January, 1900. Bruncken — Distribution of Some Trees, etc. 33 
Their average diameter is about 8 inches breast high, the largest 
measured by me having ii inches diameter. There are also many 
small saplings and some seedlings. 
The third species of birch occurring in this region is reported 
by Wheeler as Bctnla puinila, with a note that it occurs in Larkin's 
tamarack swamp, in the Town of Greenfield. I have not been 
able to verify this station. But in a thicket in the Menomonee 
Valley, at the foot of the bluff below the electric car track, I find 
numerous specimens of a form apparently intermediate between 
B. pnmila and B. glandulosa. The glandular warts on the twigs 
are quite distinct^ but the shrubs are quite tall, and the branches 
pubescent. They are here associated with Aliiiis incana, several 
kinds of willows, and some other species. 
THE BEECH. 
The occurrence of Fagiis atropunicca, Sudzv., in this neighbor- 
hood presents several very interesting peculiarities. In Prof. 
Chamberlain's map of vegetation zones of Eastern Wisconsin 
(Atlas of Wisconsm Geological Survey), about two-thirds of the 
county is assigned to the maple group, the southwestern corner 
being assigned to the oak group. The northwestern third of the 
county, including all east of the Milwaukee River and a narrow 
strip on the west side of this stream, is given to the maple and 
beech group. This map is approximately correct as to the occur- 
rence of beech. This tree is found in Wisconsin only in that terri- 
tory lying, roughly speaking, to the northeast of a line drawn from 
Milwaukee in a northwesterly direction to about the east line of 
Dodge County, or where it strikes the western escarpment of the 
Niagara formation. It is characteristic of Chamberlain's maple 
and beech, and hardwood and conifer groups, reaching its finest 
development on the Kettle Range in Washington and Sheboygan 
Counties, w^here in many places it forms almost pure growths^ and 
reaches great size. In contrast to the birches which are distinctly 
northern trees, the range of the beech is mostly to the south of us. 
In the w^oods of Indiana and Ohio it is becoming the dominant 
tree, largely because other species, which are of greater com- 
mercial value, have been removed without regard to their repro- 
duction. It is somewhat remarkable, therefore, that the beeches 
of Milwaukee are of much smaller growth than those immediately 
northwest of us. Old trees in this vicinity rarely have a greater 
lieight than sixty feet, and a diameter of eighteen inches. 
The beech is probably present in every reasonably large piece 
of woodland to the east of the Milwaukee River. It also extends 
along the immediate vicinity of Lake Michigan, at least as far 
