178 



Peacock : Lincohishire Botany. 



it, and placed half way down the tube and well pressed to the 

 inside wall before the seeds are added. If this is done carefully 

 no seeds will get between the paper and the glass. 



A plug- of white cotton wool finishes off the tube nicely. It 

 admits the air to keep the seeds fresh and bright, but excludes 

 all dust, bacteria, and spores of fungi. 



Do not be content with your collection till you have three to 

 five tubes of each species, taken on different soils under varying 

 circumstances. The seeds of the same species are not exactly, 

 only approximately, alike. 



If the seeds are kept dry in the temperature of an ordinary 

 sitting-room, say from 55 deg. to 62 deg. Fahrenheit, they will 

 remain perfect for identification purposes for years. Nearly all 

 will lose their vitality, though there are notable exceptions to 

 this rule, but they will retain their size and characteristics 

 practically for ever. Even seeds which have germinated slightly 

 before being dried will keep their unnatural size and ' sw^ollen 

 appearance,' and can easily be detected from typically-matured 

 ones of the same species. 



Till the tubes accumulate by hundreds, and a case of drawers 

 is bought for them, shallow cardboard boxes which will hold 

 three rows of 15 tubes each, will be found amply sufficient for 

 convenience in reference. 



FLOWERING PLANTS, 



Lincolnshire Botany. — At the meeting of the Lincolnshire 

 Naturalists' Union at Barton-on-Humber, on the 20th of May, 

 Alopecurus hiUbosus was found on the estuarine alluvium covered 

 by high spring tides, along with Tviglochin maritimiun, Apium 

 graveolens, and Plaiitago coronopiis, etc. The Middle Chalk in 

 the quarries at Barton and South Ferriby was rich in aliens, 

 such as Aquilegia vulgaris, Hesperis matronalis, Ribes grossularia , 

 Vinca nidjor, most of our common trees and Cytisiis Lahuriiuip 

 and Pyrus iiiifis. This wealth of strangers on a new soil throws, 

 doubt on Ldctiica muralis, which was the only good native 

 species taken. The only plant oi Burba rea vulgaris seen was in 

 Barton Quarry. It was much frequented by Helix cantiana. 

 This species was also not unfrequent on the roadside above the 

 quarries on Urtica dioica. H. cantiana is not found the whole 

 length of the chalk as it is along the Lincolnshire Limestone. — 

 K. Adriax Woodruffe Peacock, Cadney, Brigg, 25th May 1904. 



Naturalist,, 



