36 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JANUARY 
controls this area. The surrounding forest. was found to be 
essentially similar to the sample, except that the cover of ground 
hemlock was not continuous, and where it was absent the usual 
conditions of windfall reproduction, especially of balsam, prevailed. 
The large number of good-sized trees, balsams being specially 
noticeable, owe their continued existence to the protected position 
of the area. The presence of Populus tremuloides Michx. (aspen) 
in considerable abundance is noteworthy. This species seems to | 
be ecologically equivalent to the birch, except that it does not to 
any great extent possess the power of sprouting from the stump, 
at least in this region. 
A similar situation was noted in a narrow valley near Duncan 
Bay (sec. 28, T. 67 N., R. 33 W.), which was protected by abrupt 
ridges on both sides. Here the trees of all species are very large, 
the shade is not dense, and windfalls are relatively scarce. Groun 
hemlock is exceedingly abundant and large, and is plainly respon- 
sible for the lack of young tree growth and the resulting openness 
of the forest. Some scattered groups of small balsams were plainly 
related to windfalls. 
The foregoing studies show that the climax forest is a complex 
of windfall areas of differing ages, the youngest made up of dense 
clumps of small trees, and the oldest containing a few mature 
trees with little or no young growth beneath, those of a single 
group being approximately even-aged. This mosaic or patchwork 
changes continually in a manner that may almost be called kaleido- 
scopic when long periods of time are considered. The forest as 4 
whole, however, remains the same, the changes in various parts 
balancing each other. 
EXTENT OF THIS TYPE OF FOREST AS THE CLIMAX OUTSIDE OF ISLE 
ROYALE 
Attempts to obtain information relating to the nature of the 
climax forest of other portions of the northeastern conifer region 
have not been attended with much success. The distributions of 
the various trees have been determined by Bett (8) and others 
with considerable accuracy, but practically nothing of an ecological 
nature has been published. From the data I have been able to 
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