Xo. 479] 



NOTES AND LITERATURE 



805 



The subject matter is considered under four main heads. Chapter 

 I is devoted to a general statement of the scope of ecology. Chapter II 

 deals with habitat, and contains a description of the instruments 

 and methods used in recording water-content, light-intensity, tem- 

 perature, soil, and other factors upon which the organism is (h pcndcnt. 

 Many of the methods described, have been elaborated by tlic auilior 

 in his own extensive work in the West. Chapter III', the Plant, 

 •considers the general relations, adaptations, and reactions of the 

 separate organism, while Chapter IV deals with the Formation in 

 its various aspects, and the methods of studying the relations that 

 groups of plants bear to one another and to their environment. 



This work should do much towards establishing ecology and experi- 

 mental plant evolution upon a firmer basis by pointing out the need 

 ^nd the method of making absolute determinations of factors, instead 

 of the inaccurate generalizations so often recorded. The time is 

 also not far distant when it will be a simple matter to determine, by 

 an examination of a given soil in a given situation, what plants are 

 best adapted to any portion of a single farm, so that agriculture may 

 be carried on under much more precise regulations. 



Althouo-h plants alone are dealt with in the present volume, many 

 of the ni('thi)il> described will have to be used in a more exact study 

 ot MMinial habitats, and here lies a large field as yet hardly more than 

 touched upon. The author recognizes the zonal distribution of 

 continental forms, and proposes a new nomenclature for these as 

 occurring in North America. Apparently, however, the areas already 

 recognized and named by American zoologists are ignored, and the 

 new classification given, does not seem as adequate as that now in 



A olossai}-, including numerous terms proposed by the author, 

 and a l)il)liooTa|)liy of plant ecology complete the book. Xotwith- 

 stan.linir the very d(>tailed statement of contents, the lack of an in.lex 



Cr. M. A. 



Moore's Universal Kinship ^ i> intiMuled as a ])i-otest atrainst that 

 attitude of the hmnan mind that would coiK'cive all aniniaU other 

 than man as man's just and leiritiniate |)rey. 'V\w autliur appears 



'Moore, J. II. 77,. Vnn;rsal Kinship. Chicago. Cluis. II. Kerr and 

 Co., 1906. 12nu), x + :«0 pp. $1.00. 



