110 1.8.C. Proceedings of the Ninth [N.S., XVIII, 
needed as a basis for further work. TRANSEAU’s work! on 
periodicity in freshwater algae is an illustration of this type of 
investigation. 
Effect of man on vegetation.— Heretofore ecology has 
been concerned mainly with natural vegetation, and the effort 
has been to find areas that have come as little as possible 
in the Himalayas and in parts of the Peninsula. Th:re has 
not been much work directly attacking the problem of the 
population on vegetation. India and China are the two great 
fields for the study of this problem. Aside from the fact that 
man destroys the forests and to a large extent the herbaceous 
vegetation cover, we have little information. BurNs AND 
studied at every stage of progress. It seems probable that 
the present vegetation, especially forests, could be correlated 
with density of population, in much the same way as Bran- 
p1s* has done for rainfall. 
A knowledge of the effect of man on the vegetation will 
not only be of much scientific interest, but will undoubtedly 
prove to be of greatest practical value in future efforts to 
develop and conserve the vegetation resources of the country. 
This type of study is new, and India affords unusually favour- 
able material. 
GENETICS. 
Genetics has made rapid strides since the rediscovery of 
MENpDEL’s classical work in 1900. The subject is so attractive 
increasing number of botanists is going into it. Fundamental 
work on the underlying principles, including investigations 
into the cytological basis of heredity is as yet pretty definitely 
confined to the great research institutions of the West. } 
_We have a statement of the present position of genetics 
in India by Burns? in his presidential address before the 
Botany Section at Nagpur. Interest in the subject is evidenced 
! Transzav, E. N. The periodicity of freshwater algae Amer. 
Jour. Bot. 3: 121-133. 1916. 
2 Burns, W. andG. M,. Cuaxrapro. Anecological study of Deccan 
grassland. Jour. Indian Bot. 2: 84-91. 192l1. : 
Branpis, D, On the distribution of forests in India. Ocean High- 
ways 1872: 88-113. 1872. i 
_ * Burns, W. Some aspects of plant genetics. Proc. Seventh Indian 
Sci. Cong. 1920: 88-109. 1921. (Presidential address before the Sec 
tion Botany, Nagpur meeting of the Indian Science Congress.) 
ee i 
