1140 



blished was, that marine animals could be kept in sea water without 

 changing in the same manner as in fresh. The conditions of the 

 existence of sea-water creatures are, however, much more varied than 

 those of fresh ; hence the difficulty had been proportionally great in 

 arriving at a successful issue. The nature of the plants in the first 

 place is a matter of importance. The author found that the green 

 sea-weeds answered better than the red or brown. In introducing 

 animals they should be healthy and uninjured. Those should not be 

 put together which devour each other. Crabs, especially the com- 

 mon crab, are very destructive ; so are gobies, blennies, and rock-fish. 

 The sea-water should be kept of a proper gravity. It should be 1.026 

 at a temperature of 60°. Rain or distilled water should be added 

 from time to time to supply any loss. All dead animal or vegetable 

 matter of anv kind should be removed. 



Dr. Daubeny stated that he had erected some fresh-water tanks at 

 Oxford ; but the difficulty which he had to contend with was the 

 growth of Confervae, which interrupted the growth of the other plants. 



Dr. Walker-Arnolt stated that he had no doubt the reason why the 

 green sea-weeds answered better than the brown or red was that thi 

 latter were deep sea, whilst the others were shallow water, plants. 

 The brown and red sea-weeds also had a much denser tissue exter- 

 nally than the green sea- weeds, and did not grow so fast. 



A paper by Dr. Astiey Price, ' On the Pentasulphide of Calcium as 

 a Remedy for Grape Disease,' was read. (See Phytol. iv. 1104). 



Germination of Seeds. 



A paper by R. Hunt, Esq., ' On a Method of Accelerating the Ger- 

 mination of Seeds,' was read. 



The process consisted in covering the germinating seeds with glass 

 coloured blue with cobalt. The author read a letter from the Messrs. 

 Lawson, in which they stated that by allowing seeds to germinate 

 under blue glass, they had succeeded in raising a larger number of 

 seeds in a given time, as well as producing germination in a shorter 

 time. 



Report on the Vilalily of Seeds. 



The report, by the late II. E. Strickland, Esq., gave an account of 

 the seeds which had been planted during the past year ; from which 

 it appeared that the older the seeds were, the less numerous were 

 those that germinatcfl. The author thought that the experiment of 



