wisconsin species
1. The pronotal disc with well marked anterolateral depressions;
male pala very broad, almost disc-like, with poorly defined pegs
_ P . gillettei
Anterolateral depression on pronotum weak or absent; male
pala elongate _ _ 2
2. Middle femur of male with a longitudinal row or pegs on its
ventral surface; female less than 5.2 mm long _ P. nana
Middle femur of male without a row of pegs ; female 5.4 mm or
longer _ P. buenoi
Palmacorixa buenoi Abbott 1913
Distribution and Abundance : This is the most common species
of Palmacorixa in Wisconsin. It has been collected throughout
most of the state, being fairly common in the southeastern half and
less common in the northwest (Fig. 2C).
Identification: The females of this species are difficult to sepa¬
rate from Palmacorixa nana. Size is perhaps the most important
criteria, with P. nana females being less than 5.2 mm long and
P. buenoi females being 5.4 to 6.5 mm. Also, the dark posterior
border of the pronotum is usually wider than in P. nana. The
pronotum lacks the strong antero-lateral depressions that are found
in females of P. gillettei.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 2 $ ; Brown Co. 2 $ ; Columbia
Co. 12 $ , 19 $ ; Dane Co. 2 $ ; Douglas Co. 1 ? ; Eau Claire Co.
2 $ ; Green Lake Co. 1 $91 $ ; Juneau Co. 5 S , 7 $ ; Kenosha Co.
4 $ ; Kewaunee Co. 12 £ , 7 $ ; La Crosse Co. 1 $ ; Lafayette Co.
2 $ ; Oconto Co. 1 $ ; Oneida Co. 1 $ ; Pepin Co. 1 $ ; Pierce Co.
1 $ ; Polk Co. 1 $ ; Price Co. 2 $ ; Racine Co. 1 S ; Rock Co. 3 $ ;
Sauk Co. 2 $ , 2 $ ; Sawyer Co. 1 ? ; Washington Co. 2^,3 2 ;
Waupaca Co. 1 $ ; Waushara Co. 1 $ , 3 $ . Totals: 106 individuals,
SO collections, 25 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Iowa, Michigan and
Minnesota.
Palmacorixa gillettei Abbott 1912
Distribution and Abundance: Scattered records from throughout
the state indicate a statewide distribution, with the possible excep¬
tion the extreme southeastern counties (Fig. 2C). This species is
fairly common, but less common than P. buenoi.
Identification: The males are easily distinguished by their dilated
and flattened palae. The females can be identified by the strong
220 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
anterolateral depressions of the pronotum and the wide, dark,
posterior border of the pronotum.
Collection Records: Ashland Co. 1 $ ; Barron Co. 1 2 ; Dane Co.
2 2,8 $ ; Douglas Co. 1 2 ; Florence Co. 2 $ ; Iowa Co. 8 2,3 $ ;
Lafayette Co. 2 $ ; Oconto Co. 2 2,2 $ ; Outagamie Co. 1 $ ; Rich¬
land Co. 1 $ ; Taylor Co. 2 2,6 $ ; Vilas Co. 1 2 ; Waupaca Co.
1 2,2 $ ; Waushara Co. 1 $ . Totals: U2 individuals, 19 collections,
11> counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan, Iowa and
Minnesota.
Palmacorixa nana Walley 1930
Distribution and Abundance: The scattered records indicate that
this uncommon species probably occurs throughout the state (Fig.
2C) .
Identification: The row of pegs on the middle femur separates
the males from those of P. buenoi. The females can be distinguished
by their small size (less than 5.2 mm) and the very narrow, often
interrupted, dark posterior border of the pronotum.
Collection Records: Dane Co. 1 $ ; Florence Co. 1 2 ; Forest Co.
12,6$; Manitowoc Co. 12,1 $ ; Outagamie Co. 1 $ ; Taylor Co.
7 2,9 $ . Totals: 28 individuals, 6 collections, 6 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Ramphocorixa Abbott 1912
Only one species occurs in Wisconsin.
Ramphocorixa acuminata (Uhler) 1897
Distribution and Abundance: This species is rare in Wisconsin,
with but a single specimen having been collected. This individual
was collected with a black-light trap at Madison (Fig. 2B).
Identification: The effaced pattern of the clavis and corium of
this species serves to separate it from all other small Wisconsin
corixids. The male is also recognized by its accuminate vertex.
Collection Records: Dane Co. 1 2. Totals: 1 individual, 1 collec¬
tion, 1 county.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Illinois and Minnesota.
Sigara Fabricius 1775
This is the most common corixid genus in Wisconsin, 23 species
having been collected in the state. The only species likely to occur in
Wisconsin that have not been collected are S. hubbelli (Hungerford)
1928 and S. modesta (Abbott) 1916. Both are distributed through-
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
221
out the southeastern United States and have been collected in the
neighboring states of Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. S. hubbelli is
closely related to S. dejecta while S. modesta resembles S. grosso-
lineata. Both can be separated by the characters given in the key.
Key to Wisconsin species
1. Pronotal disk with median longitudinal pale line _ 2
Pronotal disk without a median pale longitudinal line _ 7
2. Tip of mesoepimeron as close or closer to scent gland osteole
than to mesosternum _ 8
Scent gland osteole remote from tip of mesoepimeron, farther
than distance from tip to mesosternum _ 5
3. Hemelytra nearly black; pale markings wide but obscure,
transverse on clavis and somewhat longitudinal on corium ;
male pala thickened, with a prominent keel on the outside __
_ _ _ S. variabilis
Markings on hemelytra narrower and more distinct _ 4
4. Male pala with a single row of pegs ; female abdomen with anal
lobes not notched on inner ventral margin _ S. johnstoni
Male pala with two rows of pegs; female with anal lobes
notched on inner ventral margin _ S. knighti
5. Pronotum and hemelytra boldly cross-barred; vertex produced
beyond the eye curve in both sexes _ S. transfigurata
Pattern less striking; vertex not noticeably produced _ 6
6. Pattern of membrane effaced or indistinct; pale figures on
corium and clavis transverse _ S. compressoidea
Pattern of membrane usually distinct; pale figures on corium
and distal half of clavis arranged more or less longitudinally
_ S. mackinacensis
7. Large species, greater than 7.0 mm long _ 8
Small species, less than 7.0 mm long _ 11
8. Metaxyphus broad, truncated or notched at the tip; claw of
pala serrate at base in both sexes _ S. decorata
Metaxyphus pointed; palar claw normal _ 9
9. Palae of both sexes with only 14 to 16 lower palmar hairs __
- S. decoratella
Palae with from 18 to 22 lower palmar hairs _ 10
10. Interocular space plainly narrower than width of an eye;
hemelytra dark, with the pale markings of the corium and distal
half of clavis arranged in definite longitudinal series _
- S. penniensis
Interocular space equal to width of an eye; pale markings of
corium and clavis bold and transverse; vertex of male pro¬
duced; palae long and slender _ _ _ S. conocephala
222 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
11. Corial pattern in definite longitudinal series _ 12
Corial pattern not in definite longitudinal series _ 16
12. Clavus and corium with pale lines in wavy longitudinal series ;
hypoocular suture ending laterad of middle line of eye _ I
_ S. douglasensis
Claval lineations not in wavy longitudinal series _ 18
13. Small, less than 4.3 mm long; antennae usually 3-segmented _
_ S. lineata
Larger, greater than 4.5 mm long; antennae 4-segmented __14
14. Scent gland osteole remote from tip of mesoepimeron _
_ S. trilineata
Scent gland osteole near tip of mesoepimeron _ 15
15. Corial lineations distinct; male pala with two rows of pegs;
female pala short; anal lobes of female only very slightly
notched on inner ventral margin _ S. mullettensis
Corial lineations fairly distinct; male pala with one row of
pegs _ 23
16. Metaxyphus longer than broad _ 17
Metaxyphus not longer than broad _ 19
17. Mesoepimeron at level of scent gland osteole about equal in
width to lateral lobe of prothorax _ S. dolabra
Mesoepimeron at level of scent gland osteole much broader
than width of lateral lobe of prothorax _ 18
18. Pale bands on base of clavus entire, bands on corium plainly
transverse; dorsal surface of hind femur with only 3 or 4
pegs _ S. solensis
Pale bands on base of clavus more or less broken and confused ;
dorsal surface of hind femur with two or three rows of pegs
_ S. signata
19. Scent gland osteole nearer lateral bend of mesoepimeron than
tip _ 20
Scent gland osteole near tip of mesoepimeron _ 22
20. Head with median longitudinal brown line ; mesoepimeron with
a deep incision at or near the lateral bend _ S. mathesoni
Head without line; mesoepimeron without incision _ 21
21. Osteole almost in lateral bend of mesoepimeron, at least 4/5
from tip ; metaxyphus with a truncated point grossolineata
Osteole not so far laterad, 1/2-3/5 from tip ; metaxyphus with
a rounded point _ _ S. modesta
22. Corial pattern in a more or less definite longitudinal series __23
Corial pattern not in a longitudinal series _ 24
23. Pronotal disc laterally reduced; 4 to 6 pegs on dorsal surface
of hind femur; pattern of membrane obscure _ _ S. hubbelli
Pronotal disc not reduced laterally; row of at least 12 pegs on
1970] Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin 223
dorsal surface of hind femur; pattern of membrane distinct;
distal pegs of male pala becoming widely separated ; anal lobes
of female notched on inner ventral margin ; pala of female long
_ _ _ S. dejecta
24. Metaxyphus small and rounded at tip ; male pala with peg row
close to palm; anal lobes of female not notched _
_ S. bicoloripennis
Metaxyphus pointed at an angle of less than 90 degrees _ 25
25. Pronotum crossed by 5 or 6 dark bands _ S. macropala
Pronotum crossed by 8 or 9 dark bands _ S. alternata
Sigara alternata (Say) 1825
Distribution and Abundance : The most common Wisconsin
corixid, this species is very common in the northern half of the
state and abundant in the southern half. It has been collected in
almost every county (Fig. 4A) .
Identification: The short, pointed metaxyphus forms an angle
at the tip of about 70°. This, the alternate dark and pale transverse
markings on the clavis, and the vermiform markings of the corium
separate this species from others with a narrow mesoepimeron.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 78 3, 114 9 ; Ashland Co. 4 3,
6 $ ; Barron Co. 12 3, 16 $ ; Bayfield Co. 1 9 ; Brown Co. 1 3„
9 9 ; Buffalo Co. 10 3,6 9 ; Burnett Co. 14 3 , 34 9 ; Calumet Co.
2 3,4 $ ; Chippewa Co. 2 3,4 9 ; Clark Co. 2 3,3 $ ; Columbia
Co. 104 3, 128 9 ; Crawford Co. 46 3 , 62 $ ; Dane Co. 155 3,
203 9 ; Dodge Co. 4 $ ; Door Co. 11 3,3 $ ; Douglas Co. 66 3,
93 $ ; Dunn Co. 3 3,6 $ ; Eau Claire Co. 24 3 , 30 9 ; Florence
Co. 68 3, 77 9 ; Forest Co. 1 3,5 9 ; Fond du Lac Co. 1 3,6 9 ;
Grant Co. 11 3, 13 9 ; Green Co. 40 3, 49 9 ; Green Lake Co. 7 3 ,
23 9 ; Iowa Co. 31 3 , 22 9 ; Iron Co. 1 3 ; Jackson Co. 7 3, 10 9 ;
Jefferson Co. 1 9 ; Juneau Co. 50 3 , 61 9 ; Kenosha Co. 70 3 , 93
9 ; Kewaunee Co. 1 3,8 9 ; La Crosse Co. 7 3 , 14 9 ; Lafayette
Co. 3 3,7 9 ; Langlade Co. 2 3,1 9 ; Lincoln Co. 29 3„ 20 9 ;
Manitowoc Co. 3 3,8 9 ; Marathon Co. 483, 54 9 ; Marquette Co.
9 3 , 17 9 ; Menominee Co. 1 3 ; Milwaukee Co. 61 3, 61 9 ;
Monroe Co. 3 3 , 32 9 ; Oconto Co. 16 3, 28 9 ; Oneida Co. 9 3,
11 9 ; Outagamie Co. 6 3, 7 9 ; Ozaukee Co. 1 3,1 9 ; Pepin
Co. 1 3 ; Polk Co. 1 9 ; Portage Co. 28 3 , 31 9 ; Price Co. 15 3,
14 9 ; Racine Co. 30 3 , 34 9 ; Richland Co. 13 3,9 9 ; Rock Co.
8 3,19 9; Rusk Co. 1 3 „ 1 9 ; St. Croix Co. 3 9 ; Sauk Co. 45 3 ,
39 9 ; Sawyer Co. 4 3,9 9 ; Shawano Co. 2 3 ; Taylor Co. 12 3 ,
10 9 ; Trempealeau Co. 78 3 , 92 9 ; Vernon Co. 11 3,6 9 ; Vilas
Co. 3 3,8 9 ; Walworth Co. 59 3, 89 9 ; Washburn Co. 2 3 ;
Washington Co. 1 3 ; Waukesha Co. 19 3 , 16 9 ; Waupaca Co. 6
224 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [VoL 58
3 , 9 2 ; Waushara Co. 1 3 ; Winnebago Co. 17 3, 28 2 ; Wood Co.
6 3 , 6 $. Totals: 3168 individuals, 2U8 collections, 69 counties.
Previous Records: Burnett Co. 1 $ ; Dane Co. 2 $ , 5 $ ; Douglas
Co. 1 3,1 5 ; Fond du Lac Co. 1 $ ; Jackson Co. 1 2 ; Lafayette
Co. 1 2 ; Sauk Co. 1 3„ 6 2 . Also reported from Illinois, Iowa,
Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara bicoloripennis (Walley) 1936
Distribution and Abundance: This species is fairly common
throughout the northern two-thirds of the state (Fig. 4B). One
specimen was collected in Kenosha County in the extreme south¬
east.
Identification: The small, rounded metaxyphus separates this
species from S. alternata. The females might be confused with S.
defecta, but the pala is shorter in S. bicoloripennis and the anal
lobes are not notched on the mesal margin.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 8 <2 , 20 2 ; Ashland Co. 1 3 ;
Barron Co. 1 3,2 2 ; Burnett Co. 3 3,7 2 ; Douglas Co. 6 8,6 2 ;
Florence Co. 39 $ , 44 2 ; Forest Co. 2 2 ; Juneau Co. 1 $ ; Kenosha
Co. 1 $ ; Langlade Co. 1 2 ; Lincoln Co. 1 $ , 1 2 ; Marathon Co.
1 8 , 2 2 ; Oconto Co. 2 8 ; Oneida Co. 1 8,1 2 ; Outagamie Co.
6 8, 5 2 ; Polk Co. 6 8 , 3 2 ; Price Co. 1 8 , 3 2 ; Sawyer Co. 1 8 ;
Taylor Co. 11 8, 11 2 ; Trempealeau Co. 9 3 , 10 2 ; Washburn
Co. 1 8 ; Waupaca Co. 1 2 ; Winnebago Co. 1 2 . Totals: 220 in¬
dividuals, 3U collections, 23 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 3 3,12 2 . Also reported from Mich¬
igan and Minnesota.
Sigara compressoidea (Hungerford) 1928
Distribution and Abundance: While common in the northern two-
thirds of the state, it also has been collected in two extreme south¬
eastern counties (Fig. 5C) .
Identification : The pale longitudinal line on the prothorax and
the effaced membrane distinguish this species. It might be con¬
fused only with S. mackinacensis , but the lines on the basal third
of the clavis are mostly entire and not zig-zag, and the corial pat¬
tern is transverse while that in S. mackinacensis is arranged in a
longitudinal series.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 2 3,1 2 ; Ashland Co. 33,1 2 ;
Barron Co. 1 3 ; Bayfield Co. 1 2 ; Burnett Co. 1 3,2 2 ; Chippewa
Co. 13,3 2 ; Clark Co. 9 3,6 2 ; Douglas Co. 2 3 ; Eau Claire Co.
3 3,1 2 ; Florence Co. 69 3 , 93 2 ; Forest Co. 5 2 ; Green Lake
Co. 1 2 ; Juneau Co. 1 3 ; Kenosha Co. 1 2 ; Langlade Co. 3 3,
3 2 ; Lincoln Co. 41 3 , 37 2 ; Marathon Co. 82 3 , 109 2 ; Mar-
1970]
HilsenhofS — Corixidae of Wisconsin
225
quette Co. 2 3,1 2 ; Oconto Co. 9 3 , 15 2 ; Oneida Co. 3 3 , 7 $ ;
Polk Co. 6 $ ; Portage Co. 1 2 ; Price Co. 4 3, 18 $ ; Rusk Co. 6
£ , 5 2 ; Sauk Co. 3 3 , 1 $ ; Sawyer Co. 5 $ ; Taylor Co. 33 3 ,
50 2 ; Vilas Co. 9 3, 17 2 ; Walworth Co. 1 3,1 2 ; Washburn
Co. 1 3,1 2 ; Waupaca Co. 1 3 ; Waushara Co. 1 2 ; Wood Co. 8
3,1 2 . Totals: 692 individuals, 96 collections, 33 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 7 2 . Also reported from Michigan
and Minnesota.
Sigara conocephala (Hungerford) 1926
Distribution and Abundance: Fairly common in the northeast,,
this species is apparently confined to the northern two-thirds of the
state (Fig. 5A).
Identification : The strongly produced vertex identifies the male,
while the female can be recognized by her large size and unusually
long palae.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 1 3,1 2 ; Ashland Co. 1 3 ;
Douglas Co. 1 3 ; Florence Co. 34 3 , 66 2 ; Forest Co. 2 3,5 2 ;
Oneida Co. 1 $ ; Trempealeau Co. 1 3,2 2 ; Vilas Co. 1 3 . Totals:
116 individuals, 23 collections, 8 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara decorata (Abbott) 1916
Distribution and Abundance: This species is fairly common
throughout the state (Fig. 4C) .
Identification: S. decorata is easily distinguished by its large size
and broadly rounded or truncated metaxyphus.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 14 3 , 35 2 ; Barron Co. 2 2 ;
Burnett Co. 1 2 ; Columbia Co. 1 3,2 2 ; Dane Co. 5 3,2 2 ; Door
Co. 2 3,1 2 ; Douglas Co. 1 2 ; Eau Claire Co. 23,1 2 ; Florence
Co. 1 3 ; Green Co. 1 2 ; Juneau Co. 3 3,3 2 ; Lincoln Co. 1 2 ;
Marathon Co. 3 3,2 2 ; Marquette Co. 2 3,1 2 ; Outagamie Co.
1 2 ; Polk Co. 1 2 ; Price Co. 2 2 ; Racine Co. 2 3 ; St. Croix Co.
1 3 ; Sauk Co. 2 3„ 6 2 ; Taylor Co. 4 3,2 2 ; Trempealeau Co.
14 3,9 2 ; Vilas Co. 1 3 ; Winnebago Co. 5 3,6 2 . Totals: 11+2
individuals, 39 collections, 21+ counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Illinois and Minnesota.
Sigara decor atella (Hungerford) 1926
Distribution and Abundance: This is a common species that is
distributed throughout the state (Fig. 5A).
Identification: The reduced number of lower palmar hairs is dis¬
tinctive for this large species.
226 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Collection Records: Adams Co. 27 <2, 47 2 ; Ashland Co. 4 2 ;
Barron Co. 1 <2 ; Burnett Co. 2 2 , 5 2 ; Chippewa Co. 1 <2 ; Colum¬
bia Co. 1 2,1 $ ; Dane Co. 1 2,2 $ ; Douglas Co. 4 2,2 $ ;
Florence Co. 21 2, 21 $ ; Forest Co. 9 2,4 $ ; Green Co. 1 2 ;
Juneau Co. 1 2,1 2 ; Kenosha Co. 1 2 ; Lincoln Co. 3 2 , 8 2 ;
Marinette Co. 1 2 ; Marquette Co. 1 2 ; Oconto Co. 1 2 ; Oneida
Co. 2 2 ; Outagamie Co. 2 2,2 2 ; Pierce Co. 1 2 ; Polk Co. 4 2 ;
Price Co. 7 2, 8 2 ; Sauk Co. 2 2,14 2 ; Shawano Co. 1 2 ; Taylor
Co. 1 2,4 2 ; Vilas Co. 1 2 ; Waupaca Co. 1 2 , 1 2 ; Winnebago
Co. 18 2 ,11 2 . Totals: 251 individuals, 60 collections, 28 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 1 2, 4 2 ; St. Croix R. 8 2, 11 2.
Also reported from Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara defecta Hungerford 1948
Distribution and Abundance: Although not collected in the ex¬
treme southwestern counties, it probably occurs throughout the
state (Fig. 4B) . It is fairly common in many parts of the state.
Identification: The male pala is distinctive, but the female can
be easily confused with S. bicoloripennis or S. mullettensis. The
pala is longer than that of S. bicoloripennis, and much longer
than that of S. mullettensis. The anal lobes are distinctly notched
mesally, while those of S. bicoloripennis are unnotched and those of
S. mullettensis are only very slightly notched.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 12 3, 25 2 ; Ashland Co. 1 2 ;
Burnett Co. 3 2,3 2 ; Columbia Co. 1 2 ; Douglas Co. 42 2 , 40
2 ; Dunn Co. 1 2 ; Florence Co. 7 2,4 2 ; Forest Co. 1 2 „ 1 2 ;
Juneau Co. 1 2,1 2 ; Kenosha Co. 1 2 ; Lincoln Co. 1 <2,1 2 ;
Milwaukee Co. 1 2 ; Oconto Co. 4 2,4 2 ; Polk Co. 5 2 ; Portage
Co. 1 2 ; Price Co. 3 2,4 2 ; Racine Co. 3 2, 1 2 ; Sauk Co. 1 2 ;
Taylor Co. 1 2,1 2 ; Washburn Co. 1 2 ; Winnebago Co. 2 2 .
Totals: 178 individuals, 30 collections, 21 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 1 <2,2 2 ; Sauk Co. 1 2. Also re¬
ported from Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara dolabra Hungerford and Sailer 1942
Distribution and Abundance: S. dolabra has been collected only
in the northern half of the state and it is uncommon (Fig. 5D).
Identification: The very long, pointed metaxyphus and the meso-
epimeron equal in width to the prothoracic lobe separate this
species.
Collection Records: Burnett Co. 1 2 ; Florence Co. 3 2, 12 2 ;
Forest Co. 1 2 ; Lincoln Co. 1 2 ; Marathon Co. 1 2 ; Marinette
Co. 1 <2 ; Onedia Co. 1 2,1 2 ; Vilas Co. 2 2 . Totals: 29 individuals,
12 collections, 8 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
227
Sigara douglasensis (Hungerford) 1926
Distribution and Abundance : The distribution of this fairly com¬
mon species is confined to the northern third of the state (Fig. 5B) .
Identification: The wavy longitudinal lines on the clavis and
corium separate this species, and the location of the hypo-ocular
suture is distinctive.
Collection Records: Douglas Co. 2 2,1 2 ; Florence Co. 2 3,4 $ ;
Forest Co. 3 3 ; Lincoln Co. 1 2 , 3 $ ; Oneida Co. 1 2 ; Polk Co.
3 3,2 2 ; Rusk Co. 1 3 ; Sawyer Co. 13,1 2 ; Vilas Co. 5 2,6 9 ;
Washburn Co. 1 9. Totals: 37 individuals, 17 collections, 10
counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara grossolineata Hungerford 1948
Distribution and Abundance: An abundant species, it occurs
throughout the state (Fig. 4A).
Identification: Closely related to S. modesta, which has not been
collected in Wisconsin but might occur in the south. In S. modesta
the scent gland osteole is only 1/2 to 3/5 from the tip of the
mesoepimeron to the lateral bend, and not close to the lateral bend
as in S. grossolineata. Also in S. modesta the dark pattern of the
clavis is effaced along the margin bordering the pronotum, while
in S. grossolineata the lines may become narrow, but they remain
distinct. Several specimens of S. modesta from the Snow Collection
were examined.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 2 2„ 7 2 ; Ashland Co. 3 3,6
2 ; Brown Co. 12 3, 28 2 ; Calumet Co. 7 3 , 16 2 ; Chippewa Co.
5 2,9 2 ; Clark Co. 13,1 2 ; Columbia Co. 3 3,8 2 ; Crawford
Co. 28 3, 60 2 ; Dane Co. 26 2 , 39 2 ; Dodge Co. 11 3 , 15 2 ;
Door Co. 10 3,9 2 ; Douglas Co. 1 2 ; Dunn Co. 2 3,8 2 ; Eau
Claire Co. 1 3,2 2 ; Florence Co. 11 3, 21 2 ; Fond du Lac Co.
5 2,5 2 ; Forest Co. 13 2, 19 2 ; Grant Co. 14 2 , 37 2 ; Green
Co. 13 3„ 17 2 ; Green Lake Co. 5 2,8 2 ; Iowa Co. 77 2 , 81 2 ;
Jefferson Co. 11 2,6 2 ; Juneau Co. 6 2, 13 2 ; Kenosha Co. 4 2 ,
13 2 ; Kewaunee Co. 8 2,7 2 ; La Crosse Co. 3 2 ; Lafayette Co.
4 2, 14 2 ; Langlade Co. 2 2,5 2 ; Lincoln Co. 10 2 , 14 2 ; Mani¬
towoc Co. 9 2,21 2 ; Marathon Co. 19 2 , 27 2 ; Marinette Co.
12,3 2 ; Marquette Co. 2 2,3 2 ; Menominee Co. 1 2 ; Milwaukee
Co. 2 2,4 2 ; Oconto Co. 15 2, 20 2 ; Oneida Co. 2 2,5 2 ; Outa¬
gamie Co. 8 2,12 2 ; Ozaukee Co. 3 2 ; Polk Co. 2 2 ; Portage Co.
3 2 „ 6 2 ; Price Co. 8 2, 10 2 ; Racine Co. 3 2 , 10 2 ; Richland
Co. 4 2 ; Rock Co. 2 2,2 2 ; Rusk Co. 2 2,1 2 ; St. Croix Co.
3 2 ; Sauk Co. 18 2, 21 2 ; Sawyer Co. 2 2, 3 2 ; Shawano Co.
228 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
1 3,6 2 ; Sheboygan Co. 3 3,8 2 ; Taylor Co. 29 3 , 59 2 ; Trem¬
pealeau Co. 3 3,45; Vernon Co. 1 3,6 2 ; Vilas Co. 19 3 , 33 2 ;
Walworth Co. 19 3 , 29 2 ; Washburn Co. 1 3 ; Washington Co.
4 3,6 2 ; Waukesha Co. 3 3,3 2 ; Waupaca Co. 5 3,8 2 ; Winne¬
bago Co. 11 3, 17 2 ; Wood Co. 6 3,2 2 . Totals: 1309 individuals,
212 collections, 62 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 15 3 , 22 2 ; Douglas Co. 3 3,4 2 .
Also reported from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara johnstoni Hungerford 1948
Distribution and Abundance: This species is fairly common in the
northwest half of the state (Fig. 4D). The Illinois record suggests
that it might occur in the southern part of the state as well.
Identification: The females may be confused with those of S.
variabilis or S. knighti. The anal lobes are not notched mesally as
they are in S. knighti; those of S. variabilis are slightly notched.
Most distinctive is the metaxyphus, which is very slightly notched
at the tip in S. johnstoni.
Collection Records: Ashland Co. 1 2 ; Burnett Co. 1 2 ; Clark
Co. 1 3,2 2 ; Douglas Co. 33; Dunn Co. 1 3 ; Eau Claire Co. 1
3 ; Florence Co. 1 3 ; Forest Co. 1 3,3 2 ; Jackson Co. 1 2 ;
Juneau Co. 2 3, 2 2 ; Langlade Co. 6 3,6 2; Lincoln Co. 4 3,
5 2 ; Marathon Co. 11 3,6 2 ; Oneida Co. 1 3 ; Portage Co. 5 2 ;
Price Co. 2 2 ; Rusk Co. 2 3 ; Sawyer Co. 4 3,3 2 ; Taylor Co.
3 3,7 2 ; Vilas Co. 1 3 ; Wood Co. 2 3,, 2 2 . Totals: 90 individuals,
3U collections, 21 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Illinois and Minnesota.
Sigara knighti Hungerford 1948
Distribution and Abundance: This uncommon species occurs only
in the northern third of the state (Fig. 4D).
Identification: The females may be separated from S. johnstoni
and S. variabilis by their mesally notched anal lobes.
Collection Records: Ashland Co. 1 2 ; Bayfield Co. 2 3,1 2 ;
Douglas Co. 1 3 ; Florence Co. 5 3,6 2 ; Forest Co. 8 3 , 12 2 ;
Langlade Co. 4 2 ; Price Co. 4 2 ; Vilas Co. 2 3,3 2 . Totals: Jj9
individuals, 12 collections, 8 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara lineata (Forster) 1771
Distribution and Abundance: Where it occurs, this species may
be found in tremendous numbers. It is common throughout much of
the state, and has been collected mostly in areas where there is
sandy soil (Fig. 5B).
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
229
Identification: The very small size and striped hemelytra make
this species easy to recognize.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 76 2 , 101 2 ; Ashland Co. 93 2 ,
164 $ ; Columbia Co. 335 2 , 329 5 ; Crawford Co. 7 2 , 14 $ ; Dane
Co. 7 2 , 13 $ ; Dunn Co. 7 2 , 3 $ ; Eau Claire Co. 1 $ ; Florence
Co. 491 2„ 515 $ ; Juneau Co. 24 $ , 19 5 ; Lincoln Co. 2 2,1 $ ;
Marathon Co. 91 3, 157 2 ; Marquette Co. 1 2 ; Oneida Co. 1 2,
2 2 ; Outagamie Co. 3 2 ; Portage Co. 8 2, 17 2 ; Price Co. 18 $ ,
20 2 ; Rusk Co. 4 2,4 2 ; Sauk Co. 62 2,59 2 ; Taylor Co. 5 2 ,
4 2 ; Trempealeau Co. 41 $ , 122 2 ; Vilas Co. 84 2 , 76 2 . Totals :
2981 individuals, 78 collections, 21 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Illinois and Minnesota.
Sigara mackinacensis (Hungerford) 1928
Distribution and Abundance: The distribution of this species is
restricted to the northern half of the state where it is fairly com¬
mon (Fig. 5C).
Identification: The distinctly marked membrane separates it from
S. compressoidea, the only species with which it might be confused.
Collection Records: Barron Co. 1 2 ; Chippewa Co. 1 2 ; Clark
Co. 2 2,1 2 ; Douglas Co. 1 2 ; Eau Claire Co. 2 2 ; Florence Co.
5 2,8 2 ; Forest Co. 4 $ , 5 2 ; Lincoln Co. 4 2,2 2 ; Oconto Co.
1 2 ; Oneida Co. 2 2„ 3 2 ; Polk Co. 4 2 ; Sawyer Co. 3 2 ; Vilas
Co. 4 2, 7 2 ; Washburn Co. 25 2 , 36 2 ; Wood Co. 4 s, 4 2.
Totals: 129 individuals, 27 collections, 15 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara macropala (Hungerford) 1926
Distribution and Abundance: This species is uncommon in Wis¬
consin, and has been collected only in the extreme north (Fig. 5D) .
Identification : The large dorsal extension of the male pala is
distinctive. The sharply pointed metaxyphus separates this species
from S. bicoloripennis and S. defecta, and it can be easily separated
from the larger S . alternata by the pattern on the clavis and the
fewer number of black bars on the prothorax.
Collection Records: Burnett Co. 1 2 ; Douglas Co. 1 2 ; Florence
Co. 21 2 , 20 2 ; Washburn Co. 11 2 , 11 2 . Totals: 65 individuals,
5 collections, J counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara mathesoni Hungerford 1948
Distribution and Abundance: A very common species throughout
the entire state, it seems to have an affinity for spring ponds (Fig.
4C) .
230 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Identification : The median brown stripe on the head and the
deep incision at the lateral bend of the mesoepimeron are distinc¬
tive.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 4 3,9 9 ; Ashland Co. 1 3, 2 $ ;
Barron Co. 1 $ ; Calumet Co. 1 3 ; Chippewa Co. 1 3 , 2 $ ; Colum¬
bia Co. 12 28 $ ; Crawford Co. 12 3„ 16 9 ; Dane Co. 36 3,
56 $ ; Dodge Co. 13 3, 16 $ ; Door Co. 16 3 , 51 9 ; Florence Co.
30 3, 86 9 ; Forest Co. 1 3,3 9 ; Grant Co. 1 3 ; Green Co. 1 3 ;
Iowa Co. 39 3 , 29 9 ; Jefferson Co. 5 3, 13 9 ; Juneau Co. 2 3,
4 9 ; Langlade Co. 2 9 ; Lincoln Co. 16 3 , 22 9 ; Marinette Co.
1 9 ; Marquette Co. 4 9 ; Monroe Co. 29 3 , 33 9 ; Price Co. 83 3 ,
124 9 ; St. Croix Co. 3 9 ; Sauk Co. 1 3 ; Vernon Co. 1 3 ; Vilas
Co. 1 3, 3 9 ; Walworth Co. 2 3, 5 9 ; Washburn Co. 1 3,2 9 ;
Washington Co. 1 9 ; Waukesha Co. 67 3 , 106 9 ; Waushara Co.
5 3,4 9 . Totals : 1007 individuals, 69 collections, 33 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 4 3,5 9 ; Douglas Co. 14 3 , 13 9 ;
Sauk Co. 1 9 . Also reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara mullettensis (Hungerford) 1928
Distribution and Abundance: This species is fairly common
throughout the northern two-thirds of the state, with only two
scattered records from the southern counties (Fig. 4B).
Identification: The females could be confused with those of S.
defecta, which also tend to have the corial pattern in a longitudinal
series. In S. mullettensis the female pala is much shorter, and the
anal lobes are only slightly notched.
Collection Records: Ashland Co. 7 3, 6 9 ; Burnett Co. 4 3,
4 9 ; Chippewa Co. 1 3 ; Clark Co. 1 3 ; Door Co. 1 9 ; Douglas
Co. 1 9 ; Eau Claire Co. 1 3 ; Forest Co. 1 9 ; Juneau Co. 1 3 ;
Langlade Co. 2 3,5 9 ; Lincoln Co. 2 3,5 9 ; Marathon Co. 1 3 ,
3 9 ; Oconto Co. 3 3,1 9 ; Outagamie Co. 2 3,3 9 ; Ozaukee Co.
1 3 ; Polk Co. 1 9 ; Portage Co. 13,1 9 ; Price Co. 1 9 ; Sawyer
Co. 2 3 ; Taylor Co. 16 3, 14 9 ; Vilas Co. 3 9 ; Winnebago Co. 11
3, 27 9 . Totals: 133 individuals,, 35 collections, 23 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. 1 9. Also reported from Michigan
and Minnesota.
Sigara penniensis (Hungerford) 1928
Distribution and Abundance: This species is fairly common in
the northern two-thirds of the state (Fig. 5A).
Identification: This large, dark colored Sigara can be recognized
by the narrow interocular space and the pale markings of the
corium being arranged in a definite longitudinal series.
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
231
Collection Records : Adams Co. 1 2 ; Burnett Co. 2 2,3 2 ;
Clark Co. 1 2 ; Door Co. 1 $ ; Douglas Co. 4 2, 10 2 ; Forest Co.
1 2 ; Florence Co. 3 2,7 2 ; Jackson Co. 2 2 ; Lincoln Co. 7 2 ,
9 2 ; Oconto Co. 3 2 ; Oneida Co. 1 2,3 2 ; Polk Co. 1 2 ; Vilas
Co. 6 2, 2 $ ; Washington Co. 3 2,1 2 . Totals: 71 individuals, 26
collections, 74 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara signata (Fieber) 1851
Distribution and Abundance: This species is common in the
northern two-thirds of the state but has not been collected in the
southern counties or the counties bordering Lake Michigan or the
Mississippi River (Fig. 5D).
Identification: This dark little species looks like a miniature H.
minorella. It is much darker than S. solensis, and can be easily
separated by the characters given in the key.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 1 2,7 2 ; Ashland Co. 3 2,3 2 ;
Barron Co. 1 2 ; Burnett Co. 1 2,6 2 ; Chippewa Co. 1 2 ; Clark
Co. 6 2 ; Douglas Co. 3 $ ; Eau Claire Co. 3 2,9 2 ; Florence Co.
34 2„ 67 2 ; Forest Co. 3 2,8 2 ; Iron Co. 2 2 ; Juneau Co. 5 2,
5 2 ; Langlade Co. 2 2,1 2 ; Lincoln Co. 26 2 , 29 2 ; Marathon
Co. 9 2, 13 2 ; Marinette Co. 2 2 ; Marquette Co. 1 2 ; Monroe
Co. 1 2,1 2 ; Oconto Co. 5 2,7 2 ; Oneida Co. 13 2, 17 2 ; Polk
Co. 1 2, 5 2 ; Portage Co. 2 2 ; Price Co. 3 2,4 2 ; Rusk Co. 5
2,7 2 ; Sawyer Co. 4 2,2 2 ; Shawano Co. 1 2 ; Taylor Co. 4 2 ,
4 2 ; Vilas Co. 19 2, 45 2 ; Washburn Co. 2 2 ; Waupaca Co. 1 2 ;
Waushara Co. 1 2,1 2 ; Wood Co. 1 2,4 2 . Totals: Ifll individ¬
uals, 96 collections, 31 counties.
Previous Records: Douglas Co. 1 2 . Also reported from Illinois,
Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara solensis (Hungerford) 1926
Distribution and Abundance: Except for the extreme southern
and eastern counties,, this species has been collected throughout the
state (Fig. 4C) . It is fairly common in many areas.
Identification : Readily distinguished by the characters in the key.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 5 2, 6 2 ; Ashland Co. 1 2 ;
Dane Co. 2 2,2 2 ; Douglas Co. 1 2 ; Eau Claire Co. 22,1 2 ;
Florence Co. 11 2 , 23 2 ; Forest Co. 1 2 ; Green Lake Co. 2 2 ;
Lincoln Co. 5 2,3 2 ; Marathon Co. 2 $ ; Marquette Co. 12 2 ,
10 2 ; Oconto Co. 1 2 ; Oneida Co. 1 $ ; Polk Co. 1 2 ; Rusk Co.
1 2 ; Sauk Co. 1 2 ; Taylor Co. 3 2,2 2 ; Trempealeau Co. 1 2 ;
232 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Vilas Co. 1 2 ; Winnebago Co. 34 8 , 37 2 . Totals: 172 individuals,
UO collections, 20 counties.
Previous Records : Dane Co. 24 8 , 23 2 . Also reported from
Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara transfigurata (Walley) 1930
Distribution and Abundance: This rare species was collected at
only two sites, one in Vilas Co. in the extreme north and one in
Marathon Co. in the central part of the state (Fig. 4D).
Identification: The bold cross-bars on the corium separate this
species from others with a pale longitudinal line on the pronotum.
Collection Records: Marathon Co. 1 8 ; Vilas Co. 2 8. Totals:
3 individuals, 2 collections, 2 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Michigan.
Sigara trilineata (Provancher) 1872
Distribution and Abundance: Collected throughout the state,,
except in the extreme eastern and western counties (Fig. 5B) . Like
S. lineata, with which it often occurs, it seems most prevalent in
sandy areas.
Identification: The bold longitudinal stripes on the hemelytra
and the wide mesoepimeron separate it from all other species.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 129 8 , 199 2 ; Barron Co. 1 8,
1 $ ; Chippewa Co. 1 8, 2 2 ; Columbia Co. 3 8, 3 2 ; Dane Co.
7 8,1 2 ; Douglas Co. 2 8 ; Eau Claire Co. 1 $ ,, 1 2 ; Florence
Co. 101 8, 159 2 ; Forest Co. 2 8 ; Iowa Co. 50 8 , 41 2 ; Juneau
Co. 56 8 , 82 2 ; Lincoln Co. 6 8 , 9 2; Marathon Co. 44 .8 , 50 2 ;
Marinette Co. 6 2 ; Marquette Co. 2 8 ; Monroe Co. 2 2 ; Oconto
Co. 6 8 , 8 2 ; Portage Co. 1 8,2 2 ; Price Co. 1 8 ; Rusk Co.
