58 



formation. Wherever conditions are favorable the latter may- 

 be observed again claiming the ground it once had occupied and 

 migrating vertically, either down or up the slope, and horizon- 

 tally by invading waste land and pastures, as well as by com- 

 peting to some limited extent with the meadow formation. 



2. Plateau- Meadow Formation 



The plateau-meadow formation, as the second stage of succes- 

 sion, has established itself especially upon areas that exhibit a 

 somewhat high degree of smoothness — and, while at some places it 

 has attained the culmination-point of its development, it may be 

 found at others still competing with and passing out of the 

 plateau-swamp formation. 



Its facies is to a great extent determined by the altitude of the 

 region, by the character of the soil, which is a buff-colored, more 

 or less gravelly bowlder-clay about one or at the most two feet 

 thick, and by the bed-rock. This bed rock of Utica slate helps 

 to control the water-content. 



The species, constituting the meadow formation, are as follows: 



Agrostis alba Oxalis stricta 



Agrostis alba vulgaris. Panicum capillar e 



Anthoxanthum odoratum Phleum pratense 



Bidens frondosa Poa annua 



Epilobium palustre Ranunculus acris 



Fragaria virginiana Ranunculus repens. 



Heliopsis laevis Rumex Acetosella 



Hypericum ellipticum Sisyrinchium bermudianum 



Hypericum perforatum Gyrostachys sp. 



(Enothera pumila Verbena angustifolia 



Oxalis Acetosella Viola obligua 



As may be readily seen from the list, the meadow formation 

 sometimes merges into the pasture formation and vice versa, 

 wherever the two happen to occur side by side. 



3. Plateau-Swamp Formation 

 The swamp formation occurs either within the forest formation 

 or within the pasture as well as the gulf and valley formation, 



