74 The Plant World. 



tural changes, and various modifications of habit and behavior 

 of both plants and animals. 



This and more which it would be desirable to reproduce, did 

 space permit, serves to indicate the philosophical spirit and 

 definiteness of purpose with which the work was conceived and 

 carried out. It is interesting to note in passing that the writer 

 was specially impressed with the relative simplicity of the prob- 

 lem of environmental relations and of the biotic succession upon 

 Isle Royale, and thus has received further confirmation of the 

 opinion that a tendency to exaggerate the complexity of the en- 

 vironment is prevalent. 



An adequate analysis of the contributions of the several 

 authors is obviously out of the question here. As the survey 

 was conducted chiefly by zoologists, it would necessarily 

 result that the plant life of the island could not, in the time 

 available, receive sufficient study. This lack is in part made up 

 by a supplementary paper on the Vegetation of Isle Royale, by 

 W. P. Holt, who discusses the principal plant societies, and adds 

 some notes of ecological value. The value of the report as a whole, 

 however, would have been greatly increased had the plants of 

 the Island received a proportional share of attention with the 

 animals. 



The Weeds, Poison Plants, and Naturalized Aliens of Vic- 

 toria, by Alfred J. Ewart (Melbourne, 1909) is a useful book of 

 upwards of a hundred pages illustrated with manv colored 

 plates, and written in simple style with a view to aid the farmers 

 in preventing the spread of noxious weeds and poisonous plants. 

 Australia has suffered great losses due to carelessness in this 

 direction. The author states that there can be no doubt that 

 if suitable regulations had been in force fifty years ago that coun- 

 try would now be saved an annual loss of several hundred thou- 

 sand pounds, and though the government with its Thistle Pam- 

 phlet and list of "proclaimed plants" has accomplished some- 

 thing in restricting the evil, there is still a dangerous increase of 

 some of the worst weeds of civilization. The work of Professor 



