BOTANY AT S8T. LOUIS 252 
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. Riley 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. Riley took up this hint and finally, with 
the aid of his assistants, discovered that the pollination was actually 
performed by the Pronuba and Prodoxvus 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. 
Riley 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 _ or 
little known insects upon their host plants. Many of her later ot 
ical specimens are of much interest from the entomological copa 
and were prepared for that purpose alone. Miss Murtfeldt id an 
known among entomologists for her work, which has been mostly 
this nature. 
In 1874 Mr. Henry Eggert, as h : 
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 setgeree | ~ ab 
came to America from Prussia when about thirty years ot age Ag 
already collected and studied the plants of different — in a 
* Tracy, S. M., “Flora of Missouri,” Mo. State Hort. sina ta a 
pendix), 1-106, 1885. 
e was known, came to St. Louis, 
