2 52 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



can Phylloxera upon the tender European varieties of grapes. These 

 injuries became so serious that in 1872 the trouble was known not only 

 in France, but in Portugal, Switzerland, Germany and England, and 

 the entire grape and wine industry of Europe was threatened with 

 annihilation. Eiley became much interested in the problem of con- 

 trolling the pest and finally hit upon the plan of grafting the sus- 

 ceptible European varieties upon roots of the resistant American 

 species. This simple expedient undoubtedly saved the grape industry 

 of Europe and also incidentally prevented a tremendous loss of money. 



The second case was one of purely scientific value and interest. 

 Dr. George Engelmann had noted that the character of the pollen of 

 Yucca indicated that pollination of the flowers must be accomplished 

 by some kind of an insect. Eiley took up this hint and finally, with 

 the aid of his assistants, discovered that the pollination was actually 

 performed by the Pronuba and Prodoxus moths. This line of work 

 was continued for twenty years, and a series of publications upon it 

 issued at various times during this period. 



Incidentally his work was of interest to botanists in many other 

 cases, but these two seem especially noteworthy. He won an enviable 

 reputation among entomologists the world over. He died the latter 

 part of the year 1895. 



Because of her botanical work, as well as her association with Dr. 

 Eiley in working out the pollination of Yucca and other problems. Miss 

 Mary E. Murtfeldt deserves mention. In 1885 Professor S. M. Tracy, 

 then of Columbia, Missouri, published a list^* of the plants of the 

 state. In this list one finds many species from the vicinity of St. Louis 

 credited to " Murtfeldt " as their collector. These specimens were 

 collected by Miss Murtfeldt not long before the publication of the 

 " Tracy " list and are still in her possession, forming a collection of 

 about 500 numbers. Miss Murtfeldt's first scientific work was in bo- 

 tanical lines, but this later changed to entomology, her botanical knowl- 

 edge being indispensable in following out the life histories of new or 

 little known insects upon their host plants. Many of her later botan- 

 ical specimens are of much interest from the entomological standpoint 

 and were prepared for that purpose alone. Miss Murtfeldt is well 

 known among entomologists for her work, which has been mostly of 

 this nature. 



In 1874 Mr. Henry Eggert, as he was known, came to St. Louis, 

 went into business, and began the study of the local flora and the for- 

 mation of an herbarium which probably represented the flora of that 

 vicinity at the time of his death, the best of any in existence. Eggert 

 came to America from Prussia when about thirty years of age; he had 

 already collected and studied the plants of different sections in Europe, 

 =>* Tracy, S. M., "Flora of Missouri," Mo. State Hort. Soc. Report (Ap- 

 pendix), 1-106, 1885. 



