Longevify of Sfcds. 181 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 



The records of old seeds trerminiiitinp: fall naturally into two 

 proups--(l) records where the seed is supposed to have lain 

 dormant in the soil, the latter havinf; been undisturbed (presum- 

 ably) ; and ('!) uuthentio records of stored rr herbarium seeds. 

 Even as resrards the latter, some of the records seem to be in- 

 correct (viz. J'haseolus), the seeds possibly having been inserted 

 at a later date or the labels misplaced. The earliest complete 

 records are those of de CandoUe {I.e.), who found that out of 368 

 seeds kept dry in air for fourteen years only 17 retained a 

 feeble germinative power, these including 5 out of 10 species of 

 Malvaceae, 9 out of 45 species of Leguminosae, and 1 out of 30 

 Labiaitae. De Candolle did not specially investigate the hard 

 seeds on the list, and hence overlooked the fact that some of 

 them (Acacia, Medicago and Trifolium) were probably germ- 

 inable when softened. 



Taking these precautions in an elaborate form by removing 

 the integuments, sterilising and soaking, and keeping in moist 

 sterile cotton wool, Becquerel considerably extended de Caindolle's 

 list, and found that 18 out of 90 leguminous seeds, those of 2 

 species of Nelumbium, of 1 Labiate and of 1 Malvaceiae remained 

 germinable for 25 to 80 years. Tlie oldest germinable seed 

 obtained by Becquerel were 3 species of Leguminosae 80 years 

 old. 



The various old Herbarium records are quoted in the alpha- 

 betical list, but do not require special mention. In regard to the 

 records of seeds supposed to have lain dormant in the soil, these 

 appear to be quite worthless, not more than two or three per 

 cent, being confirmed by the authentic records of de Candolle, 

 Becquerel and myself. . It might be argued that the seed might 

 last longer in the soil than when dried in air, but Duvel's com- 

 parisons of the germination of seeds buried in soil for a year, 

 with the same preserved dr}^ in air for a year, show that as a 

 matter of fact the reverse is the case with all ordinary seeds. 

 The only apparent exceptions appear to be with those hard seeds, 

 which Duvel seems not to have known how to treat to induce 

 germination. 



