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Ene CANADIAN MIELE D-NATURALISTL
Volume 82 1968
THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB
Ottawa
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_ The CANADIAN TIELD-NATURATIST
Published by THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB, Ottawa, Ontario
Guest Editorial _ Biologists have a responsibility to interpret THE Honourasie Mr. ArtHuR LAING 1 Articles The Nidulariaceae of Canada Harotp J. Bropize 2 Notes on Food and Feeding Habits of Some Wintering Birds Davin STIRLING 14 ~~ New Alberta Records for the Silvery and Brassy Minnows, Stonecat and Sauger, with a Preliminary List of Fishes of the Milk River in Alberta Tuomas A. WILLock 18 _ Dates of First Flowers of Alpine Plants at Eagle Creek, Central Alaska Rosert B. WEEDEN 24 Some Aspects of Commensal Populations of Mus musculus in southwestern Ontario Joun D. Remer and Micwaet L. Petras 32 Another record of White Wing-Barring in the Common Crow Rosert W. Nero 42 Observations on Canadian Birch (Betula) collections at the Morgan Arboretum. VI. B. papyrifera from the Rocky Mountains W. H. Britrain and W. F. Grant 44
Notes
Red-throated Loon Nesting in Northern Ontario Donatp W. SIMKIN 49 Cattle Egret in the District of Algoma A. KAELLGREN 49 Notes on Manitoba Plants II James L. Parker 50 A Possible Fieldfare Observation near Ottawa, Ontario H. N. (Hve) MacKenzre 51 Studies of the Byron Bog in Southwestern Ontario. XXIX. The Virginia Chain
-Fern, an Addition to the Flora of the Bog W. W. Jupp ~=552 Eight Erythristic Plethodon cinereus cinereus (Green) from Poison Lake Area,
Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Joun Gruen 53 Summer Occurrence of the Fox Sparrow in New Brunswick Davin S. Curistm 54 News and Comment Canadian Botanical Association Newsletter 55 The Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society Reports Progress oh) Kejimkuyik, Nova Scotia — Game Sanctuary 58 Reviews 59
The Shell Bird Book — The Sparrow’s Fall — Radar Ornithology — Rocky Mountain Flora — Modes of Reproduction in Fishes — Other New Titles
Report of Council to the Eighty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Ottawa
Field-Naturalists’ Club 68 Statement of Financial Standing of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club, 30 NOVEMBER, 1967 74
Can. Field Nat. | Vol. 82
No. 1 | p. 1-74 | Ottawa, January-March, 1968
THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB FOUNDED IN 1879 — Patrons — Terr EXCELLENCIES THE GOVERNOR GENERAL AND Mrs. RoLanD MICHENER
The objectives of the club are to foster an acquaintance with and a love of nature, t encourage investigation and to publish the results of original research and observations in all branches of natural history.
The club is a corporate member of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists.
MEMBERS OF COUNCIL
President: Hurt N. MacKenzie, 228 Royal Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario.
First Vice-President: JoHN S. TENER.
Second Vice-President: THEopoRE MosquIn.
Secretary: ALEXANDER W. RaTHWELL, Canadian Wildlife Service, 400 Laurier Avenu West, Ottawa 4, Ontario. Treasurer: Miss Luria G. Hownen, Box 3264, Postal Station C, Ottawa 3, Ontario. Additional Members of Council: W. K. W. Batpwin, A. W. F. BanFieLp, F. M. BricHam, E. L. Bousrietp, I. M. Bropo, W. J. Copy, Joyce Dunston, R. Frits, J. M. Gitierr E. W. Greenwoop, H. Grou, ANNE Hanes, D. D. HocartH, W. A. HoLttanp, Vi M Humpnriss, W. I. Ittman, Lois Kineston, A. F. Hetmstrey, H. Luoyp, G. H. McGee Patricia Narraway, A. E. Porsttp, L. C. SHerx, F. H. Scuutrz, D. A. Smits, V. E. F. SoLtMAN, J. H. Soper, Mary E. Sruart, SHrita C. THomson, J. C. WooL.ey. a Auditors: Joan M. Gittetr and Donato E. McALLIsTeEr.
THE CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST e Editor: Turopore Mosguin, Plant Research Institute, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. Associate Editors: a Freperick J. Atcock (Geology), 398 Third Avenue, Ottawa. Joun W. Arnotp (Entomology), Entomology Research Institute, Central Experi- mental Farm, Ottawa. . ‘ Watter A. Betx (Paleontology), 112 Abercrombie Road, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. .
J. SHERMAN BLeakney (Herpetology), Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Irwin M. Bropo (Botany), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. a Artuur H. Crarke, Jr., (Malacology), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. F W. Eart Goprrey (Ornithology), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. :
J. AntHony Keitu (Pesticides), Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa. Donatp E. McALtister (Ichthyology), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. Puittip M. YouneMan (Mammalogy), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. cla Manager: W. J. Copy, Plant Research Institute, Central Experimental Farm, ttawa. The Canadian Field-Naturalist is published quarterly with the assistance of affiliated societies and of a contribution from the Canadian National Sportsmen’s Show. Manu- scripts representing observations or the results of original research in any branch of natural history are invited. Contributions to the Letters and to the News and Comment sections are welcome. All material intended for publication should be addressed to the editor. Opinions and views expressed in this journal are private and do not necessarily reflect those of The Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club or of any other agency. —
Authorized as second-class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for the payment of postage in cash.
The Canadian Field-Naturalist
VOLUME 82 JANUARY-MARCH, 1968 NuMBER 1
BIOLOGISTS HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO INTERPRET
I am Happy to have this opportunity to address the readers of THe CANADIAN FIELD- NATURALIST.
The natural sciences are enjoying increased attention at the moment. This is evident at the academic level by the increased interest in ecology, which links the various natural sciences through study of the relationships between animals, includ- ing man, and their environment.
On the popular level, I am struck by the immense and rapidly growing interest in natural science, as shown by statistics on attendance at interpretative programs, the box-office success of wildlife films, the increasing numbers of outdoor science schools for children, and the popularity of non-technical articles and books on the natural sciences.
Within those Branches of my Department in which you are probably most interested — National and Historic Parks and the Canadian Wildlife Service — we are starting a new enterprise, interpretative centres. The first major nature inter- pretation centre in any National Park in Canada was opened in 1966 in Point Pelee National Park. As you know, Point Pelee Park faces in intensified form the pressure of over-use which threatens most of our parks and challenges policy makers. The first Wildlife Service interpretative centre will be opened near Midland, Ontario, this year.
We are establishing these centres to teach something of the meaning of our natural resources of land and wildlife, and to explain why we have preserved these parts of our heritage. We hope that interpretation will encourage more sophisti- cated use of our parks and so help to relieve pressure on them. Also, I believe that interpretation can increase the recreational values and satisfactions of using comparatively small natural areas, and also serve as a gateway to increased appre- ciation of the whole landscape of Canada. We are short of space in some parks, and a pleasant talk on the ecology of a bog followed by a guided tour, or a canoe trip down a wild river, uses less space and provides a more rewarding experience than a high-speed automobile trip through six National Parks.
Without interpretation, there is very great danger that our parks will be regarded merely as large chunks of real estate in which any type of recreation may be carried on. There is still little public understanding of many vital issues in conservation, the role of predators and the high cost of pollution, for example. Someone has wisely said that conservation education has to be continuous, because we are dealing not with a fixed audience, but with a constant parade of people.
Preservation of our natural resources can be justified by utilitarian considera- tions, but depends as well on aesthetic, psychological, and ethical factors. This makes us more dependent on public opinion than some other government activities. If we are to channel this immense popular interest in nature toward sensible use of the environment, we need the help of biologists and naturalists to offer their views to politicians, to write letters, to give speeches, to take the time and effort to translate their expertise in words that non-technical audiences can grasp.
Naturalists are a minority — that is all the more reason for them to be an aroused, vocal, and zealous minority. I think it would be in the interests of all of us.
Tue Honovurasce Mr. ArtHuR LAING,
Minister OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND NortTHERN DEVELOPMENT,
Orrawa
Mailing date of this number: 17th May 1968 1
THE NIDULARIACEAE OF CANADA
Harotp J. Bropir
Department of Botany, University of Alberta, Edmonton
INTRODUCTION
The small gasteromycetous fungi known as the Nidulariaceae or Bird’s Nest Fungi are widely distributed throughout Canada and seem to have invaded ~ almost every ecological niche. Northward they extend at least to the Yukon, to the south they occur even in the dry areas along the United States border in the western provinces, they are common in British Columbia in the west and are abundant in the larger eastern provinces. Distribution records, of course, trace the paths of botanical collectors and do not (at present at least) give a complete picture of distribution.
Although the majority of Nidulariaceae are likely to be found growing in moist woodlands, in pastures or in gardens where compost has been added to the soil, they are by no means confined to such habitats. A few examples only of more unusual habitats are given: in the far north they have been found growing upon old rotted sleigh runners, in the Rocky Mountains they may occur on high alpine scree (Brodie, 1966); in the badlands of southern Alberta (Red Deer Valley) they grow on the tops of buttes and hills, often among cacti and sagebrush.
Botanists who keep their eyes focussed on the ground (as must those who collect fungi) are certain, sooner or later, to come upon Bird’s Nest Fungi. When conditions for growth and fruiting are good, carpophores may occur in great quantities and be very conspicuous. It is, however, a very different matter when one goes into the field deliberately to look for Nidu- lariaceae. ‘The fungus cups are small (from barely visible to % inch high), many are greyish or wood-brown in colour, and intensive searching is required to find them. This being so, after over twenty years of searching, I am still astonished that, only rarely, do I return from the field empty handed.
Lloyd (1906) pointed out many years ago, that continental North America is not rich in species of the Nidulariaceae. Even if the southern areas of the United States are included, probably no more than 12 species and varieties of these fungi can be claimed. Europe likewise has very few species.
In contrast to the paucity of species thus far recognized in continental North America, at least twice as many species are known to occur in the nearby Caribbean islands (Brodie and Dennis, 1954).
Notwithstanding the small number of species with which we have to deal in Canada, most mycologists have little acquaintance with the Nidulariaceae and are unaware of the great variation within species. I recently studied the collections of Nidulariaceae now housed at Ottawa (DAOM). Among the latter, species of Cyathus were often labelled as Crucibulum and even such a fungus as Polyporus conchifer (Schw.) Sacc., a part of the fruit body of which is cupulate, was labelled Cracibulum.
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Matters are no better in at least some large herbaria of the United States where I have seen such names as Cyathus colensoi Berk. a readily recognized Australian species, applied to forms of C. olla (Batsch) ex Pers. The extremely variable and ubiquitous C. stercoreus (Schwein.) De Toni appears under a great number of names.
Taxonomic work on the Nidulariaceae of North America has been pub- lished by White (1902), Lloyd (1906), Coker and Couch (1928) and Smith (1951). Most of the latter treatments, however, have taken little account of the species and forms of Canada. It seems appropriate to list and describe those species of the Nidulariaceae now known to occur in Canada and to offer a few notes regarding their distribution and especially their variation.
Many persons other than professional mycologists have expressed keen interest in the Nidulariaceae and amateur naturalists have been responsible for a number of large and valuable collections in my own herbarium. With the interests of amateurs in mind, every effort has been made to characterize the fungi by macroscopic features and by what can be observed using a 10X hand lens. With the aid of the photographs and referring to the chief macroscopic characteristics as given, it is possible to identify readily each fungus listed. One difficulty might arise regarding the separation of Nidularia from Myco- calia; here, although thickness of peridiole wall and colour are used in the key, the most aatelnle distinction does require the use of a microscope. Stiff spiny branched hyphae are present in Nidularia but absent in Mycocalia. Also, as is mentioned in the notes on Cyathus stercoreus, old weathered specimens of that fungus can be misidentified by the inexperienced unless spore size is determined microscopically.
TERMS AND MorPHOLOGY
Much has been written concerning the structure of the carpophore. It is not necessary to review this literature in the present context. The reader may be referred to the monographic study by Tulasne (1844), to certain studies of my own (Brodie, 1948-1967), and to the taxonomic works listed in a pre- vious paragraph.
Definitions of the terms used in the keys and elsewhere in this paper are however included for convenience and because some of the publications men- tioned are no longer readily available.
Peridium.—Name applied to the carpophore or fruit body which may be globose, cup-shaped or vase-shaped. Fruit bodies of Mycocalia may be no wider than a coarse grain of sugar; those of some species of C yathus may be Y% inch in width.
Tomentum.—Outer coat of hyphae (hairs) of peridtum. The tomentum may consist of fine uniform hairs (Fig. 2). The hairs may also be aggregated into downward-pointing tufts (Fig. 6) or into tight globose curls.
Plication (or striation).—Both outer and inner surfaces of the peridium may be fluted or ribbed (Fig. 6, right). The ribs may be widely spaced or
1968 Tue NIpULARIACEAE OF CANADA 5
6
Fic. 2. Cyathus olla, the form of commonest occurrence in Canada; note fine-textured tomentum and large irregular peridiole. Fre. 3. Cyathus olla forma anglicus; note very large cups with wavy mouth. Fie. 4. Cyathus striatus, a small common form; note internal striations or folds and woolly exterior. Fic. 5. Cyathus striatus, a tall dark form usually found in moist woods. Fic. 6. Cyathus striatus, very broad form common in the central provinces.
6 Tue CANADIAN Frep-NaTURALIST Vol. 82
narrowly and they may be conspicuous or be absent (Fig. 3). In this connec- tion, the term “‘smooth” has been used extensively to refer to the inner surface of the peridium. It does not mean smooth in an absolute sense but rather “not plicate or striate” (Fig. 3).
Setae.—Stiff (usually dark) hyphae surrounding the lip or mouth of the peridium (Fig. 6).
Epiphragm.—\hin membrane covering the mouth of the young peridium. Commonly the epiphragm consists of two layers, the inner a delicate and uni- ~ form web of hyphae, the outermost consisting of tufts of hyphae which become separated as the epiphragm expands. Rupture of the epiphragm ultimately exposes the contents of the peridium. The epiphragm is absent in some species, evanescent in others and persistent in still others.
Basal Emplacement.—A ball or mass of hyphae from which the peridium arises. It may be conspicuous and as wide as the peridium mouth (Fig. 13), or may be very small and inconspicuous.
Peridiole.—This is the lenticular capsule within which basidiospores are developed (Figs. 2-4). It may or may not be bounded by a twmica, usually a thin white or pale membrane composed of loosely interwoven hyphae. Within the tunica (or constituting the outer boundary in types lacking a tunica) is a cortex, a dark hard tissue made up of one layer or more of thick-walled densely-packed hyphae.
Tunica and cortex are both features of taxonomic value. They can best be studied in free-hand sections of whole peridioles that have been soaked in water for at least twelve hours.
Funiculus.—A stalk or cord attaching the peridiole to the inner wall of the peridium. There is no funiculus in Mycocalia, Nidwlaria and Nidula (Figs. 1, 10). In Crucibulum, the funiculus consists of a slender cord attached to small globose protuberance (Fig. 8) on the under side of the peridiole. The funiculus of Cyathus, under the hand lens, shows three component parts (Brodie, 1956).
Funicular Cord.—A long strand of elastic hyphae which is folded or coiled within the outer covering of the funiculus stalk.
A key to genera is given, followed by descriptions and notes about the species. The latter appear in order of their widest and most frequent distri- bution, regardless of taxonomic position.
Key TO GENERA
1. Peridia (fruit bodies) containing peridioles which lack funiculi; peridioles when moist, surrounded by mucilaginous material, adhesive
1968 Tue NIDULARIACEAE OF CANADA i
2. Peridia globose, epiphragm absent 3. Peridia 4% to % inch in diameter, wall of peridium thick, yellowish to brown, wall composed partly of stiff, branched, spiny aseptate hyphae Nidularta 3. Peridia very small, about 1/16 inch in diameter, wall of peridium thin, white to pale buff; wall composed only of hyaline, branched hyphae bearing clamp-connections Mycocaha 2. Peridia cup-shaped, opening by means of an epiphragm Nidula 1. Peridia containing peridioles which are attached to inner wall of fruit body by funiculi 4. Peridium wall composed of a single layer, massive; funiculus consisting of a simple cord attached to a conspicuous globose protuberance on the under side of the peridiole; tunica light coloured, thick Crucibulum 4. Peridium wall composed of three layers; peridium usually vase-shaped, flaring; funiculus variable, resembling microscopic mushroom stem as seen under hand lens; when moist and pulled out, consisting of a long elastic cord Cyathus
Nores ON SPECIES AND DISTRIBUTION
For brevity, complete descriptions of the species are not included in this article. Descriptions and illustrations are to be found in the taxonomic works mentioned previously. Distribution is given by province or province-area except where such designations are not appropriate.
The following abbreviations are employed herein: Nfld. (Newfoundland) ; N.S. (Nova Scotia); P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island); N.B. (New Brunswick), L. (Labrador); Q. (Quebec); O. (Ontario); M. (Manitoba); S. (Saskatche- wan); A. (Alberta); B.C. (British Columbia); Y. (Yukon); N.W.T. (North West Territories).
Fig. 1 was made from living specimens. All other illustrations represent dry herbarium material because the assumption was made that most determina- tions would be undertaken using dry material. Some idea of the difference in appearance between living and dry specimens may be gained by comparing Fig. 1 with Fig. 10, both representing the same species.
1. Cyathus olla (Batsch) ex Pers. (Fig. 2)
This fungus might well be called the ‘Prairie Garden Cyathus,’ for it miakes its appearance most commonly on the black prairie soils and in garden plots where it fruits upon old boards or upon dead stems of perennial plants C. olla is not a plant usually found in woodlands or in remote areas. It seems to be commoner in western Canada and United States than in the east and its range extends southward on the west coast at least as far as Peru. In Europe it is likewise commonly a “garden” fungus.
A great variety of forms of this fungus exist, the variation involving mainly size of the peridia and the degree of “sulcation” or crenulation of the peridia. In earlier publications, I have noted (Brodie, 1952 and 1967) the occurrence of the so-called forma amglicus in Oregon and in Alberta (Fig. 3).
8 Tue CANADIAN FreL_p-NATURALIST Vol. 82
Fie. 7. Crucibulum laeve, small pale thin-walled form found in dry areas and far north. Fic. 8. Crucibulum laeve, large, yellow, thick-walled form; note button-like attach- ment of funicular cord in second lowest specimen. Fic. 9. Cyathus stercoreus show- ing commonest forms; note dark shiny peridioles and the shaggy appearance of young specimens.
1968 Tue NIDULARIACEAE OF CANADA 9
2 _ 13
Fic. 10. Nidula niveo-tomentosa; older specimens than those shown in Fig. 1; note that exterior may become smooth in age. Fic. 11. Nidula candida; note woolliness of cups and large peridioles as compared with Fig. 10. Fic. 12. Nidularia pulvinata; globose peridia breaking open irregularly and small peridioles. Fie. 13. Cyathus helenae; note small cup (c.f. Figs. 5, 6) and tufted tomentum in upper half.
10 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
Chief Macroscopic Characteristics: grey or grey-brown colour, bell shape and wide-flaring mouth, fine tomentum (not shaggy), smooth shiny interior, large peridioles.
Known Distribution: N.S., Q., O., M., S., A. Probably occurs in all provinces.
2. Cyathus striatus (Huds.) ex Pers. (Figs. 4-6)
This elegant fungus is probably the second most commonly encountered Bird’s Nest Fungus in Canada. Moreover, it is the most readily identified by amateur as well as professional mycologists because of the conspicuous vertical fluting or plication of the peridia. Unlike C. olla, C. striatus is typically a ‘wild’ or woodland species, although it may occasionally be found in gardens and cultivated areas. Typically, it fruits upon rotting twigs and leaves in moist wooded areas.
C. striatus exists in many forms which intergrade to such an extent that name distinction is not practicable. In eastern Canada (and the U.S.A.) a rather small pale form is prevalent (Fig. 4). In the moist conifer forests of Alberta and British Columbia, a very tall dark-coloured form is prevalent (Fig. 5) which is similar to the prevalent form of Europe (Lloyd, 1906). In the prairie provinces of Canada and the central states of the United States, C. striatus occurs frequently as a large pale-coloured form (Fig. 6).
The recently described C. helenae Brodie (Fig. 13) is clearly closely related to C. striatus; the montane and boreal distribution of C. helenae, how- ever, seems to separate it sharply from C. striatus — as do several distinctive morphological features (Brodie, 1966).
Chief Macroscopic Characteristics: colour fawn to dark brown; cups hairy, setose, narrow at base, flaring in upper third, strongly plicate externally and internally.
Known Distribution: N.B., Q., O., M., S., A., B.C.
3. Crucibulum laeve (Bull. ex DC.) Kambly (Figs. 7, 8).
This ubiquitous fungus should be known to and be studied by all ecolo- gists and plant geographers, for it is of world-wide distribution in northern latitudes, but has never been found in the tropics. Most mycologists (and I concur) regard Crucibulum as a monotypic genus. No other member of the Nidulariaceae has such stout thick-walled peridia that enclose pale (at times almost white) peridioles provided with funicular cords of a type not found elsewhere among the Nidulariaceae (Brodie, 1956). Yet, C. laeve is so variable that at least a dozen species could be recognized by ‘splitters,’ especially if they had not seen that every conceivable intermediate exists between the pale “depauperate” forms of the far north (Fig. 7) and the deep yellow large forms of the mid south and east (Fig. 8).
. One suspects that this is a geologically old fungus, partly because of its circumpolar distribution, and partly because of its apparent adaptability as to substratum: in my own collection there are specimens of C. Jaeve that fruited upon very old sleigh runners (in the Yukon), sawdust sidewalks (in the mid-
1968 Tue NIDULARIACEAE OF CANADA 11
west), upon the decaying shells of a variety of nuts, and upon boards of all sorts in gardens and other moist sites.
Chief Macroscopic Characteristics: cups low, broad, bowl-like; colour pale grey to deep buff or yellow; tomentum fine, not hairy; peridioles white or pale buff, attached to peridium wall by long funicular cord, the latter arising from small globose protuberance on lower surface of peridiole.
Known Distribution: Q., O., M., S., A., B-C., Y. I have seen no speci- mens from the Maritimes but, I do not doubt that it occurs there.
4. Cyathus stercoreus (Schw.) De Toni (Fig. 9)
It is difficult to understand why this Bird’s Nest Fungus (Fig. 9) has been misidentified so frequently. True, the gross external features of the species are extremely variable, more so than for any other member of the Nidularia- ceae known to me (Brodie, 1948); yet zo other fungus of this group in our area has such large spores. North of central United States, no other Cyathus has basidiospores that measure close to 30 w in diameter. One can only con- clude that the very common misidentifications resulted from failure to examine spores.
C. stercoreus is a coprophilous species: in Canada and the United States it grows and fruits mainly upon cow dung and horse dung. It is also found commonly in gardens, especially where these have been enriched with the excrement of mammals.
Chief Macroscopic Characteristics: cups woolly (old specimens may be smooth), not plicate, internally dark, shiny; peridioles black, shiny; shape and size variable.
Known Distribution: Q., O., M., S., A.
5. Nidula niveo-tomentosa (Henn.) Lloyd (Figs. 1, 10)
In Canada and the United States, the genus Nidula is confined to the mountains of the west coast and the adjacent lands. Both species found in these areas also grow at sea level, but they are apparently more abundant in moist mountain regions at an altitude of about 5,000 ft.
Nidula is clearly distinguished from other cupulate members of the family by the lack of funiculus and the adhesive character of moist peridioles. “Iwo species occur in Canada, known thus far only from British Columbia; however, their occurrence in adjacent areas of Alberta may be expected. Both species frequently occur together, although the two are readily distinguished (Brodie, 1951b), many collectors have confused them.
N. niveo-tomentosa is a small fungus, pale-cream or buff when young and usually becoming white in age. It fruits upon dead wood or dead fern rachis.
Chief Macroscopic Characteristics: cups broad, short, usually with wide- flaring mouth, pale buff-grey or whitish; inside brown, shiny; the flared mouth becoming almost snow white in age (Fig. 10); tomentum fine, weathering to smooth; peridioles small (1 mm.) reddish-brown, not attached by funicult.
Known Distribution: B.C. only; to be expected in Alberta.
