190 



OF INTEREST TO TEACHERS 



Biological Geography 



Under this heading the Association of American Geographers, 

 at the Boston meeting in December, tabulated the following 

 statements for part of the discussion at the round table conference 

 on the organic side of geography, its nature and limits : 



The factors of a plant habitat are all more or less geographical, 

 but the investigation of some, such as light, pressure, polarity 

 and gravity belongs in high degree to the expert in structural 

 and physiological botany. 



The relation of plants to other factors, as water, is of the high- 

 est importance to the geographer and offers a common field of 

 investigation. 



It makes small difference who does this work, and whether he 

 is called a botanist, an ecologist, a geograplfer, a geographical 

 botanist, or a botanical geographer. 



In any case the results are available both to the botanical ex- 

 pert and to the geographer for their special purposes. 



The distribution of animals is zoo-geographical. The investi- 

 gator may be a geographer or a zoologist, or both combined. 



Insect and germ life in relation to public health, both in trop- 

 ical and temperate regions, require medical, biological, and geo- 

 graphic experience in the investigator. The subject therefore has 

 a place in geographic investigation and education. 



Animal life is related to agriculture and to food. Commercial 

 geography should go further in recognizing advances in animal 

 industry, and in taking account of importations, game protection 

 and the control of disease. 



The student who is more zoologist and less geographer or 

 more geographer and less zoologist would be capable of certain 

 work, but the investigator must have training in both fields. 



The aims they state are practical rather than theoretical, and 

 directed toward securing the best available conception of the 

 earth and its. life which is possible to the present generation. 



