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public; that is, the recognition and description of vegetational regions. Our author, a specialist and leader in this field, here gives us a brief sketch of the make up of the plant assemblages, or the vegetational physiognomy of each region.
That the vegetational regions here described are natural areas is indicated by the close harmony between these regions and the major provinces of Texas as defined by the soils, the outcropping rocks and sediments, the major physiographic subdivisions and the climatic 2,ones.
The delineation and description of all such natural regions is one of the pressing tasks of the scientist, eminently in this genera' tion, for it forms a basis for studies of population distribution, land use, erosion control, crop adaptability, and other fundamental human problems. Through these lines of research the future of much of the life and prosperity of the state will be determined; upon them may be based economic studies in practically all fields.
The lists of genera and families of the Texas ferns and flowering plants extend the information on the vegetational make-up of the different regions. These are amplified, for many plants listed, by further details of their life habitat.
The information given in this article on Texas vegetation forms the basic data of the plant ecology of Texas and is presented here in condensed form and comprehensive style from abundant data collected during many years by a large number of field workers and recorded in the herbarium of the University of Texas.
W. Armstrong Price
Introduction
