392 Vitality of Seeds. 



Must the seeds of all plants that are immersed in soil, to 

 any depth that is below that at which they can be acted upon 

 by the common stimulants of vegetation, become, sequently, 

 subject to either fossilisation or decomposition ? Cannot the 

 seeds of some species of plants, when buried below the range 

 of the action of the common stimulants of vegetation, remain 

 throughout many years unfossilised and undecomposed, and 

 possessed of the power of germinating when brought within 

 the action of the common stimulants of vegetation and germi- 

 nation? A gentleman I have known has more than once 

 expressed opinions, his own, equivalent to yes, to the first 

 of these questions, and to no, to the second; although he 

 was not uninformed of most of the facts extant, which rather 

 respond yes to the second question ; but he could argue an 

 abatement of the force of these. The remaining point in his 

 views has been, that all perfect seed within the action of the 

 common stimulants of vegetation must germinate. Particulars 

 and remarks by the Rev. W. T. Bree, in II. 70, 71., on 

 the " spontaneous appearance of ^pipactis iatifolia," had 

 led the late Rev. Lansdown Guilding to write the following 

 note, which is relative to the subject rather than to the in- 

 stance, and aptly applicable to the subject of my questions 

 above.] 



[II. 70.] " The sudden and unexpected appearance of plants 

 may sometimes be easily accounted for. While walking on 

 the banks of the Berkeley Canal, near Gloucester, I observed 

 many plants not common to the neighbourhood. A farmer 

 remarked to me, that, before the canal was excavated, they were 

 never seen, and must have been brought up with the soil in 

 which they had lain concealed since the creation or the de- 

 luge ! The fact seemed to be, that, by digging far beneath 

 the surface, a poor blue clay was turned up, just as favourable 

 to the new visiters, as it was ill calculated for the plants of the 

 rich meadows on its sides. Birds had, of course, brought the 

 original stock of seeds ; though it cannot be denied, perhaps, 

 that the seeds of plants in ground once used have for a long 

 time been buried from the air, and again made their appear- 

 ance under favourable circumstances, when disturbed and 

 brought near to the surface and the light. — Lansdown Guil- 

 ding. St. Vincent, May 1. 1830." 



In the fens of Cambridgeshire have been instances of a co- 

 pious crop of plants of a species of mustard (iSinapis ? alba) 

 being produced upon soil thrown out of new drains excavated. 

 In more dryly situate loamy soil, in Suffolk or in Norfolk, a 

 plentiful crop of plants of henbane (//yoscyamus niger) has 

 arisen upon soil cast up in recent excavation (of a ditch or some- 



