374 NATURAL SCIENCE [December 



A contribution towards a Flora of Mount Kosciusko, also by- 

 Mr Maiden, is an account of an expedition of a few days to the 

 highest mountain in Australia, 7328 feet or more above sea-level. 

 It includes a list of the plants found at different altitudes. 



The U.S. Department of Agriculture sends a couple of pam- 

 phlets issued by Dr Hart Merriam, chief of the Biological 

 Survey. One, entitled " Life Zones and Crop Zones of the 

 United States," is invaluable to the farmer. It embodies the 

 results of ten years' study of geographical distribution applied 

 to practical agriculture. North America is divisible into seven 

 transcontinental belts or life-zones and a much larger number of 

 minor areas, each of which, up to the northern limit of profitable 

 agriculture, are adapted to the needs of particular kinds or varieties 

 of cultivated crops. A coloured map shows the distribution and 

 limits of the zones, while the text contains lists of the varieties of 

 cereals, fruits and other crops, which may be profitably grown in 

 each area. Dr Merriam expresses the hope that his report will 

 serve to emphasize the extreme wastefulness of indiscriminate 

 experimentation, by which hundreds of thousands of dollars are 

 thrown away each year in futile attempts to make crops grow 

 in areas totally unfitted for their cultivation. It also suggests 

 alternatives where, owing to increased competition or diminished 

 demands, the farmer receives an inadequate return for his labour. 

 For instance, in northern New York and elsewhere, where dairying 

 is an almost exclusive but unprofitable industry, the land is shown 

 to be adapted for sugar-beet, or several excellent varieties of wheat 

 and other crops to which little or no attention is now given. The 

 second bulletin, by Prof. C. S. Plumb, is a special instance on the 

 same lines. It deals with the geographic distribution of cereals, 

 and indicates what varieties may be grown with profit in each area. 



The Ehone Beavers 



These unfortunate animals decrease each year by reason of chase 

 and flood. Mr Galien Mingaud writes in the Revue Scientifique 

 that no less than nine of these rodents were captured during 1897 

 in the delta of the Camargue, at the junction of the Ehone with the 

 Gardon. The beaver goes up this latter river as far as Pont-du- 

 Gard. Two years ago Mr Mingaud addressed a note to public 

 officers and to naturalists at large, asking for the protection and 

 preservation of this animal. He proposed that the riparian owners 

 should turn their attention to ' castoriculture ' as a source of revenue, 

 and thus enrich themselves while preserving the stock. Fortunately 

 the old prize of 15 francs a head for all beavers killed, which was 

 promoted in 1855, was suppressed in 1891 on the urgent represen- 

 tations of Mr Valery Mayet, Since 1890, Mr Mingaud has kept a 



