-add five--Vegetation of Wisconsin

oaks and prairies on dry sites. To the north are found the lowland conifer communi-
ties, the hardwood lowlands with black ash and yellow birch, the moist uplands with
mixed conifers and hardwoods, and the dry upland pineries. And each of these forest
types has a characteristic assortment of herbs and shrubs growing beneath the trees.
In all, the volume summarizes the available knowledge concerning 21
major vegetational communities found in Wisconsin, in addition to 12 types of lesser
importance.
A concluding chapter points up the intricate inter-relationships between
all of these types, and here Curtis, in summary, says: "It is the task of phytosocio-
logy to describe the combinations of plants that do occur in each region of the
world...and to reach an understanding of the material and energy changes which take
place within them."
Curtis has contributed much to attaining this goal for Wisconsin, in
addition to amassing much fundamental knowledge needed for an underatanding of the
relationships between vegetation and climate, and the role of forests in regulating
stream flow, stabilizing water tables, and producing and maintaining soil cover.
The author is professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin,
where he has been a member of the faculty since 1937. He has directed the work of
the Plant Ecology Laboratory since its inception more than a decade ago, taking
leave for wartime research in Haiti and for two Guggenheim Fellowships, and also
serves as chairman of the University's Arboretum Committee.