Periodical Literature. 281 



BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 



In an exceedingly interesting short com- 

 Forest munication, the well-known Forstmeister 



Biology Meister, who for 50 years has managed the 



celebrated Sihlwald near Zurich, points out 

 that the biology of a species and the biology of the 

 forest composed of that species are two different things. While 

 for the species within its climatic range soil and situation are 

 the prominent influential factors, for the forest the climatic fac- 

 tors are more important. Frost and snowfall and the changes 

 in light, etc., incident to fellings change the composition and 

 the development of the forest as a whole. 



The author accentuates that the attempt to secure a normal 

 forest condition is constantly interfered with by our inability 

 to insure normal development without interference by snow- 

 breakages, windfalls and frosts. 



The Sihlwald furnishes excellent data for the study of such 

 changes. This forest was under some kind of management as 

 long as the 15th century when a definite budget was determined. 

 This was increased in the i6th century until in 1851 a technical 

 commission declared the forest overcut and ordered a rest. 

 Meister tries to refer this condition to snowbreakages, as records 

 show unusual snowfalls. 



At present the Sihwald is pronounced beech forest, but it has 

 not been always so, as the record of felling results from 1630 

 on show. It is worth while to reprint the whole series. 



In the last 30 to 50 years there has been a tendency to increase 



