Reviews. 
363 
by all advanced students of both botany and chemistry, since it 
covers a more extensive field than any other work on vegetable 
chemistry published in English in recent years, and provides a 
compendium of information such as has hitherto been available 
only in the form of numerous separate monographs or in encyclo¬ 
paedias like those of Czapek, Wehmer, and Abderhalden, to mention 
only some of the recent biochemical compilations. 
The book appears to be remarkably free from misprints, though 
“ Priestly” occurs several times instead of “ Priestley,” and there 
are a few cases in which the same substance is given different 
names without any indication that these are examples of the 
richness of chemical nomenclature in synonymy—“ orcin ” and 
“ orcinol ” in successive paragraphs on p. 56, for instance. The 
book is exceedingly well got up, is published at an extremely 
moderate price, and will undoubtedly meet with a wide welcome as 
an indispensable work to all students of plant physiology. 
F.C. 
VEGETATION OF THE ENGADINE. 
“ Pflanzengeographische Monographic des Berninagebietes,” by 
Dr. E. Rubel. Leipzig (W. Engelmann), 1912. Price 8 Marks. 
HIS valuable and voluminous monograph may be taken as one 
1 of the best examples of an excellent series of works (1) on the 
vegetation of Switzerland by the phytogeographers of that interest¬ 
ing and beautiful country. The work is in two volumes, the first 
containing nearly 300 pages and the second rather more. The 
work begins with short accounts of the ecological factors, the 
climate, and the geological structure (by Dr. E. Blosch), and goes 
on to give a very full account of the vegetation. The second 
volume is of the nature of a Flora, and includes the mosses (by 
Dr. Th. Herzog), the lichens (by Professor G. Lindau), the fungi 
(by Dr. A. Volkart), and the plankton (by Dr. G. Huber). It will 
be seen therefore that Dr. Rubel has supplied botanists with a very 
comprehensive phytogeographical account of the Engadine. 
This district is known to a not inconsiderable number of 
British tourists; and the writer had the pleasure a few years ago 
of being conducted by Dr. Rubel over many parts of the area. The 
Engadine is in the south-eastern portion of Switzerland, on the 
confines of Austria and Italy, and is one of the richest floristic 
grounds in Europe. The highest altitude reached in the Engadine 
is the summit of the Piz Bernina, 4,055 m. (13,300 feet), and the 
lowest—near Samaden—1,700 m. (5,580 feet). It will be seen 
therefore that the whole district lies in the sub-Alpine and Alpine 
zones. 1 The rainfall varies from 63 cm. (25 inches) at Belvoir, to 
1 Wahlenberg’s (1811) “lower Alpine zone” begins at 1,789 m., bis 
“ higher Alpine zone ” at 2,112 m., and his “ niveal zone ” at 2,675 m., Christ’s 
(1907) “ zone of coniferous forests” begins at 1,800 m. (for northern Switzer¬ 
land) and 2,100 m. (for southern Switzerland), and his Alpine zone at 2,700 m. 
(for northern Switzerland) and 3,000 m. (for southern Switzerland). 