13 8 , 6 2 ; Sauk Co. 22 8 , 29 2 ; Taylor Co. 2 8,2 2 ; Vilas Co.
78 8, 162 2 ; Washburn Co. 1 8,4 2 ; Waupaca Co. 2 8, 5 2 ;
Wood Co. 1 8 . Totals: 1312 individuals, 83 collections, 26 counties.
Previous Records: Burnett Co. 1 8, 4 2. Also reported from
Michigan and Minnesota.
Sigara variabilis (Hungerford) 1926
Distribution and Abundance: Although it was collected only in
the northwestern half of the state (Fig. 5C), collections in Illinois
and Michigan suggest that this uncommon species should be found
in the rest of the state as well.
Identification: The pala of the male is distinctive, but the females
resemble S. johnstoni. They can be separated from that species by
the lack of an incision in the metaxyphus, the wider and more widely
1970]
Hilsenhoff—Corixidae of Wisconsin
233
spaced pale figures on the corium, and the slight mesal indentation
of the anal lobes.
Collection Records: Crawford Co. 2 $ , 1 $ ; Douglas Co. 3 $ ;
Dunn Co. 1 $ , 1 $ ; Juneau Co. 1 $ ; Marathon Co. 1 $ ; Oneida Co.
3^,5 $ ; Portage Co. 1 $ ; Trempealeau Co. 1 $ , 3 $ . Totals: 23
individuals, 10 collections, 8 counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Illinois and Michigan.
Trichocorixa Kirkaldy
Four species of Trichocorixa have been collected in Wisconsin,
with all species being most common in the southern third of the
state (Fig. 2D). A fifth species, T. macro ceps (Kirkaldy) 1908, has
been found in Illinois and Michigan and may occur in Wisconsin.
Key to Wisconsin species
Males
1. Strigil small and round _ 2
Strigil very elongate _ 3
2. Nodal furrow appearing absent or at apex of embolar groove;
length of pronotal disc about one-fourth its width _ T. macroceps
Nodal furrow dividing embolar groove; length of pronotal disc
one-third or more its width _ T. naias
3. Strigil extremely narrow, little more than a heavy dark line and
usually curved abruptly upward at the mesal end _ T. calva
Strigil about 7 times as long as wide _ 4
4. Strigil noticeably widened in region of the bend _ T. borealis
Strigil about the same width along its entire length, any slight
widening occurring near the lateral end _ T. kanza
Females
1. Nodal furrow appearing absent or at apex of embolar groove __2
Nodal furrow dividing embolium _ 3
2. Length of pronotal disc about one-fourth its width -T. macroceps
Length of pronotal Disc one-third or more its width _ T. naias
3. Length of apical area of embolar groove exceeding length of
middle tarsus _ T. borealis
Length of apical area less than that of middle tarsus _ 4
4. At least 2 patches of bristle-like setae on right side of seventh
abdominal sternite _ T. kanza
Only fine pubescence on right side of seventh abdominal sternite
_ _ T. calva
234 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Trichocorixa borealis Sailer 1948
Distribution and Abundance : This species is common throughout
the southern third of the state and has been collected as far north
as Barron and Langlade Counties (Fig. 2D).
Identification: The strigil of the male, which is widened at the
bend,, and the long postnodal pruinose area in the female separate
this species. In most females there is a distinct outward projection
at the anterior end of the polished prenodal area.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 13 3 , 15 2 ; Barron Co. 2 2 ;
Brown Co. 12 3 , 31 2 ; Columbia Co. 16 3 , 49 2 ; Crawford Co.
1 3,2 2 ; Dane Co. 64 3 , 100 2 ; Dodge Co. 12 3 , 25 2 ; Dunn Co.
3 $,2 2 ; Green Co. 1 2 ; Green Lake Co. 84 3 , 141 2 ; Iowa Co.
5 3,6 $ ; Jefferson Co. 2 3,5 2 ; Juneau Co. 3 $ ; Kenosha Co.
18 3, 26 $ ; Kewaunee Co. 2 $ ; La Crosse Co. 1 2 ; Lincoln Co.
2 3,1 2 ; Manitowoc Co. 1 2 ; Marathon Co. 13,2 2 ; Marquette
Co. 4 3,8 2 ; Outagamie Co. 63,7 2 ; Racine Co. 2 3 ; Rock Co.
2 2 ; Sauk Co. 24 3 , 25 2 ; Sheboygan Co. 1 3„ 1 2 ; Trempealeau
Co. 1 2 ; Walworth Co. 65 3, 69 2 ; Washington Co. 1 3,2 2 ;
Winnebago Co. 1 3. Totals: 867 individuals, 65 collections, 29
counties.
Previous Records: None. Reported from Iowa and Minnesota.
Trichocorixa calva (Say) 1832
Distribution and Abundance: This species is fairly common in
the southern half of the state, and apparently does not occur in the
north (Fig. 2D).
Identification: The males can be identified by their extremely
narrow strigil. The females can be separated from T. kanza by the
lack of patches of setae on the right side of the seventh abdominal
sternite.
Collection Records: Adams Co. 1 2 ; Columbia Co. 1 2 ; Craw¬
ford Co. 30 3 , 35 2 ; Dane Co. 2 2 ; Dodge Co. 1 3,1 2 ; Fond
du Lac Co. 1 3 ; Grant Co. 6 3 , 10 2 ; Green Co. 1 3,3 2 ; Green
Lake Co. 1 2 ; Iowa Co. 1 2 ; Jefferson Co. 1 2 ; Juneau Co. 2 3 ,
1 $ ; Kenosha Co. 80 3 , 90 $ ; Kewaunee Co. 1 $ ; Lafayette Co.
1 3,3 2 ; Manitowoc Co. 1 3 ; Marquette Co. 14 3, 15 2 ; Milwau¬
kee Co. 2 3,1 2 ; Monroe Co. 1 3 ; Outagamie Co. 1 2 ; Racine Co.
7 3, 11 2 ; Rock Co. 1 2 ; Sauk Co. 1 2 ; Trempealeau Co. 2 3,
1 2 ; Walworth Co. 1 3, 8 $ ; Washington Co. 3 3,2 2 ; Wau¬
kesha Co. 1 $ . Totals: 356 individuals, 37 collections, 26 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. (no numbers). Also reported from
Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.
1970]
Hilsenhoff — Corixidae of Wisconsin
235
Trichocorixa kanza Sailer 1948
Distribution and Abundance: Found only in the extreme south¬
west corner of the state, this species is uncommon (Fig. 2D).
Identification : The male strigil is much wider than that of T.
calva, and slightly narrower than T. borealis. The female has three
small and distinct patches of setae on the right side of the seventh
abdominal sternite.
Collection Records: Dane Co. 1 £, 2 9 ; Grant Co. 1 £ , 1 $ ;
Lafayette Co. 8 3, 4 9. Totals: 17 individuals, 7 collections, 3
counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. (no numbers). Also reported from
Illinois and Iowa.
Trichocorixa naias (Kirkaldy) 1908
Distribution and Abundance: This species is fairly common in
the southern fourth of the state, and has been collected as far north
as Door and Lincoln Counties (Fig. 2D).
Identification: The absence of a postnodal pruinose area in the
female and the small rounded strigil of the male separate this
species from other Wisconsin Trichocorixa, except T. macroceps,
which has a very short pronotal disc.
Collection Records: Columbia Co. 16 £,22 9 ; Dane Co. 39 £,
41 9 ; Dodge Co. 3 9 ; Door Co. 4 £ , 4 9 ; Iowa Co. 1 9 ; Jefferson
Co. 1 9 ; Lincoln Co. 3 £ , 3 9 ; Manitowoc Co. 4 £ , 6 9 ; Marathon
Co. 1 £ ; Outagamie Co. 2 £, 1 9 ; Ozaukee Co. 3 £, 1 9 ; Racine
Co. 1 £ ; Walworth Co. 2 9 ; Waukesha Co. 1 9 ; Wood Co. 6 £ ,
3 9 . Totals: 168 individuals, 30 collections, 15 counties.
Previous Records: Dane Co. (no numbers). Also reported from
Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.
Literature Cited
Brooks, A. R. and L. A. Kelton. 1967. Aquatic and semiaquatic Heteroptera
of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba (Hemiptera). Mem. Entomol.
Soc. Canada No. 51. 92 pp.
Hungerford, H. B. 1948. The Corixidae of the Western Hemisphere (Hem¬
iptera) Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 32: 1-288, 408-827.
Sailer, R. I. 1948. The genus Trichocorixa (Corixidae, Hemiptera). Univ.
Kansas Sci. Bull. 32: 289-407.
TROPHIC NATURE OF SELECTED WISCONSIN LAKES
Lloyd A. Lueschow, James M. Helm , Donald R. Winter and Gary W. Karl
Appreciable differences in the biota of Wisconsin lakes are ap¬
parent to even the most insensitive eye. Some lakes, such as Geneva
(Walworth County) and Crystal (Vilas County), are essentially
clear; others, such as Winnebago (Winnebago County) and Dela-
van (Walworth County), develop nuisance growths of algae, weeds,
or both. Limnologists have long recognized these differences in
biological composition and productivity to be related to the accumu¬
lation of nutrients and have referred to this aging process as
“eutrophication.” Most lakes when formed are nutrient poor or
oligotrophic. They subsequently proceed to a nutrient rich, eutro-
phic condition. Although the distinction between oligotrophic and
eutrophic lakes is, by definition, based on nutrient status, many
parameters are often used to reflect the trophic status of a lake.
The object of this study was to evaluate several water quality
parameters from well-known lakes where the recreational potential
is recognized by the public and where long records of observation
and aquatic nuisance control are available. Each of these “trophic
parameters” is evaluated in terms of how well it relates to both the
trophic status and the observed recreational values of each lake. A
better understanding of these relationships should lead to more
meaningful interpretation of water quality data, more efficient
sampling programs, and better diagnostic and interpretive tech¬
niques for evaluating lake problems.
Lakes Included in the Study
i
The 12 lakes shown in Table 1 were selected because they are
all well known and because they represent a broad range of con¬
ditions. Of the lakes selected, three (Pewaukee, Delavan, and Win¬
nebago) have nuisance algae “blooms” during most of the summer
months which render the waters less desirable for recreational
purposes. A fourth (Mendota) has occasional nuisance algae popu¬
lations. Rooted weed growths and Char a sp. growths also impair
recreational potential, and Lakes Middle, Oconomowoc, Pine, and
Pewaukee all have had extensive weed control activity. Lakes Men¬
dota and Winnebago have received less weed control effort, but
weeds produce local nuisances on both during the summer months.
237
Table 1. General Lake Information
238
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
o
TD 03 O
c c
03
-cm X •OO^t £
^UO'oo woo — —' c
§ g
C £
o
bfl
,q °0
Op
C
.a
>>
rx > W
xO sO cd C
— ^ • ITS CJ O
cm 03 oo — — X C
ju o 2
73 ^ 0)
I
O
— t^— c
• — 00 ■?
OOM- C
8^
8 E
0)
= n Q
— S > V
C3 O cm O O CO C
> -xD X 'OO « O
?NVn 0) 00 CM — _C C
3 $r£!
o _2 oo
o
c _
f— 1 > — £
o o O
c c c
Q O ■?
oj
3 w-x
03
C >>
S- -oo S 8 s
;> -ics x • oo 03 •? o>
3> cm -t- o) oo cm — J3 C£
<u
03
-1
C Go .
03 W cM
55n ^ c
<0 43(^0^ q — O cm C O C
cSOiCS EodSS £ £ £
03 03
-± 03 o 13 <13
03 3 T3 » 77 77
C 03 cc q cM 00 cc £ O O
— SO«c r •^)^'5CC
CL ^noo coo - — £ £ £
_c
03
03
nOKOO
C -OxD
£ oo CM —
03 03
c c
o o
c c
o
£o
Lroa r ■
U>OnxO CxO^cM
03
03
03
a
3
03 xQ
>CK
I> — xQ
03
•S °
nfo07 C
c • ^ ^ c
£ ^ — c
03 03
o o
c c
a
0 =
£ £
Jpa6
£?o G'O'y
M S 03 x ^
Sailed
03
03
1970] L. Lueschow, J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes 239
Lakes Oconomowoc and Pine have had extensive Chara sp. control
programs, and Big Green Lake has had an occasional Chara sp.
nuisance but no control activity.
Trophic Parameters and Methods
Parameters selected for this study included the nutrients nitro¬
gen and phosphorus, temperature, dissolved oxygen, water trans¬
parency and plankton analysis. Nitrogen was analyzed as organic
nitrogen, Ammonia-N, Nitrate-N, Nitrite-N. The NH3-N, N03-N,
and NO2-N concentrations were combined as inorganic nitrogen
and considered available for utilization. Phosphorus was analyzed
as soluble phosphorus (orthophosphates) and total phosphorus. All
nutrient analyses were performed by the Wisconsin Laboratory of
Hygiene in accordance with Standard Methods, 12th edition, 1965,
and results are expressed in mg/1 of nitrogen and phosphorus.
Temperature profiles were determined with an electronic re¬
sistance thermometer. Dissolved oxygen concentrations were deter¬
mined by the modified Winkler technique, Standard Methods, 1965.
Water transparency was measured with a Secchi disk and also
with a Whitney light meter. Light meter values are expressed in
per cent of surface incident light at each depth.
Plankton evaluations were based on net collections using a
Clarke-Bumpus plankton sampler. The Clarke-Bumpus apparatus
measures a known volume of water passed through the net, and the
volume of plankton captured can then be used to evaluate the con¬
centration of plankton in the water. The net used was a No. 20
standard mesh (.007 inch bar). Most plankton samples required a
1-5 minute tow depending on the quantity of plankton in the water.
Samples were transferred from the plankton cup to 180 ml. storage
jars, and 10 ml. of commercial formaldehyde were added for preser¬
vation. The samples were then returned to the laboratory for
evaluation at a later date.
The volume of plankton constituents was estimated by visual
observation under a dissecting or compound microscope. The sam¬
ples were then dried and ashed to determine total and volatile solids.
Plankton quantity was then reported as total solids and expressed
as micrograms of solids per liter of water filtered.
Results and Discussion
Dissolved Oxygen and Temperature
The dissolved oxygen concentration in the hypolimnion may be
used as a trophic parameter. Organic material produced in the
trophogenic zone eventually settles through the thermocline into
the tropholytic zone where it consumes oxygen during chemical and
Table 2. Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen by Month — 1966
240 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Table 2. Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen by Month — 1966 — Continued
1970] L. Lueschow, J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes
U X!
=3 *
2 -
^ 5
<
it
u u u X
X o X %
c .w x
2 3 ^ ^
D. x 2; —
■§ 3
<U X
:2 2
si
.§ E
s'!
S J =3 m
c ^ x ^
241
Table 2. Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen by Month— 1966— Continued
Table 2. Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen by Month — 1966 — Continued
1970] L. Lueschow, J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes 243
*Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit,
f Dissolved oxygen in mg/1.
244 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
biological stabilization. One may therefore assume that eutrophic
lakes with a high productivity or standing crop would produce the
most significant oxygen sag in the hypolimnion. These stabilization
effects would of course be tempered by the volume of water in the
hypolimnion, but nevertheless the quantity of dissolved oxygen in
the hypolimnion is indicative of the trophic nature of a lake. Fur¬
thermore, a low dissolved oxygen concentration in the hypolimnion
would affect the salmonoid and whitefish populations that might be
present in the lakes.
It should be noted that even the most oligotrophic lake sampled
(Crystal) revealed some reduction in the dissolved oxygen con¬
centration of the hypolimnion. During August, the 5 mg/1 ob¬
served at 17 meters was only 45 per cent of saturation. Trout Lake
and Lake Geneva also revealed substantial dissolved oxygen re¬
ductions in the hypolimnion although zero values were not observed.
All of the more productive lakes revealed zero dissolved oxygen
values during most of the summer months. These dissolved oxygen
observations suggest that Lakes Delavan, Pewaukee, Pine, Ocono-
mowoc, Middle, and Mendota produce more organic matter in
the trophogenic zone than can be aerobically assimilated by the
hypolimnion. Lakes Geneva, Trout, Crystal, and perhaps Pine
have not reached that level of production and consequently retain
sufficient dissolved oxygen in the hypolimnion to sustain fish and
fish food organism populations intolerant of low dissolved oxygen
values. Lake Winnebago is too shallow to stratify, so although it
is a productive lake, a deoxygenated hypolimnion does not develop.
Observations by Birge on Mendota in 1906 suggest that oxygen
depletion in the hypolimnion occurred at that time as well as now.
Transparency and Light Penetration
The transparency of a lake as measured by the Secchi disk may
also be used as a measure of the trophic condition. The basic
assumption is that the magnitude of organic production affects
the color and turbidity of the water. Beeton, 1965, used the Secchi
disk readings in the interpretation of the trophic nature of the
Great Lakes and reported Lake Michigan as oligotrophic with a
reading of 19*4 feet. Values of fifteen to eighteen feet reported
for Lakes Erie and Ontario were considered by Beeton to be com¬
paratively eutrophic.
Only Crystal Lake had a mean Secchi disk reading that would
be considered oligotrophic when compared with the Great Lakes.
However, in all lakes where the mean Secchi disk values were
greater than twelve feet, there has been essentially no deteriora¬
tion of recreational potential due to plankton growths. Lakes
Table 3. Transparency of 12 Wisconsin Lakes by Month — 1966
(Meters)
1970] L. Lueschow, J. Helm , D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes
245
C ^ -
o
O —
TJ • •
C ro ^
42£
I X O'
sD
X
I O' "3-
— oo
— t". oo
I X co
4 S -
4 4 oo
5
4°°4
X
X
4 £ _
4^2
4^2 4~
C-l —
O
X
I oo -4*
o — ■ —
7^0-’
x
44
4-^7
.i 7
— 5 "§
# 2 4
>> O kO
>- (u
U to
| ~
Q X
co k_l bo
^ J
r o
Q co ^
246 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
1970] L. Lueschow , J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes 247
Mendota, Pine, Pewaukee, and Delavan have all had an extensive
history of planktonic nuisance and all have mean seasonal Secchi
disk values of ten feet or less. Those lakes that have a history
of plankton nuisance conditions also reveal a 5 per cent incident
light sesonal mean of twenty-five feet or less. In this respect there
is good agreement between Secchi disk and per cent of incident
light. However, the absolute correlation between Secchi disk and
per cent of incident light on a particular lake is not readily
apparent.
Plankton Population
The plankton populations on the twelve lakes studied are repre¬
sented in Figure I for the months when no ice cover was present.
The evaluations were based on Clarke-Bumpus net tows (No. 20
mesh net) and the results are expressed in jxgJ 1 total solids.
In the twelve lakes under consideration, Crystal, Trout, Geneva,
Big Green and Round Lake revealed less than 200 jig/ 1 of solids
consistently, and nuisance-producing blue-green varieties were de¬
tectable in trace quantities only. The plankton populations in these
lakes were most typically composed of zooplankton and diatoms.
Middle and Oconomowoc Lakes did not reveal plankton concen¬
trations that would be considered a nuisance, although the solids
analyses revealed between 700 and 1,500 /xg/1 on five occasions.
The plankton were principally diatoms or zooplankton, which do
not have the nuisance-producing capability characteristic of the
blue-green algae. Past aquatic nuisance control records of the De¬
partment of Natural Resources suggest that Delavan Lake has
nuisance algae conditions during the entire summer. The plankton
catches from June through October revealed 2,500 jig/l on four
of five occasions. The plankton populations were dominated by
blue-green varieties with Anacystis sp., Anabaena sp., and Oscilla-
toria sp. predominating. The aquatic nuisance control records
further reveal that shoreline accumulations are a general problem
on Delavan Lake and are treated with copper sulphate weekly
to control odors and increase the aesthetic and recreational value
of the shoreline areas.
Lake Winnebago had 1,500 /xg/1 of solids in the April through
October samples. There is no question that plankton populations
produce periodic nuisance conditions on Lake Winnebago, but the
species composition estimates reveal the principal constituents of
the population are diatoms and zooplankton. On only one occasion
(June 15, 1966) did blue-green algae varieties (Anabaena sp.,
Aphanizomenon sp., and Anacystis sp.) thoroughly dominate the
plankton populations. This observation was substantiated by the
•o
248 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
I I I
Figure 1. Plankton Volumes and Secchi Disks (April through November, 1966).
1970] L. Lueschow , J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes 249
increased percentage of volatile solids. During the five months
when varieties other than blue-green algae dominated the plankton
population, the volatile solids averaged approximately 40 per cent.
In June, when blue-green algae dominated the plankton volume,
the volatile solids represented 90 per cent of the total solids.
Pewaukee Lake has had a long history of algae nuisance control
activity, and the blue-green varieties represented a significant por¬
tion of the plankton in six of the seven summer-fall collections.
A general observation for Pewaukee Lake on June ninth revealed
approximately 400 jig/1 total solids dominated by zooplankton with
no indication of nuisance plankton. On August fourth, 700 fig/\
total solids were recorded dominated by Anabaena flosaquae. The
visual observation of the lake suggested a distinct “bloom” con¬
dition. On October twenty-eighth, nearly 2,900 fig/ 1 of solids were
recorded as a seasonal high in Pewaukee Lake.
Lake Mendota is a lake that is sporadically plagued by nuisance
algae blooms. On June eighth, a visual observation suggested a high
algae population, and the Clarke-Bumpus sample recorded over
3,100 /mg/ 1 total solids dominated by Aphanizomenon sp. Seven other
monthly visual observations on Lake Mendota failed to suggest
bloom conditions. Total solids were less than 500 fig/ 1 in all other
collections except September when a Ceratium sp. dominated 1,400
fig/ 1 total solids. This population was not visually noticeable at
the time of collection and would not affect recreational potential.
Oconomowoc and Middle Lakes revealed 500 fig/ 1 total solids
on five of sixteen occasions, but the populations were dominated
by diatoms or zooplankton. At no time were nuisance plankton con¬
ditions observed in the lake water.
Round Lake revealed the lowest plankton values of the twelve
lakes studied, even though organic nitrogen and Secchi disk obser¬
vations suggested that there should have been more plankton
present. This apparent inconsistency may be partially explained by
the fact that small algae cells will not be captured in the No. 20
mesh net. In the case of Round Lake, Chlorella sp. was observed
in the water samples in sufficient quantities to color the lake water.
In this case the plankton analysis techniques were not adequate
to represent the actual condition of the lake.
Figure I, which illustrates the plankton population, also shows
Secchi disk readings at the time of plankton collection. In general,
Delavan, Pewaukee, and Winnebago, which have relatively high
plankton populations, have low Secchi disk readings. Lake Mendota,
with variable plankton populations, had Secchi disk readings of
twelve to sixteen feet in spring and fall but only six to nine feet
in midsummer, with no apparent correlation to algae populations.
250 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
The lakes with relatively low plankton populations had higher
Secchi disk readings, but the cause of variability was not deter¬
mined. Crystal Lake clarity was obvious both by visual observation
and by Secchi disk readings.
Nutrients
Lake eutrophication, by definition, is an accumulation of nutri¬
ents. Many elements and compounds act as nutrients for the de¬
velopment of weeds and algae. However, nitrogen and phosphorus
are usually considered the limiting nutrients and as such have
received the most emphasis. Sawyer (1947) indicated that lakes
containing 0.3 mg/1 inorganic nitrogen (N03-N, N02-N, and
NH3N) and 0.015 mg/1 soluble phosphorus at time of spring
turnover are capable of producing nuisance algae growths. Gerloff
and Skoog (1957) suggested that the nitrogen-phosphorus ratio
as it occurred in water was an indication of the ability of that
water to produce algae, and their laboratory studies indicated that
a ratio of 60 to 1 (nitrogen to phosphorus) was an appropriate
ratio for optimum growth. Gerloff and Skoog further suggested
that nitrogen was generally the limiting factor in algae production,
while other studies (Federal Water Pollution Control Administra¬
tion, Lake Sebasticook) suggest phosphorus may be the limiting
factor since ample nitrogen is available from the atmosphere
through nitrification by bacteria and blue-green algae. Whatever
the limiting factor in primary production may be, it appears that
the concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus is useful in evaluat¬
ing the trophic condition of a particular lake. Table IV is a sum¬
mary of monthly nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations from
the epilimnion and hypolimnion of the twelve lakes studied.
Inorganic Nitrogen
The inorganic nitrogen is available for utilization in the produc¬
tion of organic matter. The most obvious source of available
nitrogen is nitrate nitrogen (N03). Nitrite nitrogen (N02) is an
unstable state, and even eutrophic lakes typically have less than
0.01 mg/1. Ammonia nitrogen (NH3) is readily oxidized by nitri¬
fying bacteria in the presence of oxygen to nitrate nitrogen and
is therefore essentially available for organic production in the
epilimnion.
Five of the twelve lakes studied in this investigation (Round,
Mendota, Delavan, Pewaukee, and Winnebago) revealed an eleven-
month mean total inorganic nitrogen concentration greater than
the 0.3 mg/1 regarded as critical by Sawyer. Of these five lakes,
Table 4. Monthly Nitrogen-Phosphorus Concentrations (milligrams per liter) for Twelve Wisconsin Lakes — 1966
1970] L. Lueschow, J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes 251
Table 4. Monthly Nitrogen-Phosphorus Concentrations (milligrams per liter)
for Twelve Wisconsin Lakes — 1966 — Continued
252 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
— — tv
vO K - OO vO 00
Wo CO O — »<o — —
G N 00
co O' ^ ■ - ©
— o o o wo o o
tv tv tv ©
O' O' © o © —
- o o - I o —
© © wo
co co — o © — co
© O O © co o ©
fV CV tV
oo n* o ^ a — -st*
O © © © co o O
V V
© © 00
^ >0 O ffl >0 N i1
V/-s — i o ^ O O
©
© o
© © <V
vv<t-Or\-N
O' — O 00 wo O c
O' O' O'
- w O OO N 00
co — © — o ©
tv p-1 00
O © tv — tv
O tv of O O
fV (V
O O' O O' oo
co O O tV co O O
© © co ^f
© 00 V -tf © O (V
N N O ’f' O O
tv tv oo
tV © O rf — tv
— © tv -cf o o
co co Wo 00
tv tV ,— I -sf wo co tv
co — O CV co o o
© © tv, 00
wo O ^ O' © —
— — O O wo O O
© © tv Tf
IA O' O O i1 ©
co O O (V co O O
© ©
tv O' O 00 wo to ©
co O O (V co O O
O' O'
00 't O of Wo © co
Wo tv o to of o —
oo oo
tv Wo O tV of Wo 00
00 co O WA © C O
© wo . — i © © wo ©
© CO © tV © © tv
© co of o
tv tv
vD 't O N O N 00
co — « © <V sO © ©
G G>
wo tv O 00 00 of G
N N O ^ O O
00 00
to co O tV (V G
© tv © co tv —
(V tV
co of — oo oo tv of
— of © G of © ©
oo oo
of 00 O G of G G
of — • O <V to o ©
V
O' ©
© (V © 00 G of G
© tv © (V tV — —
00 00
co W- o 00 (V G 00
N - O « ia O O
ui : : : : ;
8 1 £ 9 9 1 ft- &
< .
H ::::;: :
Q A n n c4 •y : •
Z 2 X Q O O CL a
td H Z Z Z H K H pJHZZZhw
2
§2 9^4 : :
§2lOOOQ:cd
ohZZZHwh
aJ
u :::::: :
o .
£:::::::
O :
2 ::::■: :
02 „ • '7 • •
§2xooodn
Hhzzzhwh
Table 4. Monthly Nitrogen-Phosphorus Concentrations (milligrams per liter)
for Twelve Wisconsin Lakes — 1966 — Continued
1970] L. Lueschow, J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes 253
Table 4. Monthly Nitrogen-Phosphorus Concentrations (milligrams per liter)
for Twelve Wisconsin Lakes — 1966 — Continued
254 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Table 4. Monthly Nitrogen-Phosphorus Concentrations (milligrams per liter)
for Twelve Wisconsin Lakes — 1966 — Continued
1970] L. Lueschoiv, J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl— Lakes 255
N O ^ 00 N N tA
Tf O' -• "<f oo 'f
OO O' O O' K « N
— — o © o o o
-H -H -H -H -H -H -«
©
© © © © vs — i ©
O N ^ O'
lA n O N lA C O
•— tv At © © 00
WA ^ — © O') PA ©
© PA © © At —■ (V
© O © © © © O
■H ■«’ -H -H -H -H -H
PA 00
28"
^ •X) rA K
© pa 't
O' O 't 00 fA N
© © fV At © ~
© © 00 ©
IA O O O' N 'A
tV © © fV At © ©
fA © © ©
PA PA O' ©
©* PA ^0 •© PA CAN 1-H
— — © © At © —
O' N 'A N N M
© At © At © O'
vs © © O © O PA
At At © © © © -*
-H -fl -H -H -H -H J
©
tv At oo At oo © tv
rA O O rA >a ^ O'
tv wa o tv wa — —
© —i pa At tv © ©
IA (A N - 'A O'
00 © O O PA PA 00
— — ©©*-<©©
-H -H -H -H -H -H -H
At O >a K
O (A M O' ^ \D OO
tv At © tv — < © At
wa pa © tv © © ■— ■
tv tV
tv. 00 -A 00 00 © Wa
© PA © tV (V) —
tV _ 00
V\ OO "■ © O' o
(As pa © pa tv — — «
O O tV
tv tv © © tv © —
At PA © — i © — i — 1
oo oo O tv
PA PA © © © — I WA
^ O - VA - -
PA PA
00 © O tv © — i ©
— © o — © © ©
’ V
WA WA
© oo © oo oo pa
© tv © © © © wa
tV {V
At O t O' © oo
© © O O >A N t'
N N Y
PA PA tV
O WA O At © — - ©
tv «N © © © © o
tV tV
O PA © © © 00 Tf
„ O „ in t >A
V
fV fV ©
oo © o oo oo — ©
(V — © -A tv © ©
■ V
<:::::::
§ I £ 6 6 § a cl
UJhZZZhtih
2
pA> ~ tC © At
© PA © © ©
-H -H -H -H -H -H -H
lA lA t N fA
© Af "t PA
PA PA © © WA © ©
IV (V 00 tv
tv © OO O oo At tv
.— © © © tV PA At
© — ©©©©©
-H -H -H -H -H -H -H
© © tV © © ©
\0 tv 05 O' *“* tv
At <V © — WA © —
©
tv 00 00 tv
fA t O
© 00 O fA t O PA
— ©© — ©©©
i -h -h’ -h’ -h’ -H* 41
OO lA rt lA t K
© © — — < © — WA
tv — © © At © ©
tv tv tv At WA
WA O — © © © p^
© At © © © At <V
— © © © © A- ©
-H * -H -H -H -H -H -H
© © WA © © © ^
tv O © WA © <V ©
(V — © — At A- ©
WA © ©
tv © © 00 © 00
© © PA fV © ©
PA PA © At
oo co tv cc © © At
© <V © WA WA © ©
At At tV
© © © tv tv ©
At © © At tV © ©
tv tv At
© © © At WA 00 O
fV — © © WA © —
tv tv oo
At © © At tv © WA
— — © © WA tv —
OO CO At
— ■ PA © © WA WA tV
fV — © © © © —
00 00 WA At
WA © fV A^* PA © PA
At © © PA At © ©
00 00 <v cc
— tVOAtWA© —
At © © PA At © ©
O WA © At © ©
At At © © IV © ©
tV © At
WA O © — At 00
O © © WA © ©
© © © At
PA WA © 00 WA © (V
© © © WA At © ©
£ £
fV tv At
PA At tV tV — — tV
© oo © — • © <v tv
tv tV CO
© WA O At © fV tV
— © © — At — —
W
-°lo
PV Z .
OOc,
h Z 2 2 h w r
Q Z ci j j ^ ; :
32x000 cl ou
QhZZZHwh
£
o
OZ
P§§§^
o
Table 4. Monthly Nitrogen-Phosphorus Concentrations (milligrams per liter)
for Twelve Wisconsin Lakes— 1966 — Continued
256
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences., Arts and. Letters [VoL 58
TrsorMri-?
o o o o © o o
-H -H M -H -H -H -H
- "t N - w ia
W VN O K O' N ^
— OOO — OO
N O' ^ K N >a N
N fA - N ® N O
pa tx o pa oa — < tx
o o o o o o o
-H -H -H -H -H -H -H
pa tx cx O' O O'
OA CX O At PA — —
0 0 0 0 — 00
-H -H -H -H -H M -H
- N IA vO N K
N IA o O 't fA >C
pa O O pa rf O O
O' — O O' 00 00 Oa
K - O K - A -t
o o o o - - o
-H -H -H
— o o —
00 00 sO o o o
N 00 O fA fA !A O
tx — O co tx — tx
O O O O O o o
•H -H -H -H -H
IX
■t — N -h N OO K
IX Oa O lx O — <X
-000-00
o o o o
-H -H -H -H -H -H 4)
O fA fA O' 00 «
IX UA O — IX —
— O O — PA O o
O N - (A OO (A O
lx — o lx -1- — —
o o o o o o o
-H -H -H -H -H -H -H
iaKiaiaoON-
At At O O' w-\ oa
tx o O — pa O O
ix oo pa At
VA (X — 00 O PA
O' - O >A N
o o o o o —
-H -H
oo oo tx tAi
N PA O 00 - PA
— O O — PA O O
O sD — 00
PA IA o 00 A N
— OOO — OO
(X <X
O' O — 00 PA — rA
fX — O — At O O
PA At fX
(A O fA N O
O O <X PA o O
oo oo — oo
00 At O -■'t fX — (X
— O o — tx O O
PA PA
At At O O PA — At
(X O O (X (X o o
(X O 00
At O 00 O — —
OOO — OO
(X —00 fX tX ix At
PA o 00 O — <X PA IA O « - O (X
OOO^fOO — OOOlXOO
PA PA — (X
IX PA O At At — At
O O O O fX o o
O -D fX
O ^ O O O >PA o
At O O PA PA © O
<X fX PA 00
<X (X o O 00 O (X
— O o — — o o
pa pa rx tx
WA — o At tx o <x
0 0 0 0 — 0 0
PA PA sO tx
O <X o 00 O' fX pa
— o O O PA O o
V V
IX tx — tx
O' pa O O tX — Oa
— O o — tx o o
At At vO
O O A* oo tx lA
— O — PA O o
■ HI -' 1 1
tX O' At
00 O O O o PA
O O O At O o
IMMI1
oo tx oo At
0A O O At tA o tX
o o o o tx o o
tx tx 00 O
tx At o 00 PA o PA
— O O O PA o o
tx tx
OA WA O O At tX At
— O O — PA O o
At At 00 tx
tx lx O O tx o tx
— O O — At O o
H Z
(/) o
u
5 Q Q P cl cu
Z Z Z h m
z
2 X o o o nj a
HZZZHwh
2 X O O o £V CL
hZZZhwH
1970] L. Lueschow, J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes 257
four have a general algae nuisance during much of the summer.
Interestingly, the lake with the highest mean inorganic nitrogen
concentration (Round) was the lake without an algae nuisance
problem. Of the seven lakes with less than 0.3 mg/1 inorganic
nitrogen, none has a general algae problem, although rare nuisance
accumulations have been observed by residents on five of these
lakes. Only Crystal and Trout Lakes are essentially free of algae
nuisances.
Figure II represents the total inorganic nitrogen by month and
suggests that the inorganic nitrogen fluctuates seasonally. The
magnitude of the fluctuations apparently depends on the quantity
of inorganic nitrogen available and the subsequent algae standing
crop. This data suggests that samples of total inorganic nitrogen
may be collected at any time of the year from oligotrophic lakes
without interfering with interpretation. However, total inorganic
nitrogen collections from eutrophic lakes must be interpreted
with regard to season. Sawyer realized the seasonal sampling
difficulties and suggested spring overturn as the most appropriate
sample time. This may very well be, but stratification typically
commenced within hours after spring overturn, and a homogeneous
spring overturn sample normally could not be collected. The fall
overturn (November sample) appeared to be most stable and
representative for Round, Mendota, Delavan, and Pewaukee, but
was less representative for Lake Winnebago.
Total Organic Nitrogen
Total organic nitrogen concentrations represent the nitrogen
bound by biological processes. As such, it is a useful measure of the
trophic condition. The three most eutrophic lakes by this parameter
are Delavan, Winnebago, and Pewaukee. Trout, Crystal, and Big
Green are the most oligotrophic.
As in the case of inorganic nitrogen, the concentration of organic
nitrogen in a relatively oligotrophic lake (Geneva) has no apparent
monthly variation (Figure III). Both eutrophic lakes revealed
variability, but it was not seasonally oriented as in the case of
inorganic nitrogen. The 2.76 mg/1 observed on Pewaukee Lake
in February was at a time of ice cover and no plankton sample
was collected ; however, considerable algae were noted in the water
samples. The 2.26 mg/1 observed on Delavan in June was at a
time of high algae population, but the algae population in July,
September, and October was just as high with substantially lower
organic nitrogen levels.
The range of means was so well distributed on this parameter
that it is one parameter in which annual means could offer a
j_'2 — — ■ - ■ Pewpukee
258 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
1970] L. Lueschow, J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl— Lakes 259
260 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
trophic description. A lake with an annual mean of less than 0.2
mg/1 organic nitrogen probably would not have algae or other
plankton nuisances. An annual mean of 0.2 mg/1 to 0.4 mg/1 would
have rare algae nuisance conditions dependent on winds but not
general nuisance conditions. A lake with an annual mean between
0.4 mg/1 and 0.6 mg/1 would probably experience periodic algae
blooms or have substantial weed growths or both. A lake with an
annual total organic nitrogen mean of more than 0.8 mg/1 would
probably experience numerous blooms during most of the growing
season which would present a distinct impairment to recreational
potentials.
Phosphorus
Phosphorus analyses were conducted on all lakes, but the past
use of arsenics as an aquatic herbicide on four of the lakes and
the subsequent interference of arsenic in the phosphorus test make
the interpretation of phosphorus data on the four herbicide-treated
lakes impossible.
The eleven-month soluble phosphorus mean on untreated Lakes
Crystal, Trout, and Geneva was 0.018 mg/1 on all three lakes.
The lowest eleven-month phosphorus mean was 0.014 mg/1 ob¬
served on Round Lake. The plankton catches from these four lakes
were all relatively low.
Lakes Delavan and Mendota revealed substantially higher soluble
phosphorus levels than the typically oligotrophic lakes. Big Green
Lake and Lake Winnebago had remarkably similar soluble phos¬
phorus means (0.027 and 0.026 mg/1). This similarity in phosphorus
means and the apparent difference in plankton catches tend to
suggest that the concentration of soluble phosphorus is not particu¬
larly useful in evaluating water quality and recreational potential
of a lake. The soluble phosphorus could be a better indicator
parameter if more samples were available. Nine to eleven monthly
analyses were simply not adequate to evaluate small differences
with the observed analytical variability.
The total phosphorus means for the eight lakes sampled revealed
that Lakes Crystal, Geneva, Big Green, and Trout all had relatively
low total phosphorus concentrations. This is consistent with plank¬
ton observations. Lakes Winnebago, Mendota, and Delavan re¬
vealed the highest total phosphorus levels, also consistent with
plankton observations. From these monthly total phosphorus means,
it appears that lakes with an annual mean total phosphorus of
less than 0.03 mg/1 would have essentially no aquatic nuisance
development. Lakes with an annual mean total phosphorus between
0.03 and 0.05 mg/1 experience rare aquatic nuisance development,
1970] L. Lueschow, J. Helm, D. Winter and G. Karl — Lakes 261
but recreational potential of the water remains excellent. Lakes
with an annual mean total phosphorus of over 0.1 mg/1 would
experience frequent aquatic nuisances during most of the growing
season.
