From collection Creating Acadia National Park: The George B. Dorr Research Archive of Ronald H. Epp

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12

Page 13

Page 14

Page 15

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18

Page 19

Page 20

Page 21

Page 22

Page 23

Page 24

Page 25

Page 26

Page 27

Page 28

Page 29

Page 30

Page 31

Page 32

Page 33

Page 34

Page 35

Page 36

Page 37

Page 38

Page 39

Page 40

Page 41

Page 42

Page 43

Page 44

Page 45

Page 46

Page 47

Page 48

Page 49

Page 50

Page 51

Page 52

Page 53

Page 54

Page 55

Page 56

Page 57

Page 58

Page 59

Page 60

Page 61

Page 62
Search
results in pages
Metadata
Biological Themes
Biological Themes
explore Bar
Old Farm,
Garbor, Maine.
long Merbarium
Cambridge Mals
Dear his
Can you identify
for My I Ifours it flowing i my
plant Murlines here, a Single, plant of
it The Color of H. flower in a bright
ries blue quits beautiful at John it part is him not
a nature plant but Our obtained for
the Mursines to by, whom have be got
lost The lucloud price is Mlfull
hugst of rh plant Itwa in flower
18 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
July 1st, 1902.
Curator Gray Herbarium,
Cambridge, Mass.
For
study
Written
be
obtei
Dear Sir,
In reply to the circular sent me this spring and which
I now seem to have mislaid I enclose you my check for $10.
towards the maintenance of the Herbarium,
I also wish to ask you whether there is any book or pub-
lication which I can obtain which would aid me in studying the
flora and forest growth of Arizona and Utah, and similarly of
Oregon, Washington and the Canadian Rockies. I am just
starting West for Colorado, to most Professor Davis in southern
Utah. and join him in an expedition down the western side of
the Grand Cañon where I shall be for some weeks. And later
I shall probably go un by way of Oregon and Washington and
spend a few weeks camping out either there or among the Cana-
dian Rockies, and any book, not too bulky to carry, which would
help me to identify the plant life in either of those regions
I should be glad to know of. What is the best way, also, of
preserving the flowers and leaves of plants for later study and
identification when one is on a camping trip where weight is
of importance and space valuable.
As I leave for the West in the middle of the day tomorrow
3 page 1
2
I should be glad if you could let me have some word in reply,
if you can conveniently do so, by this evening's mail 80 that
I might receive it in the morning. If not,will you kindly
write to me to await me at the post office at Provo City, Utah,
where I shall be about the 10th of this month, and oblige
greatly
Yours truly,
GRAY HEREARIUM
ARCH V.E.S
For study
Written author casion must be
18 Commonwealth Avenue.
obtai ed for cil other uses
April 24th, 1905.
Dear Mr Robinson,
Please excuse an invitation by typewriter, but I
have got to go down to Bar Harbor tonight to look after the
spring planting at my Nurseries.
I am going to have some colored lantern slides of the
Canadian Rocky wild-flowers, shown at the Tavern Club on Monday
evening, May first, after its annual meeting. And I am
allowed to ask in a few guests of my own to see them. If you
will be one of these and will come at quarter past nine to
the Club house in Boylston Place, it will give me great pleasure
to welcome you there. The coloring of the flowers has been
unusually well done, from notes taken when the flowers them-
selves were photographed, and the slides, which are not my own,
of course, give one a really good idea, I think, of the flowers
and plants themselves as one sees them growing in the mountains.
Hoping you may come, I am
Dea the Robinson
Sincerely yours,
The Slide an the Cleaner's
for have diew intent Ging. B. wass
my Sum
you And if their should he any The item the will Department
If that I think they would in
when you think Height also like Where y not
Benjamin L. Robinson,
Esq. please efficial my auritation
him also this him wilt yr GBW- Z
18 Commonwealth Avenue.
Boston, June 9th, 1905.
Gray Herbarian,
Harvard University, Cambridge.
Dear Sir,
will you kindly write me on the enclosed postal
the name of this flower which I came upon growing freely
upon the banks of the Charles river out at Wellesley yester-
day ?
It is one familiar to me but I cannot recall its
name.
Yours truly,
George B. Dorr.
Per M.Z.H.
18 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, June 16th, 1905.
Gray Herbarian,
Harvard University,
Cambridge. Mass.
Dear Sir,
Can you tell me what the enclosed plant is which I
found at day or two ago growing on a shady bank in Lenox ?
It
covered the ground where it was growing with its leaves but it
was not in flower. I enclose addressed postal for reply,
and am
Yours very truly,
George 3. Doer.
Per M.E.H.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK
BAR HARBOR, MAINE
OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
May 18, 1926.
Professor II. L. Fernald,
Gray Herbarium,
Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.
Dear Professor Fernald:
I have just returned to Bar Harbor
and found your kind enclosure of two publications
telling of the Gray Herbarium Expedition to Nova
Scotia and of the persistence of plants in un-
glaciated areas.
Accept my most cordial thanks and
believe me
Yours sincerely,
EL-O
George R. Wor
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN
MEMOIRS
VOLUME III.
VEGETATION OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND, MAINE,
AND ITS ENVIRONMENT
By
BARRINGTON MOORE and NORMAN TAYLOR
ISSUED JUNE 10, 1927
BROOKLYN, N. Y., U. S. A.
Maine
Prettymar
Harbor
Pretty
marsh
Harbor
Great
Head
offer Creek Point
Seal
SEal
Harbo
KEY
Southwest Harbor
SPRUCE
CEDAR
MIXED
CONIFER
BURNS
FIR
MARSH
PITCH PINE
BOG
HARDWOODS
ROCK
Base
Harbor
NORTHERN
Bennet Cove
o
2
HARDWOODS-
WHITE PINE
4
SPRUCE
SCALE OF MILES
PLATE I.
Vegetation map of Mt. Desert Island, showing the forest types, bare rock, marshes and bogs. The larger open fields are shown in white.
The
selected for study of environmental factors are shown as follows: 1=Pitch Pine on Huguenot Head; 2=White Pine at Bear Brook Hill; 3=Red Oak
sites
and 4=Spruce at Otter Creek Point.
at
Meadow
Brook;
0
CONTENTS
Page
Location
I
Land Forms
3
Geology
5
Soil
12
Post-Glacial Migration of Vegetation
14
History
17
General Character of the Present Vegetation
25
Distributional Relations
25
Forest Types
28
The Environment
32
General Climate of Mount Desert Island
32
Precipitation
33
Temperature
34
Growing Season
35
Environmental Factors in Representative Forest Types
35
Selection of Stations in Four Representative Forest Types
36
The Forests
37
Pitch Pine
37
White Pine
40
Red Oak
43
Spruce
45
The Soils
47
Instrumental Records of Climatic Factors
58
Factors Measured
58
Results
62
General
62
Evaporation
62
Solar Radiation
70
Soil Temperature
73
Interpretation
78
Developmental Trends of Vegetation
85
Rock Ledges and Talus Slopes
88
The Advent of Higher Woody Vegetation
94
Pioneer Plant Associations on Soil
97
The Pitch Pine
100
Scrub Oak on Acadia (Robinson) Mountain
104
Summary of Pitch Pine
III
White Pine
III
Mixed Conifer
114
Fire and What Follows
118
The Hardwoods
122
Spruce Climax Forest
124
Northern Hardwoods-Spruce Climax Forest
127
The Rôle of Certain Mt. Desert Plants in the Development of the Vegetation. 128
Stages Originating in Water
131
Poor Drainage-Bogs
132
Good Drainage-Cedar Swamps
137
Practical Considerations in Forestry
140
Summary
143
Literature Cited
149
iii
HISTORY
Because the actions of man, red and white. since the occupation of the
island, have materially affected its vegetation, we could wish that the record
were more complete. How long the Indians lived on the island before the
white man came, we have no means of knowing. But it is evident that with
their crude culture and stone implements they would be able to effect less
change in a thousand years than the white man could in ten. The Indians
had, nevertheless, one means of destruction in common with the white man-
fire. We know that in hunting they sometimes set fires in order to drive out
the game (Street, 1905, p. 60). This seems to have been a common practice
among all Indians who depended largely or wholly on hunting. Yet there
were still vast stretches of magnificent timber when the white man came.
Possibly the fires were comparatively small. It is also more than probable
that the fires burned with less fierceness before the forests were cut. The
destructive fires of today which SO frequently follow logging operations often
start in the fallen tops and other debris. Furthermore, an untouched forest
along the Maine Coast, with its deep carpet of moss, is much less inflammable
than the same forest would be after some of the trees had been cut and the
light which is thus let in had partly dried out the forest floor.
The earliest record was. fortunately. made by Champlain (1613) in his
account of the voyage on which he discovered the island. He writes under
date of September 5, 1604:
The same day we passed near to an island some four or five leagues long,
in the neighborhood of which we just escaped being lost on a rock that was
just awash and which made a hole in the bottom of our boat. From this
island to the mainland on the north the distance is not more than a hundred
paces. The island is high and notched in places SO that from the sea it gives
the appearance of a range of seven or eight mountains. The summits are
all bare and rocky. The slopes are covered with pines, firs. and birches. I
named it Isle des Monts Desert."
It thus appears that the island was covered almost completely with forest,
except for the bare granite summits. From what we know of the virgin
forest of the region we can picture to ourselves what Champlain probably
saw. The 'firs which he speaks of must have been balsam fir and spruce,
both red and white. which probably formed a more or less uniform canopy
17
18
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS
above which towered here and there giant white pines. The birches indi-
cate past fires, since in very old forests they are crowded out, or reduced to
inconspicuous scattered individuals, by the conifers.
The bare rock of the summits, though conspicuous, was less in evidence
than it is today. The white man has extended the area of the barren places
by fire and cutting.
Fortunately, we possess a second account of the island written by a
French friar only nine years after Champlain's visit. The expedition under
de la Saussaye, sent out by Mme. de Guercheville, was caught in a fog on its
way from the new settlement at Port Royal (in what is now Nova Scotia)
to its intended destination up the Penobscot River to the present site of Bangor.
When the fog lifted they found themselves off Mt. Desert Island at a point
which is supposed to be the present site of Bar Harbor, or Hull's Cove, and
which they called St. Sauveur, a name which they later transferred to their
short-lived settlement at the mouth of Somes Sound. Father Biard (Saw-
telle, 1921) thus describes what he saw :
'There in all the glory that spring imparts to hillside and valley lay the
island of the Desert Mountains, its tall pines and pointed firs, mingling with
birches, whose lighter shades made marked contrast with the darker ever-
green; while barren summits, catching the rays of the hidden sun, gleamed
like hammered brass." The italics are ours.
The picture agrees with that described by Champlain. There were also
other types of forest which, since they were not on the slopes, were not visible
from the sea. In the valleys and lower slopes on both sides of Pemetic there
must have been bodies of beech, yellow birch and sugar maple with an admix-
ture of red spruce, and probably also an occasional giant white pine. A
remnant of this forest, without the pine. may be seen today just south of
Eagle Lake along the carry trail to Jordan Pond. In certain of the swamps
there were stands of nearly pure white cedar or arbor vitae, some of the
trees of large size. Probably cedar also grew scattered throughout the rest
of the forest as it does today. There must also have been groups of pitch
pine, though probably less than now, and scattered red or Norway pine.
There may also have been stands with considerable quantities of red oak. if
the names such as Oak Hill, and some of the present forests, are reliable
indications.
From 1613. when the English under Captain Argall destroyed the pre-
carious French foothold at Somes Sound. the island appears to have been
practically uninhabited by white men for about a hundred and fifty years.
In 1689 the island was granted to Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac by Louis XIV.
E. IRENE GRAVES
VEGETATION OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND, MAINE
19
and from the Andros census (Hutchinson Papers) we are led to assume
that Cadillac and his wife were living on the island in 1688, though his stay
must have been brief since he was in France in 1689. In his account of the
island, Cadillac says Good masts may be got here and the English formerly
used to come here for them." Therefore, although the island was not in-
