OCTOBEK 7, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



473 



the vast area included within the boundaries 

 of Texas, and tlie great diversity in all the 

 factors (latitude, elevation, soil, rainfall, tem- 

 perature, sunlight, winds, etc.) which have 

 to do with forest distribution. For example, 

 the rainfall in the eastern part of the state 

 is over fifty inches, diminishing regularly to 

 about ten inches in the extreme west. So 

 too the surface rises from sea-level along the 

 gulf to the high plains 4,000 to 5,000 feet 

 higher, and to mountains which reach an 

 altitude of nearly 10,000 feet. On this di- 

 versified surface the forests have been dis- 

 tributed in a most varied pattern. The ' short- 

 leaf pine ' occupies a large area two to three 

 counties wide in the northeast, the ' long-leaf 

 pine ' a similar area in the southeast, while 

 "west of the latter is an area of ' loblolly pine.' 

 In the region west of the Pecos Eiver are 

 small areas of Eocky Mountain conifers. 

 Belts of live oak forests alternate with post 

 oak nearly halfway across the state from 

 southeast to northwest, at last passing into the 

 mesquite and chapparel of central and western 

 Texas. In addition to the forests of the gen- 

 eral surface, there are the ' hardwood forests ' 

 (composed of oaks, ash, hickory, walnut, gum, 

 elm, cotton wood, linden, maple, osage orange, 

 etc.) of the alluvial bottom lands bordering 

 the streams of the southeast half of the state. 

 A list of sixty ' valuable timber trees ' native 

 to Texas is compiled by the author, who adds 

 notes on their distribution, habits and uses. 



A second paper by Professor Bray (Bul- 

 letin 49) is entitled ' The Timber of the Ed- 

 wards Plateau of Texas,' and deals with the 

 southernmost province of the Great Plains 

 regioA where it ends abruptly at the Pecos 

 Eiver and the escarpment line extending east- 

 erly from its junction with the Rio Grande. 

 The annual rainfall averages twenty-five 

 inches, being as high as thirty-three inches 

 on its easterly side, and sinking to fifteen 

 inches on the west. The air humidity is 

 usually low, the annual evaporation amounting 

 to more than fifty inches. On this region the 

 forests are slowly spreading, or as the author 

 expresses it, there is ' a transition from grass 

 to woody growth.' The trees which make up 

 the forest areas on the plateau belong chiefly 



to the Atlantic type, and include elms, live 

 oaks, post oak, walnut, pecan, sycamore, green 

 ash, hickory, soapberry, etc. Prom the Eocky 

 Mountains have come the pinon pine, two or 

 three cedars and several oaks. The author de- 

 votes a considerable space to a discussion of 

 the encroachment of the forests upon the open 

 lands. " Though the encroachment of timber 

 on the prairie is gradual and insidious, to 

 those whose observation covers a space of 

 twenty-five years the change is truly startling. 

 Where at the beginning of that period the 

 prairie held undisputed sway, the observer now 

 finds himself shut in by miles of oak scrub 

 on every side. Men who drove cattle in the 

 early days say that they rode across an open 

 country from above Georgetown to the Colo- 

 rado breaks, in Williamson County. This 

 same region is now all heavily timbered." 



The third paper (Bulletin 48) is on 'The 

 Forests of the Hawaiian Islands,' by W. L. 

 Hall, of the bureau, who made a reconnoisance 

 of the forests of the islands in 1903. The 

 paper opens with the statement that there are 

 two very distinct kinds of forests on the 

 islands, one on the drier lowlands near the sea, 

 and the other on the mountain slopes where 

 there is a heavy rainfall. The first of these 

 consist of the single introduced tree, Prosopis 

 julifjora, known as ' algaroba ' on the islands. 

 It is the 'mesquite' of Texas and Mexico, 

 and was introduced by Father Bachelot, in 

 1837. From the original tree, which is still 

 standing, it is now estimated that at least 

 50,000 acres of forest have sprung, ' fairly well 

 distributed over the different islands.' The 

 native forests, which constitute the type and 

 occur on the mountain slopes, " are dis- 

 tinctively of tropical character. None of the 

 familiar trees of the north temperate zone are 

 present. The observer looks in vain for oaks, 

 maples, pines or spruces." Popular descrip- 

 tions are given of the more important trees, 

 lehua (Meirosideros polymorpha) , koa (Acacia 

 koa), mamane (Sophora chrysophylla) and 

 kukui (Aleurites triloba). Attention is called 

 to the decadence of the forests, due to the in- 

 roads of cattle, goats, insects and fire and in 

 many places to destructive cutting. The dan- 

 ger of a further reduction of the forest area is 



