[from the text] Although it is generally agreed that the white pine forest, now almost completely cut-over, and some of the virgin or primeval stands of Wisconsin date back to conflagrations of catastrophic proportions, the silvicultural and ecological literature dealing with the forest types of the region and problems of succession reflects a considerable difference of opinion and a tendency on the part of forest ecologists and foresters to disregard or minimize the importance of fire as a necessary factor in the perpetuation of certain species and types. The ecological status of the species and of the numerous cover types comprising the virgin forest has not been adequately studied, and the data available are based, for the most part, upon scattered bits of information, unsystematic observations and investigators' knowledge of the forest rather than definite studies of the subject.