1911] CURRENT LITERATURE 305 
seem to prove conclusively that OLTMANN’s intensity theory is right, and that 
Sacus’s ray direction theory is wrong. This chapter alone is no mean con- 
tribution. 
At many points the author opposes LoEs’s conception of response. This 
is done with vigor, if not with feeling. Quotations from the summary of part 
II put forth some of the questions in dispute: ‘There is no conclusive evidence, 
except perhaps in animals with image-forming eyes, showing that light acts 
continuously as a directive stimulus, that symmetrically located sides are 
continuously stimulated, equally when the light intensity on them is equal, 
unequally when it is not, and this regulates orientation by regulating the 
tate of motion of the locomotor apparatus on the two sides as is demanded 
by the theories of DECANDOLLE, Lor, VERWORN, DAVENPORT, and RADL.” 
“There is no conclusive evidence showing that orientation in light is ever 
due to tropic reaction in any organisms, if the definitions of tropisms given by 
Logs, VERWorN, or RApL are used as criteria.” 
“The idea of reactions to change of intensity, however, is not original 
with Logs, as is sometimes assumed. e explanations of reactions to light 
given by ENGELMANN, BERT, GARBER, LUBBOCK, ROMANES, Darwin, and 
others, all of whom preceded Logs, were largely founded on this idea.”’ 
The work in the main agrees with JENNINGS’ results and conclusions from 
his extensive studies. It supports his views on trial reactions, motor reflex, 
Physiological state, and the adaptive character of reactions—WILLIAM 
CROCKER. 
MINOR NOTICES 
Trees and shrubs of Southern California——Abrams' has published the 
Tesults of an extended field and herbarium study of the trees and shrubs of 
Southern California. The territory involves about 40,000 square miles, or 
approximately one-fourth the area of the entire state. The author gives a 
careful consideration of the general physiographic and phytogeographic fea- 
tures of the southern portion of the state, and divides this area into three floral 
Tegions: (1) the coastal slope, (2) the mountain, and (3) the desert. The species 
of the first region are said to be “ principally of Californian origin,” of the 
Second “boreal or of boreal ancestry,” and of the third “endemic or migrants 
from the Great Basin, Sonora, or Lower California.” Each floral region is 
divided into zones, in accordance with MERRIAM’s outline, and these again are 
defined and characterized in more or less detail. 
€ body of the work bears the modest title of “ Annotated catalogue of 
the southern California trees and shrubs.” It is indeed far more that the 
term “catalogue” implies, since the text is provided with succinct keys to 
Benera and species in most of the larger groups; there is also a limited amount 
of Synonomy, copious notes, and ample citation of exsiccatae. New species 
lea LeRoy, A phytogeographic and taxonomic study of the southern 
fornia trees and shrubs. Bull. N.Y. Bot. Gard. 6: 300-485. pls. 10. 1910. 
