222 



The Ohio Journal of Science [Vol. XIX, No. 4, 



and nitrous nitrogen. The total nitrogen of these latter samples 

 would of course have shown a total nitrogen content comparable 

 to that of (13), Table V. 



That the lupines were not found growing in profusion up 

 over the ash covered hills is probably due to the lack of inocula- 

 tion with nitrogen fixing bacteria of any seeds that may have 

 found their way onto the surface. The river bed ash has been 

 water transported and thus probably become inoculated with 

 bacteria from the pre-eruptive soil, but the ash upon the hill- 

 sides is lying as it fell five years ago. 



TABLE V. 

 Nitrogen Content of Tundra, Kashvik Bay, Alaska. 



THE NITROGEN CONTENT OF ALASKA TUNDRA. 



An opportunity for studying the nitrogen content of the 

 tundra was offered at our Base Camp on Kashvik Bay. The 

 tundra here is very shallow, seldom more than a couple of feet 

 in depth, and rests upon the decayed sandstone rocks of Jurassic 

 age. Small depressions occur at intervals, exposing the sand- 

 stone rocks below. Clumps of cottonwood and alder stretch 

 up the mountain slopes, while down toward the sea the tundra 

 is almost bare of large shrubs, but covered with a more or less 

 rank growth of grass and small flowering plants. Narrow, 

 invisible streams cut the tundra to the sandstone bed and run 

 down to the sea. 



