Jan., 1919] Effects oj the Eruption on Vegetation 181 



At Kodiak and throughout the area seriously affected there 

 seem to have been sulphur fumes of sufficient concentration to 

 destroy fungous growths, for on our first visit the year following 

 the eruption, all the lichens were found hanging blackened and 

 dead in the trees. Similarly, the natives on the Bering Sea side 

 of the peninsula reported the destruction of the reindeer "moss, " 

 with disastrous effects on the herds of caribou that were for- 

 merly abundant. Not until four years had passed did living 

 lichens reappear in any quantity at Kodiak. Fungi are, how- 

 ever, very sensitive to sulphur poisoning. The fumes which 

 were sufficient to kill them at Kodiak caused nothing more than 

 temporary discomfort to the people residing in the same district. 



Nowhere even close to the volcano itself is there any clear 

 evidence that the seed plants were poisoned by fumes. In 

 many places plants growing in the crevices of the cliffs, although 

 protected from damage from hot air by the cold rocks in which 

 they grew, were so situated that they were fully exposed to the 

 fumes throughout the eruption. Nowhere in such situations did 

 we find the dead remains of poisoned plants. On the contrary, 

 all of the herbaceous plants not covered up by the ash, except 

 those in the fire-swept zone, seem to have gone on flowering and 

 fruiting with undiminished vigor since the eruption. Some of 

 these flowers present most grateful spots of color in a country 

 otherwise totally devastated. (See page 182). Such blooming 

 crevice plants are common throughout the lower and middle 

 portions of Katmai Valley, and numbers of them may also be 

 found in the upper valley close to the volcano. 



The survival of three dogs at Katmai Village, noted by 

 Martin, also indicates the absence of poisonous gases in deadly 

 concentration. For, while these animals could probably have 

 survived hot blasts of considerable intensity by taking to the 

 native huts, which were half buried and covered with a thick 

 roof of earth and sod, such places would not afford much 

 protection against the penetration of poisonous gases. The 

 evidence, such as it is, seems therefore to favor the hypothesis 

 that the blasts from Katmai did not owe their destructiveness 

 to their chemical composition but to other causes. If this is 

 correct it would fall into line with the best testimony as to the 

 blasts from Pelee and Taal. 



In the case of Taal, Worcester^ believes that the principal 

 reason for the destructiveness was the heavy charge of small 



5 National Geographic Mag. 23 : 350. 1912. 



