Tebbuabt 6, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



21S 



well as the great opportunity for erroneous 

 conclusions. The geologist, finding the state- 

 ments exact, can not complain because the 

 presentation is such as to be attractive to the 

 layman. Subsequent mountains, being merely 

 relics of former highland, receive briefer 

 treatment, and the discussion is confined 

 chiefly to consideration of the various destruc- 

 tive agencies and their action upon the rocks 

 and types of structure. 



As one should expect in a work intended 

 mostly for " home consumption," full share of 

 the space is given to such Scottish and English 

 areas as afEord proper illustrations ; but in this, 

 as in earlier works by Professor Geikie, there 

 is ample evidence of intimate acquaintance 

 with conditions elsewhere, and he has levied 

 contributions upon all parts of the world. The 

 plates, reproductions of photographs from 

 many lands, are of unusual excellence and the 

 text is full of suggestive matter for the geolo- 

 gist in every land. 



Some portions of the work are deliciously 

 controversial; the consideration of phenomena 

 in the Pacific basin is thorough and the argu- 

 ment against' explanations offered by Suess is 

 put very strongly; some American geologists 

 will regard the opinions respecting isostacy as 

 not altogether orthodox, and several conti- 

 nental geologists will feel convinced that the 

 author does not know so much about Alpine 

 structure as they do. But all, whether accept- 

 ing or opposing his conclusions, will agree that 

 the tone of his presentation is judicial through- 

 out, as benefits one who has made direct study 

 in a great part of Europe and whose familiar- 

 ity with the literature is equalled by that of 

 few other geologists. 



John J. Stevenson 



The Indigenous Trees of the Hawaiian Is- 

 lands. By Joseph F. Eock, botanist of the 

 College of Hawaii; consulting botanist. 

 Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and 

 Forestry, Territory of Hawaii. Issued June 

 26, 1913. With two hundred and fifteen 

 photo-engravings. Published under patron- 

 age. Honolulu, T. H. 1913. Large octavo. 

 Pp. viii 4- 518. 



This stately volume includes descriptions of 

 two hundred and twenty-five species of trees 

 which are natives of the Hawaiian Islands. 

 The author tells us in his preface that it had 

 " long been the writer's desire to give to the 

 public a volume on the native trees of Hawaii," 

 so that this work is the result of a protracted 

 study of the interesting vegetation of these 

 isolated islands, and as a consequence is much 

 more authoritative and complete. 



The introduction, of 87 pages, gives " a 

 more or less detailed description of all the 

 floral regions, and their plant associations 

 found in this island group, not being restricted 

 to trees alone, but embracing the whole plant 

 covering." In it we are first given a tabular 

 enumeration of the botanical regions, as 

 follows : 



1. Strand vegetation. 



2. Lowland region (merging into 3). 



(a) Dry region. 

 (6) Wet region. 



3. Lower forest region. 



(a) Windward side. 

 (6) Leeward side. 



4. Middle forest region. 



(a) Dry region. 



(h) Semi-dry region. 



(c) Wet region. 



(i) Kipukas (small areas of black, fer- 

 tile soil in dry regions with no 

 trace of lava, richest in species). 



5. Bog region. 



6. Upper forest region. 



These are described at some length, and are 

 illustrated by many good photo-engravings. On 

 the largest of the islands (Hawaii) the moun- 

 tains reach elevations of 8,273 feet, 13,675 feet 

 and 13,823 feet, so that there are wide climatic 

 ranges from tropical heat to " almost perpetual 

 snow." Indeed the author sums up his state- 

 ment in the sentence, " from a phytogeo- 

 graphic standpoint the island of Hawaii offers 

 the most interesting field in the Pacific." 



Coming now to the systematic part of the 

 book one finds that no less than forty-five 

 families of plants are represented by species 

 of trees. And yet with all the variety that this 

 implies there is scarcely a familiar genus in 



