The Grasslands of the Falkland Islands. by William DaviesReview by: H. GodwinNew Phytologist, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Dec. 3, 1940), pp. 429-430Published by: Wiley on behalf of the New Phytologist TrustStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2428961 .

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Reviews 429 tion and utilization. The main commercial sources of starch are rather surprisingly restricted to a mere half-dozen-potato, sweet-potato and tapioca; and the cereals, maize, wheat and rice. Conversely, the uses of starch are remarkable for their variety and number. Starch is the main commercial source of maltose, glucose and dextrins, and an account is here given of the accidental discovery of British gum following a fire in a Dublin textile mill. Alcohol, acetone and vinegar are also commercial starch products. Pastes and vegetable glues (after treatment with alkali) are well-known uses of starch itself, as well as a whole range of powders used in cooking, confectionery and cosmetics. It is a much-debated point whether the swelling of starch grains used in face powders is likely to enlarge the pores and coarsen the skin. Some- what less familiar uses of starch occur in the manufacture of explosives, dry batteries and luminous paint. All these and many others are described in this volume. w. o. JAMES

Elementary Microtechnique. Second Edition, by H. A. PEACOCK. 72 X 42 in. Pp. viii + 330, with 2i figures in the text. London: Arnold. I940. Price gs.

This is a new and considerably enlarged edition of a useful and well-established handbook whose merits have already been described in this Yournal, 34, 262. New additions include a graded selection of type methods intended for the instruction of beginners and a simple method of dark-ground illumination. Considerable use has been made of suggestions and information offered by users of the first edition. A sound change in the new issue has been the systematic use of the nomenclature adopted by the United States Commission on Standardization of Biological Stains. As a measure of reinsurance, the Colour Index Numbers of the British Society of Colourists are given synonymously. w. 0. JAMES

The Grasslands of the Falkland Islands. By WILLIAM DAVIES. 92 x 6 in. Pp. 86, with i8 photographs and 2 maps. Crown Agents for the Colonies, 4 Millbank, London, S.W. I. I939. Price 5S.

The group of islands known as the Falklands lies about 300 or 400 miles east of the southern tip of South America. They have a total area of about 3,ooo,ooo acres, and a good deal of this is mountainous. Although they have the latitude of mid-Wales, the winter tempera- tures are somewhat lower and the summers considerably cooler. The climate is very variable from day to day, and the rainfall (of the order of 25 in. per annum) well distributed through the year. Snow comes often on the hills, but lies only a short time. Strong winds are very frequent.

The islands carry a sheep population of about 6,ooo,ooo, and the 2500 people live mainly by sheep farming. The country has much in common with the hill country of Wales, and ecologists will recognize the good sense which sent Mr Davies from the Welsh Plant Breeding Station at Aberystwyth to the Falklands to make an agricultural survey of the islands and of the problems of grassland management there. The need for scientific advice was indicated by the slow but progressive decline in sheep population since the turn of the century and the low average carrying capacity of the land, which now only supports about one sheep per 5 acres.

The author regards the natural climax vegetation as grassland, but mentions two native bushes which may once have been more important.

A feature of much interest is the belt of " tussac grass " (Poa flabellata) which extends, a few hundred yards wide, round the coasts of all the islands, where its presence may be determined by salt spray borne inshore by the wind, or by the high nitrogen of a dense seal and sea-bird occupation. The suggestion is made that this plant might, under suitable treatment, become a valuable source of winter feed for sheep, although it rapidly disappears under uncontrolled sheep grazing. Empetrum rubrum also covers large areas which tend to be near the coasts. Stockyards, sheep pens and penguin rookeries have pasture almost entirely dominated by Poa annua, an introduced species. Mr Davies points out the effects of selective grazing in causing overstocking on the dry ridges bearing Deschampsia flexuosa and Festuca ovina (native variety), and of the fertile, narrow valley floors which are dominated by Juncus scheuchzerioides. The " white grass ", Cortaderia pilosa, " enters practically every association, and is the dominant element in most plant communities ", but the green, closely grazed

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430 Reviews pastures near the settlements are composed of introduced bent (Agrostis sp.) and meadow grass (Poa pratensis). The author joyfully records the high productivity of wild white clover leys, and, as one might expect from Sir R. G. Stapledon's staff under these conditions, recommends their much extended use. "The greatest single factor in the pursuit of land improvement in the Falklands is the spread of wild white clover." At present the clovers spread only vegetatively, for the absence of bees precludes the setting of seed. It is recom- mended that suitable bees should be introduced to meet this difficulty. Bacterial inoculation will also be necessary, for appropriate nodule formers are practically absent from the natural soils.

Where the surface is peat-covered the ground is spoken of as " soft camp ", and typically this bears an association dominated by Cortaderia pilosa and Oreobolus obtusangulus. On very deep peat Rostkovia magellanica and Astelia pumila also enter. For such areas reclamation by drainage, burning, and resowing is advocated. The author describes the results of seeding and manuring trials organized from Aberystwyth in I935-6. Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata) and Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus) were the introduced grasses showing most promise, and Plantago lanceolata, Lotus major and Achillea millefolium also did well.

The manurial treatments gave rather perplexing results. In spite of low lime content there was no evidence of beneficial influence of liming, nor was phosphate manuring very effective. Everywhere a primary factor in amelioration is held to be the destruction of the tough peaty mat of undecomposed plant remains which covers the soil. We hope it is recog- nized how great the water-conserving powers of this mat will be, and trust its removal may not lead to the drastic soil erosion which has followed removal of the natural vegetation mat in so many other places. Organic manuring with offal and carcases had extremely great effects, comparable with those caused by animal droppings on spring and winter pastures in England. High nitrogen supply and particularly the growth of clover are shown greatly to improve biological soil activity, and promote the mat destruction.

Chemical analyses of native and introduced plants grown in the islands were made in Aberystwyth, and the tabulated results are seen to bear closely on the problems of a revised pasture management. The high protein, phosphorus, potassium and calcium content of two kelp samples is rather striking in view of the suggestion that in winter the Falkland sheep eat the seaweed cast up on the beaches.

Although the volume is written in a popular style with a view to its use by the island sheep farmers, enough will have been said to indicate the interest that it will hold for botanists. The book contains a simplified vegetation map of the islands and eighteen photographs illustrating their vegetation. H. GODWIN

Plant and Animal Communities. Edited by THEODOR JUST. 94 x 64 in. Pp. 255. Reprinted from the American Midland Naturalist. The University, Notre Dame, Ind., U.S.A. I939. Price $2.50.

At the end of August I938 a number of prominent ecologists, mostly American, held a symposium at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, to discuss the "status and delimitation of the fundamental entity of community study ". It was " conceived and directed " by Dr S. A. Cain. This book is a record of what was said at the conference, and we cannot better indicate its scope than by giving the names of the contributors and the titles of their papers:

H. S. Conard: Plant Associations on Land. G. E. MacGinitie: Littoral Marine Communities. F. E. Eggleton: Fresh-Water Communities. J. R. Carpenter: The Biome. H. A. Gleason: The Individualistic Concept of the Plant Association. T. Lippmaa: The Unistratal Concept of Plant Communities (The Unions). S. A. Cain: The Climax and its Complexities. A. E. Emerson: Social Coordination and the Superorganism. N. Tinbergen: On the Analysis of Social Organization among Vertebrates, with special

reference to Birds. T. Park: Analytical Population Studies in relation to General Ecology.

These papers have long and useful bibliographies, and the discussion which followed the reading of each contribution has been shortly reported. The condensed discussions are

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