NOTES AND COMMENT 



The latest issue of the Transactions of the San Diego Society of 

 Natural History (vol. 1, no. 3) contains a remarkable direct reproduc- 

 tion of an original photograph of red snow, made in the natural colors 

 by the Lumiere process. It is the work of Mr. F. A. Carpenter, who 

 took the autochrome in July last on Lambert Dome, at an altitude of 

 10,000 feet, in the high mountains above the Yosemite Yalley. It is 

 of interest not only as an example of the recent art of direct color 

 photographing, but also as the first representation of snow-fields stained 

 with Sphaerella nivalis. Sky and clouds, the rocks and pines in the 

 foreground, and the patches of red snow on the flanks of the mountains 

 are all reproduced faithfully in their natural colors. Red snow was 

 abundant during the last summer at the high Sierran altitudes about 

 the Yosemite, and fortunately there was a goodly number of botanists 

 on their vacation outings who had an opportunity of observing it. It 

 is believed that this is the most southern station on the Pacific coast of 

 North America at which this alga has been observed. A plant of such, 

 wide distribution may, however, well be expected on Mount Whitney, 

 where there are fields of perpetual snow. Mr. Carpenter contributes 

 an interesting account of his observations of the red snow, and of the 

 processes by which color photographs are made and reproduced. The 

 San Diego Society are to be congratulated on the value of the papers 

 in this number of its Transactions, and on its typographical excellence. 

 — S. B. Parish. 



Dr. Isaiah Bowman, Assistant Professor of Geography in Yale Uni- 

 versity, has written a text entitled Forest Physiography (John Wiley 

 and Sons, 1911), which cannot fail to interest a much wader audience 

 than the students of forestry, to whom it is primarily addressed. The 

 opening chapters give a brief treatment of the soil from the standpoints 

 of the geologist, the soil physicist or chemist, and the plant physiologist. 

 The influence of physiographic and climatic conditions in determining 

 the forest regions of the United States is outlined. The greater part of 

 the book is given to a description of the physiographic features of some 

 twenty subdivisions of the country. The geological structure is given 

 only the attention that is necessary to an understanding of the surface 



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