318 BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



munity of habitat. The question that should be asked is not "which 

 plants shall we call xerophytes," but "what do we know about the 

 physiological behavior and habital requirements of the plants of arid 

 habitats and of other plants which resemble them." The reviewer ven- 

 tures to predict that as we come to know more about the comparative 

 physiological and ecological behavior of plants — depending less upon 

 inferences based on anatomy — we will have use for the term xerophyte 

 only in extremely general discussions of vegetation. — Forrest Shreve. 



Plant Life. — A particularly attractive volume for the amateur 

 in natural science has been produced by Mr. Charles A. Hall in his 

 Plant Life. 1 A phylogenetic order of treatment embraces the entire 

 range of cryptogamic and phanerogamic plants; and some of the best- 

 known facts of physiology, paleontology and general biology are intro- 

 duced at appropriate places in the scheme. The treatment is charac- 

 terized throughout by an enthusiasm which is calculated to hold the 

 attention, but the author shows no desire to go very deeply into mat- 

 ters of cause and effect, as is evident in the discussion of insectivor- 

 ous plants, transpiration, respiration, and some other subjects. The 

 book is calculated to serve a very useful purpose, but at no time in 

 its perusal will the reader suffer from the mental exertion of following 

 technical details. The illustrations are very numerous, the photo- 

 graphs being excellent and the colored plates the best that have ap- 

 peared in any recent popular botanical work. — Forrest Shreve. 



1 Hall, Charles A., Plant Life. Pp. 380, figs. 80, plates 74 (50 in color). Lon- 

 don, A. and C. Black, 1915 ($6.00). 



