314 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1026 



Die OeTcoiogie der Pflanzen. By Dr. Oscak 

 Drude. Band 50, Die Wissenseliaft Samm- 

 lung Ton Eingeldarstellungen aus den Ge- 

 bieten der Naturwissenschaft und der 

 von Priedr. Vieweg & Sohn. 1913. Pp. 

 Teciinik. Braunschweig, Druck und Verlag 

 viii + 308, witli 80 figures in the text. 

 Not since the publication of Warming's 

 " Oecology of Plants " in English in 1909 has 

 a general work on the ecology of plants ap- 

 peared. Professor Drude comes well-equipped 

 for the presentation of the subject by years of 

 study and travel in Germany, Great Britain 

 and the United States. A student of Grise- 

 bach's, one of the earliest and greatest of 

 plant geographers. Dr. Drude has seen the 

 rise and progress of plant geography and 

 ecology, and his first chapter on physiognomic 

 growth forms of plants in which a historic 

 review of ecology is given is written from per- 

 sonal acquaintance with the prime movers in 

 the new department of botanic science. The 

 first one hundred pages deal with the physio- 

 gnomic life forms of plants. Beginning with 

 page 31, a classification of these forms is 

 given with numerous figures and reference to 

 illustrative plants. Some of the groups con- 

 sidered are Monocotyledonous Crown Trees, 

 Tree Ferns and Cycads, Dicotyledonous 

 Woody Lianes, Grass Trees, Dicotyledonous 

 Stem Succulents, Perennial Grasses, Dicotyle- 

 donous Cushion Plants, Geophilous Bulbous 

 Plants, Saprophytes and Parasites. Altogether 

 Drude recognized 54 growth forms, grouped 

 under the heads of Aerophytes, Aquatic Plants 

 and Cellular Plants (mosses and thallophytes), 

 etc. Following the general consideration of 

 each group, notes are given for purposes of fur- 

 ther study and cross reference and biblio- 

 graphic details are cited. Illumination illus- 

 trations and additions end this instructive 

 chapter. 



The second chapter deals with climatic in- 

 fluences, periodicity of vegetation and leaf 

 characters. The topics treated in this chapter 

 describe the physiognomic effect and organi- 

 zation of the leaf and the physiologic questions 

 of plant nutrition. Here the author deals with 

 the duration of the leaf, bud formation and 

 protection, light and leaves, transpiration. 



etc. Under climatic periodicity, the author 

 gives a geographic division of the climatic 

 zones, recognizing 18 climatic groups. Phe- 

 nology and other problems of climatic influ- 

 ence are considered in detail in this chapter. 



The third chapter is concerned with physio- 

 graphic ecology. The ecologist must deal with 

 the difficult problem of why species unite into 

 certain communities and why they have the 

 physiognomy which they possess? The author 

 treats of the edaphic influences of soil, ground 

 water, baeteriologic soil content and the influ- 

 ence of lime and acids. He quotes Jaccarrd's 

 law on the distribution of species in the 

 alpine meadows and pastures, and deals with 

 the much discussed question of association and 

 formation. The last section of this chapter 

 deals with thirteen vegetation types, viz., 

 hydrophytes, helophytes, oxylophytes, halo- 

 phytes, lithophytes, psychrophytes, psammo- 

 phytes, eremophytes, chersophytes, psilophytes, 

 sclerophytes, conifers and mesophytes. 



The fourth chapter, and last one, is devoted 

 to matters of evolutionary interest and is 

 headed ecologic epharmony and phylogeny. In 

 several sections, phylogeny and growth forms, 

 eurychory and stenochory, correlation, ephar- 

 mony, mutation and heredity are considered. 

 Additional notes and a bibliography complete 

 the volume. 



Altogether, ecologists, the world over, will 

 be indebted to Professor Drude for a lucid 

 exposition of the important principles of that 

 department of botanic science denominated 

 ecology. He has presented much that is en- 

 tirely new, and he has made over into a differ- 

 ent form much that is old. The whole book 

 shows a thorough grasp of the entire subject 

 of plant ecology, which the author has been 

 able to digest and assimilate and present in 

 an attractive and useful form to the student 

 world. The figures are good and many of 

 them new, representing typic species, some of 

 them grown in the Dresden Botanic Garden. 

 John W. Harshberger 



xjniveesity of pennsylvania 



A Treatise on Quantitative Inorganic Analy- 

 sis. By J. W. Mellor, D.Se. Philadelphia, 

 J. B. Lippincott & Co. 



