CURRENT LITERATURE 
BOOK REVIEWS 
The Salton Sea 
The remarkable overflow of the Colorado River in 1905-1907, causing the 
submergence of a portion of the Paes ae a resulted in an expanse of 
waters known as the Salton Sea. At i aximum, this sea had a depth of 
84 feet and an area of 410 square ey a since the checking of the influx 
from the Colorado River in 1907, it has suffered an annual subsidence, due to 
the excess of evaporation over precipitation, averaging about 4.5 feet. These 
phenomena afforded excellent opportunities for ecological investigations of 
"a unique character, which have been conducted by the Department of Botanical 
Research of the Carnegie Institution.* 
The re port begins with an account of the discovery, exploration, and 
geologic history of the Cahuilla Basin, prepared by the late WiLt1aM P. BLAKE 
two years previous to his death in 1910. His connection with the exploration 
of the area extends from his discovery of the basin in 1853, when he was a mem- 
ber of the Williamson Expedition, to this last visit in 1906. Further details 
regarding the geographical features of the region are contributed by GODFREY 
YKES, who includes reproductions of some of the earliest maps, beginning he 
one by CAsTILLo made in 1541 and first published in 1770. E. E. FREE gives 
a sketch of the geology and a discussion of the two types of soil, the coarser 
composed of gravel and sand resulting from the decomposition of the granitic 
rocks in situ; the other, an alluvium of fine texture. Both are decidedly fertile, 
except for the local development of alkaline conditions. Ross and VINSON 
provide a comparison of the chemical composition of the water at various inter- 
vals from 1906 to 1913, showing a close resemblance to that of ordinary sea 
water and an increasing concentration of salts with the present continuous 
recession. The behavior of micro-organisms in the prme is reported by G. J. 
PEIRCE, a small red chromogenic bacillus attention. M.A. 
BRANNON, working at the Botanical Laboratory ‘of the University of Chicago 
upon the action of the Salton Sea water on vegetative tissues, reports no evi- 
dence of petrifaction of woody tissues, but a decortication of woody plants 
submerged for a year or more, due to the enzymic action of bacterial organisms 
upon the tissues of the cambium region. 
*MacDovueat, D. T., and Cottaporators, The Salton Sea. A wey of the 
geography, the geology, the floristics, and the ecology of a desert basi Carnegie 
- Inst. Pub. 193. pp. 182. figs. 4. pls. 32. 1914. 
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