POP ULAR MIS CELL ANT. 



853 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



The Cotton-Worm Investigation. The 



Commission for the investigation of the 

 cotton-worm has been organized under Pro- 

 fessor C. V. Riley as chief, and its members 

 have been stationed at different points in 

 the South to make local examinations. Pro- 

 fessor J. P. Stille, of Alabama, and Judge 

 J. W. Jones, will represent the Commission 

 in Texas ; Professor R. W. Jones, Dr. E. H. 

 Anderson, and Mr. Lawrence Johnson, in 

 Mississippi ; Mr. H. G. Hubbard, of De- 

 troit, Michigan, in Florida ; Professor Bar- 

 nard, of Cornell University, will fully study 

 those parts of Louisiana and Mississippi 

 which were neglected in 1878 and 1879 on 

 account of yellow fever ; Judge J. F. Bailey, 

 and Mr. James Roane, chemist, will make a 

 special series of experiments in Alabama; 

 Professor J. E. Willet will make experi- 

 ments in Georgia to test the usefulness of 

 fungus-germs in the destruction of the 

 worm. Maps are to be prepared by Pro- 

 fessor Smith, of the State University of 

 Alabama, showing the different cotton re- 

 gions classified with reference to the hiber- 

 nation of the insect. Professor Riley, be- 

 sides having the general superintendence of 

 the work, and advising with his assistants, 

 will collect information and make other 

 preparations for introducing the cultivation 

 of the pyrdhrum, which he believes will 

 afford a safe antidote for the worm. 



Changes in the IVatnral Vegetation at 

 San Francisco. Dr. Herman Behr has pub- 

 lished a description of the changes that 

 have taken place in the vegetation of the 

 San Francisco peninsula within the last 

 thirty years. The region was originally 

 distinguished by three types of landscape : 

 the sand-dunes and hills, covered with 

 live-oak, ceanothus, horse-chestnut, and wild 

 cherry, ferns, and common herbs ; an open 

 tract of grassy plains, with trees in the 

 ravines, and flowering plants ; and a marshy 

 plain, with boggy prairie, covered with a' 

 varied growth of bushes and herbaceous 

 plants. Now, the first-mentioned type of 

 vegetation, the chaparral, exists still in a 

 few spots ; the second, that of the pasture- 

 land, is to be met with still, wherever the 



distance from the city is considerable enough 

 to protect native vegetation ; but the third 

 type has entirely disappeared. In the course 

 of the extension of the city, Australian 

 evergreens and conifers ' form the Sierra 

 have largely replaced the original trees. 

 "Parallel with this artificial immigration 

 of Australian arborescents, goes on an her- 

 baceous immigration from Europe and Af- 

 rica." The thistle {Silybum marianum of 

 the Mediterranean region) has invaded both 

 California and South Australia, and, wher- 

 ever it gets a hold of the soil, all native vege- 

 tation disappears. The tree-lupines partic- 

 ularly suffer from its encroachment. An- 

 other weed, Cotula coronopifolia, a native of 

 South Africa, well known in Mediterranean 

 Europe, and which has invaded South Aus- 

 tralia, does the same work in moist ground 

 that is begun by silybum in more arid tracts. 

 It " has transformed the varied aquatic veg- 

 etation of the different places infested by 

 itself into one monotonous green mass with 

 yellow buttons." Dr. Behr regards as sig- 

 nificant that these two plants are congeni- 

 tal and belong to one of the most modern 

 orders, of which fossil specimens are found 

 in only the most recent formations, and to 

 which he attributes the vigor of youth. 



The Physiological Effects of Tea and 



Coffee. Professor Albert B. Prescott, M. D., 

 of the University of Michigan, has pub- 

 lished a paper, in " The Physician and Sur- 

 geon," on the physiological effects of coffee 

 as compared with those of tea, concerning 

 which the authorities are confusing and 

 little is really known. Inasmuch as the 

 chief constituents of both substances are 

 capable of determination, we ought to be 

 able to declare something, he thinks, as to 

 what there is in common between a me- 

 dium cup of coffee and an average cup of 

 tea. The effects of tea and coffee, he 

 continues, must be mainly due to the prop- 

 erties and proportions of the alkaloids, 

 tannin, volatile oils, and ordinary food-sub- 

 stances contained in them. As to the alka- 

 loids, no differences have been established 

 between theine and caffeine. In average 

 quantity, the alkaloid forms about one per 

 cent, of the raw coffee-berry, and two or 

 three per cent, of tea. A little of it, but very 

 little, is lost in roasting coffee. The greater 