habited by white men, it was occasionally visited, and some of its trees were
cut. These were probably only a comparatively small number of selected
spruces and white pines, the removal of which had practically no effect on
the forest.
The annals of the first permanent settlers begin after 1762, which may
be taken as the starting point for the white man's influence on the vegetation.
Probably white men started living on the island some years before this, but
we have no records showing when or how many there were. The early
settlers appear to have depended to a large extent on the wild grass of the
marshes for hay to feed their stock. This wild hay seems to have been
useful not only to the dwellers on the island itself but to those of the adjacent
mainland. if we may judge by a petition sent by the islanders to Governor
Bernard in 1768 complaining against these raids or "In Crossins" of the
mainland settlers which threatened the stock on the island with starvation.
The value of the forests was recognized from the beginning. The same
petition seeks protection from mainland trespassers who cut timber as well
as from those seeking hay. It is stated that this cutting of the timber, which
includes staves, shingles. clapboards and other lumber," will "discourage
future settlers." It is evident that the earliest comers depended largely on
the plant resources which nature had grown on the island through the long
period of years when it was unoccupied, and then used only by the Indians
for hunting.
The wild hay gave food for the stock. and thus indirectly to its owners.
But no doubt the main reliance was the crops raised on the more level and
promising bits of land which had to be cleared. The proportion of level land
on the island is not great. and that which is fertile is smaller still. Thus the
food which can be produced will support only a comparatively small popula-
tion. The fisheries comprised an important means of livelihood, and largely
supported the small villages along the shore. But the main wealth of the
island lay in its forests, as it still does. if we except that brought in by summer
visitors.
It is not difficult to picture to ourselves the kind of cuttings which took
place from the early settlements to the present time. There were none of
the usual large operations by which extensive areas are stripped to feed a
big mill which cuts and ships vast quantities of lumber and is then abandoned
20
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS
when the surrounding territory is 'cut out." Fortunately, the coast
of
Maine, as well as the rest of the state, largely escaped the "boom" type of
development which makes flourishing lumbering towns for a decade or two
and passes on leaving a virtual desert behind, as in Pennsylvania, the Lake
States and now the Southern pineries.
On Mt. Desert Island the lumbering was never, happily for the island, on
a scale comparable with that in Pennsylvania, or even in other parts of Maine.
At first it was probably largely for local consumption, and the logs were cut
at small mills run by water power. Later, the operations seem to have in-
creased in size, and much or most of the lumber was doubtless shipped out
of the island. By 1870 there were two steam sawmills, one at Salisbury
Cove and the other at Pretty Marsh, and ten water sawmills (Street, 1905,
p. 309) This may not represent the maximum of the island's lumber pro-
duction, which perhaps came some time earlier. Whatever the amounts cut
from year to year, it is certain that the island has been steadily producing
more or less lumber from the time it was first settled to the present day.
Although there has been no attempt to exercise forethought, the size of the
cuttings has been small enough not to take all the mature growth before the
second growth was ready to use. The greatest destruction has been from
fire, which has swept over a large part of the island thus materially reducing
the available stock of growing timber. The effect of these fires on the vege-
tation will be dealt with more fully in another place.
In the earlier cuttings. in fact until rather recently, the forests were not
cut clean because the demand for the products was limited. At first they
were skimmed of the very large white pine which commanded a ready and
profitable market both in this country and over seas. These trees were found
as scattered individuals throughout the forest, or in small groups. There
may also have been here and there nearly pure stands of white pine, or at
least stands in which a large proportion of the volume was white pine.
A
remnant of such a stand has been fortunately preserved around Fawn Pond.
Here the bulk of the forest is made up of very large old white pine trees
such as must have been common over the island when Champlain sailed past.
The removal of the scattered pines made only rather small holes in the forest
canopy, which soon closed up leaving a uniform cover of spruce and fir.
Under this cover there could be little reproduction of white pine because of
the shade. It could seed in only where the cuttings made openings large
enough to let in the sunlight. or where several large spruces happened to be
blown down by the wind or died from other causes.
The cutting of these large trees must have begun soon after the island was
settled. The more accessible ones were of course taken first. Just how long
VEGETATION OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. MAINE
21
st of
it continued we do not know, but probably before the middle of the nineteenth
ype of
century only those large pines on the steeper and more difficult slopes were
r two
left. The remnants we have today happen to be on property from which the
Lake
owners for some reason or other did not sell the timber.
The next phase consisted of going through the same forests in order to
nd, on
take out the larger and finer spruces for sawing into lumber of various kinds.
Maine.
Some of the larger spruce trees were doubtless cut under the earlier opera-
re cut
tions on which the main objective was the pine, but spruce lumbering does
ve in-
not appear to have been general until the large pine was about exhausted.
ed out
We do not know just when the second phase began, but probably around the
isbury
middle of the nineteenth century.
1905,
The effect of the removal of these larger spruce trees was to open the
r pro-
crown canopy considerably more than when the old pines were cut. This
nts cut
gave an opportunity for spruce and fir seedlings to spring up in the openings.
ducing
and, in the larger ones, no doubt a certain amount of pine seeded in. In the
t day.
moister places young hemlock became established. The danger of fires was
and of the
materially increased by the dead tops lying on the ground and the drier con-
re the
ditions in the openings. Although the conditions favoring fire were not SO
from
bad as those following the heavier cuttings of later days, yet some of the
ducing
severest fires known on the island came during this period. In 1848 a fire,
vege-
started by a small boy, swept over the mountains of the northeastern part of
the island. In 1864 a conflagration utterly destroyed the lumber business of
re not
the Jordan brothers on Jordan Pond, and burned the slopes of Penobscot
t they
(Jordan) and Pemetic Mountains, as well as much neighboring forest.
V and
These and other fires seem to have killed most of the remaining virgin white
found
pine. In places the accumulated humus on which the trees were growing
There
was burned out, leaving only the bare rock. The slow process by which this
or at
bare rock is re-clothed will be described in another section.
e.
A
As the prices for lumber advanced, and the amount of large timber di-
Pond.
minished, more and more of the smaller spruces were cut, and even the fir.
trees
The transition appears to have been gradual, and by about the nineties the
past.
smaller as well as the larger spruces were being taken, though the forest was
forest
by no means cut clean. Thus the third phase grew gradually out of the
d fir.
second.
ise of
The third phase corresponds with an increased fire danger, since a great
large
deal more slash was left. and the more open condition of the forest permitted
to be
more rapid drying. There appear to have been many bad fires at the time
this type of operation was carried on. perhaps the worst of which was the
d was
Cadillac (Green) Mountain fire about 1889. though whether or not this was
long
directly attributable to logging we do not know.
22
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS
Those areas which had the good fortune to escape fire became restocked
with spruce, fir and white pine, and, in the moister places, hemlock. Owing
to the greater amount of light, the proportion of deciduous trees was greater
than after previous cuttings. The new forests contained, mixed with the
conifers, a considerable proportion of red oak, red maple, white birch, and,
in the more sheltered spots, yellow birch. Beech and sugar maple were abun-
dant in the moister protected spots; not that their restocking was favored by
the larger openings since they are shade-enduring trees, but they were given
more opportunity to develop.
The fourth phase grew up recently with the development of the market for
pulpwood, which takes the small spruce and fir, and with the demand for lower
grade lumber. The spruce and fir are cut, sometimes peeled, sometimes not.
and hauled out to the road. For lumber, small portable sawmills move from
place to place wherever a tract of sufficient size to justify setting up can be
found. Everything down to even three inches at the small end is sawed up.
This is because of the practice of sawing in the round" or sawing alive,"
that is, without previously taking off a slab to square up the log. Obviously
this results in utilizing much material which under the older methods was
left in the tops to rot in the woods. Furthermore, it increases the amount
which can be cut out of the logs by saving much of the part that formerly
was thrown away as slabs. The deciduous trees, birches, maples, etc., are
cut up into cordwood or sometimes left standing.
This modern method of logging makes a practically clean cutting, nothing
being left except the defective and very crooked trees, and sometimes the
hardwoods. It results in considerable quantities of slash, which in the town-
ship of Bar Harbor must be disposed of, generally by piling and burning, but
in the two other towns can be left as a fire trap. Although the result, even
when the slash is eliminated, is unsightly and appears like ruthless devasta-
tion, the forest does not suffer as much as would appear-provided fire is
kept out. There generally follows an abundant restocking of white pine,
spruce, and fir, with red pine on the drier sites, and hemlock on the moister.
Fortunately, the sentiment in favor of fire protection has become so much
stronger, and the methods of protection SO much more efficient, that the
danger of fire, though by no means negligible, is comparatively small. For
the improvement with regard to fires a great deal is to be attributed to the
influence of the Lafayette National Park rangers, who, in the course of their
regular duties, are able to detect fires anywhere on the island as well as in the
Park itself. The example of the Park officials in extinguishing fires is fol-
lowed by private owners.
The cutting and burning of the forests, briefly outlined above, has been to
VEGETATION OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND, MAINE
23
tocked
a certain extent responsible for the kinds of trees which grow on various parts
Owing
of the island today. The natural course of development which had been
reater
going on from the time the land was bare after the retreat of the ice, until it
h the
supported the highest type of forest of which the climate is capable, was ar-
. and,
rested and thrown back. This will be considered more fully below. Suffice
abun-
it here to say that the stretches of birch and aspen forests which cover such a
ed by
large proportion of the island with growth of little value are to be attributed
given
to past fires. The cuttings alone, without the fires, would have given young
forests of the more valuable species instead of the nearly worthless birch and
et for
aspen, much of it gray birch which is hardly fit even for firewood.
lower
Pitch pine, a picturesque tree, but of no value here since it seldom reaches
s not.
from
sufficient size to be worth sawing into even low grade lumber, has most prob-
ably increased in area since the arrival of the white man. This is because
an be
the barren rocky places on which it will grow, but where other trees are un-
ed up.
alive,"
able to survive, have been considerably increased by human interference,
chiefly by fires. The tree was no doubt fairly abundant before the white man
iously
S was
came, since the barren summits which Champlain mentions indicate the pres-
mount
ence of sites suitable for it, but it has been given a greater opportunity to
spread than it had before.
merly
., are
With the spread of pitch pine there has been an extension of the plants
over and among which it grows-its associates. Many of these are coastal
