784 president's address. 



botany, say, that of solving problems of ecology. The field of 

 physiographic ecological study is vast, and it will be found most 

 fascinating. It has not been taken up until late years because, 

 in many cases, the necessary geological and botanical foundational 

 data were not available. It is obvious that every district requires 

 its own special treatment. Following is a brief statement of the 

 method of classification adopted by Cowles"^ in dealing with the 

 Chicago area, and it may be observed that he is the first botanist 

 to clearly bring out the dynamic conditions due to physiographic 

 changes. 



"Two general groups are made, the inland and the coastal. 

 The inland group is subdivided into three series, river, swamp, 

 and upland. The coastal group is subdivided into two series, 

 lake bluff and dune. The river series is remarkably tortuous, 

 involving constructive and destructive, progressive and retrogres- 

 sive phases. The treatment begins with an erosion gullj; then 

 there follow in order the ravine, both in clay and in rock, the 

 xerophytic bluff, and the mesophytic forest. The depositional 

 phases of the river begin with the appearance of a permanent 

 stream; then follow the various stages of the flood-plain, culmin- 

 ating in the mesophytic forest. The swamp series begins with 

 the pond, treats next the various types of swamps, and ends with 

 a brief discussion of the prairie. In the upland series the various 

 stages of the rock hills and then of the clay hills are taken up in 

 turn, culminating in the mesophytic forest. The coastal group is 

 next discussed, beginning with the lake bluff. Finally, there is a 

 brief treatment of the dune series from the beach on through the 

 embryonic and active dune to the established dune on which there 

 finally appears the mesophytic forest." 



The special ecological classification adopted by Thomas H. 

 Kearney! for the vegetation of Ocracoke Island is worthy of note, 

 and the paper itself contains many valuable suggestions. 



* Op. cit. p. 85. 

 t The plant-covering of Ocracoke Island ; a study on the Ecology of the 

 North Carolina strand vegetation, by Thomas H. Kearney, Junr., Contrib. 

 from U.S. Nat. Herb., Vol. v., No. 5 (1900). 



