1g15] CURRENT LITERATURE 421 
represents the climax forest of the region. (3) Then comes a mixed forest 
occupying only some 6 per cent of the wooded area and made up partly of a 
combination of the previously mentioned types and partly of a swamp type in 
which Fraxinus nigra, Thuja occidentalis, and Abies balsamea are dominant, 
(4) Finally, there are areas formerly mostly pine forests, but repeatedly burned 
after cutting and now occupied by a pioneer association dominated by Populus 
tremuloides and Betula alba. It comprises some 56 per cent of the forested 
area, occupying the thin soils over the granitic or crystalline rocks or the deeper 
sandy plains and sandy ridges. While potentially pine forest areas, these 
poplar-birch forests are usually so entirely without pine that only by a system 
of planting could they be brought to their original richly productive condition. 
OWE reviews at some length the economic loss involved in the forest fires 
so prevalent in the past and still occurring annually over this region, and shows 
the true economy of the preventive measures he recommends. 
A discussion of the economic and industrial conditions by Wutre and an 
introduction by FERNow both show the futility of attempting agriculture in a 
region so little suited to crop production, and the great importance of having 
it organized into a forest reserve under government control with scientific 
supervision. 
The illustrations, the excellent index, and the mapping of the distribution 
of the forest types described all add to the value of the report.—Geo. D. 
FULLER 
Paleobotanical notes.—SEWARD” has published an account of the ant- 
arctic (“Terra nova’’) fossil plants collected by the British Antarctic Expe- 
dition of rgr0, being the first of the geological memoirs completed. A general 
account of the various expeditions to this region is given, followed by a descrip- 
for certain identification. Among the descriptions are two new genera, 
obtained from what are probably Mesozoic beds: Antarcticoxylon (presumably 
the stem of a gymnosperm) and: Pityosporites (thought to be a winged pollen 
grain of some nosperm). Various remains of Glossopteris were also identi- 
fied, and the occurrence of this genus in the antarctic regions suggests a general 
iim of the wide uniformity of climatic conditions during the later 
Paleozo 
masta 3 in another paper discussing the Wealden floras, calls attention 
to the surprising similarity in the general appearance of the floras of Japan, 
South Africa, North America, South America, Europe, and the Arctic regions. 
“Tn the Wealden period the type of vegetation was very similar to that which 
flourished through the greater part of the world during the whole of the Jurassic, 
*Sewarp, A. C., Antarctic fossil plants. British Museum, Brit. Antarctic 
Exped. 1910. Geol. 1:1-49. pls. 1-8. 1914. 
™ , Wealden floras. Hastings and East Sussex Nat. 2:126-142. pl. 2. 
1914, 
