1913] COOPER—ISLE ROYALE 15 
those 7 m. high and under) are greatly in excess of the larger ones. 
There are also numerous dead and dying specimens, almost always 
small ones, some of the dead trees showing evidence of having suc- 
cumbed very recently, the needles not yet having dropped off. 
The occasional large trunks of the birches are conspicuous objects, 
but young ones are not numerous. It is often difficult to find a 
single spruce, unless one has 
carefully estimated from the 
exterior the position of one of 
the conspicuous old specimens. 
Young spruces are exceedingly 
rare, so that a long search will 
be necessary to discover one. 
The shade in most parts, espe- 
cially under the closely placed 
balsams, is dense, though there 
are frequent partial openings, 
caused principally by windfalls 
(fig. 3). Standing dead trees 
of large size are very rare, but 
fallen trunks in all stages of de- 
composition are numerous, the 
greater number being balsams, 
though the dead birches are 
more conspicuous on account of 
their greater size. 5 : 
Shrubby growth is not Fic. 3.—Illustrates conditions result- 
abundant. Theareasof not too ing from a windfall in the climax forest: 
dense shade are. often thickly fallen trunks and young balsams; Smith- 
‘ wick Island. 
populated with Taxus canadensis 
Marsh (ground hemlock). Other large shrubs that are more or less 
frequent are Alnus crispa (Ait.) Pursh (green alder), Viburnum 
pauciflorum Raf. (high bush cranberry), Sambucus racemosa L. 
(red-berried elder), Lonicera canadensis Marsh (bush honeysuckle), 
Fatsia horrida (Sm.) B. & H. (devil’s club), the last abundant in 
one restricted area. 
The herbaceous growth is sparse except in partial openings. 