Summary and Conclusions
1. Table 5 summarizes the ranking of the twelve lakes based
on annual means of selected parameters. The relationship between
these parameters as indicators of eutrophication is shown by the
generally similar placement for each lake in the various columns.
A composite rating, based on assignment of a numerical value for
position in each column, produces the following ranking. A value
of one is given for first place, two for second and so on, so the
lowest values represent the most oligotrophic lakes.
Composite Rating Based on Five Parameters
Crystal _ 8
Big Green _ 17
Geneva _ 17
Trout _ 19
Round _ 31
Pine _ 33
Middle _ 33
Oconomowoc _ 34
Mendota _ 45
Pewaukee _ 49
Delavan _ 52
Winnebago _ 52
Further examination of the table indicates that this composite
rating would not be changed greatly if the phosphorus data were
included.
2. The presence of dissolved oxygen in the hypolimnion during
summer stagnation no doubt has an important effect on fish. How¬
ever, as a measure of trophic index, it can be misleading since
the volume of the hypolimnion tempers the effect of production
and decomposition. Even the most oligotrophic lakes such as Crys¬
tal, Trout, and Geneva reveal dissolved oxygen levels one meter
off the bottom that would be considered critical for fish. Lakes
Pine and Oconomowoc, which have essentially no nuisance blooms
of plankton, reveal no measurable dissolved oxygen in the hypolim¬
nion in late summer. Classically eutrophic lakes such as Delavan
and Pewaukee reveal no measurable dissolved oxygen in the hypo¬
limnion during most of the summer.
Trophic Rank of Twelve Wisconsin Lakes Based on Seven Parameters
*Middle of hypolimnion.
1970] L. Lueschoiv, J. Helm, D. Winter and G, Karl — Lakes 263
3. The plankton sample collected with a No. 20 mesh net does
not fully measure the standing crop of organic production since
it ignores rooted or attached growths, and small algal cells may
pass through the net. However, when 1,000 fig/ 1 of blue-green
algae are recorded, there are sufficient algae in the water to be
distinctly noticeable. Often a recording of 500 fig/ 1 in open water
will be associated with wind-blown nuisance accumulation on spe¬
cific shorelines. Diatoms and zooplankton did not develop nuisance
conditions on any of the lakes considered, so that absolute nuisance
concentrations cannot be established.
4. The monthly analysis for organic nitrogen produced a ranking
of the lakes that was reasonably consistent with transparency
and plankton recreational potential. Furthermore, it offered an
opportunity to translate plankton nuisance conditions into abso¬
lute values. The lakes that had a total organic nitrogen annual
mean of less than 0.2 mg/1 had no algae or plankton nuisance.
Lakes that had an organic nitrogen mean between 0.2 and 0.4
mg/1 have had rare algae nuisances, and lakes between 0.4 and
0.6 mg/1 had periodic algae blooms or substantial weed growths
or both. Lakes with an annual total organic nitrogen mean of
greater than 0.8 mg/1 had nuisance algae during most of the
growing season.
5. The monthly analyses for soluble phosphorus had a coefficient
of variation which approached 100 per cent, indicating that the
eleven monthly samples were insufficient to develop any reliable
confidence interval about a mean.
6. The monthly analysis for total phosphorus suggested that
lakes with an annual mean of less than .03 mg/1 would be free
of aquatic nuisances. Lakes with a total phosphorus annual mean
between .03 and .05 mg/1 would be essentially free of aquatic
nuisances. Lakes with an annual mean total phosphorus more than
0.1 mg/1 would experience nuisance weed growths or algae blooms
during most of the growing season.
7. Eutrophication is not a simple process. It involves complex
interrelationships between a variety of water quality parameters
and an even greater variety of organisms. Although this study pro¬
vides some insight into these relationships, a great deal more will
need to be learned in order to cope successfully with the demands
currently being made for lake management.
References Cited
Birge, Edward A., Chancy Juday, 1911, The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin, Wis¬
consin Geological and Natural History Survey, Vol. No. 22.
Beeton, Alfred M., 1965, Eutrophication of the St. Lawrence Great Lakes,
Journal of Limnology and Oceanography, Vol. 10, No. 2,
264 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Sawyer, C. N., 1947, Fertilization of Lakes by Agricultural and Urban Drain¬
age, Journal New England Water Works Association, Vol. 61.
Gerloff, G., and F. Skoog, 1957, Nitrogen as a Limiting Factor for the Growth
of Microcystis Aeruginosa in Southern Wisconsin Lakes, Ecology 38, 4
(556).
Federal Water Pollution Control Administration 1966, Fertilization and Algae
in Lake Sebasticook, Maine. Technical Services Program, Federal Water
Pollution Control Administration, Robert A. Taft, Sanitary Engineer
Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
The authors are all public health biologists employed by the Department of
Natural Resources, Division of Environmental Protection.
ANNOTATED LIST OF THE FISHES OF WISCONSIN
Marlin Johnson and George C. Becker
In light of the increasing amount of work being done by state
and federal agencies and by various state institutions on systematic
and ecological as well as recreational and economic aspects of our
fish fauna, the need has arisen for an up-to-date list, briefly noting
the status of each species within the State of Wisconsin. Recent
local studies on the distribution of fishes in various parts of the
state have made possible the preparation of this list. Moreover, in
recent years nomenclature for many species has been modified or
clarified by national and international agencies ; these changes have
been incorporated.
Many significant changes in the distribution of certain Wiscon¬
sin fish species have occurred in recent years. These range changes
have been brought about through fish rescue operations, crossover
areas, canals, plantings by federal and state agencies, and the
omnipresent fisherman’s minnow bucket. Wholesale modification
of the landscape, through forestry and agricultural practices as well
as dam and industrial construction, has left its mark on streams
and lakes and is reflected in widespread alterations in species’ com¬
position and numbers. These changes are pointed out in the annota¬
tions.
The list includes all the native fishes for Wisconsin and those
exotic species planted with the intent that they become a char¬
acteristic part of the fish fauna. At the end of the paper, a separate
list of problematical species includes those not known to be re¬
producing in the state and those found in nearby waters but not
yet reported from the state. The status of each species is indicated
by its general distribution and relative abundance within the state
and by occasional reference to specific habitat.
The following scale was used for indicating distribution and
abundance :
Rare — species which are taken at highly infrequent intervals
with one or two specimens per collection.
Uncommon — species which are taken infrequently and in very
small numbers.
265
266 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Common — species which are taken frequently and in moderate
numbers.
Abundant — species taken frequently and in large numbers.
The information has been compiled from the following sources :
literature on Wisconsin fishes, personal communication with
workers now actively engaged in fish research, fish collection rec¬
ords in the University of Wisconsin Zoological Museum and Biology
Museum at Wisconsin State University-Stevens Point, and personal
observations made by the authors. During the period from 1964-
1966 the senior author, in conjunction with Field Zoology classes,
has made extensive collections (850 stations) throughout southern
Wisconsin. The junior author has made detailed surveys of several
large watersheds in the state. Specimens of most species lie in the
Zoological Museum, University of Wisconsin, Madison, and in the
Museum of Biology, Wisconsin State University, Stevens Point.
The arrangement of orders and families follows the classification
of Greenwood et al , 1966. Except where Dr. Bailey (see acknowl¬
edgements) has advised recent changes, nomenclature is accord¬
ing to Bailey et al, 1960. Certain synonomies have been included
to facilitate cross reference to other literature dealing with fishes
of our area (particularly Greene 1935, and Forbes and Richardson
1920) . Pertinent literature on distribution, ecology, and taxonomy
is cited.
Key rivers and lakes mentioned in the text are found on Map 1.
The “lower Wisconsin River” refers to that section from the
Prairie du Sac dam down to its juncture with the Mississippi River.
The “lower Wolf River and its lakes” starts at the Shawano dam
and includes Lake Winnebago.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to W. Dryer and Stanford Smith of the U. S.
Bureau of Fisheries, to Don Mraz, Arthur A. Oehmcke, Clarence
Wistrom, John Truog, Cliff Brynildson, Lyle Christenson, John
Brasch, Ruth Hine, and C. W. Threinen of the Department of Nat¬
ural Resources and to Dr. W. G. Reeder of the U. W. Zoology De¬
partment for their critical reading of parts of the manuscript and
helpful suggestions. The help of E. J. Trimberger, formerly of the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, in obtaining distribu¬
tion data from the Mississippi River area, and of Philip Smith,
Illinois Natural History Survey, in checking synonomies is also
greatly appreciated. We thank the following commercial fishermen
who during 1968 provided specimens from Lakes Michigan and
1970]
Johnson and Becker — -Fishes of Wisconsin
267
Superior: Evald Heinonen, Harvey Hadland, Wm. G. Bodin,
Howard Weborg, Everett Marks, John Reynen, Bernard Moes, Nor-
bert Swaer, Frederick Topel, and Walter Voight. Special thanks are
due Reeve Bailey, Curator of Fishes, Museum of Zoology, Univer¬
sity of Michigan, for verification of certain identifications and for
help with nomenclatural changes, and Miss Peggy Brogan for draft¬
ing the map. Support for publication costs came from University
of Wisconsin Center System.
Map 1. Map of Wisconsin showing major drainage units, counties, key rivers,
and lakes and cities.
268 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
ORDER PETROMYZONTIFORMES
PETROMYZONTIDAE — LAMPREYS
Ichthyomyzon castaneus Girard — Chestnut lamprey
Uncommon to common in the lower Wisconsin, Yellow (Wood
Co.), Mississippi, St. Croix and Nemakagon Rivers. In Great Lakes
drainage present in the upper Fox R. at Eureka (Winnebago Co.)
and reported from the lower Wolf R. and its lakes. 16, 65
Ichthyomyzon fossor Reighard & Cummins — Northern brook lam¬
prey
Uncommon in Wisconsin R. and its tributaries. Common in small
to medium-size streams of central Wisconsin flowing into L. Michi¬
gan. Distribution widespread in streams flowing into L. Superior.
7, 16, 25
Ichthyomyzon unicuspis Hubbs & Trautman — Silver lamprey
Ichthyomyzon concolor (Kirtland) F&R*
Uncommon in Mississippi and lower Wisconsin Rivers, Green
Bay, and the large lakes of the lower Wolf R. basin. Common in
streams flowing into L. Superior. 9, 13, 15, 16
Lampetra lamottei (Lesueur) — American brook lamprey
Entosphenus appendix (DeKay) G.f
Lampetra wilderi Gage F&R
Common in creeks of the Mississippi basin throughout southern
and central Wisconsin. So far not reported from streams of Great
Lakes drainage in the state, although reported as common in upper
Michigan streams of eastern L. Superior. 7, 13, 16, 58
Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus — Sea lamprey
Recently abundant in L. Michigan. Common in L. Superior.
Spawning and ammocete development occurring in streams in their
watersheds. Exotic, invading L. Michigan in mid-1930’s and L.
Superior in the late 1940’s. Currently subject to control with 1am-
pricides and other methods, but in last two years increasing in
numbers (Moore, James D. 1969. Lake trout lamprey scarring in
North Green Bay. Wis. Dept. Nat. Resources. Oshkosh. 5p. mimeo).
16, 69.
* Forbes & Richardson, 1920.
f Greene, 1935.
1970] Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin 269
ORDER ACIPENSERIFORMES
ACIPENSERIDAE — STURGEONS
Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque — Lake sturgeon
Acipenser ruhicundus Lesueur F&R
Common in the Menominee R. (Wis.-Mich. border) and in the
lower Wolf R. and its lakes, particularly Poygan and Winnebago.
Common in L. Wisconsin (Sauk & Columbia Cos.). Common in St.
Croix R. to Gordon Dam and in Namekagon R. below Trego dam.
Common in both the Chippewa and Flambeau Rivers. Present in
Benson Lake, the widespread of Manitowish R. (Vilas Co.) and in
the Clam R. (Burnett Co.). Verified report from Big Cedar L.
(Washington Co.) in 1961, resulting from 1936 planting. Rare in
Lakes Michigan and Superior. 9, 13, 65, 91.
Scaphirhynchus platorynchus (Rafinesque) — Shovelnose sturgeon
Uncommon to common in the main channels of the Mississippi
and lower Wisconsin Rivers and in the lower Chippewa and lower
Red Cedar Rivers. Presence reported up to St. Croix Falls dam on
the St. Croix R. 13
POLYODONTIDAE— PADDLEFISHES
Polyodon spathula (Walbaum) — Paddlefish
Formerly abundant on the Mississippi R., now uncommon in the
Mississippi and lower Wisconsin Rivers. 13, 23, 108
ORDER SEMIONOTIFORMES
LEPISOSTEIDAE — GARS
Lepisosteus osseus (Linnaeus)— Longnose gar
Common in most large lakes and quiet waters of larger rivers
over lower two-thirds of Wisconsin. In northwestern Wisconsin
common in Big Sissabagama, Big Court Oreilles, Grindstone, and
Big Sand Lakes (Sawyer Co.). Common in the St. Croix R. below
dam at St. Croix Falls; abundant in the Island Lake Chain (Rusk
Co.) and the Long Lake Chain (Chippewa Co.). Uncommon in
northeastern Wisconsin. 9, 10, 13, 65
Lepisosteus platostomus Rafinesque— Shortnose gar
Uncommon to common in lower Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers
and lower portions of their tributaries; in the St. Croix up to the
St. Croix Falls Dam. Formerly reported from Lake Mendota (Dane
Co.). Recently appearing in Lake Winnebago (Great Lakes drain-
270 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
age), possibly entering via the Fox-Wisconsin canal at Portage
(Columbia Co.) . Several specimens taken summer 1968 in southern
third of Green Bay (L. Michigan). 9, 13, 67, 87
ORDER AMIIFORMES
AMIIDAE — BOWFINS
Amia calva Linnaeus — Bowfin
Uncommon to common in quiet waters of large rivers and large
lakes. Wider dispersal and less common northward. 9, 10, 13, 65, 69
ORDER ANGUILLIFORMES
ANGUILLIDAE — FRESHWATER EELS
Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur) — American eel
Anguilla bostoniensis (Lesueur) G.
Anguilla chrysypa Rafinesque F&R
Rare in the Mississippi R. and its tributaries. Report from L.
Neshonic (La Crosse Co.) about 1954 (letter from Lyle Christen-
son, April 25, 1969). Reports for 1966 from mouth of St. Croix
(Burnett Co.) and Chippewa (Buffalo Co.) Rivers, and Lake Ne-
bagamon (Douglas Co.). Taken regularly on Red Cedar R. up¬
stream to L. Menomin (Dunn Co.). Single specimen collected from
L. Superior (Beaver Lake Cr., Alger Co., Mich.). Single specimen
collected at Red Banks in Green Bay of L. Michigan, summer 1968.
Also collected in Lake La Belle, 1959, and Lake Nemahbin (Wau¬
kesha Co.), 1951. 46, 67, 69
ORDER CLUPEIFORMES
CLUPEIDAE — HERRINGS
Alosa chrysochloris (Rafinesque) — Skipjack herring
Pomolobus chrysochloris Rafinesque F&R G.
Probably extinct. Formerly found throughout the Wisconsin por¬
tion of the Mississippi R. and in the St. Croix up to St. Croix Falls.
23, 46
Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson) — Alewife
Abundant recent (1952) addition to fauna of L. Michigan and
has become a nuisance. Appeared in L. Superior in 1954, becoming
common. 68, 79, 99
Dorosoma cepedianum (Lesueur) — Gizzard shad
Abundant in Mississippi and lower Wisconsin Rivers. Uncommon
to common in lower portions of their larger tributaries. Common in
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
271
St. Croix R. upstream to St. Croix Falls Dam. Rare, southern L.
Michigan. Uncommon in lower third of Green Bay of L. Michigan
where collected by commercial fishermen summer 1968. 18, 22, 65,
68
HlODONTIDAE — MOONEYES
Hiodon alosoides (Rafinesque) — Goldeye
Amphiodon alosoides Rafinesque G.
Rare in Mississippi R. as far north as Lake Pepin. 23, 46
Hiodon tergisus Lesueur— -Mooneye
Common in Mississippi, St. Croix R. upstream to St. Croix Dam,
lower Wisconsin R., and uncommon in lower portions of their larger
tributaries. Common in lower Wolf R. and its lakes (Great Lakes
drainage) . Rare in Green Bay and L. Michigan. 9, 13, 22, 65
ORDER SALMONIFORMES
SALMONIDAE — TROUTS, WHITEFISHES
Coregonus clupeaformis (Mitchill) — Lake whitefish
Common in L. Superior (up to 35 fathoms) ; common in L. Mich¬
igan but reduced in recent years by the sea lamprey. Reported from
L. Lucerne (Forest Co.), Keyes L. (Florence Co.) , and Trout L.
(Vilas Co.). 29, 31, 34, 75, 91, 107
Leucichthys alpenae (Koelz) — Longjaw cisco
Formerly common in L. Michigan (20 to 60 fathoms) , but becom¬
ing very rare in recent years. 96
Leucichthys artedii Lesueur— Cisco or lake herring
Argyrosomus artedi (Lesueur) F&R
Common but declining in Lakes Superior and Michigan. Com¬
mon in many deeper inland lakes in northern tier of counties ; rare
to common in lakes of Waukesha Co. and in L. Geneva (Walworth
Co.). Nearing extinction in Lake Mendota (Dane Co.). 20, 24, 31,
42, 53, 63, 96
Leucichthys hoyi (Gill)— Bloater
Abundant and dominant Leucichthys at 20 to 70 fathoms, but
some found to greatest depths in both Lakes Superior and Michi¬
gan. Increased rapidly in numbers and extended range in L. Michi¬
gan during 1950’s and early 1960’s but declining in recent years as
alewives increased. 31, 61, 96, 110, 111
272 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Leucichthys johannae ( Wagner) — Deepwater cisco
Perhaps now extinct, but formerly common in deeper waters of
L. Michigan (30 to 90 fathoms). Last seen and taken in the early
1950’s. 96
Leucichthys kiyi (Koelz) — Kiyi
Common in deep areas of L. Superior. Have become very rare
in recent years in L. Michigan (60 to 100 fathoms). 31, 96
Leucichthys nigripinnis (Gill) — Blackfin cisco
Once common but now rare in L. Superior (15 to 100 fathoms).
Formerly common in L. Michigan but now probably extinct —
last records from the mid-1950’s. 31, 96
Leucichthys reighardi (Koelz) — Shortnose cisco
Rare in western L. Superior (up to 50 and possibly 65 fathoms).
Once common in L. Michigan (20 to 60 fathoms) but very rare
in recent years. 31, 96
Leucichthys zenithicus (Jordan & Evermann) — Shortjaw cisco
Common in L. Superior (10 to 90 fathoms but most common at
30 to 70 fathoms) . Once common in L. Michigan (20 to 70 fathoms)
but decreasing to very rare in recent years. 31, 96
Prosopium coulteri (Eigenmann and Eigenmann) — Pygmy white-
fish
Common in L. Superior (10 to 59 fathoms, but most common at
20 to 50 fathoms) . 31, 37
Prosopium cylindraceum (Pallas) — Round white-fish
Prosopium quadr Hater ale quadrilaterale (Richardson) G.
Common in L. Superior (shallows to 19 fathoms; rarer up to
40 fathoms) . Uncommon to common in shallower areas of L. Michi¬
gan north of Sheboygan. Rare southwards. 31, 73
Salmo gairdneri Richardson — Rainbow trout
Introduced in late 1800’s. Common locally in streams and lakes
over the state. Continuously stocked in L. Superior and its tribu¬
taries; spawning successfully in some larger tributaries. Continu¬
ously stocked in recent years along Wisconsin shore of L. Michigan ;
natural reproduction insignificant. 19, 27b
1970] Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin 273
Salmo trutta Linnaeus — Brown trout
Salmo fario Linnaeus G.
Introduced in late 1800’s. Common in cold-water streams of
southern and central Wisconsin, and in recent years playing a larger
role in stream fishing of northern Wisconsin. Large brown trout
are taken frequently in shore areas of Lakes Superior and Michi¬
gan, where they are maintained by extensive stocking. 18, 27c, 69
Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill) — Brook trout
Common in streams of central and northern Wisconsin; rare to
uncommon in southern Wisconsin, except Richland, Columbia, Dane
and Sauk Cos. where common in some streams. Coasters present
along Wisconsin shores of Lakes Superior and Michigan (especially
Door and Kewaunee Cos.) ; these populations sustained by stocking.
15, 17
Salvelinus namaycush namaycush (Walbaum) — Common lake trout
Cristivomer namaycush (Walbaum) G. & F&R
Common in L. Superior (10 to 39 fathoms). Uncommon in L.
Michigan but returning in numbers. Inland waters with spawning
trout: Trout and Black Oak L. (Vilas Co.), Big Green L. (Green
Lake Co.). Recently introduced in Lac Court Oreilles (Sawyer
Co.) 27a, 31, 35, 36, 48
Salvelinus namaycush siscowet (Agassiz) — Siscowet
Common in deeper waters (40 to 125 fathoms) of L. Superior. 33
OSMERIDAE — SMELTS
Osmerus mordax (Mitchill) — American smelt
Common in L. Superior and Michigan and occasionally taken in
large tributary streams. First taken off Wisconsin shores in
L. Michigan in 1928 from 1912 stocking of Crystal R., Benzie Co.,
Michigan. Reached Wisconsin shores of L. Superior in late 1930’s.
Populations reproducing in L. Lucerne (Forest Co.) ; also reported
from Sand Bar, Tomahawk and Big Diamond Lakes (Bayfield
Co.). 26, 31, 106
Esocidae— pikes
Esox americanus vermiculatus Lesueur — Grass pickerel
Esox vermiculatus Lesueur G. & F&R
Common in scattered localities in lakes and sluggish waters of
southern one-third of state. Also found in Fishtrap and High Lakes
274 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
and headwaters of Manitowish R. (Vilas Co.) and Minocqua
Thoroughfare (Oneida Co.), where it was probably accidentally in¬
troduced during fish transfer operations in the early 1930’s. 10, 64
Esox Indus Linnaeus- — Northern pike
Common to abundant in lakes throughout state and in slow
waters of large streams and rivers. Absent from the Chippewa R.
and its lakes above Radisson (Sawyer Co.). 7„ 9, 10, 12, 13, 69,
102, 103
Esox masquinongy Mitchill — Muskellunge
Common in the lakes and rivers in the headwater regions of the
Chippewa, Flambeau, St. Croix (upstream to Trego Dam), and
Wisconsin Rivers. Uncommon to rare in the middle one-third of
the state. Stocked annually as far south as L. Wisconsin (Columbia
Co.) . Populations developed from stocking in Little Green L. (Green
Lake Co.), Pewaukee L. (Waukesha Co.), and Lenwood L. (Wash¬
ington Co.). Occasionally caught in L. Superior and in Green Bay
(L. Michigan). 9, 10, 43, 64, 69, 81, 83
Esox masquinongy female X Esox lucius male — Tiger muskellunge
Natural crosses are reported in Lac Vieux Desert (Vilas Co.),
Star, Big St. Germaine and Plum Lakes (Vilas Co.), and Toma¬
hawk and Minocqua Lakes (Oneida Co.). Hybrids have been pro¬
duced in Wisconsin hatcheries in 1940, 1946, 1947, 1963, 1965 and
stocked frequently in landlocked bass lakes. This hybrid has a
growth rate more rapid than either parent species. Experiments
indicate that it will backcross with Esox lucius . 14, 65, 69
UMBRIDAE — MUDMINNOWS
Umbra limi ( Kir t land) — Central mudminnow
Common to abundant in small streams and marshes throughout
state except in southwestern quarter, where uncommon. 7, 9, 12,
13, 65, 69
ORDER CYPRINIFORMES
CYPRINIDAE— MINNOWS AND CARP
Campostoma anomalum pullum (Agassiz)— Central stoneroller
Abundant in small swift-flowing streams of southern Wisconsin.
Occasionally taken in quiet pools. 13, 57, 80
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
275
C amp o stoma anomalum oligolepis Hubbs & Greene — Largescale
stoneroller
Abundant in medium-size, swift-flowing streams in central and
northern Wisconsin. 13, 57, 80
Carassius auratus (Linnaeus)— Goldfish
Common in some Milwaukee Co. lagoons. Occasionally found in
southeastern Wisconsin streams and in Peters Lake (Walworth
Co.). Introduced in part through a fish exchange program with
the Nebraska Fish Commission in 1903, 1904, and 1908. 67, 78, 113
Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus— Carp
Abundant in large shallow waters of southern and central Wis¬
consin. Becoming common in some northern Wisconsin waters in
recent years. Introduced through plantings by Wis. Commissioners
of Fisheries, 1881-1895. 30, 41, 69, 74, 113
Chrosomus eos Cope — Northern red-belly dace
Abundant in small streams and in bog lakes of central and north¬
ern Wisconsin. 7, 12, 69
Chrosomus erythrogaster (Rafinesque) — Southern red-belly dace
Abundant in small to medium-size streams in southern Wisconsin.
Rare to uncommon in central Wisconsin, apparently moving into
a number of new localities in recent years. 13
Chrosomus neogaeus (Cope) — Finescale dace
Pfrille neogaea (Cope) G.
Uncommon to common in small streams and ponds in north¬
eastern Wisconsin and in the streams of the L. Superior drainage.
Rare in headwater streams of central Wisconsin. 12, 69
Clinostomus elongatus (Kirtland) — Redside dace
Uncommon in small to medium-size streams in widely scattered
basins of southern, central and eastcentral Wisconsin. 7, 13
Dionda nubila (Forbes) — Ozark minnow
Hybognathus nubila (Forbes) F&R
Rare in medium-size streams of gentle current Platte R. basin
(Grant Co.). Reported from streams in Barron, Lafayette, Iowa,
Walworth, Rock, and Waukesha Cos. in late 1920’s. 13, 46
276 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Hybognathus hankinsoni Hubbs — Brassy minnow
Common in slow-flowing streams over state except northwestern
portion where uncommon. Rare in large rivers. 7, 13, 46
Hybognathus nuchalis Agassiz — Silver minnow
Uncommon in the lower Wisconsin R. and the Mississippi and
in the lower portions of their tributaries. 13, 46
Hybopsis aestivalis (Girard) — Speckled chub
Hybopsis hyostomus (Gilbert) F&R
Extrarius aestivalis (Gilbert) G.
Generally uncommon over shallow sand flats in lower Wisconsin
and Mississippi R. and lower portions of their larger tributaries.
13, 46
Hybopsis biguttata (Kirtland) — Hornyhead chub
Hybopsis kentuckiensis (Rafinesque) F&R
Nocomis biguttatus (Kirtland) G.
Common in dear-water, medium-size streams of northern and
central Wisconsin. Uncommon in the southwestern quarter of
state except in the southern tier of counties where common. 7, 12,
13, 46
Hybopsis plumb ea (Agassiz) — Lake chub
Couesius plumb eus (Agassiz) G.
Uncommon in shoal waters in the vicinity of stream mouths
in Green Bay and L. Michigan. Common near mouths of streams
in Bayfield and Douglas Cos. (L. Superior drainage). 45, 69
Hybopsis storeriana (Kirtland) — Silver chub
Uncommon in flowing sections of the lower Wisconsin R., in the
Mississippi R., and in the lower portions of their tributaries. 13, 46
Hybopsis x-punctata Hubbs & Crowe — Gravel chub
Hybopsis dissimilia (Kirtland) F&R
Erimystax dissimilis (Kirtland) G.
Probably extinct in state. Taken only once from the Sugar R.
(Green Co.) in the late 1920’s. 46
Notemigonus crysoleucas (Mitchill) — Golden shiner
Abramis crysoleucas (Mitchill) F&R
Common to abundant in lakes, slow-flowing streams and rivers
over the entire state. 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 69
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
277
Notropis amnis Hubbs & Greene — Pallid shiner
Pare. In recent years this minnow has been collected from the
lower Wisconsin and from the Mississippi Rivers in water of
moderate flow. 13, 46
Notropis ano genus Forbes — Pugnose shiner
Rare. Earlier reports from Burnett, Waupaca, Kewaunee, Mar¬
quette, Columbia and Dane Cos. In recent years this minnow has
been collected only from Pewaukee Lake (Waukesha Co.) and
L. Poygan (Winnebago Co.) . 2, 9, 10, 46
Notropis atherinoides Rafinesque — Emerald shiner
Common to abundant in L. Michigan, Superior, Winnebago and
other large inland lakes of central and southern Wisconsin.
Present in Yellow Birch L. (Vilas Co.). A common minnow in the
lower Wisconsin and Mississippi R. and lower portions of some
of their tributaries. 9, 13, 22, 69
Notropis blennius (Girard) — River shiner
Notropis jejunus (Forbes) F&R
Common in the lower Wisconsin and the Mississippi R. and
lower portions of some tributary streams. An isolated population
in L. Winnebago of the Great Lakes Basin. 9, 13„ 46
Notropis buchanani Meek — Ghost shiner
Rare or nearly extinct in the state. Last collected in 1944 (UW
Museum of Zoology — Madison) from the Mississippi R. opposite
Crawford Co. 46
Notropis chalybaeus (Cope) — Ironcolor shiner
Camm Swift, Dept, of Biological Sciences, Florida State Univer¬
sity, Tallahassee, writes that two collections which Greene (46)
catalogued originally as Notropis texanus richardsoni are Notropis
chalybaeus (letter November 8, 1968). The two series follow: From
UMMZ 66537 (7 of 41) Wise., Collumbia Co., Fox R. opposite Lock
25. VIII :26 :1925 Green and Jones. From UMMZ 74054 (2 of 75)
Wise., Waupaca Co., Blake Cr., 5 ml. W. Symco. VII :9 : 1926 Greene
and Lo Criccho.
Notropis cornutus (Mitchill) — Common shiner
Abundant and one of the commonest of stream and river min¬
nows found under a wide variety of conditions. Occasional in dear-
water lakes over clean bottom. 7, 9, 10, 13, 44, 65, 69
278 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Notropis chrysocephalus (Refinesque) — Stripped ishiner
Common in the Saukville-Grafton sector of the Milwaukee R.
(Ozaukee Co.). Single specimen (Museum WSU-Stevens Point)
collected from Green Bay near the city of Sturgeon Bay. Older
records indicate presence from Kenosha to Dane Cos. 44 , 46
Notropis dorsalis (Agassiz)- — Bigmouth shiner
Notropis gilherti Jordan and Meek F&R
Common over sand-bottom, medium-sized streams in the Missis¬
sippi drainage. Recently established in the east-central streams
within the L. Michigan drainage of Wisconsin. 7, 13
Notropis heterodon (Cope) — Blackchin shiner
Uncommon in central and southern Wisconsin. Absent from
southwestern quarter. Locally common northward in lakes and
bog ponds. 9, 10, 12, 46, 65
Notropis heterolepis Eigenmann & Eigenmann — Blacknose shiner
Notropis cayuga Meek F&R
Rare in southwestern quarter of state. Elsewhere common in
widely separated lakes and slow-moving streams, often in heavily-
silted habitats. 7, 9, 10, 12, 46, 65
Notropis hudsonius (Clinton) — Spottail shiner
Common locally in very large inland lakes, in Lakes Michigan
and Superior, and in large slow-moving rivers as the lower Wis¬
consin and Mississippi, and in the St. Croix R. upstream to St.
Croix Falls Dam. 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 46, 65, 69
Notropis rubellus (Agassiz)- — Rosyface shiner
Notropis rubrifrons (Cope) F&R
Common in medium-sized, swift-flowing streams of central and
southern Wisconsin. Uncommon northward — apparently absent
from the extreme northwest corner of the state. 7, 12,, 13, 46, 69
Notropis spilopterus (Cope) — Spotfin shiner
N otropis whipplii (Girard) F&R G.
Abundant in medium to large-sized streams and rivers. A com¬
mon minnow in large lakes. Absent from the northern tier of
counties. 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 65, 69
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
279
Notropis stramineus (Cope)— Sand shiner
Notropis blennius (Girard) F&R
Notropis phenacobius Forbes F&R
Notropis deliciosus (Cope) G.
Abundant in medium to large-sized streams and rivers of central
and southwestern Wisconsin. Elsewhere uncommon to common.
7, 9, 12, 13, 69
Notropis texanus (Girard)— Weed shiner
Notropis nux Hubbs & Greene G.
Uncommon in the lower Wisconsin and in the Mississippi Rivers
and in the lower portions of their tributaries. Older records indi¬
cate presence from east-central Wisconsin (Great Lakes drainage).
13, 22, 46
Notropis umhratilis (Girard) — Redhn shiner
Locally common in slow-moving, turbid waters of southeastern
Wisconsin. Older records show presence in widely isolated streams
throughout the southern half of the state. 46, 54
Notropis volucellus volucellus (Cope)— Northern mimic shiner
Notropis blennius (Girard) F&R
Locally common in medium-sized streams and in lakes over the
state except in the southwestern quarter, where rare. Distribution
sites widely isolated. 7„ 22, 65, 69
Notropis volucellus wickliffi Trautman — Channel mimic shiner
Rare in the Mississippi R. Seldom taken in recent years. 13, 46
Opsopoeodus emiliae Hay— Pugnose minnow
Uncommon in slow-water and sloughs of the Wisconsin R. up¬
stream to Du Bay (Marathon Co.) and in the Mississippi R. In
the Great Lakes drainage taken only from the west end of L. Poy-
gan (Waushara Co.) . 9, 13, 22, 46
Phenacobius mirabilis (Girard) — Suckermouth minnow
Uncommon to common in small and medium-sized tributaries to
the lower Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. In the southwestern
quarter of the state, from Vernon Co. southward. Uncommon in
Rock R. drainage in southeastern quarter. 13, 46
280 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Pimephales notatus (Rafinesque) — Bluntnose minnow
Hyborhynchus notatus (Rafinesque) G.
Abundant in streams and lakes over the entire state. Uncommon
in the larger rivers. This species, from the standpoint of distribu¬
tion and numbers, is perhaps the most successful Wisconsin fish.
6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 65, 69
Pimephales promelas Rafinesque — Fathead minnow
Locally common over the entire state. Frequently associated with
turbid water. 7, 12, 13, 22, 46, 69
Pimephales vigilax (Baird & Girard) — Bullhead minnow
Cliola vigilax (Baird and Girard) F&R
Hy par gyrus velox (Girard) G.
Common to abundant in the lower Wisconsin and the Mississippi.
Rarely associated with other large streams in the southwestern
quarter of state. A recent collection from the Fox R. (Marquette
Co.) near the Portage Canal indicates a late crossover into the
Great Lakes drainage basin. 7, 22
Rhinichthys atratulus (Hermann) — Blacknose dace
Rhinichthys atronasus (Mitchill) F&R. G.
Common to abundant in small cool headwater streams. Uncom¬
mon to common in medium-sized streams supporting trout. Dis¬
tributed throughout the state. 6, 8, 12, 13, 69
Rhinichthys cataractae (Valenciennes) — Longnose dace
Common to abundant in fast water of medium-sized streams of
the northern half of Wisconsin. Common in small fast-water
streams of southwestern Wisconsin. Common in wave-swept shal¬
lows of Lakes Michigan and Superior. 6, 8, 12 ,13, 69
Semotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill) — Creek chub
Abundant in small and medium-sized streams and rivers over the
entire state. Rare in large rivers and in lakes. One of our common¬
est fishes. 7, 12, 13, 65, 69
Semotilus margarita (Cope) — Pearl dace
Margariscus margarita (Cox) G.
Common in very small streams of central and northern Wis¬
consin except in streams of L. Superior drainage where rare. Un¬
common in larger streams. 7, 12, 65, 69
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
281
CATOSTOMIDAE— SUCKERS
Carpiodes carpio (Rafinesque) — River carpsucker
Common in the lower Wisconsin R. and the Mississippi R.,, and
their larger tributaries. 13, 22, 46
Carpiodes cyprinus (Lesueur) — Quillback
Carpiodes thompsoni Agassiz F&R
Carpiodes velifer (Rafinesque) F&R
Abundant in the lower Wisconsin R. and the Mississippi R. and
their larger tributaries. Common Lakes Poygan and Winnebago.
9, 13, 65
Carpiodes velifer (Rafinesque) — Highfin carpsucker
Carpiodes difformis Cope F&R
Common in the lower Wisconsin R. and the Mississippi R. and
in their larger tributaries. 13, 46
Catostomus catostomus (Forster) — Longnose sucker
Common in L. Superior and its tributaries during spawning.
Formerly common, now rare in L. Michigan. 31, 46, 69
Catostomus commersoni (Lacepede) — White sucker
Abundant and generally distributed in lakes and streams over
the state. One of the most widely distributed and abundant fish
species in the state. 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 65, 69
Cycleptus elongatus (Lesueur)-— Blue sucker
Rare. Found only in the lower Wisconsin R., the Mississippi R.,
and the St. Croix upstream to St. Croix Falls Dam. 13,, 46, 65
Erimyzon oblong us ( Mitchill ) — Creek chubsucker
Erimyzon sucetta oblong us (Mitchill) F&R
Rare. Taken only twice in the southeastern corner of Wisconsin
during the late 1920’s from the Des Plaines R. (Kenosha Co.)
and a tributary. 46
Erimyzon sucetta (Lacepede) — -Lake chubsucker
Erimyzon sucetta oblongus (Mitchill) F&R
Rare to uncommon locally in the larger rivers and the lower por¬
tions of tributaries to them in the southern half of Wisconsin.
Report from White Clay L. (Shawano Co.) needs substantiation.
Occasionally taken in larger lakes, especially in southeastern Wis¬
consin. 9, 10, 13, 46
282 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Hypentelium nigricans (Lesueur) — Northern hogsucker
Catostomus nigricans Lesueur F&R
Common locally in riffle areas of medium to large streams and
rivers. Generally distributed throughout the state. 7, 12, 13, 65
Ictiobus bubalus (Rafinesque) — Smallmouth buffalo
Uncommon in the lower Wisconsin R. and in the Mississippi.
Recent record from Island L. (Vilas Co.), needs verification. 13,
22, 46
Ictiobus cyprinellus (Valenciennes) — Bigmouth buffalo
Megastomatobus cyprinella (Cuvier & Valenciennes) G.
Uncommon to common in medium to large rivers in southern
Wisconsin. Reported from L. Delavan (Waukesha Co.), L. Kosh-
konong (Jefferson Co.), Beaver Dam L. (Dodge Co.), the Madison
Lakes (Dane Co.) and Long Lake (Waupaca Co.). The last is the
first Wisconsin record from the L. Michigan drainage. Present in
the Mississippi R. and in the St. Croix up to St. Croix Falls Dam.
Reports needing substantiation from Manitowish Chain and Big
Lake (Vilas Co.) . 13, 22, 46, 65, 67
Ictiobus niger ( Rafinesque ) — Black buffalo
Ictiobus urus (Agassiz) F&R
Rare on the lower Wisconsin R. Uncommon on the Mississippi R.
13, 45
Minytrema melanops (Rafinesque) — Spotted sucker
Common locally in the lower Wisconsin and in the Mississippi
Rivers and their larger tributaries. Common in Lake Poygan;
occasional in L. Winnebago. It has been reported from the upper
Fox R. (Columbia to Winnebago Cos.) and from the lower Wolf
downstream from the Shawano Dam (Shawano Co.). Recently
collected in Des Plaines R. (Kenosha Co.). 9, 13, 22
Moxostoma anisurum (Rafinesque) — Silver redhorse
Common locally in large streams in the western half of Wis¬
consin and in streams in the L. Superior drainage. Uncommon in
east-central Wisconsin (L. Michigan drainage). 7, 65, 68, 69
Moxostoma carinatum (Cope)— River redhorse
This species has not been collected by Wisconsin workers but
is reported in boundary waters in Lake St. Croix on the St. Croix R.
between Minnesota and Wisconsin. 82b
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
283
Moxostoma duquesnei (Lesueur) — Black redhorse
Probably extinct. Taken only once from Black Earth Creek (Dane
Co.) in the late 1920’s. 46
Moxostoma erythrurum (Rafinesque) — Golden redhorse
Moxostoma aureolum (Lesueur) F&R
Uncommon in northern half of state (absent from northern tier
of counties). Common in medium to large rivers in the southern
half of the state. 7, 9, 12, 13
Moxostoma macrolepidotum (Lesueur) — Northern redhorse
Moxostoma breviceps (Cope) F&R
Moxostoma aureolum (Lesueur) G.
