August 19, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



225 



The intention of the author has been to fur- 

 nish a guide to the rich, tropical flora of the 

 French islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique. 

 He has succeeded well in making the work a 

 manual of these insular floras. In addition to 

 this, he has included a large amount of inter- 

 esting and useful information upon the distribu- 

 tion, phenology, economic value and uses, 

 folk-lore, etc., of the plants of the flora. This 

 task has been accomplished in such a way as to 

 greatly enhance the scientific value of the vol- 

 ume. 



The most interesting part to botanists in gen- 

 eral is the introduction, which contains a concise 

 account of the phytogeography of the islands. 

 This includes a sketch of the physiography of 

 the islands, of their climate, with especial refer- 

 ence to humidity, and of the zonal distribution 

 of the plants of the flora. The latter, though 

 touched only in its gross features and treated 

 entirely from the floristic instead of the ecologic 

 aspect, is of importance, since it is the first 

 attempt to portray the zonation of the floral 

 covering of a large island. The author distin- 

 guishes five zones, or, as he terms them, regions; 

 a use of the term which should be avoided. 

 These zones may be characterized briefly as 

 follows : 



I. Maritime zone. This comprises a narrow 

 strip of the sea, characterized by the presence 

 of numerous algse and by two aquatic mono- 

 cotyledons, Buppia maritima and Thalassia 

 testudinum. 



II. Lowland, or coastal zone. This zone be- 

 gins at the sea level and stretches to the forests 

 at a mean altitude of 500 meters. It is the cul- 

 tivated zone, and includes four-fifths of the 

 species of the flora. In it may be distinguished 

 eight formations, viz. : (1) Beach ; (2) Halo- 

 phytic woodland ; (3) Savannah ; (4) Pond and 

 marsh ; (5) Eocky hills and slopes ; (6) Calcare- 

 ous hills ; (7) Xerophytic coasts ; (8) Cultures. 



III. Median, or forest zone. A zone of 

 primitive tropical forest extends from a mean 

 elevation of 500 meters to about 800-1000 

 meters. The lower layers are characterized by 

 the dominance of Aroideaj, terrestrial Orchida- 

 ceas, and species of Hymenophyllum, Tricho- 

 manes, Ldndsaya, Asplenium, Pteris, Polypodium, 

 Aspidium, etc. 



IV. Transition zone. This is a narrow 

 stretch, characteiized by thickets, marking the 

 transition between the forests and the montane 

 zone. 



V. Montane zone. The mountain sides, sum- 

 mits and plateaux possess a floral covering of 

 very sharp delimitation. The shrubs and trees 

 of the two lower zones are replaced by a uni- 

 form vegetation of dwarf shrubs and herbs. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 

 With the recent appearance of the July num- 

 ber, the Bulletin of the American Mathematical 

 Society completes its seventh annual volume. 

 Founded in 1891 as the Bulletin of the Neiu 

 York Mathematical Society, it has long been 

 recognized as the most thoroughly representa- 

 tive mathematical journal of the country. The 

 period of its existence has been coincident with 

 the great wave of mathematical productivity 

 which is still sweeping with constantly increas- 

 ing energy over America. In this movement 

 the American Mathematical Society and with 

 it the Bulletin have taken a couspicuous part. 

 It is largely to the members, individually and 

 collectively, of the Society that the movement 

 is due, and its results have been reflected in 

 their organ, the Society's journal. In its list of 

 contributors are found the names of Simon 

 Newcomb, G. W. Hill, Emory McClintock, E. 

 H. Moore, Thomas Craig, B. O. Peirce, H. B. 

 Fine, W. F. Osgood, M. Bocher, J. Pierpont, 

 H. S. White and nearly every other American 

 mathematician of standing. The Bulletin dis- 

 tributes 450 copies of each number to members 

 of the Society, exchanges and subscribers. The 

 volume just completed. Vol. IV., second series, 

 contains 577 pages. 



The July number of the Bulletin contains, 

 besides the usual ' Notes ' and ' New Publica- 

 tions,' the 'Seventh Annual List of Papers 

 Read before the Society and Subsequently Pub- 

 lished,' and the index, the following articles 

 and reviews : ' The Structvire of the Hypoabel- 

 ian Groups,' by Dr. L. E. Dickson ; ' On the 

 Hamilton Groups,' by Dr. G. A. Miller; ' Note 

 on the Infinitesimal Projective Transformation,' 

 by Professor E. O. Lovett ; ' Infinitesimal Trans- 

 formations of Concentric Conies,' by Professor 



