r915] CURRENT LITERATURE 239 
coriaceous succulent leaves of the epiphytes, and the mesophytic shade leaves 
of the herbaceous plants, to filmy ferns with leaves composed of a single layer 
of cells. The effect of rainfall upon the foliage is reported elsewhere? and it 
is seen that, with a single exception, all adult leaves are wettable. In spite 
of this, edie nn the Genie wad os smemrteile any four eed plants and 
two ferns h 
nor conspicuous. Injected leaves were seen only once, and that after five days 
of violent rains, when those with as well as those without hydathodes alike 
recovered, showing no evidence of injury. The wettable leaf surface reduces - 
the water intake from the shoot, but does not reduce the temperature to an 
extent sufficient materially to affect Sips nee Epiphyllous plants are 
common in the ravines, and in other situations of maximum humidity. ey 
are favored by the wet leaf surfaces, nor do the dvibping points, when devel- 
oped, so greatly promote drying as to reduce the probability of the leaves 
being thus overgrown. The epiphyllae are mostly Hepaticae of the genus 
Lejunea. 
Most of the conclusions arrived at in these two publications are the result 
of experiment, and are supported by qualitative data, thus marking a new era 
in the investigation of tropical vegetation, and necessitating a readjustment of 
many generalizations resting upon less definite evidence. Taken together, 
they form one of the most notable of recent contributions to our knowledge of 
rain- a phenomen 
mportance s the Cinchona Botanical Station, the headquarters from 
which ce investigations were carried on, has been emphasized quite recently 
by JoHNnson,3 who draws attention to its many advantages for the student 
who would become familiar with a great variety of tropical conditions or who 
would undertake the solution of some of the many ecological and physiological 
problems of tropical vegetation. Situated upon the slopes of the Blue Moun- 
tains at an altitude of about 1500 meters, it has a climate agreeable to inde 
from temperate zones, a supply of pure water, freedom from tropical dise. 
and yet from it as a center easy access may be had both to the higher ie of 
the forest-covered mountains, now reserved by the government of the island as 
a watershed, and to the more torrid plains below. It has an equipment of 
residence, laboratories, and greenhouses capable of affording accommodations 
for eight or ten workers, and gardens and grounds planted with species from 
other tropical and temperate lands. In addition, two botanical gardens situ- 
ated in the lowlands can be used as substations of the main laboratory. One 
at Castleton has an altitude of 150 meters and a rainfall of 355 cm., while the 
other at Hope at a similar altitude has less than half as much precipitation. 
? SHREVE, The direct effects of rainfall on hygrophilous vegetation. 
Jour: Ecol. 2: 
3 saad Dz. S., a Cinchona Botanical Station. Pop. Sci. Monthly 85:512- 
539. 1914; 86:33-48. I915 
