748 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



of other countries are derived." (Cf., p. 310.) On page 112 it is stated 

 that the vessels of Acacia pcndula have "scalariform apertures" (per- 

 forations). This must be a mistake, since not only have other investi- 

 gators reported simple perforations, but as a matter of fact the occur- 

 rence of scalariform perforations has not, so far as the reviewer is 

 aware, been noted in any member of the entire family of the Legumi- 

 nosse. 



The author is evidently not familiar with anomalies in wood struc- 

 ture and with the literature on that subject, otherwise he would 

 scarcely have referred to the strands of interxylary soft bast in 

 Strychnos arborea (p. 319) as "unusually large parenchyma crystal 

 sacs which permeate the wood element in the long axis of the wood, 

 measuring apparently the whole length of a vessel," or have devoted 

 several pages (325-330) to an extended discussion of the well-known 

 anomaly in Aviccnnia officialinalis. He considers this structure unique 

 and says (p. 328) "it is probably the only timber in the world possess- 

 ing this feature" : "The' ray parenchyma probably differs from that 

 of every other in the botanical kingdom in that it is not medullary/' 

 etc. ! The rays of this wood are not fundamentally different from those 

 of ordinary woods, though they are interrupted at intervals by layers 

 of bast, a structure that is not particularly rare. 



Of the "technical articles" which conclude the book, the most inter- 

 esting is the one on the uses of Australian hardwoods. This contains 

 a considerable wealth of material and is profusely illustrated. In dis- 

 cussing the common nomenclature the author emphasizes the confusion 

 which has resulted from the lazy method of applying such well known 

 names as "apple," "ash," "maple," "beech" and "mahogany" to Euca- 

 lypts and the like. His suggestion of using the scientific name instead 

 is not likely to find favor in the trade. 



S. J. R. 



The New Ecological Quarterly. 



If the first issue of the new Journal of the Ecological Society of 

 America is an index of what the publication is to be it means much 

 for the future of American ecology. It is stated in the forewood that 

 the journal is issued to meet the demand for the collective publication 

 of articles on ecology. Its pages are open to all who have material of 

 ecological interest from whatever field of science. 



