FUNCTION.] ANCIENT SEEDS. 269 



that they should have retained their power of germina- 

 tion." 



It seems probable that the circumstance which enabled 

 them to do so was partly their original nature, they having 

 belonged to what may be called the farinaceous series, and 

 partly the exclusion of air by means of the beds of sand that 

 gradually formed over them. 



