CURRENT LITERATURE 
BOOK REVIEWS 
Vegetation in Belgium 
One of the most important of ecological investigations is represented by the 
work of Massart" along the Belgian coast and the neighboring alluvial lowlands. 
Perhaps no other similar work has been so detailed, and certainly no results of 
such a study have ever been presented in so sumptuous a form: Fora decade and 
a half Massart has carefully studied the restricted area here considered, and now 
there is presented a comprehensive monograph, though modestly entitled an 
essay. The first chapter deals with the past history of the region from the Miocene 
on. ‘The modern (Holocene) period was initiated by the withdrawal of the sea 
and the formation of extensive peat deposits. Later came another invasion of the 
sea, Roman remains having been found beyond the present shore line. In the 
ninth century A.p. the Normans began a system of diking, which arrested the 
incursions of the sea and incited dune formation. At present there are extensive 
dune areas near the French border and also beyond Ostend and near the Dutch 
border. The alluvial deposits include chiefly the polders, fertile tracts within the 
dunes lying below sea-level and lon g ago reclaimed from the sea. Flat depressions 
among the dunes are a as oiasaed sapere to be translated into English 
as “pans”’); an alluvia ig ae is called a slikke, 
while the higher level inundated at the highest tides is called a schorre. 
The second chapter, dealing with the conditions of plant seattle calls atten- 
tion to the imperfections of ordinary meteorological data; for example, readings 
of ordinary air temperatures mean but little and should ie replaced by readings of 
temperatures where the various plant organs, aerial and subterranean, are located; 
again it is shown how much more important are evaporation data than the more 
common humidity data. Various southern plants that cannot endure the winter 
at Brussels are uninjured on the coast. The influence of the winds on tree shape 
is very marked, and Massart agrees with those who regard the influence of salt 
in causing deformity as insignificant when compared with desiccation; the trees 
most likely to be deformed are the silver poplar, linden, and elm. Very full tables 
* Massart, J., Essai de Soper angina a districts littoraux et alluviaux 
de la Belgique, ay , trente-deux planches doubles 
= Phototypie, neuf planches de diagrammes et quatorse cartes. Recueil de I’Institut 
Botanique Lio ERRERA 167~584+pp. 121. 19 
Massart, Les aspects de la ee en Belgique; I. Massarr, J., 
Les districts littoraux et ene . pls. 86. Ministtre de Vintérieur et de l’agri- 
culture; Jardin botgnique de l’état. Brussels. 1908. 
395 
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