520 
REVIEWS. 
Observation on Growth in the Tropics. 
(M. Burgew : Einige Wachsthumsbeobachtungen aus den 
Tropen. Ber. XXI., 1903, p. 435.) 
This paper deals with the rates of growth of a species of Costus, of 
the young shoots of Brownea grandiceps and of Albizzia moluccana— 
all plants well known to residents in Ceylon. The Costus was 
observed to excrete large quantities of water by night from the inner 
surface of the leaf bases, and the evaporation of this water by day 
left a series of high water marks from which the daily rate of growth 
of individual internodes could be ascertained. Growth was rapid at 
night, but very slow by day. The average growth of a whole shoot 
during fifteen days in November was 5*4 cm. in twenty-four hours. 
R. H. L. 
Anatomical and Physiological Investigations in 
the Tropics. 
(Anatomisch-physiologische Untersuchungen in den Tropen. 
Von Dr. Carl Holtermann.) 
Professor Dr. Carl Holtermann worked at Peradeniya from 
November 29, 1900, to April 27, 1901. The paper- under review 
should be regarded as a preliminary to a more detailed work des¬ 
cribing the results of Holtermann’s observations on the leaf-fall and 
transpiration of plants in Ceylon. 
After describing the meteorological conditions and general characters 
of the flora prevailing in wet and dry districts in Ceylon, the author 
proceeds to dwell on the leaf-fall of tropical trees. He points out 
that in Ceylon there are no forests, the trees of which completely lose 
their leaves for a long period, and contrasts this with the forests of 
Tectona grandis (Teak) which he has seen in Java. He was particularly 
struck with the fact that with very few exceptions Ceylon possesses 
evergreen trees. He states that the flora of Ceylon contains, perhaps, 
10-15 deciduous trees, and that none of them are endemic to the island; 
subsequent observations, which appear in this number of the “Annals of 
Peradeniya,” will perhaps lead to a slight modification of this statement, 
though the impression which Holtermann describes is certainly correct. 
There are very few deciduous trees in Ceylon, and only a small 
proportion of the species which are periodically leafless are endemic. 
In the paper on Foliar Periodicity I intend to show that there are 
about 770 endemic species in Ceylon, over 280 of which belong to the 
arborescent class. About 17 of the endemic species and 78 indigenous 
species are deciduous and undergo a leafless phase for varying periods 
of time. Holtermann briefly describes the nature of the defoliation 
or foliar renewal in Tectona grandis, Odina Wodier, Melia dubia, 
