1914] 
Jackson: Land Vertebrates of Ridgeway Bog 
15 
lying west of the bog, rises some eighty feet above the bog level 
and slopes gradually towards the west into the Wisconsin River 
basin. Passing along the foot of the slope, between the hill and 
the bog, is a wagon road, ‘‘Ridgeway’’ — a road little travelled 
but one which, on account of the changed conditions of light, 
moisture, evaporation, and temperature which accompany it, 
has effected marked changes in the biota^ of the immediate 
vicinity through which it passes. 
Well towards the southwestern end of the area lies a small 
pond of something over two acres, the remnant of the lake which 
once covered the entire bog. The water in this pond is shallow, 
being scarcely six feet deep in the deepest parts; the bottom im- 
mediately under the water is a light, soft muck, which is several 
feet deep, gradually thickening, and passing successively into 
marl and glacial till. A very narrow', sluggish stream flows from 
the southern end of the pond in a southwesterly direction and 
offers the bog imperfect drainage into the Pelican River near its 
junction with the Wisconsin River. Although thus partly drained, 
this bog has in its biota the characteristics of the undrained bog. 
B. Ecological Associations 
The area (fig. 1) upon which the present study is based does 
not include the entire bog, but about sixty acres lying in the 
southwest corner. This area was selected after deliberation 
because of its accessibility, because of the abundance of life, both 
plant and animal, therein, and because it shows, with reasonable 
definition of transition, all the ecological associations present in 
the bog. These associations are seven in number and may be 
designated as: (1) The Aquatic Association; (2) The Sedge Asso- 
ciation; (3) The Cassandra Association ; (4) The Tamarack-Spruce 
Association; (5) The Cedar-Balsam-Hemlock Association; (6) The 
Roadside Association; (7) The Hillside Association. Since this 
paper treats primarily of the vertebrates of the bog it has not 
been my intention, to list all the plants of any association; only 
’’ The term biota is used throughout this discussion not in its strict sense, but to indicate the 
combined fauna and flora which has been studied in the bog, that is, the terrestrial vertebrates 
and part of the seed plants. Likewise where the term fauna or flora is employed it denotes only 
that part of the entire fauna or flora represented by the species mentioned throughout the text. 
