478 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [December 



development." An apparent climax, short of the true regional cHmax, is 

 termed a subclimax. 



The chapter in which the views of the author and the reviewer clash most 

 sharply is the one on direction of development. Clements states positively 

 that "succession is inherently and inevitably progressive." The reviewer 

 is as positive in his opinion as ever that succession may be retrogressive as 

 well as progressive, although of course progression is much more abundant and 

 important. What the reviewer would term retrogression is for the most 

 part by Clements termed denudation, preparatory to the initiation of another 

 successional series. This might pass, if all such denudations or retrogres- 

 sions were sudden, resulting at once in the development of a habitat initial 

 to a progressive series. In an area that is gradually sinking, there may be a 

 gradual retrogression from a climax mesophytic forest to a hydrophytic asso- 

 ciation, with no denudation of any sort whatever. In a review of Clements' 

 work by Tansley,^ it is shown that it would be very difficult to apply to Eng- 

 land the idea that succession is always progressive. 



Chapters follow on the classification of "seres," the cUmax formations 

 of North America, past climates and climaxes, and past succession. The 

 chapters on past climates and vegetation will be of great value, because they 

 bring together compactly results from widely scattered sources. The theories 

 and the applications of the author's views to the past seem very tenuous. It 

 is difficult enough to apply ecological principles to the vegetation of the present, 

 and it is very much too soon to work out the characteristics and successions 

 of past floras in any but the most superficial manner. 



The work is a notable one, and must be on the working table of every 

 ecologist and plant geographer. It is unfortunate, however, that the author 

 has allowed his splendid classical training and love for Greek and Latin to 

 carry him so far afield. The teriflency nowadays is toward increasing emphasis 

 on the vernacular, and it is to be feared that many of the author's best thoughts 

 and most inspiring ideas will remain hidden among words. — Henry C. Cowles. 



Botany of the living plant 



BowERJ has put into book form his course of lectures on elementary 

 botany given at the University of Glasgow for more than 30 years. He gives 

 a vivid picture of the plant as a living, growing, self-nourishing, self-adapting 

 creature. 



Of the 32 chapters, 18 are devoted exclusively to angiosperms, whose 

 complete life activity is exhaustively treated from seed "germination" to 

 seed dispersal. In the one chapter devoted to gymnosperms only the Scots 

 pine is treated. This seems to the reviewer to be very inadequate treatment 



* Tansley, a. G., The development of vegetation. Jour. Ecol. 4: 198-204. 1916. 

 3 Bower, F. O., Botany of the living plant. 8vo, pp. X4-580. figs. 447. Mac- 

 millan Co. 1919. 



