1905] CURRENT LITERATURE 155 
and the matter so well arranged that the reader has little trouble in finding the 
discussion of any particular point in which he may be interested. Different 
readers will doubtless differ as to the relative importance of the several subjects, 
but it seems on the whole that the balance is well preserved. All workers in plant 
physiology will find the work practically indispensable. The only source of 
regret is that so many minor a aa errors should have escaped the proof 
reader.—B. E. LivincstTon. 
NOTES FOR STUDENTS 
AMONG THE MOST important ecological investigations of late years are those 
that have been carried on in New Zealand by CocKAyNE, which have 
recently brought him the degree of Ph.D., causa honoris, from the University of 
Munich. His most recent publication is an ecological presentation of the flora 
of the famous “‘southern islands.”’3 CocKAYyNE had the privileges of a govern- 
ment steamer, and was able to visit Auckland, Campbell, Antipodes, and Bounty 
Islands. Although it was necessary to make his studies with ‘‘feverish haste,” 
his was the first ecological trip ever made to these islands, and the first botanical 
trip in winter. These islands lie between lat. 47° 43’ and 54° 44’ S., yet in spite 
of the high latitude, the larger islands are clothed with a luxuriant rain-forest. 
Auckland Island (50° 45’) rarely has snow for over three days at a time on the 
lowlands. Although the rainfall is not excessive, almost every day is rainy 
or at least cloudy and the evaporation is slight. These features, together with 
the mild winters, make an ideal rain-forest (hygrophytic) climate. However 
the winds are constant and violent, a feature which commonly accompanies a 
xerophytic climate. The resultant vegetation reflects the peculiar climate to a 
most extraordinary degree. The forest trees are short (not exceeding five meters 
in height), and present the gnarled aspect so familiar in mountain regions and 
near the sea. The lateral branches grow to such length as to make the forest a 
true jungle. Within the forest, where the air and the forest floor are always 
moist, the wind does not enter; hence the vegetation is amazingly luxuriant, 
reminding one of the tropical forests; mosses, liverworts, and filmy ferns grow in 
wild profusion, making a soft carpet, while the trunks of the trees are covered 
with epiphytes. Even a tree fern (Hemitelia) was discovered, extending by some 
escribed; Campbell Island has merely a scrub; while Macquarie Island is without 
either forest or scrub. All of these islands have essentially similar climates, but 
the smaller islands are too exposed for trees, having instead the tussock formation. 
The dominant tree of these hygrophytic rata forests is the myrtaceous M: etrosideros 
lucida. The much more local forests, in which Olearia Lyallii dominates, have 
4 somewhat different aspect. An interesting formation, found also in the Falk- 
es 
3 Cockayne, L., A botanical excursion during midwinter to the southern islands 
of New Sei Trans. N. Z. Inst. 36:225-333. 1904. 
