6 University oj Michigan 



habitat comes directly to the beach, for the wave action on this 

 exposed point is sufficient to prevent the growth of plants 

 along the shore. In Gogebic Lake and in the smaller lakes of 

 the Cisco Lake Region there are also many parts where there 

 is no rooted vegetation along shore. This habitat, therefore, 

 covers by far the larger part of the aquatic conditions of 

 northwestern Michigan. We secured no records of mammals 

 for this habitat, and, though some aquatic species must occa- 

 sionally occur in the open water along lake shores, they are 

 rare there, and are practically absent from the areas of open 

 water farther out in the lakes. 



Beach habitat: The shore of Lake Superior at Little Girl's 

 Point is subjected to heavy pounding by the lake waves, lead- 

 ing to the formation of a well-developed beach. To the east 

 of the point the beach for some distance is five to ten yards 

 wide, mostly of small gravel, with sand on the upper part ; it 

 ends abruptly against a steep dirt bluff. On the beach no 

 vegetation grows and only a few scattered drift logs occur. 

 To the west of Little Girl's Point undetached masses of solid 

 rock are more prominent, though small patches of gravel occur 

 in partially protected places. The beach here in general is 

 narrow and rises steeply, so that the different beach zones, 

 lower, middle, and upper, are not well marked. On the shores 

 of Lake Gogebic are a few small sand beaches ; but around this 

 lake, as well as around the smaller lakes of the region, the 

 forest comes, in general, directly to the edge of the water. 

 There was no opportunity to trap for mammals on a beach, 

 and no records for the habitat were obtained. 



Dirt-bluff habitat: To the east of Little Girl's Point the 

 beach of Lake Superior runs along the base of a dirt bluff 

 about 35 feet high. The storm waves of winter evidently 



