Parts Of Utah Research Articles

Sanctuaries of the Bird Islands of Great Salt Lake

GREAT SALT LAKE in the north-central part of Utah is the second largest body of water within the confines of the United States, being eclipsed only by Lake Michigan. It has the highest saline content of any other similar lake. At average level the specific gravity of the water is about 1.13 but this year, since the level has dropped below the lowest recorded mark, the specific gravity has a corresponding increase and now is about 1.2. It is essentially a saturated salt solution and the large square crystals of sodium chloride are being deposited on the sand of the bottom, on the hulls of the boats and on any foreign substance placed in the water. Ecologically the waters of the lake constitute a physiological desert. No large animals and only a few small forms have been able to adapt themselves to the unusual environment and so far as known no parasites have been able to follow them into the brine. The flora is restricted to one of the blue-green algae (Aphanothece utahensis) a few unicellular green algae and a few diatomes. The former occurs in considerable amount and is the principle source of food supply. The most notable organism is the brine shrimp (Artemia gracilis) which passes its entire development to sexual maturity in the briny waters propagating parthenogenetically as well as by fertilized eggs. Two brine flies (Ephydra hians and Ephydra gracilis), have strictly aquatic eggs, larvae and pupae, the larvae having the breathing tube transformed into tracheal gills so that they need not come to the surface to breathe. The masses of floating pupae may be seen as brownish streaks in the water and when they collect along the shores great windrows, often many inches thick, are formed. They are used as food by birds, such as the migrating flocks of Northern Phalarope, the Eared Grebe, California Gull, certain Ducks and others. These extensive collections of fly pupae along the shores are mentioned in the writings of the early explorers and the Indians formerly collected them for food. The gnats, of course, are liberated on the surface of the water and collect in large swarms along the shore and for some distance inward and furnish food for some birds and the common spiders of the region. The larger islands are arranged in two longitudinal groups. Fremont and Antelope Islands form an extension southward from the Promontory Ridge

Pliocene volcanoes of the Navajo-Hopi country

INTRODUCTION Scores of volcanic necks, dikes, and lava-capped mesas rise from the high plateau of northeast Arizona and the adjacent parts of Utah and New Mexico. These are the remnants of a volcanic field that formerly covered many thousands of square miles. Erosion has so far dissected this field that the original cones have disappeared, the sheets of lava have been dismembered, and the old volcanic conduits now rise as giant towers, revealing their inner structure with singular clarity. The objects of this paper are to discuss the features of these denuded volcanoes, the character of their ejecta, and the age of their eruptions. To petrologists, the region is one of unusual interest, because of the similarity of its igneous rocks to certain of those in the classic regions of alkaline rocks in Montana and Wyoming. So extensive is the Navajo-Hopi volcanic province, that the present survey is to be . . .

SOME UTAH LEAFHOPPERS.

During the past few years it has been possible to collect leafhoppers in many parts of Utah. Because of the abundance of many of the species and the fact that so many feed upon range forage plants, it seems to the writer that the injury due to range leafhoppers in the Rocky Mountain West has been greatly underestimated.

Coleoptera of Zion National Park1 No. II.

Since the appearance of my first paper on the beetles of Zion National Park (1928), considerable more collecting has resulted in the following additions to our knowledge of the beetle fauna of this part of Utah. A total of 333 species from 45 families have now been recorded. Three species are described in this paper as new to science.

MALLOPHAGA FROM UTAH BIRDS AND MAMMALS

The Mallophaga listed were collected from birds and mammals taken principally by the writer in various parts of Utah as indicated. The numbers found on the infested hosts varied from one or more to scores. The shore birds and jay were most heavily infested. The lice almost invariably came to the surface of the feathers or fur when the hosts became cold.

Notes on the Distribution of Some Rocky Mountain Plants

A study of three collections of plants (Payson and Payson, 1926, and the writer's of 1927 and 1928) from the Uintah Mountains, Utah, revealed noteworthy extensions of the known ranges of a few species. These species, it will be noted, have their apparent centers of distribution in regions to the northwest and west of their newly discovered stations. The Uintah Mountains, situated in the north-central part of Utah between the 40th and 41st parallels, extend from the Wahsatch range nearly eastward to northwestern Colorado, a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles. They are the highest mountains in Utah, several of the peaks approximating 13,500 feet in altitude. The foothills, which average about 8000 feet in altitude, are characterized by such typical regional plants as Eriogonum heracleoides Nutt., Orthocarpus Tolmiei H. & A., and the common Utah Mertensia, M. Leonardi Rydb. Large alpine meadows present a remarkably rich flora, and even such plants as Parrya platycarpa Rydb. and Papaver alpinum L. were found by the writer in plentifulness. With the exception of the Hesperochiron, the collections of the following species are, so far as the writer knows, the only ones from Utah. These new localities extend eastward and southward the previously known geographical ranges of the species here recorded. The Payson plants and the Goodman-Hitchcock specimen, cited below, are in various herbaria in this country. The Goodman plants are in his private collection, a nearly complete set of duplicates in the Rocky Mountain Herbarium, and the triplicates are in the Herbarium of Mr. George E. Osterhout, Windsor, Colorado.

Notes on Birds Collected in the Virgin River Valley of Utah

I N THE SOUTHM’ESTERN part of Utah, along the Virgin River, may be found some of the most interesting birds of that state. For this region is locally known as Utah’s Dixie because of the hot climate and the cultivated semi-tropical fruits, such as figs, pomegranates, raisin grapes and cotton. The elevation of the region is from 2700 feet to 3100 feet and is one of the extreme interior arms of the transcontinental belt, the Lower Austral (in the west, Sonoran)zone. Some of the characteristic Sonoran plants and animals that are found about Saint George are : creosote bush (Covillea glutinosa) , mesquites (Prosopis glnndulosn and P. pubescens) , prickly-pear ( Opuntia acunthocnrpa), rose flower (Krumeria glnndu-

Experimental goitre and iodin in natural waters in relation to distribution of goitre

White rats of 30 gram weight were placed on a diet containing about or less than .006 milligram of iodin in 50 grams of dry foodstuff in addition to distilled water. Controls were placed on the same diet except for one day a week when they drank water containing .01 per cent. iodin. At the end of about three months those receiving the iodin had thyroid glands one-half to two-thirds the weight of those receiving no iodin.The United States is divided into four zones based on the number of goiters too large for wearing military collars per 1,000 drafted men. The amount in parts per billion of iodin in drinking water is also given:Zone I—Goitre, 1-30. Iodin, 0.1-1. Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, parts of Utah, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.ZONE II-Goitre, 5-15. Iodin, .015-1.2. Nevada, Colorado, North Dakota, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, parts of California, Utah, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania.ZONE III-Goitre, 1-5. Iodin, .06-9. Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illin...

The Pinyon Jay

T HE pinyon jay (Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus) occurs liberally and is resident in this, the central part of Utah. You must not think that he is to be found everywhere, but should you have occasion to travel through the forests of cedar and pinyon pine you may find him in astonishing numbers. I have observed this jay more frequently in Cedar and Rush valleys than elsewhere; these valleys are perhaps 15 by 40 miles each in extent and for the most part are sagebrush deserts. Along their borders are patches or growths of scrub cedar, and in the hills surrounding them are plentiful numbers of the pinyon pine. Some time ago I was watching a flock of Audubon warblers in one oC the cedar forests when a flock of perhaps ioo pinyon jays suddenly came along, alighting all about me but hardly staying long enough to make mention of it. Then, one after another, along they went, flying almost from tree to tree, each seemingly trying to outdo his companions in the matter of harsh, discordant