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AN ECOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE HEMIPTERA OF THR 

 CRANBERRY LAKE REGION, NEW YORK 



By Herbert Osborn and Carl J. Drake 



For the purpose of this study it is proposed to use an ecological 

 grouping based on the primitive foi'est conditions or forest cover 

 of the region with particular recognition of the modification caused 

 by the lumbering or cutting of the large conifers and part of the 

 hardwoods, and the subsequent burning of certain cut-over tracts. 

 These factors have operated to produce a very different combina- 

 tion of organisms, in part because of the different plant associa- 

 tions which have formed a succession for the forest cover, buc 

 largely owing to the evident killing out of certain members of the 

 original fauna. The latter is probably due to the disappearance 

 of the food plants concerned or in some cases no doubt to the 

 actual elimination of the species in certain areas occasioned by the 

 destruction of the vegetation and duff' through fire. 



While the boundaries of the groups are not in all cases well 

 defined, and as each may carry a varied flora aside from the domi- 

 nant plant species, there is usually a rather definite limit for each. 

 In any case the hemipterous fauna for each association is fairly 

 well defined. It is true that certain species. which disregard all 

 limitations of host plants may enter a number or even all of the 

 communities, but this does not invalidate the general rule and in 

 many cases the restrictions to certain host plants or to a special 

 environment is very marked. 



The Cranberry Lake Region (fig. 1) as here delimited includes 

 the lake proper and adjacent tracts. The former, including bays 

 and flows, has a maximum length of about nine miles. The total 

 distance around the lake is approximately 160 miles. The altitude 

 is about 1,485 feet above sea level.* The valleys, bogs, swamps, 

 lakes, marshes, streams, hills and low mountains give considerable 

 physiographical diversity within a small area. 



The original forest cover (birch, beech, maple, spruce, pine, 

 hemlock, balsam, larch, etc.) has been modified in most tracts by 

 lumbering and fire (burns). The "burns" and cut-over areas are 

 in various stages of rehabilitation and offer the most varied and 

 most favorable breeding places for Heraiptera. The "plains," 

 bogs, swamps, marshes, etc., present the usual combination of plant 

 association. An excellent and detailed discussion of these, includ- 

 ing the biological conditions, has been published by Brayf in 

 "The Development of the Vegetation of New York State." The 

 collecting regions mentioned in these pages are marked by the 



* The camp site is about 1,500 feet above sea level. 



t Bray, W. L. The Development of the Vegetation of New York State. Tech. 

 Pub. No. 3, N. Y. State College of Forestry, Syracuse, N. Y. 



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