1898] CURRENT LITERATURE 357 
The physical geography of the Carpathians is the title of the first part of 
the work, under which head are discussed the geographic features of the 
area, especially as they are related to the physiognomy of the vegetation. 
A short treatment of the climatic conditions closes this part of the work. 
Part two, the plant formations of the Carpathians, forms the body of the 
work. The formations are subdivided into three series, those of the lower 
hills, those of the higher mountains up to the tree line, and those above the 
tree line. The first two series are subdivided into formations with and with- 
out trees. The treeless portions of the lower hills are especially character- 
ized by pastures rich in the beauty of their flowers; these pastures pass lower 
down into meadows where greener tints predominate. Some pastures 
(Pusztaweide) are more xerophytic and have a lower more open vegetation. 
The other treeless formations are those of the rocks and hydrophytic areas. 
The conifers have a very subordinate display on the lower hills, the domi- 
nant forest landscape being made up of mixed deciduous woods, in which 
the oaks are the most characteristic trees. ith the oaks are birches, 
elms, hornbeams and maples. Besides these forests, there are sometimes 
pure growths of the beech, and mixed woods along streams, made up of the 
ash, alder and oak. There are also marginal thickets and xerophilous juni- 
per formations in the hill region. Inthe mountain region below the tree line 
there are mountain meadows which pass into swamps in the lower places. 
The open rock formations assume a more prominent place than lower down 
and the species present depend upon the chemical nature of the rocks, 
whether calcareous or not. The mountain forests are largely dominated by 
the beech in the lower stretches, while higher up the spruce becomes the 
characteristic tree and ascends to the tree line. There are also mountain 
woods (Buschwald) where the beech predominates but no longer as a tall 
tree. Above the tree line appear the subalpine formations, in which there 
are extensive areas covered by dwarf shrubs, especially the dwarf pines, 
junipers and alders, and the rhododendrons. There are characteristic mats, 
‘Meadows, and rock floras in the alpine regions still higher up. At the close 
of the second part Pax considers the influence of man on the vegetation, 
especially as it finds expression in the ruderal and culture floras and in 
injury to the floras. 
The third part is entitled “‘ Die Vegetationslinien der Karpathen und ihre 
Gliederung in Bezirke.” These mountains form the east or northeast limits 
of many European mountain plants and also the south or southeast limits of 
Some eastern and northern plants. The reasons for this are both topographic 
and climatic, and there results a notable mingling of divergent floral types. 
Pax finds that the vast majority of the vegetation lines are closely associated 
with the Kaschau-Eperjeser fault line, which follows in general the trend of 
the mountains ; in fact the close relationshi p between the vegetation and the 
8eological features is constantly emphasized. After a brief treatment of the 