thing
plain species common in the sand plains of New Jersey and Long Island.
es the
Among these might be mentioned the huckleberry, Gaylussacia baccata, very
town-
abundant under the pitch pine and elsewhere on the island, the bearberry,
g, but
Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, which extends even to California under moderately
dry pine forests, the yellow flowered heather-like Hudsonia ericoides, and
even
vasta-
others. Man's interference has thus caused an increase in many coastal plain
ire is
plants which thrive on the drier sites. The scrub oak, Quercus ilicifolia,
pine,
seems to be an exception in that it is confined to a single mountain. Acadia
ister.
(Robinson). But it may be that even this plant was more restricted in the
past than it is today.
much
t the
Man's influence on the vegetation has not been confined to the effects of
For
cutting and burning the forests, though the greatest change resulted from
to the
these two agencies. On Mt. Desert Island. as on many other islands along
their
the Maine Coast, there used to be a good deal of sheep raising. Sheep seem
in the
to have been introduced by the earliest settlers. and were not given up until
S fol-
recently, when it appears that certain restrictive laws made the industry un-
profitable. Since these forests, unlike the more open forests of the west,
een to
are unsuited to grazing, the sheep must have been largely confined to lands
cleared for pastures. and to old farms which had been abandoned. They may,
24
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS
however, have had some effect in furthering the spread of certain plants,
particularly those which do best in the more open places.
Clearing of land for cultivation must be considered an important factor in
changing the vegetation, but the extent of its effect depends upon the extent
of the land suitable for farming. In some parts of the country, as in the
middle west and the eastern edge of the plains, where most of the land is
valuable for crops, the native vegetation has been almost totally destroyed.
Scientists endeavoring to find what the soil and climate will produce under
natural conditions are constrained to study strips along the railroads as the
nearest approach to remnants of the native plants. On Mt. Desert Island the
area which was cleared and devoted to crops and pastures was larger in the
past, before the opening of the west, than it is today. As with the rest of
New England, a considerable proportion of the farm-lands has been aban-
doned and allowed to revert to forest. Prof. R. T. Fisher, director of the
Harvard Forest, has stated that the 200,000,000 board feet of white pine
which is yearly cut for box boards in Massachusetts comes practically all from
land which was in farms at the time of the Civil War. The amount of
coniferous forest on Mt. Desert Island abandoned farms. while much smaller
in proportion to the total area than on similar land in Massachusetts, is consid-
erable. In many cases the re-establishment of the forest has gone SO far that
it is practically impossible to tell from present appearances whether or not
the land was once cleared. Since the forest on such lands does not appear
to differ markedly from that on other parts of the island, no attempt has been
made to map or study it separately.
SUMMARY
Mt. Desert Island, Maine, is of exceptional scientific interest as a meeting
ground of northern and southern forms of both plants and animals. We are
here concerned only. with the plants and their environment.
The chief rock formation of the island is granite, which has been left after
ages of erosion as a relatively high range extending in a southwesterly-north-
easterly direction across the island, and attains an elevation of 1532 feet at
its highest point. Glaciation has cut the range into a number of more or less
isolated peaks with their long axes running approximately north and south.
But the mountains still act as a barrier_across the island sufficient to create
noticeably different conditions on the northern as compared with the southern
parts of the island.
After the last ice retreat the island was submerged to approximately 210
feet below its present level.
The soils are of glacial origin except for marine clays and silts deposited
during submergence. The chief soil is a reddish brown glacial till, more or
less stony, which on certain slopes below 210 feet has been somewhat re-
worked by wave action. Deposits of sand and gravel occupy a relatively
small proportion of the island. Pockets of blue marl and of a fine grey silt
cover considerable areas below the 200 foot contour. The hills are largely
without soil, and characterized by large expanses of bare granite, varying
from perpendicular cliffs to rounded domes.
A distinct layer of raw humus or " duff," unmixed with the mineral soil,
overlies most of the surface except for certain moist and sheltered valleys
where decomposition keeps pace with formation SO that the humus goes into
the soil. In places this humus blanket has been burned off by past fires, ex-
posing the bare rock and soil.
The coastal plain plants which form such an unusual and interesting com-
ponent of the vegetation probably reached the island by way of a land bridge
formed by an extension of the coastal plain above the sea from New Jersey
to Newfoundland.
Previous to its settlement by white men, the island had been repeatedly
subjected to fire by the Indians to drive out the game. When discovered by
Champlain in 1604 the summits were bare rock, and the forest contained tall
pines standing above the main canopy of spruce and fir, with white birch in
mixture. Even before its permanent settlement, the annals of which begin
143
LITTORAL VEGETATION ON A HEADLAND OF MT. DESERT
ISLAND, MAINE. I. SUBMERSIBLE OR STRICTLY
LITTORAL VEGETATION 1
DUNCAN S. JOHNSON AND ALEXANDER F. SKUTCH
Purpose
In the present investigation we have undertaken to determine the precise
limits of distribution, vertically and horizontally, of each littoral plant and
plant association found on a high, rocky point of Mt. Desert Island, Maine,
known as Otter Cliffs. Our object was the discovery of the external con-
ditions limiting this distribution.
Most of the observations to be recorded were made during July, August
and early September of the years 1923 to 1925. In March 1927 the junior
author spent three days studying the late winter flora of our area, and the
senior author followed the seasonal development of the vegetation from June
to September of the exceptionally cool and backward summer of 1927.
Area and Methods
Otter Cliffs are on the south side of the island, close by the Ogden Station
of the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory, and are completely exposed
to the heavy surf of the open Atlantic. They lie near 44° 19' N. latitude
and 68° II' W. longitude. Our work was carried on from the Weir Mitchell
Station of this laboratory as a base. The area most carefully studied extends
I50 feet north and south, and 300 feet east and west, and includes elevations
from - 8 to + 50 feet (Chart I). It was selected because of the widely
varied habitats provided by the rock surfaces of many different slopes and
exposures, and by tide-pools of very different sizes at many different levels.
It embraces some bottom at 4 to 8 feet below mean low water, of rocky or
gravelly character, and a bit of coarse shingle and boulders between 7 and 13
feet above low water, while the rest of the littoral zone is of granite or schist
cliffs and ledges, with some trap dikes. Not until the 20-foot level, IO feet
above mean high tide, is reached do we find even minute pockets of soil in
1 Botanical Contribution No. 87 from the Johns Hopkins University. The authors
gratefully acknowledge here the courtesy of the Trustees and of Director Ulric Dahl-
gren of the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory in affording them the facilities of
the Laboratory for carrying on this work. They also here express their thanks to
GPD
Superintendent George B. Dorr of Lafayette National Park. for help in fastening our
tide-stake to the ledges, and for transportation to the area in March 1927. They are
indebted also to Doctor A. S. Hitchcock for naming the grasses and to Doctors M. A.
Howe, Albert Mann, and W. R. Taylor and J. E. Tilden for identifying various algae
collected in the area studied.
188
Ecology 9 (1928): 188-215
WILLIAM H. PROCTER (1872-1951)
Relatively unknown today by Mount Desert Island residents and visitors,
William Procter played a very significant role in contributing to the
scientific knowledge about what is today Acadia National Park. An heir of one
of the founders of the Procter and Gamble Company, he dedicated the later
part of his life to the study of insects on Mount Desert Island.
Over the course of 27 years, starting in 1918, Dr. Procter spent a majority of
his time combing the island for insects. He ultimately published 7 scientific
volumes summarizing his collecting efforts; no fewer than 439
families, 2,660 genera, and 6,578 species and subspecies were documented!
His field notes and ~ 20,000 pinned and wet specimens are now permanent-
ly preserved at the William Otis Sawtelle Collections and Research Center at
Acadia National Park. Since its arrival in 2000, scientists from as far away as
Russia have come to use the collection for research purposes (it was
previously housed at the University of Massachusetts).
Dr. Procter's collection represents an incredibly rich and unique information base that is unequaled at most other
national parks. Because of his dedicated studies, scientists today can now make comparisons about the past and
present species diversity and distribution in order to learn about how changes in climate, land use, and the 1947
Mount Desert Island fire affected the island's fauna.
Dr. Procter played a role in helping to establish the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL), served on
an advisory board at the Columbia University Zoology Department, was a board member of the Wistar Institute and
a Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History. He contributed financially to many scientific organizations,
including the Entomology Society of America, Society of Sigma Xi, and the Research Society of America. In 1950,
Sigma Xi established the William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement; Stephen Jay Gould, Jane Goodall, and
E.O. Wilson are several of the recent winners.
There are many people who contributed time, money, and energy to help protect Acadia National Park. Dr. William
Procter was a distinguished natural scientist who worked tirelessly to catalog some of the Park's fauna well before
the National Park Service took an interest in natural resource management. Now thanks to his efforts, park
managers and the scientific community have vital information to help characterize and assess the health and
condition of Acadia National Park's ecosystems.
David Manski
Chief, Division of Resource Management
Acadia National Park
53
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 2 of 2
See
Sieurde
thants Publ.
NATURE
White pine
VOL.3-NO.1
NOTES
JANUARY-
FEBRUARY,
1934
Arthor wike
Hemlock
(Red) spruce
Black
Confers
of
MOUNT DESERT
Readia
ISLAND
area approve 300 37 mr.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
BAR HARBOR, MAINE
Department of the Interior: Office of National Parks, Buildings. & Reservations.
> Cover
Next >>>
nature_notes/acad/vol3-1.htm
18-Mar-2016
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1.htm
8/14/2019
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 1 of 6
Acadia National Park
Nature
Notes
NATURE NOTES FROM ACADIA
Volume 3
January-February, 1934
Number 1
THE TREES OF ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
By Arthur Stupka, Park Naturalist, Acadia National Park
The trees of Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine, are
essentially northern in character, as the region belongs to the so-called
Spruce and Northern Hardwoods division. Spruces are dominant, the
red spruce making up a considerable portion of the coniferous stand
over much of the island and the white spruce replacing it as the most
abundant species along a large portion of the ocean front. Other trees
which make up an appreciable amount of the total stand include white
pine, red pine, white birch, gray birch, arbor vitae, balsam fir, red
maple, red oak, hemlock, and aspen. Thoreau, with characteristic
fitting and poetic phraseology, called this the "arrowy Maine forest."
SECTION I. THE CONIFERS
Key to the Conifers of Acadia National Park
1. Trees with needle-like leaves
2
1. Trees with small, scale-like leaves
Arbor vitae
2. Needles evergreen, remaining on tree in winter;
3
needles borne directly on branches
2. Needles deciduous, dropping off tree in fall;
Larch
needles borne on short spur-like side branches
3. Needles borne in clusters of 2, 3, or 5
4
3. Needles borne singly on branches
6
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1b.htm
8/14/2019
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 2 of 6