12 THe CANADIAN FieLD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
6. Nidula candida (Peck) White (Fig. 11)
This species is larger and darker in colour than the former.
Chief Macroscopic Characteristics: cup broad with rather straight sides, outer surface hairy, grey to light buff; mouth reflexed, becoming whitish, peridioles about 2 mm., light brown.
Known Distribution: B.C. only; to be expected in Alberta.
7. Nidularia pulvinata (Schw.) Fr. (Fig. 12)
This fungus occurs upon rotted wood, often among mosses. It has also occasionally been found on driftwood.
Chief Macroscopic Characteristics: peridiam externally cinnamon brown to golden brown, flocculent when fresh, pale and smooth in age, peridium globose, breaking open to disclose numerous small brown peridioles which are mucilaginous when moist.
I have collected this species myself only on the Manitoba-Ontario boun- dary although I have collections from elsewhere in North America and from Europe. There is much variation in size and colour but it is not possible at present to decide whether or not Canadian material represents only one variable species, or several species.
Known Distribution: Q., O., M., B.C. (apparently not known from the central provinces).
8. Cyathus helenae Brodie (Fig. 13)
Although this recently-described species (Brodie, 1966) could be mistaken for a small form of C. striatas, it is distinctive in several important characters as well as in its unusual habitat.
Chief Macroscopic Characteristics: peridium small (7 mm. high or less), thick-textured, flaring out sharply in the upper third, pale brown to grey and covered externally with a nodular or tufted tomentum; inside of cup only faintly striate; basal emplacement at least as wide as mouth of cup.
Known Distribution: A. (Mountain Park, Jasper, Drumheller); M. (Gil-
lam).
9. Cyathus olla (Batsch) ex Pers. forma anglicus Lloyd (Fig. 3)
Because this plant is so large and of such unusual shape, it is dealt with as a separate entity although I consider it a form and not a species (Brodie, 1952 and 1967).
The large wide-flaring irregular cups are well represented in Fig. 3.
Chief Macroscopic Characteristics: peridia grey to brownish, very wide (up to 14 mm.), wide-flaring and with irregular or sulcate mouth; peridioles large, usually of irregular outline.
Known Distribution: A. (Edmonton).
10. Mycocalia denudata (Fr.) J. T. Palmer
I have seen several collections of this very small fungus but I am aware of only two Canadian collections, both made by Dr. R. J. Bandoni in British
1968 Tue NiwuLariAcEAE OF CANADA 13 Columbia. The latter specimens grew on partly rotted alder wood. In Europe and elsewhere the fungus fruits on other substrates including birch and stems of rush.
Formerly this species was included in Nidularia but was transferred to a new genus Mycocalia by Palmer (1961). It is probably not rare but is likely to be overlooked because of its small size.
Because the fungus is minute, a detailed description is given based chiefly on the work of Palmer (1961, 1963).
The fruit bodies are irregularly globose, often confluent and small (up to 1.5 mm.). The outer surface is white or pale yellowish, smooth and thin, it may break up when fruit bodies are young and scarcely any bits may remain. The ochre-yellow peridioles are minute (of the order of 200-400u in diameter) and gelatinous when moist. Basidiospores are ovate, about 7-10 x 5-7 and may be intermingled with ‘metamorphosed basidia,’ (Palmer, 1963).
Known Distribution: B.C. (near Brackendale, along Squamish River.
SUMMARY
Nine species and one named variety of the fungus family Nidulariaceae are known to occur in Canada, some of these having been found in almost all areas visited by botanists. The four largest species Cyathus olla, C. striatus, C. stercoreus and Crucibulum laeve are wide-spread. The two species of Nidula are known at present only from British Columbia. Nidzlaria appears not to have been found in the Prairie Provinces. Mycocalia is known only from British Columbia but may have been overlooked because of its small size. Cyathus helenae appears to be a montane and boreal species. C. olla forma anglicus is a very large form, recognized so far only from Alberta.
The photographs, descriptions of species and a key to genera should enable amateur naturalists to identify the Canadian species.
ACKOWLEDGMENT
The present work was carried out in part during my tenure of a Senior Research Fellowship awarded by the National Research Council of Canada. I am grateful for this support. I wish also to express thanks to the Editors of Mycologia for granting permission to reproduce Fig. 1, originally published in Mycologia 43: p. 334, 1951.
REFERENCES
Bropiz, H. J. 1948. Variation in the fruit bodies of Cyathus stercoreus produced in culture. Mycologia 40: 614-626.
Bropiz, H. J. 1951a. The splash-cup dis- persal mechanism in plants. Canadian Journal of Botany 20: 224-234.
Bropit, H. J. 1951b. Two heterothallic species of the genus Nidula. Mycologia 43: 329-337.
Broprr, H. J. 1952. Interfertility between two distinct forms of Cyathus olla. My- cologia 44: 413-423.
Bropiz, H. J. and R. W. G. Dennis. 1954. The Nidulariaceae of the West Indies. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 37/2)" 1-9.
Bropir, H. J. 1956. The structure and function of the funiculus of the Nidu-
14 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
lariaceae. Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift 50: 142-162. Brovir, H. J. 1962. Twenty years of Nid- ulariology. Mycologia 54: 713-726. Bropr, H. J. 1966. A new species of Cyathus from the Canadian Rockies. Can- adian Journal of Botany 44: 1235-1237. Bropir, H. J. 1967. New record of a large
Vol. 82
teromycetes IX. The Conservation of Nid- ularia Fr. and the separation of Mycocalia J. T. Palmer, gen. nov. Taxon 10: 54-60.
Parmer, J. T. 1963. Deutsche und andere Arten der Gattung Mycocalia. Zeitschrift fur Pilzkunde 29: 13-21.
SmitH, A. H. 1951. Puffballs and their allies in Michigan. 131 pp. 43 pl. Ann Arbor.
Cyathus from Western Canada. Mycolo- gia 59: 532-533.
Coxer, W. C. and J. N. Coucn. 1928. The Gasteromycetes of the Eastern United States and Canada. 201 pp. 123 pl. Chapel Hill.
Lioyp, C. G. 1906. Mycological Writings 2. The Nidulariaceae, pp. 1-32.
Parmer, J. T. 1961. Observations on Gas-
Tuiasng, L. R. and C. Turasne. 1844. Recherches sur lorganization et le mode de fructification des champignons de la tribu des Nidulariées. Annales des Sciences Naturelles: Botanique 3: 41-107.
White, V. S. 1902. The Nidulariaceae of North America. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 29: 251-280.
Accepted December 14, 1967
ig
NOTES ON FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS OF SOME WINTERING BIRDS
Davip STIRLING
3500 Salsbury Way, Victoria, B.C.
Foop AND FEEDING HABITS of seven bird species, the Hairy Woodpecker (Den- drocopos villosus), Downy Woodpecker (Dendrocopos pubescens), Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis), Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata), Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica), Common Raven (Corvus corax), and Black-capped Chickadee (Parus atricapillus), were observed in the Athabasca — Calling Lake area of Alberta during the winters of 1945 to 1949 inclusive. Observations were recorded from feeding stations, bush and farm roads, garbage dumps, logging camps, offal from butchered animals, and fish guts left from commercial fish- ing operations on frozen lakes.
Foods listed for each species are those supplied either directly or indirectly by man and his activities. Foods are listed in order of preference. These preferences were ascertained from observations at a feeding station where all listed foods were readily available. Methods of finding, handling, and storage of food were recorded. i
Little is known regarding the effects of settlement on the seven bird species dealt with here. Gray Jays, a boreal species, seem to have decreased while Blue Jays have definitely increased. Blue Jays were absent from the area before settlement, and are still scarce in the more undeveloped northern part. Magpies are also said to be recent arrivals and like the Blue Jay are more
1968 Feepinc Hasirs or SomME WINTERING Birps 15
abundant in the settled parts. Ravens decreased markedly during the frontier stage of settlement but now appear to be increasing.
The Athabasca — Calling Lake area of central Alberta is in the Boreal Forest, but fifty years of white-man’s settlement have profoundly altered the character of the vegetation. Much land is now under cultivation. Only rem- nants of the original white spruce, aspen, jackpine forest remain. Predominant cover on uncultivated land is now second growth deciduous forest.
Winters are severe. Mean temperature November to March is 10.9 degrees fahrenheit. Extremes of 70 degrees F. and -61 degrees F. have been recorded. Ground is usually snow covered from early November to April.
Hairy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers ate fat, lean meat, rolled cats, and oats. Woodpeckers readily found food placed in closed wooden boxes. These boxes were always attacked at the bottom seam until a large hole was made. When holes, to allow entry of small birds, were made in sides and tops of boxes above the food level the woodpeckers, instead of using the available entrances, made holes near the bottoms of the containers. _Wood- peckers were commonly seen feeding on frozen meat adhering to bones at garbage dumps and on the remains of butchered animals. They frequently chipped holes in granaries and outbuildings in order to get to frozen meat or oats stored within. Unshelled oats were eaten when fat and meat were not available. Oats were picked up singly and pressed, basal end first, into cracks in fence posts. The hull was then peeled back in much the same way a child skins a banana, and the “meat” eaten.
Gray Jays ate fat, meat, bread, and rolled oats. ‘This species is said to eat most foods but my observations show that they definitely prefer animal food over vegetable. Bread and rolled oats were seldom touched when animal food was in good supply for a long period of time. Oats, corn, wheat, and sunflower seeds were never eaten.
The Gray Jay’s weak bill is of little use in breaking off usable chunks of meat from frozen carcases in sub-zero weather but killed animals are important sources of food in milder weather. It is a common scavenger at bush camps.
The habit of storing food is well developed in the Gray Jay (Bent 1946). My observations seemed to show that this habit was strongest in autumn and winter; noticeably less so in spring. A definite slackening in the storage of food was noticed when it was abundant for some time.
_ The Gray Jay usually picks up small pieces of food or pecks off bits from larger chunks. ‘These bits are mixed with saliva to form a bolus in the throat (Dow 1965). The bolus is then carried away and hidden for future use. Sometimes, however, larger pieces are picked up and stored without being so processed. Food was usually stuck in the rough bark of coniferous trees and thick spruce boughs well above the snow, but sometimes it was pushed under leaves in snow-free places and even into snow. Food was stored in places progressively closer to the source when supplies were ample for some time.
The carrying of food in the feet by Gray Jays, although seldom recorded (Allen 1965), is certainly of regular occurrence. The load is first picked up
16 Tuer CANADIAN FieLp-NATURALIST Vol. 82
in the bill and transferred to the feet while the bird is in flight. Unless the observer saw the action at take-off it would be assumed. that the bird lifted the load directly from the ground with its feet. If the load is heavy the bird “climbs” a tree by taking short upward flights from branch to branch while holding the food in the bill. Again the food is transferred to the feet when the bird launches itself from the top.
Carrying heavy pieces of food in the feet allows the jay to fly farther and more efficiently. Those that attempted to carry it in the bill across open areas usually “crashed” soon after setting forth and the food was lost in the loose snow. Landing with a load in the feet presented difficulties too and not infrequently it was knocked into the snow when the bird attempted to alight on a bare branch. Landing in dense spruce boughs seemed to be the preferred method.
Blue Jays ate sunflower seeds, nuts, wheat, suet, rolled oats, oats, and bread. This species, unlike the Gray Jay, prefers vegetable food. Frozen animal remains were seldom visited. They seem to depend for winter sus- tenance mainly on waste wheat and oats picked up on roadsides and at feed lots. They entered granaries wherever possible. Oats were a staple diet at the feeding station. Individual kernels were held between the feet against a twig. The kernel was then “hammered” until the husk was removed.
Surplus food was carried away in the throat. Blue Jays were never seen carrying food in the feet. They frequently pirated Gray Jays which were carrying food.
Black-billed Magpie: Animal food appeared to be preferred by this species but because of shyness it seldom visited the feeding station when the observer was present. They were often seen at cattle feeding lots where they appeared to be feeding on partly digested grain in manure. Remains of large animals and garbage dumps attracked numbers of magpies. Offal from freshly killed animals was quickly broken up and carried away particularly if the weather was mild enough to allow meat to remain soft. If magpies were kept away from offal or the feeding station by the presence of the observer they sallied out from a safe distance and successfully pirated the more confiding Gray Jays and Blue Jays when they were flying over open places.
Common Raven: ‘This species was seldom seen in settled areas but was fairly common in wilder places and around lakes. An important source of food was guts of white fish, Coregonus clupeaformis, and whole “coarse” species such as sucker, Catostomus spp., and burbot, Lota lota, discarded by commercial fishermen. Most of this food was carried in the bill from the lake to the forest where it was cached to be eaten at leisure. Once a fisherman who shot at a raven flying overhead was nearly struck by a large lump of frozen fish guts which the bird dropped. Fishermen sometimes left their catch covered with snow on the ice. Fish piled in this manner did not freeze but remained “fresh” for several days. Ravens were observed to dig through two feet of packed snow with their powerful bills to get to the fish.
Geophysical crews offered another source of food. Ravens quickly learn- ed that remains of lunches could be found on bush roads used by these crews.
1968 Feepinc Hasirs or SomME WINTERING Birps 17
Black-capped Chickadees ate sunflower seeds, fat, meat, rolled oats, oats, and bread. Sunflower seeds and oats were shelled by hammering and tearing off the husks in much the same manner as that of the Blue Jay. Chickadees visited cattle feeding lots and granaries for oats. Oats in horse manure on roads and farm yards were eaten. Food was seldom eaten on the ground but was usually carried to a tree branch where it could be torn into edible portions. Frozen meat hanging in outbuildings was frequently utilized.
Chickadees stored food when a new supply was made available. Storage was under bark and in cracks in dead trees or fence posts and always within a few yards of the supply. Sunflower seeds and oats were always shelled before storage. Storage stopped when food supplies were constant.
Although chickadees fed throughout the day they were most active in the early morning and late evening. In the evening they continued feeding until the degree of darkness was such that a bird leaving its perch was lost to view immediately. These feeding times might have been necessary because of the long winter nights and a small bird’s energy requirements, or because the Gray Jays and Blue Jays that frequently harassed chickadees never fed at these times.
Several wintering bird species of the boreal forest have adapted their feeding habits to take advantage of food supplied by man. Food is more abundant now for some species and these new food sources may be important in the survival of these species. Food storage is an important survival habit with some boreal birds.
REFERENCES Auten, C. K. 1965. Unusual behavior in ————— . 1946. Life histories of North Gray Jays. Canadian Field-Naturalist 79: American jays, crows and titmice. United pitts States National Museum Bulletin 191: 1-
Bent, A. C. 1939. Life histories of North 495. American Woodpeckers. United States Dow, D. D. 1965. Role of saliva in food National Museum Bulletin 174: 13-72. storage by the Gray Jay. Auk 82: 139- 154.
Accepted December 17, 1967
we
NEW ALBERTA RECORDS OF THE SILVERY AND BRASSY MINNOWS, STONECAT AND SAUGER, WITH A PRELIMINARY LIST OF FISHES OF THE MILK RIVER
IN ALBERTA
Tuomas A. WILLOcK*
Museum of Zoology, Carleton University, Ottawa 1, Ontario
Tue Mix River of southeastern Alberta is of particular zoogeographic inter- est as it is the only tributary of the Missouri drainage in the province. The author is studying the fish fauna of the Milk River in Alberta as part of his M.Sc. research under the supervision of Dr. D. A. Smith, Carleton University. Financial support for this project has been provided by the National Museum of Canada and the National Research Council and the specimens collected are housed in the National Museum of Canada. The author is grateful to Dr. D. E. McAllister, Curator of Fishes at this institution for his assistance during the preparation of this paper and to the Carleton University Museum of Zoo- logy for the use of laboratory facilities and the excellent collection of fresh- water fishes housed there.
Between May and August, 1966 the author made 135 collections contain- ing over 10,000 specimens of fishes of 19 species in 10 families. “The 19 species found in the Milk River system of Alberta are listed herein as Appendix 1.
The most noteworthy specimens obtained were three specimens of the silvery minnow, Hybognathus nuchalis nuchalis Agassiz. The first, NMC66- 338 was collected 17 miles east and 3 miles south of the town of Milk River (S.8,Tp.2,R.13) on June 14, 1966. Two more, NMC66-431, were collected on September 4, 1966 from a location 8 miles north and 1 mile west of Aden, Alberta (S.20,1Tp.2,R.10). Aside from a doubtful record for the Red River, Manitoba by Hubbs and Lagler (1958), this subspecies has apparently not been recorded previously from Canada. These records raise the known number of native fishes in Alberta to 40, based on the previous figure of 39 given by McAllister (1962).
The measurements of the three specimens are as follows: total length — 112.1 mm, 105.1 mm, 106.2 mm, standard length — 89.4 mm, 83.6 mm, 84.2 mm; preserved weight — 12.2 gms, 9.3 gms, 10.6 gms; eye diameter — 4.3 mm, 4.3 mm, +.1 mm. They possess the following characters: preserved colour yellow-orange ventral to the lateral line and y lions -brown above, NMC66-431 specimens much more silvery than NMC66- 338; dark middorsal and mid- lateral stripes, the latter diminishing somewhat in w idth and contrast anteriorly; dorsal origin only slightly anterior to pelvic base; mouth inferior and short, not reaching the eye w hich it closely approximates in length; dorsal rays 10; anal rays 8; "8 to 12 distinct scale r: adii; 13 scale rows across “belly including ane lateral line rows; 36 to 41 lateral line ecules
Because of rhe similarity of the silvery minnow to the plains minnow, Hy bognathus placitus Girard, the difference between these species in the
MPresent address: Box 209, Milk River, Alberta.
18
1968 FisHEs OF THE MILK River IN ALBERTA 19
Ficure 1. An Alberta Milk River specimen of the silvery minnow, Hybognathus nuchalis nuchalis (NMC66-338), 112.1 mm total length.
configuration of the posterior process of the basioccipital was utilized to posi- tively identify the specimens. Bailey and Allum (1962) describe the process ior Jak placitus as “relatively slender and bladelike, without developed lateral expansions posteriorly” and in H. nuchalis “the process is expanded posteriorly and the posterior margin is either truncate (shovel-shaped) or emarginate”’. In the Milk River specimens this process is markedly expanded and the retrac- tor muscles originating from the ventrally deflected lateral angles are well separated from one another.
H. nuchalis is easily distinguished from the other member of this genus in the Milk River drainage, the brassy minnow, H. hankinsom, because of the smaller body size and the greater number of scale radii possessed by the latter. Close examination of the scales shows the circuli to be much more sharply angulate at the basal corner of the scale in H. nuchalis than in H. hankinsoni.
The presence of additional specimens of the silvery minnow in uncatalo-
ued collections made during July, 1967, would indicate that this species is an established resident of Canadian waters. Trautman (1957) suggests that the ideal habitat of this species is one of quiet waters rich in phytoplankton and that spawning occurs only where the rate of siltation of the bottom is low. The loss of the silvery minnow from extensive areas in the U.S. 1s attributed to increased turbidity of the waters and the disappearance of aquatic vegetation and organic debris because of heavy silt deposition. Prior to 1900 the silvery minnow may have been well established in the upper reaches of the Milk River. However the greatly increased turbidity which accompanied the channelling of large quantities of irrigation water into the Milk River in the early 1900’s to supply north-central Montana in all probability caused a rapid decline in the population numbers of this and other typically Missouri species over their Alberta range. Recovery of the stream channel and its vegetation from the original scouring has permitted repopulation by the species well into Canadian territory. However, the short grass prairie habitat through which
Vol. 82
Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
*(696-99DINN :€) e09U03S 9Yy2 PU (9Zb-99DIN *Z) MouUTUI Asserq oY a Jo UONDa][O9 AT19qS9M ISOWI Oy2 PUB (SEE-99DIWN ‘41 ‘Téb-99OIWN ‘B1) Aouurut Aroaris yi JO suOMoeT[oO Jo sous Surmoys eyoqry ul aseuresp sJo9ArYy AY Jo deyy ‘7 quay
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1968 FisHEs oF THE Mik River IN ALBERTA 21
Ficure 3. Milk River Valley. Above: near the town of Milk River, West Butte of the Sweetgrass Hills in background. Below: near the river’s entrance into Montana. Badlands illustrate the extreme susceptibility of the area to erosion.
22 Tue CANaDIAN FIELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
the Milk River flows is one which is subject to extreme and continuous ero- sion. Any increase in the already high rate of silt deposition, whether it be due to rechannelling of the river by man or by erosion on overgrazed areas could very easily reduce this subspecies to extinction in Canadian waters.
Following the addition of the brassy minnow, Hy bognathus hankinsoni (McAllister, 1962), the sauger, Stizostedion canadense, (Paetz, 1958, McAllis- ter, 1962) and the stonecat, Notwrus flavus, (Nursall and Lewin, 1964) to the list of Alberta fishes, further distributional records of these species are of interest in establishing their present status in the province.
Hybognathus hankinsoni Hubbs: NMC catalogue numbers NMC66-386, -426, -430. This species is found in isolated pockets in several of the numerous small tributaries flowing into the Milk River from both the north and the south. However it appears to be more common in soft-bottomed pools in the clear mountain-type streams flowing out of the three disjunct buttes of the Sweetgrass Hills located in Montana just south of the 49th parallel. A total of 13 specimens was collected, the eight bearing catalogue number NMC-66- 426 being the most westerly. These were obtained from Black Coulee, 23 miles east and 4.5 miles north of Coutts, Alberta (S.31,1p1,R.11), a location 54 miles west and 27 miles south of the location given by McAllister.
Stizostedion canadense (Smith): NMC catalogue numbers NMC66-330, -345, -354, -356, -359, -360, -396, -397, -403, -431. A total of 11 specimens were collected, all but three by means of baited set lines. The difficulty of distinguishing this species from the walleye, S. vitreum, has led to much con- fusion over the occurrence of the sauger in southern Alberta. However for local fishermen, the sauger (whether it be referred to as a walleye or as a pickerel) has long been recognized as the leading sport fish of the area. It is a common resident of rock-frequented pools in the Milk River throughout its entire length in Alberta. Collections of young saugers from tributaries near their junction with the Milk River near the rivers exit from the province and the absence of young saugers from similar tributaries farther west would indi- cate that the more eastern tributaries are the major spawning grounds for this species in the area.
Noturus flavus Rafinesque: NMC catalogue numbers NMC66-299, -302, -304, -323, -324, -325, -329, -336, -342, -344, -355, -356, -360, -362, -369, -395, -398, -401, -403, -415. “[wenty-seven specimens were collected in all, the most westerly location (NMC66-369) being 13 miles west and 1 mile south of the town of Milk River, S.20,Tp.2,R.18, a station 96 miles west of the previous record (Lewin 1964). The total length of the single specimen ob- tained at this station was 55 mm. Only in the past few years have local fisher- men added this small, easily caught catfish to their catches, an indication of the recent and highly successful invasion of the area by this species. As with the silvery minnow, the stonecat probably occupied the river prior to the introduction of irrigation water into the Milk River but has only become re-established in the turbid waters following the recovery of the aquatic vegetation and the associated bottom fauna.
1968
FisHes oF THE Mik River In ALBERTA
23
Appendix 1. A preliminary list of fishes found in the Milk River drainage of Alberta, based on 135 collections made during the summer of 1966.
1. Salmonidae Salmo gairdnern Richardson — rainbow trout 2. Coregonidae Prosopium williamsoni (Girard) — mountain whitefish 3. Esocidae Esox lucius Linnaeus — northern pike 4. Catostomidae Catostomus platyrhbynchus (Cope) — mountain sucker Catostomus commersoni (Lacepede) — white sucker Catostomus catostomus (Forster) — longnose sucker 5. Cyprinidae Chrosomus eos Cope — northern redbelly dace Couesius plumbeus (Agassiz) — lake chub Platygobio gracilis (Richardson) — flathead chub Rhinichthys cataractae (Valenciennes) — longnose dace Hybognathus hankinsoni Hubbs — brassy minnow Hy bognathus nuchalis Agassiz — silvery minnow Pimephales promelas Rafinesque — fathead minnow 6. Ictaluridae Noturus flavus Rafinesque — stonecat 7. Gadidae Lota lota (Linnaeus) — burbot 8. Percidae Stizostedion canadense (Smith) — sauger Etheostoma exile (Girard) — lowa darter 9. Cottidae Cottus sp. — sculpin 10. Gasterosteidae
Bartey, Reeve M. and Marvin O. ALLUM. 1962. laneous Publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, No. 119.
