884 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 493. 



paper on the development of vegetation on 

 the coast of Finland; Diiggeli's detailed 

 study of a Swiss valley about to be oc- 

 cupied by a reservoir, giving a basis for a 

 study of the changes which will ensue; 

 Weber's exhaustive study of the develop- 

 ment of German moors; Huber's account 

 of the encroachment of vegetation upon 

 new islands in the Amazon. It is a pleas- 

 ure to see such a list as this, probably the 

 largest and best furnished by any single 

 year to the study of association dynamics 

 or physiographic ecology. While, as indi- 

 cated above, the interpretation of ecological 

 facts must be regarded as the ultimate end 

 of ecological endeavor, the proximate end 

 must largely be the collection of such facts. 

 We deceive ourselves if we believe that this 

 task has been more than fairly begim. 

 Among the most important facts to be col- 

 lated are those bearing upon the natural 

 changes which the vegetation of a region 

 undergoes. One may enter a field and 

 make a guess as to what these changes are 

 —this guess may or may not be intelligent ; 

 one can find each variety in literature — but 

 the sole way to know what changes occur is 

 to make detailed studies of limited areas 

 year by year. In connection with ecolog- 

 ical phytogeography one should mention 

 also the admirable Vegetationsbilder issued 

 by Karsten and Schenck, Avhich serve to 

 give photographic illustrations of distant 

 and especially tropical landscapes. The 

 studies of Engier in German East Africa 

 and Cockayne in New Zealand should be in- 

 eluded among the noteworthy contributions 

 to knowledge. And it is, perhaps, in place 

 to recall here the long-promised English 

 translation of Schimper's 'Plant Geog- 

 raphy,' which has so recently appeared. 



Ploristic phytogeography probably 

 should not be classed under ecology, but 

 there are many inter-relations between 

 ecological and floristic aspects, which make 

 a short survey of the field necessary. One 



of the remarkable contributions of the year 

 is a volume by Hugo Bretzl on the botanical 

 results of Alexander the Great's journey 

 to the east, as reported by Theoplirastus. 

 As the speaker pointed out a year ago, too 

 little attention has been paid to the phyto- 

 geographic contributions of Linnaeus and 

 other former workers. Bretzl's work shows 

 that the Greeks observed and recorded a 

 number of things for which but scanty 

 credit has heretofore been given. The man- 

 grove forests are described with great detail 

 and accuracy; even the relation of various 

 species to saltness is dwelt upon, and cor- 

 rectly. The Greeks were surprised to find 

 conifers on the Himalayas and concluded 

 that the vegetation of tropical mountains 

 resembles that of European lowlands. 

 Theoplirastus gives the physiog-nomy of 

 vegetation in terms of leaf forms; for 

 doing this same thing only a century 

 ago, most writers have given Humboldt 

 the credit of founding phytogeography. 

 Theophrastus anticipated many modern 

 views in morphology and physiology, which 

 of course have no place in this review. 

 Beguinot has shown also that Porta, in his 

 'Phytognomonica,' published some centuries 

 since, had a knowledge of many principles 

 of distribution. One of the gi^eat floristic 

 contributions of recent date is Jerosch's 

 history and origin of the Swiss alpine flora, 

 a volume which makes no pretensions of 

 being more than a compilation, but which 

 places in compact and trustworthy form the 

 results of many workers. Other impor- 

 tant floristic works are those of Alboff on 

 Puegia, R. L. Praeger on Ireland and Par- 

 rish on southern California. Among 

 paleontological works bearing on distribu- 

 tion, perhaps the foremost place should be 

 given to Flahault's volume on paleobotany 

 in relation to present vegetation, a work of 

 over two hundred pages and by a master 

 hand. One must at least call by name 

 Seward's presidential address before the 