4. Needles 5 in a cluster, 2 to 5 inches long
White pine
4. Needles 3 in a cluster, It to 4 inches long
Pitch pine
4. Needles 2 in a cluster
5
5. Needles 4 to 6 inches long; cones symmetrical,
Red pine
even-shaped
5. Needles 4 to 1 inch long; cones asymmetrical,
Gray pine
incurved
6. Needles on all sides of branch, pointing outward
7
in all directions; branches with needles, round in
appearance; needles not lighter colored on under
side
6. Needles seemingly on only two sides of branch;
9
branches with needles, usually flattened in
appearance; needles pale green or whitish on
under side
7. Needles bluish-green or bluish, dull and blunt
8
7. Needles yellowish-green, shiny and sharp-pointed
Red spruce
8. Scales on ripe cones stiff and rigid, ragged-
Black spruce
toothed
8. Scales on ripe cones flexible, not toothed
White spruce
9. Needles pale green on under side with white line on
Hemlock
each side of midrib; trunk of tree free from blisters;
cones 3/4 inch long and pendant
9. Needles pale green on under side with light dots;
Balsam fir
trunk of tree with resin blisters; cones 2-4 inches long
erect
Four species of pines are
native to the region and of
these the white pine (Pinus
strobus), emblem of Maine,
the Pine Tree State, is most
abundant. This, the noblest of
our trees, has been known to
Gray
Pine
exceed 4 feet in diameter and
150 feet in height, and has
long been regarded as the most
valuable timber tree in
northeastern America. Its soft
bluish-green needles are
arranged in clusters of 5, the
lateral branches are whorled, and the cones, usually measuring from 5
to 8 inches in length, are larger than those of any other native
coniferous tree in the northeastern states.
The red pine Pinus resinosa, whose needles 4 to 6 inches in length,
are longer than those of any other of our needle-bearing trees, is tall
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1b.htm
8/14/2019
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 3 of 6
and straight, with a pyramidal crown, dark green foliage, and reddish-
brown bark. This bark, like the bark of the yellow pine of the west,
tends to break up into broad reddish plates. The needles are arranged
in bundles of 2. The symmetrical cones are somewhat spherical and
about 2 inches long. It is valued highly as a timber tree and often goes
by the name of "Norway pine."
The pitch pine (Pinus rigida),
very picturesque in its exposed
rocky habitats, is usually low-
growing and has an irregular
scraggly crown. Its ovate
cones may persist on the
gnarled branches for many
years. This is the only native
Pitch
pine of Mount Desert Island
pine
whose needles are arranged in
x1/2018
clusters of 3.
A boreal species, the gray, jack, or Labrador pine (Pinus banksiana),
finds its southern coastal limit on Mount Desert Island. It is rare here,
being represented by a small stand of trees to the south of Cadillac
Mountain. On a portion of the Acadia National Park area which
is
located just across the by on Schoodic Peninsula, this pine is an
abundant species. For the most part it grows considerably dwarfed
and shrubby, and its small, tough, asymmetrical cones persist on the
tree for many years. Its very short gray-green needles are arranged in
clusters of 2.
White
pine
The larch, also known as tamarack and
hackmatack (Larix laricina), is a
common tree of the sphagnum bogs of
the island. Unlike all other of our
coniferous species, it sheds all its
needles every fall, putting on new
twig
ones the following spring. These
in winter
needles are borne on dwarf spur-like
side branches. As it resembles a
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1b.htm
8/14/2019
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 4 of 6
Larch
x1
symmetrical pine in general form, the
tree has a striking resemblance to a
dead conifer in winter. It is a medium-sized, light-loving tree with a
straight trunk, very small ovoid cones, and short clustered needles.
The range of the larch extends across the continent, and it is found in
the north within the Arctic Circle.
Three spruces are native to Acadia National Park. The black spruce,
also known as swamp spruce (Picea mariana), is a tree characteristic
of our sphagnum bogs, although it is not infrequently found in a more
or less stunted condition on dry mountain slopes where it may appear
ragged and uneven in its habit of
growth. Usually it is smaller than the
other native spruces and the scales on
its ripened cones tend to be stiff, rigid,
and ragged-toothed. It bears needles
which are dull and blunt. The red
Red
spruce (Picea rubra) is one of the most
spruce
abundant of our trees. It has narrow
x1
conical crown and a straight slightly
tapering trunk which usually attains a
height of 60-80 feet. The branches are
slender, the cones ovoid, and the
needles a shining dark green or
yellowish-green about one-half inch
long. Whereas the other spruces have
needles which are blunt at the ends,
the needles of the red spruce are
sharp-pointed. Next to the white pine,
this is the most valuable timber tree in
Maine. The white spruce (Picea
glauca), a tall handsome tree
especially valuable for paper pulp,
grows best right along the ocean front
of Mount Desert Island. Its branches,
long and stout, bear dense attractive
grayish or bluish-green needles which
sometimes are characterized by an
odor which accounts for the local
name of "skunk spruce" or "cat
spruce." As in all spruces, the oblong
cones are pendant, and when ripe, the
cone scales are flexible and not
toothed.
Although in cool moist ravines the
hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) grows as
far south as Alabama, it attains its
greatest size and beauty in the Acadian
White spruce
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1b.htm
8/14/2019
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 5 of 6
region. In its preferred habitat it is a
fairly common tree on Mount Desert Island where old specimens up
to four feet in diameter are to be found. Its short flat needles are
glossy dark green above and pale
green beneath, there being a white line
an either side of the midrib on the
under surface. Although appearing
two-ranked, the needles are spirally
Hemlock x1
arranged around the twigs. The cones,
oblong in shape, are about three-fourths of an inch in length -
considerably smaller than the fruits of other conifers with which the
hemlock is sometimes confused. Where goodly stands of this graceful
and symmetrical tree grow, the summer visitor finds himself in the
haunt of the winter wren, one of the finest of our feathered songsters
and the veritable spirit of the cool hemlock forest.
The balsam fir (Abies balsamea), the only fir native to Maine and the
other New England states, is a common conifer in Acadia National
Park. It is a tree of medium size, usually under 40 feet in height, and
the trunk rarely exceeds 18 inches in diameter. Its bark, smooth and
grayish-brown in color, is covered with projecting blisters which
yield the pungently aromatic Canada balsam of commerce. The
fragrant needles are arranged SO that they give the twigs a flattened
appearance. The dark purple cones, usually two or three inches long,
are cylindrical and stand upright on the branches - a characteristic
which distinguishes the fir
from other conifers with which
it may grow.
The arbor vitae, often known
as white cedar (Thuja
occidentalis), is a medium-
sized tree which has its best
development in swamps and
bogs where it may be found in
pure stands. Its trunk is tapering and the bark, often used by the red
squirrel for the spherical nests which that animal builds, separates into
long thin strips. The scale-like overlapping leaves, aromatic when
crushed, are arranged to make a flat frond-like spray on which the
small oblong cones are borne.
The dwarf
juniper,
creeping
juniper, and
American yew,
sometimes
confused with
the young of
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1b.htm
8/14/2019
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 6 of 6
some of the
trees already
mentioned, are
low-growing
evergreen
shrubs with
needlelike
Balsam fir
leaves. They
x1
are common in
some portions
of the park and
are readily
distinguished in that they do not bear cones. Their fruits are small and
berry-like, those of the junipers being blue covered with a pale bloom
while those of the yew are a bright scarlet in color.
Note: Articles on the deciduous tree of Acadia National Park will
appear in future issues of "Nature Notes from Acadia."
>>
nature_notes/acad/vol3-1b.htm
09-Jan-2006
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1b.htm
8/14/2019
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 1 of 3
Acadia National Park
Nature
Notes
NATURE NOTES FROM ACADIA
Volume 3
January-February, 1934
Number 1
A WINTER RAMBLE
"Come see the north-wind's masonry."
- Emerson
The coast of Maine lies gripped in the icy hold of one of the most
severe winters on record. Harbors are ice-locked and deep snow
everywhere blankets the out-of-doors. On clear days the ermine-
coated summits of the Mount Desert Island mountains, heavily
armored in snow and ice, glisten with such dazzling brilliance that
one might almost be lead to believe they had undergone some
herculean polish in the night.
Let us buckle on our snowshoes at Sieur de Monts Spring - a place
known to every Acadia National Park visitor - and make fresh tracks
through the snowy woods in the general direction of the Tarn. Close
to the Abbe Museum we cross the tracks of a gray squirrel - perhaps
one of the same animals which harvested many of the acorns and
beech nuts in that vicinity last autumn. Upon following these tracks
we discover where the animal dug into the deep snow and fed upon a
few acorns. Being in the habit of storing only small quantities of food
here and there over the forest floor, the gray squirrel must necessarily
dig deeply for his winter supplies. Surely, to find provisions which
now lie buried under one and one-half to three feet of snow implies a
remarkable memory. White-foot, the big-eared dark-eyed woods
mouse, had likewise crossed the snow here but recently, leaving a
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1c.htn
8/14/2019
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 2 of 3
dainty little tell-tale pattern which disappears under the low snow-
laden limb of some conifer.
For a moment we stop to admire a grove of young beeches which
still retain an appreciable number of their papery leaves. Whereas in
summer these leaves were dark green in color and in autumn a rich
coppery brown, they now are of a soft light fawn color - especially
attractive against the snow.
The brook which flows from the nearby Tarn gurgles pleasantly in
those few spots which remain open, as though defying the frigid
fetters of winter in its own tongue. While listening to its cold icy
murmur a mite of a dark brown stubby-tailed bird flies up nervously,
complaining against our intrusion. He, the winter wren, has
apparently lived through all these bitter cold months in this
immediate territory, finding shelter under the many little bridges or
under the streambanks where the roots of trees have been exposed.
No doubt he finds a few stone flies and possibly other stream insects
here. E. H. Forbush, in his classical "Birds of Massachusetts," makes
the following interesting statement: "As a winter bird in the latitude
of New England, this wren is a disappointment. A few remain here in
mild winters, but those that attempt to brave out a severe one in New
England usually perish miserably. In the spring their dead bodies are
found occasionally under piles of lumber or wood. Most of them
winter in the South." Our bird, therefore, must truly be some defiant
hardy exception, for the present winter is one of the most severe ever
to be recorded. Admiring the fortitude of this feathered elf, we
proceed with our ramble.
Upon coming to the Tarn, now burdened with a considerable
thickness of ice, we stop to view the heavily snow-and ice-coated
slopes of Huguenot Head and Flying Squadron Mountains - the east
and west sides of an ancient trough through which the glaciers of
many thousands of years ago pushed out into the sea. The former
mountain, supporting a dense stand of pitch pines, appears very
much as it does in summer, but Flying Squadron, with a
comparatively sparse growth of spruces, has its eastern slope
whitened by a heavy blanket of snow and ice.
From here we cross the nearby Otter Creek road and tramp over the
drifted snow which lies in the little valley at the north foot of
Huguenot Head. It is in protected valleys such as this one where,
after a heavy snowstorm, the conifers stand arrayed in some of
winter's most picturesque habiliments. In places young trees as high
as one's head, completely draped in the snowy substance, appear as
though they might be the tents in which the boreal troops are
encamped, for winter concentrates his forces in these ravines as
though they were strategic points.
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1c.htm
8/14/2019
Acadia National Park (Nature Notes)
Page 3 of 3
Making a wide circle through the snowy valley we climb Little
Meadow Hill, a stronghold for the pitch pines. Before going far
