40 



more easily comprehended at a single glance. These details 

 however were probably not left entirely to the judgment of the 

 authors. 



In Dr. Chrysler's part some definite ratios of abundance are 

 given for the trees in certain habitats, but the herbs in most of 

 his lists seem to be arranged in Engler & Prantl sequence, with 

 no indication of relative abundance. Dr. Blodgett had to deal 

 with a rather complex region, in which he found it expedient 

 to describe almost every ridge and valley separately, and to mix 

 trees, shrubs, and herbs together in his habitat lists, as if in the 

 same order in which they were observed in the short time avail- 

 able for field work in that region. 



The chapter on agricultural features (Part 5), by Dr. Blodgett, 

 although it seems a little out of place in a volume devoted 

 primarily to phytogeography, is a valuable original contribution 

 to economic geography. After the history of settlement and 

 agricultural development of the state there follows a discussion 

 of the influence of soils on civilization, and then notes on the 

 distribution of several of the principal crops, illustrated by maps. 



Mr. Besley's remarks on forests (Part 6) are rather brief, but 

 it would be hard to cover the ground any better than he did 

 with the same number of words, and the forest industries of 

 Maryland are probably not important enough at the present time 

 to justify a more exhaustive treatment. 



In preparing the list of plants collected and observed. Dr. 

 Shreve did not waste any time ransacking old herbaria with a 

 view of citing every specimen ever collected in Maryland, but 

 included only plants which had been seen by him or his associates 

 or by local botanists still living in the state. The list therefore 

 makes no claim to completeness, but is primarily a taxonomic 

 index to the plants which are classified by habitat in Part 3. 



The nomenclature follows Britton & Brown's Illustrated Flora 

 (1896-1898), and all specific names are decapitalized, as has 

 been customary in Washington since 1893, but not so much else- 

 where. Numerous arbitrary "common" names which are never 

 seen outside of botanical literature have been inserted in the 

 catalogue, but this practice is not carried to the extreme that it 



