Geographic Literature 



47 



species in the United States and the most 

 destructive to stock. Over the thinly 

 settled ranch country of Montana, the 

 western parts of the Dakotas and Ne- 

 braska, and of Wyoming, Colorado, New 

 Mexico, and western Texas, where stock- 

 raising is the principal industry, the 

 wolves have held their own, and in favor- 

 able sections have increased since the 

 destruction of their former prey, the buf- 

 falo, and the introduction of still greater 

 numbers of domestic cattle — this, too, in 

 the face of a fierce warfare waged by 

 ranchmen, trappers, and hunters. 



GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 



Climatology of the United States. By A. J, 



Henry. Bull. Q., U. S. Weather Bureau. 4to., 



pp. I0I2. Washington, D. C. : Government 



Printing Office. 1906. 



This is probably the most important publica- 

 tion ever issued by the Weather Bureau, inas- 

 much as it comprises an exhaustive summary 

 of the meteorological data down to date, col- 

 lected by the Signal Service and the Weather 

 Bureau. 



The first 84 pages are devoted to a discussion 

 of the climates of the country, element by ele- 

 ment — atmospheric pressure, storms, vifinds, 

 temperatures, precipitation, humidity, and 

 cloudiness. This part of the work is profusely 

 illustrated with maps and diagrams. 



The body of the book is composed of meteor- 

 ological statistics of 690 Weather Bureau sta- 

 tions, distributed over the country as uniformly 

 as practicable. Each station is fully described, 

 with position, elevation, history, and equipment. 

 The data given for each station are as follows, 

 as fully as possible : For each month, each 

 season, and the year, the normal temperature, 

 the mean of the maxima and the absolute 

 maximum temperatures, the mean of the 

 minima and the absolute minimum tempera- 

 tures, and the highest and lowest monthly mean 

 temperatures; the normal precipitation, the 

 number of days with more than a trace of 

 precipitation, the total amount in the dryest 

 and wettest years, the average depth of snow, 

 and the greatest depth in 24 hours, the mean 

 relative and absolute humidity and amount of 

 sunshine, and finally the direction of the prev- 

 alent wind; then follow dates of temperature 

 extremes. 



The stations are arranged geographically by 

 states, and those of each state are preceded by 

 a physical description of the state and a sum- 

 mary of the climatic data. 



Students of American climate will find this 

 work invaluable. It is to be hoped that every 

 other country having a meteorological service 

 will prepare a similar work. H. G. 



The Wonders of the Colorado Desert. By 



George Wharton James. 2 vols., 8vo., pp. 



44-1-547. Illustrated. Boston: Little, Brown 



& Co. igo6. $5.00. 



This sumptuous book describes a region 

 which for the past two years has been very 

 much in the public eye, for it is that also known 

 as the Salton Desert, into which the Colorado 

 River is pouring its waters and re-creating a 

 lake in its midst. The story is here told at 

 length, with an account of the numerous at- 

 tempts made to close the gap in the natural 

 levee and restore the river to its former chan- 

 nel ; but this forms but a small part of the book. 

 The aspect of the desert, its strange vegetable 

 and animal inhabitants, its mountains and sand 

 dunes, its delights and dangers, its history, are 

 all described by one who feels the call of the 

 desert and has the skill to picture it. With 

 these descriptions are intercalated legends of 

 lost mines, tragedies, narratives of journeys, 

 and among the latter a boat trip down the out- 

 flow from the Colorado to the Salton Lake — a 

 strange trip in a strange region. 



The book is beautifully and lavishly illus- 

 trated, in part by half-tones from photographs 

 lay the author and in part by sketches from the 

 pencil of Mr Carl Eytel. The map is by no 

 means, in point of execution, on a par with 

 the rest of the work. H. G. 



Romantic Cities of Provence. By Mona 



Caird. Pp. 413. 6^4 by 9 inches. Illustrated. 



New York: Imported by Charles Scribner's 



Sons. 1906. $3.75 net. 



The author tells in a delightfully personal 

 way of a journey through the south of France, 

 that wonder country of the ancients, where the 

 ruins of an amphitheater, arch, or massive 

 bridge erected during the Roman occupation, 

 about 40 B. C, is regarded as being quite 

 modern. The writer gives a vast amount of 

 historical information, with anecdote and 

 legends of the birth of chivalry and its off- 

 spring, the Troubadours, who ruled France with 

 their music. The volume is enriched through- 

 out with many splendid sketches of Provence, 

 Aries, Avignon, Beaucaire, and Nimes by 

 Joseph Pennell and Edward Synge. Much at- 

 tention is given to the architecture of the 

 ancients as well as that of the Renaissance, and 

 it is quite evident that the volume is not writ- 

 ten as a text-book, but rather for those who 

 have at least a passing acquaintance with 

 Provence and its brilliant history. J. O. L- 



The Heart of England. By Edward Thomas. 

 Pp. 360. 8 by loyi inches. Illustrated. New 

 York : E. P. Dutton & Co. 1906. $6.00 net. 

 The author, having made a study of the 

 quaint old customs of England, tells of them in 

 a pleasing way. Throughout the shires of 

 England many customs and habits have been 

 handed down from father to son through cen- 

 turies. These have been collected from many 



