53 



general is the predication of all the members of a class of that 

 which is intended to be predicated of only a part of the class. 

 Thus, on page loi of the present work we read, "all living things 

 cannot use the solar energy directly." Obviously(?), if this 

 were true, there would be no living things to pass judgment upon 

 other living things! But after all, that might be an advantage. 



A review of the zoological part of the book would not be ger- 

 main to a botanical journal, but we have no doubt that this 

 portion is characterized by the same scholarly treatment that 

 has always marked the author's zoological contributions. 



It is often mystifying to one that other people's views do not 

 closely agree with his own, and it is specially difificult for the 

 reviewer to understand why, to those institutions that have 

 departments of both botany and zoology, and that plan to offer 

 courses in "general biology," it does not seem perfectly obvious, in 

 the interest of highest efficiency, that the course should be planned 

 by the cooperation of the two departments, the study of plant 

 forms to be conducted in and by the department of botany, and 

 the study of animal forms only, by the department of zoology. 

 But, as the Quaker said to his wife, "Most people are peculiar 

 except thee and me, and thee is a little peculiar," 



C. Stuart Gager 



Shreve's A Montane Rain=forest* 



Many writers have called attention to the commanding influ- 

 ence of the great trade winds on the distribution of the West 

 Indian flora but the present book seems to be the first to critically 

 analyze one of the most characteristic regions in the West Indies, 

 the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, where a wonderful rain-forest 

 has developed on the windward side of the mountains. 



After giving a general account of the physical features of the 

 region and a discussion of its climate, together with a list of the 

 chief species found in the rain-forest, the author begins his major 

 problem which has been the physiological reactions of individual 

 plants to the environmental conditions. Among this intro- 



* Shreve, F. A montane rain-forest : A contribution to the physiological plant 

 geography of Jamaica. Publication No. 199 of Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

 pp. i-iio. pis. 1-29 -1- 18 figures. Price $1.50. Issued 12 September, 1914. 



