158 Scientific Intelligence. 



show that the light which de Vries has cast upon the phenomena 

 of vacuolar increase may explain many of the hitherto obscure 

 phenomena in the absorbing cells of insectivorous plants. In a 

 future number may be given some of the results to which hints 

 derived from de Vries's paper have led the present writer, g. l. g. 



8. Mistoire cles principales Varietes et Especes de Vignes cTori- 

 gine Americaine qui resistent cm Phylloxera; par A. Millar- 

 det. — If the wine-growers of France have been impoverished 

 by the ravages of Phylloxera, certainly science has been enriched 

 by the numerous important works which have appeared in France 

 relating to the means of checking the injury done by the two 

 pests imported from America, the Phylloxera and the Peroros- 

 pora of the vine. The previous important papers by Professor 

 Millardet of Bordeaux on this subject are well known. In extent 

 and abundance of new facts presented, the present work, a quarto 

 of 240 pages with 24 admirable lithographic plates, surpasses all 

 that he has hitherto attempted. The work originated in a memoir 

 presented to a committee of the French Academy in 1876, and its' 

 present enlarged form is due in part to liberal private and public 

 subscription. The introduction treats of the histological and 

 physiological conditions which favor the resisting powers of 

 different American species of Vitis. Of these, V. rotundifolia, 

 rubra, cordifolia, rupestrzs, riparia, cinerea and cestivalis are able 

 to resist the attacks of Phylloxera to a considerable extent, and 

 are therefore available as stocks on which to graft in France; 

 while, on the other hand, in V. candicans, Labrusca and Calif or- 

 nica the resisting power is small, although greater than' in the 

 European V. vinifera. The writer, following out the views 

 expressed in a previous paper, distinguishes between the galls 

 produced on the smaller roots, which he calls nodosities, and those 

 on the larger roots, which he calls tuberosities, the former being 

 more dangerous. He considers that the destruction of the vine 

 is not due primarily to the attack of the Phylloxera but to the 

 growth of fungi which make their way into the roots through the 

 nodosities whose surface becomes cracked and the interior spongy. 



The main body of the work is divided into two parts. The 

 first relates to the cultivated varieties, of whose origin, morpho- 

 logical characters and resisting powers a very full account is 

 given. In his views with regard to the hybrid origin of some of 

 the varieties he not unfrequently differs from other writers. The 

 second part gives a description of the wild species with their dis- 

 tribution in North America. One can only praise the public 

 spirit of the French people, which leads them to encourage the publi- 

 cation of memoirs like the above, which, from their expensive 

 character, could not be published by a writer at his own cost, and 

 from which a publisher could expect no profit. w. G. f. 



9. Flora JBrasiliensis. — Fascicle 95, so soon following fasc. 94, 

 gives proof that Dr. Eichler is prosecuting his great undertaking 

 with vigor. This goes with the Cucurbitucece (issued in 1878) 

 and some small orders to make up vol. vi, part iv. Fasc. 95 con- 



