248 NICHOLS: THE VEGETATION OF CONNECTICUT 
No plants can yet get a foothold in such a place, unless it be a few 
species that may be able to make their appearance between 
periods of landslide action; among these plants annuals particu- 
larly predominate. The perennials that may be found in such 
places are almost entirely plants which have slid down the bank. 
Ravines of a similar type may be seen in many places inland, and 
wherever found the poverty of vegetation on the slopes is the most 
striking character. 
An embryonic ravine in a clay bluff along the western shore of Lake 
Fic. 4. 
Michigan. Vegetation entirely absent on the unstable clay slopes, except for shrubs 
and grasses which have slid down from the top. (After Cowles, Physiographic 
ecology of Chicago and vicinity; photograph furnished by H. C. Cowles.) 
“As the ravine extends itself inland the conditions outlined 
above may be always seen about its head, but toward the mouth of 
the ravine the slopes are less precipitous. Torrents cut down the 
bed of the ravine until a depth is reached approaching the water 
level at its mouth. From this time on the slopes become reduced 
and the ravine widens more than it deepens, by reason of lateral 
cutting, landslide action, and side gullies. After a time a sufficient 
stability is reached to permit a considerable growth of vegetation. 