Culaea inconstans (Kirtland) — brook stickleback REFERENCES
Fishes of South Dakota. Miscel- alist 78: 128-129.
1958. Paretz, M. J.
Nursatt, J. R. and Vicror Lewin. The stonecat, Noturus flavus, newly re- corded in Alberta. Canadian Field-Natur-
1964.
1958. The sauger — a newly
iopes. iC. lee-and — K.P.” Lacirr. Fishes of the Great Lakes Region. Uni- versity of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
McAtuister, D. E. 1962. The brassy min- now, river shiner and sauger new to Al- berta. Canadian Field-Naturalist 76: 124- 125.
discovered game fish in Alberta. Land Forest Wildlife, Alberta Department of Lands and Forests publication, Vol. 1, No. 3.
TrRautMAN, Mirron B. 1957. The fishes of Ohio. The Ohio State University Press, Columbus, Ohio.
Accepted November 30, 1967
DATES OF FIRST FLOWERS OF ALPINE PLANTS AT EAGLE CREEK, CENTRAL ALASKA
Rosert B. WEEDEN Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fairbanks
INFORMATION ABOUT FLOWERING DATES of species in northern North America is still very sparse. For a number of years I have spent most of the spring and summer at Eagle Creek, east-central Alaska (65° 27’ N, 145° 22’ W), studying ptarmigan (Lagopus spp.). I had a good opportunity to record flowering dates of the conspicuous plants in the area, and I did so. ‘This report summarizes the results.
The area of study, 15 square miles of hilly land in the drainages of Eagle and Ptarmigan Creeks, flanks the Steese Highway 104 to 107 miles northeast of Fairbanks. Elevations vary from 2600 to 4400 feet above sea level. The rounded ridges and hills are part of an eroded peneplain of Precambrian schist, interrupted by masses of granite, quartz diorite, and allied Mesozoic rocks. The area apparently was not glaciated in the Pleistocene.
The climate is continental subarctic. Total annual precipitation averages 10-15 inches, with snow cover usually present from mid-September to mid- May. Summer days tend to be cooler, breezier, and more showery than in the valleys of the Tanana and Yukon Rivers to the southwest and northeast. Days from mid-June to mid-August generally are frost-free, but snow flurries and light frosts sometimes occur within this period.
Small stands of spruce (Picea glauca) occur on a few south-facing slopes between 2600 an 3300 feet; wood-cutting during the first 50 years of the century removed most trees from some stands, and regeneration has been slow. Spruces also occur as scattered, stunted individuals on favorable sites up to 4000 feet, or even slightly higher. However, treeless alpine-arctic tundra is the dominant vegetation on all areas above 3000 feet. This tundra complex grades to shrubby communities at lower elevations on mesic sites, and to a tussocky Carex-heath type on moist, gentle, lower slopes. Narrow bands of tall willows (Salix spp.) and alders (Alnus crispa) line the banks of streams below 3400 feet. These shrubs undoubtedly have prospered because of the disturbances wrought by placer miners, whose activities destroyed many stands of riparian spruce.
Eagle Creek and Eagle Summit are easily reached by car in summer. For that reason, plant collections have been made here more often than in adjacent parts of the Yukon-Tanana highlands. Scamman (1940) published one of the earliest lists of plants from this area, and established its reputation as a place to look for new species and interesting range extensions. Hanson (1950) discussed vegetation and soils (especially as related to congeliturbation and solifluction) of the Eagle Summit area. Gjaerevoll (1958, 1963 and 1967) added a significant number of new plant distribution records as a result of his collections on and around Eagle Summit. An unusual, small Saxifraga of un- known taxonomy was described by Porsild (1965) on the basis of specimens
24
1968 FLowers oF ALPINE PLANTs aT EAGLE CREEK 25 TABLE 1. — Dates of first flowers of 84 alpine plants at Eagle Creek, Alaska First Flowers Species (Years of Record) = Earliest Latest Mean s (days)
Douglasia gormani Const. (5) 5/19 5/31 5/23 4.7 Arctostaphylos alpina (L). Spreng. (5) 5/20 6/9 5/29 Uo Syntheris borealis Pennell. (6) 5/22 6/9 5/29 75 Pedicularis lanata* Willd. (5) 5/21 6/9 5/29 6.9 Anemone parviflora* Michx. (5) 5/21 6/10 5/30 7.0 Anemone narcissifiora* L. (5) 5/27 6/8 5/31 4.9 Oxytropis nigrescens* (Pall.) Fisch. (5) 5/22 6/9 5/31 6.5 Petasites frigidus* (L.) Fries. (5) 5/29 6/9 6/1 4.5 Anemone multiceps (Greene) Standl. (5) 5/26 6/11 6/2 6.2 Ranunculus nivalis* L. (6) 5/29 6/9 6/3 4.9 Lupinus arcticus* Wats. (5) 5/27 6/8 6/3 4.3 Parrya nudicaulis* (L.) Regel. (5) 5/29 6/10 6/4 5.4 Lotseleuria procumbens* (L.) Desv. (6) 5/28 6/9 6/5 4.6 Dryas octopetala* L. (5) 5/31 6/12 6/6 4.6 Diapensia lapponica* F. Schmidt (Hult.) (6) 5/31 6/9 6/6 3.8 Cardamine purpurea* C. and S. (6) 5/30 6/11 6/7 4.2 Rhododendron lapponicum* (L.) Wahl. (6) 5/28 6/11 6/7 5.1 Cassiope tetragona (L.) D. Don. (5) 5/30 6/11 6/7 4.6 Senecio atropurpureus 6/5 6/11 6/8 D8)
(Ledeb.) B. Feditsch. (5) Silene acaulis* L. (6) 5/28 6/15 6/8 1 A Arenaria obtusiloba 5/30 6/15 6/10 5.5
(Rydb.) Fern. (5) Astragalus umbellatus* Bunge. (6) 6/10 6/23 6/17 528 Arnica alpina* (L.) Olin. (5) 6/7 6/27 6/18 7.4 Papaver macountii Greene (6) 6/9 6/25 6/18 S20 Saxifraga punctata L. (6) 6/12 6/20 6/18 Saal Viola epipsila Ledeb. (4) 6/12 6/20 6/18 So Mertensia paniculata (Ait.) Don. (4) 6/12 6/20 6/18 4.0 Lagotis glauca* Gaertn. (6) 6/10 6/28 6/18 6.6 Pedicularis capitata Adams (6) 6/16 6/21 6/18 2A Claytonia sarmentosa* C. A. Mey. (5) 6/13 6/23 6/19 3.9 Pedicularis sudetica Willd. (5) 6/17 6/28 6/20 1.7 Castilleja hyperborea Pennell (5) 6/17 6/28 6/20 4.7 Crepis nana Rich. (5) 6/18 6/28 6/21 4.2 Epilobium latifolium L. (4) 6/17 6/28 6/22 4.1 Valeriana capitata Pall. (5) 6/15 6/28 6/22 529 Tofieldia coccinea Richards. (3) 6/20 6/27 6/23 3.6 Saxifraga hieracifolia 6/16 6/28 6/23 5.0
Wallst. and Kit. (5) Saxifraga bronchialis L. (5) 6/19 6/28 6/23 Joy) Potentilla biflora Willd. (4) 6/10 7/2 6/23 1.3 Tofieldia pusilla (Michx.) Pers. (4) 6/20 6/28 6/24 4.2 Senecio fuscatus 6/20 6/30 6/25 5.0
(Jord. and Fourr.) Hayck. (4) Potentilla fruticosa L. (5) 6/21 6/28 6/25 2.8 Pedicularis labradorica Panzer. (4) 6/17 6/30 6/25 adh Senecio lugens Rich. (5) 6/22 7/3 6/27 Sill Claytonia tuberosa Pall. (6) 6/15 7/5 6/27 Ud Saxifraga reflexa Hook. (5) 6/8 6/16 6/10 3E2 Geum rossii (R. Br.) Ser. (6) 6/7 6/15 6/10 Dea Rubus chamaemorus L. (6) 6/8 6/15 6/11 29 Cardamine bellidifolia L. (5) 6/8 6/20 6/12 6.4 Lloydia serotina (L.) Wats. (6) 6/8 6/15 6/12 DD) Anemone richardsonii* Hook. (6) 6/5 6/16 6/12 4.2
26 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
TABLE 1. — (Continued)
First Flowers
Species (Years of Record)
Earliest Latest Mean s (days) Corydalis pauciflora (Steph.) Pers. (6) 6/8 6/15 6/12 3.1 Sedum rosea (L.) Scop. (4) 6/8 6/15 6/12 Sed Andromeda polifolia L. (5) 6/10 6/14 6/12 1.6 Vaccinium uliginosum L. (4) 6/10 6/14 6/12 iey/ Dodecatheon frigidum* C. and S. (6) 6/8 6/20 6/14 4.3 Rubus arcticus L. (6) 6/8 6/21 6/15 4.8 Cornus canadensis L. (5) 6/7 6/21 6/15 5.6 Androsace chamaejasme (Spreng.) Hult. (6) 6/10 6/19 6/15 3.7 Eretrichium aretioides * (C. and S.) DC. (5) 6/11 6/23 6/15 4.7 Pyrola grandiflora Radius. (5) 6/13 6/19 6/16 Des Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. (3) 6/14 6/18 6/16 Dea Polemonium acutiflorum Willd. (5) 6/12 6/22 6/16 320 Myosotis alpestris Schmidt. (6) 6/10 6/22 6/16 4.4 Pedicularis oederi* Vahl. (6) 6/10 6/23 6/16 53 Erigeron purpuratus Greene (5) 6/15 6/19 6/17 15 Polygonum viviparum L. (6) 6/14 6/19 6/17 1.8 Lychnis apetala L. (5) 6/12 6/19 6/17 3.0 Parnassia kotzebuei C. and S. (5) 6/22 6/30 6/27 3.4 Pedicularis verticillata L. (6) 6/19 7/3 6/27 Sind Saxifraga davurica Willd. (6) 6/23 7/3 6/28 353 Gentiana glauca Pall. (6) 6/25 7/1 6/28 DP Campanula uniflora L. (5) 6/20 7/3 6/30 5.6 Claytonia scammaniana Hult. (6) 6/27 7/6 7/1 308 Aconitum delphinifolium DC. (5) 6/18 7/9 7/1 9.6 Campanula lasiocarpa Cham. (5) 6/30 7/3 7/1 1.6 Spiraea beauverdiana Schneid. (4) 6/28 7/12 7/3 6.5 Senecio resedifolius Less. (5) 6/28 7/11 7/5 4.9 Saxtfraga flagellaris Willd. (6) 7/3 7/18 7/8 5.9 Delphinium brachycentrum Ledeb. (6) 7/5 dja 7/9 5.0 Saxifraga hirculus L. (5) lS 7/18 7/9 61 Zygadenus elegans Pursh (5) 6/28 7/25 7/16 10.8 Epilobium angustifolium L. (3) 7/10 7/24 7/18 el Gentiana algida Pall. (4) (2A 7/26 7/23 2-22,
*Asterisks denote species used for phenological characerization of season (short method — see text).
collected at Eagle Summit. The efforts of several students and botanists from the University of Alaska have resulted in a representative collection of Eagle Creek plants in the herbarium of that institution.
MeruHops
Each year from 1962 through 1967 I recorded the dates on which I saw the first fully-displayed flowers of many species at Eagle Creek. This report lists dates for 84 species, excluding plants with inconspicuous flowers (i.e. Chrysosplenium tetrandrum, Empetrum nigrum, Ligusticum mzutellinoides) ; rare species such as Saxifraga oppositifolia, Moneses uniflora, Viola biflora, Oxytropis mertensiana; certain plants that were hard to tell from earlier- flowering species (Pedicularis langsdorfii),; and species for which fewer than
three years of flowering dates were obtained.
1968 FLowers oF ALPINE PLANTs aT EAGLE CREEK 27
Voucher specimens of all but the commonest, most easily distinguished species were collected. Mr. John Crow, Department of Botany, Washington State University, Pullman, kindly verified my identifications in 1967. Plant names follow Anderson (1959).
RESULTS
Douglasia gormanii usually is the first flower to appear at Eagle Creek (Table 1). Found at elevations above 3500 feet, this low plant is restricted to slopes where wind and sun combine to expose the ground early in spring. Other early-blooming species (Synthris borealis, Pedicularis lanata, Oxytropis nigrescens) occur in this habitat also, but their mean first-flower dates are six to eight days later than Dowglasia because of longer delays of development in late springs.
At the other extreme, Gentiana algida usually flowers after all others studied. This gentian grows in moist places at moderate to high elevations, and is most common in sedge meadows in saddles on ridges at 3900-4100 feet. Other plants in this habitat, like Claytonia tuberosa, Senecio atropurpureus, and Saxifraga hirculis, appear much earlier.
Some idea of annual variation in flowering dates can be obtained from standard deviations from mean first-flower dates listed for each species in Table 1. Erigeron purpuratus, Andromeda polifolia, Campanula lasiocarpa, Pedicularis sudetica, and Polygonum viviparum showed the smallest standard deviations (less than two days). Potentilla biflora and Zygadenus elegans had the largest deviations, with more than ten days on each side of the mean. There are ten species in Table 1 with standard deviations of two to three days, 15 with three to four days, 20 with four to five days, 15 with five to six days, eight with six to seven days, six with seven to eight days, and one species with a nine to ten-day standard deviation.
The number of species flowering in each five-day period from May 20 to July 23 is plotted in Figure 1. The curve is unimodal and quite symmetri- cal, except for an upsurge of flowering dates occurring June 14-18. One- fourth of all species studied had mean first-flower dates in that five-day period.
PHENOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
The flowering dates I recorded can be used to characterize seasons pheno- logically. One way is to sum deviations from mean first-flower dates, and to list the number of species blooming later and earlier than usual and the cumu- lative number of days earlier and later for all species. This is done in Table 2. The results suggest that there were two very “early” springs between 1962 and 1967, and four moderately or very “late” years. The phenological char- acteristic of each year, derived from these data, correlated well with at least one other event at Eagle Creek, the mid-point of hatching of rock ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) eggs.
The method just described demands that data be gathered all summer. The season can be characterized only in retrospect. For convenience in other biological studies, it is desirable to limit the effort to a shorter span of time,
28 Tue CANADIAN FIeLp-NATURALIST Vol. 82
preferably early in the summer. I attempted this by selecting a few common, conspicuous species that generally flower in June and show moderate variation in flowering dates from year to year (suggesting that their growth is fairly sensitive to short-run weather conditions). The species chosen are those with asterisks in Table 1. I expressed the flowering date of each species as the number of days after April 30 that first blossoms appeared in a given year. These were summed for all species, by year, and a mean was calculated. The mean was then converted to calendar date, starting with the April 30 base. The mean flowering dates are as follows: 1962, June 9 (22 species); 1963, June 6 (22 species); 1964, June 13 (22 species); 1965, June 9 (21 species); 1966, June 5 (22 species); 1967, June 13 (13 species). Like the method using all 84 species, this technique yields a consistent relationship between flowering dates and nesting of ptarmigan, except that 1967 flowering dates were as late as those in 1964, whereas ptarmigan nested much earlier in 1967. This could be a result of the small number of plants seen at the time of the first flowering, (due to a change in the pattern of my work at Eagle Creek) or it could reflect an imperfect correlation between the two phenologic events last year.
Discussion
It is clear that simply stating when first blossoms appear falls far short of fully describing the effect of environmental conditions on vernal plant develop- ment. The technique emphasizes individual plants, with all their inherent variabilities; it gives no clue about rates of development in populations. Furthermore, it hides the important variation within a species due to the plant’s occurrence in a range of biotopes. For the biologist busy with other studies, however, first-flower dates offer a simple way of getting some insight into phenological progression.
Bliss (1956) emphasizes site variation in his paper on plant development in low arctic and alpine tundras. Although he gives no data on first-flower dates, he concluded from other criteria that “ .. . the same species frequently reaches an equivalent level of phenological development on different dates at the various stations .. .” (p. 323). Later, (p. 324) he says “Most species at a given location appear to break dormancy, bloom, and fruit together. These
TABLE 2. — Phenological summations at Eagle Creek, Alaska, 1962-67.
No. (percent) | No. (percent) : Vear species species aes ae Ne Seasonal peek earlier than later than i; ere character z ; average average earlier ater agopus
1962 (78*) 24 (31) 5 (58) 83 143 mod. late June 23 1963 (73) 51 (70) 20 (28) 269 82 very early June 19. 1964 (81) 8 (10) 65 (80) 29 288 very late July 1 1965 (73) 30 (41) 40 (55) 83 131 mod. late June 23 1966 (82) 64 (78) 10 (12) 242 Dil very early June 20 1967 (45) 19 (42) 24 (53) 66 85 mod. late June 22
*Number of species for which records were available.
1968 FLOWERS oF ALPINE PLANTs AT EAGLE CREEK 29
20.
No. of Species Blooming, by Five- Day Periods
vt @ ' @ Gy @ C2) ) ' @ ie) @ ro 2 4 Orr a ! 1 a n Conia > = a t ' N + a bh >e «© a ~ a + a < o 1) o5 e = n Cys ies kes i s => Ss es 3 = or) Disa) 2
Average Date of First Flowers
Figure 1. Number of species with average dates of first blossoms in five-day periods, May 20-July 23, Eagle Creek, Alaska.
same species show different phenological cycles in other microenvironments.” Sorensen (1941) came to a similar conclusion in northeast-Greenland. He felt that the nearly simultaneous flowering of most species on a site could actually help ecologists to distinguish ecotopes. My experience at Eagle Creek suggests, nevertheless, that variation among species on the same site is considerable. For example, in openings in the shrub communities on south- facing slopes at timberline, different species achieve first anthesis as early as late May (Arctostaphylos alpina, Anemone narcissiflora) and as late as early July (Spiraea beauverdiana). The same is true of many other habitats at Eagle Creek, as was pointed out earlier in the discussion of Gemtiana algida. Some phenological studies have shown that early-flowering species vary more from year to year than do later flowering plants in the same area. There is not much information about this in the North, although Criddle (1927) obtained evidence for it in Manitoba, and Moss (1960) thought the phenomenon probably occurred at Edmonton, Alberta. If this were true, I would expect early-flowering species at Eagle Creek to have larger standard deviations than plants that develop later. This does not appear to be the case. Nineteen species with mean first-flower dates between May 20 and June 8 (Table 1), had an average standard deviation of 5.23 days. Forty-three
30 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
species blooming between June 9 and June 23 showed an average standard deviation of 4.15 days, and 22 late species, blooming after June 23, had a mean standard deviation of 5.16 days. A more rigorous analysis, including more years of data, certainly would be advisable. Sorensen’s (1941) data indicated that there was no general tendency for greater deviations among early species in years of different weather conditions; in fact, he noted that late- -flowering species showed a slightly greater aseriaion than early-flowering ones, when a “normal” and an “early” year were compared.
There is a real temptation to compare flowering dates with those reported in other studies, especially when species are common to both areas. Sorensen (1941), for example, gave flowering dates in 1935 for 18 species in northeast Greenland that I studied at Eagle Creek. However, detailed comparisons are not meaningful unless an estimate of annual variation is available from both areas. Interpretation of the comparisons would have to be based on good meterological and soil temperature data, which I do not have.
SUMMARY
Among 84 species of conspicuous flowering plants at Eagle Creek, east- central Alaska, the earliest (Douglasia gormanii) showed its first blossoms about May 23, on the average. The latest species to flower, Gentiana algida, began blooming July 23 most years. About 25 percent of the species studied achieved first anthesis between June 14-18. Site variation within species was not studied, but considerable variation in flowering dates among species on the same site was observed. The annual progression of flowering correlated well with hatching dates of rock ptarmigan. As far as the data allowed an examination of the subject, I found no evidence that year-to-year variations in flowering dates were greater among early than among late species.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank my wife, Judith S. Weeden, and field assistants Thomas Dean, David Hatler, Philip Headley, Rodney Herrick, and John Trent for pointing out many early flowers during this study. I am indebted to John Crow, Washington State University, for checking my identifications, and to Dr. Leslie Viereck, Forest Science Laboratory, University of Alaska, for reviewing the manuscript.
This paper is a contribution from Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Project W-13-R, Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
REFERENCES ANpERSON, J. P. 1959. Flora of Alaska and Cruipptz, N. 1927. A calendar of flowers. adjacent parts of Canada. Iowa State Uni- Canadian Field-Naturalist 41 (1): 48-55. versity Press, Ames, Iowa. 543 pp. GyaAgEREVOLL, O. 1958. Botanical investiga- iy GS, en (Ge Tae WAN comparison of plant tions in central Alaska, especially in the dev elopment in micro-environments of White Mountains. Pt. I. Pterydophytes arctic and alpine tundras. Ecological and Monocotyledones. Det Kongelige Monographs 26 (4): 303-337. Norske Videnskabers Selskabs Skrifter
1958 (5): 3-74.
1963. Botanical investigations in central Alaska, especially in the White Mountains. Pt. II. Dicotyledones, Salica- ceae-Umbelliferae. Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskabs Skrifter 1963 (4): 1-115.
———— 1967. Botanical investigations in central Alaska, especially in White Mountains. Pt. III. Sympetalae. Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskabs Skripter. 1967 (10): 3-63.
Hanson, H. C. 1950. Vegetation and soil profiles in some solifluction and mound areas in Alaska. Ecology 31 (4): 606-630.
FLoweErs oF ALPINE PLANTS AT EAGLE CREEK 31
Moss, E. H. 1960. Spring phenological records at Edmonton, Alberta. Canadian Field-Naturalist 74 (2): 113-118.
Porsitp, A. E. 1965. Some new or critical vascular plants of Alaska and Yukon. Canadian Field-Naturalist 79 (2): 79-90.
ScamMan, E. 1940. A list of plants from Interior Alaska. Rhodora 42 (501): 310- 349.
SORENSEN, IT. 1941. “Temperature relations and the phenology of the northeast Green- land flowering plants. Meddelelser om Gronland 125 (9): 1-282.
Accepted January 18, 1968
Ne
SOME ASPECTS OF COMMENSAL POPULATIONS OF MUS MUSCULUS IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO
Joun D. Retmmer and Micuaer L. PETrAs
Department of Biology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario
RECENTLY, STUDIES OF GENETIC POLYMORPHISMs in natural populations of the house mouse, Mus musculus, have suggested that these populations are sub- divided into a large number of small, randomly breeding units or demes (Lewontin and Dunn, 1960; Petras, 1967a, 1967b). The existence of such units has also been indicated by the limited home range exhibited by mice (Southern and Laurie, 1946; Young, Strecker and Emlen, 1960; Brown, 1953) and the development of male territoriality (Crowcroft and Rowe, 1963; Anderson and Hill, 1965). Reimer and Petras (1967) described the formation and maintenance of small breeding units by mice housed in a population cage.
In an effort to determine whether the subdivision observed in the labora- tory population was a reflection of the situation in commensal populations as is suggested by the genetic data, an extensive trapping program was under- taken on farms in southwestern Ontario. Data were collected on (1) the sex ratio in samples of mice from various localities and of various ages, (2) the movement of mice within single habitats and between dissimiliar habitats, and (3) the effect of farming practices on commensal mouse populations. The findings are consistent with the existence of small breeding units in such natural populations of Mus. Finally, the data are discussed in terms of a general concept of commensal populations of house mice.
‘TRAPPING LOCALITIES AND PROCEDURE
Trapping was carried out in and around a number of buildings on two farms in Essex County.
The mouse populations on Farm A (Fig. 1), located seven miles southeast of Windsor, Ontario, were sampled from May, 1964, through August, 1965, except for the cold-weather months, November through April. All buildings on this farm were badly in need of repair. Pigs, chickens, cows and dogs were found roaming about scattering considerable quantities of food within and between buildings.
