8 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



National Museum, who was consulted on this point. Mr. Miller also 

 suggests that it is more Ukely in the case of fire clearing that species 

 were exterminated or forced to another environment, and that other 

 species spread into the denuded area. There is a popular opinion in 

 New Zealand that the moa were destroyed by fire from an eruption 

 of Tongarioo which swept over the country. ^* The denuding of 

 the prairies was important in the increase of the Buffalo. The 

 estabhshment of prairie sod and distribution of species and the 

 composition of societies of its grassy flora was also a consequence.^^ 



Col. R. I. Dodge says that the Indians in their great autumn hunts 

 set fire to the prairie to signal their friends that they had found 

 buffalo, or with the object of more effectually bringing the animals 

 together by limiting their feeding grounds, thus reducing the labor 

 of the hunt. ^^ 



The clearing of the prairies also influenced the distribution and 

 habits of Indian tribes, facilitating agriculture in which sod removal 

 was profitable on account of the richness of the soil. (See Agricul- 

 ture.) 



If, as appears probable, forests have been swept by fire at intervals 

 throughout their history, it is likely that there has been established 

 in some tree species a resistance to the effects of heat. There may 

 be seen in the thickening of the bark near the ground perhaps a 

 protective device. In general, the damage of forest fires is related to 

 the amount of litter on the forest floor and the species of trees. 

 Young replacement growth in most cases suffer. 



It has been observed that in conifers whose habit is to produce 

 resistant cones almost prohibiting the release of seed, as in the lodge- 

 pole pine, fire is termed essential to the dissemination of the seed. -^ 



LOCATION OF THE FIRE 



The situation of the fire in the primitive ages necessarily must 

 have been varied. The idea to be kept in mind is a fire unattended 

 with even the minor adaptations which have grown toward the fire- 

 place, the stove, and the myriad inventions for locating, carrying, and 

 generally utilizing fire, which are treated herein in their proper class- 

 ification. The fire may thus have been placed in front of the rock 

 shelter or cave, as observed in many stations, or in some relation 

 to a camp. The extemporaneous fireplace can hardly be imagined, 

 since the very possession of fire entails responsibilities as to care and 

 preservation wliich predetermined a well-considered plan to keep the 

 fire. The prearchitectural period thus requires the placing of the 



"Julius Haas. Moas and Moa Hunters, 1871, p. 7. 

 » J. C- Blemmer. The Plant World, vol, 13, Febraary, 1910, pp. 42-44. 

 2« Hunting ground of the Great West, New York, 1877, p. 29. 

 '"Tower Gordon in Proc. Soc. of Amer. Foresters, vol. 4, 1909, p. 1. 



