1926

<!-- Page 1 -->,Volume V November 3o, igz6 Number ii

A WILD-LIFE CREED.

A conservationist 's creed as to wild life 'administration is given by Dr. Joseph Grinnell, professor of zoology and director of the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, in a recent issue of "Science." In brief, the creed follows: 1. I believe that the fullest use should be made of our country's wild life resources from the standpoint of human benefit—for beauty, education, scientific study, fur, etc. All these possible uses should be considered in the administration of wild life, not any of them exclusively of the others. 2. I•believe that that portion if our wild animal life known as "game" belongs no more t the sportsman than to other classes of people who do not pursue it with shotgun and rifle. More and more the noteb ok, the field-glass and the camera are being employed in theipursuit of game as well as other animals. 3. I believe it is unwise to attempt the absolute extermination of any native vertebrate sPe ies whatsoever. At the same time it is perfectly proper to redu~e or destroy any species in a given neighborhood where sound investigation shows it to be positively hurtful to the majority of interests. 4. I believe it is wrong to permit the general public to shoot crows or any other presumably injurious animals during the breeding season of our desirable s ecies. 5. I believe in the collecting of specimens of birds and vertebrates generally for educational and scientific purposes. A bird killed, but preserved as a study-specimen, is of service far longer than the bird that is shot juit for sport or for food. 6. 1 believe that it is wrong and even dangerous to introduce (that is, turn loose in the wild) alien species of either game or non-game birds and mainmals.l There is sound reason for believing that such introduction, if "successful," jeopardizes the continued existence of the native species in our fauna, with which competition is bound to occur. -. 7. I believe that the very best known way to "conserve" animal life, in the interests of sportsman, scientist and naturelover alike, is to preserve conditions] as nearly as possible favorable to our own native species. This can be done by the establishment and maintenance of numarous wild-life refuges. 8. In the interests of game and wild life conservation generally, I believe in the wisdom of doing away with grazing by domestic stock, more especially sheep, Ion the greater part of our national forest territory. 9. I believe that the administration} of our game and wild life resources should be kept as far as possible out of politics. The resources in question should be handled as a national asset, administered with the advice a4 scientifically trained experts.

Volume V November 3o, 1926 Number ll

THE FIR TREES OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

By D. D. McLean Three kinds of so-called fir trees are present in Yosemite National Park. Two, the red and white, are true firs, while the third, the Douglas, is not. The red fir (Abies Magnifica) is found most commonly between the 6000 and 9000-foot contours in this region. It is the tree that makes.up the bulk of the forest in the moister parts of the Canadian life zone. There it forms deep dark forests where little sunlight ever reaches the.ground through its dense foliage. Northern and eastern slopes are Its 'favorite spots, where there is plenty of moisture. Thousands of acres of just such forests are found in suitable locations throughout the park. The bluish-silver-tipped branches catch the eye readily as one enters its domain. It can be distinguished from the white and Douglas firs in the following ways: The needles on leaving the branch turn immediately upward, giving the appearance of standing on end. The cones also stand on end as do those of white fir. The adult trees average from 125 to 175 feet in height, with individuals towering up to over 200 feet. The diameter is from three to five feet on the average, with some as,' great as seven to nine feet. The lumber obtained from tn's ?tree is if no great value as the ful in their term, being excelled tree is very "wet :" hence when riry, i•nly by the Alpine Hem :ocle in.the boards warp badly. be_iuty, Tire White Fir In size the tree attains an averThe White Fir (Abies Coneolor) age height of 140 to 1t-0 feet vita is found between 4000 and 7000 feet some exceed ing 260. The diameter in the Yosemite region with ex_epis from :Pie to 5 feet, with some 'iiers of course, to the rule. It is bet'w'een 0 and F. never found in such dense forests The (umber is similar to the Red as the lied Fir in this region. It Fir being heavily moisture laden Silo can withstand a pryer and Jess which causes the lumber to warp productive soil. It is a bright upon drying. green tree and of a most graceful The Douglas Fir 'folio due to the regelarity of the The Douglas Fir (Fseudotsuga whirls of limbs or. the tree and the Taxifolia) is found most commonly symmetrical palmlike flatness of Isetween 3500 and 0(00 fee : in tins its foliage, the ni coless lying opregion, and next to the Sequoia is nosite e:ich other on the branchlets. tine of our meet massive trees. It 'young trees are especially graceis about on a par with the Sugar 8i

