30 



Red Bat, Lasiurus horealis Mull, 



Inhabits eastern parts of North America. Surber says "some- 

 what common." 



In addition to the native species of mammals above we 

 have the common house mouse, Norway rat and black rat which 

 are European immigrants to America. The house mouse and Nor- 

 way rat are excessively common and the black rat less abundant. 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF WEST VIRGINIA FOREST. 



By A. B. Brooks, Forester West Virginia Geological Survey. 



If we were to make a study in detail of the conditions that ex- 

 its at present in the wooded lands of West Virginia it would be 

 necessary to consider the entire area of the State, section by sec- 

 tion — a thing impossible in a short and hastily prepared article. 

 A forestry publication now being issued by the State Geological 

 Survey takes the country as a unit for the discussion of this sub- 

 ject, but, owing to the great diversity of conditions that are 

 to be found in some places, perhaps within the boundaries of a 

 single county, many important details are necessarily omitted 

 even in a report of this kind. Local variations are apparent on 

 every hand. In one section uncut forests of softwoods abound; 

 in another there is a stand of virgin hardwoods ; in another culled 

 and fire-destroyed woodland ; and in another scattered patches 

 of land overgrown with brush and worthless trees. In some re- 

 gions there are enormous stands of excellent timber, untouched 

 by lumbermen and unscarred by fires; in others vast areas have 

 been laid waste and rendered useless through the almost total de- 

 struction of vegetation and soil. 



.\t one time forests covered the State aimost completely from 

 Jefferson to Wayne and from Hancock to McDowell. The geo- 

 graphical positions, the climate, the elevation, the topography 

 and the soils are such as to make the whole area a most favorable 

 one for the healthy existence of a great variety and a great quan- 

 tity of valuable timber trees. So naturally, in fact, do trees oi, 

 one kind or another spring up and grow that nearly the whole 

 area of lands that are now cleared would again revert to forest 



