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of a few thousand feet it rises to 80 or 90 inches, or even more. The average 

 annual snowfall in the western portion is 10 inches, but every few winters there 

 may be three or four feet of snow on the level, while every winter in the higher 

 mountains it falls to a depth of 20 or 30 feet. 



In this rainy mountain belt lichens grow to a greater size and are much 

 more evident than elsewhere. From about 1000 to 3000 feet the Lobaria pul- 

 monaria formation is dominant; Cetraria glauca, Cetraria lacunosa sienophylla, 

 Sphaerophorus globosus, and several Usneas of only moderate size form the chief 

 secondary elements of this formation. 



For the next two thousand feet Lobaria oregana is the principal lichen, 

 absolutely covering the basal portions of the trunks of the hemlocks which here 

 compose most of the forest. 



Just below the timber line the Alectoria formation becomes notably con- 

 spicuous, the chief elements in it being Alectoria jubata implexa, Alectoria sar- 

 mentosa, Usnea plicata, and Nephromopsis platyphylla. 



Above the snow line earth lichens are abundant on the patches of soil exposed, 

 and rock lichens occur on some of the rocks which for the most part are bare. 

 Their occurrence, so far as yet known to me, will be noted in the list following. 



In the lowland forested region earth lichens are comparatively rare, while 

 rock lichens are altogether absent except on an occasional erratic glacial boulder. 

 Several species of Peltigera are common on earth but hardly abundant enough 

 or sufficiently confined to earth to be named as a separate formation, unless it 

 might be Peltigera aphthosa. The original botanical features of this region are 

 very rapidly vanishing; not only has the primeval forest practically disappeared, 

 but the logged off lands are rapidly becoming altered through the combined influ- 

 ences of the annual increase in the area of cleared land, and the ravages of great 

 fires which sweep over many square miles nearly every year. But for many 

 years the eastern portion of the county will furnish to the adventurous and hardy,, 

 able to pick a way through the pathless wilderness and carry necessary supplies^ 

 a glimpse into the virgin wilderness. 



It is quite evident that lichens have never been so prominent an ecological 

 factor here as in some other regions, as for instance the Santa Cruz Peninsula, 

 California. Mosses and liverworts are here so conspicuous that they make our 

 lichens quite insignificant. There are here none of the enormous expanded 

 Parmelias and other foliaceous forms, or dense masses of greatly elongated Usneas- 

 and Ramalinas, so characteristic of the Californian coastal woods. Lichens, 

 there are in plenty, and the Parmelia saxatilis formation is really quite marked 

 on the small limbs of various trees, but the lowland lichens are not flaunted tO' 

 the breeze or markedly evident. One must hunt for them. My first impres- 

 sions of the lichen flora in the Puget Sound forest were painfully disappointing. 



I have had very little opportunity to do any botanical work since coming 

 to Washington, and though I have collected at every opportunity much of my 

 material is as yet un worked. I have observed the lichens over most of the low- 

 land, have made one trip into the mountains immediately bordering the low- 

 land, and thrice have ascended Mt. Baker. It is to be regretted that I have 



