International Excursion in America. 333 
Autumn Colours. 
After a few clays spent in Chicago the writer travelled to Boston 
and thence sailed for England. In the New England and adjoining 
states—especially in the Berkshire Hills (New York)—the autumn 
colours were in their full glory. The greater richness and variety of 
the autumn colouring seems to be due to the much greater variety 
of trees and shrubs as compared with north-western Europe, rather 
than to climatic differences. Thus there is a greater absolute 
number of species which show beautiful and conspicuous colours, 
such as crimson, rose-red and orange, than is the case in our own 
much poorer woody flora. The autumn in Illinois, Indiana, and in 
New York and the New England states was, at least in 1913, 
distinctly earlier than in England. The trees at Chicago had lost 
more leaves at the beginning of October than our own past the 
middle of the month, when the landscape and gardens still full of 
flowers showed almost a late summer aspect. There must indeed 
have been three weeks or even a month’s difference between the 
seasons. This may have been partly due to the very hot American 
summer and the cool British summer of 1913. The spring at Boston 
in mid-May was certainly no more or even less advanced than 
that of central England at the end of April. Both these things are 
no doubt mainly due to the continental as opposed to our insular 
climate. 
I cannot close this rather sketchy account of the American 
I. P. E. of 1913, without again trying to express the deep indebted¬ 
ness of all the members of the party to our American hosts, who, one 
and all, did everything in their power to make our visit pleasant and 
profitable. Certainly no member of the international party will ever 
forget the overwhelming impressions we received of American land¬ 
scapes and vegetation, designed truly on the grand scale, or of 
unrestrained American hospitality. Apart from these the most vivid 
impression I personally obtained was of the earnestness and single- 
mindedness of American science. In the vast field of ecology 
America has secured a commanding position and from the energy and 
spirit with which the subject is being pursued by very numerous 
workers and in its most varied aspects, there can be little doubt that 
her present pre-eminence in this branch of biology—one of the most 
promising of all modern developments—will be maintained. 
