288 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIRTY, 
camphoraceous tubers; those which do not smell of camphor are 
more or less acrid, such as Ourewma caulina, the Mahableshwar 
arrowroot; ginger contains an acrid resin and a volatile oil. When 
dried, these tubers are freely eaten by weevils and mites, which 
appear then to be able to separate the starch cells from those con- 
taining resin and odorous principles. 
Bony coverings or shells protect many seeds. The sea cocoanut 
and bonduc nut are carried about by the ocean for months without 
losing their germinating power. Bonduc nuts have even been found 
on the coasts of Scotland. i 
Lastly, the seeds of the smaller weeds, which germinate so 
abundantly on the first fall of rain, owe, to a great extent, their 
preservation from destructive insects, during the hot season, to their 
forms ; which often so nearly resemble grains of sand or earth that, 
when mixed with the soil, they are most difficult to distinguish. 
Of this fact we may satisfy ourselves if we carefully powder and 
lift a little dry mould or sandy soil from a road, and then, having 
with the aid ofa lens removed everything which has the appear- 
ance of a seed, place it under a glass bell and keep it moist with 
distilled water. However carefully the experiment may be conduct- 
ed, we shall find that in a short time some of the familiar road-side 
weeds will make their appearance. 
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF A VOYAGE FROM 
LIVERPOOL TO BOMBAY, 
By E. H. Arrxen. 
(Read at the Society’ s Meeting on 1st October 1888.) 
Tue Naturalist on board a steamer suffers the pains of Tantalus, 
who was doomed to pass eternity, hungry and thirsty, with food and 
water always in sight, but just beyond his reach. On a steamer 
one rarely passes a day without seeing something of interest, but 
rarely secures a specimen. He could easily shoot valuable birds, 
which he will never see again, but I have never met with a captain 
enlightened enough to stop his steamer in the interests of 
science and pick up the treasure. However, the organ of a true 
naturalist’s faculty is his eye, and perhaps, after all, the discipline is 