through this quaint low forest the tracks of red squirrels, crossing and
recrossing over the snow, hold our interest, and occasionally we
come upon the temporary feeding places of these animals - a litter of
cone scales, bark flakes, needle-bearing twigs, etc. Evidently a
number of squirrels come here to feed on the abundant fruit of the
pitch pines. While watching an impetuous chickaree dashing through
the trees sending burdens of snow a-flying, a flock of about 20 red
crossbills. twittering half-plaintively as they fly, suddenly wheel and
settle in the top of one of these low scraggly pines. Approaching
closely we admire the attractive brick red males who investigate the
cones for the seeds which might be within. Only momentarily do
they linger and then are off again in close formation, twittering as
they disappear. These birds, along with the white-winged crossbills,
have been on Mount Desert Island in goodly numbers during the
present winter.
And SO we ramble on, encountering other animals and seeing other
sights. Hard though it may be for both man and beast, the winter has
infinite charms.
- Arthur Stupka
>>
nature_notes/acad/vol3-1c.htm
09-Jan-2006
http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/acad/vol3-1c.htm
8/14/2019
1001
10-23
(May 1929)
0-7410
UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
ACADIA
NATIONAL PARK
FILE No. 715-02
PART
1
ACADIA
FLORA, FAUNA, NATURAL PHENOMENA, ETC.
BEARS
LAST DATE ON TOP
IMPORTANT
This file constitutes n part of the official records of the
National Park Service and should not be separated or papers
withdrawn without express authority of the official in charge.
All Files should be returned promptly to the File Room.
Officials and employees will be held responsible for failure
to observe these rules, which are necessary to protect the
integrity of the official records.
ARNO B. CAMMERER,
6-7410
Director.
Scanned with CamScanner
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Acadie National Park
Bar Harbor, Maine.
COPY
March 17, 1937.
Mr. Roy K. Dennison,
House of Representatives,
Augusta, Maine.
Dear Mr. Dennison:
I want to write you a line to express
my strong sympathy with what you were quoted in the
newspapers as saying at the Legislative hearing on
March 11th, with regard to establishing a bounty on
bears, concerning steel traps. I know from actual
experience obtained in connection with my work in
charge for the Government of this national park as
well 03 from what others have told me out of their
personal exporience the great suffering caused by
Steel-trapping, and the inevitable cruelty of it
which the world will one day come to realize and
condemn.
Years ago I took part in EL campaign against steel
trapping in the State of Massachusetts, my former home,
and a law was passed by the Legislature prohibiting
it for the measure had strong support; but it aimed, as
1t was drawn, at too absolute EL prohibition to be 1m-
mediately practical and came to nought through lack of
funds for 1ts enforcement. Extremes tend invariably
to be self-defeating and the main thins is to swoken
public conscience to the suffering caused and to arouse
public opinion against 1t.
The trapping of bears 1n this State is inde-
fensible on any grounds; for the hunter's rifle, to the
State's great gain in the open season, is ample to
protect human safety and prevent too serious depredations
upon open farmlands.
Believe me
Yours sincerely,
(signed) George B. Dorr
GBD-0
Superintendent.
Scanned with CamScanner
NON IN 10 plo1
GRIDE NEW DUE WIN
DRIN m
to
DEPARTMENT OF Ti
TERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
WASHINGTON
February 6, 1937.
Mr. George B. Dorr,
Superintendent, Acadia National Park,
Bar Harbor, Maine.
Dear Mr. Dorr:
Your letter of February 3 and clipping from the Port-
land Press Herald relative to roadside animal exhibits have
been read and commented upon by several members of the Wash-
ington Office.
Your work in initiating the measure to prevent exhibit
of captive wild animals along the highways of Hancock County
is very commendable. This achievement illustrates the type
of influence our national parks and their Service personnel
should exercise on the surrounding communities.
We have been informed that only recently the State of
Pennsylvania passed a similar bill, preventing the showing
of wild animals along the highways. We join with you in
hoping that the bill to prevent such exhibits over the entire
State will receive favorable action.
Sincerely yours,
James 0. Stevenson,
Acting Chief,
Wildlife Division.
cc Wildlife Division - San Francisco
wktmnm
Scanned with CamScanner
bill PEMBO
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Cabalane
Acadia National Park,
Bar Harbor, Maine.
good with
February 3, 1937.
the
Mr. A. E. Demaray,
Associate Director,
National Park Service,
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Demaray:
I think this, of which the newspaper
clipping from the Portland Press Herald tells, may
interest you as showing the influence the Park is
having along good lines.
Last September two bears kept, none too humanely,
along the roadside in a cage at a place of entertainment
between Ellsworth and Bangor, in this county, broke out
and with the memory of rough treatment in their captivity
renkling, attacked and killed the proprietor and his a.s-
sistant. The bears were shot but had one glorious moment
of revenge which were hard to grudge them!
Taking advantage of this as an opportunity to do away
in this county at least with what has always been abhorrent
to me, I had asked our State Senator from this district to
introduce a bill to prevent wild animals' being kept in
centivity along the roadsides as an adjunct to such
places in any portion of the County and this bill has n LOW
been favorably reported on without opposition by both
branches of the State legislature.
Entering 1t, moreover, brought attention to the
subject and has led to the introduction of another bill
introduced quite Independently for the regulation, if
not the prohibiting, of all similar exhibits of wild
animals in confinement the whole State over, and this, too,
seems likely to be favorably acted on.
Yours sincerely,
GBD-0
Scanned with CamScanner
7/29/2020
Xfinity Connect Bears Printout
Judith H Connery
7/29/2020 10:32 AM
Bears
To Eppster2@comcast.net Copy
Charles D Jacobi
Charlie Jacobi
Hi Ron,
Attached is the "Bears" file. (Please excuse the duplicated scan of the cover.)
Yes, who would have thought it to contain correspondence to and from Mr.
Dorr?! I wonder how many other treasures are hiding in NARA? I hope that
once a vaccine is available, Charlie and I will be able to continue that hunt.
The file name provides information about where it was found, based on the
Record Group 79 Finding Guide. Let us know if you need us to decipher it.
Also, Charlie's government email address has changed to a "partner"
account: charlie_jacobi@partner.nps.gov
You can also stay in touch with him at: potholescharlie@gmail.com
While I still have my old government email address (not sure why....), I most
often check my private email account at judy.connery@gmail.com so that's
the best way to contact me.
Thanks for reaching out, and please let us know if we can provide any other
materials.
All the best to you, Ron, and please stay healthy!
Judy
NPS - Unknown - Bears. NACP RG79 P10 pg400 B809 F715-02 Part 1-
annotated.pdf (1 MB)
7/29/2020
Xfinity Connect Re_Bears Printout
eppster2@comcast.net
7/29/2020 12:40 PM
Re: Bears
To Judith H Connery judy_hazen_connery@nps.gov>
Judy,
File received. Thank you.
I updated my address book.
I
empathize with you regarding the ways in which the pandemic have
impeded your research on the AH. Before the pandemic I began to
secure through ILL copies of about a dozen park administrative histories
written over the past thirty years and not on the NPS website It is quite
striking how much their differ, especially in their narrative delivery to
future park managers. Some are dry as dust, rapidly escaping early
park history for detailed statistical reporting of more current studies;
others achieve a lively balance between history, policy, local and distant
development of managerial priorities and the park staff that made it all
happen. I hope that the NPS is documenting how Covid has impacted
the park system in ways large and small.
You should know that I am having conversations with Ruth Eveland at
the Jesup Library about her interest in my two file drawers of information
on Dorr's paternal and maternal ancestry. Originally I thought that this
would be included in with the file cabinets of documents that Sheridan
Steele and Marie accepted for the park archives. I began to doubt that
ANP park researchers would have much interest in Dorr's 17th through
19th century ancestors. After considerable reflection I recently offered
these ancestry documents to the Jesup where they would be more
accessible to the public in their new Special Collections facility attached
to the 1911 building that Dorr built--where they will complement the
JDRJr. and Deasy-Lynam documentation donated by Doug Chapman.
All the best to you and yours. Stay safe!
https://connect.xfinity.com/appsuite/v=7.10.3-6.20200722.052513/print.html?print_1596040865075
1/3
G.B. Dorr Society
7/27/2020.
Caulee Judith peabe County
"Bears file in N.A.
GRD was actual, a dedecaed
overal rights aboorte Plesto
10 Pach Rayer x bese cubs. File
contain can re captured avade
a woodside attraction - h
wa agest
Request
letter to a. B. Desario 2/3/37
h 1938, Carl person incident,
Didast coveral CANP 11/2/3
Death on dest Schoolie new
frest retailed
Ocate of Past fever Read to proboxy
Peal Foure tooh position,
brought natural littry shalles to AdP.
Renja desting carear in NPS,
worlf at Ocadia x first pal
netrudent at thevardook N.P.
Returned in 1869, deed zu
Raques Beach.
2
Charlie
4,000 lbs stored
Interview 1. stord t
the
Explanation uses By ccc + dons.
Seep. John good, deed Dec. 2019, OBIT,
NPS - 1958 beja at AND
B.S. /M.S. geology deposit
Chief Vat yellowstore 1960 58
folt yournite t Eaceledes
8/24/08. Good moro to
Sepnal Develor
Ash fa copy
Eaphanged u nept of pervorat boundary
" a more Coost Heiega Tuest,
x other partnershops.
2
cameeve is UPS issues
a
visitaba as mangfed issue.
a
And Release or bon for
responsed decesson makes.
followd Keith letter
I
7/26/2020
Xfinity Connect RE_G_B_ Dorr Society event Printout
Lisa Horsch Clark
7/23/2020 8:58 PM
RE: G.B. Dorr Society event
To RONALD
Ron,
Double checking I sent you the login invitation for the zoom meeting on Monday. Need anything else
from me? We did our rehearsal they have amazing stories!
Lisa
I am delighted you can join us at noon on Monday, July 27 for the 16th Annual George B. Dorr Society
event. It is sure to be a fun, storytelling gathering with Judy, Charlie, and other park experts.
To join the meeting, click this link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81186610303?pwd=KOtYZUNqYUg0NkZJSIIMbURHdDhmdz09.The meeting
ID is 811 8661 0303 and the password is 272853, in case you need to use them.
If you have not used Zoom on your laptop, phone, or tablet before, please click the link in advance of the
meeting and download any software you might need. If you would prefer, you can also join the meeting
by telephone by calling 1 646 558 8656 and using the meeting ID is 811 8661 0303 and the password is
272853.
If you are not familiar with Zoom, I am very happy to help you learn the program. Just let me know that
you need help!
Thank you for helping to protect Acadia with all your past and future gifts. We appreciate you!
With gratitude,
Lisa
4/26/2015
XFINITY Connect
XFINITY Connect
eppster2@comcast.net
+ Font Size
Re: beaver project
From : Ronald Epp
Sun, Apr 26, 2015 10:45 AM
Subject : Re: beaver project
To : Rebecca Cole-Will
Cc : Marie Yarborough
Dear Becky (cc: to Marie),
This has not been a simple task. I've referenced the 2012 park management finding aid and suggest that
those interested look at the Vernon Bailey's 1925 article on beavers in ANP (B. 173, f.34) which I have
not examined but may be useful.
Regarding the claim attributed to Dorr that the park is incomplete without beavers, I strongly doubt that
Dorr would have said that. The park was always a work in progress; it was contrary to his nature to
see one final piece complete the picture, especially when you read his memoirs and see repeated references
while he was in his eighties to all that he had yet to do.
What we may have here is a piece of cultural memory, not based on a specific reference but on what has
transmitted, rephrased, obscured over time, and even effaced. This is my plight as well for I have a vague
recollection of Dorr writing about the introduction of a pair of beavers despite the fact that I can't recovery
it in my many layers of relevant historical data. I suspect it is to be found in RG79 at the National Archives.
Do not lose faith! We do have documentation from John D. Rockefeller Jr. The Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC)
contains two relevant letters on beavers in ANP, one to A. Cammerer dated June 22, 1928 and the other to Dorr
