HYGROSCOPICITY 



'59 



TABLE ILLUSTRATING THE CHANGES IN WEIGHT EXPERIENCED BY 

 TROPICAL SEEDS WHEN TRANSFERRED FROM ENGLAND TO JAMAICA, 

 AND FROM JAMAICA BACK TO ENGLAND. (Seeds obtained fresh in 

 Jamaica in spring of 1907.) 



The seeds had been five months in England when weighed in October 1907 ; two 

 months in Jamaica in January 1908, when weighed in that island ; and one month in 

 England when weighed in April 1908. All the seeds retained their germinative 

 powers after the experiment, with the exception of those of Achras and Chrysophyllum, 

 which were sound, but did not germinate. 



It may be concluded from the data in this table that the 

 following were the results of the transportation of these seeds 

 from the temperate zone to the tropics and back. The range 

 of the variation in weight of the permeable seeds was 3 to 4 

 per cent., and that of the variable seeds considerably under i 

 per cent. ; whilst the range of the impermeable seeds may be 

 regarded as " nil," or, if present, as probably instrumental and 

 therefore negligible. In the case of both the variable kinds 



