In  the  extreme  southern  part  of  the  Northern  Peninsula,  about  Me-
nominee', there  was  little  Sphagnum  seen,  even  in  the  mature  types  of
bogs,  but  farther  north  it  was  very  generally  present  as  a  member  of
the  shrub  societies;  and  where  the  shrubs  were  puslfing  out  over  the
water,  the  moss  was  among  the  first  plants  to  follow  along  after  them,
but  it  was  very  rarely  seen  growing  in  the  water  among  the  branches
of  the  sljrubs,  and  never  beyond  them;  usually  it  was  found  appearing
first  at  a  distance  of  from  a  yard  to  a  rod,  or  more,  back  from  the
water's  edge,  on  the  turf  formed  by  other  plants.  Sphagnum  in  this
region  is  entirely  a  superficial  plant,  appearing  rather  late  in  the  his-
tory of  the  development  of  the  bogs,  and  rarely  adds  3  feet  of  material
tb  the  surface.  In  many  cases,  the  entire  deposit  of  moss  remains,  to-
gether with  the  living  plants,  was  less  than  a  foot  deep,  in  what  seemed
to  be  very  old  bogs,  especially  in  the  north,  so  that  it  is  evident  that
the  importance  of  the  Sphagnum  type  of  moss  as  peat  formers  in  the
region  visited  was  relatively  small.     As  in  the  case  of  other  types  of


276  MICHIGAN    SURVEY,    1906.
