332 Scientific Intelligence. 



the European Tertiaries, and of these about half occur in the 

 lower Miocene (Oligocene) beds of Sotzka, Sagor, Having, etc., 

 and a few in the Eocene. l. f. w. 



11. Das australische Florenelement in Europa y von Dr. 

 Coxstantix Freiherrn von Ettixgshausex. Graz, 1890. 10 pp. 

 1 pi. 4°. — This is a systematic reply to various recent criticisms, 

 particularly one by the Marquis Saporta, of the view first sug- 

 gested by the author in 1850, and independently near the same 

 time by Dr. Franz Unger, which afterwards received the sanc- 

 tion of Prof. Oswald Heer, that the Tertiary flora of Europe has 

 a strongly marked Australian facies in the possession of such 

 genera as Eucalyptus, Dryandra, Banksia, Leptomeria, Casuarina, 

 etc. The critics deny the generic identity of these forms, and 

 Baron von Ettingshausen has here selected some of the most 

 striking cases and presented them anew in comparison with the 

 living plants. Some of the cases are undoubtedly sustained, but 

 in that of Dryandra, until something besides leaves are dis- 

 covered, it will always be possible to consider the specimens as 

 representing the genus Myrica. l. f. w. 



12. TJntersuchungen uber Ontogenie unci Phylo genie der Pflan- 

 zen auf palciojitologische Grundlage ; von Prof. Dr. Constaxtix 

 Freiherrn von Ettixgshafsex und Prof. Franz Krasax. Denk- 

 schr. d. math.-naturw. CI. d. k. Akad. d. Wiss. Wien, Bd. LVII, 

 Wien, 1890, 36 pp. 5 pi. Also separate. — This paper follows 

 naturally upon the series by the same authors, completed in 1889, 

 on atavistic forms in living plants, which was preceded in 1880 

 by Baron Ettingshausen's memoirs on the phylogeny of plants, 

 the whole forming a considerable body of philosophy bearing on 

 plant development. Much of the space is devoted to a genealog- 

 ical study of the oaks, illustrated by the physiotypic process, 

 and the authors have probably made out some good cases of the 

 actual descent of living European oaks from Tertiary forms, 

 against the views of de Candolle, G-ray, and others that they have 

 been introduced by migrations from the north. Much that is 

 said in the latter part of the paper on the probable mode of tran- 

 sition from lower to higher types of vegetation is sound and con- 

 servative, but the comparisons between ferns and dicotyledonous 

 leaves would seem to be founded on mere accidental resemblance. 

 The greater variability of the reproductive parts than of leaves, 

 branches and internal structure is very properly insisted upon as 

 an explanation of many of the facts of plant development. 



l. f. w. 



13. Analysis of Alaska Garnet; by A. F. Kountze (com- 

 municated). — At the suggestion of Professor Wells, I have re- 

 cently made an analysis of the well-known garnet from Fort 

 Wrangell, Alaska. The crystals, which are dodecahedrons with 

 edges truncated by the planes of the trapezohedron 2-2 (211), 

 occur embedded in mica schist from which they are readily 

 separated; they have been much admired for their almost ideal 

 symmetry, their large size, and fine red color. The analyses are 