69-,'!' NATIOT,i Pine in size. It prefers damp, rich tt•orr. 2 t/2 to 6 feet ae an average cu!1 and reaches its maximum to to 10 nr 1'; feet in individuals. the slate of Oregon. It is the oreThe lumber Is geed, brings a fear gon Pine of commerce, but really is prich and often shows beautiful not a pine at all. The name L'seugroin. It is;hipped all over tee dotsnga means "Lealsa Hemlock." world from Oregon and WashThe cones are hanging in this int'ton. species and are only 1/ to 25 The fir forests are cue of the latches in length. Above each scale real be.luties of vJcemite National on the cone is a bract with three _park, and we • a.a be happy to sharp prints, the middle spine b eknowing Ihat for all time they tv t ll ing the longest of the three. t under the protection of our NaThe needles protrude at all angles tional park service. Certainty from the branchlets sc a line drawn s

around the points of the needles tree of Fi ltt le money value s :shi would form a near circle, the Tied Fir i3 •n eth in v e he' l l In size it is a monster averaging i n its beauty whether to the dee p 1 0 to 271) feet in height with trany forest or the s.lver tipped indii 225 feet high. In diameter it varies v dual slanding alone in a glade

THE CONES OF THE RED FIR

By Myrtle E_ Ol4Pn Not only is the red fir itseif magdrops of golden, honey-like fluid nifleent, as its name Abies Magiglisten oft the stalk !Ike tiny Jewels. nifica denotes, but its cones are Radiating from the shaft are small, beautiful, colorful objects worthy shiny green leaf-like bracts. each of our consideration and study. of which' is attached by means of a These cones, the fruit of the tree, white stalk about one-fourth of an are light green and velvety, coyinch long. Between these in the ered with a silvery pubescence and region of the shaft one sees the tinged with brown. The form of pomegranite red of the wings. Beeach scale edge is an oblique paraltween the green leaf-like bracts are lelogram. the soft whlfe velvety surfaces of Plucking the cone scales gives the cone scales. The white is not, one a harmony of colors little exhowever, the, monotonous uniform pected by the uninitiated. Attached ity of velvet, but, the round borders

to the dorsal surface of each fanare tinged with green, and the late shaped scale are two seeds about era] edges are shaded with red and one-half inch in length; the wings purple, the latter colors being due are of a beautiful pomegranate red to the wings of the seeds which are shading into olacx at the unatattached 'dorsally. tached end and showing a delicate Neither verbal descriptions nor banding of white at the lateral borthe brush of an artist can portray ders. the beauty of these cones; a perSince the scales are spirally arsonal observation of these creations ranged, the scars on the shaft areof nature is necessary In order to similarly arranged. In each of appreciate fully the colors and these areas are three small holes charm of architecture. into which roan ppura thee(' =AU

