Notes and Comment. 79 



ion, or rather, no actual knowledge, on the subject. It is stated 

 that about ore hundred and twenty-five million dollars are in- 

 vested in the orange and lemon groves of the state. It would 

 appear that, under these circumstances, it might be well to em- 

 plo}' a commission of trained experts representing plant breed- 

 ing, physiology, pathology, and soil investigation to undertake 

 an exhaustive study of the problem. 



We have received from Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. a volume 

 of biographies of "Leading American of Science," issued under 

 the editorship of President David Starr Jordan. The biological 

 sciences are represented among the seventeen deceased worthies 

 by Wilson, Audubon, Agassiz, Gray, Goode, and Brooks. The 

 life of Grav, from the hand of Professor John^M . Coulter, gives a 

 vivid picture of the conditions which surrounded the profession 

 of botany two generations ago, and of the gigantic work which 

 Gray accomplished in the organization and prosecution of 

 taxonomic work on the plants of the central and western states. 



Dr. L. Cockayne announces the appearance, at an early date, 

 of a small volume entitled" New Zealand Plants and Their Story." 

 The prospectus promises an attractive popular presentation of 

 the unique features of the flora and vegetation of the islands, 

 with an abundance of illustrations. The book may be had of 

 the Government Printer, Wellington, N. Z., for four shillings. 



Climatic changes in the Southwestern United States within 

 late geological time have been much discussed, and for a subject 

 of importance to the plant geographer there appears, as yet, to 

 be little agreement among those who have given most attention 

 to the subject. The veteran explorer and geologist. Dr. William 

 P. Blake was accustomed to picture an inland sea lapping the 

 base of the Santa Catalinas, the Rincons and other mountain 

 ranges of Southern Arizona, and to hold that the long slopes at 

 their base were formed imder water, like those of modern lakes, 

 during a period of maximum precipitation. His successor at 

 the University of Arizona, Professor Tolman, recognizes no such 

 evidence of moist climate and standing water over areas now 

 desert, and invokes wind action and other mechanical agencies 



