DESEKT VEGETATION. 159 DESHIMA. and its seasonal Jistiibution. Jlost deserts are in seini-trupifal regions, aud lieiice the xerophy- tic conditions are accelerated by intense heat and light. The loss of water by evaporation rather than by drainage often gives rise to alkaline soils, which still further intensify the .xerophytic characters. See H.LoriiYTEs." The vegetation of deserts is characterized by monotony rather than poverty, there being but few species that can endure the severe conditions. The plants are scattered so that the soil gives the landscape tone. In comparing desert plants with alpine and arctic plants, manj' ecological dift'erences are seen : the most striking are the deciduous and succulent habits — habits particu- larly adapted to regions where drought is the result of heat. Floristically. deserts are noted lor their endcniism (q.v.), agreeing in this with alpine, but disagreeing with arctic vegetation. The endcniism of deserts is due in part to their geographic isolation; mountains and other bar- riers conunonly cut off deserts on all sides and prevent efl'cctive migration. However, another factor which favors endemism is the intense modification that desert plants have undergone as a result of the severe conditions. See Xero- I'lIVTE. DESEZE, dc-zaz'. Eaymoxd, Count (1748- 182S). A French lawyer. He was born and educated in Bordeaux, and in 1784 became es- tablished in Paris, where, together with ilales- hcrbcs aud Trouchet, he was subsequently in- trusted with the defense of Louis XVI. before the Xational Convention. Owing to the splendid oratory which he displayed on that occasion, he fell under suspicion of sympathizing with the royal cause, and was imprisoned until the fall of Robespierre. He did not avail himself of the opportunities of advancement offered him by Xapoleon, but remained faithful to the House of Bourbon, and upon the installation of Louis X'1U. was appointed president of the Court of Cassation and grand warden of the royal orders. DESFONTAINES, da'fSN'tan', Pierre Fran- (,01s Glyot ( HiS.J-1745) . A French writer, born in Rouen. He entered the .Jesuit Order, and became professor of rhetoric in Bourges. He wrote Observations stir Ics ecrites modernes (17.35), a shallow performance, yet so stinging that Voltaire bitterly replied in a Critir/ue dcs obscrvntioiis (1738). Desfontaines countered with La Voltairomanie (1738), and so the quar- rel went bravely on. DESFONTAINES, RExfi LoncnE (1750- 1S33 I . A !• iciiili botanist, bom in Tremblay. In 1783 he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences, by which he was commissioned in the same year to explore the Barbary States. In 17S() he became director of the botanical gardens in Paris, which he greatly improved. His works comprise: Flnra Mhiiilira ( 1798-1800) . com|)iled from his Xorth .African studies, and an Ilisloire des arhres et arbrisseaitx qui peuvcnt etre cullirC'S en pirlnr terre siir In sol dc la France (1809). DEFOSSES, da'fA's?.', RoMATX .Jo.sepii (1708- 18ti4i. A French admiral, born at Oouesnou (Finist^re). In 1830 he was appointed captain, in which capacity he participated in the capture of .Mgiers, He was also a member of the expe- dition against ilexico in 1838, and commanded a vessel at San Juan d'Ulloa. In 1844 he arranged a treaty of commerce with ilusca and later con- ducted a punitive expedition against Madagas- car. He became rear-admiral in 1848, Minister of Alarine in 1849, vice-admiral and member of the admiralty council in 1853, and chairman of the Council of Xaval Construction in 1854. As commander of the -Mediterranean fleet, he bom- barded the, forts at the entrance to the Tetuan River in 1859 during the contlict between Morocco and S|)ain. In the following year he was pro- uiolcd to the rank of admiral. DESGENETTES, da'zhe-net'. Xkholas REisfi DtnaciiE ( l,tJ2-1837). A French physician, born in .■leni.-on. He was made i)liysi"cian-in- chief to the army in Italy in 1794. and occupied the same position in the Egyptian cami)aign. He went afterwards to Spain "and Russia with the French army, aud was present at Waterloo. His works include: Hist aire mcdicalc de rurmee de Vorient (Paris, 1802); Souvenirs de la fin du XVIII. et du commencemeni du XIX. siecle (I835-3G). DESGOFFE, da'gof, Bl.ise Alexandre ( 1830—). A French painter of still life. He was born in Paris, and studied there under Flandrin and Bougereau. His specialty is still life and objects of art, as, for example, vases and ivories from the collection in the Louvre, grouped together with, perhaps, fruit or (lowers. Hamerton calls them 'precious copies of precious things.' In the Luxembourg there is the study of an "Amethyst Vase of the Sixteenth Century" (1859) by him, and in the Corcoran Gallery, in Washington, are his "Souvenirs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries." He renders texture and material with peculiar felicity and micro- scopic detail. DESHAYES, de-za', G£bard Paul (1795- 1875). A French geologist and conchologist. He was born in Xancy, studied in Strassburg and Paris, gave private lectures on geology in Paris, and in 1869 was appointed professor of con- chology at the iluseum d'Histoire Xaturelle. From 1839 to 1842 he was a member of the scien- tie commission to Algeria. He was one of the founders of the Geological Society of France, and frequently was elected its president. He assisted in the preparation of the statistical tables for Sir Charles Lyell's Principles of (jeolo(ij. prepared the description of the recent and fossil moUusca obtained by the expedition to Morea, and began the compilation of a catalogue of the bivalve shells of the British Museum. It was as a student of fossil conchology that he was chiefly known. In this field he made impor- tant discoveries, and wrote his most noteworthy work, the Description des animaux sans vertebres dfcourerts dans le bassin de Paris (1857-67), the result of more than twenty years of painstaking study. He also published a Traitc cicmentaire de eonelnjiioloyic ( 1839-57 ) . DESHIMA, dil-she'ma, or DECIMA, dil-se'- ma (.lajian.. Fore Island). A fan->lia|ied artifi- cial islet in front of the city of Xagasaki (q.v.), .Japan, on which the Dutcli traders had their factory and residence from 1639 to 1859. Here the Dutch for 220 years enjoyed the Fiiropean monopoly of trade with .Japan, the recipients of honors as well as the subjects of rigid rule. In the renaissance of Japan, Deshima played a most
