Book Reviews 



The Climate and Weather of San Diego, California, by Ford 

 A. Carpenter, local forecaster. Illustrated with photographs and 

 charts by the author and others. Published by the San Diego 

 Chamber of Commerce, 1913. 118 pages. 



The following quotation from Humboldt is seen on the title 

 page: "The term climate, in its broadest sense, implies all the 

 changes in the atmosphere which sensibly affect one's physical 

 condition." That is probably the best definition of that word. 

 And we know that all the forms and colors of animals — the 

 evolution of animal life — are due directly or indirectly to the 

 environment; so a study of the elements in the environment of 

 animals is necessary for the naturalist, if he wishes to really 

 know about his subjects of study. And the various parts of the 

 environment are due largely to the temperature and other 

 weather conditions. 



There are 27 short chapters dealing in a clear way with various 

 meteorological sulijects, just what a biologist in this region 

 should know. There are 15 full-page and instructive plates and 

 12 suggestive and useful charts in the text; there are 15 tables 

 showing meteorological conditions over a series of years, and 

 these will prove especially useful to students in correlating insect 

 periodicity and other phenomena which are hardly understood. 

 The plants and animals, as is well known, are more prone to vary 

 in every direction in California than in any other state. This is 

 due, in part, to the great diversity of climate; the numerous 

 mountain ranges and isolated valleys. There are three distinct 

 climates within San Diego county — the nearly sub-tropical coast 

 climate of the bay region, the climate of the mountainous district 

 and the desert climate of the far east. Of course there are many 

 other conditions which have to be taken into account ; and only a 

 close perusal of this book and McAdie's Climatology of Cali- 

 fornia could show these. Climatology will be the next study 

 for the student of geographical distribution and species for- 

 mation. F. Gkinnell, Jb. 



