374 NATURAL SCIENCE [December 
A contribution towards a Flora of Mount Kosciusko, also by 
Mr Maiden, is an account of an expedition of a few days to the 
highest mountain in Australia, 7328 feet or more above sea-level. 
It includes a list of the plants found at different altitudes. 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture sends a couple of pam- 
phlets issued by Dr Hart Merriam, chief of the Biological 
Survey. One, entitled “Life Zones and Crop Zones of the 
United States,’ is invaluable to the farmer. It embodies the 
results of ten years’ study of geographical distribution applied 
to practical agriculture. North America is divisible into seven 
transcontinental belts or life-zones and a much larger number of 
minor areas, each of which, up to the northern limit of profitable 
agriculture, are adapted to the needs of particular kinds or varieties 
of cultivated crops. A coloured map shows the distribution and 
limits of the zones, while the text contains lists of the varieties of 
cereals, fruits and other crops, which may be profitably grown in 
each area. Dr Merriam expresses the hope that his report will 
serve to emphasize the extreme wastefulness of indiscriminate 
experimentation, by which hundreds of thousands of dollars are 
thrown away each year in futile attempts to make crops grow 
in areas totally unfitted for their cultivation. It also suggests 
alternatives where, owing to increased competition or diminished 
demands, the farmer receives an inadequate return for his labour. 
For instance, in northern New York and elsewhere, where dairying 
is an almost exclusive but unprofitable industry, the land is shown 
to be adapted for sugar-beet, or several excellent varieties of wheat 
and other crops to which little or no attention is now given. The 
second bulletin, by Prof. C. S. Plumb, is a special instance on the 
same lines. It deals with the geographic distribution of cereals, 
and indicates what varieties may be grown with profit in each area. 
THE RHONE BEAVERS 
THESE unfortunate animals decrease each year by reason of chase 
and flood. Mr Galien Mingaud writes in the Revue Scientifique 
that no less than nine of these rodents were captured during 1897 
in the delta of the Camargue, at the junction of the Rhone with the 
Gardon. The beaver goes up this latter river as far as Pont-du- 
Gard. Two years ago Mr Mingaud addressed a note to public 
officers and to naturalists at large, asking for the protection and 
preservation of this animal. He proposed that the riparian owners 
should turn their attention to ‘ castoriculture’ as a source of revenue, 
and thus enrich themselves while preserving the stock. Fortunately 
the old prize of 15 francs a head for all beavers killed, which was 
promoted in 1855, was suppressed in 1891 on the urgent represen- 
tations of Mr Valéry Mayet. Since 1890, Mr Mingaud has kept a 