Traps were set in the barn, the corn crib, the pig pen, the area between buildings and the adjacent fields. In the barn, which housed some livestock (cows and swine) and a granary at the lower level, trapping was concentrated in the granary during the spring and early summer since this appeared to be the major food source for mice in the building. By midsummer the supply of oats in the granary was depleted and the hayloft replenished. Traps were then moved to such convenient places in the loft as on and in the hay, along the walls, and on the beams. Traps in the corn crib, which contained corn throughout the year with the lowest level being reached just before harvest in October, were uniformly distributed (approximately two feet apart) along
32
1968 REIMER AND PEtTRAS: COMMENSAL POPULATIONS OF Mus 33
Ree KR MeN Ri
x x Me oe ¥ A es | : i) north 13 a x x x x oat ; field CORN < me fear o. | x mY | PEN 3 x oo ae GARAGE] 3% , x ® xX = x SHED S x -* xX oa x x xX x 4
HOUSE
Ficurr 1. A chart and view of Farm A. The arrow indicates the direction in which the photograph was taken.
34 Tue CANADIAN FieLp-NATURALIST Vol. 82
the outer walls and on the corn itself. The last building on this farm in which traps were set, the pig pen, housed a number of pigs throughout the trapping period. Pig eel stored in barrels, was the only edible material available.
Ground cover between the buildings was sparse with numerous tracks, caused by farm machinery, traversing the area. As a consequence, traps were placed only in those spots where it appeared likely that they would not be disturbed. Considerable cover, however, was available both in an overgrown ditch running the length of the farm just 20 feet south of the corn crib and, during the summer in adjacent fields where oats (Avena sp.), corn (Zea sp.) and soybeans (Soja sp.) were grown. Traps in the field were set in a 20 foot grid which ran up to 100 feet from the buildings.
Farm B is located two miles south of Windsor and five miles southwest of Farm A (Fig. 2). This second farm was in much better repair than the first. Livestock on this farm was confined to the barnyard and only a few dogs and cats ran loose during the trapping period. Scattered around the periphery of the farm yard were nine rabbit hutches which housed a large number of animals.
Trapping, carried out during the early summer of 1965, was restricted to four structures: west corn crib, east corn crib, granary in the barn and a large rabbit hutch. ‘Traps in the two cribs, which contained corn for nine months of the year, were placed at regular intervals along the periphery. In the granary, where oats were stored throughout the year, traps were set on the surface of the oats, the floor and beams supporting the walls. Lastly, traps were set in a large rabbit hutch which was well stocked with feed and water.
Single catch (2% x 2 x 8 inch) masonite traps were used in the sampling. These were placed in appropriate places in the evening and were either picked up early in the morning after being checked or were permitted to stay open for the entire day. If the temperature dropped below 50°F during the night or rose above 80°F during the day, the former procedure was followed to reduce trap mortality. Bait, composed of rolled oats and peanut butter, was used in the early stages of the field trapping but eventually was discontinued without any noticeable decrease in catches or increase in trap mortality. No bait was used in the buildings. In both buildings and fields the exact distances between traps were recorded.
Animals trapped were sexed, ear-punched, toe-clipped and released at the spot of capture. A record was made of the exact position of the trap.
RESULTS Sex Ratio of Captured Animals
Pooled samples from the buildings on the two farms consisted of 300 adult females and only 225 adult males (Table 1). The deviation from a 1:1 sex ratio is significant (X* — 10.71, d.f. = 1, P < 0.01). However, sub- adult males (obviously sexually immature individuals) outnumbered subadult females ae to 80. This deviation from a 1:1 ratio is not significant (X° = 3.38, d.f. = 1, P > 0.05). The overall male to female ratio, also, does not differ signific ane from a 1:1 sex ratio) OC = 2206) df, — Ip POs)
1968 REIMER AND PETRAS: COMMENSAL POPULATIONS OF Mus 35
ANARY Op RH WEST CORN BARN CRIB) | RHO Dae Mew oe at LksHep — 10 EAST CORN AGE
CRIB
QRH
CORH
Figure 2. A chart and view of Farm B. The arrow indicates the direction in which photograph was taken. RH refers to rabbit hutch.
36 Tue CANADIAN FIELp-NATURALIST Vol. 82
TABLE 1. — Sex ratio of animals captured in buildings and in fields Per cent Per cent Collect “ Adult Adult of Juvenile | Juvenile of OUST SMe males females adult males females | juvenile males males Samples from buildings: Farm A — barn 60 55 52 43 24 64 corn crib 92 138 40 38 34 53 pig pen 7 9 44 4 2 67 Pooled 159 202 44 85 60 59 Farm B — granary 14 28 33 4 7 36 rabbit hutch 7 i, 29 10 8 56 west corn crib 22 16 58 5 5 50 east corn crib 21 30 41 1 0 - Pooled 64 91 41 20 20 50 Summary of building data 228 293 43 105 80 57 Samples from fields around buildings of Farm A: 63 WS; 73 4 4 50
An examination of the sex ratio in adults from individual buildings indi- cates a significant difference in at least one comparison. For instance, the sex ratios in the samples from the rabbit hutch and the west corn crib on Farm B differ significantly (X* — 4.83, d.f. = 1, P < 0.05). However, unlike the situation in the juveniles, where there is a preponderance of males, only seven of ten samples from buildings favoured the male sex.
The sex ratio data from the rabbit hutch on Farm B are of particular interest because (1) the building was small (10 x 14 feet) and so supported a relatively small population, (2) the only food source was a basket filled with corn, and it was around this basket that all the mice were caught, and (3) in the first few days of trapping only adult mice were captured, and then only immature animals.
Most of the adults captured in the fields were adult males (Table 1). Deviation of the sex ratio from a 1:1 is significant (X° — 18.6, d.f. = 1, P < 0.001). Very few juveniles were captured.
Movement of Animals
The results of the capture-recapture studies of mice in the corn crib, sum- marized in Table 3, indicate very limited movement of mice. The range of females was found to be somewhat less than that of males.
Over a three month period a large number of animals were captured and marked in the granary of the barn on Farm A and a few mice were first caught in the hayloft. Subsequently many of the marked animals from the granary were recaptured in the hayloft and vice versa. Trapping was terminated when the frequency of catches dropped to nearly zero. This decrease was corre- lated with filling of the hayloft and depletion of oats in the granary. A sum-
mary of the distances travelled in the barn, between recaptures, is presented in Table 2.
1968 REIMER AND PEtTRAS: COMMENSAL POPULATIONS OF Mus 37
TABLE 2. — Movements of mice on Farm A based on capture-recapture data Ave. distance Col- No. of No. of lecting Sex and age mice mice Nex @ eG. Longest Site captured | recaptured recaptures agin in | movement Corn Males —-adult 23 10 18 4.2 10 crib juvenile 4 2) 2 5.0 6 pooled 27 12 20 4.3 Females — adult 31 9 12 1.0 3 juvenile 8 2 3 Levi 3 pooled 39 11 15 1.1 Summary 66 23 35 2.9 Barn Males -—adult 14 4 df Misd 35 juvenile 6 4 4 10.5 20 pooled 20 8 11 17.4 Females — adult 11 4 4 25.8 45 juvenile 4 2 2 12.5 15 pooled 15 6 6 20.8 Summary 35 14 17 18.6 Fields | Males -—adult 63 17 24 54 220 juvenile 4 1 1 400 400 pooled 67 18 D5 69 Females — adult 23 3 6 223 380 juvenile 4 1 1 200 200 pooled 27 4 7 218 Summary 94 22 32 98
The results of the trapping program in the fields are also summarized in Table 2. Based on 32 recaptures, the average distance travelled by mice between captures was 98 feet, with males moving considerably less than females. The average number of days between recaptures was 21 and 8 for adult males and adult females, respectively. One adult female was captured 4 times over an 85 day span.
During the entire trapping period, a total of 237 mice were marked and of these 59 were recaptured a total of 74 times, with six animals moving either from a building into a field or vice versa (Table 3). One adult female moved from the corn crib into the oat field and was again recaptured in the corn crib the following summer, seven months later. All movements into buildings occurred after September 25th and before the onset of winter. No migration was detected between buildings.
Continuity of a Population
Shortly before a new crop of corn was added to the crib on Farm A in October 1964, a 30 inch high plastic barrier was placed around the crib and the remaining corn was removed. A few animals escaped but most were
38 THe CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
caught, examined, marked and then released into the corn which had been returned to the corn crib. Of the 42 mice captured during this procedure, three males and six females had been marked in June.
Additional trapping during 1965 resulted in another 3 males and 6 females being recaptured. Six of these animals had been marked in June or July of 1964 and 3 in the October raid.
Effects of Farming Practices
Farming practices differ from one geographic area to another depending on the climate. The Essex County growing season, that is frost-free days, extends from approximately the first day of May until the end of September. Between September and May, the temperature rarely falls below O°F and snowfall is light. During this period the fields are undisturbed.
Trapping in the fields was begun shortly after they were ploughed in the spring and continued until the onset of winter.
No mice were captured in open fields lacking ground cover during the spring. All of the mice captured outside of buildings during this period were trapped in or near the shallow, overgrown ditch. In the oat field, as soon as the ground cover was about six inches high, several animals were trapped as far as 60 feet from the ditch. The density of mice appeared to increase until the oats were harvested. The population of Mus then appeared to decline in spite of considerable cover provided by straw and liberal new green growth from seeds scattered in harvesting. No mice were captured in the oat field after the first frost, which occurred on October 2nd in 1964. Similar results were obtained in the corn and soybeans fields (east of the barn).
DIscussIon
The results of the sex ratio studies agree with those of other workers. Laurie (1946), for instance, found more females than males of all weights in samples taken from corn ricks, while Southwick (1958), in a study of complete rick populations of varying density, found a significant excess of females in mice above 12.5 gm but no significant excess below this weight. Similarly, Rowe, Taylor and Chudley (1963) found that adult females were significantly more numerous than adult males. However, as in the present study, Rowe, et al (1963) found that sub-adult males outnumbered sub-adult females.
A breakdown of the sex ratio data shows significant variations between populations. For instance, there is a significant difference between the fre- quencies of males in the rabbit hutch and in the west corn crib of Farm B. Although, the cause of this difference cannot be determined from the present information, such factors as habitat differences (food and cover abundance) and population densities should be considered.
The low frequency of adult males in buildings and storage structures (0.43) and the relatively high frequency in fields (0.73) suggest the following. House mice prefer a commensal habitat, where there is ample food and cover and no competition with Peromyscus and Microtus. Members of both genera were caught in the fields. This results in a density problem, and consequently,
1968 REIMER AND PerrAs: COMMENSAL POPULATIONS oF Mus 39
TABLE 3. — Movement of mice between buildings and fields on farm A
Days Distance Animals Movement between travelled captures (feet ) Adult male* North oat field to pig pen 67 60 Juvenile male Pig pen into corn field 2D, 380 Adult female Corn crib into south oat field 83 30 Adult female South oat field into corn crib 16 380 Adult female Corn crib into south field and back
into corn crib 235 40 Juvenile female South oat field into corn crib 35 200
*Age of animal at time of first capture.
maturing males in buildings must compete with males already present (domi- nant males) for territory. The defeated males either become subordinate as in the population cage (Reimer and Petras, 1967) or more likely, since egress is possible, are driven out of the territory. These animals, then presumably seek an unoccupied area within the building and, if they fail to find one, move out of the building into the adjacent fields. The movements of these animals in the fields suggest an unstable home range, and the recapture data indicate that most of the mice do not survive long in this habitat but succumb to predators. Maturing females, on the contrary, generally remain in the terri- tory of their father or his replacement. The presence of females in the fields may be the result of general over-crowding and associated lack of nesting space in some of the buildings.
Among the collections from the various buildings the one from the rabbit hutch of Farm B is of particular interest, because nesting space and food were limited, and, because the trapping results suggested that nearly all if not all of the mice in this habitat were caught. If all adults were captured, then approximately three adult females were present for each adult male. The juveniles were equally distributed between the two sexes. These observations and conclusions agree with the situation observed in the population cage.
Movement studies suggest that in structures with adequate cover and an abundance of food, such as the corn crib, the home range of a mouse is quite restricted (3 feet between recaptures). Such limited movement does not ap- pear to be the result of physical barriers but rather behavioural. Whe latter is supported by the evidence which suggests the establishment of demes and associated territoriality in mice. In the corn crib, females were found to move shorter distances than males. If this difference is significant then perhaps it may be associated with nesting behaviour, or perhaps the distance moved by males is an overestimate resulting from the inclusion of males seeking new habitats.
In situations, as for example the barn, where suitable cover and adequate food are not as abundant as in the corn crib, mice of both sexes tend to move a considerable distance (18.6 feet). Similar values were found by Brown
40 Tue CANADIAN FiIeELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
(1953) and Young, ez al (1950). The average distance is even greater in the fields (98 feet). Unfortunately, in both the barn and the fields, the low number of multiple recaptures did not permit a suitable determination of the home range of house mice. The field data do, however, indicate that the mice were not confined to a small area in this habitat. This together with the capture of only eight juveniles in the field suggest that the mice in the fields do not establish nests or stable breeding units. Competition with Microtus and/or Peromyscus could account for this (DeLong, 1966, Lidicker, 1966).
Simultaneous trapping both in and around farm structures revealed that 6 of 59 mice or 10% changed habitats. This value is consistent with the migra- tion rate reported by other workers. Petrusewicz and Andrzejewski (1962) found a 5% rate (21/429), Evans (1949) a 2% (4/235) migration rate and Brown (1953) in frequent inspections and occasional trapping of a building adjacent to a hay barn found no movement of mice between them. One of the few instances of movement between buildings (2/12) was reported by Petras (1967a). The above values of physical migration may be underestimates by a considerable magnitude, if it is assumed that the populations in the fields are transient and are being continuously supplied by migrants from buildings, and that at least in some structures where cover and food are completely depleted, a new. population must be begun by immigrants.
Unfortunately, no data are available to indicate the frequency with which new populations are begun by immigrants, but if this does occur, as it must in at least some instances, the occurrence need not be frequent. Perhaps more often than not, some animals survive even such catastrophic events as the complete depletion of food and cover, and give rise to the next generation. For instance, trapping over a 15 month period showed that some of the mice remained in the same area for the entire period in spite of radical changes in cover. Such a residual population, if composed of randomly selected indivi- duals, may at the same time preserve genetic polymorphisms and permit a fluctuation of gene frequencies from generation to generation and from locality to locality (Reimer, unpublished thesis).
Even if the formation of new breeding units by immigrants is not common, here is a possible mechanism whereby mice from several demes may come together, in a vacant habitat, form a new breeding unit and bring about the reshufHing of genes of existing demes. This mechanism assumes significant evolutionary importance if the exchange of genetic material between established demes is highly restricted as is suggested by data obtained from population- cage studies.
Farm practices drastically effect mouse populations in the fields. Cover and food apparently must be present in order for a field to support even a transient Mus population. When ground cover was removed as in ploughing or harvesting, the density of mice declined, and with the onset of cold weather mice were no longer trapped in the fields. Presumably they either move back into buildings or succumb to predators. No information on this aspect was obtained in the current study.
1968 REIMER AND PetRAS: COMMENSAL PoPpuULATIONS oF Mus 41 No new litters were found in late fall or early spring so perhaps breeding is suspended during this period. It is not known whether territoriality is maintained during the nonbreeding period or if demes are disbanded and re- formed in the spring.
Subdivision of a species into a large number of demes or small breeding units is not unexpected, since as Wright has pointed out on numerous occasions (see for example 1939) such division when accompanied by partial isolation provides optimal conditions for evolutionary progress.
SUMMARY
Commensal populations of the house mouse, Mus musculus, exhibit features that can best be explained by a subdivision of fhe population into a large num- ber of small breeding units or demes. Extensive trapping over a 15 month period, on farms in southwestern Ontario, showed that: adult females are significantly more frequent than males in buildings, males are more frequent than females in field populations and the two sexes are equal in juveniles; a direct correlation exists between the distance covered by mice between cap- tures and density of cover; the migration rate between habitats is 0.10; some mice remain in a specific locale in spite of drastic environmental changes; and mice survive in the fields only during the growing season and the period im- mediately after harvest. The data were discussed in terms of a general con- cept of a commensal house mouse population.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to Mr. F. G. Biddle for assistance in the field work and to Mrs. A. Koncovy for typing of the manuscript. This study was supported in part by an Ontario Research Foundation Grant, an Ontario De- partment of University Affairs Grant and a National Research Council of Canada Grant (A-867).
REFERENCES ANpbeERSON, P. K., and J. L. Hur. 1965. of the Royal Society, London (B) 133: Mus musculus: Experimental induction of 248-282. territory formation. Science 148: 1753- Lewontin, R. C. and L. C. Dunn. 1960.
1755. Brown, R. Z. 1953. Social behaviour, re- production and population changes in the
house mouse (Mus musculus, L.). Ecolo- ‘gical Monographs 23: 217-240. CrowcrortT, P. and F. P. Rowe. 1963. So-
cial organization and territorial behaviour in the wild house mouse (Mus musculus, L.). Proceedings of the Zoological Society, London 140: 517-531.
Detone, K. T. 1966. Population ecology of feral house mice: interference by Microtus. Ecology 47: 481-484.
Lavurir, E. M. O. 1946. The reproduction of the house mouse (Mus musculus) liv- ing in different environments. Proceedings
The evolutionary dynamics of a poly- morphism in the house mouse. Genetics 45: 705-722.
Lipicker, W. Z. 1966. Ecological observa- tions on a feral house mouse population declining to extinction. Ecological Mono- graphs 36: 27-50.
Perras, M. L. 1967a. Studies of natural populations of Mus. I. Biochemical poly- morphisms and their bearing on breeding structure. Evolution 21: 259-274.
1967b. Studies of natural popu- lations of Mus. I. Polymorphism at the T locus. Evolution 21: 466-478.
Perrusewicz, K. and R. ANpDRZEJEWSKI. 1962. Natural history of a free-living po-
42 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
pulation of house mice (Mus musculus, L.) with particular reference to groupings within the population. Ekologia Polska, Seria A 10: 85-122.
Remer, J. D. and M. L. Perras. 1967. Breeding structure of the house mouse, Mus musculus, in a population cage. Jour- nal of Mammalogy 48: 88-99.
Rowe, F. P., E. J.) Pavior, and A. Hi. J- CuupbLey. 1963. The number and move-
Vol. 82
ings of the Zoological Society, London 131: 162-175.
SouTHERN, H. N. and E. M. O. Lauri. 1946. The house mouse (Mus musculus) in corn ricks. Journal of Animal Ecology 15: 134- 149.
Wricut, S. 1939. Statistical genetics in re- lation to evolution. In “Exposes de bio- metrie et de statistique”. Editor G. Teis-
sier. Hermann and C’**, Editeurs, Paris.
Youngs, H., R. L. Strecker and J. T. EMLEN. 1950. Localization of activity in two in- door populations of house mice (Mus musculus). Journal of Mammalogy 31: 403-410.
Accepted December 26, 1967
ment of house-mice (Mus musculus, L.) in the vicinity of four corn-ricks. Journal of Animal Ecology 33: 477-483. Soutuwick, C. H. 1958. Population char- acteristics of house mice living in English corn ricks: density relationships. Proceed-
ANOTHER RECORD OF WHITE WING-BARRING IN THE COMMON CROW
Rosert W. NERo Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, Winnipeg.
AN IMMATURE ComMon Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) of undetermined sex obtained at Carman, Manitoba on August 2, 1949, and donated by A. H. Shortt, exhibits white wing markings similar to that shown in specimens reported in two recent publications. Spencer Sealy described a bird taken near Battleford, Saskatchewan on August 25, 1962; Lester L. Short, Jr. and Roxie C. Laybourne described one taken in Maryland on October 2, 1965 (Short and Laybourne 1967). The Manitoba specimen closely describ les both of these.
Fortunately, one wing of the specimen was removed and was preserved in a spread position (Figure 1). As in the previously reported specimens, a striking pattern of white, resulting from failure or inhibition of deposition of melanin (black pigment) in the developing feathers, occurs across the wing. Primaries and secondaries show an unpigmented, white area extending from the base to within a few inches of the tip, with the broadest area of white on the broader inner vane. As was the case in Sealy’ S specimen, the affected feathers also show an unpigmented rachis; this is especially noticeable in the primaries. In this specimen, too, the pattern is apparently symmetrical on both wings, as far as can be judged from the folded, dried wing on the speci- men. Ihe second primary on the latter wing, however has a slight unpig- mented area at its tip, a feature not matched on the figured wing.
As in Sealy’s specimen, the greater primary wing coverts are all affected, an unpigmented area running from the base to one-quarter or one-third of
1968 Nero: Wuite WInNG-BARRING IN CROW 43
PHOTO BY ROBERT R. TAYLOR Figure 1. Dorsal surface of right wing of Common Crow.
the length. These white areas are largely covered by the alular feathers. In addition, two greater secondary coverts are slightly affected close to the feather base.
In contrast to the Saskatchewan and Maryland specimens, in the present one all of the tail feathers (rectrices) are affected in a manner similar to that of the wing feathers. An unpigmented area occurs on each feather, from the base to about half the length. As in the other feathers, the unpigmented area is greatest on the inner or median vane; it is also longest on the central feathers. This pattern is surprisingly similar to a condition described as “white tail-base” in the Red-winged Blackbird. About all that is known about this trait, which is common in the Redwing, is that there seemed to be no correlation with age, and individual birds showed a similar amount of white at the base of the tail feathers through successive molts.
The Manitoba specimen also has a small clump of six white feathers above the left eye. Judging by this specimen, white wing-barring in the Common Crow is one aspect of a more general albinotic abnormality affecting chiefly rectrices and remiges.
REFERENCES
Nero, Rosert W. 1954. Plumage aberra- Snort, Lester L., Jr. and Roxie C. Lay- tions of the Redwing (Agelaius phoeni- BOURNE. 1967. An instance of “white ceus). Auk 71: 137-155. wing-barring” in the Common Crow.
SeaLy, S. 1967. Record of white wing- Wilson Bulletin 79: 113-114.
barring in Common Crow. Blue Jay 25:
121. Accepted November 18, 1967
OBSERVATIONS ON CANADIAN BIRCH (BETULA) COLLECTIONS AT THE MORGAN ARBORETUM. VI. B. PAPYRIFERA FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
W. H. Brirrarn’ and W. F. Grant The Morgan Arboretum, Macdonald College, P.Q.
THE FOLLOWING RECORDS morphological observations carried out on white birch (B. papyrifera Marsh.) collections made in August, 1961, in the Rocky Mountains, and includes chromosome numbers which have been determined from their seedling progeny. All the specimens were collected in Alberta except those from one stand in British Columbia. The specimens are of interest as they clearly indicate that the morphological variability exhibited by this species is in agreement with our studies of this species from other areas (Brittain and Grant, 1965, 1966, 1967).
OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSION
The localities, together with the chromosome numbers, stomatal guard cell measurements and remarks on the different specimens, are listed in Table 1. The fruiting and folial characters of representative specimens are shown in Plate 1. These have been selected to show the range of variation which exists.
When mature, the white birches in the Rocky Mountains are large trees which differ from the very large birches of the Pacific Coast. The latter are usually referred to as B. papyrifera var commutata. ‘The Rocky Mountain birches lack the characteristic compact rounded crown with its slender branches and the very dark brown bark of many of the coastal specimens. The most noticeable characteristic of a large proportion of the montane trees is the bronzy, generally close, bark. In some individuals, however, the bark is decidedly loose, freely exfoliating and pinkish white or greyish in color.
While individual characteristics for each of the different collections are given in Table 1, comments on a few of the outstanding morphological variants are presented here.
Standing apart from all the other specimens is number 168, collected in the Waterton Lakes National Park. The difference between the long narrow leaves of this specimen and other accessions in this collection is striking, though number 145 from Jasper National Park resembles it more closely than the others (Plate 1). In contrast to number 168 is number 64 from Jasper National Park which is distinctive in having large coarse leaves, large catkins and very loose white bark (Plate 1). Other specimens with marked individual charac- teristics are numbers 159 with its very large leaves which are rounded at the base and sides, and number 48 with circular or subcircular leaves and abruptly narrowed tips (Plate 1).
Somatic chromosome numbers of 70 and 84 were determined from seed- ling progeny, agreeing with numbers for the majority of accessions from British Columbia (Brittain and Grant, 1966) and eastern Canada (Brittain and
1$cientific Advisor, The Morgan Arboretum. °Professor, Department of Genetics, McGill University.
