226 

 REVIEWS 



The Salton Sea* 



The flooding of Salton Sink, in 1907, was the beginning of a 

 problem that offered many attractions to botanists and a history 

 of those investigations is contained in the volume now issued by 

 the Carnegie Institution. The breaking of the banks of the 

 Colorado and the consequent flooding of a region of about 450 

 square miles, the final control of the river and the gradual 

 recession of the water b}^ evaporation has made a condition 

 that is perhaps unique in the world. Dr. MacDougal was quick 

 to detect the unrivalled opportunity to study the revegetation of 

 the banks of a slowly drying inland sea, and the thoroughness 

 with which the undertaking has been carried on is evidenced 

 by the list of articles in the accompan^dng footnote. 



From the purely ecological and phj^togeographical standpoint 

 the contributions of Dr. Parish and Dr. MacDougal are the most 

 interesting, but their work necessarily rests on the foundation 

 erected by the other contributors to the volume. The descrip- 

 tion of the revegetation of the beaches, caused by the gradual 

 drying up of the sea (nearly 10 square miles annually was thus 

 added), and the discussion of the factors that pla^^ed their part 

 in the process, are the chief contributions of the volume. There 

 are bound up with such studies great problems of general bearing,^ 

 dealing with the behavior of plants under new and constantly 



* MacDougal, D. T. and collaborators. The Salton Sea, a study of the 

 geography, the geology, the floristics and the ecology of a desert basin. 182 pp. + 

 32 plates + 4 figures in the text. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 

 No. 193. 30 June, 1914. Containing: The Cahuilla Basin and desert of the 

 Colorado, by W. P. Blake, pp. 1—12; Geographical features of the Cahuilla 

 Basin, by G. Sykes, pp. 13-20; Sketch of the geology and soils of the 

 Cahuilla Basin, by E. E. Free, pp. 21-33; Chemical Composition of the water of 

 Salton Sea and its annual variation in concentration 1906-1911, by W. H. Ross^ 

 PP- 35-46; Variations in composition and concentration of water of Salton Sea, 

 1912 and 1913, by A. E. Vinson, pp. 47-48; Behavior of certain micro-organisms in 

 brine, by G. J. Pierce, pp. 49-70; Action of Salton Sea water on Vegetable Tissue, 

 by M. A. Brannon, pp. 71-78; The tufa deposits of the Salton Sink, by J. C. Jones, 

 PP- 79-84; Plant ecology and floristics of Salton Sink, by S. B. Parish, pp. 85-114; 

 Movements of vegetation due to submersion and desiccation of land areas in Salton 

 Sink, and a General Discussion, both by D. T. MacDougal, pp. 11 5-182. 