on July 29, 1929. I will put copies of these in the mail to you tomorrow along with Dorr's response
to Rockefeller's
extermination plan dated August 2, 1929. There is a separate beavers folder in Box 83, folder 824 in the RAC
Office of Messrs. Rockefeller Records, Homes (Seal Harbor). Series I. I have not examined this but a call to
an RAC archivist will likely get you copies; Asst. RAC Director Michele H. Beckerman has worked with me
for more than a decade and can help you with the process (914-366-6342).
Finally, my view is that Dorr introduced (or re-introduced) beavers in the late teens or early 1920's. They
were prolific and within a decade resulted in the issues JDR Jr. describes. Several years later on June 13, 1932
Director Horace Albright writes to JDR Jr. that "Mr. Dorr doubtless told you that with the cooperation of your
trapper the beavers will be taken from park waters." (Worthwhile Places. Ed. Joseph Ernst. RAC: 1991. Pgs. 126-127.).
But Dorr's successor, superintendent Hadley, still had beaver issues in 1950. I strongly suggest that Dorr's
interest never was in exterminating beavers. He made faint concessions to JDR Jr. but that would not prevent
him from relocating beavers to areas outside park boundaries. Where they traveled was not his doing.
Ironically, the park seems to have taken an about face in the 1980's on the issue of beavers when it named its visitor
information publication The Beaver Log.
Becky, do have Bruce keep me abreast of his inquiries into this matter. See you May 18-20th.
All the Best,
Ronald
https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=286451&tz=America/New_York&xim=
1/2
4/26/2015
XFINITY Connect
From: "Rebecca Cole-Will"
To: "Ron Epp"
Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2015 5:33:30 AM
Subject: beaver project - quote from Dorr?
Hi Ron,
Have you ever run across this quote from. GBD? Erickson is. COA student working on a beaver project for our biologist, Bruce Connery.
Thanks,
Forwarded message
From: Connery, Bruce
Date: Saturday, April 25, 2015
Subject: COA. beaver project
To: Rebecca Cole-Will
Erickson asked ."I have often heard people quote Dorr as saying that the park was not complete without beavers. Do
you have any idea where he said that? I'd like to quote him too :). I'm checking IRMA now."
I
have never heard of this quote but wonder if you or a friend with one of the historical societies might have heard of it? No rush on
an answer.
Hope you are feeling better.
b
--
Bruce Connery
Biologist
Acadia National Park
207-288-8726
Rebecca Cole-Will, Chief of Resource Management ~ Acadia National Park, 20 McFarland Hill Drive, PO Box 177,
Bar Harbor, ME 04609 ~207.288.8720 ph., 207.288.8709 fx.
https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=286451&tz=America/New_York&xim=1
2/2
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 1 of 17
SPECIALIZED LIBRARIES & ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS
Archival Collections &
HOME
SEARCH THE
COLLECTIONS
FINDING KIDS
Specialized Libraries
ABOUT
Digital Archive
Hancock Collections & Archives
Document LA
LA dis Subject
Home I Archives I Hancock Memorial Museum
LA Comprehensive
Bibliographic Database
The Building of a Library
LA Obscura
by
Public Art in LA
Dorothy Halmos
from
Archival Collections
Coranto: journal of the Friends of the Libraries, University of Southern
California
Volume V Number 1 & 2 to Volume VI Number 1, 1967-1969
ARC Home
About ARC
Contact Us
Search ARC
USC Libraries
& Resources
Homer
USC
Dorothy Halmos (d. 1998) was Librarian of the Hancock Library of Biology and
Oceanography from the mid 1940s through the 1970s. Her mark on USC is evidenced in
the following article, which appeared from 1967 to 1969, in the Coranto: journal of the
Friends of the Libraries. It recounts the development of the library of the Boston Society of
Natural History, which is the foundation of the Hancock Natural History Collection.
The University of Southern California is fortunate to posses, as the basis of its Hancock
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 9 of 17
L. C. D. de Freycinet, Voyage autour du monde sur les corvettes de S.M.
l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les années 1817-1820. Zoologie, 2 vols.
,
Paris, 1824.
R.B. Hinds, Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Sulphur During the Years
1836-1842, 2 vols., Paris, 1839.
C.P.T. Laplace, Voyage autour du monde par les mers de l'Inde et de Chine
executé sur la corvette la Favorite pendant les années 1830-1832, 2 vols.,
Paris, 1839.
By the end of 1850 the library contained 2,569 bound volumes, 1,280 unbound volumes,
and 500 pamphlets and reprints. The Society had raised the money to purchase a new
home, had taken care of current expenses, and for once had a free balance - of $200. But
the library and the collections were suffering severely from lack of money to care for them
properly. Although this was a problem the Society was never able to solve completely,
many steps could be taken to alleviate the situation. But a discussion of these steps and of
other forward-looking measures must be postponed until the second installment of this brief
history of a distinguished library.
Part 2: Volume V Number 2, 1968
In 1852 the Boston Society of Natural History was twenty-two years of age, while its library
(now the basis of the Hancock Library of Biology and Oceanography) was only a few
months younger. The Society had a newly-purchased, if modest home; but the library,
possessing some 5,000 books, volumes of periodicals, and pamphlets, was suffering
acutely from a lack of funds to care for them properly and to add to its holdings as rapidly
as it would have liked.
There were, of course, certain steps that could be taken. At the annual meeting in May,
1852, the librarian recommended a more liberal attitude toward exchange:
The communication with these Societies hitherto has been too expensive and
difficult to justify the sending many copies of our Journal and Proceedings
abroad; but the recent arrangements of the Smithsonian Institution, at
Washington, will enable us hereafter to communicate with Societies in all
parts of the world without difficulty, and at no greater expense than the cost of
transportation to Washington. Of the two hundred Societies in
correspondence with that Institution, at least one hundred publish works of
value to us, which could easily be obtained in exchange for our publications.
With a more liberal policy approved, the librarian was able to set up many new exchanges,
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 10 of 17
but he was soon complaining that because of the interval between issues of the Journal
(once as much as four years), it was hard to keep the exchanges coming. Of special
interest to Californians is the request made n 1854 for permission to send a set of the
publications of the Boston Society to "a newly established society of San Francisco" - the
California Academy of Sciences, organized in 1853 and starting immediately to build up a
library.
In 1855 the librarian reported that since the erection of a theatre building next door, the
library room was no longer "cosy" but very dark and damp, uncomfortable to work in and
injurious to the books. He also had two complaints to make that sound only too familiar.
First, he did not have time to keep up with all the work and needed help; second, although
he was present in the library every day from 9 to 12, books were taken from the room at
other times with no record left; and although they usually came back eventually, there was
some loss. The Council voted $100 for assistance in making a catalogue of the library, and
this task was completed within a year; but beyond asking members to be more considerate,
nothing was done about the second problem.
During this decade, the library was greatly enriched by many gifts of valuable works. In
1854 the Hon. Francis C. Gray presented the first three volumes, beautifully bound, of the
Histoire naturelle des mamifères, by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire et Cuvier, Paris, 1824-47. In
1855 the library received a bequest from the late Mr. James Brown, of the publishing firm of
Little, Brown, who left ornithological books of great interest. These included sixteen
handsome folio volumes of John Gould, sometimes called the "English Audubon" - his
Birds of Europe, 5 vols., 1837; Birds of Australia, 7 vols., 1848; A Century of Birds from the
Himalaya Mountains, 1831; A Monograph of the Rhamphastidae, or Family of Toucans,
1834; and A Monograph of the Odontophorinae, or Partridges of America, 1850.
In November 1856, Mrs. M. A. Binney offered to deposit, under certain conditions of
preservation and use, 353 titles in 1,145 volumes, including pamphlets and reprints, from
the library of the late Dr. Amos Binney. The conditions were accepted and the books were
added to the library in 1857, certain large slabs of fossil impressions having been removed
from the library to make space for them - proving that trying to keep the faculty out of any
spare corner of the library not filled up with books is not a modern problem. The catalogue
of the Binney library is printed in the Proceedings of the Boston Society, and lists such rare
and valuable books as the following:
Ulisse Aldrovandi, Opera omnia, 13 vols. Bonn, 1599-1669.
Petrus Artedi, Ichthyologia, ed. C. Linnaeus, Leyden, 1738.
Joseph Banks, Catalogus bibliothecae historico-naturalis Josephi Banks
auctore Jona Dryander, 5 vols., London, 1796-1800.
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 11 of 17
William Bartram, Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East
and West Florida, Philadelphia, 1791.
Thomas Bewick, A General History of Quadrupeds, Newcastle, 1790.
Georges Buffon, Histoire naturelle, 17 vols. and 7 supplementary vols., Paris,
1749-89.
Charles Darwin, The Zoology of the Beagle, 5 vols., London, 1839-43.
Conrad Gesner, Historia animalium, 5 vols. in 3, Zürich, 1551-87. On the
flyleaf of the first volume is this inscription: "Ce superbe exemplaire de la plus
parfaite conservation et très compet est celui de Buffon. Je l'ai payé 84 L. Is.
à la vent des livres de Mirabeau le jeudi 26. Janvier 1792. Voyez le catalogue
de cette vente No. -1206-"
William Jardin and P. J. Selby, Illustrations of Ornithology, 3 vols., Edinburgh,
1826-35.
William Smellie, The Philosophy of Natural History, Edinburgh, 1790.
Francis Willughby, Ornithologiae libris tres, London, 1676.
In the same year the library received another valuable bequest, from the estate of the late
Prof. J. W. Bailey. It was reported to the Society in the following words:
The whole number of bound volumes ins eighty-four, besides one hundred
and fifty unbound volumes and pamphlets, and these latter are not the least
valuable portion of the library Among the works are the splendid
Microgeologie of Ehrenberg, the works of Kützing, Queckett, Ralfe, Hassell,
Smith, Agardh, Harvey, Lindley, and Hutton
Among the books included in this bequest is one of the rarest the library possesses:
Illustrationes algarum in itinere cira orbem jussu imeratoris Nicolai / annis 1826, 1827,
1828 et 1829 in oceano pacifico imprimis septentrionali ad littore Rossica asiatico-
americana collectarum. Auctoribus Prof. Alexandro Postels et Doct. Francisco Ruprecht,
Petrograd, 1840. This volume, printed in Latin and Russian, is a double elephant folio and
contains forty exceptionally beautiful hand-colored plates of Pacific coast algae, as on this
voyage the Russians sailed down our northwest coast almost as far south as San
Francisco.
In 1859 an event occurred which was to influence the course of the Boston Society in the
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 12 of 17
years to come. Professor Louis Agassiz had amassed a splendid zoological collection
which had been purchased in 1852 by Harvard College. In 1859 the Museum of
Comparative Zoology was incorporated to receive this collection, as well as a bequest from
Francis C. Gray of $50,000 to establish and maintain such a Museum under the charge of
an independent faculty. Professor Agassiz received a grant of $1000,000 from the state,
over $70,000 was raised by private subscription, a building was erected, faculty appointed,
and the Museum established on a solid basis. From the very beginning there was close
cooperation between the Museum and the Society, as almost all of the faculty and curators
of the Museum were also members of the Society, and most of them had been active in it
for years.
In 1860 the Society library was presented, through the generosity of J. P. Cushing, with 300
volumes on entomology from the library of the late Thaddeus W. Harris. The Proceedings
noted:
Mr. Scudder, Curator of Entomology, observed that among the volumes was
one containing all the rarer tracts of Say, most of which were extremely
scarce; among them his New Harmony pamphlets, one of which (on the
Heteropterous Hemiptera of North America) is probably the only copy in this
country, if indeed it can be found anywhere else Most of the important
European works are here together with nearly complete sets of most of the