44
1968 OBSERVATIONS ON CANADIAN Bircu (BETULA) 45
” 95-b
yy CG iy 25-S 25 Yd,
and leaves (reduced ca. 3/5) of representative
Prate 1. Bracts and samaras (X ca. 6) bys bract:
specimens. The numbers refer to accession numbers as given in Table 1. S = samara.
46
THe CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
Vol. 82
TABLE 1. — Observations on collections of B. papyrifera from the Rocky Mountains!
26
30
36
38
39
40
48
49
56
64
Locality
Somatic chromosome no.
Near Kananaskis, at base of Pigeon Mountain
No. 1 Highway, between Kananaskis and Banff.
Banff National Park.
Banff National Park, 10 mi. E. on Highway No. 1.
Banff — Radium Highway 17 mi. W. of pass; alt. 1464 m., British Columbia.
Yoho National Park.
Lower Waterfowl! Lake.
Jasper National Park, 14 mi. E. of Jasper; alt. 1022 m.
Jasper Nat. Park.
Jasper Nat. Park, 2 mi. E. Miette Junct.; alt. 1037 m.
Jasper Nat. Park, Edith Cavell Junct.
703
70:844
70
84
70
84
84
84
84>
Stomatal size (uw)?
35.44
41.86
39.19
38.81
40.388
38.12
Sls
Special characteristics
Leaf almost circular with abruptly attenuated tip, resembling No. 48, otherwise except for minor differences, No. 36 and No. 158; dead white or greyish bark; d.b-.h. 7.62 cm.®
Resembles Nos. 39 and 40, except for fertile bract with short peduncle; subequal in length to broad median lobe; d.b.h. 10.16 cm, bark dark brown, close.
Most like Nos. 36 and 145; buds sticky; tree with 3 trunks; d.b.h. 7.62, 10.16, 15.24 cm; bark grey with bronzy tint. Differs only in minor detail from No. 30 and 158; d.b.h. 10.16 cm; bark bronzy-brown close.
Similar to No. 30, but fertile bract very long and narrow with short median lobe; close, brownish bark with bronzy tint.
Similar to No. 40, but lobes rounded and lack very long fine hairs; d.b.h. 11.43 em; bark dark grey, with bronzy tint.
Very long fine marginal hairs on fertile bract; closely re- sembles Nos. 39 and 49; d.b.h. 12.70 cm; bark grey or dirty white.
Leaf form closely resembles No. 25; but fertile bract with shorter peduncle, subequal in length and median lobe; d.b.h. 15.75 cm; bark greyish, feebly exfoliating.
Most closely resembles Nos. 36 and 145; d.b.h. 28.45 cm; dark cream to bronze bark, exfoliating.
Most closely resembles Nos. 30, 36, 158 and 145 except for minor characters; d.b.h. 24.13 cm; bark pinkish, feebly ex- foliating.
Differs from others in larger coarsely serrate leaves, bracts and achenes large, approx. as broad as long; d.b.h. 15.24 cm; dull white bark, very freely exfoliating.
1968 OBSERVATIONS ON CANADIAN BircH (BETULA) 47
TABLE 1.— (Continued)
Somatic
Acc. Locality chromosome | Stomatal Special characteristics
No. no. size (uw)?
145 Jasper Nat. Park, Edith 84 37.13 Resembles No. 30 and 36,
Cavell Jct., alt. 1220 m. d.b.h. 20.32 cm; dull white bark.
158 Banff Nat. Park, 2.2 mi.S. Resembles No. 30, 36, 145,
Eisenhower Jct., alt. except in bark character;
1591 m. d.b.h. 10.16 cm; bark creamy- white or pinkish; strongly ex- foliating.
159 28 miles W. of Calgary. 70 Differs from all others in very large broadly ovate leaves with rounded base; fertile bract with short peduncle; sub-equal in length to median lobe; d.b.h. 27.94 cm; bark creamy-white, slightly exfoliating.
168 Waterton Lakes Nat. Park, 843 38.91 Differs from all others in very
W. side of Lake; alt. long narrow leaves; most clo-
1297 m. sely resembles No. 145.
All collections are from Alberta with the exception of No. 38 from British Columbia. *Average of 20 measurements.
3Determination from two seedlings.
*Two seedlings with different chromosome numbers.
‘Determination from five seedlings.
6d.b.h. = diameter at breast height.
Grant, 1965, 1967). However, no plants were found with a chromosome number of 27 = 56, although a few plants had been found with this number in collections from the other areas. Guard cell measurements are consistent with those determined for B. papyrifera from other areas. No hybrids were detected although B. fontinalis Sarg. was of frequent occurrence in this area and hybridization between these species is well documented (Dugle, 1966).
The illustrations (Plate 1) will make it evident that the type of variation shown in these specimens is similar to that found in other regions of Canada (Brittain and Grant, 1965, 1966, 1967). We have been unable to discern any consistent pattern either in tree form, foliage, the finer characters of the seed, or in chromosome number to warrant the segregation of these specimens into subtaxa. The lateral lobes of the fertile bract were remarkably con- sistent in all specimens: they were invariably of the ascending type.
There has been nothing in the development of these B. papyrifera seed- lings to differentiate them from those from other areas. The stem of the young seedling is glandular at first, but this character is lost in later develop- ment. The growth rate of the seedlings while less than the average of those from the lower mainland of British Columbia differed little from that of seedlings from other areas, varying from 76 to 101 centimeters per three years of growth.
48 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
SUMMARY
A morphological and cytological study has been carried out on a collec- tion of Betula papyrifera Marsh. from the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia. As in eastern Canada and in western and south central British Columbia, B. papyrifera showed considerable variation in minor charac- ters. One character found in common for all specimens was the ascending lateral lobes of the fertile bract. The mature trees differ somewhat from those of the Pacific Coast in crown shape and bark color but not sufficiently te warrant their separation into subtaxa. Somatic chromosome numbers of 70 and 84 were determined for seedling progeny. No hybrids were detected.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dr. W. Ogilvie was of the utmost assistance in the collecting trip and contributed the specimens from the Waterton Lakes National Park.
Certain aspects of the research have been supported by a grant to one of us (W. F. G.) by the Canada Department of Forestry.
REFERENCES
Brittain, W. H., and Grant, W. F. 1965. ————— . 1967. Observations on Canadian Observations on Canadian birch (Betula) birch (Betula) collections at the Morgan collections at the Morgan Arboretum. I. Arboretum. V. B. papyrifera and B. cordi- B. papyrifera in eastern Canada. Canadian folia from eastern Canada. Canadian Field- Field-Naturalist 79: 189-197. Naturalist 81: 251-262.
————— . 1966. Observations on Canadian Duet, JANET R. 1966. A taxonomic study birch (Betula) collections at the Morgan of western Canadian species in the genus Arboretum. III. B. papyrifera of British Betula. Canadian Journal of Botany 44: Columbia. Canadian Field-Naturalist 80: 929-1007.
147-157.
Accepted December 1, 1967
Ms
NOTES
Red-throated Loon Nesting in Northern Ontario
DURING THE SUMMERS OF 1962, 1964, AND 1966 I had the opportunity to travel along the coast of Hudson Bay between Winisk and Cape Henrietta Maria, either on foot or by canoe. As a matter of interest, I usually kept a list of birds observed in my travels. On several oc- casions breeding Red-throated Loons (Gavia stellata) were observed on nests, giving distraction displays or attending flightless young. Not until the publica- tion of W. E. Godfrey’s “The Birds of Canada” (National Museum of Canada Bulletin No. 203, 428 p.) was I aware that the Red-throated Loon had not been recorded as a nesting species in northern Ontario. Otherwise, I would have collected specimens. However, on July 29, 1966 I took photographs of two adults with two downy young on a pond located about 1 mile from the Hudson Bay coast at 55°7’N and 82°43’W. One of these photographs was submitted to Mr. J. L. Baillie, Assistant Curator of Birds, at the Royal Ontario Museum. He confirmed the identification of the birds and now has the photograph in the Museum files.
The only other nesting observation I have recorded in my field notes was made at 55°15’N and 84°W on August 3, 1962. On that occasion I flushed an adult from a nest containing two eggs after I had approached to within 15 feet. Upon examination I found that the eggs were cold. When I returned to try to photograph the adult and nest the next day there was no sign of the adult and the eggs were quite cold. I assumed that the eggs were infertile since they had not yet hatched at that time of year.
This species is a relatively common nester in the coastal area covered on foot between the mouth of Burntpoint Creek (55°17’N and 84°10’W) and Cape Henrietta Maria. Nesting locations
49
which I observed were located on small ponds 2 to 2 acres in size and 2 to 5 feet deep. The ponds are characterized by being deeper than the average for this area and by having a luxuriant growth of sedges around the edges.
This type of habitat is fairly con- tinuous westward along the coast to the Manitoba border and | presume that nesting Red-throated Loons will be found when ground studies are made there.
DonaLp W. SIMKIN
Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, Southern Research Station,
Maple, Ontario
Accepted December 19, 1967
Cattle Egret In The District Of Algoma
THE AREA, WHERE the following obser- vations were made, is about three miles NNW of a point on the map with the reading of 84°W and 46°30’N; or, just East of the Echo River, where it meets the boundary line between Kehoe Town- ship and MacDonald Township, on the farm of Mr. & Mrs. Clifford Trotter.
On August 18, 1967, Mrs. Trotter re- ported seeing four (to her unknown) white birds flying past her window. She noticed that one of these birds remained with her cattle, from August 18 to August 30.
On August 24, Mr. Garry Rahn and Mr. Russ Dennison visited the farm to identify the bird. Mr. Rahn returned Aug. 25 with a 450 MM. lens and se- cured more than 25 pictures of the egret. I personally visited the Trotter Farm and talked to Mrs. Trotter. One readily identifiable photograph of the bird, a Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis, is deposited in the National Museum of Canada.
A. KAELLGREN
570 MacDonald Ave., Apt. 106, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Accepted November 24, 1967
50 Tue CANADIAN FiELD-NATURALIST
Notes on Manitoba Plants. II.
Psoralea esculenta Pursh (Breadroot or Indian Turnips).
On June 24, 1967, I found several plants of this species about 25 miles northwest of Dauphin (126, R21, W1). This lo- cality is m Halliday’s (1937) Boreal Forest Region, near the boundary be- tween the Mixed Woods and the Mani- toba Lowlands sections. The species does not appear to have been reported this far north before. Scoggan (1957) lists its habitat as “Dry prairie of southern Manitoba. Northernmost collection: Millwood .. .” The Breadroot was used as a food plant by the early travelers on the prairies. John Pritchard, who was lost in the Souris River area for over a month in the summer of 1905, gives, in a letter to his brother, one of the earliest descriptions of its use as food:
“T this day found a plant, whose root the Canadians call the turnip of the plains. But not having a knife or axe to make a stick, I had no hope of dig- ging them up; the root being at least a foot in the earth, and the ground extremely hard. The root is from two to three and one-half inches long and one and one-half in girth, by no means unpleasant to the palate. I thought upon the sticks I had taken from the wolf-trap, one of which I still retained. It, having been pointed for its former use was in every respect fitted for my purpose. I therefore set to work, which was very great labour for me in my weak state. Having eaten a few raw, I returned to my encampment with about half a dozen, roasted them for supper, and found myself greatly refreshed next morning.”
Petalostemum candidum (Willd.) Michx. (White Prairie Clover).
On July 9th of the same year, and on the same site I found one plant of this species. This too, appears to be a first report from the Boreal Forest as defined
Vol. 82
by Halliday (1937). Scoggan (1957) gives its habitat as “Dry prairie of South- ern Manitoba. Northernmost collection: St. Lazare . . .” Specimens of both the above mentioned plants were sent to the National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. Both species were found growing on the Upper Campbell glacial beach, just east of Brokenpipe Lake, between the lake and No. 10 highway. The Campbell is in two major strands, and is believed to co-date the Valders Advance of the Wis- consin glaciation. The upper strand, east of Brokenpipe, is typical prairie, with Anemtone patens, Viola pedatifida, Geum triflorum, Heuchera richardson, Pens- temon gracilis, Chrysopsis villosa, Liatris punctata, and Gaillardia aristata. Trees along the lakeshore include Fraxinus pennsylvanica, U.mus americana, Quer- cus macrocarpa, and at least one speci- men of Populus deltoides, none of which
is typical of the Boreal Forest.
Along the west side of the upper strand lies a line of reedy meadows and swamps, with Brokenpipe acquiring the status of a lake, although it often freezes to the bottom in winter and is occasion- ally completely dry. The west side of the Lower Campbell, about half a mile east of the Upper, is marked by a band of coniferous forest, in contrast to the prairie flora of the beaches proper. Much of the area adjacent to the beach could be reasonably classified as Aspen Park- land rather than as Boreal Forest.
It is not clear whether the prairie flora here is pioneer or relict. The coniferous forest in the Duck Mountain is in re- treat, a fact which would support a pioneer suppesition. Blood, (1966) how- ever, regards the fescue prairie in the Riding Mountain as relict.
Lotus corniculatus L.
Several plants of Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus L. were noted in 1965 and 1966 just north of Gilbert Plains village, apparently as escapes from the
1968
Collegiate lawn. In 1967 a quite massive escape was seen about seven miles north of Grandview town. This plant is not listed by Scoggan, or by Budd and Best, but it is becoming quite firmly establish- ed and probably should be added to the Manitoba Flora.
Asparagus officinalis L.
One plant of this species was found in September 1967, on the bank of the Valley River, about half a mile west of, and upstream from, the Village of Gil- bert Plains.
Asparagus is quite often found estab- lished in the wild in the United States and adjacent to Canada, but the Gilbert Plains specimen may be the most north- erly escape noted to date.
REFERENCES
Bioop, Donatp A. 1966. The Festuca sca- brella Association in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. Canadian Field- Naturalist, 80 (1): 24-32.
Bupp, A. C. and Best, F. 1964. Wild Plants of the Canadian Prairies. Ottawa.
Hatuway, W. E. 1937. A Forest Classi- fication for Canada. Forest Series Bulletin Number 89. Ottawa.
Scocean, H. J. 1957. Flora of Manitoba. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 140. Ottawa.
James L. Parker
Box 99, Gilbert Plains, Manitoba. Accepted January 18, 1968
A Possible Fieldfare Observation near Ottawa, Ontario
On January 8, 1967, I was birding in Rockcliffe Park near Ottawa, Ontario. At the “Rockeries” I observed a robin- sized thrush-like bird that was strange to me. My field notes follow: Robin- sized, thrush-like with fairly large bill. Black tail which it bobs (or wags) fairly
Notes 51
frequently when perched. Pearl gray head and rump. Dark mask-like mark at eye (similar to Myrtle Warbler). Brown wings and shoulders. Orange throat and breast with dark specks in breast. Clear centre gives effect of cutaway coat. White belly and spots in under-side of tail. Occasionally shows white mark at shoulder.
My review of reference material at home led me to suspect the possibility (fantastic though it seemed) of the bird being a European thrush named the Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris Linnaeus). I contacted S$. D. MacDonald, Assistant Curator of Ornithology, National Mu- seum of Canada, who agreed that the possibility existed. I also contacted Dr. John Woolley who was familiar with these birds through his observations in England.
On January 9, a party composed of Messrs. MacDonald, Woolley, Mr. Frank Cosenzo of the National Museum staff and I returned to Rockcliffe but were unsuccessful in locating the bird though Mr. MacDonald found thrush-like tracks and droppings indicating the presence of a fruit-eating bird.
Reference to Peterson’s “Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe” and to specimens in the collection of the National Museum, confirm my opinion that the bird was a Fieldfare. Godfrey’s “The Birds of Canada” (National Mu- seum Bulletin No. 203) notes that only one record exists for this bird in Canada (a skin found in the possession of an Eskimo off Baffin Island in 1939). It is also noted that a breeding colony be- came established in southwestern Green- land in 1937. The birds also breed in Eurasia from Norway to Siberia and winter south to the Mediterranean Sea and Northern India.
H. N. (Hue) MacKenzie
228 Royal Ave., Ottawa, Ont. Accepted October 25, 1967
52 THE CANADIAN Fie_p-NATURALIST
Studies of the Byron Bog in Southwestern Ontario. X XIX. The Virginia Chain Fern, an Addition to the Flora of the Bog.
IN THE REPORT BY JUDD (1967) an account is given of three species of club-mosses and eight species of ferns found in the Byron Bog. In that report it is recounted that on September 6, 1966 Mr. Eli Davis and the writer went through the bog looking for the Bog Club-moss, Lyco- podium inundatum, but found no speci- mens. At the same time we were looking also for the Virginia Chain Fern, Wood- qwardia virginica (L.) Smith. Mr. Davis said that some time in about the last twenty-five years, on one of his frequent trips to the Muskoka area of Ontario, he had located the Chain Fern in a Sphag- num bog, possibly near Parry Sound, and had transplanted two or three plants to the Byron Bog, thinking that they would likely grow well in their new habitat and would make an interesting addition to the bog flora. He recalled that he put the plants in the soggy Shagnum moss south of Redmond’s Pond in Zone A of the bog (see Fig. 1, Judd, 1967). It was for evidence of this planting that we were searching on September 6, 1966 but we failed to find any.
On September 9, 1967 I went into the bog and, on passing through the area south of Redmond’s Pond, located a patch of Virginia Chain Fern growing in the wet moss in the general area where Mr. Davis had said his plants were put. The fern was identified as Woodwardia virginica with keys and descriptions in Cobb (1963), Cody (1956) and Fernald (1950). There were about ten plants oc- cupying an area which was roughly square and of dimensions 5 yds. x 5 yds. The growth included sterile fronds and fronds in full spore-production. Three fronds were collected and put in the
Vol. 82
writer’s herbarium with the following Accession Numbers: No. 735 — a sterile frond; No. 736 — a fertile frond on which the chain-like arrangement of sori was evident; No. 737 — a fertile frond on which the chain-like arrangement was obliterated by the great proliferation of rusty-brown sori.
Cody (1963), in discussing the distri- bution of W. virginica in Canada, gives a record for Middlesex County based upon a specimen in the Herbarium of the University of Toronto with the fol- lowing data: TRT25631, R. T. Ander- son, Sept. 10, 1898, London, Ont., wet swamps. There is no indication that the ‘wet swamps” included the Byron Bog but this record of 1898 does indicate that W. virginica is native to the vicinity of London. The collection made by the writer in 1967 in the Byron Bog may thus be either from plants native to the bog or from a growth originating from the few plants transplanted by Mr. Davis.
REFERENCES
Coss, B. 1963. A Field Guide to the Ferns and Their Related Families. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, xviii, 281 pp.
Copy, W. J. 1956. Ferns of the Ottawa district. Canada Department of Agricul- ture, Publication 974. 94 pp.
Copy, W. J. 1963. Woodwardia in Can- ada. American Fern Journal 53 (1): 17-27.
Fernatp, M. L. 1950. Gray’s Manual of Botany. 8th. edition. American Book Co., New York. Ixiv, 1632 pp.
Jupp, W. W. 1967. Studies of the Byron Bog in southwestern Ontario. XXVIII. Distribution of club-mosses and ferns. The Canadian Field-Naturalist 81 (2): 110-113.
WiLtiaMm W. Jupp
Department of Zoology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
Accepted November 15, 1967
1968
Eight Erythristic Plethodon cinereus cinereus (Green) from
Poison Lake Area, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia
_ THREE COLLECTIONS OF erythristic Pletho-
don cinereus cinereus (Green) were made in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, approximately 15 miles west of Oxford in the summer of 1967. These collections constitute the third recorded occurrence of the phase in Canada. This phase was unknown to Canadian popu- Jations until August 16, 1957, when Francis R. Cook collected two adult specimens at Sandy Lake on North Mountain, north of Paradise, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. (Bleakney and Cook, 1957, Copeia 1957 (2): 143).
The second occurrence of the phase was discovered on June 4, 1958. Francis R. Cook and J. Sherman Bleakney col- lected seven erythristic specimens in a series of nineteen Plethodon c. cinereus two miles west of the headquarters building, Fundy National Park, in south- eastern New Brunswick. (Cook and Bleakney, 1961, The Canadian Field Naturalist 75 (1): 53).
The third Canadian occurrence was discovered by the writer in the Poison Lake area on June 3, 1967. Twenty adult P. c. cinereus were collected under rocks on two woods roads in maple birch forest at about 750’ above sea level.
On two of the specimens the dorsal surface was bright orange, with the ex- ception of the tip of the tail and black fleck marks on the trunk and head. These specimens lacked lateral bands. The orange lateral surface of the trunk oc- curred in streaks and patches interrupted by the same cream color of the ventral surface. The lateral surface of the last three quarters of the tail had scattered black markings. The ventral surface was a cream color with orange fleck marks and was brighter on the chin becoming gray on the tail.
Notes 53
On the morning of July 24, 1967, a total of twenty-eight adult P. c. cinereus were collected under rocks, and under bark of large decaying, moist stumps and logs. Orange and cream colored mushrooms were abundant in the area. Three of the twenty-eight specimens were erythristic.
In the early afternoon of September 3, 1967, fifteen adult P. c. cinereus were collected under rocks. Eleven were of the common red-backed phase. One red- backed salamander was guarding six young, which were of the same color phase. Three other adults were erythris- tic. Another adult, guarding seven young salamanders, was different in color. The dorsal and lateral surfaces were mostly black with orange mottled patches. Black was the predominant color. The ventral surface was a steel gray color with black markings. The entire body had a peppered effect of minute steel gray spots. All of the seven young sala- manders were of the common red-backed
phase.
3 collections
77 specimens 64 adults — 55 common red-
backed phase
8 erythristic
1 mottled pattern all of the com- mon red-backed phase
13 young —
There were no lead-backed P. c. cine- reus collected in this area.
Reedh (05555 Copeiay 195521G))9293- 254) presents a good review of the Uni- ted States distribution of the phase with especial reference to its occurrence in western Connecticut. Richard Highton, in his Revision of North American Sala- manders of the genus Plethodon (1962, Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 6 (2 19235-367,), notes (on p. 303) specimens from west- ern North Carolina and points out that the pigment fades in preservatives so that the geographic range of this phase
54 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
can not be determined from museum specimens.
The three erythristic specimens col- lected on July 24 have been deposited in the National Museum of Canada where they are catalogued as NMC 10173. The remaining specimens are in the collection of the Nova Scotia Mu- seum.
JoHN GILHEN Nova Scotia Museum
Halifax, Nova Scotia Accepted November 20, 1967
Summer Occurrence of the Fox Sparrow in New Brunswick
AS THE LATEST SPRING MIGRANT Fox Sparrows Passerella iliaca in New Bruns- wick are normally seen in the first week of May, the writer was somewhat sur- prised to find a singing bird of this species at Summit Depot, Restigouche County, on May 27, 1964. Others were discovered from then until August 5 when the species was last heard. Total for the summer was at least eleven sing- ing birds in an area of approximately sixty square miles, extending from the Right and Left Hand Branches of Belone Brook in northern Madawaska County to Wild Goose Lake and Twenty-seven Mile Brook in western Restigouche County. They were observed in the fol- lowing habitats: young balsam fir stands regenerating after clearcut, five birds, mature balsam fir stands, severely dam- aged by spruce budworm attack, two; mature balsam fir stands with pond and stream edge, two; young pin cherry — white birch — balsam fir fire stand, one; black spruce bog, one.
Additionally, a Fox Sparrow was cap- tured, banded, and released at Summit
Vol. 82
Depot on July 14. Viewed through the skin, the skull appeared pink, that is, non-ossified, and the body feathers were very loosely webbed, both characteris- tics indicating that the bird was an im- mature.
In the same area the writer observed three singing birds between May 19 and 30, 1965, while on June 23, 1966, Dr. L. J. Mook recorded four Fox Sparrows on the fifty-stop Green River Breeding Bird Survey route.
The regular occurrence of Fox Spar- rows singing on territory and the pre- sence of an immature in mid-July sug- gest that the species must be an uncom- mon to fairly common breeding bird in this region. There is no evidence of its regular occurrence in summer elsewhere in New Brunswick. Also confined to this part of the province, in summer, is the Gray-cheeked Thrush Hylocichla minima. (The writer recorded individual Gray-cheeks singing near Left Hand Branch Belone Brook, June 9, 1964, and at Wild Goose Lake, June 22, 1964.)
