346 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



than sea-water, and could not therefore be transported to any distance ; so 

 that, out of ninety-eight species, eighteen only might germinate after a six 

 weeks' voj-age, under the most favorable circumstances. Repeating the ex- 

 periment with the thirty-five kinds which had resisted the action of sea-water 

 for this space of time, M. Martens left them for three months exposed to its 

 action, and then found eleven in a rotten state; of the other twenty-three, 

 only nine germinated, two of which were specifically heavier than sea-water; 

 so that, after a three months' sojourn in the sea, a period most likely to be 

 the usual one, seven kinds only out of ninety -eight might have some chance 

 of germinating. The Ricinus communis and Cucurbita pepo are among the 

 number. Now, if all the dangers be taken into consideration to which a seed 

 must be exposed during a long voyage, as well as the difficulties it must 

 meet with to find a congenial soil on landing, with other circumstances 

 calculated to promote its germination and subsequent preservation from 

 destruction, M. Martens concludes, with M. Alph. De Candolle, that the 

 transportation of seeds by sea must have had a very small share in the pro- 

 pagation of plants to other shores, and that the hypothesis of simultaneous 

 creations in different parts of the world acquires much probability. 



ON THE BOTANY OF THE SORGHUM VULGARE 



Mr. C. J. Sprague, in a recent communication to the Boston Society of 

 Natural History, stated that a suite of specimens of the Soryho sucre, Implies, 

 Dourrlia, and Broom Corn, had been placed in his hands for examination by 

 Mr. Olcutt, of Westchester County, New York, with a request that the fol- 

 lowing points of interest might be examined : Whether these plants are, 

 or are not, of the same species ? whether they will hybridize ? and whether 

 they are likely to lose their peculiarities by careless planting and manage- 

 ment? Some varieties possess more of the saccharine secretion than others. 

 Is this excess a specific peculiarity, or the result of varied cultivation of the 

 same species in different localities ? Will these peculiarities continue fixed, 

 or will the varieties lose their distinctiveness when grown in company with 

 one another? 



The specimens consist of portions of the panicles of eighteen varieties of 

 Zulu Kaffir Imphee, grown in South Carolina, from seeds ripened in France, 

 and received from Mr. Wray. These specimens were gathered in a field, 

 where they grew promiscuously, by Mr. Olcutt himself, in company with 

 Mr. Wray, who identified the varieties, and furnished the Kaffir names. 

 There are four specimens of Dourrlia, the seeds of which were received from 

 France in the same package with the Imphee, and planted in the same field. 

 Also, four specimens of Dourrlia, Broom Corn, and their hybrids with Soryho 

 sucre, grown by Mr. Olcutt in Westchester. I have added to these four 

 specimens of Imphee, grown in the District of Columbia, that the suite of 

 specimens may be yet more full. My remarks upon these specimens will be 

 confined to the fruit alone, as I have not seen the growing plants, and can- 

 not, therefore, speak of the differences which may exist in their foliage and 

 port. 



Steudel, in his synopsis of the grasses, enumerates the following allied 

 species of Andropngnn growing in Asia and Africa: A. Soryhum, Auct. ; A. 

 ritbens, Willd. ; A. subglabrcscens, Steud. ; A. Saccharfitits, L. (sub. Holcus); 

 A. verticillljlorus, Steud.; A. niyer, Kunth ; A. cernuus, Roxb. ; A. licolor, 

 Roxb. ; and he implies that most of these may be varieties of the 



