302 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. V, No. 5, 
THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE ON A CERTAIN SANDBAR. 
John H. Schaffner. 
In the vear IhOO, the Republican River which flows through 
Clav Countv, Kansas, was very low for a long time. This gave 
an opportunitv for the develo])ment of a thick growth of vege- 
tation on the wide sandbars common along this stream. 
The writer was much impressed by the remarkalile develop- 
ment of voung trees on some of these bars and made a careful 
studv of one of them to ascertain what seedlings were growing 
under the conditions present. The picture given below (Fig. 1) 
was taken from near the water’s edge and shows the river bank 
in the background, covered with a solid lielt of the Sandbar il- 
low (Salix fluviatilis Nutt.) This bar had been nearly barren 
the previous vear but now it was covered with little trees. 1 he 
onlv seedlings present, except here and there some herbaceous 
plant, were Cottonwoods (Po])ulus deltoides Marsh.). Peathleaf 
Willows (Salix amvgdaloides And.), and Sandbar Willows (.Salix 
fluviatilis Nutt.) In some places the three species were about 
equallv mixed, in others nearly all of the plantlets were of a single 
species. Near the outer margin where there was a thinner stand, 
as shown in the foreground of the jiicture, eighty Cottonwood 
plants from twelve to eighteen inches high were counted per 
square foot. Rut among these eighty survivors were numerous 