The area of all these observations lies within the Green River District of the Gaspé — Cape Breton Ecoregion of Loucks (1962, Proceedings, Nova Sco- tian Institute of Science 25:85-167), a high, hilly region having a cool, moist climate. Thus the occurrence of Fox Sparrow and Gray-cheeked Thrush in this portion of northwestern New Bruns- wick is probably related to the same conditions influencing their occurrence in summer in parts of the Gaspé and
Cape Breton. Davin S. CHRISTIE
Fundy National Park
Alma, N.B.
April 11, 1967
Accepted December 20, 1967
NEWS AND COMMENT
CANADIAN BoTANICAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
THE CANADIAN BoranicaL AssociATION which was founded in 1965, has started the publication of a regular newsletter to be known as the Canadian Botanical Association Bulletin and to be issued quarterly. The first issue (of seven 8 x 11 inch pages) includes a message from the president, Dr. R. L. Taylor, a program outline for the C.B.A. meetings to be held at Lakehead University June 11-14, highlights of the Executive Committee Meeting, reports of the various sections and news notes on the following subjects:
1. The Biological Council of Canada
2. Canadian Participation in the International Biological Program 3. Conference on Plant Gene Resources
4. Flora North America Project.
The Bulletin concludes with personal notes on the activities of its various members. Dr. J. H. Soper, National Museum of Canada, Ottawa is the treasurer of the Association.
THE OKANAGAN SIMILKAMEEN Parks Socrety Reports PRroGreEss
In May, 1966 a citizens group was started in British Columbia which has aroused wide interest among conservationists. The new organization was called the Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society. By mid- -September the society announced the opening of a fund to purchase 576 acres of winter rangeland for a band of California bighorn sheep near Vaseux Lake. Four months later this land purchase was completed and the society was wondering what to do with the money still coming in.
This part of the story may be fairly well known but perhaps more information on the society’s aims and progress to date might be of interest.
The original objective of the organization was to promote the idea of an integrated park plan for the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys. The society evolved from a council formed by representatives from several local groups interested in parks and conservation. Some of these groups had tried to interest the provincial government in particular park projects without much success. After several months of discussion and planning, a public meeting was called to hear the plans and decide on a form of organization.
Public reaction to the movement was enthusiastic and the meeting decided to form a new society rather than continue as a council. Representativ es attended from a wide variety of organizations such as naturalists, sportsmen, garden and geology clubs, historical societies, a Boy Scouts Council and chambers of commerce. When formal organization was completed at a later meeting the new board of directors represented many of these participating groups from communities throughout the plan area.
>)
56 Tuer CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
KEOGAN MT. 2931 FT.
McINTYRE BLUFF
CROWN LAND
INDIAN RESERVE
Figure 1. The area near Vaseux Lake, B.C. showing two blocks of land purchased by the Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society as part of a proposed park and winter range for California Bighorn Sheep.
Committees were appointed to develop briefs on six parks in the overall proposal for the district. A preliminary brief covering the integrated plan was forwarded to the appropriate ministers in Ottawa and Victoria. This was followed by the more detailed briefs prepared for each of the proposed parks in the plan.
In the meantime the 576 acre property at Vaseux Lake became available for purchase and the new society acted quickly in a move which may have changed the fate of a band of bighorn sheep and certainly provided the spark needed to kindle the public imagination. Reaction from ‘Ottawa and Victoria has been encouraging and no doubt the initiative shown by the society and the clear demonstration of public support has made its impression. Useful contacts have been made with both federal and provincial leaders up to cabinet level and many meetings have been held with government officials. As a result studies are now underway in several of the park proposal areas.
One of the most encouraging aspects of this conservation effort is the prospect of scientific and educational use of areas such as Vaseux, Osoyoos and Cathedral Lakes. Government and university workers have already carried out scientific studies in these unique areas and recent enquiries suggest that
1968 NeEws Aanp CoMMENT 57
Photo by S. R. Cannings, 20 West Bench Drive, RR 1, Penticton, B.C.
Figure 2. Vaseux Lake, B.C. showing part of areas purchased by the Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society for nature reserve and California Bighorn Sheep range. The low mountain just across the lake and to the right includes nearly all of the 576 acres.
this type of use may provide a strong argument for acquisition of nature reserves.
The Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society have now made two installments on a second block of land east of Vaseux Lake. $2800 remains to be paid on this 243 acre property. When this purchase is completed the society feels it will be in a better position to deal with either the provincial or federal govern- ment on a final settlement of the Vaseux park proposal.
The society would like to see more of the private land in the area added to the park together with a generous amount of the adjacent crown land. As the federal government controls the waters of Vaseux Lake as a migratory bird sanctuary, it has been suggested that a co-operative project involving the federal and provincial governments and the O.S.P.S. might be the best approach. However, the society is ready to donate its property to any government authority that will incorporate it into a worthwhile park or neGine reserve with a secure future.
Donations to the Vaseux Bighorn Fund would be very welcome and are income tax deductible. Please address to Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society, Box 787, Summerland, B.C.
58 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
Kerjyimkujik, Nova Scotia — GAME SANCTUARY
Keyim«kujik Nationat Park has been declared a game sanctuary as a result of co-operative action by the Province of Nova Scotia and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the federal department responsible for the National Park system.
An Order in Council passed by the Province makes effective in the Park the game regulations of the Lands and Forests Act with respect to sanctuaries.
Kejimkujik, the newest addition to the park system, is an area of about 140 square miles located in Annapolis, Digby and Queens Counties with entrance at Maitland Bridge, Annapolis County.
The long-term effect in the areas surrounding the park will be better hunting resulting from increased game population build-up and subsequent migration across the park boundaries. .
The application of provincial game sanctuary regulations within the Park is an interim action pending final legislation placing the area in the National Parks schedule. At that time protection of the wildlife in the Park will be covered by the provisions of the National Parks Act.
Press Release,
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development,
Ottawa.
REVIEWS
The Shell Bird Book
By James Fisuer. Ebury Press and Michael Joseph, 1966. 344 pp., numerous illus. In Canada available from Thomas Nelson and Sons (Canada) Ltd., Toronto. $5.75.
The author, James Fisher, amply lives up to his reputation for producing a fact-packed yet informal and_ highly readable publication. This is a book about British birds and birdwatchers, not the usual guide to bird recognition. It might well have been entitled “Birds and Man” for it is concerned mainly with bird to man associations and especially with how birds are studied in Britain and by whom. The author’s occasional remarks show him to be a discerning observer of man as well as birds. For example, “Birds, the most observable of the animals, are a litmus paper of a country’s state of native culture.”
Twelve chapters make up the book. The first two deal with the fossil record and history of British birds. Then fol- lows a thorough account of the zoogeo- graphy of the British avifauna. Next an oddly-titled chapter “The Migrants” which, however, is concerned with meth- ods of studying migration, not with ac- counts of the migrants themselves. An interesting history of bird protection in Britain is followed by a chapter called “Bird Gardening” with instructions on attracting birds with food, water, and nesting boxes, including interesting ac- counts of hard winters with high bird mortality going back at least to the year 671, and emphasizing how feeding may save many birds in such times. Perhaps a list of shrubs and trees that could be planted to attract birds would have been a useful adjunct.
A short chapter on bird song is fol- lowed by a 40-page one on birds in liter- ature, music, and art. Then comes a “Guide to the Birds’ Provinces” which must have required much careful com- pilation for there are lists of clubs, or-
ganizations, sanctuaries, reserves, zoos, a selected bibliography of British birds, and an impressive list of regional publi- cations arranged by vice-counties (which are clearly mapped on the book’s end papers). There is a six-page index to the birds mentioned, but not to the numerous other subjects dealt with.
The book is attractively and variously illustrated with 48 small but pleasing bird paintings in color by E. A. R. Ennion; 150 black and white drawings, maps, photographs, and diagrams; and twelve pictures in color of British bird reserves and sanctuaries.
The extent of the Shell Oil Company’s connection with the book is not made clear. However both they and the author deserve great credit for producing such a useful book at a very modest price.
W. Eart GopFrrey
National Museum of Canada Ottawa 4, Ontario
The Sparrow’s Fall By Frep Bopswortn. Doubleday and Com-
pany, Garden City, N.Y. and Toronto, Ontario. 1967. 255 pp. $4.95.
Fred Bodsworth has written a love story against the harsh background of the Hudson Bay lowlands in winter. The hero and heroine — Jacob Atook and Niska, and the other man, Taka Cheechoo, are Caribou Indians who must use all their primitive knowledge and skills to wrest a living from the bleak forests of Northern Ontario. Jacob’s problem is that he has been listening to Father Webber’s explanation of God’s great love that caused Him sorrow even when a tiny sparrow fell. To a hunter, the disturbing thought that God did not want him to kill, could have disastrous effects. To make things worse, Jacob and Niska eloped on the eve of her family’s planned marriage to Taka. And
60 “THe CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
now they are starving in their small tent hidden in the vast northern woods.
Into this basic pattern of a love story, Fred Bodsworth has woven the ecology of the forest — caribou and wolves and the raven. Skillfully the author guides Jacob and the reader to a deeper under- standing of the significance of nature’s harsh law — the survival of the fittest.
This is an exciting story, skillfully written. The cold bleakness of the Arc- tic tundra is numbing. Fred Bodsworth shows a deep understanding of the rela- tionships between the northern animals and their environment. I have only one plaintive query — a caribou fawn born in March?
A. W. F. BanFieLp
National Museum of Canada Ottawa, Ontario
Radar Ornithology
By Eric Eastwoop. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London. 1967. xii + 278 pp. Liberally illustrated. 75 shillings. (Distributed in the United States by Barnes & Noble, Inc.)
Since 1964, the National Research Council of Canada’s Associate Commit- tee on Bird Hazards to Aircraft has taken films of radar displays at civil and military radar stations from coast to coast across Canada. The enormous quantities of film taken constitute an unique source of information on bird movements over the northern half of this continent. Members of the Canadian Wildlife Service, the Royal Canadian Air Force and_ the Meteorological Branch of the Department of Transport are engaged in the primary analysis of the film record — the relating of bird movements to weather conditions. Smal- ler scale analyses, e.g. of particular movements of such species as geese and Whistling Swans, have been carried out by faculty members of the Univ ersity of Calgary and Univ ersity of Toronto, and students at McMaster Univ versity.
Vol. 82
The interpretation of bird movements on radar films, and their identification with particular species populations, re- quires considerable ornithological skill. Few North American ornithologists have watched migration actually in pro- gress “live” on a console at a radar sta- tion. Dr. Eastwood’s Radar Ornithology has, therefore, been published at a ve opportune moment, and it should do much to encourage additional students to take part in the full utilization of the wealth of ornithological information available in the films taken in Canada.
Dr. Eastwood is a radar engineer at the Marconi Company in England, who became involved with birds when these were identified as being responsible for much of the “clutter” found on the plan position indicators of the increasingly powerful defence radars developed dur- ing the last ten years. Because of his technical background, Dr. Eastwood’s book will be of particular value to orni- thologists whose knowledge of physics is slight.
Of the fourteen chapters, two are de- voted to the principles of radar and the electronics involved; two are devoted to why birds produce radar echoes, and how (bird- -produced) “angels” are iden- tified; two are devoted to study of the echo by electronic means (signature analysis) in order to determine what species of bird is causing an echo, how many birds compose an echo, and the number of birds involved in a roosting or migratory movement; two are devo- ted to the patterns of spring and fall migration which have been observed with radar in Europe and North Amer- ica; and the remaining chapters discuss Snictl topics as reversed migration, migra- tory orientation, drift by the wind and the altitude at which migrants fly — the recorded ceiling is 21,000 feet.
There are numerous line-drawings in the text — essential in any account of bird movements observed by radar. There are 24 pages of photographs
1968 which, among other things, illustrate aerials, consoles, “angels” on _ p.p.i’s,
“wing-beat patterns’ and radar signa- tures, the different appearances of mi- gratory movements of warblers, thrushes and shorebirds, and “ring-angels” pro- duced by starlings leaving their roosts. It is unfortunate that the photographs have a flat grey quality (the publishers could surely have done better) and I do not like their cardboard-cutout ap- pearance. There are five pages of refer- ences but it is unfortunate that many bird-radar studies have not been listed e.g. only one paper by Bellrose is inc- luded. I found more than a few inaccur- ate and incomplete citations.
This book is an indispensible intro- duction to radar-migration studies. It will be useful to anyone wishing really to understand the background of region- al or species studies, based on radar ob- servations, that have appeared in Ibis, British Birds, Bird-banding and other journals in recent years. It will be essen- tial first reading for anyone preparing to conduct a radar study. By providing them with an explanation of the physical basis of radar as it applies to studies of birds with such sophisticated machinery, Dr. Eastwood has done ornithologists a great service, and he has done a good job also of making a bird-radar litera- ture that is often excessively tedious, interesting for the general reader. Thank you Dr. Eastwood!
M. T. Myres
Department of Biology University of Calgary
Rocky Mountain Flora
By Wiuuam A. WEBER. University of Col- orado Press, Boulder. 1967. viii + 437 pp: $9.40 US.
This is an excellent book, which I recommend with only one reservation. The scope is not as wide as the title
REvIEws 61
suggests, for, as explained on the title page, it covers the southern Rocky Mountains from Pike’s Peak to Rocky Mountain National Park and from the plains to the continental divide. Never- theless it will simplify field identification in most of Colorado and will be a useful supplement in adjoining areas.
In order to include the 1500 species of vascular plants of the Front Range it was necessary to omit full descriptions. Instead the final division of the key often gives supplementary information, allow- ing the user to confirm his identification. The book is essentially what in Europe is generally termed an excursion flora. Many of the widespread species are illus- trated with excellent line drawings by C. F. Yokum.
The keys are frankly artificial, but are based on abundant experience and seem to be thoroughly practical. (I was impressed by the warning in a prelimin- ary key that poison ivy occurs in the group in question.) In strongly repre- sented families there may be separate keys to each genus; but, where few species occur, space is saved by treating the whole family in a single key.
All too often condensed floras, aimed principally at the amateur naturalist, are of very little use to more serious work- ers. In contrast, Weber’s book shows how well a skillful author can combine simplicity with completeness and accur- acy. There are no species citations and only minimal synonyms; but, to judge from examination of sample genera the taxonomy and nomenclature is extremely up to date. In fact one species is included that was published in December 1966. Thus, for those requiring modern no- menclature and species concepts for the region, this book will be extremely valuable.
D. B. O. Savite
Plant Research Institute Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario
62 THe CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
Modes of Reproduction in Fishes
By Cuartes M. Breper, Jr. and Donn Enric Rosen. Published fos the American Museum of Natural History by the Na- tural History Press, Garden City, New York. 1966. 940 pp-, 56 illustrated charts. $20.00.
Impelled by annual grants to publish quickly and by promotion based on out- put of papers to publish often, scientists are publishing more and shorter articles in the scientific “weeklies.” Few scien- tists are able to resist these pressures and progressively fewer large and maturely considered monographs are appearing. It therefore gives me satisfaction to review Breder and Rosen’s 900 page treatise, collected and written over a period of 33 years, covering the Amphioxi, Agna- tha, Placodermi, Chondrichthyes and the Osteichthyes.
The body of the monograph, follow- ing a brief introduction, consists of des- criptions of reproduction in the various species, which are grouped in families and arranged phylogenetically. Summar- ies are given at the beginning of each major taxon.
The sizes of the species accounts vary considerably according to what is known — they may be only a line or two, or as much as five pages. According to the introduction the following features are treated: breeding season, breeding site, migration, secondary sex characters, sex discrimination, competition for mates, courtship, mating and parental care. But frequently egg form, adhesiveness and buoyancy, hatching time and age at sexual maturity are also included. Ac- counts follow the sources closely, a method which often gives something of the flavour of the original and makes for interesting as well as accurate accounts. The sources are always cited. The reader is referred to Dean’s Bibliography of fishes for the full citation of earlier re- ferences. Later references, over 2,000 of them, are given in a bibliography at the end of the book. The cut-off date for references is 1962.
Vol. 82
These accounts reveal the rich variety of reproductive methods in fishes, from Oviparity to viviparity, from nest build- ers to mouth breeders, and from demer- sal to pelagic eggs. Described, for exam- ple are the habits of a characin, Copeina arnoldi, a pair of which leaps together out of the water to deposit and fertilize their eggs on vegetation or on a stone, and a Kamchatkan Careproctus which lays its eggs in the gill chamber of a crab.
Following the species accounts which comprise the body of the text, is a sum- mary. This section succinctly surveys the diversity in certain aspects of repro- duction — mating associations; mating habits, breeding sites and migration; and secondary sexual characters and mating patterns.
After the summary is a 56 page illus- trated chart which outlines for each family what is known of secondary sex characteristics, mating, breeding sites, sex products, parental care and migration. A line drawing of a typical member of each family is provided. A bibliography and an index to taxa completes the volume.
The most disappointing aspect of the book, to this reviewer, is the lack of analysis. There is no discussion of re- productive phenomena cutting across evolutionary lines. No _ generalizations are made about, for example, viviparity, cavernicolous, and deep-sea reproduc- tion, or sexual dimorphism. Why, for example, are eggs often placed on the ceilings of the nests? Does this avoid the settling out of sediment on eggs? Definitions to terms are not provided, nor are illustrations (aside from chart figures) included.
When covering such a wide field it is difficult not to miss references. The following references (some of which are after the cut-off date) cover taxa for which little or no information was re- corded and are intended as an addenda
1968
rather than a criticism. Brodal and Fange (1963) in Biology of Myxine give a com- prehensive survey of the biology of the hagfish. Spermatophores, an unusual fea- ture, are known in the basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus (Maxwell, 1955, Harpoon at @ aventure). Millot and Anthony (1960, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 251: 442) describe reproductive organs of the coelacanth, Latimeria chalunmmae. Okada (1959-60, Journal of the Faculty of Fisheries, Prefectoral University of Mie) gives considerable new information on the reproduction of Japanese fresh- water fishes, including the Salangidae, and Andriashev (1954) in his Fishes of the northern seas of the U.S.S.R. pre- sents material on Arctic fishes, especially the Stichaiedae and Zoarcidae. Blacket (1962, Copeia (1): 128) and Krejsa (1964, Copeia (2): 448) give data on reproduction of Dallia and Synchirus, respectively. Taliev’s (1955) monograph The sculpins of Lake Baikal is omitted
REVIEWS 63
and the Baikal Comephoridae are er- roneously ascribed to the marine waters of northern Europe. Lapsus calami in- clude the placement of Lestidium in the Alepisauridae instead of Paralepididae, and Ernogranrmus is the Hexagrammi- dae instead of Stichaeidae.
Much is unknown about fish repro- duction. The breeding habits of only 300 of the 20,000 species are well known. Most of our knowledge is based on 9 families. The author’s provision of lists of families whose reproduction is un- known will be a valuable stimulus to research. It is certain that this mono- graph will remain for many years a source book and guide to those interest- ed in aspects of fish reproduction, be they ichthyologist, ethologist, fishery biologist or aquarist.
D. E. McA Luister
Curator of Fishes National Museum of Canada Ottawa 4, Ontario
OTHER NEW TITLES
The following titles are offered as a service to readers. Their listing does not preclude them from possible review in a future issue of the Canadian Field-Naturalist.
The Apes. The Gorilla, Chimpanzee, Oran- gutan and Gibbon, Their History and Their World. Vernon Reynolds. Dutton, 1967. 296 p- 110 plates. Drawings. Maps $10.00 (US).
In the Service of Man. Technology and the Future of Human Values. J. V. Langmead Casserley. Regnery, 1967. 204 p. $4.95 (US).
The Mammals. Young Readers Edition. Adapted from text by Richard Carrington, Eds. of Time-Life Bks. Time Inc., 1967. 128 p. Illus. $3.95 (US).
River Plains and Sea Coasts. Richard J. Russell. Foreword by Carl O. Sauer. Univ.
of Calif. Press, 1967. 173 p. Photographs. Maps. $8.75 (US).
Seawatchers. Oceanographers in Action. William Bixby. McKay, 1967. 215 p. Illus. by John Flynn. $4.25 (US).
They Dared the Deep. A History of Div- ing. Robert F. Marx. World Pub. Co., 1967. 160 p. Illus. $3.95 (US).
Hummingbirds. Walter Scheithauer, transl. from German by Gwynne Vevers. Crowell, 1967. 176 p. 76 color photographs by author. Drawings. $10.00 (US).
64 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
The World of the Frog and the Toad. George Porter. Lippincott, 1967. 153 p. Photographs by author. $4.95 (US).
World of the Great White Heron. A Saga of the Florida Keyes. Marjory Bartlett Sanger. Devin-Adair, 1967. 146 p. Illus. by John Henry Dick. Map. $10.00 (US).
Animals of the North. William O. Pruitt, Jr. Harper and Row, New York, 1967. 183 p. Illus. $5.95 (US).
Trap-Nesting Wasps and Bees. Life His- tories, Nests, and Associates. Karl V. Krombein. Smithsonian Press, Washington, DiC€. 11967. 576. p.- Illus. $12.50 (US).
The Larousse Encyclopedia of Animal Life. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1967. 640 p. Illus. $25.00 (US).
Album of North American Birds. Vera Dugdale. Illustrated by Clark Bronson. Rand McNally, Chicago, 1967. 112 p. $3.95 (US).
The Life of Prairies and Plains. Durward L. Allen. Published in cooperation with World Book Encyclopedia. Our Living World of Nature Series. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1967. 232 p. Illus. $4.95 (US).
A Naturalist in Russia. Letters from Peter Simon Pallas to Thomas Pennant. Carol Urness (Ed.). University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1967. 189 p. Illus. $7.50 (US).
Science and the Mass Media. Hillier Krieghbaum. New York University Press, New York, 1967. 242 p. $6.95 (US).
Scientific Principles and Moral Conduct. James B. Conant. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1967.48 p. $1:95° (US): Arthur Stanley Eddington Memorial Lec- ture, Princeton University, 1966.
Structure and Habit in Vertebrate Evolu- tion. G. S. Carter. University of Washing- ton Press, Seattle, 1967. 520 p. Illus. $9.50 (US).
The Structure of Life. Royston Clowes. Penguin, Baltimore, 1967, 312 p. Illus. Paper- back. $1.95 (US).
Vol. 82
Technology in Western Civilization. Melvin Kranzberg and Carroll W. Pursell, Jr. (Eds.). Two volumes, boxed. Volume 1, The Emergence of Modern Industrial So- ciety: Earliest Times to 1900 (802 p. Illus.). Volume 2, Technology in the Twentieth Century (822 p. Illus.). Oxford University Press, New York, 1967. $27.50 (US).
Wilderness and the American Mind. Roderick Nash. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn. 1967. 256 p. $6.50 (US).
The Biology of Aquatic Vascular Plants. C. D. Sculthorpe, St. Martin’s Press, New York, August 1967, 610 p. Illus. $23.00 (US).
The Lichen Symbiosis. Vernon Ahmadjian, Blaisdell Publishing Co., A Division of Ginn & Co., Waltham, Mass. 1967, 152 p. Illus. $5.75.
The Monocotyledoneae: Cat-Tails to Orchids. E. Lucy Braun, with Gramineae by Clara G. Weishaupt, original drawings by Elizabeth Dalve and Elizabeth King, The Vascular Flora of Ohio, Vol. 1, The Ohio State University Press, Columbus, Ohio, 1967, 464 p. Illus. $10.00 (US).
Olduvai Gorge. L. S. B. Leakey (Ed.). Vol. 2, The Cranium and Maxillary Dentition of Australopithecus (Zinjanthropus) Boisei, P. V. Tobias. With a foreword by W. E. Le Gros Clark, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1967, 264 p. Illus. $17.50 (US).
The Wolves of Isle Royale. L. David Mech, Fauna of the National Parks of the United States, Fauna Series 7, 1966, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 210 p. Illus. $1.00 (paper).
Play, Exploration and Territory in Mam- mals. Proceedings of a symposium, London, Nov. 1965. P. A. Jewell and Caroline Loizos (Eds.). Published for the Zoological Society of London by Academic Press, New York, 1966. 294 p. Illus. $11.50 (US).
