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The Plant World 



Aspects of Vegetation in Belgium is the title in English of a 

 beautiful work by Messrs. Bommer and Massart, professors in 

 the University of Brussels. The first volume, by Professor Mas- 

 sart, bearing date of 1908, includes the littoral and alluvial dis- 

 tricts, which are represented by eighty-six large plates from photo- 

 graphs. On each plate, as a rule, is given the latitude and longi- 

 tude, ^citude, direction of view, and date of photograph — thus 

 afTor .u'g a means of noting changes that occur from year to year 

 — conditions determining the association represented, and brief 

 descriptions of vegetation and physical features. For the rest 

 the photographs tell their own story, and so effectually that by 

 studying them in connection with the descriptions one who is 

 accustomed to such work gains a conception of the physiography 

 and plant associations of the dunes and adjacent low parts of 

 Belgium, second in value only to what would be obtained by a 

 somewhat protracted stay in that country. A remarkable de- 

 gree of success has attended the attempt of the authors to exhibit 

 to the eye the dominant influence of single factors. Some of the 

 most striking cases are brought out in the plates showing the 

 associations of fixed and shifting dunes, the direct action of 

 wind on trees, distribution of water, poverty of mineral con- 

 stituents of the soil, mildness of winter climate affecting distri- 

 bution, action of salt water, and changes induced by cultivation. 

 Four more parts of this work are to follow, two by M. Massart, 

 and two by M. Bommer. 



