Book Reviews. 



8i 



BOOK REVIEWS 



Edited by Marion Randall Parsons, 



"My First Summer The January, 1911, number of the Atlantic 

 IN THE Sierra." Monthly has as its leading article the open- 

 ing chapters of Mr, Muir's forthcoming 

 book, "My First Summer in the Sierra," For forty years this 

 journal of a mountaineer's first introduction to the mountain 

 world has lain fallow to be given forth now enriched by the 

 wealth of his wider experience and yet with all the joyousness 

 and charm of his fresh outlook and youthful enthusiasm. Lovers 

 of Mr. Muir's work will anxiously await the ensuing numbers 

 and think themselves fortunate in thus being able to become 

 acquainted with portions of a book which, in the opinion of those 

 who have seen the advance sheets, is a masterpiece. M, R, P. 



"The Silva A volume of uncommon interest to members 



OF California." of the Sierra Club reached us as we were 

 on the point of going to press. This is the 

 long expected "Silva of California,"* by Professor Willis Lynn 

 Jepson, of the University of California. It is published as the 

 second volume of the "Memoirs of the University." Counting its 

 generous margins the book is of more than quarto dimensions, 

 has 480 pages, 85 handsome full-page plates, and three large folding 

 maps. We regret that there is not time to give it a more exhaustive 

 review with reference to its scientific merits. But we do not 

 think that any one will doubt Professor Jepson's scientific equip- 

 ment for the task he has completed in this volume. He is easily 

 the foremost authority on the flora and silva of California, and 

 his work represents nineteen years of careful study in the field 

 in all parts of CaHfornia, These first-hand studies have been 

 supplemented by a survey of extant literature on the silva of 

 California, beginning with the Malaspina and Vancouver expedi- 

 tions down to the present time ; also, by comparison with early 

 type specimens of the California flora preserved in the leading 

 European herbaria. 



A feature of special interest to our Club members is the 

 author's discussion of the geographical distribution of California 



* The Silva of CaHfornia. By Willis Lynn Jepson. Memoirs of the 

 University of California, Vol. II. The University Press, Publishers, Berke- 

 ley, Cal. 1910. Pp. 1-480, plates 1-85, maps 1-3. Price, unbound, $9.00; 

 bound, $10.00; express prepaid, $10.80. For sale by the University Press, 

 Berkeley, and by Paul Elder & Co., San Francisco, Cal. 