publications of entomological societies and entomological periodicals.
By the end of 1860 the library contained nearly 5,000 volumes, plus 681 pamphlets and
reprints, most of them of great value and by far the greater number gifts from members and
friends of the Society. It became obvious that the Society again needed more room, and
committees were appointed to make plans and raise the necessary funds. The state
legislature granted to the Society some land on which to erect a building; and the state also
purchased for $28,000 the building occupied by the Society, which then moved temporarily
into one which it owned on Bulfinche Street. Mr. W. J. Walker, who had come to the
assistance of the Society before, offered $20,000 toward the building fund, provided the
members could raise a matching amount. This they were able to do, and in the fall of 1863
the building was so far advanced that the library could be moved into it, and the Society
met there for the first time on November 18 of that year. This was a remarkable
accomplishment, especially when one realizes that a large portion of the Society's
membership (ninety-eight of them) were serving in the armed forces at the time.
The estate of Benjamin D. Greene yielded over 1,500 volumes in 1863. A complete
catalogue of the collection, which was mainly botanical, was printed in the Proceedings.
The following titles may give some idea of the extent and richness of this bequest: Kaspar
Bauhin, Theatri botanici, sive index in Theophrasti Dioscoridis, Plinii et botanicorum qui a
secula scripserunt, Basel, 1671; Thomas Bewick, A History of British Birds, 2 vols.,
Newcastle, 1797; C. L. Bonaparte, American Ornithology, 4 vols., Philadelphia, 1825-33; L.
A. G. Bosc, Histoire naturelle des crustacés, 2 vols., Paris, 1830; William Curtis, Flora
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 13 of 17
londinensis, 2 vols., London, 1777-98, bearing the following manuscript note on the flyleaf:
"This copy was coloured by the author with his own hand expressly for the Marchioness of
Bath"; Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles, 60 vols. of text and 11 of plates, Strassburg
and Paris, 1816-30; Nehemiah Grew, The Anatomy of Plants, London, 1682; J.E
Holbrook, North American Herpetology, 5 vols., Philadelphia, 1842; J. D. Hooker, The
Rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya, London, 1848-51; A. de Humboldt & A. Bonpland,
Nova genera et species plantarum, 7 vols., Paris, 1815-25; C. Linnaeus, Hortus
cliffortianus, Amsterdam, 1737; Charles Plumier, Plantaru americanarum, Amsterdam,
1755; P. J. Redouté, Les Liliacées, 8 vols., Paris, 1802-16; John Sibthorp, Flora graeca, 10
vols., London, 1806-40; and W. Yarrell, History of British Fishes, 2 vols., London, 1836.
Charles K. Dillaway, who had been librarian since 1833, resigned in 1864 and was
succeeded by Samuel H. Scudder. Under the latter's direction the exchange list was greatly
expanded and many back files of serials and periodicals were obtained from other
institutions. In 1865 Scudder reported that 237 pieces had bee added to the library through
exchange; by 1870 the number would rise to 1,709. Exchanges gradually became the most
important source of library accessions.
1865 was a year of hope. With the end of the war, men could turn with renewed energy to
the problems of science and learning. In the library, duplicates were weeded out and sold
or exchanged for books or parts of sets, and much valuable material was thus secured.
This year also saw the receipt of an endowment of $5,000 in memory of Huntington
Frothingham Wolcott, killed in the fighting at the age of nineteen. The gift was made by the
young man's father, who later added $4,000 to it. As it was agreed that a percentage of the
income should be added to the principal each year, the library now had a small but growing
endowment the income from which could be used for binding and for the purchase of
books.
The library hours were increased, the doors now being kept open from 10 to 1 o'clock and
from 2 to 5; and a full-time library assistant was hired. According to the report of the
librarian, the library needed catalogue trays with rods to hold the library catalogue; an
"alcove catalog," or what we would call a shelf list, to make reading the shelves easier;
money for binding; money for making a catalogue of the pamphlets and reprints; money for
completing broken sets, especially of foreign serials; money for weather-stripping the
windows to keep out drafts and dirt. The Society did what it could - gave money for binding
over a thousand volumes, for hiring more help to make the "alcove catalogue", for fill-in in
sets. Still the work piled up. At the time of the annual meeting in the summer of 1870, the
library contained 9,396 bound or complete volumes and 2,677 pamphlets and reprints,
many of them not yet catalogued.
Part 3 - Volume VI Number 1
Two developments in the 1860's foreshadowed a change of emphasis in the work of the
p://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 14 of 17
Boston Society of Natural History. The museum was now opened to the public free of
charge two days a week; and the Society for the first time provided a course of lectures for
the public school teachers of the Boston area. In 1870 a study was made to determine the
best course for the society to follow during the coming years. After much discussion a new
policy was adopted - it was decided to limit the library accessions to the field of natural
history, and to build up in each department of the museum special collections of New
England material. The lectures for teachers, and the special arrangements with the schools
in the area whereby the students could use the museum and the library, also showed the
growing interest in science education. It is true that the custodian, Mr. S. H. Scudder, could
say in 1870:
Our Society has thus a double office to fulfill, and neither part can be
neglected without detriment to both. Let it open to the public a museum fitted
for study and showing, by the nicest devices, the meaning of nature; let it set
forth these truths in lectures, from which practically none shall be debarred;
but at the same time give the more thorough students an opportunity to meet
for mutual discussion, a library in which to consult the investigations of their
fellow students in all parts of the world, and as prompt and satisfactory a
channel for the publication of their own researches as any kindred institution
affords.
And in 1880, President Eliot of Harvard declared:
This Society has two distinct objects - (I) the promotion of Natural History by
stimulating and aiding advanced study and original research, and (2) the
enlightenment of the common people concerning animate and inanimate
nature.
Nevertheless, the time was fast approaching when the Society could not afford to pursue
both goals at once. For many years the emphasis had been upon research; now, especially
since the founding of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, other institutions could take on
that responsibility, and the Society could concentrate on the exhibition and study of the
geology and flora and fauna of New England, with special attention to Massachusetts.
The library continued to grow, mainly through donations and exchanges, and each year the
report of the librarian listed approximately the same needs - space, staff, money for
binding, money for filling in incomplete sets, money to purchase current publications. A
gallery was added to the back room; small amounts of money were given by members and
patrons to help in the binding program. Gifts continued to be received: a nearly complete
set of the Novara expedition from the Austrian government; a large and valuable collection
of books, chiefly botanical, from the Hon. G. B. Emerson, containing many rare volumes.
Included in the latter were Johann Bauhin, Historia plantarum universalis, nova et
absolutissima, 3 vols., Ebroduni, 1650-51; and Duhamel du Monceau, Traité des arbres et
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 15 of 17
arbustes, 7 vols., Paris, 1800-19. By 1800 the library had over 14,000 volumes and 6,000
reprints and pamphlets.
Exchange materials, especially serial publications and periodicals, became more and more
important. The only money regularly available for the purchase of books and for binding
was the income from the trust fund, about $500 a year, "really pitiable, when
we remember that a good library is the sine qua non of scientific progress and study."
Gifts continued to be received - from S. H. Scudder, Prof. J. O. Westwood of England,
Samuel Henshaw, Dr. C. S. Minot, and Professor Hyatt; from the estate of the late Dr.
Samuel Cabot; conchological books from Mr. E. R. Mayo; one hundred and twenty volumes
from the library of the late Robert C. Waterston. By 1900 the library had 25,629 bound
volumes, 1,401 "incomplete" volumes, and 13,311 pamphlets and reprints. The trust fund
had been augmented by a gift of $5,000; some money for binding had been given by
members. The number of exchanges had increased by 435.
By 1920 the library had almost doubled in size, with over 90,000 volumes, including
pamphlets and reprints. Of the additions, over 1,300 items were received as a bequest from
the estate of Alpheus Hyatt; 8,615 came from S. H. Scudder, seventy more from the estate
of Mr. Waterston, thirty-one from Prof. A. S. Packard, over one hundred from the estate of
Miss Cora H. Clarke. William Brewster bequeathed his library, consisting mainly of books
on ornithology. Mr. Kidder gave generously for binding, and for new lighting fixtures and
furniture - including the steel case in which the Audubon volumes were (and still are) kept.
Among the many valuable books presented in the library during this period are the
following:
Nicolò Gualtieri, Index testarum conchyliorum, Florence, 1742. From the
library of Amos Binney, purchased for the library by E. R. Mayo.
Jacob Hübner, Sammlung exotischer Schmetterlinge, Augsburg, 1806-24;
and Beiträge zur Geschichte der Schmetterlinge, Augsburg, 1786-90. Two of
many books by Hübner from the Scudder library.
Howard Jones, Illustrations of the Newsts and Eggs of Birds of Ohio,
Circleville, Ohio, 1886. According to Casey Wood, among the rarest as well
as the most beautiful of bird books. Not more than ninety copies were printed;
the subscription list includes thirty-nine names. From the library of the late
William Brewster.
Carl Ludwig Koch, Deutschlands Crustaceen, Myriapoden und Arachnida,
Regensburg, 1835-44. Gift of Mr. C. S. Fellows.
Pierre Lyonet, Traité anatomique de la chenille, The Hague, 1782. Gift of Mr.
Scudder.
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 16 of 17
F. H. W. Martini and J. H. Chemnitz, Neues systematisches Conchylien-
Cabinet, 12 vols., Nuremberg, 1769-1829. Purchased for the library of E. R.
Mayo from the Amos Binney library.
Eadweard Muybridge, Animal Locomotion, Philadelphia, 1887. Nearly 700 of
the plates from this work, presented by Prof. W. P. Wilson of Philadelphia.
Felipe Poey y Aloy, Centurie de lépidoptères de l'lle de Cuba, Paris, 1832.
Gift of Mr. Scudder.
Lovell Augustus Reeve, Conchologia systematica, 2 vols., London, 1841-42.
Presented by E. R. Mayo.
Philip Lutley Sclater, Argentine Ornithology, 2 vols., London, 1888-89.
Between 1920 and 1930, when the Society celebrated its centennial, the library holdings
increased to 52,110 volumes and 47,149 reprints and pamphlets. There were 650
exchanges - 200 domestic and 450 foreign. The amount of money available for books and
binding was very small, but exchanges and gifts kept the quality of the library's holdings
high. It was becoming more and more difficult, however, to keep pace with the bare
necessities in binding and in purchasing needed books and journals. Also, the question of
space was again becoming acute for the library, as it was for the museum. The library had
not only grown in size; it had been opened to the general public. And by 1930 the staff and
the library resources in the more current and popular works were both obviously
inadequate to meet the demand.
The centennial volume sounded a note of urgency:
our immediate task is to escape from the congestion caused through lack
of accommodation for our collections and for the students who seek
information from them Our Society has inherited an important function of
leadership in the educational field
Members immediately set about making plans for the new building which they so
desperately needed. In 1931 the Council announced that they required a minimum of
$1,750,000 and so far had raised a little under $72,000. And still the expenses mounted. In
1935 the Society showed an operating deficit of over $20,000.
All the time the museum was becoming increasingly important and the planning of the
Council concentrated more and more on the collections, the popular education of the public
in science, and work with the schools. In 1936 we find for the first time on the masthead of
the Bulletin: "The New England Museum of Natural History, Operated by the Boston
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
Boston Society of Natural History Library
