E22 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [FEBRUARY 
For reasons given above, it is my belief that ScHIMPER’s summer- 
green climatic formation should not include the coniferous forests 
of the Pacific coast of North America, but that these should be 
separated from it. In order to show its relations to the broad- 
leaved sclerophyllous formation, I would suggest that it be called 
the needle-leaved sclerophyllous formation. The limits of this forma- 
tion are not clear. While no doubt it reaches its best development 
in the Puget Sound region, this does not prevent its spreading into 
more northerly regions with cooler but still damp winters. Whether 
this type is the climax forest formation in the region north of the 
Lake Superior district, as it is on the Pacific coast, or only edaphic 
formations in the summer-green climatic formation of the United 
States, our present knowledge cannot determine. 
The forests of the Flathead valley clearly belong to the needle- 
leaved sclerophyllous formation, but since they are on the border of 
a prairie climate they are not so good an expression of it as is that 
of the district farther west. 
[To be continued] 
