No. 523] 



NOTES AND LITERATURE 



443 



fn *,■',<! lux Hose., will bite man under experimental conditions, 

 while the squirrel liens. HoplopstiUux ammiahis and Cerato- 

 phyllus acutus, feed readily on man 's blood. 10 The same authors 

 have also shown 11 that fleas from rodents will adapt themselves 

 to a host of a different species and that fleas from squirrels will 

 attack rats even in the presence of their normal host. Plague 

 bacilli have been demonstrated in both the common squirrel 

 flea, Ceratophyllus acutus, and also in the lice (probably Hoema- 

 topinus montanus) very commonly found on the same host. 12 

 Experimental work has also been done to determine the suscepti- 

 bility to bubonic plague of oilier rodents in which the disease 

 has not yet been reported under natural conditions.'"' Finally in 

 experimental cases 11 rat fleas have conveyed plague from rats to 

 ground squirrels and squirrel fleas from squirrel to squirrel, 

 and also to guinea pigs and rats. H. B. Ward. 



DESERT PLANTS 1 

 In the opinion of the reviewer, this book constitutes the most 

 noteworthy contribution thus far submitted from the Desert 

 Botanical Laboratory. In a measure it may be said to be the 

 outcome of previous contributions and others not hitherto pub- 

 lished. Investigations in progress there during the several years 

 since the establishment of the desert laboratory, while they have 

 a wider range of application, have centered in the effort to de- 



between desert environment and plant.-, in the desert. It in no 

 way detracts from the merit of Professor Spalding's contribution 

 to say that the results of these investigations constitute a promi- 

 nent feature of the book, and indeed it stimulates increased ap- 

 preciation of his work to observe that he assumed the difficult 

 task of so correlating the results of a staff of specialist investi- 

 gators as to bring about a reasonable measure of interpretation 

 of the role of environmental stimuli in shaping the origin, dis- 

 tribution, associations and movements of desert plants. The 

 book lays claim to being only a partial interpretation of the 



