52 



respectively. In order to compare the temperature of the 

 marsh with that of the uplands, curves of the temperatures 

 recorded at the U. S. Weather Bureau Station at Ithaca were 

 plotted on the same sheet with those for the marsh. (The 

 Weather Bureau is located on the roof of one of the agricultural 

 buildings of Cornell University, 546 feet above the marsh.) 

 Aside from occasional fluctuations which were extremely 

 erratic with regard to season, it was found that the two curves 

 followed one another very closely. There was not the great 

 difference between the spring temperatures of the hill and of 

 the valley, which was supposed to account for the early ap- 

 pearance of amphibians in the marsh; nor was the coolness of 

 the autumn, presumed by Dudley (1886) to account for the 

 late flowering of the fall asters along the lake shore, recorded 

 to any extent in the marsh. The sequence of differences 

 was as follows: 





Mean Temperature. 



Difference. 





Marsh. 



Weather Bureau, 



January 



February 



23.75 



21.5 



41.0 



49.06 



53.1 



64.8 



67.8 



66.0 



60.26 



46.2 



44.15 



25.8 



25.3 

 23.2 



42.0 

 49.8 

 54.2 

 64.6 

 68.7 

 67.3 

 60.2 

 46.7 

 44.0 

 26.1 



-1.55 

 -1.7 



March 



April 



-1.0 

 -0.74 



May 



-1.1 



June 



+0.2 



July 



-0.1 



August 



-1.3 



September 



+ .06 



October 



- .5 



November 



+ .75 



December 



-0.3 







Average for year .... 



47.0 ■ 



47.69 



-0.69 



Inasmuch as the differences were so slight, inquiry into 

 their cause and nature will not be here considered in detail. 

 It will be sufficient to know that, in general, the average 

 temperature of the marsh is not higher than that of the upland. 



In order to become familiar with all of the physical features 

 of the marsh before beginning the ecological study, and 

 because of the lack of a good map, it was deemed advisable to 

 chart the region lying between the two sheltering hills and 



