478 Extracts from the Proceedings of the British 



An excellent selection of fossils from the neighbourliood of Verd- 

 chellum in Madras, for which they were indebted to Brooke 

 CunlifFe, Esq., who had been associated with the Rev. Mr. Cay 

 in the first examination of these fossils, had enabled them to add 

 largely to the lists of Forbes, and to establish more conclusively 

 than before the cretaceous age of these deposits. The exertions of 

 Captain Keatinge at Mundlaiser, to whom Mr. Oldham had pointed 

 out the interest of the inr^uiry, had collected a. good set of organic 

 remains from the limestone at Bang, to the west of Mhow, 

 which had enabled him to fix the age of those deposits as con- 

 temporary, or nearly so, with the cretaceous beds of Trichinopoly 

 and Verdachellum. This discovery gives rise to many important 

 speculations as to the age of other beds, and also as to the epoch 

 of the elevatioQ of all Central India, but more data were required 

 before thes» could fairly be entered upon. 



Section D. — ZooLOGr and Botany, including Physiology. 



Db. Daubeny read a Final Report on the Vitality of seeds. 

 He stated that about sixteen years since Mr. Strickland and others 

 and himself suggested the advisability of instituting experiments 

 for the purpose of ascertaining, by way of experiment, as far as pos- 

 sible, the terms to which different seeds would retain their vitality. 

 They were all well aware of the statement as to the germination 

 of mummy seeds, and it was with the view of determining the 

 various questions which arose that a commitee was formed in 

 1840 to make experiments, which were made in the following 

 manner : — A considerable number of seeds of as many kinds as 

 could be procured were placed in porous stone jars, covered so as 

 to exclude insects and rapid circulation of air, and so as to secure a 

 slow circulation. The experiment had been carried on for seven- 

 teen years, and each year a report was given, stating the number 

 of seeds which had germinated, which were resown until their vi- 

 tality ceased. As the seeds which had originally been procured had, 

 with the exception of four, lost vitality, the inquiries were consi- 

 dered to have come to a close, and the final report was brought 

 forward. He submitted a paper to the meeting containing a 

 general summary of the experiments from 1841 to 185Y, and a 

 tabular statement, showing the relative vitality of difi'erent kinds 

 of seeds, from which it would be seen that the greater number of 

 seeds lost their vitality at eight years, and that forty-three years 

 was the longest period to which they retained it. The experi- 