Page 17 of 17
Society of Natural History."
A few years more and the die was cast. The Society would divorce itself from its more
erudite functions, discontinue its scholarly publications, and sell the research portion of its
library. The main activity of the Society now centered in the New England Museum of
Natural History, later to be called the Boston Museum of Science. In 1951 the Museum
moved into its new building on the Charles River; and there, to the natural history exhibits
were to be added others in the fields of physical science, industry, public health,
anthropology, and ethnology.
Meanwhile, the library had continued to grow, largely through its exchanges (which now
numbered about 750); but also through gifts and purchases, which account for such
unusual titles as Fabio Colonna, Opusculum der Purpura, Kiliae, 1675; C. W. J. Gatterer,
Breviarum zoologiae, Pars I, mammalia, Göttingen, 1780; Nehemiah Grew, Musaeum
regalis societats, London, 1681; Friedrich Martens, Viaggio di Spizerga o Gronlanda,
Bologna, 1680; J. D. Schoepf, Historia testudinum, Erlangen, 1792; and Godofredus
Sellius, Historia naturalis Teredinis, Utrecht, 1733. By 1944 holdings amounted to about
80,000 volumes and 100,000 reprints and pamphlets. There were almost incredible riches
in old and rare books and in long runs of natural history periodicals and the publications of
scientific societies. Well might the librarian of the Boston Society say in one of her reports
that the library contained so many treasures that even the staff did not begin to know them
all. Through the devotion of the members and their appreciation of the importance of a
good library, through long years of patient work by the librarians in initiating and carrying
through exchanges with other institutions, there was built up a library which, now
transplanted to the west coast of the United States (specifically, to the Hancock Library of
Biology and Oceanography, USC), still brings exclamations of joy and astonishment; and
which is known and valued, not only here, but wherever biological and geological research
is carried on.
back to top
Last updated: December 9. 2004 I Send comments & questions to slac@usc.edu. © 2001 University of Southern California
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/libraries/hancock/halmos/dhart.htm
12/22/2004
OF
NATURAL
/
30
80105
BULLETIN
OF THE
BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY.
NUMBER 1.
APRIL, 1915.
9/22/15
GROUP OF COMMON TERNS SHOWING NESTING HABITS.
Days
18.
p
BOSTON:
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY.
Digitized by Google
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
American Society of Mammalogists
Notes on the Mammals of Mount Desert Island, Maine
Author(s): Richard H. Manville
Source: Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Nov., 1942), pp. 391-398
Published by: American Society of Mammalogists
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1375049
Accessed: 22-05-2017 14:49 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1375049?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available
at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
American Society of Mammalogists is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Journal of Mammalogy
STOR
This content downloaded from 137.49.1.13 on Mon, 22 May 2017 14:49:37 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
MANVILLE-MAMMALS OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
391
LITERATURE CITED
ERRINGTON, PAUL L. 1937. Summer food habits of the badger in northwestern Iowa.
Jour. Mamm., vol. 18, pp. 213-216.
HOWELL, ARTHUR H. 1938. Revision of the North American ground squirrels. U.S
Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv., N. Amer. Fauna, no. 56, pp. 1-256.
SCOTT, THOS. G. 1937. Mammals of Iowa. Iowa State College Jour. Sci., vol. 12, pp.
43-97.
Iowa Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Ames, Iowa.
NOTES ON THE MAMMALS OF MOUNT DESERT
ISLAND, MAINE
By RICHARD H. MANVILLE
Mount Desert Island, Hancock County, Maine, is situated in the Gulf of
Maine about 20 miles northeast of Penobscot Bay. It is nearly circular in
outline, with an area of approximately 100 square miles. The channel separating
it from the mainland is SO narrow as hardly to constitute a barrier to mammal
dispersal, especially as it frequently freezes over. A range of granitic mountains,
the highest (Cadillac Mountain) rising to 1,532 feet, extends across the southern
part of the island. Most of this mountainous part, with its many lakes, is
included in Acadia National Park, and as such is a sanctuary for wildlife. The
entire island has been subjected to glaciation and many barren, rocky summits
persist; the soil, for the most part, is a brown, stony, glacial till. The rockbound
coastline presents everywhere a rugged appearance. Climatic conditions at
Bar Harbor, as compiled by Mindling (1930), are indicated by the following
figures: mean annual precipitation, 47.89 in.; average annual snowfall, 74.9 in.;
mean annual temperature, 44.2°F.; average maximum temperature, summer,
74°, winter, 32.5°; average minimum temperature, summer, 52.6°, winter, 15°;
highest temperature on record, 96°; lowest temperature on record, - 21°; length
of growing season, 149 days. Proximity to the Labrador Current, plentiful
rainfall and frequent fogs, and a variety of environmental conditions make for
a peculiar combination of northern and southern kinds of plants and animals.
Moore (1921) mentions the island's former connection with the mainland, and the
northward migration of many forms of life after the recession of the glaciers,
as possible causes of the unusual flora and fauna.
The forests are essentially northern in character, belonging to the spruce-fir
and northern hardwood types. Spruces are dominant, the red spruce in the
hinterland and the white spruce along the waterfront. Mingled with these,
or in small pure stands, are balsam fir, white cedar, white and red pines, hemlock,
and such hardwoods as white, grey, and yellow birchs, red and sugar maples,
aspen, red oak, and beech. Pitch pine occurs in isolated pure stands, associated
with huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), bearberry (Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi),
and in some places Corema Conradii and Hudsonia ericoides. There are bogs
with black spruce, Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum), and leatherleaf (Chamae-
This content downloaded from 137.49.1.13 on Mon, 22 May 2017 14:49:37 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
A MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IS NEEDED IN
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
Nature-guide work began in Acadia National Park in June, 1932,
with the temporary 3-month's appointment of a ranger-naturalist.
That summer his headquarters were in the rear room of the Acadia
National Park Information Office. Since the ranger-naturalist was
too busy with a new and intensive summer program of guided field trips
and lectures there was no time for collecting natural history speci-
mens, but even so the room designated as his headquarters was
inadequate. Secretarial work, writing and mimeographing the "Nature
Notes" publication and programs, painting of posters and announce-
ments, frequently receiving visitors to the National Park, - for all
these and for other duties the place allotted was not a satisfactory
one. The ranger-naturalist was recalled on May 1, 1933.
The nature-guide work was placed on a permanent basis in Acadia
National Park with the establishment of the new Junior Park Naturalist
position in the summer of 1933. Aside from planning for and conduct-
ing the intensive summer program the naturalist had time to make
collections of the local flora, fauna, and geology and to interview
prospective donors of desirable natural history specimens. The
material accumulated, equipment to take care of it was added, and the
need for a more satisfactory location to serve as an office, storage
room, and work shop became acute.
Late in November, 1933, through the influence exerted and the
interest manifested by Supt. George B. Dorr, the park naturalist's
2
headquarters were moved to a larger room in the basement of the Jesup
Memorial Library in Bar Harbor. Although less conveniently located,
the room was far more comfortable. Nevertheless at the time of moving
into the new quarters only about one-half the equipment and specimens
could be housed in the new room.
Since that time the number of specimens, books, periodicals, items
of office furniture, and amount of equipment has increased to such an
extent that space in four or five buildings is utilized for its housing.
Two of the buildings in which material has been stored are not under
the control of Acadia National Park while only one is fireproof. All
these buildings are inadequate from various standpoints - location,
temperatures, humidity, light, and others. The storage of very valuable
specimens in such places would be quite out of the question.
Some of the larger specimens now on hand include:
14 large mounted birds
5 mounted mammals
1 very large mounted fish
100 skulls of various mammals
300 jars of preserved mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes,
and marine invertebrates
26 sets of antlers (deer and moose)
2 large mounted lobsters
Boxes of geological, entomological, archeological,
botanical, and other specimens
Some of the larger items of equipment include:
4 relief models of Acadia National Park - each measuring
ft. X 7 ft.
10 glass-faced exhibit stands
2 large specimen cabinets
1 desk
1 filing case
1 book case
3
1100 metal nature-trail signs
3 large flower-exhibit stands
1 large exhibit table
1 typewriter and table
1 mimeograph machine and table
130 flower pots and saucers
2 large framed Audubon prints - loaned by Mr. Dorr
500 books loaned by Mr. Dorr and Mr. Stupka
Boxes containing museum bottles, traps, office supplies,
bulletins, and miscellaneous equipment.
Many items of equipment have been requested while museum specimens
are constantly being added.
Very valuable and extensive collections of natural history objects
which have local significance might be acquired if the persons possessing
them were to be assured that their donation would be given proper
housing and proper care. Unlike some eastern states, Maine has not
been exploited by institutions and individuals who seek collected and
preserved natural history material for their own collections. Con-
sequently much of great worth might be secured by a museum located in
this National Park.
A museum located here would be visited by many thousands of
tourists each year. It would serve to instruct and orient the public
who, after visiting it would go away with a far greater understanding
of this seacoast National Park. The questions which are asked by the
visiting multitudes time and again would be answered in a museum.
Only a fraction of this multitude can ever be reached by the nature-
guide staff.
A museum would serve to invite and to provide room and equipment
for biologists and geologists whose research would benefit the park
4
immeasurably. At present the park can derive no such benefit from
capable and willing outside sources.
A museum would centralize the various nature-guide services. Under
the same roof where specimens would be on exhibit there would be the
offices of the park naturalist and his staff, the laboratory, storage
rooms, library, lecture hall, photographic dark room, etc. Here also
various out-door exhibits such as tide pool display, wildflower exhibits,
nature trail, etc. might be concentrated.
Provided these people can find our present so-called museum, the
visitors who have been to the museums in our western National Parks
cannot help but be disappointed with the present museum situation in
Acadia National Park. Whereas a national park museum should be so
situated, constructed, equipped, and the exhibits so arranged as to
impart the very essence of the wonderful area which it represents, the
present nature-guide headquarters is entirely inadequate.
Respectfully submitted,
Arthur Stupka
Park Naturalist
January 16, 1935
I
Notes by the Wild Gardens of Acadia on plants, native or
hardy in this climate, that can be used in permanent planting
to add to the beauty of the home or landscape in this region.
Econitum
Echinacea purpurea
Oenothera
Acorus Calamus
Echinops
Paeony
Alyssum saxalile
Epilobium
Pentstemon
Althea Rosea
Eryngium
Phloxes
Anemone
Ferns
Platycodon
Anthericun
Fritillaria
Polygonatum
Aquilegias
Funkias
Papaver orientale
Armeria
Gentians
Ranunculus
Artemisa
Helianthus
Rock Gardens
Aster
Helenium
Rudbeckia
Baptisia
Hesperis
Saxifraga
Caltha Palustris
Heuchera
Scilla
Campanulas
Hibiscus
Sedum
Conualaria
Hebernaria fimbarata
Crocus
Irises
Streptopus amplexifo-
lius
Cypripedium
Lathyrus
Spring Bulbs
Chrysanthemum
Lily
Solidago
Hemorocallis
Taraxacum
Clintonia Borealis
Lobelia
Thalictnum
Thyme
Delphinium
Lupins
Tradescantia
Trillium
Dianthus
Lychnis
Trollius
Tulip
Dicentras
Lythrum
Typha
Viola
Dictamnus
Myosotis
Verbascum
Yucca
Digitalis
Narcissus
Nymphaea odorata