55 



HL PBAnmE Absa 'East of GHJOOiESffm, Sirxmm HI 



Ttiiis prairie area is about two miles east of Charieston along flue 

 "Big Fouur" railway track. Tlfaiere were two coloraies Ibiera: Ome, soilb- 

 station a, was on. low Iblack-soil pnairie just west of tbe fiiist noiilti and 

 soath riKtd cros^ung ttie railway track east of Qiailestoa. Ufaiis was 

 largely a colony of tlhe large-leatred rosm-weed, SUf-Mwm tereMntM- 

 nacewm. The second colony, substation h, was a mile and a balf di- 

 rectly east of substation a, and half a mile east of the second nortli and 

 south road east of Cfaarieston. 



Substation or "station" a was originally far out upon the blade soil 

 prairie; h, on tide other hand, is of special interest because it was origi- 

 nally wooded, has been deared and maintained as a railroad rig^-of- 

 way, and contains today, therefore, a practically unique mixture of for- 

 est and prairie plants and animals, with the prairie lands dominating. 

 The soil, lighter in color than the blade soil prairi^ is representative of 

 the wooded r^;ions. This colony has every appearance of a deared 

 forest area invaded by prairie orgamsms. 



The animals at station a were not studied, and the only record is 

 that of the blade bhster-beede, Bptcaata peimsjlvanica (Mo. 119), 

 which was abundant on the flowers of SUphmm tereMnthinacemn. 



At station b eaxavation was necessary to' lower the road-bed, and 

 upon the disturbed soil thus thrown up along the track the prairie t^- 

 etation had become estabUsfaed. The general ^pearance of this r^on 

 is shown in plates Vlll and IX. Here grew large quantities of rodn- 

 weed (SUpMwm terebinthinaceum,) and blue stem (Andropogon) ; in 

 places upon high ground, indeed, this prairie grass was donnnant. 

 Assodated with it was the flowering spurge, Buphorbia coroUata, as 

 seen! in Plate VIII. The forest near by is shown in the background. 

 This same forest and grass area is shown in the bad^;round and mid- 

 dle of Plate IX, and in the for^round of the same picture is shown 

 the mixture of prairie and forest plants. Here are hickory sprouts, 

 crab-apple, grape, sumac, and snnlax, intermingled with SUpMum, 

 blue stem, and Lactuca canadensis. Mot all of these appear in the 

 photogra^ but they were present in some ports of the colony. 



The collections here (Mos. 58-62 and 175) are as follows : 



Leather-colored Grasshopper ScMstocera alutacea 59 



Black-homed Meadow Cricket CBcanthus mgncorms ^ 



Meadow Grasshopper OrcheUmum rmlgare 175 



Soldier-beetle Chauliognathus pennsyluamcHS 175 



Spotted Grape-beede PeUdnota punctata 58 



Black Bhster-beede Epicauta pemnsykmnica 



(Sta. m, a) 119 



