224 NOTES AND COMMENT 



derivatives because their etymological meaning carries an objectionable 

 implication. For example the word " anemophilous" is an undesirable 

 one when translated, but as actually used in botanical literature it 

 carries no homocentric notions, and merely indicates that the wind is 

 the physical factor by means of which pollination is effected. When- 

 ever an English. word or phrase has become objectionable as a vehicle for 

 scientific expression for any reason which relates to our working phil- 

 osophy, the word should be discarded. If a Greek or Latin derivative, 

 when translated into its English equivalent, sounds objectionable and 

 if it is also in bad odor because of the conceptions in connection with 

 which it has been coined and used, let us abandon it, but for the latter 

 reason and not for the former. 



The interest which is taken by the agriculturists of the United States 

 in the value of natural vegetation as an index of crop possibilities, places 

 us in a position to appreciate the practical value of the work of Engler 

 in which he has described the distribution of the vegetation of Africa. 

 The rapidity with which the best portions of Africa are being opened up 

 to settlement by Europeans makes it particularly fortunate that all the 

 evidence which vegetation is capable of giving as a guide to settlement 

 and agricultural prospecting be given at as early a date as possible. 

 It is not difficult to imagine the benefit which would have arisen from an 

 equally good knowledge of the distribution of the natural vegetation of 

 North America at a corresponding period in its settlement. At that 

 time, however, the state of botanical science was such that the exploita- 

 tion of the flora was the only botanical activity directed against the 

 relatively new continent. Africa, however, has had its awakening at a 

 more opportune time in this respect. Not only has the Berlin Garden 

 carried on its floristic work, of great scientific importance, but it has had 

 in view also the aiding of colonists in its four African possessions by the 

 investigation and publication of the ecological relations of the natural 

 vegetation. There has been no more conspicuous example of the mate- 

 rial service which ecological work of this character is able to render to 

 agriculture and the botanical industries. 



