12 Bulletin Wisconsin Natural History Society [VoL 12, Nos. 1 & 2 
of individual species and mores, ^ nor to compare the fauna of the 
northern Wisconsin bogs with that of bogs of other regions and 
with that of drained and cleared bogs. 
II. PHYSIOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF THE REGION 
A. General Topography 
The region of the upper Wisconsin River is an undulating 
plateau having an altitude ranging from fourteen hundred to six- 
teen hundred feet above sea level and sloping slightly towards the 
southwest. The surface soil is varied, consisting in large part of 
yellowish sand hills, interspersed with patches of clay and loam 
in the valleys and on the flats. Although overlying the old 
Archaean formation, the present topography is recent; drainage 
and vegetation have developed in a large degree since the Wiscon- 
sin Epoch of glaciation, and, as a consequence, in most places the 
accumulation of humus is not deep except in the valleys and de- 
pressions. These depressions with their lakes, swamps and bogs 
form the chief physiographic feature of the region; most of these 
are of glacial origin. Glacial depressions may be formed in any 
one of several ways: 
A. By unequal deposition of glacial debris during the retreat of 
the ice sheet. A slowly retreating ice sheet gives opportunity for 
increased deposits along the edge of the ice, which results in deep 
depressions with steep sides (knob and kettlehole formation); a 
rapidly retreating ice sheet gives little opportunity for deposits 
along the edge of the ice, which results in shallow depressions with 
moderately sloping sides (Transeau, 1905-1906, p. 361). 
B. By separation of masses of ice through unequal melting (Gil- 
bert, 1910, pp. 54-55, p. 100). Masses and blocks of ice separate 
from the main ice sheet and become imbedded in the gravel and 
till, and later melt to produce “kettleholes.” 
® “A given environmental complex is selected by a number of species. It follows that there 
is a certain physiological or ecological similarity and ecological equivalence in the forms that 
thus select the same or similar complexes. It follows that the animals of different deserts, dif- 
ferent deciduous forests, different steppes, etc., are ecologically and physiologically similar or 
ecologically equivalent if the deserts, the forests, and the steppes, etc., are similar. A term is 
needed to cover such characters. The term mores (Latin), ‘customs,’ ‘behavior,’ ‘habits’ is 
suggested as best covering this need. It stands opposed to form or forms; thus steppe mores 
meaning the behavior of characteristic steppe animals or an animal or animals with characteristic 
steppe behavior.” (Shelford, 1911, p. 602). 