Common statewide in medium to large rivers. A common species
in large lakes of central and northern Wisconsin. 7, 9, 12, 13, 22,
65, 69.
Moxostoma valenciennesi Jordan — Greater redhorse
Moxostoma rubreques Hubbs G.
Rare and probably nearing extinction. Old records indicate gen¬
eral distribution in the state. A purported specimen recently re¬
ported from the lower Wisconsin R. misidentified as this species,
actually M. macrolepidotum. 13, 46
ORDER SILURIFORMES
ICTALURIDAE — FRESHWATER CATFISHES
Ictalurus furcatus (Lesueur) — Blue catfish
Rare, probably extinct. Only two old records from the Mississippi
R. (Crawford and Pepin Cos.). 46
Ictalurus melas (Rafinesque) — Black bullhead
Ameiurus melas (Rafinesque) F&R G.
Abundant throughout the state in lakes and warm-water streams
of all sizes. 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 65, 68, 69
Ictalurus natalis (Lesueur) — Yellow bullhead
Ameiurus nebulosus (Lesueur) F&R. G.
Common throughout the state, generally in clear medium-sized
streams and occasionally in clear lakes. 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 65, 69, 89
284 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Ictalurus nebulosus (Lesueur) — Brown bullhead
Ameriurus nebulosus (Lesueur) F&R. G.
Uncommon in sloughs of rivers and in lakes. Discontinuous dis¬
tribution throughout state. 7, 9, 12, 13, 22, 69, 89
Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque) — Channel catfish
Villarius lacustris (Walbaum) G.
Uncommon to common in the Mississippi R. and the lower Wis¬
consin R. (upstream to Castle Rock Dam) and their larger tribu¬
taries, and in the St. Croix R. to Gordon Dam and in the Name-
kagon to Trego Dam. Uncommon to common in the Wolf and Fox
River system of the L. Michigan basin. Rare in L. Michigan and
Green Bay. In the L. Superior drainage a single recent record from
the St. Louis R. (Douglas Co.). 9, 13, 22, 65, 69
Noturus exilis Nelson — Slender madtom
Schilbeodes exilis (Nelson) F&R. G.
Rare in Bark R. system (Waukesha Co. ). 20, 46
Noturus flavus Rafinesque — Stonecat
Uncommon to common in medium-sized streams of moderate cur¬
rent in southern two-thirds of state. Rare northward except in L.
Superior tributaries (Bayfield and Douglas Cos.), where common.
7, 12, 13, 65, 69
Noturus gyrinus (Mitchill) — Tadpole madtom
Schilbeodes gyrinus (Mitchill) F&R. G.
Common statewide in medium to large rivers. Frequently found
in lakes over debris-covered bottom. 7, 9, 12, 13, 22, 69
Pylodictis olivaris (Rafinesque) — Flathead catfish
Leptops olivaris (Rafinesque) F&R
Uncommon to common in Mississippi, lower Wisconsin and Peca-
tonica Rivers. In recent years reported occasionally from lower
Wolf and upper Fox Rivers and their lakes (L. Michigan drainage) .
9, 13, 22, 65
Aphredoderidae— pirate perch
Aphredoderus say anus (Gilliams)- — Pirate perch
Uncommon to rare in sloughs of the Mississippi R. and in the
Wisconsin R. up to central Wisconsin. Occasionally found in lower
portions of tributaries to these waters. Uncommon in Des Plaines
R. (Kenosha Co.). 13, 22
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
285
ORDER PERCOPSIFORMES
PERCOPSIDAE — TROUT-PERCH
Percopsis omiscomaycus (Walbaum) — Trout perch
Percopsis guttatus Agassiz F&R
Uncommon in the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. More com¬
mon northward, in the Chippewa R. and connecting lakes of Sawyer
Co., and in L. Superior and tributary streams. Reported from Trout
L. (Vilas Co.). Rare to uncommon in L. Michigan drainage except
in Lakes Winnebago and Poygan (Winnebago Co.), where abun¬
dant. 9, 18, 31, 86
ORDER GADIFORMES
GADIDAE — CODFISHES AND HAKES
Lota lota (Linnaeus) — Burbot
Lota maculosa (Lesueur) F&R. G.
Rare to uncommon in widely separated large rivers and lakes
statewide. Common in dark water streams of the Flambeau R.
watershed and tributary streams to L. Superior; common in Lakes
Poygan and Winnebago (L. Michigan drainage). Young occa¬
sionally taken in small streams opening into large bodies of water.
Decreasing in L. Michigan in recent years. 9, 12, 13, 31, 65, 69
ORDER ATHERINIFORMES
CYPRINODONTIDAE — KILLIFISHES
Fundulus diaphanus (Lesueur) — Banded killifish
Common in lakes of southeastern Wisconsin. Uncommon in
widely isolated sites in northern half of state and absent from
southwestern quarter. 9, 12, 46.
Fundulus notatus (Rafinesque) — Blackstripe topminnow
Uncommon in sloughs and lakes of the Mississippi drainage in
the southeastern quarter of state. A single recent report from the
Wisconsin R. at Woodman (Grant Co.). In L. Michigan drainage,
present in the upper Fox R. (Columbia and Marquette Cos.). Re¬
cently collected from lower Wisconsin R. 13, 46
Fundulus notti (Agassiz) — Starhead topminnow
Fundulus dispar (Agassiz) F&R. G.
Rare. Recently collected from quiet water in Coon Creek (Rock
Co.) and sloughs of the Wisconsin R. (Iowa Co.). The later is the
first for the Wisconsin R. basin. Older records from Walworth and
Waukesha Cos. (lower Fox R. system). 46
286 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
ATHERINIDAE — SILVERSIDES
Labidesthes sicculus (Cope) — Brook silverside
Common in lakes and quiet waters of rivers and large streams
in southern half of the state. Distribution discontinuous northward
where uncommon. Absent in L. Superior drainage. 10, 13, 20, 22
ORDER GASTEROSTEIFORMES
GASTEROSTEIDAE — STICKLEBACKS
Culaea inconstans ( Kirtland) —Brook stickleback
Eucalia inconstans (Kirtland) F&R. G.
Abundant in dense vegetation of small to medium-size streams
throughout state. Although taken most frequently in clear water,
this species may be found in highly turbid waters. 4, 7, 12, 13, 69
Pungitius pungitius (Linnaeus) — Ninespine stickleback
Pygosteus pungitius (Linnaeus) F&R
Common in shoal areas of L. Superior and uncommon in streams
of its drainage basin. Rare in shoal areas of L. Michigan. 31, 46, 69
ORDER SCORPAENIFORMES
COTTIDAE — SCULPINS
Cottus bairdi Girard — Mottled sculpin
Coitus ictalops (Rafinesque) F&R
Uranidea kumlieni Hay F&R
Common in cold headwater streams throughout the state. Occa¬
sionally in large lakes: L. Metonga (Forest Co.), L. Winnebago
(Winnebago Co.), shoal areas of L. Michigan. 7, 9, 12, 13, 28, 69
Cottus cognatus Richardson — Slimy sculpin
Uncommon to common in streams tributary to and in L. Superior.
Uncommon in L. Michigan. Recently taken from Citron Creek
(Crawford Co.), Camp Creek (Richland Co.) and Big Green L.
(Green Lake Co.). 13, 28, 31
Cottus ricei (Nelson)— Spoonhead sculpin
Uncommon in shallow to deep waters of Lakes Michigan (2 to
73 fathoms) and Superior (20 to 60 fathoms). 28, 31, 46
Myoxocephalus quadricornis (Linnaeus)— Fourhorn sculpin
Triglopsis thompsonii Girard G.
Common in deep water of Lakes Superior (40 to 200 fathoms)
and Michigan (25 to 100 fathoms). 28, 31, 46
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
287
ORDER PERCIFORMES
SERRANXDAE — SEA BASSES
Roccus chrysops (Rafinesque) —White bass
Lepibema chrysops (Rafinesque) G.
Common in large lakes and rivers of southern half of the state
and in the St. Croix upstream to St. Croix Falls Dam. Abundant in
L. Winnebago. 9, 10, 13, 22, 117
Roccus mississippiensis (Jordan & Eigenmann) — Yellow bass
Morone interrupta Gill F&R G.
Uncommon to common in the Mississippi and lower Wisconsin
Rivers; common and increasing in Lakes Poygan and Winnebago.
Introduced into the Madison lakes (Dane Co.) and into lakes of the
lower Wolf R. (L. Michigan basin) during fish transfer operations
of the 1930's and 1940's. Abundant in L. Mason, Adams Co. Re¬
cently stocked in the Manitowoc, Sheboygan, and Milwaukee R.
basins in eastern Wisconsin. 9, 13, 50, 51, 67, 99
CENTRARCHIDAE — SUNFISHES
Ambloplites rupestris (Rafinesque)-— -Rock bass
Common in clear, medium to large streams and in lakes through¬
out the state except in southwestern quarter where rare. 7, 9, 10,
22, 53, 65, 69
Chaenobryttus gulosus (Cuvier) — Warmouth
Rare to uncommon in southern third of state; in sloughs of
rivers and impoundments. Common in the Long Lake Chain (Chip¬
pewa Co.). Reported in L. Nebagamon (Douglas Co.). 13, 46
Lepomis cyanellus Rafinesque-— Green sunfish
Apomotis cyanellus (Rafinesque) G.
Common in lakes and medium-sized streams of southern one-
third of state. Discontinuous distribution northward. Not reported
from the L. Superior drainage. 10, 12, 13, 22, 60
Lepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus) — Pumpkinseed
Eupomotis gibbosus (Linnaeus) F&R. G.
Common in clear medium-sized rivers and in lakes throughout
the state except in the southwestern quarter and in L. Superior
drainage where uncommon. 7, 9, 12, 13, 22, 69
288 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Lepomis humilis (Girard) — Orangespotted sunfish
Allotis humilis (Girard) G.
Uncommon to common in Mississippi R. (Vernon Co. southward)
and lower Wisconsin R. Rare to uncommon in sloughs and back¬
waters of larger streams in Richland, Iowa, Green, and Lafayette
Cos. Recently collected from Sugar River (Dane and Green Cos.)
and lower Fox R. (Kenosha Co.) .
Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque — Bluegill
Lepomis pallidus (Mitchill) F&R
Helioperca macrochirus (Rafinesque) G.
Most abundant centrarchid in Wisconsin. Found in medium-sized
streams to large rivers and in nearly all lakes throughout the state.
7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 65, 69, 97
Lepomis megalotis (Rafinesque) — Longear sunfish
Xenotis megalotis (Cope) G.
Uncommon in southeastern quarter of state. Recently collected in
the Milwaukee R. (Ozaukee Co.) and in the Mukwonago R. (Wau¬
kesha Co.). Reported rare from L. Geneva (Walworth Co.). 46
Micropterus dolomieui Lacepede — Smallmouth bass
Common in medium to large streams and large clear-water lakes
throughout the state. Common in upper Green Bay area of L.
Michigan and Chequamegon Bay of L. Superior. 7, 9, 10, 12, 13,
65, 69, 70, 71, 114
Micropterus salmoides Lacepede — Largemouth bass
Aplites salmoides (Lacepede) G.
Abundant in medium to large rivers and in lakes throughout the
state. 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 65, 69, 71, 75, 76
Pomoxis annularis Rafinesque — White crappie
Common in the Mississippi and lower Wisconsin Rivers and
their larger tributaries. Reported from L. Mendota (Dane Co.).
Recently taken from the upper Fox and lower Wolf River basin
in east-central Wisconsin (L. Michigan drainage). 9, 13, 22
Pomoxis nigromaculatus (Lesueur) — Black crappie
Pomoxis sparoides (Lacepede) F&R. G.
Common in lakes and larger rivers throughout the state. Intro¬
duced into many lakes in northern Wisconsin where it has become
abundant. 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 65, 69
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
289
PERCIDAE — PERCHES
Ammocrypta asprella (Jordan) — Crystal darter
Cryst allaria asprella (Jordan) F&R. G.
Rare in the Mississippi River. Collected recently on the lower
Wisconsin R. near Orion (Richland Co.), on the lower Chippewa
R. between Durand (Pepin Co.) and Meridian Ferry Landing
(Dunn Co.). 18, 46
Ammocrypta clara Jordan & Meek — Western sand darter
Ammocrypta pellucida (Baird) F&R. G.
Common locally in shallow riffles over sand flats in the lower Wis¬
consin R., in the Mississippi R. and in the St. Croix upstream to the
St. Croix Falls Dam. Recently collected in the Waupaca R. (Great
Lakes drainage near its junction with the Wolf R. in Waupaca Co.) .
11, 13, 65
Etheostoma asprigene (Forbes) — Mud darter
Etheostoma jessiae (Jordan & Brayton) F&R
Poecilichthys jessiae Jordan & Brayton G.
Rare to uncommon in sloughs of the lower Wisconsin and Missis¬
sippi Rivers and in the lower portions of tributaries to them. 13, 22
Etheostoma caeruleum Storer — Rainbow darter
Poecilichthys coeruleus (Storer) G.
Common locally in central and southeastern Wisconsin. Uncommon
in southwestern Wisconsin. 6, 12, 13, 46
Etheostoma chlorosomum (Hay) — Bluntnose darter
Boleosoma camurum Forbes F&R
Rare. This southern darter has been collected as far north as the
Root R., Houston Co., Minnesota. Records (Zoological Museum
UW, Madison; University Museums UM, Ann Arbor, Michigan)
from the Mississippi River come from small isolated ponds between
New Albin and Minnesota slough on the Iowa-Minnesota border
just across from Victory, Vernon Co., Wis. 33, 49
Etheostoma exile (Girard) — Iowa darter
Poecilichthys exilis (Girard) G.
Uncommon to common locally over the state but found primarily
in glaciated areas, where it is taken in small streams and bog lakes.
7, 9, 12, 13, 22, 69
290 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Etheostoma flabellare Rafinesque — Fantail darter
Catonotus flabellaris Agassiz G.
Abundant over rocks and gravel in the smaller streams of the
state. Occasionally taken in medium to large rivers. 7, 12, 13
Etheostoma microperca Jordan & Gilbert — Least darter
Microperca punctulata Putnam F&R. G.
Uncommon. Although found in widely separated areas over the
state, it has been collected most frequently from the southeastern
counties. 7, 46
Etheostoma nigrum Rafinesque — Johnny darter
Boleosoma nigrum (Rafinesque) F&R. G.
Abundant in all waters from the smallest stream and pond to the
largest river and lake over a wide variety of bottom types. It is the
most successful member of its family. 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 65, 69, 105
Etheostoma zonale (Cope) — Banded darter
Poecilichthys zonalia Cope G.
Common locally but of spotty distribution over the lower two-
thirds of the state. Rare to uncommon in northeastern Wisconsin.
In clear-water streams of medium to large size. 7, 12, 13
Perea fiavescens (Mitchill) — Yellow perch
Abundant in lakes, ponds, impoundments and large rivers. Com¬
mon in Chequamegon Bay (L. Superior) and in L. Michigan. 5, 7,
9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 63, 65, 69, 98
Percina caprodes (Rafinesque) — Logperch
Common in medium to large streams and rivers and in large
lakes. Distribution statewide. 7, 9, 12, 13, 22, 65, 69
Percina evides (Jordan & Copeland)— -Gilt darter
Hadropterus evides (Jordan & Copeland) F&R. G.
Uncommon in the Black R. and in the St. Croix R. in the vicinity
of St. Croix Falls. 46, 65
Percina maculata (Girard) — Blackside darter
Hadropterus aspro (Cope & Jordan) F&R
Hadropterus maculatus (Girard) G.
Common in streams and rivers of all sizes in clear to turbid
water. Distribution statewide. 7, 9, 12, 13, 69
1970]
Johnson and Becker- — Fishes of Wisconsin
291
Percina phoxocephala (Nelson)— Slenderhead darter
Hadropterus phoxocephalus (Nelson) F&R. G.
Uncommon in the lower Wisconsin R., the Mississippi, and in the
larger streams tributary to them. Also in the Pecatonica R. (La¬
fayette Co.) and Sugar R. (Green Co.). In Great Lakes drainage
found in L. Winnebago and in waters of the Upper Fox R. 9, 13, 46
Percina shumardi ( Girard ) —River darter
C otto g aster shumardi (Girard) F&R
Imostoma shumardi (Girard) G.
Uncommon in the lower Wisconsin and in the Mississippi Rivers.
Recently collected in Lakes Winnebago,, Poygan, and the lower
Waupaca R. (L. Michigan basin). 9, 13, 46
Stizostedion canadense (Smith)— Sauger
Common in L. Winnebago and in the lower Wisconsin and Mis¬
sissippi Rivers. Uncommon to common in St. Croix R. up to St.
Croix Dam. Elsewhere in state uncommon, rare or absent. 9, 13, 22,
65, 88
Stizostedion vitreum vitreum (Mitchill) — Walleye
Common locally in large rivers and almost all of the large lakes
in the state. Introduced in many large lakes, especially in the north.
Common in Chequamegon Bay area of L. Superior. 7, 9, 10, 13, 22,
65, 69, 77, 88, 90
SCIAENIDAE — DRUMS
Aplodinotus grunniens Rafinesque — Freshwater drum
Common in the lower Wisconsin R., the Mississippi, the St. Croix
upstream to St. Croix Falls Dam. Sporadic in some large lakes of
southern one-half of state. Abundant in L. Winnebago. 9, 10, 13,
22, 65
Problematical Fishes
The following list includes those fishes currently not found in
Wisconsin waters but which may be expected in the future. Also
listed are those species and hybrids planted by various agencies
but which are not known to reproduce naturally.
Salmonidae
Oncorhynchus gorhuscha (Walbaum) — Pink salmon
Accidentally introduced in 1955 into L. Superior from the Port
Arthur, Ontario fish hatchery. Several successive generations have
292 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
been reported. Six adults observed in the Cross R. near L. Superior,
Cook Co., Minnesota, on Sept. 20, 1963. Although reported to this
date only from Ontario and Minnesota waters, on the basis of its
past movements we may expect to find it in Wisconsin waters. 14,
69, 93, 95
Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum) — Coho salmon
Unsuccessfully introduced into L. Michigan and Riley L. (Chip¬
pewa Co.) in 1951. Planted in May, 1966, in State of Michigan
tributaries of Lakes Michigan and Superior and apparently spread¬
ing throughout these lakes. Large numbers netted by commercial
fishermen from L. Michigan off Michigan City, Indiana, during
April and May, 1967. In 1968, 25,000 stocked in Ahnapee R. at
Algoma. Stockings planned for 1969 include Algoma, Kewaunee,
Sheboygan, and Manitowoc. 15, 27c, 104
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum) — Chinook salmon
Introduced. Between 1876 and 1879 a number of plantings were
made, among them L. Geneva (Walworth Co.), Devils L. (Sauk
Co.), Wautoma L. (Waushara Co.), L. Mendota (Dane Co.), Wis¬
consin R. at Portage (Columbia Co.), tributaries to the Mississippi
(Grant Co.) . In 1881 a mature female was taken from L. Michigan
off Cedar Grove (Sheboygan Co.). Unsuccessfully stocked in Sun¬
set L. (Portage Co.) in 1951. The State of Michigan stocked this
species in 1967 in streams tributary to Lakes Superior and Michi¬
gan. Merryll Bailey reports capture of a 5-lb. Chinook off Ashland
(L. Superior) in May, 1969. A 1969 Wisconsin release of 60,000
is. anticipated for the Sturgeon Bay ship canal. 15, 33, 113
Salmo clarki Richardson — Cutthroat trout
Introduced. In the Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of
Wisconsin for 1895-96 an entry is made of “450 black-spotted trout
(full grown) distributed in 1896.” A later entry in the same report
mentions 500 black-spotted trout having been planted in “Pike’s
Creek,” with no further data. Stocked in Black Earth Cr. (Dane
Co.) in 1942 and in Gould Stream (Walworth Co.) in 1943. In
1959 the Twenty-Five Sportsmen’s Club of Hubertus planted 500
legal cutthroat trout in Friess L. (Washington Co.). 113
Salmo salar Linnaeus — Landlocked salmon
Introduced. In 1875 landlocked salmon were stocked in L. Men¬
dota (Dane Co.), Oconomowoc L. (Waukesha Co.), and Devils L.
(Sauk Co.). In 1876, 10,000 were planted in L. Geneva (Walworth
Co.). In 1879, plantings were made in “Clear L., Silver L., Geneva
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
293
L., Nagawicka L., and Green R.” In 1907„ 10,000 were planted in
Trout L. (Vilas Co.) . Two purported specimens of this species were
taken Nov. 12, 1937, from a stream entering L. Geneva. Conserva¬
tion personnel who examined the fish in 1939 believe them to be
misidentified brown trout (letter Jan. 6, 1939, from L. A. Wood¬
bury to F. C. Hewitt on file with the Wis. Cons. Dept.). 84, 113
Salvelinus namaycush female X Salvelinus fontinalis male — Splake
This hybrid was produced in Wisconsin as early as 1884. It has
been stocked experimentally in lakes of northern Wisconsin in
recent years. According to Canadian workers some backcrossing
with the lake trout occurs. 15, 113
Thymallus arcticus (Pallas) — Arctic grayling
Introduced. Reports of the Commissioners of Fisheries of Wis¬
consin from 1878 to 1881 refer to grayling held in the Madison
Hatchery, but no stocking occurred. In 1902, 180,000 fry were dis¬
tributed from the Bayfield Hatchery with no locales indicated. In
1906, 30,000 eggs or fry were distributed at Lake Nebagamon to
N. Clay Pierce, who had an estate on the Brule R. (Douglas Co.) .
These may have been released in the Brule. In 1908, 50,000 fry
were planted in the Namekagon R. at Cable (Bayfield Co.). Unsuc¬
cessfully introduced in Mosquito Brook (Sawyer Co.) in 1937 and
Pine R. (Waushara Co.) in 1938. 113
Cyprinidae
S cardinius erythrophthalmus ( Linnaeus ) — Rudd
Introduced into Oconomowoc L. (Waukesha Co.) in 1917 by
Wisconsin Conservation Department. Reported to have spawned
successfully in the lake in 1918, but has not been seen since. 20
Notropis lutrensis (Baird and Girard) — Red shiner
Recent records from Menominee Cr., 3 mi. ENE of East Dubuque
(Jo Daviess Co.), and from Winnebago Co. in northern Illinois
place this minnow almost on the Wisconsin state line (letter from
Philip Smith, June 6, 1967).
Semotilus corporalis (Mitchill) — Fallfish
Appearance of the fallfish in the Cedar Cr., Thunder Bay District
of Ontario, Canada is explained through the use of northern Lake
Superior as a migration route. Not yet reported from Wisconsin
waters. 1
294 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
ICTALURIDAE
No turns insignis (Richardson) — Margined madtom
Introduced population in Sylvania Tract, Upper Peninsula, Mich¬
igan. Since this population is only a few miles from Wisconsin, it
may possibly spread into our waters (letter from Reeve Bailey,
April 4, 1967) .
Percidae
Etheostoma spectabile (Agassiz) — Orangethroat darter
The Illinois Natural History Survey has records of this species
from Lake and McHenry Cos. which are adjacent to the Wisconsin
state line (letter from Philip Smith, June 6, 1967).
Etheostoma blennoides Rafinesque — Greenside darter
A recent record needing substantiation from Lake Co., Illinois
(L. Michigan drainage), places this species next to the Wisconsin
state line. 95
References
1. Allin, A. E. 1951. The Fallfish, Semotilus corporalis, from the Lake
Superior drainage of Western Ontario. Copeia 1951(4) :300.
2. Bailey, Reeve. 1959. Distribution of the American cyprinid fish Notropis
anogenus. Copeia 2:119-123.
3. Bailey, Reeve et al. 1960. A list of common and scientific names of fishes
from the United States and Canada. Amer. Fish. Soc. Spec. Publ. No.
2. 102 pp.
4. Bailey, Reeve and M. O. Allum. 1962. Fishes of South Dakota. Univ. of
Mich. Misc. Publ. Mus. of Zoology. No. 119. 131 pp.
5. Bardach, John E. 1949. Contribution to the ecology of the yellow perch
(Perea flavescens Mitchill) in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin. Ph.D. Thesis,
Dept. Zoology, Univ. of Wis., Madison, Wis.
6. Becker, George C. 1952. Preliminary survey of Rocky Run Creek, Colum¬
bia Co., Wisconsin. Unpub. Manuscript. Wisconsin Cons. Dept., Madison,
Wisconsin. 59 pp.
7. - . 1959. Distributio'n of central Wisconsin fishes. Trans. Wis. Acad.
Sci. Arts & Lett. 48:65-102.
8. - . 1962. Intraspecific variation in Rliinichthys c. cataractae (Val¬
enciennes) and Rhinichthys atratulus meleagris (Agassiz) and ana¬
tomical and ecological studies of Rhinichthys c. cataractae. Ph.D. Thesis.
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. 279 pp.
9. - . 1964. The fishes of Lakes Poygan and Winnebago. Trans. Wis.
Acad. Sci. Arts & Lett. 53:29-52.
10. - . 1964. The fishes of Pewaukee Lake. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts
& Lett. 53:19-27.
IT; - — ^ — . 1965. The western sand darter. Ammocrypta clara, in the Great
Lakes Basin. Copeia 1965 (2) :241.
12. - -. 1966. Fishes of northeastern Wisconsin. Unpubl. data. Dept, of
Biology, Wis. State Univ., Stevens Point.
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
295
13. - . 1966. Fishes of southwestern Wisconsin. Trans. Wis. Acad.
Sci. Arts & Lett. 55:87-117.
14. Black, John and Lyman O. Williamson. 1947. Artificial hybrids between
muskellunge and northern pike. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts & Lett.
38:299-314.
15. Borgeson, David P. and Wayne H. Tody. 1967. Status report on Great
Lakes fisheries. Fish Div., Mich. Dept, of Cons., Lansing. Fish Man.
Rep. #2:35.
16. Brasch, John. 1950. The lampreys of Wisconsin. Wis. Cons. Bull. 15(9) :
13-16.
17. Brasch, John, James McFadden and Stanley Kmiotek. 1958. The
eastern brook trout, its life history, ecology and management. Wis.
Cons. Dept. Publ. 226. 11 pp.
18. Brynildson, Oscar M., Vernon A. Hacker and Thomas A. Klick. 1963.
Brown trout, its life history, ecology and management. Wis. Cons. Dept.
Publ. 254. 15 pp.
19. Burdick, Milton E. and E. L. Cooper. 1956. Growth rate, survival, and
harvest of fingerling rainbow trout planted in Weber Lake, Wis. Jour.
Wild. Man. 20:233-38.
20. Cahn, Alvin R. 1927. An ecological study of southern Wisconsin fishes.
The brook silverside (Labidesthes sicculus ) and the cisco ( Leucichthys
artedi) in their relations to the region. Ill. Biol. Monogr., 11(1) :151 pp.
21. Carlander, Harriet Bell. 1954. A history of fish and fishing in the
upper Mississippi River. Upper Miss. River Conservation Committee.
96 pp.
22. Christenson, Lyle M. and Lloyd L. Smith. 1965. Characteristics of fish
populations in upper Mississippi River backwater areas. U. S. Dept.
Interior. Fish & Wild. Serv. Circ. 212. 53 pp.
23. Coker, Robert E. 1930. Studies of common fishes of the Mississippi River
at Keokuk. U. S. Govt. Print. Off. Bur. of Fish. Docu. No. 1072:141-225.
24. Cooper, Edwin L. 1956. What’s Happened to the Cisco? Wis. Cons. Bull.
21(3). 4 pp.
25. Churchill, Warren S. 1945. The brook lamprey in the Brule River.
Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci, 37:337-46.
26. Creaser, C. W. 1925. The establishment of the Atlantic smelt in the
upper waters of the Great Lakes. Mich. Acad. Sci. Arts & Lett.
5:405-424.
27a. Daly, Russell, Vernon A. Hacker and Lawrence Wiegert. 1962. The
lake trout, its life history, ecology and management. Wis. Cons, Dept.
Publ. No. 233. 15 pp.
27b. Daly, Russell. 1968. Preliminary notes on management of the rainbow
trout in western Lake Michigan. Wis. Dept. Nat. Resources. Oshkosh.
4 p. mimeo.
27c. Daly, Russell. 1968, Progress report of fish management on Lake
Michigan. Wis. Dept. Nat. Resources. Oshkosh. 18 p. mimeo.
28. Deason, Hilary J. 1939. The distribution of cottid fishes in Lake Michi¬
gan. Pap. Mich. Acad. Sci. Arts & Lett. 24:105-115.
29. Druschba, Leonard. 1959. Are the carp moving north? Wis. Cons. Bull.
24(11) :4 pp.
30. Dryer, William. 1963. Age and growth of the whitefish in Lake Superior.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fishery Bulletin, 63(1) : 77-95.
31. Dryer, William R. 1966. Bathymetric distribution of fish in the Apostle
Islands region. Lake Superior. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 95 (3) : 248-259.
296 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
82. Duck, Harvey. 1967. Salmon spawn, new hope for Great Lakes fishing.
National wildlife. 5(3): 18-19.
33. Eddy, Samuel and Thaddeus Surber. 1947. Northern fishes. Univ. of
Minn. Press. 276 pp.
34. Edsall, Thomas. 1960. Age and growth of the whitefish, Coregonus
clupeaformis, of Munising Bay, Lake Superior. Trans. Amer. Fish Soc.
89(4) : 323-332.
35. Eschmeyer, Paul H. 1955. The reproduction of lake trout in southern
Lake Superior. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc, 84:47-74.
36. Eschmeyer, Paul H. 1956. The early life history of the lake trout in Lake
Superior. Mich. Dept. Cons. Inst, for Fish. Pec. Misc. Pub. 10, 21 pp.
37. Eschmeyer, P. H. and R. M. Bailey. 1954. The pygmy whitefish, Core¬
gonus coulteri, in Lake Superior. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 84:161-199.
38. Fernholz, Willis. 1966. Mississippi River commercial fishing statistics —
1965. Wis. Cons. Dept. Fish. Man. Div. Stat. Rep. 31 pp. (Mimeo.)
39. Fukano, K. G., H. Gowing, M. J. Hansen, and L. N. Allison. Introduc¬
tion of exotic fish into Michigan. Institute for Fisheries Research, Univ.
of Mich. An'n Arbor, Rep. No. 1689. 50 pp.
40. Forbes, Stephen A. and Robert E. Richardson. 1920. The fishes of
Illinois. Ill. Nat. Surv. Bull. 3:357 pp.
41. Frey, David G. 1940. Growth and ecology of the carp Cyprinus carpio
Linnaeus in four lakes of the Madison region. Wisconsin. Ph.D. Thesis,
Dept. Zoology, Univ. of Wis., Madison, Wis. 249 pp.
42. Frankenberger, Ludwig. 1957. Whitefish and Ciscos — Forgotten Fish.
Wis. Cons. Bull. 22(12) 3 pp.
43. Gammon, James R. 1961. Contributions to the biology of the muskellunge.
Ph.D. Thesis, Dept. Zoology, Univ. of Wis., Madison, Wis. 144 pp.
44. Gilbert, Carter R. 1961. Hybridization versus integradation : an inquiry
into the relationship of two cyprinid fishes. Copeia 1961(2) : 181-192.
45. Greene, C. W. 1927. An ichthyological survey of Wisconsin. Mich. Acad.
Sci. Arts & Lett. 7:299-310.
46. Greene, C. Willard. 1935. Distribution of Wisconsin Fishes. Wis. Cons.
Comm., Madison, Wis. 235 pp.
47. Greenwood, R. H., D. E. Rosen, S. H. Weitzman, and G. C. Meyers.
1966. Phyletic studies of teleostean fishes, with a provisional classifica¬
tion of living forms. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 131(4) : 344-451.
48. Hacker, Vernon A. 1956. Biology and management of lake trout in
Green Lake, Wisconsin. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 86:13 pp.
49. Harlan, James R. and Everett B. Speaker. 1956. Iowa fish and fishing.
State Cons. Comm. Des Moines, Iowa. 377 pp.
50. Helm, William T. 1958. A “new” fish in Wisconsin. Wis. Cons. Bull.
23(7) : 10-12.
51. Helm, William T. 1964. Yellow bass in Wisconsin. Trans. Wis. Acad.
Sci. Arts & Lett. 53:109-125.
52. Herman, Elmer et al. 1959. The yellow perch, its life history, ecology
and management. Wis. Cons. Dept. Publ. No. 228. 14 pp.
53. Hile, Ralph. 1936. Age and growth of the cisco Leucichthys artedi (Le
Sueur), in the lakes of the northeastern highlands, Wisconsin. Bull,
of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 48(19) :211-317.
54. Hile, Ralph. 1941. Age and growth of the rock bass, Amhloplites rupestris
(Rafinesque) , in Nebish Lake, Wisconsin. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Arts
& Lett. 33:189-337.
1970] Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin 297
55. Horrall, R. M. 1961. A comparative study of two spawning populations
of the white bass Roccus chrysops ( Raf . ) , in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin,
with special reference to homing behavior. Ph.D. Thesis, Dept. Zoology,
U'niv. of Wis., Madison, Wisconsin.
56. Hoy, P. R. 1883. Catalogue of the cold-blooded vertebrates of Wisconsin.
Rep. Geol. Surv. Wis. 1:427-436.
57. Hubbs, Carl L. and C, Willard Greene. 1935. Two new subspecies of
fishes from Wisconsin. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts & Lett. 20:89-101.
58. Hubbs, Carl L. and Karl F. Lagler. 1964. Fishes of the Great Lakes
region (Revised edit.) Cranbrook Instit. of Sci. Bull. 26:213 pp.
59. Hunt, Robert L. 1966. Production and angler harvest of wild brook trout
in Lawrence Creek, Wisconsin. Wis. Cons. Dept., Madison. Tech. Bull.
35, 51 pp.
60. Hunter, John R. and Arthur D. Hasler. 1965. Spawning association
of the redfin shiner, Notropis umbratilis, and the green sunfish, Lepomis
cyanellus . Copeia 1965 (3) : 265-281.
61. Huver, Charles W. 1961. Variation and speciation in coregonid fishes.
M. S. Thesis, Dept. Zoology, U'niv. of Wis., Madison, Wis. 27 pp.
62. Jobes, F. W. 1949. The age, growth and bathymetric distribution of the
bloater Leucichthys hoyi (Gill) in Lake Michigan. Pap. Mich. Acad.
Sci. Arts & Lett. 33(1947) : 135-172.
63. John, Kenneth. 1954. An ecological study of the cisco Leucichthys
artedi (Lesueur) in Lake Mendota, Wis. Ph.D. Thesis. Univ. of Wis.,
Madison. 121 pp.
64. Kleinert, Stanton J. and Donald Mraz. 1966. Life history of the
grass pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus) in southeastern Wiscon¬
sin. Wis. Cons. Dept. Tech. Bull. 37, 40 pp.
65. Kuehn, Jerome H., Wallace Niemuth and Arthur R. Petersen. 1961. A
biological reconnaissance of the Upper St. Croix River. Joint Survey
Minnesota Conservation Dept. (St. Paul, Minn.) and Wisconsin Con¬
servation Dept. (Madison, Wis.). 25 pp & 21 appendices..
66. McCutchin, Thayre N. 1946. A biological survey of Pewaukee Lake, Wau¬
kesha Co., Wisconsin. Wis. Cons. Dept. Madison. Sect, of Fish. Biol.
Invest. Rep. No. 573. 28 pp. (Mimeo.)
67. McNaught, Donald C. 1963. The fishes of Lake Mendota. Trans. Wis.
Acad. Sci. Arts & Lett. 52:37-55.
68. Miller, Robert R. 1957. Origin and dispersal of the alewife, Alosa
pseudoharengus and D or o soma cepedianum in the Great Lakes. Trans.
Amer. Fish. Soc. 86:97-111.
69. Moore, Harry H. and Robert A. Bream. 1965. Distribution of fishes in
U.S. streams tributary to Lake Superior. U. S. Fish & Wildl. Serv.,
Wash., D. C. Spec. Sci. Rep. Fisheries No. 516. 61 pp..
70. Mraz, Donald. 1960. Prelim, report on the Lake Geneva smallmouth bass
studies (1958-1959). Wis. Cons. Dept., Fish. Man. Div., Res. Report
No, 1, 22 pp.
71. Mraz, Donald. 1964. Observations on large and smallmouth bass nesting
and early life history. Wis. Cons. Dept., Res. Report No. 11, 13 pp.
72. Mraz, Donald. 1964. Age, growth, sex ratio and maturity of the whitefish
in Central Green Bay and adjacent waters of Lake Michigan. U. S.
Fish & Wildlife Serv. Fish. Bull. 63(3) : 619-634.
73. Mraz, Donald. 1964. Age and growth of the round whitefish in Lake
Michigan. Tra'ns. Amer. Fish. Soc. 93(1) : 46-52.
74. Mraz, Donald and Edwin L. Cooper. 1957. Natural reproduction and
survival of carp in small ponds. Jour. Wild. Man. 21:66-69.
298 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
75. Mraz, Donald, Stanley Kmiotek and Ludwig Frankenberger. 1961.
The largemouth bass, its life history, ecology and management. Wis.
Cons. Dept. Publ. 232. 13 pp.
76. Mraz, Donald and C. W. Threinen. 1955. Angler’s harvest, growth rate
and population estimate of the largemouth bass of Brown’s Lake, Wis¬
consin. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 85:241-256.
77. Niemuth, Wallace, Warren Churchill and Thomas Wirth. 1959. The
walleye, its life history, ecology and management. Wis. Cons. Dept.
Publ. 227. 14 pp.
78. Noland, W. E. 1951. The hydrography, fish, and turtle population of Lake
Wingra. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts & Lett. 40:5-58.
79. Norden, Carroll R. 1967. Age, growth and fecundity of the alewife,
Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson), in Lake Michigan. Trans. Amer. Fish.
Soc. 96(4) : 387-393.
80. Nybakken, James W. 1961. Analysis of the sympatric occurrence of two
subspecies of the cyprinid fish Campostoma anomalum (Rafinesque) in
Wisconsin. M. S. Thesis. Univ. of Wis., Madison, Wis. 35 pp.
81. Oehmcke, Arthur A., Leon Johnson, John Klingbeil and Clarence
Wistrom. 1965. The Wisconsin Muskellunge, its life history, ecology and
management. Wis. Cons. Dept. Publ. 225. 12 pp.
82a. O’Donnell, D. J. and W. S. Churchill. 1954. Certain physical, chem¬
ical, and biological aspects of the Brule River, Douglas County, Wis¬
consin. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts & Lett. 43:201-255.
82b. Phillips, Gary L. and James C. Underhill. 1967. Revised distribution
records of some Minnesota fishes, with addition of two species to the
faunal list. Jour. Minn. Acad. Sci. 34(2) : 177-180.
83. Poff, Ronald J. and C. W. Threinen. 1965. Surface water resources of
Columbia County, Wis. Cons. Dept. Lake & Stream Classification
Project. 55 pp.
84. Pope, T. E. B. 1938. Landlocked salmon in Wisconsin. Trans. Wis. Acad.
Sci. Arts & Lett. 31:559-565.
85. Priegel, Gordon R. 1962. Winnebago winter menu. Wis. Cons. Bull.
27(1) : 20-21.
86. Priegel, Gordon R. 1962. Plentiful but unknown. Wis. Cons. Bull. 27(3) :
13.
87. Priegel, Gordon R. 1963. Dispersal of the shortnose gar, Lepisosteus
platostomus, i'nto the Great Lakes drainage. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc.
92(2) :178.