THE. PINE TREES OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

By D. D. McLean The great genus Pima: comprises long and are green in color and many different speciee of varying Pleasing to the eye. character and geographical distriThe tree is generally between button. d000 and 7000 elevation. The genus belongs to the family Finest of lumber is secured from Coniferae, which includes also trunk giving many magnificent many feet' r e e e e t, of the long so-called spruces IPicae), larches or true cleer lumber (free from knots). The tamaracks ()Aria), hemlocks (Tsulumber is a creamy white and not, ga), false hemlocks (Pseudotsug'a), very pitchy. Well-seasoned boards firs or "balsam trees " (Abies), have a sweet delightful odor. "bald" cypress ITaxodium), arborThe Mountain White Pine vitae or "cedars" (Thuia), true cyThe silver or mountain white presses (Cupressus and ChamaecYpine (Pinus !41onticola) is another paris), redwood and big tree (Segraceful tree and a first cousin to 'quota), and junipers or "cedars" the sugar pine. It is from fifty to (Juniperus). 120 feet in height, and has a diameThis family of coniferae belongs ter of from two to four feet. to the great group of GymnosperThe bole of this tree does not mae, as does the family Taxacae, compare with the sugar pine, but.the yew-like trees, the reddish or whilieh color of its The g:erus Minus is made up of rough or very smooth small plated.trees with needle-like leaves in bark adds much to its beauty. clusters sheathed at the base by The cones hang from the tips of paper-like scales and have cones the branches in clusters on long which mature each autumn. These stalks. They are slender and cones are made up of a central pointed and from six to eight inches item, to which are attached woody in length The foliage is bluescales, bearing under each a pair green, and the limbs are at right,i,1' winged seeds with a, more or angles to the trunk. Jess hard shell. The tree is generally found from The wood of the tree is resinous 7000 feet to near timber-line with i;s.nd quite pungent. The resinous stragglers dropping to 0000 feet ocsap, when exuc'ed, hardens in time. casionally, tin one form, the Sugar Pine (Pinus The lumber is a yellowish white lamhertiana), it hardens to a gran and nearly everlasting, presumably ular sugar of sickening sweetness 'with laxative properties. due to the slowness of growth The bark in most forms is rough which causes compactness in strum- -end deeply furrowed between large tu re;flattened plates, especially in the The White Bark Pine Yellow Pine group. The white-bark pine (Pious al- ' he Sugar Pine. Largest hicaulis) is the tenacious little pine Pine in the World that hangs on near timber-line. It The sugar Pine (Pinus lamberis also one of the white pine group. Liana), a member of the White Pine A small tree generally dwarfed group, is our largest and most maand broader than tall, it has manjestic pine, probably. the largest of aged to find a foothold in this nartall the forest pines n the world. It row sub-Alpine belt. The bark is;= ttains a height of from 160 to 180 thin and whitish in color and only -feet and a diameter of from four to slightly grooved. The needles are )eight feet. Many individuals run in thick tufts at :he tips of the afar over this average, however. branches, the remainder being The bole is long and straight naked. They are in groups of five ith but very little taper until the from one to two and a half inches irst great limbs are reached, usuin length. slly thirty to forty feet above the The cones are ovoid in shape and.ase of the tree. These limbs are a beautiful dark shade of purple; xceptionaIly large and are placed they become a brownish yellow at t right angles to the trunk. dropmaturity and are from one and a ping a little at the outer extremities. The adult trees have a flathalf *o three inches long. tened crown in many cases. As the tree is seldom erect and From the outermost tips of the is found at such high altitudes, it branches hang long stemmed cylinis almost never used for anything ',drical cones from twelve to eightexcept the occasional camper's fire een - inches in length. wood. It is generally a mass of The reddish brown bark is from jumbled and twisted limbs. two to four inches and roughly The Western Yellow Pine ridged with small plates. The needles, which appear in groups of The Western yellow pine (Pilaus 'live, are from two to four inches ponderosa) is another forest men-

THE PINE TREES OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

ter and makes up the largest part with its location. of the great Transition Life zone The bark is thin and very scaly, fore it. not furrowed, and of a light gray. It is from sixty to 220 feet high The needles are to twos and from with a massive trunk and a long cne to three and a quarter inches crown generally run ping up to a in length. The cones. are nearly sharp point even in adult trees. spherical. Some are slghtly wider The diameter varies from three than long, others are a little longer to nine feet, and the trunk is covwith than wide. The scales tipped ered with bark varying from three a small hooked spine. The tree is slender and graceto four inches in thickness. It is telly symmetrical with a pointed of yellowish color and in great crown and many branches, some plates with furrows between in of which nearly reach the ground. adults. The young trees are a The tree has an open appearance grayish red with small scaly plates and it is but lightly foliaged. It and very rough, is often miscalled "Tamarack, " that The needles are in threes (yellow tree being one of the deciduous pine group) and from five to ten larches not found here. inches long. Their color is a rich The lumber is tough and fine shade of dark green. grained but one seldom sees it. The cones are from three to five It is creamy white in color. and a half inches in length, and are The Piston Pine located on the tips of the branches, The one-leaf pine or pinon sometimes singly, but more often (Pinus monophylla) is found only in clusters. Each scale of the cone in the Piute gorge above the Tuol bears a sharp hook-like point at vrnne river, and in a branch of

