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



forth from the milHons of fumaroles in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood. Air, laden with these products, was constantly in 

 contact with the thin layer of ash above the snow, and the 

 frequent rains must have carried them down_ into the snow 

 beneath. Nevertheless, melted snow from the bank behind 

 Camp V gave no positive test for either ammonia or nitrite 

 during the whole month we were in the Valley. Rain Water 

 collected above the snow bank, when the wind blew from over 

 the Valley, gave considerable quantities of both. This freedom 

 from ammonia and nitrites was also observed in water from a 

 snow bank on Observation Mountain at the eastern entrance 

 of Katmai Pass. Here the bank in question was covered by 

 several feet of ash, and was highly discolored from the leaching 

 due to frequent rains. This bank served as a source of water 

 for the standard solutions used in the comparison cylinders at 

 Camp IV. One possible explanation for the absence of these 

 nitrogenous substances is the presence of organisms in the 

 snow capable of utilizing the ammonia and nitrite content 

 of rain water in their assimilative processes. 



A sample of rain water collected by hanging an aluminum 

 pail from the dead branch of a tree gave an unusually large 

 content of ammonia. The only contamination apparent was 

 the drip from a short section of this one small dry branch. 

 Water, in which a few twigs broken from the same cottonwood 

 tree were allowed to stand for a short time, gave a heavy yellow 

 precipitate with Nessler's reagent, proving that the high result 

 noted above came from ammonium or similar nitrogen com- 

 pounds in the decaying wood. The soil must receive consider- 

 able additions of ammonium compounds washed down from 

 decaying trees, and in this region, where the lack of nitrogenous 

 material for plant growth is so marked, this source of nitrogen 

 may have some little influence on the revegetation of the 

 destroyed area. 



Manitoba Agricultural College, Winnipeg. 