88. Priegel, Gordon R. 1963. Food of walleye and sauger in Lake Winnebago,
Wisconsin. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 92 (3) :312-313.
89. Priegel, Gordon R. 1966. Age-length and length-weight relationship of
bullheads from Little Lake Butte des Morts, 1959. Wis. Cons. Dept.
Res. & Planning Div. Res. Rep. 17:6 pp.
90. Pycha, Richard L. 1961. Recent changes in the walleye fishery of north¬
ern Green Bay and history of the 1943 year class. Trans. Amer. Fish.
Soc. 90(4) : 475-88.
91. Roeloffs, Eugene W. 1958. Age and growth of whitefish, Coregonus
clupeaformis (Mitchill), in Big Bay de Noc and northern Lake Michi¬
gan. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 87:190-199.
92. Schneberger, Edward and Lowell A. Woodbury. 1944. The lake sturgeon,
Acipensor fulvescens Rafinesque, in Lake Winnebago. Wis. Trans. Wis.
Acad. Sci. 36:131-140.
1970]
Johnson and Becker — Fishes of Wisconsin
299
93. Schumacher, E. E. and S. Eddy. 1960. The appearance of pink salmon,
Oncorhynchus gorbusclia (Walbaum), in Lake Superior. Trans. Amer.
Fish. Soc. 8:371-373.
94. Schumacher, Robert E. and John G. Hale. 1962. Third generation pink
salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbusclia (Walbaum), in Lake Superior. Trans.
Amer. Fish. Soc. 91(4) :421-422.
95. Smith, Philip W. 1965. A preliminary annotated list of the lampreys
and fishes of Illinois. Ill. Nat. Hist. Surv. Biol. Notes. No. 54.
96. Smith, Stanford H. 1964. Status of the deepwater cisco population of
Lake Michigan. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 92 (2) : 155-163.
97. Snow, Howard, Arthur Ensign and John Klingbeil. 1960. The blue-
gill, its life history, ecology and management. Wis. Cons. Dept. Publ.
230. 14 pp.
98. Stone, Roderick C. 1961. Preliminary investigations of winter activity
and movements of the yellow perch Perea flavescens (Mitchill) in Lake
Mendota, Wisconsin. M.S. Thesis. Dept, of Zoology, Univ. of Wis.,
Madison, Wisconsin. 78 pp.
99. Tibbles, J. J. G. 1956. A study of movements and depth distribution of
the pelagic fishes in Lake Mendota. Ph.D. Thesis, U'niv. of Wis., Madi¬
son, Wisconsin. 193 pp.
100. T'hreinen, C. W. 195-. Life history, ecology, and management of the
alewife. Wis. Cons. Dept. Publ. 223. 8 pp.
101. Threinen, C. W. (Co-editor). 1961 to present. Surface water resources
publications (a continuing series of each Wis. Co.). Wis. Cons. Dept.
Lake & Stream Classification Project.
102. Threinen, C. W. and Arthur Oehmcke. 1950. The northern invades
the musky’s domain. Wis. Cons. Bull. 15(9) : 10-12.
103. Threinen, C. W., C. Wistrom, B. Apelgren, and H. Snow. 1966. The
northern pike, its life history, ecology, and management. Wis. Cons.
Dept. Publ. 235. 16 pp.
104. Tody, Wayne H. and Howard A. Tanner. 1966. Coho Salmon for the
Great Lakes. Mich. Dept, of Cons. Fish Div. Fish Management. Report
No. 1, 38 pp.
105. Underhill, James C. 1963. Distribution in Minnesota of the subspecies
of the percid fish Etheostoma nigrum , and of their intergrades. Amer.
Wildl. Nat. 70(2) : 470-478.
106. Van Oosten, John. 1936. The dispersal of smelt Osmerus mordax (Mitch¬
ill) in the Great Lakes region. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 66:160-171.
107. Van Oosten, J., Ralph Hile and Frank Jobes. 1946. The whitefish
fishery of Lakes Huron and Michigan with special reference to the
deep-trap-net fishery. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv. Fishery Bull. 40.
50:297-394.
108. Wagner, G. 1908. Notes on the fish fauna of Lake Pepin. Trans. Wis.
Sci. Arts & Lett. 16:230-237.
109. Weed, A. C. 1921. Fishes from southern Wisconsin. Copeia (1921)
(99) :69.
110. Wells, LaRue and Alfred M. Beeton. 1963. Food of the bloater,
Coregonus hoyi in Lake Michigan. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 92(3) :245-
255.
111. Wells, LaRue. 1966. Seasonal and depth distribution of larval bloaters
(Coregonus hoyi) in southeastern Lake Michigan. Trans. Amer. Fish.
Soc. 95(4) : 388-396.
112. Whitley, G. P. 1950. New fish names. Proc. Royal Zool. Soc. New
S. Wales, 1948-49:44.
300 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
113. Wisconsin Commissioners of Fisheries. 1875-1912. Annual and Biennial
Reports of the Commissioners of Fisheries of Wisconsin. Madison,
Wisconsin.
114. Wis. Cons. Dept. 1958. Smallmouth bass streams in Wisconsin.
115. Wis. Cons. Dept. 1964. Wisconsin Lakes. Wis. Cons. Dept. Publ. 218-64.
67 pp.
116. Wis. Cons. Dept. 1966. Wisconsin trout streams. Wis. Cons. Dept. Publ.
213-66. 75 pp.
117. Wright, T. D. 1964. Aspects of the early life-history of the white bass
(Roccus chrysops). M. S. Thesis, Univ. of Wis., Madison, Wisconsin.
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN
NO. 60 TILIACEAE AND MALVACEAE— BASSWOOD
AND MALLOW FAMILIES
Fred H. Utech
The woody, mostly tropical Tiliaceae has only one native and two
cultivated species in Wisconsin, while the Malvaceae, characterized
by monadelphous stamens, is represented not only by several noxi¬
ous Eurasian weeds as velvet-leaf (Ahutilon theophrasti) , flower-
of-an hour (Hibiscus trionum) and cheeses (Malva neglecta and
M. rotundifolia) and showy exotics as hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
and high mallow (Malva sylvestris) , but also by several rare,
handsome natives : poppy mallow (Callirhoe triangulata) , rose
mallow (Hibiscus militaris ) and glade mallow (Napaea dioica).
The present treatment is a revision of an earlier preliminary
report on Tiliaceae and Malvaceae by Hagen (1932) and is based
on specimens in the herbaria of the University of Wisconsin
(WIS), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), Milwaukee
Public Museum (MIL), University of Minnesota (MIN), Uni¬
versity of Minnesota-Duluth (DUL), State University of Iowa
(IA), Oshkosh State University, La Crosse State University,
Northland College (Ashland, Wis.), Beloit College and the private
herbarium of Katherine Rill (Clintonville, Wis. — RILL). Grateful
acknowledgement is due the curators of these herbaria for the loans
of specimens.
Map dots represent exact locations, triangles, county records.
Some locations have been added from Thomas Hartley’s unpub¬
lished “Flora of the Driftless Area” (1962), Paul Sorensen’s un¬
published range maps from his Glacial Lake Wisconsin studies
(1966), Jones and Fuller’s Flora of Illinois (1955) and stand
records for Tilia americana from the UW Plant Ecology Laboratory
The map inset numbers record Wisconsin flowering and fruiting
dates. Plants with vegetative growth only, in bud or with dispersed
fruit were not included. For introduced species the year of earliest
collection within a county is also recorded. Nomenclature and order
of genera and species follows that of Gleason and Cronquist (1963)
and Fernald (1950).
Field work and preparation of manuscript was supported in part by the Research
Committee of the University of Wisconsin, on funds from the Wisconsin Alumni
Research Foundation.
301
302 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Special thanks are due the author's major professor, Dr. Hugh
H. litis, for his uncanny ability to inspire and stimulate botanical
awareness and observation. Numerous people deserve special
acknowledgement for their assistance in manuscript preparation:
Mrs. Katherine Snell, for encouragement and timely aids; Mr.
Brian G. Marcks and Mr. Michael H. Nee, for their advice, com¬
ment and criticism; Mr. Eugene G. Coffman, for photographic
reproductions; Miss Bethia Brehmer, for artistic work; and Drs.
H. H. litis and John W. Thomson for critical manuscript reading.
TILIACEAE A. L. De Jussieu Basswood Family
1. TILIA [Tourn.] L. Basswood, Linden, Lime, Bee-tree.
Large deciduous trees with soft white wood, fibrous inner bark,
and numerous deep lateral roots. Winter buds large, obtuse, with
few scales, the terminal hud lacking. Leaves alternate (2-ranked) ,
cordate, palmately veined, serrate, oblique to truncate, acute to
acuminate; stipules deciduous. Flowers fragrant, entomophilous,
yellowish-white, in cyme-like clusters each on an axillary peduncle
adnate to the middle of a short-petioled, thin, wing-like bract.
Flowers perfect, 5-merous, hypogynous. Stamens many, free or
united into 5 bundles and then opposite petals ; filaments often
forked distally; anthers 2-celled, opening longitudinally. Stami-
nodes 5, petaloid , opposite petals, always present in native species
(and in some Eurasian cultivars). Drupes globular, dry and
woody, indehiscent, 1-locular, 1- to 3-seeded ; seeds with endosperm ;
cotyledons broad, 3- to 5-lobed.
About 25 tree species, native to north temperate deciduous
forests, from Japan and Siberia to Europe, eastern N. America and
Mexico. The chromosome number of Tilia (x = 41) is the highest
odd basic number known in higher plants (Derman 1932).
Tilia as a generic name is of special botanical interest, for it
was from these noble trees that Carolus Linnaeus (Linne) ac¬
quired his surname.
His ancestors were peasants. Several of his relatives, who had
quitted the plough for the Muses, changed their family name with
their profession and borrowed the name of Lindelius or Tiliander
(Linden-tree-man) . . . , a custom not unfrequent in Sweden, to take
fresh appellations from natural objects. The father of Linnaeus, as
the first learned man of his family, could not withstand following
the example which his kindred had set before him. He likewise bor¬
rowed of the same tree a name which his son rendered afterwards
famous and immortal in 'every quarter of the guobe. (Stoever 1794)
In North America, Tilia is called basswood in forestry, linden
in horticulture, while in Britain, lime, apparently an altered form
of linden or lind. The Anglo-Saxon lind means shield, i.e., of
1970]
Utech — Flora of Wisconsin No. 60
303
linden wood. The white, light, diffuse-porous wood is used for do¬
mestic utensils. Leaves, both fresh and dried, were fed to cattle
by the Romans, a contemporary custom in northern Europe. The
flowers produce excellent honey, hence the local American “bee-
tree”, while the dried steeped flowers serve as linden tea. Ropes,
mats, shoes and baskets are made from the tough, fibrous inner
bark, morphologically phloem bast fibers or bass, hence basswood.
Leaf pubescence on flowering branchlets usually differs from
that on sprout leaves. Most Tilia lower leaf surfaces have small
tufts of simple trichomes in the principal vein axils ; these barbulae,
domatia or acaradomatia are supposed to be symbiotic adaptations
for mites (Jones 1968).
Key to Species
A. Leaves of flowering branchlets glabrous beneath, except for
tufts of simple trichomes in lateral vein axils; fruit ribs ob¬
scure or lacking.
B. Staminodes 5 ; stamens 45-60 ; axillary tufts whitish-gray,
lacking at petiolar leaf insert; cymes 6- to 15-flowered ;
common native forest tree _ 1. T. AMERICANA.
BB. Staminodes lacking; stamens 25-30; axillary tufts rusty
brown, well developed at petiolar leaf insert; cymes 5- to
7- (11-) flowered; commonly cultivated European tree __
_ 2. T. CORDATA.
A A. Leaves of flowering branchlets pubescent beneath and often
above; axillary tufts white; fruit strongly 3- to 5-ribbed;
stamens 30-40; staminodes lacking; rarely cultivated Eur¬
opean tree _ 3. T. PLATYPHYLLOS.
1. Tilia Americana L. American Basswood, Linden. Map 1.
Tilia glabra Vent.
Trees to 35 m tall, 1-1.5 m DBH, often clustered with two or
more trunks, often with several to many basal sprouts. Bark on old
trunks firm, dark gray with longitudinal furrows, young bark
smooth, light gray. Winter buds shiny, dark red, ellipsoid-ovate,
2-ranked; terminal bud absent. Leaves broadly ovate-cordate, the
blades of fertile shoots 8-20 cm long, 6-16 cm wide, cordate to
truncate at base, abruptly acuminate, coursely serrate with gland-
tipped teeth, glabrous beneath, with tufts of whitish-gray hairs
in vein axils, these lacking at petiolar leaf insert. Petioles, pedicels
and bracts of inflorescence glabrous. Cymes 6- to 15-flowered.
Petals 5, yellowish-white, oblong to oblanceolate, 6-9 mm long.
Staminodes 5, oblanceolate, 5-7 mm long, opposite petals. Stamens
304 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
1970] Utech — Flora of Wisconsin No. 60 305
45-60, free. Floral bracts 7-10 cm long, short stalked or sessile.
Drupes globose, 6-12 mm wide, thick-shelled, without ribs. 2N = 82
(Derman 1932).
Native to deciduous forests of eastern North America (New
Brunswick to southern Manitoba, southward to Penna. and Okla¬
homa), in its southeastern range partially sympatric along the
glacial maxima with the Appalachian centered Tilia heterophylla
Vent. (cf. maps Fowells 1965, Jones 1968), whence, Braun (1960)
suggests, on vegetative characters, the putative “hybrid swarm”
origin of Tilia neglecta Spach. However, according to Jones (1968)
most specimens labelled T. neglecta consist of sprout leaves. The
modern distributions suggest survival of T. americana in the
Ozarks, T. heterophylla in the Appalachians, and post-glacial mi¬
gration, overlap, and hybridization, a clinal pattern similar to that
found between Acer saccharum ssp. nigrum and A. s. ssp. saccha-
rum (Desmarais 1948, 1952), with Tilia the main deciduous forest
co-dominant. Flowering from mid-May to late July, fruiting from
early June to mid- August.
2. Tilia cordata Mill. Small-leaved Linden.
Cultivated trees to 25 m tall. Leaves orbicular-cordate, 2-7
(-10) cm wide, cordate, abruptly acuminate, the margin sharply
serrate, dark green and glaucous above, blue-green and glabrous
beneath, the axillary hair tufts rusty brown. Petioles glabrous,
1.4-3 cm long. Cymes pendulent or upright, 5- to 7- (11-) flowered.
Stamens equaling petals, ca. 25-30, the filaments connate basally
into 5 bundles alternating with petals ; staminodes usually lacking.
Floral bracts 3-8 cm long, glabrous. Drupes 1-seeded, globose-
apiculate, thin- walled, slightly or not ribbed. 2N = 82 (Derman
1932).
Native from Siberia to England, Spain, Italy and the Balkans,
commonly planted as lawn, street or park trees in many southern
Wisconsin cities. Flowering in late June to early July.
3. Tilia platyphyllos Scop. Large-leaved Linden.
Cultivated trees to 30 m tall. Leaves orbicular-ovate, 6-12 cm
wide, obliquely cordate, abruptly acuminate, serrate, pubescent
beneath and often above; axillary tufts white. Petioles densely
pubescent, 2-5 cm long. Cymes pendulent, S- (rarely J- to 6-)
flowered. Floral bracts 6-12 cm long, pubescent on lower midrib.
Drupes 1-seeded, subglobose to pyriform, apiculate, densely pubes¬
cent, strongly 3- to 5-ribbed. 2N = 82 (Derman 1932).
Native in central and southeastern Europe (England to Spain,
Asia Minor and Caucasus), rarely cultivated in Wisconsin as a
306 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
shade tree : Milwaukee Co. : Milwaukee, 20 Sept. 1935, Goessl s.n.
(WIS). Milwaukee, cultivated, 14 May 1938, Skinners 12899 \
(UWM) .
MALVACEAE A. L. De Jussieu Mallow Family
Herbs (shrubs and trees in tropical regions), often stellate-
pubescent, with simple alternate, mostly palmately -veined and
-lobed leaves. Flowers solitary or cymose, 5-merous, regular,
hypogynous and bisexual (unisexual in Napaea). Calyx gamose -
palous, persistent, often subtended by calyx-like bracts (paracalyx,
epicalyx, involucre) . Petals separate, but slightly coalescent or
frequently adnate to the base of the filament tube. Stamens numer¬
ous, monadelphous (filaments coalescent into a tube about ovary
and style) ; anthers 1 -celled. Ovary superior, bearing as many
terminal style branches as there are carpels. Carpels 5-many,
either loosely coherent in a ring around the base of the single style
and then separating at maturity or completely united into a com¬
pound ovary. Fruit a loculicidal capsule (Hibiscus) or carpels
splitting ventrally and releasing seeds (Abutilon) or carpels sepa¬
rate, indehiscent, 1 -seeded schizocarps (Malva).
A large, predominately tropical family, only one-third of the
Wisconsin species native, the majority naturalized from Eurasia,
including obnoxious weeds (Cheeses, Velvet-leaf, Flower-of-an-
Hour) and showy Eurasian garden cultivars (Hollyhocks, Mal¬
lows), of which some persist after cultivation, becoming locally
established (Kearney 1951) .
KEY TO GENERA
A. Carpels 5-20 or more, loosely united in a ring around a central
axis, separating at maturity (schizocarps or mericarps) ;
stamen-column antheriferous at summit. (Tribe MALVEAE)
B. Carpels reniform, indehiscent, but not beaked, 1 -ovulate ;
style-branches stigmatic along the inner face, slender-
tipped.
C. Flowers perfect; involucre usually present.
D. Involucel of 6-9 distinct bractlets, united at base.
E. Plants 7-12 dm tall; petals 1.8-3. 5 cm long;
staminal tube terete, hairy; schizocarps 18-20,
rounded on back, not keeled; rare escaped cul-
tivar _ 1. ALTHAEA.
EE. Plants 12-25 dm (or more) tall; petals 3. 6-4. 8
cm long ; staminal tub e 5-angled, glabrous ;
schizocarps 25-35 (or more), keeled on back;
common showy garden escape _ 2. ALCEA.
1970]
Utech — Flora of Wisconsin No . 60
307
DD. Involucel of 3 bractlets or none.
F. Petals obcordate, white or tinted with blue, pur¬
ple or red ; bractlets 3 ; common weeds _
_ 3. MALVA.
FF. Petals truncate, rose red to purple ; bractlets 3 or
none; rare, dry prairie species _4. CALLIRHOE
CC. Flowers white, small, dioecious; involucre none; large-
leaved robust native prairie herbs _ 5. NAPAEA.
BB. Carpels with long divergent beaks (3-3.5 mm), dehiscent,,
3-8 seeded ; stigmas terminal and capitate ; flowers yellow ;
very common weed _ 6. ABUTILON.
AA. Carpels 5, united, the fruit a loculicidal capsule without a cen¬
tral column; stamen-column antheriferous along much of its
length; flowers 3 cm or more in diam. (Tribe HIBISCEAE) _
_ _ _ _ _ 7. HIBISCUS.
1. ALTHAEA L. Marsh-mallow.
1. Althaea officinal|. L. Marsh-mallow. Map 2.
Tomentose erect perennial 8-12 (-20) dm tall from an enlarged,
knotty rootstock. Leaves triangular-ovate to cordate, crenate-
serrate, gray to grayish-green, velvet-pubescent, the petioles
1.4-2. 8 cm long. Involucre united at base, the 6-9 lanceolate bract¬
lets densely stellate and hirsute, 4-5 mm long. Petals obcordate,
18-28 (-35) mm long, white to pale pink. Stamina! tube terete,
hairy, commonly 12 mm long, bright violet; anthers purplish-red.
Carpels 18-20, densely short stellate, convex and not keeled on back,
the lateral face not radially veined. Seeds purplish black, 3. 6-3. 9
mm long. 2N = 42 (Skovsted 1935).
Facultative salt-marsh plant, native to the drainage systems of
the Caspian, Black and Baltic Seas, in North America as an escape
along borders of saline or fresh water marshes. Formerly culti¬
vated for the perennial root which yielded the original non-synthetic
mucilaginous marshmallow paste; collected twice in Wisconsin:
Crawford Co.: Lynxville, 11 Sept. 1915, Davis s.n. (WIS). She¬
boygan Co.: Sheboygan, Aug. 1919, Goessl s.n. (WIS). Flowering
in August to October.
2. ALCEA [Tourn.] L. Hollyhock.
Linnaeus (Sp. PL 1753) followed TourneforPs distinction be¬
tween Althaea (marsh-mallow) and Alcea (hollyhock), though
Willdenow, De Candolle, Bentham and Hooker and others have
fused the two genera into Althaea. Recent studies by Zohary (1963a,
1963b) in SW Asia have demonstrated the validity of readoption
308 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
of this generic segregation : the staminal tubes in Alcea are 5-angled
and glabrous, in Althaea, terete and hairy; the keeled schizocarps
of Alcea are divided by an internal septum into an upper, empty
cell and a lower one with a single seed, in Althaea, the schizocarps
are rounded (on back), unilocular, one-seeded.
Alcea, an Old World genus with 60 species, is an Irano-Turanian
element (mainly East Mediterranean, SW & central Asia).
1. Alcea rosea L. Hollyhock. Map 3.
Althaea rosea (L.) Cav.
Robust biennial or perennial with spire-like stems to 2.5 m tall.
Leaves cordate, shallowly 5- to 7- (9-)lobed, rarely dissected,
densely stellate-pubescent, crenate; mid-stem leaves 5-11 cm long
(blade petiole junction to lobe tip), 6-13 cm wide, the petioles
(-3) 5-14 cm long. Flowers showy, 7-10 cm wide, solitary or
2-1}./ leaf axil or in a terminal raceme. Involucral of 6 (-9)
lanceolate bractlets, united at base, densely stellate, the lobes 10-13
mm long. Calyx lobes 5, united, densely long-stellate, 11-16 mm
long, the involucre and calyx accrescent at maturity. Petals 5 or
double in horticultural forms, broadly obcordate, 3.6-5 (-6) cm
long, white, yellow, pink, carmine-red to purplish-black or brownish-
black, the claws bearded. Staminal tube 5-angled, glabrous. Pe¬
duncle stout, 1.8-2. 3 cm long at maturity. Carpels 26-30, pale
brown, ribbed, densely stellate-hirsute on tips, the lateral face
radially veined. Seeds light gray, 3-3A mm long. 2N — 42 (Skov-
sted 1941).
Native to the north-eastern Mediterranean region (Aegean
Islands, and adjacent Balkan Peninsula), and not, as customarily
ascribed, to China (Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 1753), which is beyond the
natural range of the genus (Zohary 1963b) ; exact European intro¬
duction unclear, though long naturalized in SE Europe, Italy and
S France; early herbalists Caspar Bauhin and Albertus Magnus
noted that, like the tulip, introduction probably came in the 16th
century from Turkey (Hegi 1925) .
In Wisconsin frequently cultivated and persisting in the vicinity
of gardens, dumps and waste places. Flowering from June to
August or till frost.
The cultivated hollyhock is undoubtedly polymorphic (Zohary
1963b), consisting at least in part of hybrids of A. pallida (Willd.)
Waldst. & Kit., A. rosea L. and A. lav at erae flora (D.C.) Boiss.
In recent years its cultivated popularity has decreased due to
a wide-spread Chilean fungal leaf infection (Puccinia malvacearum
Bert.).
1970] TJtech — Flora of Wisconsin No. 60 309
A horticultural variety, ALCEA ROSEA L. VAR. SIBTHROPII
iBoiss., differs from A. rosea in having large fig leaf-like leaves with
7-elongate lobes; carpels 35 or more, densely stellate at tips, deeply
keeled; seeds reddish brown, minitely papillose, 3. 8-4. 2 mm long;
in Wisconsin a rare and sporadic escape in dumps and rubbish
piles, occasionally cultivated singly or mixed with A. rosea. Mil¬
waukee Co. : Milwaukee, C. & N. R.R., on Locust St., one clump
near patch of A. rosea, all probably sprouting from garden refuse,
3 July 1939, Skinners 518 (WIS). Winnebago Co.: Oshkosh, dump
at end of Oak St., probably escaped from soil scraped off a garden,
2 July 1966, Harriman 925 (Oshkosh State Univ.) . Flowering in
July.
3. MALVA [Tourn.] L. Mallow, Cheeses.
Annual, biennial or perennial herbs with orbicular-renif orm,
palmately dissected or lobed, crenate leaves. Flowers solitary or
fascicled in leaf axils. Involucral bractlets (2-) 3, free, linear to
obovate. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 5, truncate, notched or obcordate.
Anthers terminal on the staminal column. Styles as many as car¬
pels, stigmatic on the inner surface. Fruit of 8-20 radial carpels
surrounding a central depression, these separating at maturity into
as many one-seeded, indehiscent, round-reniform, laterally flattened
schizo carps.
Old World genus, native to Eurasia and North Africa, with 30
species, including several world-wide weeds and cultigens, such as
the medical herbs Malva sylvestris and M. neglecta, which provide
a leaf concoction (i.e. Malvae folia) that serves as an emollient
and demulcent. Malva is an Old Latin name from the Greek malache
or moloche, referring to the emollient leaves. The fruits are called
cheeses since they resemble cheese wheels, and are eaten by chil¬
dren and poultry, and had been served on medieval tables. Reported
hybrids (in Flora Europaea, Tutin et al. 1968) include M. alcea
X M. moschata, M. sylvestris X M. neglecta, and M. neglecta X M.
rotundifolia.
Key to Species
A. Upper leaves deeply 5- to 7-parted to below the middle or
nearly to the base ; flowers chiefly solitary in the upper axils,
showy; petals 2-3 cm long; escaped garden plants (Section
BISMALVAE).
B. Pubescence of spreading simple hairs; carpels densely
hirsute on back; bractlets linear-lanceolate _
_ 1. M. MOSCHATA.
310 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
BB. Pubescence of short stellate hairs; carpels glabrous;
bractlets oblong-ovate _ M. ALCEA.
AA. Upper leaves reniform-cordate, with scalloped margins, only
rarely lobed to the middle ; flowers fascicled in the axils ; petals
0.4-2. 3 cm long (Section MALVA).
C. Bractlets oblong-ovate; petals rose-violet, 1. 4-2.3 cm long ;
erect, escaped garden plant _ 2. M. SYLVESTRIS .
CC. Bractlets linear or narrowly lanceolate; petals white with
pale blue or purple tinged tips, 0.3-1. 2 cm long.
D. Carpels 12-15, when mature puberulent and not rugose
on back; lateral face of carels not radially veined ; petals
6-12 mm long; common prostrate weed _
_ _ _ 3. M. NEGLECTA.
DD. Carpels 8-11, ivhen mature glabrous and rugose-reticu¬
late on back (Figs. 1 & 2) ; lateral face of carpels
radially veined ; petals 3.2-6 mm long.
E. Stems commonly prostrate to ascending; fruiting
pedicels 10-45 mm long; bractlets 2. 9-3. 8 mm long;
petals 3.2-4. 5 mm long ; common weed _
_ 4. M. ROTUNDIFOLIA.
EE. Stems erect; fruiting pedicels 8-15 mm long;
bractlets 3. 7-5.4 mm long; petals 4.8-6 mm long;
rare garden escape _ M. VERTICILLATA.
1. Malva moschata L. Musk-malow. Map 4.
Erect biennial to perennial, 3-8 dm tall, with knotty root-stocks,
pubescent throughout, chiefly of simple divergent hairs. Leaves
cordate, deeply 3- to 5- (7-) parted, the upper linear bipinnatifid,
the lowest broadly 5-lobed, faintly musk scented (hence common
name). Flowers solitary to 3 in upper axils, the fruiting pedicels
1.6-4 cm long. Bractlets 3, linear to oblanceolate, ciliate, glabrous
on back, 5-6 mm long. Calyx 5-lobed, with simple trichomes, in¬
flated in fruit. Petals 5, triangular-ob cordate , pale rose-violet, 2-
2.4 cm long. Fruiting carpels 11-15, rounded not keeled and densely
hirsute on back. Seeds reniform, gray brown, glabrous, 1.8-2 mm
long. 2N = 42 (Skovsted 1935).
Native of Europe to North Africa, (rail-transported) adventive
over most of Europe, often cultivated as a garden plant for its
showy flowers, in Wisconsin infrequent, escaping and persisting
locally on sandy roadsides, dumps, waste places and beaches. Flow¬
ering and fruiting from mid June to mid September.
1970]
Utech — Flora of Wisconsin No. 60
311
Malva alcea L. Vervain mallow.
Erect robust perennial, 4-8 (-12) dm high, short stellate pubes¬
cent. Similar to M. moschata, but upper leaves more broadly di¬
vided. Flowers solitary, on short pubescent pedicels, these 1.6-2. 6
cm long in fruit. Bractlets 3, oblong to ovate, 4.5-6 mm long,
densely stellate on back. Calyx 5-lobed, stellate pubescent. Petals
5, obcordate, notched, pale purple to white, 2-2.8 cm long. Carpels
18-20, when mature keeled and glabrous or sparsely pubescent on
back. Seeds reniform, dark gray brown, glabrous, 2-2.3 mm long.
2N = 82 (Skovsted 1935).
Native of Europe (Sweden to Spain,, the Balkans and S Russia),
a pontic-Mediterranean element of dry and calcareous sites, in Wis¬
consin escaping sporadically from gardens but not persisting : Calu¬
met Co. : Roadside n of Stockbridge, 7 Aug. 1907, Goessl s.n.
(WIS). Milwaukee Co.: Milwaukee, vacant lot on Hopkins St., %
block s of Villard Ave., flowers light pink, garden escape, 15 July
1942, Fuller F-U2-86 (MIL). Flowering in late summer.
2. Malva sylvestris L. High-mallow. Map 5.
Erect biennial to perennial, 4-8 dm tall from a shallow branched
taproot, the stems glabrous or very sparsely hirsute. Leaf blades
round-cordate or reniform, broadly 5-lobed, the terminal lobe ob¬
tuse to rounded, 2-9 cm long (petiolar leaf insert to lobe tip),
3-11 cm wide. Petioles 6. 5-9. 5 cm long, pubescent in a single line
on the upper surface. Flowers fascicled in upper leaf axils; fruit¬
ing pedicels 2-3.5 (-5) cm long. Bractlets 3, oblong to ovate or
obovate, 3.8-U.7 mm long, subglabrous, ciliate. Calyx 5-lobed,
stellate-pubescent. Petals obcordate, notched, rose-violet, 1. 4-2.3
cm long. Mature carpels commonly 10, rugose-reticulate on the
back, glabrous. Seeds round-reniform, 1. 9-2.1 mm long, blackish
brown, subglabrous.
Native Euro-siberian element (Europe, N. Africa, Asia Minor to
Siberia), world-wide adventive, in Wisconsin grown in old gardens,
locally persisting as an escape : Green Co. : Monroe, 7 Aug. 1894,
Stuntz s.n. (WIS). Fond du Lac Co.: Pea field near old homestead,
1 mi. w from hwy 175 on Cemetery Rd., 1 Oct. 1967, Jeffers s.n.
(WIS). Ozaukee Co.: Port Washington, growing wild, 17 Aug.
1887, Runge 137 (MIL). Sheboygan Co. : Sheboygan, July 1914,
Goessl s.n. (WIS). St. Croix Co.: Baldwin, Anderson s.n. (WIS).
Milwaukee Co. : Milwaukee, 1873, Sherman 673 (IA). The Wiscon¬
sin specimens have glabrous or sparsely hirsute stems, obtuse-lobed
leaves and dark flower color, thus belong to var. mauritiana (L.)
312 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Boiss. (Fernald and Wiegand 1910). This is the common type
grown in European farm gardens (Hegi 1925). Flowering from
mid- July to early October.
3. Malva neglecta Wallr. Common mallow, Cheeses. Fig. 1 & 2.
Malva rotundifolia of some American authors, not L. Map 6.
Biennial or perennial with prostrate to ascending stems, 1-7
dm tall, from a deep branching taproot. Leaves round-cordate,
shallowly 5-9 lobed, crenate, 2-4 (5.5) cm long (petiolar leaf insert
to lobe tip), 3-6 (-9) cm wide, long petiolate. Flowers 1-5 in leaf
axils, pedicels slender, 1-5 cm long. Calyx 5-lobed, stellate-pubes¬
cent at anthesis. Bractlets 3, linear, ciliate, 3. 6-4. 6 mm long. Petals
5, triangular-obcordate, 6-12 mm long, white with pale blue or
purplish tips, the claws bearded. Staminal tube ca. 6 mm long.
Styles and stigmas purple. Outline of carpel ring scalloped, the
depressed center ca. 1/3 the diameter of the head (Figs. 1 & 2).
Mature carpels 12-15, commonly 11>, densely puherulent, not reticu¬
late on back , the lateral faces smooth. Seeds round-reniform,
1 .7-1.9 mm long, laterally depressed, blackish brown, glabrous.
2N ±= 42 (Mulligan 1961)/
Native to temperate Eurasia (from England to L. Baikal) and
N. Africa, widely adventive in Wisconsin mostly about dwellings,
fields, lawns, roadsides, gardens and especially in highly nitrogenous
waste places, becoming a noxious pest, most common south of the
northern highlands, being limited by the colder climate, e.g.
earlier frost, shorter growing season — cf. map of Galium aparine
(Urban & litis 1957). Flowering continually from April to No¬
vember, fruiting May to November.
4. Malva rotundifolia L. Cheeses. Map 7, Figs. 1 & 2.
Malva borealis Wallm.
Malva pusilla Smith ex Withering
Procumbent to ascending, branched biennial to perennial, 1-5
dm tall, from a slender unbranched taproot. Leaves round-cordate
with 5-9 shallow lobes, crenate, 1-5 (-6) cm long (petiolar leaf in¬
sert to lobe tip), 3-9 cm wide, long petiolate. Flowers 2-6 in leaf
axils, the fruiting pedicels 1-3.5 (-4.5) cm long. Calyx 5-lobed, with
simple pubescence at anthesis, accrescent at maturity. Bractlets
3, linear, ciliate, 2. 9-3. 8 mm long. Petals 5, oblanceolate-obcordate,
3. 2-4.5 mm long, white with pale blue or purplish tips, the claws
bearded. Staminal column ca. 3 mm long. Styles and stigmas purple.
Marginal outline of carpel ring circular, the depressed center ca.
1/5 the diameter of the head (Figs. 1 & 2). Mature carpels 9-11,
314 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
• • «w
mm m mm ••••
M al va neg lecfa ■
M. ro+undifolia •
RATIO : Diameter of Central Depression (mm.) / Diameter of Fruit (mm.)
Figure 1. Scatter-diagram comparing the number of carpels per fruit and the
width ratio of the central depression diameter divided by the fruit diameter of
Malva neglecta and M. rotundifolia.
Figure 2. Comparative carpel illustrations and floral measurements for Malva
neglecta and M. rotundifolia.
1970]
Utech — Flora of Wisconsin No. 60
315
commonly 10, when young tomentulose, glabrous with maturity ,
conspicuously rugose-reticulate on back, the lateral face radially
veined. Seeds reniform, 1.8-2 mm long, laterally depressed, dark
brown, glabrous.
Native of eastern Europe and western Asia (central Europe
to Siberia and India), a world-wide adventive like Malva neglecta
though not as frequent, a weed in southern Wisconsin in sandy,
gravelly soils, about dwellings, waste and disturbed places, road¬
sides and railroad tracks. Similar in appearance to M. neglecta,
but with fewer and glabrous carpels (Fig. 1) and shorter bractlets,
staminal tube and petals (Morton 1937). Some European floras
use M. pusilla Smith (ex Withering), because M. rotundi folia is
considered a nomen ambiguum. Flowering and fruiting from April
to November.
Malva verticillata L. var. crispa L. Curled-mallow.
Erect perennial to 1 m (or more) tall, with large reniform leaves
crenately 5- to 7-lobed, the margins crisped. Petioles pubescent
along a single line on the upper surface, 5-11.7 (-17) cm long.
Flowers crowded in axillary fascicles, nearly sessile, the fruiting
pedicels 8-15 mm long. Bractlets 3, linear-lanceolate, 4.4-5.4 mm
long, with simple trichomes. Calyx 5-lobed, acuminate, with short
stellate pubescence. Petals 5, ovoid-obcordate, notched, 5-8-6 mm
long, white with pale blue tips, Mature carpels 8—11, glabrous,
obsurely reticulate near carpel margins. Seeds ca. 2 mm wide,
gray-brown, glabrous.
Native of China, naturalized from S Asia to SE Europe, intro¬
duced to European gardens with Alcea rosea in the 16th century,
sporadically adventive in North America, now seldom grown as
a salad green or garden plant (Hegi 1925), in Wisconsin rarely
persisting after cultivation: Racine Co.: Racine, (ca. 1860), Hale
s.n. (WIS). Sheboygan Co.: Sheboygan, waste land, Goessl s.n.
(WIS). Walworth Co.: Darien, brought in from Pflaum garden,
31 July 1935, Wadmond s.n. (WIS). Flowering from July to
August.
4. CALLIRHOE L. Poppy mallow.
Perennial herbs with erect stems fascicled from a thick fusiform
taproot. Leaves triangular-cordate, crenate to deeply divided. Calyx
5-lobed, either naked or with a 3-leaved involucre at its base. Petals
5, triangular, broadly truncate, erose or fimbriate at summit, pur¬
ple, red-purple, occasionally pink or white. Staminal column
antherif erous along more than half its length. Styles slender, stig-
316 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
matic along- inner surface, greatly elongated at anthesis. Carpels
10-15, these separating at maturity into as many one-seeded,
indehiscent, reniform schizocarps.
New World genus with 7 species of the Great Plains and
northern Mexico.
Key to Species
A. Leaves triangular, crenate; involucre of 3 spatulate bractlets ;
carpels keeled, strigose, the lateral faces not radially veined;
native, dry sand prairies _ 1. C. TRIANGTJLATA.
AA. Leaves deeply 5- to 7 -parted, the segments incised; involucral
bractlets lacking; carpels strongly rugose, the lateral faces
radially veined; rare, waif introduction _2 .C. ALCAEOIDES.
1. Callirhoe triangulata (Leavenw.) Gray Poppy mallow.
Map 8.
Erect perennial herbs with several stems to (2.5-) 6-8 dm tall,
from a stout fusiform taproot, to 3 dm long. Stems, leaves and
calyx harshly stellate. Leaves triangular-hastate, 6.5-13 cm long,
3. 6- 9. 5 cm wide, coarsely crenate, truncate to cordate at base,
with variable petiole lengths 3-17 cm. Stipules oblong, persistent,
6-11 cm long. Floivers showy, panicled from axillary peduncels,
8.6- 20 cm long, the pedicels 1.6-2. 2 cm long at maturity. Bractlets
3, spatulate, ciliate, 6-9.5 mm long. Calyx deeply 5-parted, the
lobes 2. 1-4.7 mm long at maturity. Petals magenta-purple, broadly
truncate at summit, 1.9-2. 6 cm long. Staminal column 10-13 mm
long, antherif erous laterally, the anthers yellowish brown. Carpels
10-12, one seeded, indehiscent, short beaked, keeled, strigose, not
rugose on back, the lateral faces not radially veined. Seeds reni¬
form, laterally depressed, dark brown, 2. 3-2. 9 mm long.
Rare showy sand prairie species of the Ozarks and Great Plains,
confined in Wisconsin to the dry and sandy valleys of the Wisconsin
and Mississippi Rivers : in Prairie du Chien cemetery on Mississippi
River sand terrace, ( Jones U16, WIS) ; in Grant Co., Boscobel,
prairie remnant along railroad, ( Musselman 2036, WIS) ; sandy
upland, Midway Prairie, La Crosse Co., (Hartley 1U0U, WIS) ;
sandy Pinus banksiana woods E of Gotham, Richland Co., (Nee
1068, WIS). The preservation of this handsome species is insured
by the inclusion of the Midway Prairie as one of the Scientific
Areas of Wisconsin. Flowering and fruiting in July and early
August.