its thickened terminus. Rancheria creek a short way northAs this tree is the most abundant west of that point. forest tree at the middle altitudes It is a small squatty tree with and the lumber is of fine grade, it a hammered down appearance. The is cut in great quantities for cornbark is thick and very rough and mercial purposes. The lumber is a of a dirty gray or brown color. lrilliant yellowish and highly tiesThe needles, which are from one Inoue (pitchy) and has very good to two and half tnohes long, are tasting qualities. one in a sheath, and often twisted, and a pale yellowish or gray green he Jeffery Pine in color. The Jeffery pine (Pinus pondeThe cones when open are a rose jeffreyl) is a variety of yeltwisted mass of scales each bearing a prickle that is apparently low pine found at higher altitudes. shed before the ripening and openIt +s found from 6000 to 9000 feet Lag of the cone. in the Yosemite region. This tree, which is found cornThe tree is generally more stocky rnonty in the eastern and southern and of hardier appearance than the Sierra, is of course not used for yellow pine. It averages from lumber but the nuts are the com e twenty to 150 feet in height, varymonest pine nut of the stores. Ing with the altitude. The Digger Pine The diameter of the trunk is The digger or gray pine (Pinus from two to six or seven feet. sabiniana) is found only near El The bark is rough even in old portal, and near Wawona, and trees with small plates and deep jagged grooves. The foliage is Poopenaut valley below Hetch very dense and of a bluish green Hetchy, where a few scattering color. Needles are in threes and irdividuals have crept across the from six to eleven inches long. park boundary. The cones are the main point of The tree reaches a height of difference between it and the yelseventy-five feet in some individlow pine, averaging nearly three uals and is a broad, heavily times as great in weight and bebranched round crowned tree, with ing from five to ten inches in often several trunks coming from length. the ground. When used for lumber it is sold It is gray barked and very rough as yellow pine, and is indistinin appearance. The needles are guishable from that species, three in a sheath and from five The Lodgepole Pines to twelve inches in length. They are of a pale gray green in color The Lodgepole or Murray pine looking almost as though they had (Pinus murrayana) is the light been sprinkled with white powder. harked tree found in the moist The cones are very heavy, and parts of the Canadian and 73udeach scale has r+ large, heavy hook sonian life zones of the Sierra in at its terminus. They are from this section. It is a hardy tree six to eleven inches In length and of slow growth and '.cant foliage. from four and a half to eight It is a tree of from fifty to 100 inches through when open. feet in height at lower altitudes. The tree is not used commer but often prostrate or dwarfed near dally as lumber, but the cones are

timber line. It varies from a mere often burned, and the large nuts bush to three feet in diameter,svldin stores.

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YOSEMITE NATURE NOTE! THE OAKS OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

By D. D. McLean The genus Quercus or oaks, is one of the live oaks. a member of the family Fagaceae, The leaves are ovate or oblong the oaks and chestnuts. The chestovate. Some are smooth; others nuts (Castanets) are represented in are toothed. They are from one the Yosemite region by the Chinto three inches long, green above quapin. and golden or grayish below, with Here we will deal only with the a fine fuzz. The acorns are ovate, genus Quercus. Four species of globose or cylindrical in form, that genus are found commonly in sometimes being blunt, sometimes the park. acutely pointed. They are from The golden-cup oak (Quercus one to one and a half inches long chrysolepsis) is the beautiful tree and set in cupa covered with a we find on our talus slopes in soft golden fuzz. the valley and is found from the The Huckleberry Oak foothills up through the yellow The huckleberry oak (Quercus pine belt (Transition Life Zone). v,cecinifolia) is a shrubby lowIt is from twenty to sixty feet growing form that grows in great high, with a round or spreading meadow, patches near the rim of crown. As it is evergreen, it is the valley. It is also a live oak.

THE COMMONER OAKS OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

The bark is light colored as In the The acorns are globose ovate and golden-cup. from one-quarter to one-half inch The leaves are oval or oblong long and set in light thin cups and blunt pointed, or ovate and about a quarter of an inch deep. sharp pointed. They are seldom There is no golden fuze on the toothed and are from 9ne-halfl to_. cups... one and a half iftchea and Thee Interior Live `Oak one-quarter to one-half inches The interior live oak (Quercus wide. There is no golden wash wislizenii) is found, in the Merced heloiv, but they are generally gray river canyon up to 3100 feet near on the under surface. Cascades. It is a small rounded

