Books and Current Literature. 



115 



the opinion that the chemical composition of the substratum 

 is without influence on the vegetation here found, while its 

 physical character is important. The epiphytic vegetation is 

 more abundant in relatively shallow places, and falls off, both 

 in species and individuals, with increased depth. The ques- 

 tion of the reciprocal influence of epiphyte and supporting plant 

 is left open. Variations in salinity of the water are thought to 

 have little influence on distribution. Vertical distribution, 

 exhibited in connection with different depths of water, is a con- 

 spicuous phenomenon. There is a manifest relation of the 

 vegetation of the gulf to time of year. The "water spring" 

 begins in December and January. In April and May the flora 

 attains its maximum, after which it falls away, and in many 

 places almost disappears. 



Hayata publishes in the Journal of the College of Science 

 of the Imperial University at Tokio an Enumeration of the 

 Mountain Plants of Formosa, which occur at an altitude of 

 from 3,000 to 13,000 feet. The floristic relationship between 

 Formosa and neighboring countries is shown by a table, from 

 which it appears that botanically the island has the strongest 

 affinity to Central and Southern China and Japan; next to the 

 Himalayas; then to the Malay Peninsula and archipelago, and 

 to North China; and, lastly, to North America. The species 

 the distribution of which is limited to Formosa and Japan aie far 

 more numerous than those confined to Formosa and China, and 

 the number of genera found only in these islands is double that 

 of such kinds in Formosa and China. The suggestion is offered 

 that insular conditions are not the only cause of this floristic 

 affinity, and that it may be due to a land mass or mountain 

 chain, which by some geologists is conjectured to have existed 

 between the islands of Formosa and Japan at an earlier geologi- 

 cal period. 



Recent investigations of Fitting on Light Perception and 

 Phototropic Sensitiveness (Jahrb. f. wissenschaftl. Botanik) have 

 modified the views on this subject based on studies of Darwin 

 and Rothert. Having found that the growth of etiolated seed- 

 lings of various grasses is greatly retarded by exposure to light, 