1970]
Utech — Flora of Wisconsin No. 60
317
Callirhoe alcaeoides (Michx.) Gray
Perennial with numerous erect slender stems to 4 dm tall from
a shallow, swollen taproot. Lower leaves triangular-cordate, shal¬
lowly 5-7 lobed, the upper deeply 5-7 parted, these incised into
numerous linear segments . Involucral bractlets lacking. Calyx
5-lobed, the lobes acuminate, elongating to 1 cm at maturity.
Flowers 2.5-4 cm wide, the petals 1.4— 1.8 cm long, pale rose to
white, fimbriate or erose at summit. Staminal column commonly
6 mm long, antheriferous along sides, the anthers dark red. Styles
exceeding staminal column by 1.5 cm at anthesis. Carpels commonly
12, glabrous, strongly rugose on back, the lateral face radially
veined. Seeds reniform, reddish brown, glabrous, 2. 1-2.3 mm long.
Native of dry sand barrens, plains and prairies of south-central
United States, where locally restricted. In Illinois limited to dry,
gravelly or sandy, exposed soils, frequent along railroads (Jones
and Fuller 1955), the only Wisconsin collection probably a waif
introduction : Milwaukee Co. : Bay View, summer 1888, Range
HO (MIL).
5. NAPAEA [Clayt.] L. Glade mallow.
1. Napaea dio|ca L. Glade mallow. Map. 9.
Napaea dioica L. forma stellata Fassett, Torreya 42:179-180.
1943. [Type : Dane Co. : Along a railroad 3.8 miles west of Cross
Plains, Aug. 16, 1942, Fassett 22057, (WIS, Isotypes in US, NY,
GH, and several other herbaria.)]
Robust, white-Yowered, dioecious perennial, 1-2 m tall from a
stout taproot. Leaves 1-3 dm wide (basal leaves larger, to 6 dm),
deeply 5-9 (-11) lobed or parted, the lobes coarsely toothed or
incised, the lower surfaces strigose-pilose with or without ad¬
mixture of short stellate hairs. Flowers numerous, dioecious, with¬
out involucel, in large terminal panicles. Calyx lobes 5, united,
ovate to triangular, 5-8 mm long. Petals white, notched, those of
the staminate flowers 5-9 mm long, those of pistillate shorter.
Staminate flowers with 16-20 anthers, pistils lacking, the pistillate
with a short column of (usually) antherless filaments, the styles
stigmatic along the inner surface. Carpels 8-10, when mature
irregularly dehiscent into as many reniform, one-seeded schizo-
carps, the back with stellate trichomes, rugose and ribbed. Seeds
reniform, reddish brown, 3. 5-3. 8 mm long, glabrous. 2N = 30,
N = 15 (litis & Kawano 1964) .
The phytogeography, ecology and nomenclatural history of
Napaea dioica have been reviewed by litis (1963) and Mickelson
& litis (1966). The heliophytic habitat preference strongly sug-
318 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
ge sts that it is a wet prairie, not a forest species, which was asso¬
ciated with the formation and extension of the prairie peninsula.
Flowering late June to mid- August, fruiting July to early
September.
Napaea is the only endemic gemus confined almost completely
to the glaciated north-central United States, and with its monotype
N. dioica being the only strictly dioecious Malvaceae in the West¬
ern Hemisphere. The Californian Sidalcea malachroides with 2N =
20 appears to be the closest morphologically, but only as a putative
relative. Based on karyotype analysis, litis and Kawano (1964)
suggest that Napaea is an ancient allopolyploid hybrid between a
2N = 20 species of Sidalcea and another species ( Sidalcea ?), now
extinct, in which 2N = 10. The basic number would then be 5, not
7 as in all other members of the subtribe Malvinae. This would
suggest segregation of Napaea and Sidalcea into their own subtribe.
Some plants have simple, straight appressed hairs and few stel¬
late trichomes on the lower leaf surface. In others, these simple
hairs are lacking, except on the larger veins, and are replaced by
the short branched stellate trichomes (forma stellata Fassett,
1943). Frequently, the same plant will have upper leaves with
mostly stellate trichomes, while the large basal leaves have mostly
simple unbranched trichomes. Under the microscope these extremes
are striking, yet there are numerous collections with both types
mixed in various proportions (Utis 1963). Though it might be
useful to name these extremes, it is impossible to know whether
the Linnean type specimen has stellate, simple or mixed pubescence.
Fassett assumed, on the flimsy basis of Sprengel’s (Syst. Veget.
3:122) statement that it is a “herba hirsuta”, that the type had
simple hairs. This conclusion is not warranted, since any plant
may be hirsute with simple hairs. It seems best to ignore forma
stellata until the Linnean type has been examined.
6. ABUTILON [Tourn.] Miller Velvet-leaf.
1. Abutilon theophrasti Medic. Velvet-leaf, Butter-print.
Map 10.
Stout branched annual herb (2-) 5-18 dm tall, from shallow
thick taproot 8-17 cm long, softly velvet-pubescent throughout.
Leaves cordate, 4-12 (-19) cm long, 3.5-11 (-17) cm wide, acumi¬
nate, the margin entire or slightly toothed; petiole 4-11 cm long.
Peduncles 13-26 mm long , jointed above the middle. Bractlets
lacking; calyx 5, united at base, ovate-elliptic, persistent, 7-12 mm
long. Flowers yellow, 14-28 mm across. Carpels 12-15 (-17) with
conspicuous, horizontally spreading beaks, 3. 1-3.5 mm long, the
1970]
U tech— Flora of Wisconsin No. 60
319
u schizo carps” ventrally dehiscent and not separating readily from
the central axis. Seeds 3-6 (-8),/carpel, 3. 1-3.4 mm long, dark
brown with short scattered stellate pubescence. 2N = 42 (Skovsted
1935, Smith 1965).
Native of India and central Asia, a world-wide adventive, com¬
mon below the tension zone in southern Wisconsin, climate-limited
(Lindsay 1935), as a noxious weed in cultivated and fallow fields,
especially corn, but occasionally in gardens, along fence rows and
waste places. The seeds retain their viability for over 50 years
and are not killed by siloing (Steyermark 1963). The arrangement
of the carpels resembles the print-blocks used on farms for stamp¬
ing rolls of butter. Flowering and fruiting continuously from July
to October or till frost.
7. HIBISCUS [Tourn.] L. Rose-mallow.
Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs with entire to palmately
lobed or dissected leaves. Flowers large, showy, in terminal racemes
or solitary in upper axils. Involucral bracts linear, 7-15. Sepals 5,
broadly triangular, enlarged in fruit. Stamen-column long, with
numerous lateral anthers; stigmas 5, capitate. Fruit a 5-locular,
subglobose or prismatic loculicidal capsule, subtended or enclosed
by the persistent, accrescent calyx.
World-wide, subtropical to tropical genus, with ca. 150 species ;
Hibiscus esculentus L., okra or gumbo, a garden vegetable grown
for its soft immature edible pods and H. syriacus L., Rose-of-
Sharon, a showy ornamental shrub, are common temperate eco¬
nomic species.
Key to Species
A. Tall perennial herbs, 1-2 m ; petals pink, 5-9 cm long ; fruiting
calyx not inflated about the capsule.
B. Leaves obovate-lanceolate, canescent beneath; involucral
bracts 10-15; seeds not pubescent--!. H. MOSCHEUTOS.
BB. Leaves hastate, green on both surfaces, glabrous; in¬
volucral bracts 9-10; seeds with reddish broivn hairs;
Wisconsin and Mississippi River bottoms _
_ 2. H. MILITARIS.
AA. Low annuals, 3-6 dm; petals pale yellow with purple center,
1. 5-3.0 cm long; fruiting calyx inflated; common southern
Wisconsin weed _ 3. H. TRIONUM.
320 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
7. HIBISCUS [Tourn.] L. Rose-mallow.
1. Hibiscus moscheutos L. subsp. palustris (L) Clausen
Hibiscus palustris L.
Robust perennial to 2 m; stems densely to remotely stellate-
pubescent. Leaves ovate to elliptic lanceolate, 8-20 cm long-, 9-15
cm wide, serrate to crenate, rarely lobed, green above, with whitish
to grayish pubescence beneath. Petioles adnate to peduncle. In-
volural bracts 9-14, linear, 1.4-2. 5 cm long. Petals pink , rarely
white, lacking red band at base, 6.5-9 cm long. Styles with spread¬
ing pubescence. Capsules abruptly contracted to a beak, glabrous
or essentially so. Seeds dark brown, papillose, 8-3.2 mm long.
Saline, brackish or fresh water marshes of the northern coastal
plain with inland extension to the Great Lakes region of southern
Ontario, southern Michigan, northern Indiana and northeastern
Illinois, in Wisconsin known from only one collection and now
probably extinct: Rock Co.: Janesville, flowers pink, 25 Aug. 1889,
Gertil Skavlem s.n. (WIS).
Radford et al. (1968) treat Hibiscus palustris L. as a sub¬
species of the sympatric and southern H. moscheutos L., as previ¬
ously suggested by Fernald (1942, 1950).
2. Hibiscus militaris Cav. Rose-mallow. Map 11.
Robust, essentially glabrous perennial 1-2 m tall, with several
erect stems arising from a crown root. Leaves triangular to hastate,
8-12 cm wide, 8-15 cm long, acute at apex, basal lobes diverging,
green on both sides; petioles 7-13 cm long. Flowers showy, solitary
in upper axils, the peduncles 2. 3-5. 8 cm long. Bractlets 9-12,
glabrous and linear, 1.7-2. 3 cm long. Petals 5, pink with red-purple
base, 6-8.5 cm long. Carpels 5, dehiscent and beaked with 6-8 seeds
carpel. Seeds with stiff, brownish-red trichomes, 3-3.3 mm long.
2N = 38 (Nakajima 1936 ex Darlington 1955).
Native of marshes and muddy shores of pond and streams of
the coastal plain, extending north of the Mississippi Embayment to
Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. The few Wis¬
consin stations are limited to the Mississippi and Wisconsin River
bottoms where deposition and silting occur — levees, boat landings
and alluvial forests. Leersia lenticularia Michx., Sagittaria
montevidensis Cham. & Schlect. ssp. calycina (Engelm.) Bogin, and
Rorippa sessiliflora (Nutt.) Hitchcock have similar distributions.
Dispersability and habitat preference suggest a recent northward
migration. Dispersal is no problem, for the seeds are eaten by ducks
and bobwhites (Steyermark 1963). Recent migration is noted for
Indiana by Deam (1940) : “I have known well the shores of the
1970]
Utech — Flora of Wisconsin No. 60
321
Wabash River near Bluffton for a distance of 5 miles since 1880.
The first colony of this species was noted in 1897 and is now com¬
mon all along the muddy shores and on the muddy bars in the river.
In the early history of the state our streams were clear and when
the forests were removed the streams became muddy and sediment
was deposited on the shores and on the gravelly and rocky bars
which made a suitable habitat for this species.’' Wisconsin’s
earliest collection dates from 1914 : Crawford Co. : Bridgeport,
6 Aug. 1914, Denniston s.n. (WIS). Later collections indicate sites
where deposition and silting would occur and create suitable habi¬
tats. Apparently native, though its recent northward extension
has probably been due to man’s activity. Flowering late July to
early August, fruiting August to September.
3. Hibiscus trionum L. Flower-of-an-hour. Map 12.
Low hairy annual, much branched at base, 3-6 dm tall; taproot
slender. Leaves deeply 3-parted, 1.5-6 cm long, the segments ob-
long-obovate, irregularly incised; petioles 2-5 cm long. Bractlets
10-12, linear, ciliate with white trichomes, 7-12 mm long. Calyx
5-lohed, membranaceous , ribbed. Flower sulfur yellow with a redr-
purple center, showy, but ephemeral (hence common name) ; petals
1.5-3 cm long. Mature capsules 5 -locular, black with long yellow
trichomes, 5-7 seeds/carpel; the calyx surrounding it highly in¬
flated, translucent, with many vertical dark green ribs, papillose
and long hirsute. Seeds brown-black, papillose, 2-2.3 mm long.
2N = 28 (Medvedeva 1936, ex Darlington 1955) and 2N = 56
(Skovsted 1935).
Native of SE Eurasian agricultural center, found in the neolithic
Aggtelek kitchen middens of Croatia (Yugoslavia), a Kulturbeglei-
ter (“culture follower”) now adventive throughout Europe, eastern
Asia to China, N. Africa and N. America (Hegi 1925) , its numerous
seeds with unusual viability contributing to its spread (Deam
1940), a common weed in southern Wisconsin, in sandy soils of
cultivated fields, gardens, roadsides, and disturbed or waste places.
Flowering and fruiting from early July to late October or till frost.
Bibliography
Bailey, L. H. 1906. The Standard Cyclopedia of American Horticulture. New
York: Doubleday, Page and Co.
Braun, E. L. 1960. The genus Tilia in Ohio. Ohio J. Sci. 60(5) :257-261
Curtis, J. T. 1959. The Vegetation of Wisconsin. Univ. of Wisconsin Press,
Madison. 657 pp.
Darlington, C. D. and A. P. Wylie. 1955. Chromosome Atlas of Flowering
Plants. George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London.
322 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Deam, C. C. 1940. Flora of Indiana . Dept, of Conservation, Indianapolis. 1236
pp.
Derman, H. 1932. Chromosome numbers in the genus Tilia. Journ. Arnold
Arboretum 13 : 49-50.
DesmaRaxs, Y. 1948. Dynamics of leaf variations in the sugar maples. Ph.D.
Dissertation, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison.
- . 1952. Dynamics of leaf variations in the sugar maples. Brittonia
7(5): 347-388.
Fassett, N. C. 1943. Some new forms from the Middle West. Torreya 42:
179-181.
Fernald, M. L. 1942. Hibiscus moscheutos and H. palustris. Rhodora 44:
266-278.
- . 1950. Gray’s Manual of Botany, ed. 8. New York: American Book Co.
- and K. M. Wiegand. 1910. A summer’s botanizing in eastern Maine
and western New Brunswick. Rhodora 12: 140-141.
Fowells, H. A. 1965. Silvics of Forest Trees of the United States. U. S. Dept.
Agr., Forest Service, Agr. Hand. No. 271, Washington.
Gleason, H. A. and A. Cronquist. 1963. Manual of Vascular Plants of North¬
eastern United States and Adjacent Canada. New York: van Nostrand Co.
Hagen, A. 1932. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wisconsin. No. 20.
Malvales. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts and Letters , Vol. 27: 247-249.
Hartley, T. G. 1962. The Flora of the Driftless Area. Ph.D. Dissertation,
State Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City.
Hegi, G. 1925. Illustrierte Flora von Mittel-Europa. Miinchen: J. F. Lehmann
Verlag, Vol. 5, I.
Iltis, H. H. 1963. Napaea dioica (Malvaceae) : Whence came the type? Am.
Midi. Nat. 70(1) : 90-109.
- and S. Kawano. 1964. Cytotaxonomy of Napaea dioica (Malvaceae).
Am. Midi. Nat. 72(1) : 76-81.
Jones, G. N. 1968. Taxonomy of American species of linden (Tilia). III. Biol.
Mono. 39, Univ. of Illinois Press, Urbana.
- and G. D. Fuller. 1955. Vascular Plants of Illinois. Univ. of Illinois
Press, Urban. 593 pp. 1375 maps.
Kearney, T. H. 1951. The American Genera of Malvaceae. Am. Midi. Nat.
46(1): 93-131.
Lindsay, D. R. 1953. Climate as a factor influencing the mass ranges of weeds.
Ecology 34: 308-321.
Mickelson, C. J. and H. H. Iltis. 1966. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of
Wisconsin. No. 55. Compositae IV — Composite Family IV (Tribe Helenieae
and Anthemideae) . Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts and Letters, Vol. 55:
197-222.
Morton, C. V. 1937. The correct names of the small-flowered mallows. Rhodora
39: 98-99.
Mulligan, G. A. 1961. Chromosome numbers of Canadian weeds. III. Can. J.
Bot. 39: 1057-1066.
Radford, A. E., H. E. Ahles and C. R. Bell. 1968. Manual of the Vascular
Flora of the Carolinas. Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill. 1183
pp.
Seymour, F. C. 1960. Flora of Lincoln County Wisconsin. P. F. Nolan, Taun¬
ton, Mass.
Skovsted, A. 1935. Chromosome numbers in the Malvaceae. I. J. Genet. 31 :
263-296.
1970]
U tech— Flora of Wisconsin No. 60
323
Smith, E. B. 1965. Chromosome numbers of Kansas flowering plants. II.
Kansas Acad. Sci. 68: 463-464.
Sorensen, P. D. 1966. The Flora of the old bed of Glacial Lake Wisconsin and
the adjacent terminal moraine. MS. thesis, State Univ. of Iowa, Iowa
City.
Steyermark, J. A. 1963. Flora of Missouri. Iowa State University Press,
Ames. 1725 pp.
Stoever, D. H. 1794. The Life of Sir Charles Linnaeus. London.
Sugiura, T. 1936. Studies on the chromosome numbers in higher plants, with
special reference to cytokinesis. I. Cytologia (Tokyo) 7: 544-595.
T'utin, T. G., et al. 1968. Flora Europaea. Vol. 2. Rosaceae to Umbelliferae.
London: Cambridge Univ. Press. 455 pp.
Urban, E. and H. H. Iltis. 1957. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wis¬
consin. No. 38. Rubiaceae-Madder Family. Trans . Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts
and Letters , Yol. 46: 91-104.
Zohary, M. 1963a. Taxonomical Studies in Alcea of Southwestern Asia. Part
I. Bull. Res. Council Israel , Vol. II D4: 210-229.
- . 1963b. Taxonomical Studies in Alcea of Southwestern Asia. Part
II. Israel J. Bot. 12 : 1-26.
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN NO. 61
HYPERICACEAE— ST. JOHN’S-WORT FAMILY
Fred H. Utecli and Hugh H. litis
The Hypericaceae, a natural group often segregated from the
more polymorphic, woody, tropical Guttiferae, has 2 genera and 14
species in Wisconsin. All but the ubiquitous Common St. John’s-
wort (Hypericum perforatum) are native and occur either in dry,
exposed sands or wet marly marshes or bogs, sandy swales and
lake, river or stream-sides. A southern origin for the Great Lakes-
Central Wisconsin endemic Hypericum kalmianum is suggested.
Three species are reported here as new for the state: Hypericum
prolificum , x H. dissimulatum and Triadenum virginicum.
The present treatment revises McLaughlin’s (1931) preliminary
report on Hypericaceae. Material from the following herbaria was
intensively studied: University of Wisconsin (WIS), University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), Milwaukee Public Museum
(MIL), University of Minnesota (MIN), University of Minnesota-
Duluth (DUL), State University of Iowa (IA) , Oshkosh State
University, La Crosse State University, Northland College (Ash¬
land, Wis.), Beloit College and the private herbarium of Katherine
Rill (Clintonville, Wis.-RILL). We are grateful to the curators of
these herbaria for the loans of specimens.
Dots on the maps represent exact locations, triangles, county
records. Some locations have been added from Thomas Hartley’s
unpublished “Flora of the Driftless Area” (1962), Paul Sorensen’s
unpublished range maps from his Glacial Lake Wisconsin studies
(1966), Olga Lakela’s Flora of Northeastern Minnesota (1965),
Jones and Fuller’s Flora of Illinois (1955) and Frank Seymour’s
Lincoln County sight record index (WIS).
The map inset numbers record Wisconsin flowering and fruiting
dates; plants with vegetative growth only, in bud or with dis¬
persed fruit were not included. For introduced species the year of
earliest collection within a county is also recorded. Nomenclature
and order of genera and species follows Gleason and Cronquist
(1963) and Fernald (1950).
1 Field work and preparation of manuscript supported in part by the Research Com¬
mittee of the University of Wisconsin, on funds from the Wisconsin Alumni Research
Foundation.
325
326 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Numerous people deserve special recognition for their help in
manuscript preparation: Mrs. Katherine Snell, for encouragement
and timely aids; Mr. Brian G. Marcks and Mr. Michael H. Nee, for
comment and criticism; Mr. Eugene G. Coffman for photographic
reproductions; Miss Bethia Brehmer and Miss Cynthia Loughran
for artistic work; and Dr. John W. Thomson and Dr. Preston
Adams for critical manuscript reading.
HYPERICACEAE Lindley St. John’s-Wort Family
Herbs or shrubs with opposite, simple, entire, often pellucid- or
black-punctate leaves; stipules lacking. Flowers perfect, regular,
hypogynous, solitary, axilliary or in cymes. Stamens 5 to over 100 ;
filaments elongate, free or basally connate in 3 or 5 bundles, these
opposite petals; anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary
superior; carpels 3-6; placentation parietal, pseudo-axile or axile
(Fig. 1) ; styles distinct or united. Capsules septicidal, 1, 3 or 5
loculate. Seeds many, small, without endosperm.
A small family with 12 genera and 600 species, usually segre¬
gated from the tropical Guttiferae (Clusiaceae) .
KEY TO GENERA
A. Petals yellow to orange, convolute in bud; stamens numerous
to few, distinct or united at base into 3 to 5 clusters ; hypogy¬
nous glands lacking _ 1. Hypericum.
AA. Petals pink to mauve-purple, imbricate in bud; stamens 9,
strongly triadelphous ; hypogynous glands 3, orange, alternate
with the stamen bundles _ 2. Triadenum.
1. HYPERICUM [Tourn.] L. St. John’s-Wort.
Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs; leaves simple, frequently
pellucid or black-dotted, opposite, entire, frequently with axillary
decussant branchlets ; stipules lacking. Inflorescence cymose. Sepals
5, often unequal, persistent. Petals 5, yellow to orange, convolute
in bud, often black-dotted. Stamens numerous or few (small fid.
spp.) ; filaments free or basally connate. Ovary superior; styles
united or separate and divergent; stigmas minute or capitate.
Placentation parietal (1-celled), pseudo-axile by intrusion of pla¬
centae (partially 3- or 5-celled) or axile (completely 3- or 5-celled)
(Fig. 1). Capsules septicidal, 1- to 5-carpellate. Seeds small (ours
0.5-3. 0 mm), short-cylindric, aerolate.
The largest genus of the Hypericaceae, world-wide, throughout
temperate and tropical montane regions, with ca. 300 species of
annuals, perennials with persistent rhizomes, and woody shrubs.
1970] Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61 327
Key to Species
A. Styles united at base into a single straight beak at anthesis,
splitting at maturity; stigmas minute, never capitate; sta¬
mens many, distinct. (Sect. MYRIANDRA)
B. Small woody shrubs; leaves and sepals articulate at
base; withered stamens deciduous soon after anthesis.
(Subsect. Centrosperma) .
C. Midstem leaves 2. 6-4. 5 cm long, sessile; styles and
carpels 5; cymes chiefly terminal, 3- to 7-floivered.
_ _ _ 1. H. KALMIANUM.
CC. Midstem leaves 3.5-7 cm long, short-petiolate ; styles
and carpels 3; cymes terminal and axillary, 11- to
19-flowered; rare. _ 2. H. PROLIFICUM.
BB. Perennial herbs slightly suffrutescent at base ; leaves
and sepals not articulate at base; withered stamens
persistent long after anthesis. (Subsect. Pseudo-
brathydium) .
D. Plants robust, 30-60 cm tall, rhizomatose, the
rootstock often woody; leaves linear-elliptic,
30-58 mm long; seeds 2. 0-2.7 mm long; rare,
moist prairies, Green Co. and Rock Co. _
_ 3. H. SPHAEROCARPUM.
DD. Plants slender, 15-35 cm tall from horizontal
rhizome, the bases herbaceous; leaves elliptic
to ovate, 16-33 mm long; seeds 0.5-0. 8 mm
long; central and northern Wisconsin lakes
and river margins _ 4. H. ELLIPTICUM.
AA. Styles free to base, the capsules not beaked ; stigmas capitate ;
stamens many to few, connate basally into 3 or 5 bundles
(phalanges) .
E. Stigmas and styles 5; capsules 5-celled, 8-15 mm wide;
flowers 50-60 mm across ; stamens 5-delphous, numerous
(over 150) ; larger leaves 5-8 cm long; robust perennial
of wet habitats. (Sect. ROSCYNA) _
_ 5. H. PYRAMIDATUM.
EE. Stigmas and styles 3; capsules 1- or 3-celled, 1-5 mm
wide; flowers 5-30 mm across; stamens 60-5; larger
leaves less than 5 cm long.
F. Capsules 3-celled, with azle placentae; flowers 6-32
mm across; corolla black-dotted; stamens 60-27,
weakly 3-delphous.
G. Capsules oblong-conic, 4. 5-6. 5 mm long; styles
4-5 mm long; flowers 15-30 mm across; petals
328 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
black-dotted on margin only; stamens (45) -50-
(60) ; common Eurasian weed. (Sect. HYPER¬
ICUM _ 6. H. PERFORATUM .
GG. Capsules subglobose-ovate, 3. 8-4. 6 mm long;
styles 1.5-2. 5 mm long; flowers 6-10 mm
across; petals and sepals marked with black
dots and lines; stamens (27) -35- (40) ; native.
(Sect. ELINEATA) _ 7. H. PUNCTATUM .
FF. Capsule 1-celled, with parietal placentae; flowers
4-7 (-10) mm across; corolla yellow, lacking black
dots; stamens 20-5, weakly 5-delphous: (Sect.
BRATHYS)
H. Leaves linear to elliptic-ovate, 8-44 mm long,
1-15 mm wide, 3- to 7-nerved; inflorescence
cymose.
I. Capsules broadly ellipsoid or oblongoid,
the apex rounded to obtuse; inflorescence
diffuse and leafy-bracted, not well defined,
the angle between a pair of lateral pe¬
duncles 70° or more (Fig. 5) ; sepals ob¬
long to elliptic, widest near middle.
J. Uppermost bracts highly reduced, se¬
taceous; cauline leaves often over 20
mm long, deltoid to ovate, usually cor¬
date-clasping ; sepals acute, equaling
capsule ; plants often 3-5 dm tall ;
mostly Driftless Area. _
_ 8. H. MUTILUM?
JJ. Uppermost bracts foliaceous; cauline
leaves 8-15 mm long (rarely longer),
ovate to elliptic, sessile but not
strongly clasping; sepals obtuse,
shorter than capsule ; plants usually
1-3 dm tall ; widespread. _
_ 9. H BOREALE?
II. Capsules ovoid to conic, the apex nar¬
rowed; inflorescence rather compact and
clearly defined, setaceous-bracted not leafy,
the angle between a pair of lateral pe¬
duncles 70° or less (Fig. 5) ; sepals lanceo¬
late to linear, acute or acuminate.
K. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate to ob¬
long, the larger 5-12 mm wide,
rarely narrower, the bases sub-
cordate-clasping; sepals 4-6.5 mm
1970]
Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61
329
long ; capsules elliptic-ovate, 5-
7.8 mm long; plants often 3-5 dm
tall ; common throughout state. —
_ 10. H. MAJUS2
KK. Leaves linear to linear-elliptic or
-oblanceolate 1-3 mm wide, 1-
(3-) nerved, the bases sessile-
attenuate; sepals 2. 5-4.4 mm
long; capsules conic, 3-5.2 mm
long; plants usually 1-3 dm tall;
mostly northern Driftless Area. _
_ 11. H. CANADENSE2
HH. Leaves minute, scale-like, 1.5-3 mm long, 0.5
mm wide, strictly 1-nerved; inflorescence
racemose ; branches wiry ; dry sands, Driftless
Area. _ 13. H. GENTIANOIDES.
1. Hypericum kalmianum L. Kahn’s St. John’s-Wort.
Map 1, Figs. 1-4.
Slender shrubs 2-6 (-10) dm high, with branches 4-angled, the
branchlets 2-angled. Leaves linear-elliptic to oblanceolate , revolute,
coriaceous, sessile, obtuse, mostly 26-45 mm long, 4-8 mm wide
(Fig. 4). Cymes 3- to 7-flowered (rarely more), restricted to termi¬
nal node (Fig. 2). Flowers 20-35 mm across. Sepals oblong-elliptic,
foliaceous, 6-8 mm long. Petals 5-14 mm long. Stamens numerous,
distinct. Ovary 1 -locular, usually with 5 pseudo-axile intruding
placentae (Fig. 1) ; styles (3) -5- (6) ; stigmas never capitate.
Capsules ovoid, 5-carpellate (rarely 3, 4 or 6), 7-10 mm long,
4-7 mm wide. Seeds light brown, 0.7-1. 1 mm long. N = 9 (Hoar
& Haertl 1932; Robson & Adams 1968).
Central Wisconsin sand plains and sphagnum-sedge meadows, in
rocky shores, sandy swales, behind dunes, and calcareous low
prairies about Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie, to the Ottawa
River, Quebec (Fig. 3: cf. maps McLaughlin 1930, Guire & Voss
1963, Adams 1959b), its Wisconsin distribution closely associated
with the desiccated beds and outwash plains of Glacial Lakes Wis¬
consin, Oshkosh and Chicago. Flowering late June to early Octo¬
ber; fruiting early July through October.
The history of Hypericum kalmianum is of particular interest,
since all its stations are in glaciated territory (Adams 1959b, Guire
& Voss 1963, McLaughlin 1931) ; this restriction suggests either a
a Hybrids between the species 8-11 are not uncommon (cf. Hybrids of Sect. Brathys,
12a, 12b, and 12c, pp. 29-32). Depauperate plants are common but can be keyed with
help of full grown ones nearby.
330 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
J^n rid
HYPERICUM
hypericum' %
\ 1 PROLIFICUM
KALMIANUM
Jl’ J
HYPERICUM^
v [_' ellipticum
HYPERICUM^
H SPHAEROCARPUM
! - 1 r1-
LL I NO S
NOI S
j". r*
HYPERICUM %
\ " “"I I PYRAMIDATUM
HYPERICUM %
H l PERFORATUM
Y~
LL mOl S
1970]
Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61
331
(s) H perforatum /Sect. Hypericum!
0 | .2 ' : 3
( 6 ) H pyramidatum /Sect. Roscynu J
Figure 1. Diagrams illustrating the different types of placentation found in
Wisconsin Hypericum: 1. H. boreale (Sect. Brathys) — parietal. 2. H. ellipticum
(Sect. Myriandra) — pseudo-axile. 3. H. prolificum (Sect. Myriandra) — pseudo-
axile. 4. H. kalmianum (Sect. Myriandra) —^pseudo-axile. 5. H. perforatum
(Sect. Hypericum) — axile. 6. H. pyramidatum (Sect. Roscyna) — axile.
332 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Hypericum
1 kalmianum
Hype
ricum
prolificum
Hypericum
loJoocarpum
A
B
C
Figure 2. Statistical model and data comparing the inflorescences and degree
of dichasial branching of Hypericum kalmianum, H. prolificum and H.
lobocarpum.
1970]
Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61
Glacial
maxima
H. densiflorum
Figure 3. Distributional maps of Hypericum kalmianum L. H. lobocarpum
Gatt., H. densiflorum Push and H. proliflcum L., based in part on the unpub¬
lished map of Adams (1959b).
334 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 4. Scatter-diagram comparing leaf width and length and indicating
number of carpels and degree of inflorescence branching of Wisconsin
Hypericum kalmianum and Wisconsin and non-Wisconsin H. prolificum.
pre-glacial origin with subsequent survival either in unglaciated
or in once-glaciated territory between differentially advancing gla¬
cial lobes, or a recent, post-glacial origin from a more wide-spread
southern species. The last hypothesis seems to us the most reason¬
able. Adams (1959b, 1962) thinks this ancestor to be the Gulf
Coastal and Mississippian Embayment H. lohocarpum Gatt. ( = H.
oklahomense Palmer), since this species and H. kalmianum both
have mostly 5-carpellate ovaries, differing from the 3-carpellate,
but otherwise similar and related H. prolificum L. The eastern
coastal and inter-montane H. densiflorum Pursh is also commonly
3-carpellate : many authors de-emphasize carpel number and follow
Svenson (1940) in considering H. lohocarpum as a variety of H.
densiflorum. Carpel number is extremely variable even in well-
defined species of section Myriandra. In any case, the fruits of
both 5-carpellate taxa ( H . kalmianum and H . lohocarpum) are
very similar, except that those of H. lohocarpum tend to be smaller
on the average and more deeply sulcate.
1970]
Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61
335
Comparison of degree of dichasial branching and flowers/in¬
florescence (Fig. 2) of H. kalmianum, H. prolificum and H. lobo-
carpum reveals a north to south increase, with the northern H. kal¬
mianum usually fertile only in the uppermost node, the southern
H. lobocarpum highly floriferous in many (3 to 5 or more) nodes.
H. prolificum has the largest number of inflorescence combinations.
Both H. prolificum and H. kalmianum have broad foliaceous sepals
(4-8 mm long) and flowers to 30 mm wide; H. lobocarpum and
H. densiflorum have usually shorter, narrower sepals (2-4 mm
long) and often smaller flowers (to 20 mm across). Thus, while
H. kalmianum was probably derived from H. lobocarpum (or H.
densiflorum) , the reduced inflorescence-branching, foliaceous sepals
and larger flowers suggest some H. prolificum introgression into
H. kalmianum , which would not be unlikely, considering the geo¬
graphic proximity of the two populations.
2. Hypericum prolificum L. Map 2, Figs. 1-4.
Hypericum spathulatum (Spach) Steud. of ed. 8, Gray’s
Manual.
Erect bushy shrub 3-9 dm tall, diffusely branched ; bark shreddy,
gray, the branchlets sharply 2-angled. Leaves oblanceolate-linear ,
obtuse and often mucronate, the margins strongly revolute , punc¬
tate, the midstem leaves 3.5-7 cm long, 7-15 mm wide (Fig. 4).
Petioles 1-4.6 mm long. Cymes 11- to 19-flowered, terminal and
axillary (Fig. 2). Flowers 15-27 mm across. Sepals ovate, mucro¬
nate, 4.5-6 mm long. Petals obovate, bright yellow, 7-10 mm long.
Stamens numerous, distinct. Ovary 1 -locular usually with 3 pseudo-
axile intruding placentae (Fig. 1) ; styles 3 (4) ; stigmas not
capitate. Capsules ellipsoid-ovate, 3-carpellate (rarely 4 or 5), 10-
13 mm long, 3.5-6 mm wide. Seeds black, 1.2-1. 8 mm long. N = 9
(Nielsen 1924, Robson and Adams 1968).
A variable species in eastern and central United States (Fig. 3)
on dry creek beds, sandy or rocky slopes, roadsides and old fields,
occasionally cultivated, reported here for Wisconsin for the first
time, Swezey’s (1883) use of this name being based on collections
of H. kalmianum (Lapham s.n. and Hale s.n., WIS, MIL) . All
collections are recent, perhaps escapes from cultivation. Crawford
Co.: town of Clayton, S. 11 SE 9 July I960, Densmore s.n.
(WIS) ; sandy hillside E of Soldiers Grove on Co. E, with Silphium
perfoliatum, Corylus americana, Rhus radicans, 4 Aug. 1960,
Schlising & Musolf 17 h 9 (WIS). Dane Co.: Edgerton, Camp
Hickory Hill, open, light sandy soil, 5 Aug. 1947, Dorney s.n.
(RILL). Flowering late July and early August.
336 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
3. Hypericum sphaerocarpum Michx. Map 3.
Hypericum cistifolium of authors, not Lamark
Erect perennials from woody branched rootstocks, the deep
rhizomes with adventitious shoots. Stems herbaceous, 30-58 cm
tall, 4-lined. Leaves linear-oblong to narrowly elliptic, acute to
obtuse, sessile, 3-7 cm long, 4-15 mm wide. Cymes compact, com¬
pound, many-flowered; bracts lanceolate. Sepals ovate-lanceolate,
2. 8-4.8 mm long. Petals yellow, 5. 3-8. 6 mm long. Stamens numer¬
ous. Ovary 1 -locular, with 3 intruding parietal placentae. Capsules
globose to ovoid, firm, few-seeded, 4.5-6. 7 mm long; styles 3, united
in sharp beak. Seeds blackish-brown, coarsely reticulate, pitted,
2. 0-2. 7 mm long, the raphe developed into a keel.
Species of low or mesic prairies, limestone outcrops and cedar
glades, Ala. to SW Ark., north to Iowa, Ill. and N Ind., rare in
Wisconsin, confined to low wet prairies along the Sugar and Rock
Rivers, as in low rich prairie (near Monticello, Green Co.), with
scattered willows, dogwood, bur oak, Potentilla arguta, Eryngium
yuccifolium, and Ratibida pinnata. The plants are almost always
pulled up without the very deep slender horizontal rhizomes. Flow¬
ering late June to mid-August, fruiting mid-July through August.
4. Hypericum ellipticum Hook. Creeping St. John’s-Wort.
Map 4, Fig. 1.
Erect unbranched perennial from a reddish, spongy, slender,
creeping rhizome. Stems 15-35 cm tall, obscurely 4-angled. Leaves
elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, the larger 16-33 mm long, 4-13 mm
wide, pellucid-punctate, not revolute, the midvein prominent. Cymes
terminal, few-flowered; bracts linear to lanceolate. Sepals narrowly
obovate to oblanceolate, 4-6 mm long. Petals oblanceolate, 4. 6-8. 6
mm long, often reddish in bud. Stamens numerous. Ovary 1-locular
with 3 intruding parietal placentae (Fig. 1). Capsules subglobose
to ovoid, 4-7 mm long, many-seeded; styles 3, united at base. Seeds
dark reddish brown, striated, pitted, 0.5-0. 8 mm long. N = 9 (Hoar
& Haertl 1932).
A “northern hardwoods” species, from NE Tenn. to Newfound¬
land, west to Lake Superior, in central and northern Wisconsin
along stream banks, pond and lake shores, river flats and sand
bars, as in cold streamside Alnus thickets in sunny Car ex meadows,
Brule River, Florence Co. The northern-most member of the 30
species of section Myriandra (Adams 1962) and the only Wiscon¬
sin Hypericum with prominent (oft-collected) rhizomes. Flowering
late June to early August, fruiting July to latest October.
Submerged aquatic plants with simple sterile stems and round to
ovate “feather-veined” leaves, resembling Callitriche, have been
1970]
Utech and litis— -Flora of Wisconsin No. 61
337
designated as forma SUBMERSUM Fassett (1939, 1960), while
terrestrial plants with axillary branches overtopping the mature
infructescence, as forma FOLIOSUM Marie-Victorin (Le Nat.
Canadien 71 : 201. 1944.)
5. Hypericum pyramidatum Ait. Giant St. John’s-Wort.
Hypericum ascyron of Am. authors, not L. Map 5, Fig. 1.
Robust erect perennial herbs, 6-16 (-20) dm tall; branches
4- angled ; root-crown woody. Leaves ovate-oblong to lanceolate, the
larger 5. 5-9. 6 (-11) cm long, 2.5-4 (-5) cm wide, acute or obtuse,
with sessile clasping bases. Stamens numerous (over 150),
5- delphous ; anthers versatile. Sepals ovate-triangular, 6.5-8 mm
long. Petals broadly ohovate, persistent, 1 .8-2.8 cm long. Styles 5,
6- 10 mm long, halfway united, divergent above ; stigmas capitate.
Capsules conic-ovoid, completely 5-celled, septicidally dehiscent,
15-25 mm long, 8-15 mm wide (Fig. 1). Seeds brown, lustrous,
reticulate, 1.1-1. 4 mm long, the raphe keeled. N = 9 (Nielsen
1924).
Quebec to Minn., south to Penn., Ind., Mo. and Kansas, in Wis¬
consin in wet and open habitats as gravelly river banks, sphagnous
sedge meadows, mesic forest edges and drainage ditches, as in low
wet muck meadow near Mauston with Carex, Polygonum, Physo-
stegia virginiana, or in a weedy floodplain prairie along Pine River,
Richland Co., with Napaea dioica, Artemisia s errata, Silphium
perfoliatum, Urtica sp., ( Nee 11^53, WIS). Flowering late June to
mid-September, fruiting mid- July to early October.
