356 Scientific Intelligence. 



thoroughness with which these pathological researches have been 

 conducted, and to the long period of nine years which they have 

 covered. The Prix Montague, for local cryptogamic floras, has 

 been given to Auguste-Marie Hue, an Abbe, for his Lichens of 

 of Canisy, (Manche) and neighborhood. A second prize, of five 

 hundred francs, was awarded to Dr. F. Xavier Gillot for his 

 catalogue of the higher fungi of the neighborhood of Autun. 

 The Prix cle la Fons Melicocg, for the best work on the flora of 

 the north of France, is given to M. Masclef for his Geographical 

 Botany of Northern France. The latter work was submitted in 

 manuscript. The Prix Thore was not assigned. G. l. g. 



3. How blanched seedlings can be saved. — Cornu communi- 

 cates to the French Academy some very interesting notes in rela- 

 tion to a new method of bringing plants from distant tropical 

 regions. The seeds of the plants in question are brought under 

 conditions which reduce the chance of their germination during 

 the voyage down to the smallest risk, but in spite of all precau- 

 tions such seeds are likely to sprout and arrive as blanched, un- 

 healthy and " drawn " seedlings which have hitherto been thrown 

 away. Cornu has employed as a suitable mechanical support 

 for the scanty roots of these unhealthy seedlings, a material 

 known as fern-earth, that is, the detritus formed by the broken 

 up rootstocks of Polgpodium vulgare. This is a dry and some- 

 what porous mass which is almost free from any likelihood of any 

 invasion by mould. Upon this polypod support, the isolated 

 plants are placed with a little moisture, and are exposed to a 

 small amount of light under a bell-jar. In a short time they 

 resume their proper green color, and speedily take good l'oot, 

 after which they can be heaped up with common earth, or trans- 

 planted, as is thought best. By use of this simple means, it has 

 been possible to save some very important plants which arrived 

 at Paris in a wretched condition. 



Not only are etiolated seedlings saved in this way, but it has 

 been found possible to save also seedlings which have been 

 injured by drying of some part or by mechanical injury. In 

 some instances it has been the good fortune of Cornu to restore 

 seedlings which had sprouted under soil and had come to hand in 

 a perfectly hopeless condition. 



The material which Cornu suggests is even better than coir, 

 which has been employed for much the same purpose and in the 

 same way. Coir is the firm fibre which surrounds the shell of 

 the cocoanut, and which can be easily broken up into soft masses 

 which are not at all affected by mould until a long time has 

 elapsed. g. l. g. 



4. Influence of moisture on Vegetation. — E. Gain (Comptes 

 rendus, Nov. 21, 1892), has conducted experiments, which, though 

 largely repetitions of investigations by others, are worthy of 

 mention as showing a possibility of getting results from cultiva- 

 tion in an arid climate, under irrigation, which are unattainable 

 elsewhere. Gain points out that a dry air and a moist soil are 