Taxonomy, A Text and Reference Book. R. E. Blackwelder. John Wiley and Sons, New York and London. 1967. 698 p. 150 s.
Mechanisms of Temperature
Publication No. 84 of the
Molecular Adaptation.
1968
American Association for the Advancement of Science. Washington, D.C. Horn-Shafer Co., Baltimore, Maryland. 390 p. Contains the proceedings of a symposium held at Berkeley, California in 1965. 24 contributors.
Life, Land and Water. William J. Mayer- Oakes (Ed.). University of Manitoba Press. 1966. Proceedings of the 1966 Conference on Environmental Studies of the Glacial Lake Agassiz Region. Contributions by 19 spe- cialists. Illus. About 400 p. Paperbound $4.00. Clothbound $6.00 (Canadian or US Funds).
Parable of the Beast. John N. Bleibtreu. Macmillan, 1968. A study of man as an animal and his relations to the rest of the animal world. $6.95 (US).
Audubon Book of True Nature Stories. John K. Terres. Crowell 1968. Selected true stories from the “Audubon” Magazine, of man’s experiences with the animal world.
$6.95 (US).
Adaptations for Lecomotion and Feeding in the Anhinga and the Double-Crested Cormorant. Oscar T. Owre. Ornithological Monographs No. 6. American Ornithologists Union 1967. Illus. 138 p. $3.50 (US).
Canadian Society of Wildlife and Fish- eries Biologists, Occasional Papers No. 2. M. T. Myres (Ed.). Published by the CSWEB in 1967. 50 p. $0.50.
Articles on the following topics are in- cluded:
1. Resource Administration and Develop- ment in the Northwest Territories — a proposal by the CSWEB.
A Role for Wildlife in Canada Today — by W. A. Benson.
3. The Biologists’ Role in Fisheries Man- agement — by C. P. Ruggles.
4. Canada’s Water Resources— How Ade- quate Are They? — by C. R. Stanton.
5. The Evaluation of Two Aspects of Hatchery Stocking in British Columbia.
6. Implications of ARDA to Wildlife and Fisheries Management—by W. J. D. Stephen.
7. Operational Research and its Potential Application to Biological Research and Management — by C. E. Law.
Available only from Dr. M. T. Myres, Dept.
of Biology, The University of Calgary,
Calgary, Alberta.
ibe)
REVIEWS 65
The Breeding Bird Survey, 1966. C. S. Robbins and W. T. Van Velzen. US. Dept. of The Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. Special Scientific Report — Wildlife No. 102. February 1967. Washington, D.C. Illus. 43) Ds
Birds and Aircraft on Midway Islands, 1959 — 63 Investigations, Special Scien- tific Report — Wildlife No. 85. C. S. Robbins, U.S. Dept. of The Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Sport Fish- eries and Wildlife. October 1966. Illustrated. 63 p. $0.45 (US).
Functional Design in Fishes. R. McN. Alexander. Hutchinson University Library, Hutchinson & Co. Ltd. 1967. 160 p- 10s. 6d. in paperback.
Estuaries. George H. Lauff (Ed.). AAAS, 1967. 525 illustrations. 776 De. Hee 2c OR, $27.00 (US). Contributions to a symposium by outstanding scholars.
Taxonomic Literature. F. A. Stafleu. A selective guide to botinical publications with dates, commentaries and types. Rag- num Vegetabile Vol. 52. 556 p. Published in co-operation with Inter-Documentation
Company, Zug. $18.00 (US).
Cellular Injury and Resistance in Freez- ing Organisms. Proceedings of an inter- national conference on low temperature science sponsored by the Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokaido University. Volume 2. Conference on Cryobiology. Bunyeido Printing Co., Sapporo, Japan. 257 p., 15 contributions.
Formulation of Research Policies. Col- lected Papers from an International Sym- posium. AAAS, 1967. L. W. Bass and B. S. Old (Eds.). Illus. 218 p. $7.75 (US).
Ground Level Climatology. Robert H. Shaw (Ed.). AAAS, 1967. Illus. 408 p: S125 0n CUS):
Agriculture and the Quality of the En- vironment. N. C. Brady (Ed.). AAAS, 1967. 476 p- $13.50 (US). Contributions of 36 scientists considering specific aspects of (1) Agriculture and Air Quality, (2) Agri-
66 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
culture and Water Quality, (3) Soil Pollu- tion in Agriculture and (4) Human and Animal Wastes.
Handbook on Orchids. Carl Withner with Sarah and Phillips Jesup, Eds. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1967. 81 p. color plates, photographs, paper, $1.25 direct to publisher, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11225. There are 30,000 recorded orchid species in the world, grow- ing both at sea level and at 14,000 feet above. This manual contains a wealth of information for the amateur greenhouse gardner.
The Life of the Pond. William H. Amos. McGraw-Hill, 1967. 232 p., color photo- graphs, drawings, $4.95. Describes the com- plex communities of plants and animals that thrive in natural and man-made ponds.
Transactions of the Thirty-First Federal- Provincial Wildlife Conference. Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. 1967. 2 0:
Contents:
Report on Recommendations presented by the 30th Federal-Provincial Wildlife Con- ference, p. 5.
Report of the Director of the Canadian Wildlife Service, p. 8.
Summary notes of the 31st Conference, p. 12. Recommendations of the 31st Conference, [Db 78
Papers presented:
1. Report to the Federal-Provincial Wild- life Conference, 1967 — by R. Passmore, p. 24.
The role of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Canada’s national
wildlife policy and program—by A.
Huget, p. 29.
ie)
Ww
Aspects of law enforcement in Canada — Migratory Birds Convention Act — by W. R. Miller, p. 34.
4. Considerations in budgeting for fish and wildlife management —by J. Hatter, p. 37.
A place to hunt —by C. H. D. Clarke, p. 50.
“an
6. Improper use of snow vehicles for hunting — by G. W. Malaher, Pp: 202: Humane trapping — by N. S. Nova-
kowski, p. 67.
Vol. 82
8. Additions to the list of birds protected under Migratory Birds Treaty and Mi- gratory Birds Convention Act — by F. G. Cooch, p. 69.
9. Conservation of rare and endangered species of mammals in Canada—by N. S. Novakowski, p. 73.
10. The status of the cougar in the north- east — by Bruce S. Wright, p. 76.
11. Alphabetical list of delegates, p. 83.
12. Appendix—Report on the Conference — by David Smith, p. 92.
Vermont Life Book of Nature. Ronald Rood and others. The Stephen Press, 1967. 188 p. $6.95 (US).
Patterns in the Balance of Nature, and related problems in Quantitative Ecology. C. B. Williams. Academic Press 1964. 324 p- $9.50 (US). For the professional ecologist and taxonomist.
Genetics of Fungi. Kar] Esser and Rudolph Kuenen, translated from German by Eric Steiner. Springer-Verlag New York Inc., New York. 1968 (originally published in 1965). 500 p- Illus. $18.50 (US).
The Komaroyv Botanical Institute: 250 Years of Russian Research. Stanwyn G. Shetler. Smithsonian Institution Press, Wash- ington, D.C. 1967. Illus. 240 p. $5.95 (US).
The Wild Gardener in the Wild Land- scape. H. Hamilton. Hafner Publishing Co., Inc., 31 East 10th Street, New York 10003. 1967. 232 p. Illus. $7.50 (US). A book that favors the natural look — for lawns it pro- poses stabilized, unmowed grasslands.
Seanning the Sky. Birds on Radar; Weather and Migration. I. C. T. Nisbet and W. H. Drury. Reprint from Massachusetts Aud- ubon, Summer and Autumn, 1967. 16 p. A non-technical report on radar investigation of migrating birds in New England. Avail- able from Massachusetts Audubon Society. South Great Road, Lincoln Massachusetts, 01773.
The Prairies and the Ducks. David A. Munro. Reprint from the Canadian Geo- graphical Journal, July, 1967. Illus. 12 p- Available from the Canadian Wildlife Ser- vice, Ottawa. A non-technical publication of general interest.
1968
The Fresh-Water Fishes of British Co- lumbia. G. C. Carl, W. A. Clemens and C. C. Lindsey. B.C. Provincial Museum Handbook (5): 1-192. Illus. Color. Fourth Edition (reprinted with corrections). De- cember, 1967. $0.75.
Forest Wildlife Management. Bryant A. Batemen (Ed.). Louisiana State University Press, 1968, 108 p. Maps. $5. Papers for 1967 Forestry Symposium primarily concerned with the forest as a habitat for game species, both mammals and birds, in the South.
Scientific Progress and Human Values. Edward and Elizabeth Hutchings (Eds.). Preface by Lee A. Durbridge. Am. Elsevier Pub. Co. 219 p. Diagrams. $7.50. Proceedings of conference celebrating the 75th anniver- sary of the California Institute of Tech- nology, 1966. Papers range from discussion of the elementary particles of matter of the role of the educator in a scientific world.
Snakes of India. P. J. Beoras. NBT, India (Amcorp Ltd., N.Y.), 1965. 148 p. Color plates. Photographs. Drawing. $3.00. Writ- ten by specialist for the layman. The book
REvVIEws 67
tells of the importance of snakes in Indian culture, describes the main species, their identification, anatomy, habits, venoms and treatment.
Tracks. E. A. Ennion and N. Tinbergen. Oxford University Press. 1968. 63 p. Photo- graphs. Drawing. $4.25. Shows how to iden- tify and interpret the tracks and traces of small wild animals, including birds.
Waste Water Renovation and Conserva- tion. Penn State Study No. 23—R. R. Parizek and others — Pennsylvania State Univ., 1967. 71 p. Illus. Folded may. Paper. $2.00. Investigates the feasibility of a system for spraying sewage effluent on croplands and forested areas to establish a cycle of renovation and return most of the waste water to the underground reservoir.
Water is Everybody’s Business. The Chem- istry of Water Purication— A. S. Behrman — Doubleday, 1968. 229 Pp: Illus. $4.50. Paper, $1.45. Treatment stresses modern chemical technology’s contributions to deal with water impurities and describes processes for their removal.
Ne
REPORT OF COUNCIL TO THE EIGHTY-NINTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB
December 18, 1967
Durine the past year, eight meetings of Council were held at the National Museum of Canada: January 5, 23, March 30, April 10, June 6, August 31, October 12 and December 8, 1966. The average attendance was eleven members. The Club’s business was conducted in the usual orderly manner.
Appointments for 1967 were made as follows:
Editor, THe CANapIAN FIELD-NATURALIST — T. Mosouin Business Manager, THE CANADIAN Fretp-Naturatist — W. J. Copy Chairman, Publications Committee — J. M. Giietr Chairman, Excursions and Lectures Committee — Mrs. H. A. THomMson Chairman, Reserve Funds Committee — He row Chairman, Membership Committee —I. Bropo
Chairman, Bird Census Committee — G. H. McGee Chairman, Macoun Field Club Committee —I Bropo
Chairman, F.O.N. Affairs Committee —
Chairman, Public Relations Committee — A. NEWMAN Chairman, Sites Committee — W. K. W. BaLpwin O.F.N.C. Representative to A.A.A.S. Council — V. E. F. Somman Chairman, Constitutional Committee. — T. Mosquin Chairman, Natural Areas Committee — T. Mosquin
REPORT OF THE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
Since the last report of Council, five numbers of THe Canapian FIELp- Naruratisr have been published. These include Volume 80, Number 3, July-September 1966, containing 63 pages and Number 4, October-December, containing 87 pages; Volume 81, Number 1, January-March 1967, containing 78 pages; Number 2, Aprii-June, containing 83 pages and Number 3, July- September, containing 77 pages. The breakdown of items by subject for the five numbers is as follows:
ARTICLES NOTES REVIEWS
| B40) u2) 01 geen are ine ete IY See 16 2 8 Flenpetology. i. aes) asa aoe 3 1 1 eGR O1 O py t eS sis a ocs 4 2 - Mannan @ LO Gig 2 Ee ae 8 3 4 Ornithology ge seas See 9 25 7 iiiscellame ous gs eae tome 2 3 14
42 36 38
68
1968 EigHty-NIntH ANNUAL MEETING 69
In addition to the above summary there were 18 other items such as Fditorials, News and Comment, and Special Notices. Expenditures for the year were as follows:
Volume 80 (Nos. 3 and 4) and Volume 81 (Nos. 1, 2 and 3) $5,561.21 Pee aaGSBROGAV ONNTIE: S02 Scs «ta Ae ae ee 1,640.05 Total $7,201.26
The publication of THe CaNnapiAn Fietp-NaTturaList was again supported this year by a grant of $500 from the Conservation Committee of the Canadian National Sportsmen’s Show. This assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
This year a new periodical entitled apa and Landscape” was begun by the Club. The objective of this periodical is to publish articles of a non- technical nature for naturalists residing in the Ottawa Valley. To date all five numbers of Volume 1, containing a total of 128 pages, have been published. This new venture has been received with considerable enthusiasm by the local
membership.
REPORT OF THE ExcuRSIONS AND LECTURES COMMITTEE
The Excursions and Lectures Committee met six times during the year to arrange a total of thirty-nine natural history activities for the local membership.
The annual spring banquet, held this year at the Eastview Hotel on April 11, was enjoyed by over a hundred members, with James Woodford, Executive ireeroe of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, as guest speaker.
Five lectures were held: Courtship Behaviour of Blue Grouse by S. D. MacDonald, Orchids and Bog Plants by E. Greenwood, Primitive Spore Plants by W. Illman, Our National Parks by A. Helmsley and D. Muir, and Astronomy for Beginners by D. Brunton. In addition, three study group meetings were held on bird identification, bird calls and warbler songs.
There were eighteen bird outings, featuring miner birds, early spring migrants, marsh birds, May migration, dawn chorus, breeding birds, shore birds and migrating waterfowl. Other outings featured animal tracks, salaman- ders, a general excursion to Gatineau Park, Flynn Creek heronry, Woodcock territorial flight, early spring flowers, orchids, insects, spore plants, botany and geology.
The Committee wishes to thank all those who made this program possible by leading field trips and conducting tectures and study groups.
REPORT OF THE RESERVE FUNDS COMMITTEE
A total of $1,700.00 was invested in Canada Savings Bonds Series 1967-68 on November 15, 1967.
The sale of a $1,000 Hydro-Electric Power Commission 3°, Bond due January 16, 1958 for $996.52 plus $703.48 cash from Reserve Account deposits provided the funds for this purchase.
Funds remaining in Reserve Fund accounts amount to $120.14 and con- sideration should be given to further investment as soon as the sum available exceeds $500.00.
70 Tue CANADIAN FieLp-NATURALIST Vol. 82
REPORT OF THE SITES COMMITTEE
Members of the Committee have been active with several projects, notably: the Mer Bleue and the Rideau River Conservation Authority, continued consultation on developments in Gatineau Park (following Mrs. Thompson’s initiative); the survey of localities of orchids (Mr. Edward Greenwood’s enterprise); and the proposals for purchasing sites placed before Council.
REPORT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE
A study of the Articles of Incorporation, the Constitution and the By-Laws of the club was started in June 1967 and is continuing. A considerable number of amendments and additions are planned. Tries, will be presented for consideration to Council before March 31, 1968.
Report oF THE NatrurAL Arras CoMMITTEEE
The Natural Areas Committee held two meetings in 1967. The topic of discussion was ““The role of the Ottawa italic evenreal tes Club in the preserva- tion of Natural Areas”. A letter was written to the Ontario Department of the Provincial Secretary and Citizenship in order to find out whether our club can purchase and own property in Ontario. A reply was received from the solicitor stating that the powers and privileges of our club (which was originally incoporated in Ontario on February 29, 1884) are presently defined in Section 288 of the Ontario Corporations Act orien ceads as follows: “A corporation has power:
(a) to construct, maintain and alter any building or works necessary or
convenient for its objects;
(b) to acquire by purchase, lease or otherwise and to hold land or interest therein necessary for its actual use and occupation or for carrying on its undertaking, and when no longer so necessary, to sell, alienate and convey the same.” — Revised Statutes of Ontario, 1960, Chapter 71.
It is clear, therefore, that the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club can purchase and own property in Ontario. Members of the committee are now making a survey of lands west and south of Ottawa in an attempt to discover areas that may be suitable for our purposes.
Report OF THE Birp Census CoMMITTEE
The forty-eighth consecutive Annual Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, January 1, 1967.
A total of 9, 404 birds of 49 species was reported, compared with 8,367 birds of 52 species last year. “The number of individuals is a new record. aie number of species is well above the 10 year average of 44.
One new species, the Savannah Sparrow, was added to our all time list which now totals 95 species.
A total 44 observers in 13 parties participated in the count. The details of the count were reported to the National Audubon Society and were published in the Audubon Field Notes. The count data was also published i in
(a) The January 1967 Newsletter and
1968 Eienty-NintH ANNUAL MEETING val
(b) The “All Ontario Tabulation”, compiled by the Kitchener-Waterloo Field-Naturalist Club.
Report OF THE MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
1. One official committee meeting was held, but informal discussions between the chairman and committee members were frequent.
2. A promotional membership letter and application forms were enclosed in the first issue of Trail and Landscape.
3. A suggestion for membership cards (which did not originate from this committee) was voted down in council, mainly because of the necessity of replacing them each year for ali members. In its place, a letter of Club acceptance and official welcome was agreed upon. Such a letter was drafted, duplicated, and sent out to all members who joined, August through November. All new individual (non-institutional) members will receive this letter in the future.
4. A letter to parents of Macoun Field Club members, inviting them to become
members of the O.F.N.C., was drafted and duplicated and will be sent out
as soon as envelopes have been addressed.
At the suggestion of Ted Mosquin, an invitation for gift memberships was
drafted and sent out to all local members.
6. A brochure describing the club and containing a membership form is being printed (by Love Printers, Ltd.). Illustrations were done by Mrs. Brenda Hass. The brochure is meant to be used in 1968 only (or until a new constitution is approved).
7. Finances: See Treasurer’s Report.
8. Membership totals (communicated by the Treasurer from her records):
ai
Active: Local (Ottawa area) 245 Nonlocal 647 Total 892 Associate (only local) 86 Honorary 5 Life 7 Total 990
Report oF THE Macoun Frr_p CLus CoMMITTEE
The Macoun Club “year” actually begins with the school year in September. This report will therefore cover part of last year’s program, and part of this year’s.
1. Membership. Membership fluctuates quite a bit particularly in the Senior (or high school) Group, and therefore, the numbers given below are averages. A complete turnover occurs in September. The maximum for each group is 35.
Group 1966-1967 1967-1968 Junior (Grades 4-6) 35 35 Intermediate (Grades 7-8) 21 30
Senior (Grades 9-13) mk 21
72 Tue CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST Vol. 82
2. Activities.
A. Field Trips: Sezior Group Winter birds — Aylmer area Animal tracks — Meach Lake area Peat bogs — Mer Bleue Autumn skies — Ottawa Observatory Autumn birds — Shirley Bay Caving — Lusk Caves
Intermediate and Junior Groups
Mounted bird collection — Mr. A. Bourguignon Winter tree identification — Rideau Canal area Spring natural history — Meach Lake area Autmun birds — Shirley Bay
Joint trip with all Groups Hilton Iron Mines, Shawville, Que.
B. Speakers: Invited speakers were part of the Senior Group program. We had 12 speakers this year all of whom were excellent. Their names will be published in the Little Bear in May.
C. “Observation periods” with member participation, microscope work (of elementary and advanced types), films, slide showings, games, and informal talks and discussions were alee conducted.
3. Assistance: Vhe Macoun Field Club could not possibly be run without the valuable help of Mr. Michael Shchepanek. He took charge of all library affairs, the point-award system, the procurement of films, and many other day-to- day jobs that keep things running smoothly. He also attends all the Saturday morning meetings to help out there. Mr. Pat Wohler of the Museum Education Section is a valuable aide in administrational affairs.
4. Macoun Room facilities: Room 359 of the National Museum, although now in use as a general conference room for Museum meetings, still is assigned for prime use by the Macoun Field Club. It was completely cleaned up at the beginning of the year. A new window shelf was installed which will be used for display material and terraria and aquaria. A magazine rack-cupboard was
“appropriated” (having fallen out of use in another Museum office and now being put to good use in the Macoun Room to display new book and magazine acquisitions. A valuable egg collection was put into a special display case by two former Macoun Club members last year, but a cover for the case still has not been made.
5. Library: ‘The library continues to expand, mainly through contribu- tions, although a number of books were purchased as well. Approximately +0 to +5 books were added this year bringing the total to 318 books available for loan. In addition, a number of encyclopedias, large reference volumes, and magazines are available for use by the members within the Club room.
For a full financial report, see the Treasurer’s Report.
1968
E1ieuty-NintH ANNUAL MEETING 73
6. Miscellany:
JM
The field trip contribution, requested (but not required) from each member attending a trip, has been raised from 25c to 50c. This was done to ease our budget and permit more purchases of books and equiment.
The meeting time of the Junior Group was changed from 11:00- 12:00 to 11:15-12:45 to permit a 15 minute period between Inter- mediate and Junior meetings for library use.
The annual party was held in late May (instead of in the fall as had been the practice in recent years) and was combined with award presentation.
A new award “The Badge Winner’s Honour Circle” was instituted for members who qualify for a Macoun Club Badge (due to active participation in Club affairs) but who already have the badge from a previous year.
Membership cards for all members were introduced.
Ms
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL STANDING THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB, NOVEMBER 30, 1967
CURRENT ACCOUNT
ASSETS LIABILITIES Balance in Bank Nov. 30/67.... $ 7,217.02 Cheques Outstanding.......... $ 2 62 BilloReceivablew: yo. eee 211.24" Balance... 4 ee 7,485.64 $ 7,488.26 $ 7,488.26 te ge ae 6 ABA IA EXPENDITURES Beant mea ate i he Can. Field Nat. (4 nos.)....... § 5,561.21 @urrent 1283) (643-01 Separates & Illustrations. ..... 1,640.05 [RE EA Tea I, 04 85 Editors Honorariun = see 200.00 sayeth ae 310.00 Bus. Manager’s Honorarium.. . 100.00 Na AO aie 76 15 Trail & Landscape: eee 514.25 : as Se ES ue SOA lal Macoun Field Club..........-. 111.48 Separates & Illustrations....... 2,836.61 Bird Books, E. Godfrey qiopowr eS 937.50 iSavale Numbers ese lee oen sek 236.10 Postage & Stationery......... 356.20 INGKFEMOSING 5 scons ton vsovcuse- 79.10 Exc. & Lectures Committee. . . 94.64 Geologies eee Oe eae. 473.25 Roneo Machinen =. aa ae 274.58 Donation, Sportsmen’s Show. . . 500.00 Miscellaneous eo See 126.72 Bird Books, E. Godfrey........ 1,175.15 Bank Bal. Nov. ? i Macoun Club Collections....... 91.00 SOO a eee $7,217.02 Trail & Landscape Copies...... SUS Less o/s Cheques 2.62 Miscellaneous sescnee ooo oe ee 123.32 eee) $17, 131.03 17,131.03 RESERVE FUND AssEtTS LIABILITIES Can. Savings Bonds, $22....... $ 1,500.00 $2,000 H.E.P.C. 3% bonds IMaticet vValiite eer ine ere 1,880.00 30 shares Bell Telephone amar ere WIE. occ sesccecc5- 1,297.50 NIL Bank Bal. Nov. 30, 1967....... 58.56 $ 4,736.06 RECEIPTS EXPENDITURES Bank Bal. Nov. 30/66......... $ 388.85 Safety Deposit Box Rental..... 5.00 Bank Interest 4.00 soeyen cee oe 13.19 Purchase Can. Savings H.E.P.C. Bond Interest........ 90.00 Bonds.$222°/ 5%.) 26) aaeEeeEe 1,500.00 Bell Telephone Dividends...... 75.00. Bank Bal. Nov./30/07)s55qeeee , 58.56 Sale of $1,000 H.E.P.C. Bond maturing Jan. 1968.......... 996.52 $ 1,563.56 $ 1,563.56 PUBLICATIONS FUND ASSETS LIABILITIES Can. Savings Bonds, $22....... $ 200.00 $1,500 H.E.P.C. 3% Bonds Mia etvallteniae eee ener 1,410.00 5 Shares Bell Telephone Mane bavaluler sae eee 216.00 NIL Bank Bal. Nov. 30, 1967....... 61.58 $ 1,887.58 RECEIPTS EXPENDITURES Bank Bal. Nov. 30/66......... §$ 1972815) BanlkaBaleiNiovas0/ Oi $ 61.58 Bank Interest tac 2 A viese 4 eee. 6.27 Purchase Can. Savings Hpi Soncdulinterestase nee 45.00 BondsyS223 =. as coe 200.00 Bell Telephone Dividends. ..... 12.50 SS 2oIwss $ 261.58
Audited and found correct (Signed)
J. M. Gillett and D. E. McAllister, Auditors
(Signed) L. G. Howden, Treasurer
*Since audit of accounts, and at the direction of Council, $5,000 fully registered Canada Savings Bonds S22 were purchased from the Current Account balance.
