December 18, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



897 



to feel joy and ecstacy." This, our author, 

 with much reason, holds, is due to the ancient 

 prevalent belief in metamorphosis, through 

 which the Eoman thought of his birds not 

 simply as birds, but also as human beings in 

 changed form. Another observation worthy 

 of mention, to which our author is led by his 

 study of the writings of American poets, is that 

 in the latter is found much more traditional 

 Greek and Latin bird lore than the ordinary 

 reader realizes. 



It is unfortunate, though perhaps unavoid- 

 able, that of a number of the birds treated, 

 identifications more specific were not made. 

 Moreover, while we do not forget that the pur- 

 pose of the book is primarily not scientific, 

 but literary, we are of the opinion that its 

 literary flavor would not have suffered from 

 the use of proper modern scientific names 

 instead of the antiquated terms that appear 

 under many of the species. Any well-informed 

 ornithologist could have furnished these. 

 Less excusable is the statement (page 242) that 

 the nightingale is not a thrush, but a mem- 

 ber of the " silvidae." A good index of bird 

 names would have aided much in finding refer- 

 ences scattered through the text. 



Tew of us, however, can fully appreciate 

 the great amount of research involved in the 

 task that the author has set for himself; and 

 we owe him a debt of gratitude for having put 

 before us in such readable form the results 

 of his industry; and for having produced a 

 treatise that wiU be interesting and profitable 

 alike to classicist, litterateur, and ornithologist. 

 It furthermore impresses us anew with the 

 thought that in all phases of ornithological 

 study there are the same endless possibilities 

 that these lines of the poet suggest: 



Quis volucrum species numeret, quis nomina dis- 



cat? 

 Mille avium eantus, vooum disorimma mille. 



Harry C. Oberholser 



A Moniane Bain Forest. A Contribution to 

 the Physiological Plant Geography of 

 Jamaica. By Forrest Shreve. Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington, Publication 

 No. 199. 



This admirable presentation of the results 

 of eleven months' study of the forests of the 

 Jamaican mountains should demonstrate the 

 value to American botany of a laboratory in 

 the primeval forest of the western tropics. 

 It ought also to prove the pioneer of a whole 

 series of exact distributional and experimental 

 studies of American tropical vegetation. 



The main ridge of the Blue Mountains, 

 which varies from 5,000 to 7,428 feet in height, 

 lies directly across the path of the northeast 

 trade winds. In consequence of this the cli- 

 mate of the northern, or windward side is fog- 

 drenched and constantly humid, with a rain- 

 fall of 160 inches. Two miles south of the 

 ridge, however, the precipitation is but 105 

 inches, the percentage of sunshine is far higher 

 and hence the climate is decidedly warmer and 

 less humid. The whole region is frostless. 

 The annual range of temperature is about 42° 

 Fahrenheit, and the daily range close to 12°. 



The flora of the rain forest is less varied 

 than that of the neighboring tropical low- 

 lands. The composition of the flora is rather 

 less like that of these lowlands than that of a 

 temperate forest. A list is given of the higher 

 plants, which is not intended to be complete, 

 but does embrace the more characteristic spe- 

 cies. It includes 93 pteridophytes and 187 

 seed-plants. 



The vegetation of the untouched rain-forest 

 is dominated by a nearly continuous covering 

 of trees, very few of which get to be more than 

 50 feet high and 2J feet in diameter before 

 being undermined by the rapid erosion char- 

 acteristic of the region. On the ridges and 

 higher slopes the trees are reduced to 15 or 20 

 feet in height. The floor of the forest, espe- 

 cially of the windward slopes and ravines, 

 supports many shrubs and has an abundant 

 carpet of herbaceous mosses, ferns and seed- 

 plants, while numerous epiphytic mosses, ferns, 

 orchids and bromeliads stick to the branches 

 of the trees and lianes often overspread their 

 tops. On the leeward slopes, and on the ridges 

 of both sides trees are more scattered, the 

 herbaceous ground vegetation is sparse, but 

 thickets of shrubs or of climbing ferns and 



