490 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



and dangerous than tlie female, 

 especially males of about nine feet 

 bone. 



The principal enemies of the 

 whale are the sword-fish and 

 thrasher. It is probable that the 

 shark is also an enemy to the 

 whale, for it attacks the dead car- 

 case ; and the whale is seen to fly 

 those quarters of the sea where the 

 shark abounds. 



ON THE DURATION OF THE GER- 

 MINATIVE FACULTY OF SEEDS. 



By M, Saint Hilaire. 



It is tolerably well ascertained 

 that the seeds of some species of 

 plants preserve their germinative 

 faculty for several years, that great 

 numbers lose it at the end of a few 

 months, and that it is even neces- 

 sary to sow some kinds immediate- 

 ly after their maturity. But we 

 have too scanty materials on which 

 to found any opinion upon the 

 species, genera, or families which 

 enjoy for a longer or shorter time 

 this faculty, or which lose it 

 speedily. Experienced gardeners 

 have nevertheless certain data upon 

 this subject, and the following may 

 be regarded as perhaps the most 

 satisfactory : 



" The seeds," says M. Dumont 

 de Courset, " of the labiated um- 

 belliferous plants, and of those 

 which contain a nucleus or a ker- 

 nel, in general all the aromatics, 

 asteriae, irides, fraxinellae, aconita, 

 dauphinellae, and of those of a 

 great many bulbous plants, and 

 most of the large trees, rise much 

 more certainly, when sown imme- 

 diately, or a short time after their 



maturity, than in spring: several, 

 however, sprout also in the latter 

 season, but they will not, if kept 

 much longer. The inodorous seeds, 

 the grasses, a great part of the cru- 

 ciferous and the leguminous plants, 

 those of the cucurbitaceous and of 

 the cold and milky plants, those 

 which are contained in cones or 

 capsules, or surrounded with a suc- 

 culent pulp, preserve their germi- 

 native and sound quality from two 

 to eight years. 



" Others, and these are but few 

 in number, keep still longer, and 

 it is a kind of phaenomenon when 

 we see the seeds of the sensitive 

 plant and Goyava germinating at 

 the expiration of twenty or thirty 

 years." 



Thus, according to M. Dumont 

 de Courset, twenty or thirty years 

 would be the longest term for the 

 duration of this faculty. But in 

 the Philosophical Transactions, 

 vol. xlii. Mr. Martin Triewalds re- 

 lates that some melon seeds found 

 in 1762, in the collection of lord 

 Mortimer, with an envelope dated 

 1700, were sown, and gave flowers 

 and very good fruit. In the xliiird 

 volume of the same work, Mr. 

 Roger Gale informs Mr. Collinson 

 that several melon seeds kept for 

 thirty-three years also bore excel- 

 lent flowers and fruits. 



To the above I shall add what 

 has been communicated to me by 

 M. Desfontaines. In arranging the 

 seeds of the Museum of Natural 

 History, he found a haricot ( French 

 bean) which belonged to the Her- 

 barium of Tournefort, and when 

 sown it gave flowers and fruit. 

 Besides, we know from Linnaeus, 

 that the seeds of the leguminous 

 plants preserve their germinative 

 power for a long time. This varia- 