It is closely related to the true Hypericum ascyron L. of eastern
Asia (E Siberia, Japan & China).
6. Hypericum perforatum L. Common St. John’s-Wort,
Klamath wed. • Map 6, Fig. 1.
Erect branching perennials from a subligneous crown with short
shallow rootstocks and deep branching taproot. Stems 2-angled,
4-6.5 (-8) dm tall, with numerous sterile basal shoots and leaf
axillary decussate branchlets. Leaves linear-oblong to elliptic, pel¬
lucid-dotted, obtuse, sessile, 5-nerved, commonly 12-36 mm long,
3-9 mm wide, reduced on axillary branchlets. Cymes paniculate,
flat-topped; flowers numerous, 15-30 mm across. Sepals linear-
lanceolate, acuminate, 4-7 mm long. Petals orange-yellow, black-
spotted near margins, 9-1 U mm long. Petals and stamens persist¬
ent. Stamens (45)-50-(60) . Ovary 3-loculate ; styles 3, divergent,
3-4.5 mm long; stigmas capitate. Capsules completely 3-celled
(Fig. 1) oblong-elliptic to conic, veiny, 4-7 mm long, 3-5 mm wide.
Seeds blackish brown, lustrous, reticulate, 0.8-1. 2 mm long. N =
338 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
16, 2N = 32 (Hoar & Haertl 1932, Mulligan 1957, Robson &
Adams 1968).
A noxious world-wide weed, native to N Africa, W Asia and
Europe (Hegi 1925), naturalized in E and W North America, in
Wisconsin a common weed in open, sandy, poor or worn soils,
chiefly on roadsides, railroads, neglected fields, beaches, sand
plains, blowouts and barrens, occurring with such disturbance in¬
dicators as Corny tonia yeregrina, Hieracium aurantiacum, Am¬
brosia art emisii folia, Daucus carota, Ascleyias syriaca and
Euyhorbia esula. Flowering from early June to early September,
fruiting from late June to early October.
This adventive is especially troublesome in the Klamath River
Basin (N Calif. & S Ore.). The stem’s numerous resin canals con¬
tain hypericin, which is poisonous to livestock, but probably not
fatal (Marsh & Clawson 1930, Kingsbury 1964). Eradication is
difficult due to deep perennial roots, vigorous leafy basal offshoots
and numerous, highly viable, genetically similar seeds, megasporo-
genesis being 97% apomitic (pseudogamous) (Tutin et al. 1968).
The name “St. John’s Wort” is derived from the belief that the
plant’s dew precented sore eyes on St. John’s eve, June 24, when
huge ceremonial bonfires of this plant blazed throughout Europe.
Bouquets then gathered were hung in windows as talismans against
thunder, witches and other misfortune, while in Switzerland, young
women put them under their pillows believing they would marry
the men of their dreams. The dark-red pellucid leaf dots supposedly
appeared on August 29, the day John the Baptist was beheaded
(Hegi 1925, Clohisy 1930).
7. Hypericum punctatum Lam. Map 7.
Sparingly branched perennial with terete stems 4-10 (-12) dm
tall. Leaves oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, the larger 3-7 cm long,
1-2 (-3) cm wide, dark punctate, blunt or retuse, 5- to 7-nerved;
base clasping to attenuate. Corymbs compact; flowers 6-10 mm
wide, short-pedicellate. Seyals ovate-oblong , broadly acute, black -
syotted and - lined , 3. 8-6.8 mm long. Stamens (27) -35- (40) ,
weakly 3-delphous ; anthers black-dotted. Ovary 3-locular ; styles 3,
free, 1.5-2. 5 mm long; stigmas capitate. Caysules 3-celled, sub-
globose to ovoid, S.8-^.6 mm long, 3.6-U.2 mm wide, with elongate
oil vesicles. Seeds yellowish-brown, 0.6-0. 7 mm long. N = 8, 2N —
ring of 16 at anaphase (Hoar 1931, Robson & Adams 1968).
Eastern North America, from Maine to Minn., south to Fla. &
Texas, in Wisconsin along forest edges, open wooded slopes, flood-
plain thickets, wet prairies, abandoned fields and roadsides : in low,
mesic woods (near Tomah, Monroe Co.), with Trillium cernuum,
1970]
Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61
339
Uvularia sessilii folia, Mitchella repens, Aster macro phyllus and in
bottomland woods on floodplain terraces (Trempealeau Co.), with
Quercus bicolor, Fraxinus spp., Betula nigra, Carex spp. Though
widely distributed, it is never abundant, this possibly related to
the “Oenothera-like” ring chromosome segregation pattern, pro¬
ducing various isolated and inbred populations. Flowering from
early July to early September, fruiting August to mid-September.
8. Hypericum mutilum L. Map 8, Fig. 5.
H. mutilum var. long [folium Bob. Keller, in Bull. Herb.
Boiss. (ser. 2) 8: 184. 1908, ex char. [Type: Visconsin
(sic!), Kumelien (sic!), 113.]
The variety longifolium is apparently nothing but a long-leaved
plant, not taxonomically recognized here. There are no Hypericum
specimens in the very fragmntary Kumlien Herbarium deposited at
WIS. The type is presumably in G.
Erect slender annuals or perennials (1-) 2-6 dm tall, branched
diffusely above, the leafy-bracted bases decumbent. Leaves deltoid-
ovate to oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, cordate-clasping, 3- to 5-nerved,
minutely punctate, the larger 1-2 (-3) cm long, (3-) 8-13 mm
wide. Inflorescences lax and diffuse, poorly defined, leafy-bracted,
the pedicels very slender, unequal, the angle between a pair of
lateral peduncles ca. 70-105°. Uppermost bracts setaceous, 1.5-3. 8
mm long (Fig. 5). Flowers 2. 6-4. 5 mm wide. Sepals linear-oblong,
acute, 2-4 mm long, equaling capsule. Petals 2-3 mm long. Stamens
5-10. Ovary 1-locular, the styles 0.5-0. 9 mm long; stigmas capitate.
Capsules ovoid to ellipsoid, greenish at maturity, 2-4 (-5) mm
long, 1. 6-2.4 mm wide. Seeds yellow, striate, minutely rugose,
0.45-0.55 mm long. N = 8 (Hoar & Haertl 1932).
Eastern N. America, from Minn, to Newfoundland, south to
Fla. and Texas, in Wisconsin mostly in the lower Wisconsin River
valley and Driftless Area, on sandstone cliff ledges, sandy creek
margins and river flats, moist sandy or black muck lowland
meadows, swales and desiccated temporary pools, rarely in moist
woods or abandoned fields. Flowering July to September; fruiting
early August to late September.
A highly variable species with populations in Brazil, Hawaii and
Europe.
9. Hypericum boreale (Britton) Bicknell Map 9, Figs. 1, 5, 6.
Northern St. John’s-Wort.
Slender, rhizomatous and decumbent, branched perennial herbs
with terete to obscurely 4-angled stems 1-3 (-4 in tall grass) dm
tall, the bases often with leafy short-shoots. Leaves ovate to ellip-
■^i , [•
HYPERICUM
HYPERICUM '"'x
mutilum"
PUNCTATUM
I IL I t\|op S
y i HYPERICUM
HYPERICUM
MAJUS
L L I N OjV S
i n
y L HYPERICUM
HYPERICUM^\
1 i— GENTIANOIDES
CANADENSE
340 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
1970] Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61 341
HYPERICUM
Figure 5. Line-drawi'ngs of several Wisconsin small-flowered Hypericum (Sect.
Brathys) , (From N. C. Fassett, 1960, p. 246, with permission).
342 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
HYPERICUM
CANADENSE
X HYPERICUM
DISSIMULATUM
A
A
V
V
V
V
V
~t~
HYPERICUM
BOREALE
State of upper-most bract:
Foliaceous
Setaceous
Nerve number of mid-stem leaves:
1-nerved
3-nerved
5-nerved
Primary Dichasial Angle
^ 0-30°
30 j- 60°
60 - 90°
(or more)
Collection: Jackson Co. ,
City Point. Utech 68-200.
(WIS).
T I T— I — T 1 I™”1 1 I I
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 ' 0.8
LEAF WIDTH / LENGTH RATIO
(mid-stem)
Figure 6. Scatter diagram of mass collection (Utech 68-200) clearly showing
intermediates (x Hypericum dissimulatum Bicknell) between H. boreale and
H. canadense.
tic, if aquatic suborbicular, obtuse to rounded, obscurely punctate,
sessile, 3- to 5-nerved, the larger 8-15 (-25) mm long, 4-8 mm
wide. Inflorescence lax and diffuse, leafy -hr acted, the angle between
a pair of lateral peduncles ca. 85—110°. Uppermost bracts foliace¬
ous, resembling small leaves, 2.5— U mm long (Fig. 5). Flowers
3.4-5 mm wide. Sepals oblong -elliptic, 2. 7-3. 8 mm long, equaling
petals but shorter than capsule. Stamens 5-10. Ovary 1 -locular ;
styles 3; stigmas capitate. Capsules ovoid to ellipsoid, 3-5 mm
long, 1.5-3 mm wide. Seeds light brown, 0.6-0.75 mm long. N = 8
(Hoar and Haertl 1932).
Northeastern N. America, from Minn, to Newfoundland, south
to N.Y., W Penna., N Ind. and E Iowa (disjunct to Tenn. ? — Sharp
et. al. 1960), apparently limited to glaciated areas, in Wisconsin
common in moist acid habitats as rocky or sandy shores, mud flats,
acid tamarack bogs, alluvial marches, floating sedge mats, damp
swales and sandy fields, as Sphagnum-— Cyperaceae wet meadows
(Black River Falls, Jackson Co.) with scattered Larix, Drosera
intermedia, Eriophorum virginicum, Muhlenbergia uniflora,
Spiraea tomentosa and J uncus spp. Flowering mid- July to Septem¬
ber, fruiting late July to early October.
1970]
Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61
343
Hybridizes in Wisconsin with H. canadense (pp. 26, 29-30; Fig.
6), these hybrids, called x. H. dissimulatum Bicknell (1913) and
reported here for the first time for Wisconsin, represent the
western-most station of this supposedly “unusually constant and
recurring hybrid” (Fernald 1950).
9a. Hypericum boreale forma callitrichoides Fassett
A sterile, submerged aquatic form with simple, flexible stems
and small, 3-nerved leaves lacking pellucid-punctate dots, occa¬
sional in northern and central Wisconsin lakes (Adams, Bayfield,
Jackson, Juneau, Langlade, Monroe and Oconto Counties) and
grading shoreward into normal plants.
10. Hypericum majus (Gray) Britton Map 10, Fig. 5.
Common St. John’s-Wort.
Erect stout perennial with solitary or tufted stems, 1-4 (-6) dm
tall, often with small leafy basal offshoots. Leaves commonly
ascending, lanceolate or elliptic to oblanceolate or broadly acute to
narrowly oblong, acute to obtuse, sub cordate-clasping, 5- to
7 -nerved, the larger 1.5-J+.U cm long, 5-12 mm ivide. Inflorescences
well-defined, often compact, the angle between a pair of lateral
peduncles only 25-50° ; bracts setaceous-subulate, 1-nerved, 1.8-
3.8 mm long (Fig. 5). Sepals lance-acuminate, 4.2-6. 5 mm long.
Petals equaling sepals; stamens 15-20, weakly 5-delphous. Ovary
1-locular ; styles 3, 1-1.5 mm long; stigmas capitate. Capsules nar¬
rowly ovoid to ellipsoid, obtuse, reddish-purple at maturity, 5-7.8
mm long, 2-4 mm wide. Seeds pale brown, lustrous, reticulate, 0.6-
0.7 mm long. N = 8 (Hoar & Haertl 1932).
Western and northeastern N. America, from British Columbia, E
Wash, and Colorado to Quebec and Penna. (2 disjunct stations in
Tenn.— Gillespie 1959; Sharp et. al. 1960), frequent throughout
Wisconsin, chiefly in open, moist, gravelly, sandy or sometimes
muddy habitats, as shores and beaches, low wet prairies, shrub-
carrs, black spruce and tammarack bogs, Carex swales, moist talus
and cracks of sandstone cliffs, spring and marly marsh margins,
and weedy in pastures, sandy fields, roadsides and cranberry bogs.
Flowering late June through September; fruiting earliest July to
mid-October.
Extremely variable in Wisconsin, especially as to size, hybridiz¬
ing not infrequently with H. boreale and H. canadense (cf.
page 32).
344 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
11. Hypericum canadense L. Canadian St. John’s-Wort.
Map 11, Figs. 5, 6.
Slender erect annual or perennial herbs, 1-3 (-4.6) dm tall;
stems unbranched except above, sharply 4-angled. Leaves linear-
oblanceolate to linear, obtuse, sessile-attenuate, 1- or weakly
3 -nerved, 6-25 (-50) mm long, 1-3 mm wide. Inflorescences well-
defined but open, the angle between a pair of lateral peduncles ca.
30-65° ; bracts subulate, 2-2.7 mm long (Fig. 5). Flowers 4-7 mm
wide. Sepals linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 2. 5-4.4 mm long. Petals
2-5 mm long; stamens 5-10. Ovary 1-locular; styles 3, 0.7-1. 0 mm
long; stigmas capitate. Capsules ovoid to conic, acute, reddish-
purple at maturity, 3-5.2 mm long, 1.3-2. 6 mm wide. Seeds light
yellow, reticulate, 0.5-0. 6 mm long. N 8 (Hoar & Haertl 1932).
Eastern N. America, from Ga. to Ala. to Newfoundland, west to
Iowa, the Black Hills and SE Manitoba, in Wisconsin mostly in the
northern Driftless Area, in sandy-peaty roadsides, along railroads,
wet sandy meadows, swales and marshes, moist sandstone ledges,
in Sphagnum of Ericaceae-Cyperaceae bog (near City Point, Jack-
son Co.) with Ledum groenlandicum, Chamaedaphne calyculata,
Larix laricina, Picea mariana, Rhynchospora alba, Carex oligo-
sperma, Solidago uliginosa, Eriophorum virginicum, Betula pumila
and Aronia melanocarpa. Flowering early June to late August,
fruiting mid- July to early October.
Of the 30 collections from Wisconsin, only 6 date from before
1930 and these from only 2 stations (McLaughlin 1931) . The recent
building of roads and flowages may have made the region’s glacial
lake beds more receptive to botanizing and to the establishment of
pioneers such as H. canadense and its hybrids with#, boreale and
H. majus (cf. below for citations).
HYBRIDIZATION IN HYPERICUM SECT. BRATHYS IN
WISCONSIN:
Four Wisconsin members of section Brathys (mutilum, boreale,
canadense, majus) are morphologically and ecologically similar,
often two or three growing together in the same station in Wiscon¬
sin’s Driftless Area, especially in the beds of glacial lakes (Maps
8-11), where all but the uncommon H. mutilum tend to hybridize.
Hybrids are especially common in sandy, moist, flat, acid habitats.
This region, at least post-glacially, has been a very suitable “open
habitat” for the establishment of many Coastal Plain species (Mc¬
Laughlin 1932, Peattie 1922), such as Xyris spp., Bartonia vir-
ginica, Gratiola lutea, Drosera spp., Rhynchospora spp., Helenium
flexuosum (— H. nudiflorum) (Mickelson & litis 1966), and the
microevolution of others (Johnson & litis 1963, pp. 267-8).
1970] Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61 345
Potential for long range dispersal in this small-seeded group
is probably very great: all four species occur in Europe, probably
introduced by birds or in fodder (Heine 1962, Tutin et al. 1968).
Hypericum mutilum L. also occurs in Brazil (Keller 1908) and
Hawaii (Doty & Mueller-Dombois 1966).
Hybrids between these taxa are very common, both putative Fx’s
and backcrosses, which is one reason for the great taxonomic diffi¬
culties in this group. In addition, dwarf forms of each species are
common and especially difficult to distinguish. Hybrids, being inter¬
mediate morphologically, are only briefly described below.
12. Hypericum roreale (Britton) Bicknell x H. canadense L.
Hypericum x dissimulatum Bicknell Fig. 6.
Similar to H. canadense, but more lax and branched, with
smaller, lanceolate-elliptic leaves and shorter, reddish-green cap¬
sules (Bicknell 1913). H. canadense is evidently a southern species,
which post-glacially overlapped the northern H. boreale. The latter
species, confined as it is to glaciated territory, has a most anoma¬
lous distribution and its Pleistocene survival or origins is not clear.
It may represent a “stabilized hybrid” between H. mutilum, a wide-
ranging eastern species, and H. majus, a western element, which is
now limited to glaciated territory of northeastern North America.
Jackson Co. : Indian Creek, sand flats ca. 1 mi W of City Point, 22
Sept. 1968, TJtech 68-200 (WIS), a mass collection, represented by
the hybrid analysis scatter diagram of Fig. 6.
12b. Hypericum boreale ABrittonq Bicknell x H. majus (Gray)
Britton
Hybrids of these dissimilar species are erect but shorter than
H. majus and with diffuse-branched inflorescences and short, ellip¬
tic-ovoid capsules like H. boreale. H. majus is clearly a cordilleran
(Pacific Northwest ?) element which, like so many other taxa, in¬
vaded NE N. America post-glacially to hybridized with an east-
tern vicarious element (Mason & litis 1965), in this case H. boreale
(see above). Barron Co.: mud flat, edge of small lake, ca. 2 mi N
of Turtle Lake, 21 Aug. 1956, litis et al. 7280 B (WIS). Juneau
Co.: Sprague Flowage (T. 19 N., R. 2 E., Sec. 1), dry sandy-peaty,
sedge-grass marsh, 23 Sept. 1967, litis et al. 25,851 pro parte,
(WIS — mass collection).
12c. Hypericum majus (Gray) Britton x H. canadense L.
Two very similar species form hybrids of shorter stature than
H. majus and with leaves of intermediate shape, vein number and
width; sepals and capsules also intermediary. The parental species
346 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
represent a vicarious pair (W. and E. North America) which post-
glacially became sympatric in glaciated northastern North Amer¬
ica, where they hybridize freely. Clark Co. : Trow, moist ground,
15 July 1915, Goessl 1303 (MIL). Jackson Co.: temporary sandy
margined pool, (T. 20 N., R. 1 W., Sec. 22), 22 Sept. 1968, Utech
68-300 (WIS — mass collection). Lincoln Co.: Wilson twp. (T. 35
N., R. 5 E., Sec. 4), ditch, 11 Sept. 1949, Seymour 10,968 (WIS).
Monroe Co. : NW of Warrens, railroad ditch, 15 Sept. 1935, Fassett
17.686 (WIS). Oneida Co.: Rhinelander, Silver Bass Lake, on
shore stump, 29 Aug. 1945, Hein 3U (WIS). Wood Co. : swale and
desiccated pond, % mi W of Dexterville, 22 Sept. 1968, Utech 68-
100 (WIS — mass collection) ; Birch Bluff, S of City Point. (T 21
N. , R. 2 E., Sec. 19), 31 May 1958, litis & Koeppen 12,271a (WIS) .
13. Hypericum gentianoides (L.) B.S.P. Orange-grass, Pine
Weed Map 13.
Erect, strict, very slender annual 1-2.5 dm tall; stems, 4-angled,
punctate, with numerous ascending filiform branches. Leaves subu¬
late, appressed, acute, sessile, 1.5-2. 8 mm long, 0.5 mm wide. In¬
florescence racemose ; flowers minute, nearly sessile. Sepals linear-
lanceolate, 1.6-2. 2 mm long. Petals pale yellow, 2. 8-3. 6 mm long.
Stamens.
5-10. Ovary 1-locular; styles 3, separate, 0. 6-0.9 mm long; stig¬
mas capitate. Capsules slenderly conic to lance-subulate, 4-4.8 mm
long, 0.8-1. 5 mm wide. Seeds yellowish brown, obscurely areolate,
O. 3-0.4 mm long. N = 12 (Hoar & Haertl 1932).
Eastern United States (Maine to SW Ontario & Minn., south to
Fla. and Texas), in open, dry, rock or acid outcrops, sand barrens
and sand prairies in southern Wisconsin. At maturity, the entire
plant turns copper or brick-color, hence called “orange grass.”
Flowering mid-June to mid-September; fruiting late June to late
September.
2. TRIADTNUM Raf. Marsh St. John’s-wort.
Erect glabrous perennial, stoleniferous herbs with simple, oppo¬
site, entire, often pellucid-punctuate leaves. Flowers 5-merous,
regular, perfect, hypogynous, small, in axillary and terminal
cymules. Petals oblong, mauve or pinkish to greenish. Stamens 9,
the filaments connate into 3 fascicles (3-delphous) and alternating
with 3 conspicuous hypogynous glands. Ovary superior, completely
3-loculate; styles 3, separate, divergent; stigmas capitate. Capsules
septicidal, 3-carpellate. Seeds small, short-cylindric, reticulate.
Triadenum has 4 species in eastern North America and 1 in Asia
(Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Ussuri & Amur, Triadenum japonicum
1970]
Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61
347
(Bl.) Makino; Ohwi (1965)), which are often considered as sec¬
tion Elodea (Juss.) Choisy [non section Elodes (Adans.) Koch] of
Hypericum. Segregated by Rafinesque (FI. Tell. 3: 78. 1836) on its
pink petals and 3 hypogynous glands, it differs in addition (Holm
1906) by petals imbricate not convolute in bud, 9 stamens strongly
3-delphous into 3 fascicles alternating with 3 hypogynous glands,
prominent veins repeatedly branched laterally to the blade mar¬
gins, and tuberous subterranean stolons with paired scale-like
leaves usually with one, rather than many adventitous roots above
each bud. Chromosome counts of N = 19 (Hoar & Haertl 1932)
do not suggest a relationship to Hypericum , but rather to Crato-
xylon, a pan-tropical tree genus.
Key to Species
A. Sepals elliptic to spatulate, summit obtuse to rounded, 2.8-
4.8 mm long; fruiting styles 0.6-1. 5 mm long; common Wis¬
consin marsh and bog plant. _ 1. T. FRASERI.
AA. Sepals oblong to lanceolate, summit acuminate to acute, 4.3-
8 mm long; fruiting styles 2. 1-3.6 mm long; rare, central
Wisconsin. _ 2. T. VIRGINICUM
1. Triadenum FRASERI (Spach) Gl. Marsh St. John’s-Wort.
Hypericum Fraseri Spach May 13, Fig. 7.
Hypericum virginicum L. var. Fraseri (Spach) Fernald
Erect, glabrous, stoloniferous perennial herbs 2-6 dm tall, mostly
reddish-purple in age; internodes terete, without decurrent lines.
Leaves ovate-cordate to elliptic, 2. 3-6. 5 cm long, 1-3 cm wide,
emarginate to obtuse, sessile and cordate-clasping. Cymules num¬
erous, terminal and axillary, few-flowered. Sepals 3 -Ip, 8 (-5.2) mm
long, elliptic-oblong to spatulate, obtuse to rounded. Petals mauve
or pink, oblong, 5.4-8 mm long. Stamens 9, 3-delphous, persistent;
hypogynous glands 3, oval, orange. Ovary 3-celled ; styles 3, free,
0.6 -1.5 mm long at maturity; stigmas 3, capitate. Capsules conic-
ovoid, 7-10 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, abruptly narrowed to styles.
Seeds cylindric, dark brown, reticulate, 0.9-1. 1 mm long.
Native of northeast North America (NE Nebraska & SW Mani¬
toba to Newfoundland & Labrador, south to Conn., Penna., N. Y.,
the mountains of W. Va., N. Ind. and Iowa), abundant in Wiscon¬
sin’s wet acid habitats, as tamarack-black spruce- leather-leaf-
sphagnum bogs, sedge meadows, shrub carrs, sloughs and peaty
marshes : in Comstock Marsh, Marquette Co., an extensive quaking
bog with abundant Drosera rotundifolia, Sarracenia purpurea and
patches of Phragmites communis, (Nee 1355, WIS) ; along Turtle
Lake, Marquette Co., with Carex spp., Potentilla fruticosa and P.
348 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 7. Scatter diagram comparing' sepal and style length of Wisconsin
Triadenum fraseri and Wisconsin and non- Wisconsin T. virginicum.
1970]
Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61
349
palustris , Chamaedaphne calyculata, sedge meadow and adjoining
thickets; in Vilas Co., along Lac Vieux Desert, in shallow acid
waters of slow stream draining sphagnum bog with Larix laricina,
Picea mariana, Ledum groenlandicum, Sarracenia purpurea, Cal-
opogon pulchellus, Nuphar rubrodiscum, Utricularia, Hippurus,
etc., (litis 18,149, WIS). Flowering from early July to latest
August, fruiting mid- July till late September.
2. Triadenum virginicum (L.) Raf. Map 14, Fig. 7.
Hypericum virginicum L.
Similar to above, but sepals oblong-lanceolate, acuminate to
acute, 4.8-8 mm long. Petals obovate, 6. 3-9. 8 mm long. Ovary 3-
celled; styles 3, divergent, 2. 1-3. 6 mm long; stigmas capitate. Cap¬
sules ovoid-cylindric, 7.6-13.4 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, gradually
tapering to styles. Seeds cylindric, dark brown, reticulate, 0. 9-1.1
mm long. N — 19 (Hoar & Haertl 1932).
An Atlantic coastal plain element, Triadenum virginicum ex¬
tends inland to S. N. Y., S. Ontario, and disjunct to N. Ind. and
central Wisconsin : Lincoln Co. : Merrill, dry sandy field along
Prairie River with Comptonia peregrina, Hieracium aurantiacum
and Robinia pseudoacacia, 19 Aug. 1956, liven 419 (WIS). Bagga
Marsh, among cranberry beds along Copper River, 25 Aug. 1957,
Schlising & PeroutJcy 660 (WIS). Wood Co.: burned over sphag¬
num bog, 5 mi NW of Babcock, 20 Aug. 1937, Catenhusen s.n.
(WIS). Biron township, Huffman farm, 16 July 1953, Dana s.n.
(WIS). It is noteworthy that all collections are recent, since 1937.
In Wisconsin, T. Fraseri is quite common and easily separatable
from both Wisconsin and non- Wisconsin T. virginicum (Fig. 7).
Taxonomically and morphologically, Gleason (1947) distinguished
them on sepal and style length. Fernald (1936), using var. Fraseri
to indicate this difference, notes that, where sympatric, they usually
show clear segregation into a southern or lowland and a northern
or upland series.
Bibliography
Adams, P. 1959a. The status of Hypericum proliflcum. Rhodora 61:250-251.
- . 1959b. The taxonomy of Hypericum Section Myriandra ( Hyper -
icaceae). Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Mass.
- . 1962. Studies in the Guttiferae. I. A. synopsis of Hypericum Section
Myriandra. Gray Herb. No. CLXXXIX, 1-50. Harvard Univ., Cambridge,
Mass.
Bartholomew, E. A. 1949. The Family Hypericaceae in West Virginia.
Castanea 14:102-109.
Bicknell, E. P. 1895. Hypericum boreale (Britton) and related species. Bull.
Torr. Bot. Chib 22(5) :211-215.
350 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
— - . 1913. The ferns and flowering plants of Nantucket — XI. Bull. Terr.
Bot. Club 40(11) : 610-611.
Clohisy, M. 1930. Wisconsin Wild Flowers. Milwaukee. 122 pp.
Curtis, J. T. 1959. The Vegetation of Wisconsin. Univ. of Wisconsin Press,
Madison.
Darlington, C. D. and A. P. Wylie. 1955. Chromosome Atlas of Flowering
Plants . George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London.
Doty, M. S. and D. Mueller-Dombois. 1966. Atlas for Bioecology in Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park. Hawaii Bot. Science Paper No. 2, Univ. of
Hawaii, 507 pp.
Fassett, N. C. 1939. Notes from the Herbarium of the University of Wiscon¬
sin — XVII. Elatine and other aquatics. Rhodora 41:376.
- . 1960. A Manual of Aquatic Plants , 2nd ed. Univ, of Wisconsin Press,
Madison.
Fernald, M. L. 1936. Plants from the Outer Coastal Plain of Virginia. Rhodora
44:434-435.
- . 1950. Gray’s Manual of Botany, ed. 8. New York: American Book Co.
Gillespie, J. 1959. The Hyperiaceae of Tennessee. Castanea 24:24-32.
Gleason, H. A. 1947. Notes on some American plants. Phytologia 2:288-291.
- and A. Cronquist. 1963. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern
United States and Adjacent Canada. New York: von Nostrand Co.
Guire, K. E. and E. Voss. 1963. Distribution of distinctive shoreline plants of
the Great Lakes region. Mich. Bot. 2:99-114.
Hartley, T. G. 1962. The Flora of the Driftless Area. Ph.D. Dissertation,
Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City.
Hegi, G. 1925. Illus trier te Flora von Mittel-Europa. Munchen: J. F. Lehmann
Verlag, Vol. 5, I.
Heine, H. 1962. Les Millepertuis americains da'ns la flore d’Europe. Bauhinia
2(1) : 71-78.
Hoar, C. S. 1931. Meiosis in Hypericum punctatum. Bot . Gaz. 92:197-204.
- - and Haertl. 1932. Meiosis in the genus Hypericum. Bot. Gaz. 93:
197-204.
Holm, T. 1906. Art. XXXVI. Triadenum virginicum (L.) Rafin. A morpho¬
logical and anatomical study. Amer. J. Sci. IV, Vol. XVI, No. 95:369-376.
Johnson, M. F., and H. H. Iltis. 1963. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of
Wisconsin. No. 48. Compositae I — Composite Family I (Tribes Eupa-
torieae, Verno'nieae, Cynarieae and Cichorieae) . Trans . Wis. Acad. Sci.
Arts and Letters, Vol. 52:255-342.
Jones, G. N. and G. D. Fuller. 1955. Vascular Plants of Illinois. Univ. of
Illinois Press, Urbana.
Keller, R. 1908. Zur Kenntnis der Sectio Brathys des Genus Hypericum. Bull,
de Vherbier Boissier ser. 2, 8:175-191.
Kingsbury, J. M. 1964. Poisonous plants of the United States and Canada.
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 626 pp.
Lakela, O. 1965. A Flora of Northeastern Minnesota . Univ. of Minnesota
Press, Minneapolis.
Marsh, C. D. and A. B. Clawson. 1930. Toxic effect of St. Johnswort (Hy¬
pericum perforatum) in cattle and sheep. U.S.D.A. Tech. Bull . No. 202:
1-23.
Mason, C. T. and H. H. Iltis. 1965. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of
Wisconsin. No. 53. Ge'ntianaceae and Menyanthaceae — Gentian and Buck-
bean Families. Trans. Wis . Acad . Sci. Arts and Letters, Vol. 54:295-329.
1970] Utech and litis — Flora of Wisconsin No. 61 351
McLaughlin, W. T. 1931. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of Wisconsin. No.
14. Hypericaceae. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sri. Arts and Letters , Vol. 26:281-
288.
- . 1932. Atlantic Coastal Plain Plants in the Sand Barrens of North¬
western Wisconsin. Ecol. Mono. 2:335-383.
Mickelson, C. J. and H. H. Iltis. 1966. Preliminary Reports on the Flora of
Wisconsin. No. 55. Compositae IV — Composite Family IV (Tribe Helenieae
and Anthemideae) . Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts and Letters, Vol. 55:
197-222.
Mulligan, G. A. 1957. Chromosome numbers of Canadian weeds. I. Can. J.
Bot. 35:779-789.
Nielsen, N. 1924. Chromosome numbers in the genus Hypericum. Hereditas
5:378-382..
Ohwi, J. 1965. Flora of Japan. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. 1067 pp.
Peattie, D. C. 1922. The Atlantic coastal plain element in the flora of the
Great Lakes. Rhodora 24:57-88.
Robson, N. K. B. and P. Adams. 1968. Chromosome numbers in Hypericum
and related genera. Brittonia 20:95-106.
Seymour, F. C. 1960. Flora of Lincoln County Wisconsin. P. F. Nolan, Taun¬
ton, Mass.
Sharp, A. J., R. E. Shanks, H. L. Sherman and D. H. Norris. 1960. A Pre¬
liminary Checklist of Dicots of Tennessee. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville.
114 pp. (ms).
Sorensen, P. D. 1966. The Flora of the old bed of Glacial Lake Wisconsin and
the adjacent terminal moraine. MS thesis, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City. (ms).
Svenson, H K. 1940. Plants of Southern United States. III. Woody species of
Hypericum. Rhodora 42:8-19.
Swezey, G. D. 1883. Catalogue of the phaenogamous and vascular cryptogam-
ous plants of Wisconsin. In Chamberlain’s: Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 1:
376-395.
Tutin, T. G., et al. 1968. Flora Europaea. Vol. 2. Rosaceae to Umbelliferae.
London: Cambridge Univ. Press. 455 pp.
PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FLORA OF WISCONSIN
NO. 62. COMPOSITAE VI. COMPOSITE FAMILY VI.
THE GENUS AMBROSIA — THE RAGWEEDS'-1 2
Willard W. Payne
Ambrosia (including Franseria) is one of several genera of the
Compositae which are distinguished by exceptional modification for
wind pollination or anemophily. All of these genera (Iva, Euphro-
syne, Dicorea, Hymenoclea and Xanthium, in addition to Ambrosia)
are characterized by similarities in vegetative morphology, chem¬
istry, cytology, and pollen and inflorescence structure that suggest
evolutionary affinity. They have been variously classified as a dis¬
tinct family, the Ambrosiaceae (Small, 1913; Rydberg, 1922), as a
distinct tribe, the Ambrosieae (Cassini, 1834; Delpino, 1871; Ben¬
son, 1957; Payne, Raven and Kyhos, 1964), and as a subtribe,
Ambrosiineae, of the tribe Heliantheae (Bentham, 1873; Fernald,
1950; Cronquist, 1952; Keck, 1959; Solbrig, 1963). There is grow¬
ing evidence to support the derivation of this evolutionary group
from helianthoid progenitors, of particular interest in this respect
being the pollen wall ultrastructural studies of Larson and Skvarla
(1966) . At the same time, however, these plants have certain chem¬
ical and structural attributes more characteristic of the Anthe-
mideae (Payne, 1963; Miller, 1967), and it is possible that they
have been derived from a progenitor group intermediate between the
Anthemideae and Heliantheae. Because of this, and taking into ac¬
count the array of morphological features common to all of the
genera, I believe they are best treated, for the present at least, as
members of the tribe Ambrosieae.
Ambrosia is distinguished from other closely related genera of
the Ambrosieae by capitulescences of wholly staminate and wholly
pistillate capitula, the staminate with saucer-shaped, lobed in¬
volucres of connate phyllaries, the pistillate with hard, spiny, bur-
like fruiting involucres. The usual arrangement of head types is
that in which staminate capitula are produced in racemose or
1 This study has been supported in part by a grant (GB 5558) from the National
Science Foundation.
2 1 wish to gratefully acknowledge the assistance and advice of Dr. Hugh litis,
Michael Nee and Roger Thibault of the Herbarium of the University of Wisconsin,
Madison. Specimens which were examined for this study were kindly made available
by the curators of the following herbaria : G, IDL, ISC, KY, MICH, MIL, MSC,
NY, SMU, TENN, UWM, WIS.
353
354 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
spicate groups at the tips of the main stems and branches, while
pistillate capitula are clustered in the axils of leaves and bracts
below the staminate racemes (see Figs. 1, 2, 3). Close similarity
and extreme floral reduction in Ambrosia, Xanthium and Hymeno-
clea suggest that these genera constitute the terminal evolutionary
branch of the Ambrosieae, with Xanthium and Hymenoclea inde¬
pendently derived from primitive forms of Ambrosia.
The genus Ambrosia is predominantly American ; approximately
31 species are native to North America, eight to South America;
two species, closely allied to and probably derived from American
progenitors, are found in the Old World. All available evidence sug¬
gests that the genus originated in and diversified from arid and
semi-arid regions in southwestern North America, where primitive
species are still abundant (Payne, 1964).
All of the ragweeds are found in open habitats. Primitive, shrubby
species occupy natural sites in deserts and semi-desert areas, being
particularly adapted for stream banks, exposed arroyos, and the
like. Such species produce fruiting involucres with many straight
or hooked spines (often identical to those of the cockleburs) and
are adapted for animal dispersal. In addition, involucres of the
majority of the species commonly fall into streams or are carried
to streams by runoff water, and dissemination by flowing water is
probably important in their local distribution. Advanced species
of ragweeds occur most abundantly today as weeds in association
with man. The physiological characteristics that have allowed prim¬
itive members to survive in open and primary sites in arid regions
are undoubtedly those which have been refined to permit derived
species to successfully exploit pioneer habitats created by the agri¬
cultural and urban practices of present American cultures. Fruit¬
ing involucres of most advanced, weedy species have few or no
vestigial spines, and the reduced spines appear to play no signifi¬
cant role in fruit dispersal (Gebben, 1965). When individuals grow
along streams or river banks, or when they occur on slopes, water
flow is probably important for local down-stream or down-slope
transport of fruits and seeds. Studies of introduced populations of
the short ragweed (A. artemisiifolia) in Oregon (G. H. Moose,
personal communication) indicate that seeds of this species may be
carried short distances by water flow, and temporary colonies of
the species often flourish on sand bars and flood plains. I have ob¬
tained evidence from experiments with a captive English sparrow
(Payne, 1962) that a small proportion of ingested seeds of A.
artemisiifolia can pass unharmed through birds’ alimentary canals
and still germinate. In addition to these factors man is a potent,
long-distance transport agent for species that occur as weeds of
cultivation. Regardless, most seeds of derived species fall and re-
1970] Payne — Flora of Wisconsin No. 62 355
Figure 1. Ambrosia psilostachya DC. A. Capitulescence. B. Habit silhouette
showing several young, adventitious shoots developed from runner-like root.
C. Representative staminate heads. D. Pale. E. Representative fruiting in¬
volucres with vestigial spines or without spines. F. Leaf silhouettes from rep¬
resentative specimens; each silhouette from different specimen, all from
median, cauline nodes.
356 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 2. Ambrosia artemisii folia L. A. Capitulescence. B. Representative
staminate heads. C. Pale. D. Representative fruiting involucres. E. & F.
Heteroblastic leaf series representing leaves of two frequently encountered
forms; lowest nodes toward left. G. Population sample, each leaf from a
different specimen; all leaves from node five above cotyledonary node.
1970]
Payne — Flora of Wisconsin No. 62
357
Figure 3. Ambrosia trifida L. A. Silhouette of seedling. B. Capitulescence. C.
Staminate head; note distal striations. D. Pale. E. Representative fruiting in¬
volucres. F. Representative leaf silhouettes.
10 mm
858 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
main in proximity to the parent plants, where they augment seed
reserves present in soils that have previously supported the species.
All of these factors are important in understanding the develop¬
ment and nature of the population structure of advanced species.
The three ragweeds found in Wisconsin are among the most
specialized in the genus. They are widespread in the eastern and
central United States (Maps 2, 4, 6) , and are well known as sources
of allergenic, air-borne pollen that constitutes the most serious
natural air pollutant in North America, being the major cause of
“hay fever” (cf. Wagner, 1959). An outstanding feature of all
Wisconsin ragweed species is their morphological variability. Al¬
though this is particularly striking when the species are examined
throughout their ranges, variability is also a pronounced attribute
of the members of genetically restricted populations, such as the
progeny grown from seeds developed by a single, self-pollinated
plant (Jones, 1936). 1 have suggested (Payne, 1962, 1965) that
for the short ragweed, heterogeneity may have been originally de¬
veloped or strongly reinforced by fusion (“subspecies amalgama¬
tion”) of once more distinct, subspecific groups. This hypothesis is
compatible with present species structure and with the probable
Pleistocene and post-Pleistocene history of the species. It may also
provide at least a partial explanation for the similar attributes of
Wisconsin perennial ragweed (A. psilostachya) and giant ragweed
(A. trifida).
