140 University of California Publioaiions in Zoology \yo\.. 24 



covered everywhere with thick, soft lichens, carpet-like in their effect. 

 On strips of damper ground nearby the spruce forest had secured a 

 foothold, with the accompanying tangle of devil's-club and alder 

 underneath. 



Immediately below the glacier, fed by the melting ice, a string of 

 little ponds extends, barren of vegetation and surrounded by low, 

 rounded hills of gravel and rocks. Streams issuing from these ponds 

 flow over gravelly beds to the river, a mile or more distant. 



SEEGIEF ISLAND 

 This islet lies at the mouth of the Stikine, about eight miles north 

 of the town of Wrangell. The main rocky mass of the island is about 

 a mile in its greatest diameter. On the north and east sides, toward the 

 river, there is a flat belt of sandy soil, half a mile or more across, that 

 lies at a level above even the highest stage of river or tide at the present 

 time. This strip has some timber upon it, eottonwood, spruce, alder, 

 and willow, but is mostly grown with tall grass and pea vines. The 

 river flows close to the island. There are no mud flats on the east 

 side, but extensive sand bars are exposed at low tide. The rocky 

 backbone of the island rises abruptly from the surrounding marsh, 

 and is covered with the dense forest growth characteristic of the 

 Sitkan district. Spruce is predominant in the woods, with tangled 

 undergrowth beneath, in which devil's-club is most prominent. At the 

 edge of the woods is a fringe of alder, these bushes diminishing in size 

 and density as salt water is approached. At the upper edge of the 

 tidal flats the alders give way to scrubby willows, which extend far 

 out on the marshes, over much of the ground that is not regularly 

 inundated by the tides. Alders aitd willows together form a relatively 

 narrow strip surrounding the island, and beyond the last straggling 

 bush the grass-covered marsh land extends. Part of this marsh land 

 is covered by salt water every day, part of it only by the highest tides. 

 Large areas are covered by the marsh grass to the exclusion of all other 

 vegetation; in places it grows taller than a man's head. Toward the 

 higher ground, where there is much fresh water, this tall, coarse grass 

 is absent, and there is a covering of shorter growths, composed of a 

 number of different plants. This higher area is dotted with small 

 ponds, some surrounded by reeds. Beyond the margin of the marsh 

 grass are the bare mud flats, exposed only at low tide. The marshes 

 throughout are intersected by numerous channels, of varying depth and 

 width, extending upward from the low water mark in many cases 

 clear to the rocky center of the island. 



