October 13, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



523 



Occasionally photographic equipment is taken, 

 although this is made distinctly subsidiary 

 to the other work of the trip. 



A feature of the equipment that is by no 

 means negligible is the item of clothing. An- 

 nouncement of the trip is made a number of 

 days, sometimes a full week, before the speci- 

 fied date, in order that all members of the 

 class may have ample time to make any indi- 

 vidual arrangements necessary. A statement 

 is also made as to the general itinerary, the 

 character of the country to be traversed, and 

 the general nature of the garb most suitable for 

 the trip. 



Nothing is more disastrous to the pedagog- 

 ical success of a trip than to have students ap- 

 pear in ill-adapted or wholly unsuitable cloth- 

 ing. One simply can not botanize in " good " 

 clothes. Khaki trousers or skirts; headgear 

 not susceptible to injury by the weather; 

 leggins or puttees for protection against the 

 numerous thorny and spiny plants of our low- 

 lands; and, most important of all, comforta- 

 ble, thick-soled, wide-heeled shoes — these are 

 some of the features that make for successful 

 field work. French heels, umbrellas and 

 " wraps " are tabu, but the students are en- 

 couraged to bring field glasses, kodaks, or other 

 equipment in addition to the botanical equip- 

 ment, that will add to the interest of the trip. 



In the first year course in general botany 

 given at the College of Hawaii the following 

 representative ecologic districts are visited : 



1. The Coral Reefs. — This includes not only 

 a survey of the plant life of the reef, but also a 

 general study of reef formation; the reef as a 

 habitat for plants and animals; the interrela- 

 tions of marine organisms; the zonation of 

 the reef and its waters; the role of plants as 

 reef builders. 



2. The Beach. — This includes the plant life 

 of coral, tufa and lava beaches ; the relation of 

 plants to wave action; beach zonation; drift 

 material ; dissemination of plants by ocean cur- 

 rents; effects upon plant life of elevation and 

 subsidence of beach levels; beach halophytism 

 and xerophytism. 



3. The Lowlands. — Comprising a variety of 

 habitats — grassy plains; arid and semi-arid 



wastelands; salt-, brackish- and fresh-water 

 swamps ; streams and wet-lands ; elevated lime- 

 stone platforms ; lava flows in various stages of 

 disintegration; tufa cones and deposits; plant 

 formations on volcanic ash and scoria. 



Particular attention is given to the lowland 

 flora, for although it is composed chiefly of 

 introduced plants, it is the region in which the 

 human population exists, and is therefore of 

 chief interest. Problems of invasion, compe- 

 tition, adaptation, succession; dissemination; 

 interrelations of insects and fungi to common 

 lowland plants; crops, fruits, ornamentals and 

 other economics ; studies in xerophytism, meso- 

 phytism, etc. 



4. The Forest Zone. — There are three divi- 

 sions of the forest zone, lower, middle and 

 upper; each of these has distinct humid and 

 arid sections, with intergrading districts. In 

 the vicinity of Honolulu only the lower and 

 middle zones exist; the upper zone is confined 

 to the lofty mountains of Maui and Hawaii. 

 The forests within reach of Honolulu are 

 chiefly humid or " rain " forests, although there 

 are some xerophytic species. Topics : The con- 

 spicuous trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants 

 of the forest; the forest as a watershed; the 

 forest floor; animal life of the forest; 10 lianas 

 and other specialized stem forms; precinctive 

 species and varieties; landslides and other de- 

 structive agencies ; relation of forest to precip- 

 itation, wind, elevation, etc.; conspicuous for- 

 est flowers and fruits; changes in the native 

 forest within historic times; planted forests; 

 forest conservation. 



5. Valleys. — The Oahu Mountains are deeply 

 dissected by steep-walled valleys, ravines and 

 gorges. Many of these valleys are great amphi- 

 theaters of erosion. The humidity increases 



io ' ' Let no one worry if zoology and physical 

 geography creep in hodge-podge with botany. 

 They are apt to do that out of doors. Flowers do 

 not object to the birds singing above them; I 

 think an old tree likes to harbor a squirrel; and as 

 for the boy who can gather spirogyra and not see 

 a peculiar stone close by, he will never make a 

 great naturalist." — Stuart, M. H., 1908, "The 

 Botany Notebook, "What it Should Contain and 

 How it Should Be Made," N. E. A. Proc, 1908, 

 pp. 665-67. 



