94 ERYTHEA. 
long forthcoming; and in Mr. Berthoud’s paper there is no 
more evidence of such mode of plant dissemination than 
there is that the man in the moon is a buffalo hunter. Mr. 
Berthoud says he read Wallace’s “Island Life.” We perceive 
that that fine book excited his imagination to such an unfor- 
tunate degree as to have led him into two erroneous fancies; 
namely, that he knew some plants by their botanical names, 
and that he could write an argument.—Epw. L. GREENE. 
“The California Vine Disease.” By Newton B. PIerce. 
Bulletin No. 2, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Divi- 
sion of Vegetable Pathology. Washington, 1892. 
This pamphlet of 222 pages is the preliminary report of 
investigations by the author, covering a period of ten months 
spent in Southern California, and of five months in the vine- 
yards of the Mediterranean region, whither he went at his 
own expense for a careful comparative study of allied foreign 
diseases. 
The malady known as “The California Vine Disease”’ 
seems to have originated about the year 1885 in Anaheim, 
Orange County, whence it rapidly spread in Orange, Los 
Angeles and San Bernardino counties, destroying whole vine- 
yards. The direct loss caused thus far by the disease is 
estimated at several million dollars. The report opens 
with an historical sketch of the grape industry in Southern 
California and then follows an exhaustive collection of 
facts obtained with the view of determining the bearing 
of soil, irrigation, drainage, temperature, rainfall, ete., upon 
the strange affection. Mr. Pierce is convinced that these 
conditions have only an indirect relation, if any, to the 
ease, although the bearing of heat is worthy of further 
consideration. The histological and physiological study 
of the diseased tissues has been begun but that part of 
the work is not yet sufficiently complete to be reported 
upon. Bacteria have been found in the affected vines 
and have been isolated and cultivated, though inocula- 