SEP 3 1968
The CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST
Published by THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB, Ottawa, Ontario
Editorial |
‘ Articles _ Progress of the European Frog-Bit in Canada WitiiaM G. Dore 76
A Coapetccn of Capture Success Between Sherman and Longworth Live Traps 5 RatpH D. Morris 84
Sea Birds | in Newfoundland and Greenland Waters, April-May 1966 R. G. B Browns 88
The \ Vascular Flora of Tanquary F iord, Northern Fileaners Island, N.W.T. Guy R. Brassarp and R. E, Bescuet 103
: New and Important Additions to the Flora of the Southwestern Yukon Territory,
Canada James A. Nettson 114 Crustacea of the Delta Marsh Region, Manitoba Tuomas G. SmirH 120 Observations on Natural Mortality and Native Use of Eider Ducks along the
Beaufort Sea Coast Tuomas W. Barry 140
Notes
Late Winter Oil Pollution in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia Peter J. Austin-SmitH 145 First Nesting Record of the Mockingbird in British Columbia : Enw K. Lemon = 146 A Wood Frog from Northern Manitoba Ricuarp W, Sutton 147 Censuses of the Ipswich Sparrow on Sable Island Ian A. McLaren 148 A Convenient Method for Mounting Herbarium Specimens M. H. Levin 151 A Short-billed Marsh Wren, Cistothorus platensis in Nova Scotia CHRISTOPHER W. HELLEINER 152 Muskox Skull from Teshekpuk Lake, Northern Alaska Daym L, Cuesemore 152 News and Comment
Reorganization of the National Museum of Canada ‘A. W.F. Banrietp = 153 Alberta Builds New Provincial Museum and Archives 154 Hamilton Naturalists’ Club Purchases Choice Natural Area Epiror 155 Creston Indians Lease Wetlands for $50,000 , 155 University of Guelph Acquires the Cruickston Park Farm 156 Some Wetlands in the Maritime Provinces to Become National Wildlife Areas 157 News Briefs 157 Reviews 158
Alberta: A Natural History — A Comparative Life-history Study of Four Species of Woodpeckers — Bionomics of the Sandhill Crane — Guide to Common Seaweeds of British Columbia — The Lichen Genus Cladonia in North America — On Integration in Plants — Famine on the Wind — Development of Fishes of the Chesapeake Bay Region. An Atlas of Egg, Larval, and Juvenile Stages. Part 1— John James Audubon — Other New Titles.
Can. Field Nat. | Vol. 82
No. 2 | p. 75-168 | | Ottawa, April-June, 1968
THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB FOUNDED IN 1879
— Patrons — THEIR EXCELLENCIES 1 THE GOVERNOR GENERAL AND Mrs, Rouas Mice.
as The objectives of the club are to foster an acquaintance with and a love of pane to a4
encourage investigation and to publish the results of original research and observations in all branches of natural history. = The club is a corporate member of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists,
MEMBERS OF COUNCIL Ae ee ae President: Hur N. MacKenzie, 228 Royal Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario. — Bt —
First Vice-President: JoHN S. TENER. aoe Second Vice-President: ‘THEODORE Mosquin. eae . Secretary: ALEXANDER W. RaTHWELL, Canadian Wildlife Service, 400 Laurier Avenue. = West, Ottawa 4, Ontario. Bad Treasurer: Miss Luretta G. Hownen, Box 3264, Postal Scan C, Ottawa 3, Ontarid’ = - Additional Members of Council: W. K. W. Batpwin, A. W. F. BANFIELD, F. M. BricHAM, 4 E. L. Bousrietp, I. M. Bropo, W. J. Copy, Joyce N. Dunston, R. Fritn, J. M. Guster,
E. W. Greenwoop, H. Grox, ANNE Hanes, D. D. Hocartu, W. A. HoLianp, Vi M. A ae W. I. Ittman, Lots Kineston, A. F. Hermstey, H. Lioyp, G. H. McGex, © . Patricia Narraway, A. E. Porsitp, L. C. Suerx, F. H. ScHuxtz, D. A. Smits, V. EF. © Soman, J. H. Soper, Mary E. Sruart, SHEILA C. Tuomson, J. C. Wootrex. + 4 Auditors: Joun M. Gierr and Donat E. McALLIsTEr. We ‘
THE CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST. Ser
Editor: Turopore Mosourn, Plant Research Institute, Central Experimental Farm, th a Review Editor: DonaLp A. Smiru, Department of Biology, Carleton Unty erst ee Associate Editors: ae FREDERICK J. ae (Geology), 398 Third Avenue, Ottawa. | ae Joun W. Arnotp (Entomology), pole Research Institute, Conaat Experi ¢ mental Farm, Ottawa. ae
Wa ter A. Bett (Paleontology), 112 Abercrombie Road, New Glasgow, Nova. 2 Scotia. =
J. SHerMAN BieaKney (Herpetology), Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. 4 Irwin M. Bropo (Botany), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. a Artuur H. Crarke, Jr., (Malacology), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. =
W. Eart GopFrey (Ornithology), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. — “s
J. Antuony Keira (Pesticides), Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa. . Donatp E. McA.tister (Ichthyology), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. j Puiture M. Youneman (Mammalogy), National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. = ™ Business Manager: W. J. Copy, Plant Research Institute, Central Experimental Fa 1 Ottawa. The Canadian Field-Naturalist is published quarterly with the assistance of affiliated e societies and of a contribution from the Canadian National Sportsmen’s Show. Manu- — scripts representing observations or the results of original research in any branch of — natural history are invited. Contributions to the Letters and to the News and Comment — sections are welcome. All material intended for publication should be addressed to the — editor. Opinions and views expressed in this journal are private and do not necessarily reflect those of The Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club or of any other agency. *
Authorized as second-class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for the payment of postage in cash, a
MUS. COMP. ZOOL! LIBRARY
- SEP 3 1968 Mine Canadian Field-Naturalist HARVARD
VoLuME 82 APRIL-JUNE 1968 UNE
EDITORIAL
CHLORINATED HyprocarBons
DESPITE OVERWHELMING evidence of the damage to resources caused by the widespread use of persistent chemical pesticides, the use of such pesticides, although outlawed in many places, continues unchecked in others. The chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDT, dieldrin, aldrin, heptachlor, endrin, lindane, chlordane, and others) have been outlawed by the United States Forest Service on national forest land, and by the United States Department of the Interior on national parks, Indian and other lands. Many local and state agencies in the United States have also put stringent restrictions on the use of such chemicals. In Michigan for example, the Department of Conservation has halted all uses of these chemicals in Department programs, and has issued orders that they not be used for any future projects.
Since the publication of the modern classic, Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, much more information on the effects of persistent pesticides has become available and, with this information in hand, it is now possible to predict quite accurately what the continued use of these chemicals will mean to us in the future.
In New Brunswick, where the spraying of the forest from the air has now taken place every year for about a decade, chemicals such as DDT have been discontinued for the present, probably because DDT was more effective in controlling the natural enemies of the bud worm, than in controlling the bud worm itself. New chemicals are now being used on a large scale but the entire forest resource which the spray had been intended to protect, is now in jeopardy. At the same time, the salmon runs in New Brunswick rivers have suffered wide-spread destruction, and there have been a great many other unintended “side effects” (See article by Elson, Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 1967, No. 4, 130 pages).
Many birds that live at the end of food chains, now carry large flows of persistent pesticides in their body fats and more and more of the eggs of these birds contain lethal doses of these chemicals. Within the last decade, the Peregrine Falcon has become almost extinct North America and elsewhere. Bald eagle populations are in continual decline, with the percentage of immature birds in the United: States eagle population falling from 26.2% in 1963, to 23.7% in 1964, and to 21.6% in 1965. Migratory populations are on the decline, with fewer birds being seen in recent years. If the contamination of the environment by persistent pesticides is allowed to contine for long, other birds such as gulls, terns, bitterns, and herons which also live at the end of food chains will soon embark on the road to extinction.
Fortunately, non persistent chemica! substitutes are becoming available, but some of these are inconvienent to use and cost more for effective application. Chemicals such as malathion and methoxychlor, and biologicals such as the various natural enemies of insects, can often be used in place of chlorinated hydrocarbons.
The use of pesticides alone for the control of insects is seldom satisfactory because insects do develop resistance. Evidence of effective control is often subtle and certainly does not require dead insects in the hand. There are many examples available where natural or introduced predators are keeping imsect pests at a low level and therefore: in check. What is particularly needed now is more research into the biology of natural checks and balances so as to prevent situations such as the New Brunswick disaster from occurring elsewhere. What also seems to be a matter of utmost priority is to cutlaw the manufacture and sale of persistent pesticides so as to prevent the gradual extinction of many forms of life which we have with us today. [HEoporE MosQuIn
Mailing date of this number: 15th August, 1968. 75
PROGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN FROG-BIT IN CANADA
Wittmm G. Dore
Plant Research Institute, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa*
IN THE 28 years since Hydrocharis morsus-ranae was first noticed in the Rideau Canal at Ottawa, this Old World aquatic plant has spread downstream into the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers as far as Lake St. Peter and upstream in the Rideau as far as Merrickville. In its course it has encompassed about 200 miles of natural and artificial waterways and gives every indication of becoming inore widespread and abundant.
Frog-bit is not known to be naturalized in any other part of the New World. It has been mentioned only in updated revisions of three of our floristic manuals (Ogden 1957; Louis-Marie 1959; Rouleau 1964) and these State its range simply as Eastern Canada. Particular notices of its local occurrence have appeared from time to time (Minshall 1940; Dore 1964, Lévesque & Pageau 1967; Louis-Marie 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962; Pageau & Levesque 1967) but there are many other observations by workers in fresh- water biology which have not been published. The time seems appropriate to bring these records together into a continuous story and to make some sort of assessment of the progress of this alien element in our perrnanent flora.
Frog-bit, although possessing a well-developed root system, must still be classified as a free-floating aquatic. The roots, usually 4 to 8 inches long, do not seem to be able to penetrate the bottom mud and anchor the plant in ae They do, however, impede ready drifting and cause the plants to
clog in masses on submerged obstructions or become tangled among Cat-tails and stems of other shoreline plants. A spongy thickening (aerenchyma) on the underside of the leaves causes the leaves to float flat on the surface and buoy up the rest of the plant, the stems and their long stolons being suspended an inch or so beneath the water. The stolons which rapidly increase the diameter of a plant are both flexible and tough and tend to bind masses of plants together into a tangled and tenacious network. ‘The roots of frog-bit are ‘bushy’ with abundant and remarkably long root-hairs. This feature, almost unique among water plants, can best be observed when the plant is placed in a glass jar or aquarium. ‘The large, clear, unicellular hairs have proven useful in certain physiological experiments (Minshall 1959).
The white flowers, supported on relatively long stalks but exposed just above the surface of the water, are unisexual. The sexes are on separate plants, a point often difficult to decide in nature and on which reference works are usually ambiguous. At one place near Ottawa where plants of both sexes grew inter-tangled, abundant fruits were noticed to be forming in mid- August and, presumably, by the end of the season good seed ripened. In many places and in certain seasons, however, no flowers are produced. Seed formation for dispersal and persistence, of course, is not necessary since these
1Contribution No. 653.
76
Dore: Procress oF THE EuROPEAN Froc-Bir 77
1968
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78 Tue CANaApDIAN FIeL_p-NATURALIST Vol. 82
processes can be accomplished, quite effectively, by numerous plump winter- buds (or turions). These buds develop individually at the tips of short stalks arising from stolon nodes and in the autumn loosen and sink to the bottom where they lie dormant over winter. In the spring they rise to the surface (by some mechanism not too clearly understood) and drift along with the current as vegetative growth is resumed.
Story of invasion of the lower Ottawa and St. Lawrence River
The escape and free establishment of frog-bit in the Rideau Canal at Ottawa, as mentioned above, was first noticed in 1939 by Harold Minshall (1940). The particular site of escape was adjacent to aquatic beds of the botanic garden in the Lower Arboretum, Central Experimental Farm, where plants had already been growing for seven vears, originally introduced from the Ziirich garden, Switzerland, presumably in the form of seeds. ithe subsequent appearance of frog-bit in nearby sections of the Rideau Canal and in Brown’s Inlet, an artificial pond filled each spring with water from the Canal through underground sluices, was perhaps to be expected, but when frog-bit was found along the shore of the main channel of the Ottawa River, some 13 miles below the city and exit of the Canal in 1953, the prediction of Minshal! was fulfilled (Dore 1954).
In this same year, 1953, Marcel Raymond of the Montreal Botanic Garden identified, as Hydrocharis morsus-ranae, an unknown specimen gathered by Miss A. H. Pattison the previous summer at Rosemere, Quebec, from that branch of the Ottawa River (Riviere des Milles Iles) which flows on the north side of Montreal Island. It was first thought that this Rosemere establishment, localized some 100 miles away from Ottawa, might be of independent origin. Subsequent collections made at the mouth of Riviere- aux-Serpents where it enters the Ottawa at Oka in 1957 and 1958 by Father Louis-Marie and his students, however, clearly indicated that the plant must have floated down the Ottawa to the Rosemere site. Immediate search for frog-bit at Hudson, Grenville and Hawkesbury, intermediate points between Oka and Ottawa, failed to detect it and it must be supposed that propagules simply by-passed these points on the way down, or if they lodged, they must have succumbed to desiccation during the summer low-water stage. A sugges- tion that the population at Rosemere and at other places around Montreal could have originated from plants discarded from the Montreal Botanic Garden pools (Raymond and Kucyniak 1947), or from aquaria at McGill University (Minshall & Scarth 1952) cannot be substantiated.
In 1958, frog-bit made its appearance in the channel of the Ottawa flowing on the south side of Montreal Island as detected by G. Pageau at Ile Madore, adjacent to He Perrot at the head of Lake St. Louis (Pageau & Lévesque, 1967). In 1960, it was independently discovered at two other places along [le Perrot: on the side facing Ste Anne de Bellevue by Dr. Newton-Swales, and at Ile des Pins in the rapids on the Vaudreuil side by Father Louis-Marie et al. The same summer it was also found on the far side of Lake St. Louis and among small islands at the foot of Lachine Rapids,
1968 Dore: Procress oF THE EUROPEAN FroGc-Bir 79
Figure 1. The Lower Arboretum at the Experimental Farm, Ottawa, the site of the former aquatic garden where frog-bit was introduced in 1932. he outlines of the water beds connected to the Rideau Canal and long filled in are still visible in lawn today.
Figure 2. A non-flowering clone of frog-bit which has developed from a single turion into a crowded mat 5 feet across during the course of the summer. Side-channel of Rideau Canal, 13 August 1965 (specimen 21736).
Figure 3. Strong cord-like stolons hold the plant mass firmly together. (Same site as Fig. 4.)
Figure 4. A sluggish inlet of the Rideau River near Kars, Ontario, becoming clogged with frog-bit. The rest of the aquatic vegetation consists of all native species,
5 August 1965.
80 Tue CANADIAN FieLp-NATURALIST Vol. 82
respectively 7 and 20 miles beyond Ile Perrot. These occurrences were duly reported by Louis-Marie (1960, 1961) in short releases.
However, at the time of these exciting discoveries, it was not realized that the plant had already been collected — but under the mistaken identity of Nymphoides cordata, a rare native species—in Lake St. Peter, some 50 miles below Montreal. The specimen had been taken there in 1958 by Desmarais and Moisan in Lavalliére Bay, on the south side of Lake St. Peter between the mouths of the Yamaska and St. Francis rivers. Dr. Yves Desmarais (in corres- pondence, 1965) returned in 1961 to search elsewhere in the lake for frog-bit but did not find it.
During the early years of detection, 1953 to 1960, the reports from the Montreal area indicate that the colonies were meagre in extent and very ‘spotty’. Soon there was to be no doubt that sparse plants at local foci are capable of persistence and further progress. From surveys in Lake St. Louis in 1964, Pageau and Lévesque (1967) were able to state, “nous l’avons observée 4 une dizaine d’endroits differents ot elle était abondante et semblait étre définitivement établie.” In ecological surveys between 1965 and 1967, J. P. Lamoureux (in correspondence) recorded Hydrocharis in as many as 37 out of 41 aquatic quadrats studied in Lavalliere Bay of Lake St. Peter. In 1967 it was also found on the other side of Lake St. Peter, in a flood-lagoon on the first alluvial island next to Berthierville by Dore and Marchant but not noticed by them in any of the four main channels between the islands that can be inspected from the highway. Lévesque (in correspondence, 1967) summarizes the situation by saying, “frog-bit is now very common in small shallow bays along the Saint Lawrence River, from Lake Saint-Louis to Lake Saint-Pierre, where it has been collected or observed at over 60 stations.”
On the Ottawa, it is important to note that in 1963 a dam, newly constructed at Carillon, started to hold back the waters and inundated the shores to a point a little above Orleans. Frog-bit was seen that year in large masses accumulated at the ferry docks at Clarence and at Cumberland, where it had not been noted earlier. In 1965, certain dead-water lagoons near Orleans were found to be clogged solid with luxuriant growth. Here the frog-bit as well as certain native species of hydrophytes, which usually do not flower, bloomed profusely perhaps as the result of the unbalanced and rich conditions created in the habitat. In 1967, J. E. Charlebois wrote about the Hydrocharis at Montebello: “cette espece a envahi densément toutes les petites baies d’eau peu profonde formées recemment par l’élevation du niveau de l'eau.”
Story of invasion of Rideau River and Canal System
In 1954, frog-bit was noticed in a flood-plain lagoon of the Rideau River about a half-mile over fields from the original Arboretum site at Ottawa. Presumably the plant had been carried overland by some person, intentionally or unintentionally. Three years later the plant had escaped this lagoon and appeared in the main stream of the Rideau. Currently it can be seen all along the shores below this point in the three mile stretch of the Rideau that traverses the city of Ottawa.
1968 Dore: Procress oF THE EuroPpEAN Froc-Bir 81
Figure 5. Unusually long hair-cells characterize the roots of frog-bit and show up well when floated onto a sheet of glass and viewed against the light.
Figure 6. The white, fragile flowers are held slightly above the surface on slender stalks. The flowers are 3-petaled and unisexual. Plants of both sex are intermingled in the Rideau inlet near Kars, Ontario, 5 August 1965 (specimen 21717).
Figure 7. A lagoon near Orleans, Ontario, formed by the damming of the Ottawa River at Carillon has rapidly become overgrown by frog-bit; 30 July 1965 (Specimen 21711).
Figure 8. One of the two small colonies recently established in Brassils Creek at the crossing of a bush-road. (The planks of the bridge protrude into the lower corner of the picture.) The site is not far from the infested Rideau, but is separated from it by a series of cascades on the creek. (19 August 1965, specimen 21747.)
Tue CaANnapiAN FrieLtp-NATURALIST Vol. 82
CO iS)
The establishment of the plant upstream in the Rideau and at considerably greater distances away from the Arboretum is more difficult to explain. In 1960, a solid stand of frog-bit was discovered covering the surface of a small pond at Becketts Landing some 30 miles above Ottawa. The pond was an artificial one, made when the bridge was reconstructed, and had an overflow into the Rideau. The plant was found to be similarly abundant in one inlet on the same side of the Rideau about 4 miles below the Becketts Landing pool, but at several other likely places farther down, no trace of plants could be found. It seems that propagules must have been carried up to Becketts Landing or beyond by human agency, perhaps adhering to boat gear or in a fisherman’s pail, or perhaps transported carefully by some aquarist or aguatic-garden fancier. In 1962, a plant was encountered at the new bridge below Kars, about 9 miles below Becketts Landing, where it seemed to be a new arrival. In 1965, frog-bit was so extensive up a nearby inlet that had been partly excavated for a marina for the Carleton Golf and Yacht Club, that one is lead to believe that it might have been a separate introduction.
Accordingly, on August 19 and 24, in 1965, a more organized attempt was made to find out if the plant occurred at points upstream from Becketts Landing. Frog-bit was found in abundance at a point about 10 miles above
ecketts Landing at “The Catch-all”, a shallow stretch between marshy alluvial islands where debris of all sorts tends to accumulate. It was also present but in lesser amounts at scattered points as far up the river as Merrickville.
At Merrickville the last colony was found behind the backwater, above the series of locks there. From its unit size, this small colony was adjudged to have started from a single propagule carried up during the previous year. Immediately below the Merrickville locks, there were numerous patches, especially in a marshy bay there. Increasing pleasure-boat trafic through the lock-system will undoubtedly account for the gradual spread of the plant up the Rideau. Above Merrickville the river enters a long stretch of quiet water between broad shores. Examination of the shores at several accessible points: around Kilmarnock, at Smith Falls, and as far as Poonamalie Locks, revealed that the plant had not yet reached these points in 1965. The Rideau, being a series of still-water stretches held by locked canals all the way to Kingston on Lake Ontario, presents a system very susceptible to the rapid spread of aquatic plants. It receives drainage from the fertile soils of the surrounding farmland, becomes quite warm in summer, and naturally supports an abundant aquatic vegetation. “Weed-dredges” are required to keep the navigation channel open. It can be expected that frog-bit will add to the troublesome growth of water weeds in the years ahead.
Story of invasion of Brassils Creek
Brassils Creek is a small stream about 10 miles long, usually dry in mid- summer. It enters the Rideau at the village of Burritts Rapids, Carleton County, Ontario, down a series of cascades. At a point in its course 1.4 miles above its mouth, and about 75 feet higher in elevation, two small clones of Hydrocharis were found on August 19, 1965. Propagules must have been carried there sometime during the past year, but how?
1968 Dore: ProGress oF THE EvropEAN Froc-Bir 83
The plants in Brassils Creek grew in a shallow but permanent pool just at an old wood-plank bridge where a bush road crosses. It is said that fishermen come to this secluded spot to trap minnows for bait. At two other points more accessible to the public and respectively 2 and 2.5 miles further upstream no frog-bit was seen; no other alien aquatic species was detected in the system. ‘The stream itself is not navigable, not even by canoe, and it is difficult to see why some person would deliberately introduce the plant to this place for ornamental or conservation purposes. Other possible agencies which might transfer the small resting buds up from the infested Rideau below are the beavers which inhabit the creek and have built dams in its upper reaches. Deer and stray cattle in wading parts of the creek might drag living fragments along a short distance, but these chances are slight.
The two plants of frog-bit present in Brassils Creek in 1965 did not flower but are estimated to have produced about 300 turions. It will be of interest to watch how the frog-bit prospers in this wilderness habitat.
Herbarium specimens, many with photographs and full field-notes attached, to support the information summarized above, are preserved at the Plant Research Institute, Ottawa. A mimeographed listing of all the localities where the plant has been observed, as well as the places where it has not been seen, is available should further surveys be contemplated. At the moment, it seems that Hydrocharis morsus-ranae is starting to spell out a long and notorious history of spread as a water pest in America. Many another shy aquatic has developed a similar course when loosed in an alien land; for example, Eichhornia crassipes, Elodea canadensis, Trapa naians, Potamogeton
crispus, Butomus umbellatus, Lasarosiphon major and Pistia stratiotes. We wish we knew more of their early history of population explosion. The intention of the above article is therefore partly to fulfil that general
need expressed so well by Hiram Wild in the preface to his Harmful Aquatic Plants of Africa and Madagascar (Kirkia 2: 1-66. 1962): “One of the major
roblems in the fight against harmful aquatic plants in Africa, as in other parts of the world, is that infestations