-59 
fringe of trees us ut A, fig. £6, to several hundred meters 
at P. While the trees species are mainly deciduous, espe¬ 
cially above, oonifers often occur near the bottom. These 
include white and red pine, balsam, arbor vitae, white spruce 
and hemlock. In fact, tlie last named speoies sometimes forms 
groves of large treos, similar to the climax forest of the 
north slope. 
A transect of the forested area was made at a point 
just east of the saddle in sec. 14. Hear the top, the 
talus slope was being rapidly invaded by small oaks and 
«» 
aspens, as shown in fig. 33, Populus grandidentata being the 
dominant species, intermingled with scattering white birch 
and maple saplings. A little further down, the open spaces 
became fewer, the trees taller (up to 15 m.), gradually form¬ 
ing a canopy above, giving perceptibly shadier conditions. 
The soil contained more humus, derived largoly from the 
leaves of the aspens. Here patches of Aster maorophyllus and 
Aralia nudicaulis formed a large proportion of the ground 
cover. Occasional small specimens of white ash, balsam, 
hop hornbeam, and basswood were noted as invaders at this 
stage. The unfavorable conditions for anchorage produce 
remarkable clumping of the stems in certain speoies, espec¬ 
ially in the sapling stage of the hop hornbeam, sugar maple 
and red oak. Wine stems were counted in one specimen of 
