BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



Vegetation of Northern Bombay. — An interesting account of 

 the plant associations of an area in the northern part of the Bombay 

 Presidency, India, has been contributed by Saxton and Sedgwick. ^ 

 Since western India has been hitherto ecologically quite unknown an 

 extended review seems justified. The original paper is not readily 

 accessible and would easily escape notice of ecologists. 



The area reported on is roughly bounded on the west by a line con- 

 necting Kharaghoda, located on an arm of the Arabian Sea, with 

 Ahmedabad, 55 miles inland to the southeast. From this line a strip 

 extending 70 miles to the east was studied. The northern boundary 

 of the district is 5 miles north of the Tropic of Cancer. 



The soil is chiefly sand in the western part, without rocks. Rivers 

 and streams have cut 50 to 100 feet below the general level of the 

 plateau. Farther east there are stony hills but the authors did not 

 study these fully. Limited areas in sandy districts consist of (a) 

 upland humus soil, (b) salt-marsh encrusted loam, (c) clay. There 

 are numerous "water-holes," large and small, especially in the upland 

 humus areas and in the clay. Artificial irrigation is practiced in much 

 of the territory. 



The climate is severe. It is characterized by intense heat, and a 

 low annual rainfall. Precipitation comes almost entirely during the 

 southwest monsoon of June, July and August. At that time the soil 

 is thoroughly soaked and soggy and humidity is high. During the long 

 rainless period the soil and air become progressively drier. The aver- 

 age rainfall for the entire district is about 30 inches, but at Kharaghoda 

 it is only 24 inches. The highest maximum temperature recorded is 

 120° F. at Ahmedabad, which is considerably lower than in the Punjab, 

 but because of the very warm- winters the mean annual temperature 

 is one of the highest in India. Frost occurs about once in ten years. 



The authors state that fully 95 per cent of the vegetation is to be 

 classed as psilophytic (savanna) or psammophytic (of sand and gravel). 

 "Warming's description exactly applies to those parts of the Indian 



1 Saxton, W. T., and Sedgwick, L. J. Plants of Northern Gujaret. Records 

 of the Botanical Survey of India 6: 203-323. 1918. 



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