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Sierra Club Bulletin 



list, or "report," is supported by detailed mention of herbarium specimens ex- 

 amined by the author. The life-zone concept is of the very greatest interest — 

 and with what peculiar zest can Sierra Club members contribute to our knowl- 

 edge here ! For the plants do not always keep within their proper life-zones — if 

 we delimit the latter by altitude alone. High plants come down and lower ones 

 climb up, wherever local favoring influences permit these extensions of their 

 range. One of the most interesting of all phenomena, for instance, is the non- 

 identity in an ecological sense of the shaded south wall of our deep east-west 

 canons like Yosemite and the sunny north wall of the same canon. On the lat- 

 ter slopes, which are fully exposed to the sun, one may be surprised to find 

 plants commonest a full thousand feet or more lower in altitude. Thus, Dr. 

 Harvey M. Hall tells me he has encountered the Soap-Plant (Chlorogalum 

 pomeridianum) belonging to the Upper Sonoran at the base of the upper Yo- 

 semite Falls, and conversely, while crossing moist places on the opposite canon, 

 found beds of Dodecatheon alpinnm of the Canadian zone as low as forty- 

 seven hundred feet. 



Dr. Smiley's work is undoubtedly intended for experts in this field, but it 

 can be employed to a considerable extent by those without such knowledge, and 

 should interest Sierra Club members further because of the need for such an 

 authoritative list by which the amateur may "check up" his findings. The ex- 

 pert will view with interest the decision of the author as to terminology, and 

 complain, for instance, that he occasionally adopts names which are overruled 

 by his own comment, so that it appears he has not sufficiently the courage of 

 his convictions — e. g., Saxijraga ledijolia for S. Tolmiei, Mertensia stomatechi- 

 aides for M. ciliata, etc. — or if not so interested in the author's critical opinion 

 in synonomy, will value it chiefly for its habitat-range and zone-notes. Here 

 again the author may be asked as to why Gilia tinctoria or Viola Sheltonii do 

 not deserve admission to the boreal group of the region, for they are not stran- 

 gers to the Canadian zone. 



The work has wider significance. It is significant that a scholar has com- 

 bined actual field experience in the Sierra with access to eastern libraries and 

 herbaria where many of the type specimens are stored, and has enumerated 

 the plants which he thinks must be recognized as belonging to the high moun- 

 tain flora of the Sierra Nevada, with specific notes as to type locality, the range 

 of the plant, and its typical life-zone. Exactly such a list has not hitherto been 

 compiled, and its existence will not only aid other botanists but those of hum- 

 bler aim who live during a portion of each year for some enchanting days 

 amidst the flower gardens of our Alps. Herbert M. Evans 



Edge oe the If William Beebe does not start the nature-loving folk of the 

 Jungle* United States on annual pilgrimages to the tropical jungles of 



British Guiana in South America it will not be his fault. This 

 latest of his books contains more of his experiences in this region, told with all 

 the charm of his earlier companion volume. Jungle Peace. The first chapter, 



*Edge of the Jungle. By William Beebe. Henry Holt and Company, New York. 1921. 

 Pages, 303. Price, $2.50 net. 



