Further information concerning the distribution and composition of the forest is afforded by a series of letters from the settlers at Lawrence, Kansas, that were printed in various Boston newspapers and in the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, in 1854, 1855, and 1856. In nine such letters which discuss, among other things, the availability of timber, several kinds of trees are listed. Oak (species not mentioned), black walnut, and cottonwood are each listed in seven of the nine letters, while elm, hickory and "white walnut" are each listed in two, and ash, hackberry, sycamore, basswood, willow and locust are each mentioned only once. Copies of these letters are in the files of Dr. James C. Malin, to whom we are much indebted for the privilege of examining them, and for his critical reading of parts of the manuscript. Early U. S. Government maps of northeastern Kansas show the distribution of forest in the late eighteen fifties, and in general the pattern agrees well with that indicated by the accounts of Parks and Robinson. Through the kindness of Dr. Malin, we have been permitted to examine his photostatic copies of a series of these early maps, covering the area discussed in our study, and made in the period extending from 1855 through 1860. A tracing taken from parts of two of these maps, showing the Kansas River north and east of Lawrence, and the area between the river and the north boundary of Douglas County, is reproduced in Fig. 1. For comparison, a map of the same area showing the stream courses and the distribution of timber, as traced from recent U. S. Geological Survey maps, is reproduced in Fig. 2. The early maps agree with Parks' and Robinson's descriptions in showing an extensive belt of timber in the flood plain north of the river, and narrower belts of timber along its tributary streams. In Fig. 1 the courses of the Kansas River and of Mud Creek agree fairly well with those shown on modern maps, but there are gross errors in the minor drainage systems of the sections of land in the northeastern part. Other evidence indicates that the distribution of forest was much different than that shown in this part of the map. Field work by the map-makers in this marginal area must have been extremely sketchy. Dr. Malin explains that such inaccuracies are to be expected because the contracts for mapping were made on a political basis, with little or no regard for other qualifications of the applicant. The University of Kansas Natural History Reservation is in the northeasternmost section (Section 4, Township 12S, Range 20E) of Douglas County, Kansas. Topographically, it is almost evenly divided into three parts: (1) peninsular extensions of the Kansas River Valley, sloping gradually up to a level approximately 100 feet above that of the flood plain; (2) hilltops 200 feet or more above the level of the flood plain; (3) steep slopes from the hilltops to the valley floor.