270 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



dent of the section, it must be observed tliat the wheat was 

 not obtained by the experimenter from the wrappings of a 

 mummy, but had been transmitted by a second person, and 

 thus there is left room for a most reasonable doubt, more 

 particularly when it is remembered that it would require no 

 very expert jugglery to effect an interchange of grain under 

 the very eyes of an observer. Moreover, it is an unques- 

 tioned fact, that the grains which are found in the wrappings 

 of the mummies of Egypt have become blackened as if by 

 slow charring, and, in every recent instance in which the 

 dark grains have been planted, they have failed to start. 

 The grains of maize found with the mummies of Peru, and 

 which are exhibited at the Museum of Archajology in Cam- 

 bridge, are likewise darkened, and they have uniformly failed 

 to germinate. The instance of " mummy wheat " has been 

 alluded to because the question is often asked upon what 

 ground the story is based. 



But, in spite of general incredulity among botanists in 

 regard to the vitality of " mummy wheat," some facts are on 

 record which will serve to show that the seeds of certain 

 plants preserve their germinative power for a very long 

 period. In the Appendix ^ will be found three cases which 

 are not generally referred to in popular treatises upon 

 vegetable physiology. The two reviews now to be given are 

 very instructive, and are perfectly trustworthy. 



DeCandoUe^ gives an account of his experiments with 

 three hundred and sixty-eight species of seeds which were 

 kept in the same place, and as nearly as possible under the 

 same conditions, for fifteen years. 



5 came up, or 50 per cent, 

 or 20 " 

 or 1 " 



Of 10 MalvacesD . 

 45 Legumiuosse 

 30 Labiataj 

 10 Scrophulariaceae 

 10 Umbelliferai 

 10 Caryopliyllaceae 

 32 Gramiiieae 

 34 Cruciferaj 

 45 Compositse . 

 1 Balsaminacea) 



A report of a committee of the British Association for 



1 Appendix ii. ^ Annales Sc. Nat. 3 ser. G, 373, 