Although this paper deals specifically with only the ragweeds
of Wisconsin, there is presently no treatment covering other
genera of the Ambrosia tribe (Ambrosieae) of the Compositae
with which the ragweeds are often confused. Therefore, the keys
below include all of the members of the Ambrosieae found in the
state. Treatment of the genus Iva follows that of Jackson (1960),
and of the genus Xanthium that of Love and Dansereau (1959).
AMBROSIEAE — Wind pollinated shrubs, perennial herbs and
annuals distributed principally in desert and disturbed habitats in
the Americas. Leaves alternate to opposite, usually petiolate, often
lobed. Pubescence various but always including simple, uniseriate
trichomes which are dead at maturity, and biseriate, glandular
colleters. Capitulescences paniculate to racemose or spicate, typ¬
ically maturing acropetally ; capitula paleaceous, perfect or unisex¬
ual, often nodding. Perfect heads with few, free or connate phyl-
laries, sterile disc florets, and fertile ray florets. Unisexual heads
usually with connate phyllaries (phyllaries lacking in staminate
heads of Xanthium), the phyllaries of pistillate heads united to
form winged or spiny burs with prominent beaks through which
the stigmatic lobes project. All florets reduced and specialized for
360 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
anemophily; pappus vestigial or lacking; pistillate florets with
reduced corollas or the corollas wanting, without androecia, the
stigma lobes elongate and minutely papillose ; staminate florets with
anthers weakly connate and often separating during anthesis, lack¬
ing ovaries, and with capitate, penicillate pistillodia which elongate
after anthesis to push pollen from the anther cylinders. Pollen
oblate, tricolporate, the colpae mostly vestigial, echinulate, cavate,
the cavae enlarging to form bladder-like chambers by pronounced
shrinkage of the protoplast and invagination of the inner wall
layers of the grains after shedding. Base chromosome number
.r =18.
Key To Wisconsin Ambrosieae
a. Staminate and pistillate florets in common heads; ray florets
fertile, disc florets sterile (IV A) _ _ b.
b. Plants annual; phyllaries free _ c.
c. Leaves ovate, coarsely serrate; heads subtended by prom¬
inent bracts ; phyllaries 3-4 _ _ /. annua L.
c. Leaves subcordate to ovate, usually coarsely lobed and
toothed; heads ebracteate; phyllaries 5 _
_ _ I. xanthifolia Nutt.
b. Plants perennial; phyllaries basally connate _
_ _ _ _ _ I. axillaris Pursh
a. Staminate and pistillate florets borne in separate heads _ d.
d. Staminate heads lacking phyllaries, pistillate heads 2-flow-
ered and with many, hooked spines (XANTHIUM) - e.
e. Leaves pinnately lobed ; stems bearing long, golden, three-
rayed, axillary spines _ —X. spinosum L.
e. Leaves coarsely palmately lobed; stems unarmed _
_ X. strumarium L.
d. Staminate heads with involucres of connate phyllaries, pistil¬
late heads 1-flowered and with few vestigial spines or none
_ _ (AMBROSIA) See following key.
Genus 15. AMBROSIA L. Ragweed.
In Wisconsin, perennial or annual herbs with petiolate, lobed
leaves opposite below or throughout. Staminate heads in terminal,
racemose clusters, nodding on short stalks, many-flowered, pale¬
aceous, with few-lobed involucres of connate phyllaries. Pistillate
heads clustered in axils of upper leaves, sessile, 1-flowered, tur¬
binate, with few sharp or blunt spines localized near the beaks or
without spines.
1970]
Payne — Flora of Wisconsin No. 62
361
Key To Species
A. Leaves pinnately or bipinnately lobed or parted; staminate in¬
volucres lacking dorsal striations; upper cauline leaves usually
alternate _ B.
B. Plants perennial with horizontal runner-like underground
roots ; involucral spines blunt or absent ; leaves usually
coarsely lobed _ 1. A. psilostachya.
B. Plants annual with taproots; involucral spines usually
sharply pointed; leaves usually delicately lobed and parted
_ 2. A. artemisiifolia.
A. Leaves palmately lobed or unlobed; staminate involucres
marked with dorsal striations; all cauline leaves usually oppo¬
site; plants annual _ 3. A. trifida.
1. Ambrosia psilostachya DC. Prod. 5: 536. 1836. (non A. psilo¬
stachya Grisebach. 1861.) Perennial Ragweed, Western Ragweed
(Maps 1, 2; Figs. 1, 4P.) Type: Berlandier 2280 G; Isotype NY.
A . hispida Torr. Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N.Y. 2: 216. 1828. (non
A. hispida Pursh. 1814).
A. coronopifolia T. & G. FI. N. Am. 2: 291. 1842.
A. glandulosa Scheele, Linnaea 22: 157. 1849. (non A. glandulosa
Rydb. 1922).
A. lindheimeriana Scheele, lx. 22: 157. 1849.
A. coronopifolia var. asperula Gray, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. 6:
226. 1857.
A. coronopifolia var. gracilis Gray, lx. 6: 227. 1857.
A. psilostachya var. lindheimeriana Blank. Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard.
18: 173. 1907.
A. calif ornica Rydb. N. Am. FI. 33: 20. 1922.
A. psilostachya asperula (Gray) Blank, ex Rydb. lx. 33: 19.
1922.
A. psilostachya calif ornica (Rydb.) Blake, in I. Tidestrom. FI.
Utah & Nev. 580. 1925.
A. psilostachya var. coronopifolia (T. & G.) Farwell ex Fern.
Gray’s Man. Bot., ed. 8, 1470. 1950.
Erect, perennial herb, 0.5-10 dm high; proliferating from run¬
ner-like roots. Stems unbranched or branched; pubescent, hirsute
to pilose to hispidulous, minutely glandular; light green to yellow¬
ish, occasionally blotched or suffused with red. Leaves opposite
below, alternate above, occasionally opposite nearly to staminate
portion of capitulescence. Median cauline leaves short-petiolate
to subsessile, the petiole usually broadened with decurrent blade
tissue. Blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate in outline; pinnately to bi¬
pinnately lobed (rarely nearly unlobed), lobes with entire margins
or sparsely serrate; lamina somewhat coriaceous, often densely
362 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
gray-green pubescent ; veins prominent on under surface ; pilose to
scabrous. Capitulescence usually little branched or unbranched,
gradually blending with vegetative portion of axis. Staminate
heads paleaceous ; 10-40-flowered ; stalked to subsessile ; ebracteate.
Staminate involucre campanulate, often prominently eccentric ;
shallowly toothed, the distal teeth usually larger; persistent after
anthesis; pubescent, often minutely glandular-punctate. Staminate
florets narrowly campanulate; corolla hyaline, hve-lobed. Pistil¬
late capitula sessile ; often borne singly in axils of bracts and leaves
subtending staminate raceme, usually clustered. Fruiting involucre
obovate; spines 0-7, terete, usually bunt, often lacking; body to 6
mm long and 3.5 mm broad, reticulate-rugose, rarely striated ; beak
short, blunt to vestigial. Haploid chromosome number, n = (18),
36, 54, 72.
Ambrosia psilostachya is the least abundant of the Wisconsin
ragweeds. It is a plant of sandy soils, commonly found on sandy
prairies, often along ancient lake shores, sandy, glacial outwashes,
and near the Great Lakes. Typical collection data include refer¬
ences to sandy beaches, sandblows, sandy prairie openings, and
dry, sandy, open, upland forests. It is distributed fairly generally
through Wisconsin (Map 1) but because of its habitat preferences
is seldom abundant in comparison with short and giant ragweeds,
and it is of minor economic importance as a weed of cultivated
land. Reproduction is principally vegetative, and individuals well
adapted for a particular site commonly produce large, clonal popu¬
lations. The tendency for vegetative reproduction is correlated in
this species with production of smaller, fewer-headed capitules-
cences. Comparative seed production by individual, well-grown
shoots, raised in experimental garden plots at the University of
Michigan Botanical Gardens in 1960, gave the following results:
A. artemisiij olia (annual)- — 38,800 fruits; A. trifida (annual) —
4,700 fruits; A. psilostachya (perennial) — 80 fruits. In contrast,
24 perennial ragweed seedlings planted in similar plots in 1960
produced 3,175 vegetative shoots the succeeding spring (Payne,
1962). This difference in capitulescence development among the
species indicates that, even where relatively abundant, A. psilo¬
stachya is a comparatively minor contributor to the atmospheric
ragweed pollen load.
Like the other Wisconsin ragweeds, A. psilostachya is quite vari¬
able. This morphological variability is probably related, at least in
part, to the presence in this species of a polyploid series, although
no close correlation between particular ploidal levels and particular
morphological expressions has yet been demonstrated. While Wis¬
consin perennial ragweed has not been intensively investigated
1970]
Payne — Flora of Wisconsin No . 62
363
cytologically, the most common ploidal level is probably n — 36
(tetraploid, based upon x ~ 18). Octoploid in — 72) and diploid
(n = 18, this count not yet verified in my laboratory) plants have
been reported only from California and eastern Texas, respec¬
tively. Hexaploid plants (n = 54) are common west and south of
Wisconsin, and it is possible that this ploidal level is. represented
in the state. Studies of the comparative sesquiterpene lactone
chemistry of A . psilostachya clones and populations, currently in
progress, indicate that the morphological variability of this species
is paralleled by chemical variability (Miller, 1967 ; Miller, et al ,
1968).
2. Ambrosia artemisiif olia L. Sp. PL 2: 988. 1753. Short Rag¬
weed, Common Ragweed. (Maps 3, 4; Figs. 2, 4A.) Lectotype :
Linnaeus 1HU-U. LINN. (I select this specimen from the Linnaean
Herbarium as lectotype because it is representative for the species,
is clearly labeled aartemisifolian (sic) by Linnaeus, and is readily
available as a photograph in the microfilm edition of the Linnaean
Herbarium by the International Documentation Center AB, Tumba,
Sweden.)
A. elatior L. Sp. PL 2: 987. 1753.
Iva monophylla Walt. FL Carol. 232. 1788.
A. elata Salisb. Prodr. 175. 1796.
A. simplicifolia Raeusch. Nomen. Bot. 274. 1797.
A. absynthifolia Michx. FL Bor. Am. 2: 183. 1863.
A. paniculata Michx. lx. 2 : 183. 1803.
A. heterophylla Muhl. ex Willd. Sp. PL 4 : 287. 1805.
A. artemisifolia elatior (L.) Desc. FL Ant. 1: 239. 1821.
A. longistylis Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. N.S. 17 : 344. 1841.
A. artemisiif olia vars. a, p, 8, y. T. & G. FL N. Am. 2: 291. 1842.
A. artemisiif olia L. a quadricomis Ktze. Rev. Gen. PL I. 305.
1891.
A. artemisiif olia L. p octocornis Ktze. lx. 305. 1891.
A. artemisiae folia ssp. diversifolia Piper, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb.
11: 551. 1906.
A. artemisiae folia L. var. paniculata (Michx.) Blank. Rep. Mo.
Bot. Gard. 18: 173. 1907.
A. media Rydb. Bull. Tor. Bot. Club, 37 : 127. 1910.
A. elatior L. var. artemisiif olia (L.) Farw. Rep. Mich. Acad.
15: 190. 1913.
A. elatior L. var. heterophylla (Muhl.) Farw. lx. 190. 1913.
A. diversifolia (Piper) Rydb. N. Am. FL 33: 18. 1922.
A. monophylla (Walt.) Rydb. lx. 17. 1922
A. artemisiif olia var. elatior f. villosa Fern. & Grisc. Rhodora
37: 185. 1935.
364 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Figure 4. Leaf silhouettes representative for the Wisconsin ragweeds A.
artemisii folia (A), A. psilostachya (P), A. trifida (T), and their hybrid
progeny.
Erect, annual herb, 1-7 (-20) dm high. Stems unbranched to
much branched ; glabrous to villous, often streaked with reddish to
black longitudinal markings. Leaves petiolate, opposite below,
alternate above. Lamina of median cauline leaves pinnatifid to tri-
pinnatifid, frequently less lobed above and below, blades of upper¬
most cauline leaves occasionally unlobed; margin sparsely serrate,
serrations blending with lobes; ovate in outline. Capitulescence
much branched, occasionally wholly or predominantly staminate
or pistillate, more or less abruptly differentiated from vegetative
stem. Staminate heads paleaceous; 10-100 (-200) flowered;
stalked, stalks to 4.5 (-15) mm long, seldom bearing more than a
1970]
Payne — Flora of Wisconsin No. 62
865
single, terminal head; ebracteate. Staminate involucre campanu-
late to cupulate to flattened; lobed, with 5-10 short-deltoid, mar¬
ginal lobes, the sinuses normally extending less than % the distance
to the stalk, terminal lobes usually largest; unmarked above;
sparsely pubescent, sometimes obviously glandular; remaining at¬
tached after anthesis is complete. Pales linear, usually with mar¬
ginal or terminal, simple or glandular trichomes. Staminate florets
narrowly campanulate; corolla hyaline, 5 lobed; stamens 5, the
tips of the claws usually long-attenuate; anthers connate. Pistil¬
late heads sessile, 1 flowered; clustered in axils of bracteal and
foliage leaves below the staminate racemes; all but the terminal
one bracteate. Fruiting involucres obovate, the body to 2.5 mm
broad and 3.5 mm long, with one beak to 2 mm long; supplied with
4-12 straight, terete spines, to 1 mm long (rarely longer, or com¬
pletely vestigial and lacking), arranged in one or a few close
whorls above center; glabrous or with few to abundant, short to
long hairs, frequently glandular punctate, particularly below the
beak; somewhat rugose; commonly with reddish-brown to black
mottling or striations, sometimes suffused with pigment. Haploid
chromosome number, n — 18.
Short ragweed is by far the most abundant and economically
important of the ragweed species of Wisconsin. It is distributed
generally throughout the state (Map 3), being uncollected from
only a few counties in the northwestern and west-central portions
of Wisconsin, where the species begins to reach the northern limits
of its range at these longitudes. It is most frequently a weed of
cultivated and ruderal habitats, roadsides, railroad embankments,
and similar sites, and may also become abundant in overgrazed
and sterile soils. Because urbanites most often encounter A. arte-
misiifolia as a roadside weed, it is popularly believed that road¬
side habitats support a major proportion of the plants in an area,
and are, thus, the sources for most ragweed pollen production;
this belief is defended by manufacturers of chemicals used to spray
roadsides in weed control programs. However, three studies car¬
ried out in southeastern Michigan in 1958, 1959 and 1960 (Har¬
rington, et ah, 1960; Gebben, et al., 1962; Gebben, 1965) clearly
demonstrate that, in areas encompassing both rural and urban
land use, the great majority of plants are found in cereal grain
fields, of which wheat fields lead the list.
An outstanding attribute of this species is its variability, usually
with considerable distance between extremes in expression of virtu¬
ally all characters (see, for example, Fig. 2, D and G). It is prob¬
able that genomes and populations capable of producing variable
progeny are selected and maintained in this species. Such a mech-
366 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
anism enhances the ability of the species to survive with man by
providing a continually varying supply of genotypes, some of which
are capable of exploiting nearly any available primary site. The
selective advantage for such a mechanism is obvious when one
considers the variable nature of man-created primary habitats, viz.,
those associated with crop rotation, frequent interruption of dif¬
ferent successional stages in different ways, and so on. A possibly
significant factor in this mechanism has to do with seed longevity.
The longevity experiments initiated by Beals (Darlington, 1922)
and others demonstrate that seeds of A. art emisii folia may remain
viable in the soil for periods of 40 years or more. Thus, it is possi¬
ble for plants developed from seeds produced the preceding season
to interbreed with plants developed from seeds produced many
ragweed generations in the past, bringing together and intermix¬
ing genomes from populations which may have been selected under
quite different site conditions. Similar factors influencing popula¬
tion dynamics are probably also important in the biology of A.
psilostachya and A. trifida .
3. Ambrosia trifida L. Sp. PI. 2: 988. 1753. Giant Ragweed,
Great Ragweed, Horse Cane. (Maps 5, 6; Figs. 3, 4T.)
Lectotype: Linnaeus 1114—1. LINN. (As for the previous species
treated, this specimen is appropriately labeled and preserved, and
a photograph is available from the International Documentation
Center.)
A. simplicif olia Walt. FI. Carol. 231. 1788.
A. integrifolia Muhl. ex Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 375. 1805.
A. aptera DC. Prod. 5: 527. 1836.
A. trifida var. integrifolia (Muhl. ex Willd.) T. & G. FI. N. Am.
2: 290. 1842.
A. trifida L. var. /3 texana Scheele, Linnaea 22: 156. 1849.
A. trifida L. a normalis Ktze. Rev. Gen. PL I. 305. 1891.
A. trifida L. a normalis var. aptera Ktze. lx. 305. 1891.
A. trifida L. a normalis var. heterophylla Ktze. lx. 305. 1891.
A. striata Rydb. Brittonia 1 : 96. 1931.
A. variabilis Rydb. lx. 97. 1931.
A. trifida L. f. integrifolia (Muhl.) Fern. Rhodora 40: 347. 1938.
A. trifida var. polyploidea Rousseau, Nat. Canad. 71 : 215. 1944.
A. trifida var. trifida Cronquist, Rhodora 47 : 396. 1945.
Erect, annual herb, 2-50 dm high. Stems unbranched to much
branched ; hispid-hispidulous to scabrous or nearly glabrous, some¬
times tuberculate; somewhat angular and ridged; often with fine,
black longitudinal striations, frequently suffused or blotched with
red. Leaves opposite throughout or becoming alternate in the ca-
1970]
Payne — Flora of Wisconsin No. 62
367
pitulescence ; petiolate, the petiole often more or less winged with
decurrent blade tissue. Blade ovate-lanceolate to broadly ovate or
ovate-deltoid in outline; upper, bracteate blades often becoming
narrowly lanceolate; unlobed or palmately lobed, the 3-7 primary
lobes occasionally bearing pinnately arranged secondary lobes ; mar¬
gin serrate, the abaxial surface of each tooth often with a single,
black striation; adaxial surface hispidulo-scabrous. Capitulescence
little or much branched. Staminate heads minutely paleaceous ; 10-
125 flowered; stalked, stalks 2-8 mm long, rarely subsessile;
ebracteate. Staminate involucre shallowly campanulate to saucer¬
shaped; crenulate or toothed at the margin, the three distal teeth
usually more pronounced and marked on the upper surface with
prominent, black striations; abcissing after anthesis is complete.
Staminate florets narrowly campanulate; corolla hyaline, five-
lobed, marked with longitudinal striations; stamens with short-
attentuate claws. Pistillate capitula sessile, 1 flowered ; clustered in
axils of bracteal leaves below the staminate racemes; all but the
terminal bracteate. Fruiting involucres obovate; spines terete to
radially flattened, 3-11 in one or a few close-set whorls below the
beak; body to 17 mm long and 10 mm broad usually ridged and
somewhat rugose, frequently marked with black or red, somewhat
pubescent. Haploid chromosome number n 12.
Giant ragweed is the second most abundant species in Wisconsin,
being distributed principally in the southern two-thirds of the state
(Map 5). Although ordinarily less abundant regionally than short
ragweed in terms of absolute numbers of specimens the greater
stature and larger capitulescences make it a heavy pollen producer,
and in areas of abundance it may contribute as much or more pollen
to the local atmospheric pollen load. It is essentially a floodplain
species and is most abundant in moist soils of drainage ditches, low
fields, open stream banks, and the like.
Like short ragweed, A. trifida is quite variable, outstanding vari¬
ability being associated with fruit size and shape, leaf shape, and
pubescence. In the southern and southwestern United States the
fruiting involucres are often scarcely larger than those of A. arte-
misiifolia, while in the Appalachian region fruits 10-20 times this
size may be found (Payne and Jones, 1962). Similar fruiting in¬
volucre variation is common in local populations, and may also
apply to different fruits taken from the same plant. Forms with
unlobed leaves, or with both lobed and unlobed leaves are common,
this aspect of leaf morphology being partially related to ecological
conditions. Such plants have played a prominent role in the tax¬
onomic history of the species, generating such epithets as simplici-
folia, integrifolia, and variahilis. It is probable that, as with short
ragweed, greatly increased population size, mixing of geographic
368 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
races once more distinct, and variable selection pressures associated
with modern agricultural practices and urbanization, have con¬
tributed to local variability.
The black striations distributed on all parts of the plant are re¬
lated to sub-epidermal canals (resin canals?) which contain a deep
red pigment. When cut, the plant bleeds red “blood,” a fact that
figured prominently in the “doctrine of signatures” medical prac¬
tices of some American Indians, and which actually led to reverence
and fear of the plant by certain tribes (Payne and Jones, 1962) .
The most unusual characteristic of A. trifida is its chromosome
compliment of n — 12. With the usual base of n — 18 in the genus,
this presents the possibility of a progenitor genome of n — 6. Pair¬
ing behavior studies by K. L. Jones (1943) of the hybrid A. arte -
misiifolia X trifida have demonstrated, however, that the 12
chromosomes of giant ragweed are homologous with the 18 chromo¬
somes of short ragweed, and the chromosome complement of A.
trifida is interpreted to be the result of aneuploid reduction (Payne,
Raven and Kyhos, 1964). Furthermore, no similar compliment is
known elsewhere in the Ambrosieae, although aneuploid reduction
to n — 16 or 17 is common in the genus Iva, and in A. bidentata n
— 17. Polyploidy in A. trifida was suggested by Rousseau (1944),
but was refuted by the studies of Payne and Jones (1962). To my
knowledge, no bona fide report of polyploidy exists for the species.
Ecological Relationships and Specialization of
Wisconsin Ambrosia
The ragweed species described above appear to be specialized
within the genus, and are probably more or less recently evolved.
The majority of specific character expressions are interpreted as
derived expressions within character gradients established by com¬
parison of ragweeds with general conditions in the family Compos-
itae. These specialized characteristics, common to the three species
treated, include : shallowly lobed staminate involucres, eccentrically
borne on relatively short stalks; vestigial pales; single flowered
pistillate heads, with few, vestigial spines, localized near the beaks ;
prominently lobed or dissected leaves, opposite at the lower nodes
or throughout ; herbaceous perennial or annual habits ; and distribu¬
tion in non-arid eastern and northern North America. Although
they share these specializations, the three species do not appear to
comprise a natural, evolutionary group. Ambrosia psilostachya and
A. art emisii folia are very similar and probably are the more spe¬
cialized members of a subgeneric group that includes the Mexican
A. cumanensis, the West Indian and South American A. peruviana,
the Caribbean A. hispida , and the South American A. tenuifolia and
1970]
Payne — • Flora of Wisconsin No. 62
369
A. micro cephala, The entire group bears considerable resemblance
to the A. conf ertiflora assemblage (including also A. cmiescens and
A. pumila) and is probably derived from shrubby progenitors char¬
acterized by regularly lobed and dissected leaves, hooked involucral
spines, and usually non-striated stems, involucres and leaves. Am¬
brosia trifida, however, bears greatest resemblance to species of a
distinct, derivative line, characterized by irregularly lobed leaves,
straight, flattened involucral spines, and prominent vegetative
striations. It can be traced to shrubby progenitors of the least spe¬
cialized sort in the genus (such as A. deltoidea) along an evolu¬
tionary line represented by A. chamissonis , A. nivea, A. cheiranthi-
folia, A. grayi , A. tomentosa, and A. acanthicarpa.
Ambrosia Hybrids
The three species are capable of hybridization, although hybrid
individuals are usually uncommon and highly sterile. Hybrid plants
are most easily recognized by their intermediate leaf character¬
istics (Fig. 4). Wagner and Beals (1958) have found that the
perennial hybrid A. artemisiifolia X psilostachya (A. X inter-
gradiens Wagner & Beals) (Fig. 4ap) is persistent and fairly “com¬
mon” in northern and eastern Michigan, where it often forms
clonal populations that persist for many years. It is probable that
similar populations are frequent in adjoining Wisconsin in areas
of sympatry.
Palynological evidence (Bassett and Terasmae, 1962) indicates
that ragweeds occupied sites in the northeastern United States and
adjacent Canada during and since the Pleistocene, and it is prob¬
able that all of the species found today in Wisconsin were here long
before the invasion of North America by European cultures. On
the other hand, European man, by providing variable primary
sites in much greater abundance than were ever before available
for ragweed occupation, has greatly influenced the natures of the
species and their population dynamics.
Literature Cited
Bassett, I. J. and J. Terasmae. 1962. Ragweeds, Ambrosia species, in Canada
and their history in post glacial time. Canad. Jour. Bot. 40: 141-150.
Benson, L. 1957. Plant Classification. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston.
Bentham, G. 1873. Notes on the classification, history, and geographical dis¬
tribution of Compositae. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 13: 335-557.
Cassini, H. 1826-1834. Opuscules Phytologiques. Tomes I, II, & III. Paris.
Cronquist, A. 1952. Compositae, pp. 323-545. In H. A. Gleason (ed.), The New
Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Yol. 3. Lancaster Press, Inc., Lancaster.
Darlington, H. T. 1922. Dr. W. J. Beal’s seed-vitality experiment. Am. Jour.
Bot. 9: 266-269.
370 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
Delpino, F. 1871. Studi Sopra un Lignaggio Anemophilo delle Composte.
Cellini, Firenz.
Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray’s Manual of Botany. 8th ed. American Book Co.,
New York.
Gebben, A. I. 1965. The ecology of common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisii folia
L ., in southeastern Michigan. Unpbl. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. Michigan, Ann
Arbor.
Gebben, A. I., W. W. Payne, and W. H. Wagner, Jr. 1962. Botanical Phase,
pp. 1-16. In J. M. Sheldon and E. W. Hewson (eds.) Atmospheric pollu¬
tion by aeroallergens; prog. rept. 5. Univ. Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Harrington, J. B., Jr., E. S. Epstein, D. L. Jones, A. N. Dingle, G. C. Gill,
F. C. Elder, E. W. Bierly and E. W. Hewson. 1960. Meteorological Phase,
pp. 75-177. In J. M. Sheldon and E. W. Hewson (eds.) Atmospheric pollu¬
tion by aeroallergens; prog. rept. 4. Univ. Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Hartley, T. G. 1962. The flora of the “driftless area”. Unpbl. Ph.D. Thesis,
Iowa State University.
Jackson, R. C. 1960. A revision of the genus Iva L. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull.
41: 793-876.
Jones, K. L. 1936. Studies on Ambrosia: I. The inheritance of floral types in
the ragweed, Ambrosia elatior L. Am. Midi. Nat. 17: 673-699.
- . 1943. Studies on Ambrosia: III. Pistillate Ambrosia elatior X A.
trifida and its bearings on matroclinic sex inheritance. Bot. Gaz. 105:
227-232.
Keck, D. D. 1959. Compositae, pp. 1073-1310. In P. A. Munz. A California
Flora. Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley.
Love, D. and P. Dansereau. 1959. Biosystematic studies on Xanthium; Tax¬
onomic appraisal and ecological status. Canad. J. Bot. 37 : 173-208.
Miller, H. E. 1967. The chemistry and infraspecific variation of sesquiterpene
lactones in Ambrosia psilostachya DC. (Compositae). Unpbl. Ph.D. thesis.
Univ. Texas, Austin.
Miller, H. E., T. J. Mabry, B. L. Turner, and W. W. Payne. 1968. Infra¬
specific variation of sesquiterpene lactones in Ambrosia psilostachya
(Compositae). Am. J. Bot. 55: 316-324.
Payne, W. W. 1962. Biosystematic studies of four widespread weedy species
of ragweeds (Ambrosia: Compositae). Unpbl. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. Mich¬
igan, Ann Arbor.
- . 1963. The morphology of the inflorescence of ragweeds (Ambrosia-
Franseria: Compositae). Am. Jour. Bot. 50: 872-880.
- . 1964. A re-evaluation of the genus Ambrosia (Compositae). Jour.
Arnold Arb. 45: 401-438.
- . 1965. “Subspecies amalgamation” in North American short ragweed,
Ambrosia artemisiif olia (Compositae). Am. Jour. Bot. 52: 649 (abstract).
Payne, W. W. and V. H. Jones. 1962. The taxonomic status and archaeological
significance of a giant ragweed from prehistoric bluff shelters in the Ozark
Plateau region. Pap. Mich. Acad. Sci. 47 : 147-163.
Payne, W. W., P. H. Raven and D. W. Kyhos. 1964. Chromosome numbers
in Compositae. IV. Ambrosieae. Am. Jour. Bot. 51:419-424.
Rousseau, J. 1944. Reconstitution de 1’ Ambrosia prehistorique des Ozark. Nat.
Canad. 71: 211-216.
Rydberg, P. A. 1922. Carduales (Ambrosiaceae, Carduaceae). In North Amer¬
ican Flora. Vol. 33. N. Y. Bot. Gard., New York.
Skvarla, J. J. and D. A. Larson. 1965. An electron microscopic study of pollen
morphology in the Compositae with special reference to the Ambrosiinae.
Grana Palynolog. 6: 210-269.
1970]
Payne — Flora of Wisconsin No. 62
371
Small, J. K. 1913. Flora of the southeastern United States. 2nd. ed. Publ.
by author. New York.
Solbrig, 0. T. 1963. The tribes of Compositae in the southeastern United
States. Jour. Arnold Arb. 44: 436-461.
Wagner, W. H., Jr. 1958. The hybrid ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia X
trifida. Rhodora 60: 309-316. *
- . 1959. An annotated bibliography of ragweed (Ambrosia) . Review of
Allergy and Applied Immunology 13: 353-403.
- . and T. F. Beals. 1958. Perennial ragweeds (Ambrosia) in Michigan,
with the description of a new, intermediate taxon. Rhodora 60: 177-204.
Wylie, R. B. 1915. A hybrid ragweed. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 22: 127-128,
pi. 21.
BIOGRAPHIES
CHARLES V. COVELL, JR., is assistant professor of biology at the
University of Louisville and is curator of its insect collection. He holds a
Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, is an officer in the Kentucky
Society of Natural History, and is a member of entomological societies in
the United States, Canada, and England. This year he will become editor of
the Lepidopterists’ Society News.
WILLIAM HILSENHOFF, associate professor of entomology at the
University of Wisconsin, holds a Ph.D. from that institution. A specialist in
the ecology of water insects, he is a member of several professional societies
and has been president of the Midwest Benthological Society. Before teaching
at Wisconsin he did classified research in medical entomology.
HUGH H. ILTIS is professor of botany and director of the herbarium at
the University of Wisconsin. He holds advanced degrees from Washington
University and the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. A specialist in
plant evolution and conservation, he has done field work in several locations
throughout the Western hemisphere. FREDERICK U. UTECH, who holds an
M.S. from the University of Wisconsin, is presently a graduate teaching
assistant there. A botany major, he has held an NSF fellowship for tropical
ecology studies in Costa Rica.
MARLIN JOHNSON, who received his Masters degree in zoology from
the University of Wisconsin, is an instructor in biology at the university’s
Waukesha County Campus. GEORGE C. BECKER is professor of biology at
Wisconsin State University — Stevens Point. A Wisconsin Ph.D., he has been
president of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and vice-preside'nt of
sciences in the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters.
WILLIAM A. KING is curator of art at the University of Wisconsin —
Green Bay. He has studied at Oklahoma State University, the University of
Tulsa, and ITstituto Statale d’Arte in Florence. He has had several one-man
shows in both Europe and the United States, and his paintings hang in
collections both here and abroad.
Associate librarian of the Newberry Library in Chicago, DONALD W.
KRUMMEL holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He is a member
of several library and musicology societies and has written many articles and
book reviews on music, music bibliography, and library history. He has pre¬
viously been reference librarian of the music division of the Library of
Congress.
HEINZ H. LETTAU, professor of meteorology and civil engineering at
the University of Wisconsin, received his Ph.D. from the University of
Leipzig. He is the author of many articles, primarily in the field of meteor¬
ology, and has worked on several committees of the National Academy of
Sciences. ROBERT G. GALLIMORE, JR., holds the M.S. degree from the
University of Wisconsin and is presently a research assistant in meteorology
there.
373
374 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters [Vol. 58
LLOYD A. LUESCHOW, who holds an M.S. from the University of
Wisconsin, is acting chief of the Laboratory Services Section of the Division
of Environmental Protection in the state’s Department of Natural Resources.
JAMES M. HELM (M.S. Wisconsin), GARY W. KARL (B.S. Wisconsin),
and DONALD R. WINTER (B.S. Wisconsin) are biologists with the Depart¬
ment. All four are primarily concerned with the problem of water pollution.
L. G. MONTHEY is travel-recreation specialist with University Exten¬
sion, the University of Wisconsin, and he has written many articles dealing
with economic recreation and travel-industry trends. He holds an M.S. from
Wisconsin and has held national offices in various professional agricultural
societies.
Associate professor of political science at Wisconsin State University —
Whitewater, JOHN C. H. OH received his Ph.D. from New York University.
He has taught previously at the University of Wisconsin and Marquette Uni¬
versity, and he has published articles and reviews in leading political and
sociological journals.
FREDERICK I. OLSON is professor of history and chairman of the
department at the University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee. A Harvard Ph.D.,
he has also been associate dean of the University Extension, University of
Wisconsin. He has published articles and reviews in many journals and is a
member of various professional and public historical societies.
WILLARD W. PAYNE, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of
Michigan, is associate professor of botany and associate curator of the
herbarium at the University of Illinois. He is presently on leave from the
campus to serve as associate program director in the Ecology and Systematic
Biology Section of the National Science Foundation.
A. W. SCHORGER is emeritus professor of wildlife management at the
University of Wisconsin, from which he received both his Ph.D. and an
honorary D.Sc. The author of many articles and books on both chemistry and
ornithology, he is a former director of the National Audubon Society and
president of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences.
S. H. SOHMER, a member of the biology department at the University of
Wisconsin — La Crosse, is also curator of the university’s herbarium. He holds
degrees from City College of New York and the University of Tennessee, is
the author of several articles, and has participated in programs in Costa
Rica sponsored by the Organization for Tropical Studies.
Assistant professor of journalism at the University of Michigan, JOHN
D. STEVENS received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He is an
officer in the Association for Education in Journalism and has written a
number of articles for leading journalistic periodicals. The paper presented
here is based on his doctoral dissertation.
ADOLPH A. SUPPAN is dean of the School of Fine Arts of the University
of Wisconsin — Milwaukee. A Wisconsin Ph.D., he has held offices in many state
organizations, including the chairmanship of the Wisconsin World Affairs
Council and the presidency of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and
Letters. At UWM he is also professor of English and philosophy.
1970]
Biographies
375
GERALD E. SVENDSEN received his B.S. from Wisconsin State Uni¬
versity — River Falls and his M.A. in zoology from the University of Kansas.
He is assistant professor of biology at Viterbo College, is a member of several
professional societies, and has been a research biologist for the Bureau of
Sport Fisheries and Wildlife.
RONALD W. TANK, associate professor of geology at Lawrence Uni¬
versity, holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University and a graduate school diploma
from the University of Copenhagen. He is the author of articles on regional
geology and clay mineral genesis, and he has been a research geologist for
Standard Oil of California.
KENNETH TENNESSEN received a B.S. degree from the University
of Wisconsin, majoring in entomology, and has done graduate work in this
area at the University of Florida. He is presently in the armed services.
Emeritus professor of soil science and forestry at the University of
Wisconsin, SERGIUS A. WILDE received his professional training at the
Prague Polytechnical Institute before emigrating to the United States in
1929. He is the author of several books about soil bacteriology which have
been translated into many languages.
BARBARA ZAKRZEWSKA, who holds a doctorate from the University
of Wisconsin, is professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin —
Milwaukee. A specialist in land form geography, she has published several
articles on this subject in geographical journals.
WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS & LETTERS
Madison, Wisconsin
OFFICERS 1969-70
President
William B. Sarles
Department of Bacteriology
The University of Wisconsin —
Madison
Vice-President (Sciences)
Laurence R. Jahn
Wildlife Management Institute
Horicon
Vice-President (Arts)
Richard W. E. Perrin
Department of City Development
Milwaukee
Vice-President (Letters)
Edgar W. Lacy
Department of English
The University of Wisconsin —
Madison
President-Elect
Norman C. Olson
NML Insurance Company
Milwaukee
Secretary
Corinna del Greco Lobner
Department of English
Dominican College
Racine
Treasurer
Jack R. Arndt
University Extension
The University of Wisconsin —
Madison
Librarian
Jack A. Clarke
Department of Library Science
The University of Wisconsin — •
Madison
APPOINTED OFFICIALS
Editor — Transactions
Walter F. Peterson
University Librarian
Lawrence University, Appleton
Editor — Wisconsin Academy Review
Ruth Louise Hine
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Madison
Chairman — Junior Academy of Science
LeRoy Lee
James Madison Memorial High School
Madison
ACADEMY COUNCIL
The Academy Council includes the above named
the following past presidents:
officers and officials and
Paul W. Boutwell
A. W. Schorger
Henry A. Schuette
Lowell E. Noland
Otto L. Kowalke
Katherine G. Nelson
Ralph N. Buckstaff
Joseph G. Baier
Stephen F. Darling
Robert J. Dicke
Henry A. Meyer
Merritt Y. Hughes
Carl Welty
J. Martin Klotsche
Aaron J. Ihde
Walter E. Scott
Harry Hayden Clark
John W. Thomson
Adolph A. Suppan
MAY 2 5 1971
<^8RAAli^
JBRARIES SMITHSONIAN SNSTITUTION NOlifUllSNI NVINOSHilWS S3IBV
JBRAR
SMITHSONIAN
> s >
INSTITUTION^NOlinillSNI
co
NVINOSH1IWS
S3 I dV
JOIlDillSNI
JBRARIES
NViNOSHims S3idVdan
r; > 2 r~
> oWk § »
- iBS? s ^cojp^ -
5711 v 2 m
SMITHSON IAN ""INSTITUTION^
LIBRARIES
SMITHSONIAN^ IN STiTl
»
JoiiniusNi
NVINOSHillNS S3 I h Vd 8 11
co
>' 2
\lBRARI ES^SMITHSONIAN
co
INSTITl
LIBRARIES SMITHSONIAN
co
INSTITUTION NOlinilXSNI
co :
nvinoshiiws saiav
CO
RARIES SMITHSONIANr INSTITUTION_ NOlinillSNI NVINOSH1IIMS S3 I HVi) £
^ '" 2 — i/>
IXfUllSNI NVINOSH1IIAIS S3IUVaai1 LIBRARIES SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTI
2 _ t/J 2 .,. </> 2 sj-
z /$**>& 3 % 41%, s /#m § ™
8 Mf 8 ^Bfek • 8 (fjO| x 1
O
co
X \\\
t %
2 > V 2 ^ >
JRARI ES^SMITHSONIAN !NSTITUTION%OiXnXlX$NI NVINOSHIIWS^SB 1 H VH E
CO 5 _ CO ~ CO
iniliSNl_NVIN0SHimS^S3 IdVHail^UBRAR! ES^SMITHSONIAN^INSTITUTI
3££S>\ 5 ^ g 5 ~ 5
* 3111k B (f^^l > (Ifi I B JP^- > pi
CO
jyAs^P^ jt? v^|j^ ^ rn
RARI ES SM ITHSON IAN ^INSTITUTION^ NO IiniliSN I ""nVINOSHIIIMS^ S3 I8V88
» ^ _ z v co z co
- XvSE£>\ < V 2 2
X
CO
o
z *
> -,x 2 X^vosvvvy' >
XD1I1SNI_ NVINOSH1IIAJS S3 I 8 VH 8 I I^LI B RARI ES^SMITHSONIAN^INSTJTUT!'
z \ £ 5 _ ?? 5
tRARIES SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION NOIXfUlXSN? NVINOSHXIWS S3I8V8E
z _ z r- ... z
m
XnXIXSNI NVINOSHXIlNS?/>S3 I 8V8 8 I “I L I B RAR I ES^SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTI
z . _ _ co z . co Z
I RAR I ES^SMITHSONIAN~” INSTITUTlON^NOIXfUJiSNI^NVINOSHillAJS^SB I 8 V8 E
GO " (O — CO