tree with dralc gray or black bark, It is a massive tree from thirty which is smooth in young trees to eighty feet high and two to six and becomes rough and furrowed feet in diameter, It is gracefully in large specimens. rounded In form. The leaves are The leaves are ovate and all dropped during the tall and early toothed. They range from one to winter; hence it Is not a live oak. two and a half inches long and are The leaves are broad and thin, bea bright glossy green above and ing deeply notched with the lobes yellowish green below. The acorns pointed in from one to several are cylindrical or conical In form slender teeth. The leaves vary and are from one to one and threefrom three to eight or nine inches quarters inches long, resting in in length and from two to six acaley reddish brown cups. inches in width. Their color is The Caln'ornfn Black Oak bright green above and a powdery The California black oak (Auergrayish green beneath. The acorns f cus kelloggfi) 1s our most imare oblong and generally blue t pressive and largest oak. It is pointed, from one to one and a half found on the valley floor commonly inches long. They are set in a and practically throughout the yeldeep heavy scaly cup from one-half low pine belt. to more than an Inch deep.

SUGAR PINE RED FIR

YOQiIIMITE NATURE NOTES

SNAKE LAYS EGGS IN CAPTIVITY

By W. S. Bell On the morring of July 13, 1926, after the last egg was laid, the when I returned to the museum snake was rather sluggish •in,i i nfrom a field trip, t aiscuvered chat active. She soon craw-ed Into the the Western yellow-bellied race:, water pan and lay et Lied with more. commonly called the "blue of her body. except her head suesneer," Celnber c, 1'strictor flavimerged. About Litt e arn 1711euies ventris, that was on d•sp]ay in the later, I ltok her cut of the water terrarium, had just finished laying pan and attempted to take her pieeight eggs. The eggs must all have tore. 1 found that iWe was new been laid between 7 and 3 o'cleek very active and when cornet :. :: ae I had visiect the lerrariuin bewould strike viciously, fore starting on the field trip at 7 As I cr,uh.tn't find any informao clock. ticn about the egg-laying habits t t' The egg membrane of the last this snake, I placed two eggs in egg to be laid was still very moist rotting vegetable metier, two in and at one end was thickey and less barnyard manure, two in dry said transparent. It. was thought this and two in moist sand. Unfortothickened end as probably first nately the eggs were evidently infor fear I would break it. 'I'ct te] tile,.for in a few days a]] of the membrane soon dried and became eggs b'gan to shrivel and have a leathery and firm to the touch. crushed in appearance. The snake This membrane wis a milky wil ite had been in the terrarium twe and at tone end was probably first weeks previous to the laying of the extruded by the snake In the layeggs, so the chance that the eggs ing of the egg. The eggs felt rough were fertile was small. fly.7u ly 22 to the touch because they were the eggs were all so shlveled that covered with many :mall g ranules. there was practically nothing left When I first discovered the eggs of them but the egg membrane. which must thave been very such

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SFHE YOSEMITE NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION ITS PURPOSES

r. To gather and disseminate information on the wild-life of the Sierras. 2. To develop and enlarge the Yosemite Museum (in cooperation with the National Park Service) and to establish• subsidiary units, such as the Glacier Point lookout and branches of similar nature. 3. To promote the educational work of the Yosemite Nature Guide Service. 4. To publish (in cooperation with the U. S. National Park Service) "Yosemite Nature Notes". g. To study living conditions, past and present, of the Indians of the Yosemite region. ' b. To maintain in Yosemite Valley a library of historical, scientific, and popular interest. 7. To further scientific investigation along Iines of greaten popular interest and to publish, from time to time, bulletins of non-technical nature. 8. To s`tric`tly limit the activities of the association to purposes which shall be scientific and educational, in order that this organization shall not be operated for profit.

FROM THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON OUT-DOOM RECREATION

Called by PRESIDENT COOLIDGE

"THAT THE CONFERENCE ENDORSE NATURE STUDY IN 6CHOOLS AND THE EXTENSION OF THE NATURE STUDY IDEA TO EVERY AMERICAN SCHOOL AND FAMILY; THAT THE ESTABLISH, MENT OF MUSEUMS OF NATURAL HISTORY IN NATIONAL PARE*

WILL INCREASE THE EDUCATIONAL RECREATIONAL VALUE Ol e THI rwxxs".—Resolution of the Conference.