December 8, 1911] 



HCIENCE 



811 



Part Four, which, as has just been said, is 

 the body of the work, includes seven chapters. 

 An analysis of these will be helpful as giving 

 some idea of the logical treatment of the sub- 

 ject. The first chapter deals with Arctic and 

 Sub-arctic zones : the second takes up the At- 

 lantic section of the North Temperate zone, 

 with three subdivisions, viz., the Saint Law- 

 rence-Great Lakes Region; the Atlantic-Gulf 

 Coastal Region, and the Piedmont-Appa- 

 lachian-Ozark Plateau-Mountain Region. 

 Chapter III. is devoted to the Xerophytic 

 Section of the Interior in the North Temper- 

 ate Zone, with its three subdivisions — the 

 Prairie Region, Rocky Mountain Region and 

 Great Basin Region. The fourth chapter re- 

 lates to the Pacific Section of the North Tem- 

 perate Zone, including the Sitka Region, 

 Columbian Region and Californian Region. 

 The fifth chapter takes up the Mexican Sub- 

 tropical Zone and Mountain Regions. The 

 sixth and seventh chapters are devoted to the 

 North American Tropic Zone, the former to 

 the Mexican and Central American Sections 

 and the latter to the West Indian Section. 



The author's purpose which he kept before 

 him as he wrote this book is well expressed 

 in a paragraph of his preface. " But with the 

 settlement of the continent and the exploita- 

 tion of its resources, such as the drainage of 

 its swamps, the removal of the original for- 

 ests, and the construction of irrigation works 

 in arid districts, the original condition of the 

 land surface and its vegetation will be 

 changed forever. It is important, therefore, 

 for this generation of botanists and scientists 

 to leave in printed form, in photographs, in 

 maps and in other illustrations a record of the 

 original appearance of the country before the 

 march of civilization has destroyed primitive 

 conditions. This from the standpoint of the 

 botanist is an important matter, because all 

 future botanic and forestry work must be 

 based on considerations of what was the char- 

 acter of the native growth." 



With this object in view the author set him- 

 self about the task of writing a book which 

 should give the reader a clear picture of the 

 essential features of the original vegetation 



of North America. It would be quite im- 

 possible to give many details in a work cov- 

 ering so large and varied a field, and this 

 the author has not attempted. So when the 

 reader finds his own particular region treated, 

 as he thinks, somewhat too scantily he must 

 remember that this is necessarily the case, 

 and that if the successive pictures contained 

 too much of detail they would lose much in 

 distinctness and sharpness of outline. As one 

 runs over the paragraphs they appear like pen 

 pictures, whose bold outlines leave a series of 

 vivid impressions on the reader's mind, and 

 this is what the author hoped to accomplish. 

 The author has tried to make such a record as 

 would enable future botanists to know what 

 was the character of the original vegetation of 

 North America. 



That the book contains errors of fact, and 

 errors of interpretation probably no one will 

 be more ready to acknowledge than its author, 

 for it could scarcely be otherwise with so large 

 a field as the whole of North America, and a 

 department of botany so new as that of eco- 

 logical phytogeography. The unpleasant task 

 of pointing out the individual errors I will- 

 ingly leave for others to accomplish. There is 

 so much in the book that is above criticism 

 that one may well settle down to the enjoy- 

 ment of its reading, as one enjoys a great 

 landscape painting, with the certainty that 

 the general effect is well worth getting, even 

 though some of the hills are too high and too 

 sharp in the painting, and the names and dis- 

 tribution of some of the plants are given 

 erroneously in the book. The great outlines 

 are true, nevertheless. 



It remains for me to speak of the fine plates, 

 which are reproductions from well-selected 

 photographs, and the text figures, many of 

 which are similar but smaller " half tones " 

 of photographs. The map of North America 

 showing phytogeographic areas will prove to 

 be most helpful. Nor must reference be 

 omitted to the interesting history of floristic 

 work in the different geographic areas of 

 North America, where the student will find 

 the names of most of the botanists who have 

 had to do with the exploration of the country. 



