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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



within reach (a) of Yale University and 

 the Connecticut Valley Colleges. — Anna 

 M. Starr. 



10. An island in the Connecticut 

 River near Holyoke (B4), covered with 

 cottonwoods, willows, silver maple and 

 other flood plain vegetation, might well 

 be preserved for the study of the de- 

 velopment of an island. It is of recent 

 formation and has never been cut. — 

 Anna M. Starr, 



4. CONNECTICUT 



By George E. Nichols 



For an area comparatively small in 

 size (5000 sq. mi.) the State of Connec- 

 ticut presents a remarkable diversity of 

 natural and semi-natural conditions. 

 Physiographically the state comprises 

 three north-south provinces: an eastern 

 and a western highland and a central 

 lowland. In the highlands the topog- 

 raphy is rugged, the land being greatly 

 dissected by stream erosion, and on 

 nearly every hand the surface deposits of 

 glacial material are interspersed with 

 outcrops of bare rock, mostly granites, 

 gneisses, and schists. In the central 

 lowland, except for the trap ridges which 

 form a prominent feature, the surface 

 contours are more gentle and the under- 

 lying sandstones and shales for the most 

 part are covered over by a mantle of 

 glacial debris, sometimes to a depth of 

 200 ft. In certain parts of western 

 Connecticut, limestone and dolomite 

 are the prevailing rocks, but elsewhere 

 calcareous rocks are practically absent. 

 On the south Connecticut is bounded 

 by Long Island Sound. In proceeding 

 from the Sound northward the general 

 level of the land surface gradually rises, 

 and in the northwestern part of the State 

 hills more than 2000 ft. in elevation are 

 encountered. Both the maximum and 

 the average elevations in the Eastern 

 Highland are lower than in the western, 

 while the general surface level of the 

 Lowland in northern Connecticut is 

 scarcely 200 ft. above sea level. There 

 are upwards of 1000 lakes and ponds in 

 the state, while permanent springs are 



everywhere abundant. Of the several 

 rivers only one, the Connecticut, is to 

 any extent navigable. 



The type of vegetation favored by 

 climate here is a mesophytic forest, 

 and in former days the greater part of the 

 state was heavily wooded. For the most 

 part the forest comprised a mixture of 

 deciduous and evergreen trees. Con- 

 spicuous among the deciduous species 

 were the chestnut {Castanea dentata), 

 various oaks and hickories, tulip (Liriod- 

 endron tulipifera), sugar maple {Acer 

 saccharum), and beech (Fagus grandi- 

 folia) ; among the evergreens the hem- 

 lock {Tsuga canadensis) and white pine 

 (Pinus strobus), and, at the higher eleva- 

 tions northwestward, the red spruce 

 (Picea rubra). The nature of the 

 original vegetation, as of that today, 

 however, varied greatly with differences 

 in physiography, and forests of the sort 

 just described were best developed on 

 the better, well-drained soils. In ad- 

 dition to these, there were forests of 

 pitch pine {Pinus rigida) on the sand 

 plains, forests of red maple {Acer 

 rubrwn), elm {Ulmus americana), 

 and black ash {Fraxinus nigra) or 

 of southern white cedar {Chamaecyp- 

 aris thyoides) in the swamps, forests 

 of Cottonwood {Populus deltoides), 

 elm, silver maple {Acer saccharinum) 

 and the like along the streams; and 

 there were many areas that were not 

 forested at all. Lakes and ponds, as 

 today, were occupied by communities of 

 herbaceous aquatic plants, and salt 

 marshes and sandy beaches by communi- 

 ties made up largely of grass. 



Practically all the original forest 

 growth in Connecticut has been wiped 

 out by the inroads of civilization, and 

 at the present time only a few small 

 and for the most part inferior patches of 

 near-primeval growth remain. Even 

 today, however, nearly 50% of the area 

 of the state is occupied by woodland of 

 one sort or another, a remarkable condi- 

 tion for a section of the country so long 

 settled and having so large a population. 

 This apparent incongruity of conditions 

 is to be explained by two facts, namely, 



